Tag: amwriting

Literaleigh, Writing

An Aussie doing 12 X 12

Leigh Roswen

 

Aussie 12 X 12I’m  to the halfway point of the annual Picture Book Challenge founded by picture book author, Julie Hedlund. The idea of the 12 X 12 challenge is to write a picture book each month.  It’s a challenge I took on in a moment of frustration when I felt like a break from my usual writing genre (middle grade). I love a challenge, or more accurately, I need a kick up the pants in the form of deadlines and cheer-leading.  The 12 x 12 challenge is patronised internationally  and attracts over 800 participants.  The perks of membership and cost are well documented here http://12x12challenge.com/membership/  As I hadn’t done the challenge before I paid for the Shel Silverstein – level membership.

After a quick perusal of the ‘Introduce yourself’ forum on the 12 x 12 member page I deduced that only about 10 % of participants appear to be non-USA citizens.

So what is the Australian experience of 12 x 12 . What are some things to consider?

1. Budget for the exchange rate.

The actual cost of membership was around AUD $200 (USD $147).

The cost of the recommended text, Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul was AUD $20 and I could only get this through Book Depository.

Last month I also purchased, Picture Book Blueprint, which was a special deal offered by webinar presenter Laura Backes (25% off). This deal wasn’t so special when taking into account the Australian exchange rate. It cost around 200 AUD for lifetime access to the PB blueprint video presentations, downloadable PDF’s and facebook page. This latter purchase was entirely indulgent and it is not a requirement of the challenge. I haven’t used this resource yet but intend to for next month’s effort.

2. The time difference. Live webinars were generally staged at 4 to 6 am Australian time but this is not a huge problem (see below)

3. The picture book market in USA is different.

– Narrative non-fiction particularly picture book biographies seem to be very popular. This isn’t just coming from the webinars and industry experts on the 12 X12 page. For my own interest I asked the members of my critique group (all from USA) what their own children’s favourite picture books were. Many named biographies in their lists.

– More room for niche books – those which address minority groups and issues . The awarded and prolific Australian author Michelle Worthington said at the NSW Writers Festival that her more specialised books such as, Noah chases the Wind, featuring a child with autism, are sold direct to USA publishers.

– There seems to be more leniency with word count. Picture book competitions in Australia and general advice I’ve received from industry insiders advise that texts should not exceed 500  words. In the USA picture books that go up to 900 words seem to be more accepted. I think this is partly due to the popularity of narrative non-fiction.

– Agents seem to be almost mandatory over there whereas most first-time picture book authors here gain publication through direct submission. A consequence of this author- agent relationship, often stated in the 12 X 12 discussions, is that writers should have at least three submission-ready manuscripts before putting one forward to agent.  Agents represent authors rather than books and seek clients with depth. In Australia if you have single manuscript that you’ve polished (and polished again) then it is pointless labouring away on another two or three before you submit that first one. Submit, then work on your next book – there is sure to be lots of waiting whether successful or not.

4. Terminology and Australian culture. This is the hardest problem for me to get around when writing for 12 x 12 . It is not just the obvious terminology differences ie thongs vs flip flops, trolleys vs carts, Mum vs mom, but also cultural practices. For instance, the naming of school grades, popular sports and pastimes. I mentioned cricket (the game) in one of my stories, but of course, my US critiquers didn’t get it and many Australian kids can’t relate to baseball (although both my children played the pitching game).

 

The above three points are not necessarily drawbacks. The following are counterpoints to the above discussions:

1.  Cost. The price of this challenge is less that you would pay for one good PB manuscript assessment or one conference registration. The monthly webinars have so far been well-presented and packed with information and relevant examples. Julie Hedlund hosts industry experts which all have something different to offer from polishing/editing, to rhyming and non-fiction and finding ideas that resonate. Julie herself asks the right questions and adds useful anecdotes in an easy-to-listen style. The webinars are worth the price of admission alone but there is also many discussion forums you can join on aspects of picture book writing and a manuscript assessment forum where you can post your picture book texts for comment. I’ve only used the latter feature once for an early draft. I received some good feedback but, to be honest, I’m a little worried about this forum as your text is available to every member of 12 X 12 (800+) so you do this at your own risk. I felt more comfortable when I joined with a small critique group with five members. There are plenty of opportunities to join these smaller critique groups which are advertised in a section called Critique Connect.

