Publication or poisoned chalice

Publication or Poisoned Chalice  

Correspondence from a competition organiser advises you’re a place getter. Well not quite a place getter, first, second and third places have been awarded to other writers, but the judges have bestowed a commendation on your entry, which means your work is worthy of entry in their current anthology. It also means you won’t benefit monetarily from your labours, but that is of small consequence. Your work is about to be published. You have achieved your ultimate aim, congratulations!

No one knows but you, how many hours were spent in creating the story, the sweat and tears that went into the editing process, the emotions that drove every tap of the keyboard, and now all your efforts are to be rewarded.

Waiting seems forever but eventually your free contributor’s copy arrives in the post. Yep, that’s your name in the index. You are a published author. Although you know your own work thoroughly, you are compelled to read every single syllable of every word because you have never seen it like this before.

They got it right, no errors. Your story is in print. Wonderful. An advantage you get with an anthology is you get to read the stories that beat you. Curiosity compels you to fan the pages in search of the winning entry. The story starts off all right and you nod your head subconsciously. You can see how the judges were hooked from the start. Wait a minute, you’ve turned the page and it is clear something is wrong. The ending has no bearing at all on the rest of the story. The second place getter ends in similar fashion. The conclusion is neither satisfying nor satisfactory.

Somewhat disillusioned, you fan more pages till you come to the story that earned third place. After a careful and honest appraisal you agree it is in its rightful place but it is not as good as your story, In fact, word for word none of these stories measure up. How could the judges have got it so wrong? Did the entire panel have an off day?

We won’t go into a full analysis as to the elements that appealed to the judges most, suffice to say that at another time, another place your entry may have scored a gong, but that’s little consolation when lesser stories come in ahead of yours.

Not only have you missed out on the money, your chances of doing better in the future has taken a severe hit as published work is not generally acceptable for entry in competitions. Your market has just become a trifle restricted.

There is a good lesson all in this, which is to read submission guidelines thoroughly before sending in your masterpiece. Beware of clauses that say authors of commended works will be expected to take part in support activity, or help to promote the production.

Finally, if you’re a newbie and something like this has happened to you, don’t despair. Put it down to experience and get on with your writing, at least you can now claim to be a published author. 

Frank Ince

CONGRATULATIONS LORRAINE

CONGRATULATIONS to Melton writer, Lorraine Jones, for her win in the Adult Short Story (18 years & over) - Up to 3,000 words section of the Brimbank Writers Awards. Follow the link at
http://www.brimbank.vic.gov.au/Events_and_Activities/Brimbank_Writers_Festival/Brimbank_Writers_Awards to read her winning entry, Tom.

Lorraine is also a regular at the longitudinal workshops. Receiving recognition by winning this award is not only a validation of Lorraine's dedication to writing, it also serves as incentive to other novice writers to take that leap of faith and get their work out there.

Well done Lorraine

TIME FOR A SHOUT OUT

It is timely to give a shout out for Melton author Terry L Probert who has completed the writing of his first novel - with a working title of Kundela - and going through the process of manuscript appraisal prior to copy editing. When considering 95% of all first novels never make it to completion, Terry can be justifiably proud of his achievement and the dedication that has seen his ideas reach fruition.

It takes many things to write a novel, beginning with a belief in self and a trust in the story that has often been writing itself in the back of the mind for months or even years. It takes self discipline to sit down at the keyboard on a regular basis, going to work often meaning walking from one part of the house to another, with all the interruptions that come from having the workplace in the home.There are of course other diversions, moving past the temptation to just 'spend a few minutes' playing one of the hundreds - thousands - of games at your fingertips to social networking. This last one can create a catch 22 situation, where it is imperative to spend time building and maintaining an author platform and the need to balance this with writing time. These days it is difficult to have one without the other, yet Terry L Probert appears to have found the required balance, maintaining his blog and Facebook account while continuing with his writing.

Well done, Terry, we look forward to seeing your book on the shelves and on our Kindles and Ebook readers.

Merlene Fawdry

FREE BOOK 

A copy of the Wordsmiths of Melton Anthology of short stories and poetry will be given away this Sunday, 9 September, to all people above the age of 14 years.

This 126 page anthology contains the work of some of Melton's finest writers:

• Caitlin Henderson
• Fikret Pajalic
• Julee Stillman
• Frank Ince
• Antonio Iannella
• Sonia Doherty
• T R Drayton
• Christine Mackley
• Merlene Fawdry
• Les Stillman
• John Cleveley 
• Kerryn Miller 

Where:      Melton ArtBeat Festival

                  Art Day Out

                  The Willows Historical Park

                  Nixon Street

                  Melton              Mel Ref 337 Cq

When:        11 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Bring along your family and friends for a great day out.

Call in at the Wordsmith's booth, meet the writers and find out the local writing scene and how you can be part of a writing community.

On Writing Groups

This month I am featuring on my blog, Merlene Fawdry, interviews with authors on the topic of writing groups. One of the featured authors has been Terry L Probert, a member of Wordsmiths of Melton, and his interview is reproduced on this page. Read what other authors think about writing groups here.

Interview with author Terry L Probert

After a lifetime in sales and marketing, Terry L Probert now finds time to depart from writing commercials and media releases to participate in a writing group. A forced lifestyle change has allowed time to join Wordsmiths of Melton. Armed with a good memory and a dry sense of humour, Terry draws on decades of experience of working with some great Aussie characters to weave a tale, indulging his passion for writing novels and short stories.

Samples of Terry's writing can be seen here. What better way to spend a quiet Sunday? Stop by and leave a comment of encouragement and don't forget to follow his blog for regular updates of his stories and writing progress

What writing group/s do you belong to?

Wordsmiths of Melton

What is the structure of this writing group?

We are a critiquing group our members meet three times a month at the Melton Library in Rees Road. A convivial meeting where writers review and discuss work all submitted for critique the week before. It is important we submit items for critique by e-mail to the group leader in our case Frank Ince by Sunday to allow everyone time to prepare for the Wednesday.

Is this writing group associated with a state or national organisation?

I’m not able to answer this, other than to say many of our participants are aligned with many different recognised writers’ bodies and information is generously shared.

Does this group have affiliations with peak writing associated bodies?

The answer I have given above probably covers this question.

How many members does this writing group have?

At present, we have about ten participants.

Does the writing group have a clearly defined goal in writing?

My understanding of the group’s goals is to: Assist and promote the writing skills of like-minded individuals of the Melton Area.

Are there any critiquing guidelines to follow?

We work under the premise that everyone who submits work for critique does so knowing that the Wordsmiths will offer suggestions to help the writer with everything to make the writing better. Some will better understand punctuation and offer suggestions. Others may point out continuity or tense errors in their critique. Everyone tries to help the writer presenting his or her work to achieve a better standard. In my case, this has helped enormously. In going back and working through the first re-write of my novel Kundela, I can see where my writing has improved after each meeting.

Are there any guidelines for people whose work is being critiqued to follow?

Frank has ably instructed us about what is expected. For a more detailed answer, I recommend readers go to the Wordsmiths of Melton website and read our guidelines. These form the foundations of our group and serve the participants well.

Does the group have set guidelines for behaviour, and a process to remove members who are disruptive to the smooth running of the group?

I am confident that our Critiquing Guidelines cover this area well enough to hand disruptions.

Does everybody contribute to each meeting, or do you only hear from the same few people?

Generally, everyone contributes, some are unable to present work due to other commitments but most of us present our critiques, and if unable to attend the meeting, submit them to the group leader for distribution. Every member takes this responsibility seriously. It’s what makes the group work.

How long have you been a member of this writing group?

I started with the wordsmiths about six months ago. They have welcomed me and it seems as if they have been part of my life for years.

What is your role within this group?

I am probably selfish in as much that I am a participant only. The others tower above me, as far as talent and experience are concerned. I joined to milk their knowledge with an aim to becoming a better storyteller and writer.

What are the benefits to you from attending a writing group?

To me the benefits are an ongoing development of my skills, learning about the intricacies of the publishing world, and improving my skills. However, the best part of the group is the excitement created by being around like-minded people. These people are my friends.

Why be in a writing group?

Why not? If someone is reading this, then they are probably interested in telling a story. Be it memoirs, a novel, a speech or even a business plan, a critiquing writers group will fast track their skill development. It has mine.