Writing craft book
My already dog-eared copy of Writing Picture Books

This years writing craft book is money well spent. Ann Whitford Paul’s, Writing Picture Books* is packed with ideas on age-appropriateness, structure, voice, character and plot devices. This book was published in 2009 so some of the example texts listed are a bit dated* (although some are ageless) and need to be supplemented with studies of modern texts. This where I’m at a bit of disadvantage as I no longer have young children who bring home books or have the need to buy picture books. However I have gleaned quite a bit from listening to the webinars as they give excellent modern examples. Many picture books readings are available on You-tube although I can’t imagine these videos don’t infringe some sort of copyright laws.

I’ve  paid for a year’s subscription to ‘Storybox Library’ which is an Australian site where picture books are read out loud (often by celebrities). This is a lovely site but as a writer there is nothing like having the picture book in your hands to have a close look at the layout, language and page turns. You can source books at libraries but it is easy to get overwhelmed when you go into the children’s section – and there will be some poor quality picture books on the shelves. It is worthwhile doing a little research around the best new picture books including looking at the CBCA Awards for early readers http://cbca.org.au/short-list-2017 for past few years and the koala awards http://www.koalansw.org.au/winners/.

So in short – Yes the price of 12 X 12 is worth it. And I would recommend Ann Whitford Paul’s book* even if you’re not doing the challenge.

2. Time difference. Each webinars is made available as a replay  about a week after live event so you can watch at your own leisure – and not necessarily all at once. Of course, with a replay you can’t participate in the live question/answer sessions but I haven’t watched a replay yet where I wished they’d asked this or that question. The replay webinars remain available on login for about a three weeks – so plenty of time to watch. Other forms of communication are not time dependent  – the discussion forums are always open and historical discussions kept. I use email for my small critique group and view and occasionally comment on the 12 X 12 facebook page. The two occasions I had a minor  queries Kelli Panique (Julie’s administrative assistant) has replied to my emails promptly.

3 & 4 Market. You may want to target the USA market. If this is the case 12 x 12 is a great way to get a feel for what works in the States. It’s good to run your story past US critiquers to test how internationally friendly your characters, setting and language are.  Australian author, Mem Fox is hugely popular in the USA – and she even mentioned cricket in Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge. Still, you shouldn’t go into 12 X 12 thinking the US market is easier to crack. 12 X 12 bloggers and social media posts present many, many stories of continual rejections, near misses and years of revising and education. The market may be bigger over there but so are the number of aspiring picture book authors.

***

I am not a model challenger as I have written only three manuscripts so far in the six months but I am quite happy with that given that Julie Hedlund herself says she never actually wins the challenge. And I’m am learning mountains and those mountains are steep. Above all I know now – writing publishable picture books is a lot harder than it looks.

I have taken a departure from my shorts with this post as I had a lot to say. But have a few more shortish posts to go on my other blogs

* Ann Whitford Paul has a new book coming out in 2019, so if you can, wait for this new edition. It will have updated texts and will address, more recent market trends eg self-publishing, shorter text lengths. (heard from a Julie Hedlund/Ann Whitford Paul webinar Jan 2018)

 

Literaleigh, Writing

Illustrators are storytellers

Leigh Roswen

literaleigh shorts orange (2)Two of my works have been illustrated in the last 6 months.

The first was my flash fiction piece, The Age-old Battle published in The Readers Digest 100 Word Short Stories. I didn’t know this anthology would be illustrated at all, let alone my particular story. So it was an unexpected pleasure when I opened the book to find the powerful image of my protagonist. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any illustrator credited in the book.

story blur 2
The age-old battle with illustration

The second one was ‘Thongs on the Path’ published in June 2017 issue of School Magazine. Wow! What a thrill to receive my two copies in the mail and see David Legge’s quirky interpretation of my story on the front cover. David is a talented illustrator of many books and author/illustrator of the terrific picture book –  Bamboozled. I didn’t laugh at my text when I wrote ‘Thongs on the Path’ but I did have a giggle at the inside illustrations. A good illustrator does that. They don’t just create appropriate pictures to match the words they add something to the story. I’ve always been in awe of artistic talent (because I have none). But more than that children’s illustrators are, in fact, co-authors as their interpretation of characters and scenes are important to the narrative and to the mood of the story.