What do you look for in a writing group?

Help, there is a certain safety of being in a group, who are able to analyse your work, and not ridicule it. Great strength comes from this kind of environment.

Does your writing group give peer critique or general comment?

Every time. It is how we grow as writers.

What is the focus of your writing group – writing or poetry?

Our group has a cross section of genre, while most focus is on stories we have a couple of poets.

Can the two be successfully combined in terms of critiquing?

Why not, we all learn from what is presented. No one person in our group has the franchise for perfection and by joining in the critiques we pick up on the others points of view.

Is there anything you would like from your writing group that is missing at the moment?

Fast track to being published, I’m kidding, I am happy with our group and the benefits I derive from it.

Have you belonged to any other writing groups?

No I’m a writers group virgin.

Have you had a negative experience in a writing group?

No.

Do you have any advice for someone thinking of joining a writing group?

Do it today.

Is there anything you would like to add?

If I am able to become a published author a lot of credit will go to the group as they are the people who promote the dream. Their assistance in cajoling, critiquing, encouraging and correcting cannot be underestimated. Family support is important and believe me they will tell you something is rubbish. Your writing group colleagues will help to find a way to help improve the work.

Thank you, Terry, for participating

Merlene

Rejection, Critique & Writing Groups

I can recognise a SSAE of mine immediately by the way I affix the address label to the envelope, so there is always a moment of trepidation when I open one of my own letters.

Will it be a letter from an editor who liked the story I submitted? Perhaps it is an offer to publish. Is someone congratulating me on having won a place in a competition? Alas, all too frequently it is a rejection notice. A fate all writers experience from time to time.

I remember the very first one I received. I went into freefall. My masterpiece was a failure. I was a failure. How could anyone reject the story I poured my heart and soul into? Over a number of days I read and reread the judge’s comments many times before finally scrunching said piece into a ball and throwing it in the direction of my dog. He would and did treat it with the scorn it deserved, and I took pleasure in watching it meet an inglorious death.

I still receive an occasional, read too often, rejection notice. In entering competitions, a writer learns of his/her success by way of a report showing the names of successful placegetters. Not seeing my name among those who experience the triumph of high achievement does not worry me, but I do puzzle over a full page report that lumps together 100 plus entries with the same all encompassing comments.

 I no longer add extra money to my entry fee for a personal appraisal of my submission because all too often the person making the assessment has no qualification for doing so. They choose a story according to personal preference rather than marking a tale on its own merits.

Don’t be fooled by post-nominal letters after a person’s name. This impressive list, B.A Hons., Dip., Ma followed the name of a judge who admitted to becoming confused between a tale I once wrote and another of no connection. If that wasn’t bad enough, the person then criticised my characters for their stilted language. This was despite the fact that neither of my two protagonists had ever spent a single day in a schoolroom and were meant to speak badly. One would have thought the worthy judge might have understood why the dialogue was stilted.

If you are a writer, particularly a newbie or an emerging writer or perhaps a non-writer desiring to become one, then join a writer’s group. Your desire to be better at your chosen craft will be realised quicker if you listen to what your colleagues have to say about your work. They won’t always be right, and you don’t have to follow their advice, but their opinions will be invaluable and you will reach your goal faster by being a member – and the next time you get a rejection slip you’ll have a whole army of shoulders to cry on.

Remember you have to be a writer to get a rejection slip.

Frank Ince 29 May 2012

A Writer's Journey

I have been writing since my early teens.. At first, I wrote poetry in the vain hope of taming my adolescent rebellion at life. On my new electric typewriter—a gift for my fourteenth birthday—I poured my heart out in gushes of verse, calling on God and the universe to let me make sense of it all. Soon after, hot under the collar about life’s injustices, I wrote short stories in which I found solutions to everything I felt was wrong with the world.

In my twenties, the angst of youth gone, I became an avid letter writer. I had left home, moved from Sydney to Darwin, about as far away as you could get and still be in the same country, and missed my family and friends. My six page missives were, in some way, another rebellion. I longed to be home again, and railed against my isolation the only way I knew how—with words.

Once, many years ago, I tried my hand at writing a Mills and Boon novel. I bashed it out on my, by then, old typewriter, and because I did not believe in the plot—and if I didn’t, how could I expect my reader to—I threw it in the bin.

I joined writing groups and took correspondence classes. I wrote about anything and everything. When a friend’s husband was giving her hell, I wrote a story in which she got away with his murder. A show of daffodils in spring was the catalyst for a poem, an umbrella turned inside out by a wintry blast became the story of a young girl lost. When I wasn’t writing, I was thinking about plot lines, witty dialogue and unforgettable characters.

Somehow, all this frantic writing went by the wayside. Years passed and I didn’t write a jot. I didn’t even think about writing. I was so involved in raising my family, working, playing tennis—until tennis elbow forced me to turn to golf—there was no room in my life for the distraction of the written word. Yet that is not the reason I stopped writing. Easy to think I was too busy, easier still to tout it as an excuse, but the truth is simple—I had lost faith in myself.

Three years ago, I moved to Eynesbury and joined the Wordsmiths of Melton. My love of writing rekindled, I once again found myself tapping away—this time on a computer, my trusty typewriter having stopped working long ago. I have produced many short stories, the odd haiku or two, suffered through a period of writer’s block, and begun a manuscript for a novel. The support of my fellow Wordsmiths is invaluable, and I thank them for their encouraging words and honest critiques, and for their friendship.

Recently my husband, Les, has begun to write too. However, as the saying goes, that is a story for another day. 

Julee Stillman © April, 2012

                                                 

What is writer's block?

What is writer’s block?

For centuries, around the globe, writers of all ilks have asked this question. It doesn’t matter if you are jotting a note to a friend, writing a short story or in the middle of a novel, penning a corporate paper, or trying to find just the right words for a stanza of poetry, each and every one of us has experienced the debilitating syndrome of writer’s block.

     Unfortunately, no one is immune. Even the most seasoned writer has been plagued by this troublesome condition. For some it will mean they never get back to their writing. Others manage to work through this glitch in their creativity and go on to produce excellent work.

     How do they do that? How do they push through and come out the other side stronger than ever?  I don’t believe there is a definitive answer. If there was, someone wiser than me would have come up with it by now.

     There are, however, many contributing factors—stress, loss of self belief, illness, and the one I hear the most, too much to do and not enough time. They all sound like excuses, don’t they? Yet they’re not. Each one, whether true or perceived, is enough to stop the writer in his tracks. And, once stopped, it’s hard to begin again.

     For me writer’s block came about through serious illness in the family. I had to stop thinking about myself and my passion for writing, and concentrate on someone else. Characters I’d lovingly created, and who had grown to the degree they were writing themselves—sometimes against what I had originally planned for them—were tossed aside like an unwanted toy. It was no longer important to finish chapter seven. I didn’t care if I never got to chapter eight. My main characters were facing a crisis which needed solving. I was facing my own crisis and didn’t have time to deal with theirs. My writing was put on the back burner, I would return to it when and if I could. I haven’t.

     Even though my life has now returned to as near to normal as its going to get for a while, my writing is still suffering. I think about my characters and my plot, I can write tomes in my mind but, when it comes to putting something down on paper, words elude me. And, in what has now become the norm, I can always find another task which demands my attention.

     Overcoming writer’s block is never easy, and there is no simple answer. Belonging to a writer’s group, surrounding myself with like minded people is, for me, paramount. I may not be writing my novel, but that doesn’t mean I won’t. I am determined one day I’ll find my passion again—it’s lost, not gone forever—and when I do the words will once again find their way from my head to the paper. And maybe that is the simple answer—determination, the will to keep trying until something happens.

The American Indians have a saying, ‘dance until it rains,’ so that’s what I’ll do.

© Julee Stillman – February, 2012

Guest speaker Ruby Wingrove, Arts and Cultural Officer with Melton Shire Council, spoke to the Wordsmiths about their possible involvement in the 2012 ArtBeat Festival with peformance poetry and an information booth.

Ruby speaks about ArtBeat as Terry and Toni listen intently

Frank takes notes while Julee and Erin give Ruby their full attention

With plans in place for 2012 the group settled to the task of critiquing members' work.

Wordsmiths of Melton

Welcome to the blog of Wordsmiths of Melton, a critiquing group for writers living within the Shire of Melton, Victoria.