From this one passage in my short story:

“He (Uncle Kevin) wouldn’t be needing his scratchy, heavy human clothes again, but the Zulerians wanted to keep them – to display in their museum.

David Legge created this:

alien-school-mag.jpg
Thongs on the Path (one of the inside illustrations by D.Legge)

I hadn’t put anything about the appearance of the aliens, or the display and yet his interpretation was perfect and funny and went beyond my imagination.

While doing the 12 X 12 Picture Book Challenge this year (my experience in a future blog post) I have to keep reminding myself that it’s important to leave room for narrative input by an illustrator. Less description and less action narration. It is not an easy switch when you are used to writing non-illustrated stories.

Literaleigh, Writing

Stuck in a writing rut? Change vehicles.

Leigh Roswen

A few months ago I found myself deep in a writing rut. My confidence deflated my motivation stalled, my wheels spinning – going nowhere.

car in rut

The reasons for this roadblock –

1. Several rejections of short stories. No, not rejections, Declineds – this is the term  employed by the widely-used  Submittable portal. Declined, somehow manages to sound more polite and more impersonal all at once. Gone are the days where some satisfaction could be gained by spearing rejection letters to a spike on the wall (a’ la Stephen King). I admit some of my manuscripts weren’t a good fit for the markets I was submitting to, but due to point 2. I was fairly desperate to send my children’s short stories anywhere.

2. The demise of the children’s short fiction market. In Australia I know of at least four competitions/markets that have closed in the last few years in an already tiny market. I never expect to make money or even wide recognition for short story writing but a little validation and goals to work toward are important. The competitions that do exist for children’s writing often have comparatively hefty entry fees ($12.00 or more) and for the winners there are small returns in terms of both money and publicity. Also children’s short fiction markets stipulate restrictive word limits. Most are under 700 words for the under 11 age group and no more than 1500 for older middle-grade. YA short fiction markets are almost non-existent.  Micro-fiction (adult markets often regard anything up to 1000 words as flash or micro-fiction) can be engrossing and clever but also restrictive in terms of language, character arcs and settings. This can be stifling for a writer (especially verbose ones like me) and it is easy to look longingly over the fence at the adult literary magazines where the word limit of individual stories jumps dramatically to sometimes 10,000 words and often 6,000 words.

It is a volatile landscape for magazine publishers and small print presses. The Mslexia indie press guide says this ‘they start up and close down at the drop of a hat compiling an (indie press) guide is a bit like playing whack-a-mole‘ Unfortunately when it comes to children’s magazines disappearing into the mole hole is more common than a new mole poking their head up.

You might think that e-mags would have filled the void but they haven’t. Emags that except children’s writing from adults are hard to find.  I did stumble on a mega-short story site recently called East of the Web  and found it has a children’s section but am hard pressed to name any other.

Competition within this limited children’s market is fierce the only remaining Australian children’s print magazine – The School Magazine, only publishes a handful of the hundreds of unsolicited entries it receives per year.

Caterpillar magazine, a high quality Irish publication for 7 to 11-year-olds accepts international children’s stories and poems. It has a waiting period of up to 4 months from submission to news of acceptance/rejection.

Cricket media group in the USA produces a series of fiction and non-fiction magazines for children and young adults. While it is hard to find information on the number of entries they receive across 11 magazines even US blog posts I’ve read say this is a tough market to crack for US writers. You can bet it is even harder for Australians. Turnaround time on news of submissions can run up to 6 months. That equates to a big slush pile. Highlights magazine group are the other big print magazine publishes in the USA with a stated four-month submission waiting time.

While American markets do seem to be a bit healthier and varied than ours (or UK’s) I find it hard to adjust my stories to fit the US market. It’s not just the terminology but the organisational  and cultural practices as well. I recently wrote a story about scouts. My story relied on having girls in the troop but in the USA scouts is still only for boys. And what about school? Do you change the way you name the grade levels? Although UK is  more closely aligned I doubted a story I wrote about children walking home from the surf would resonate with British children. But I hear you say – Aren’t US magazines, in particular, crying out for diversity? Yes, but the not the diversity of an Australian suburbanite.  I am stuck in a world which is diverse enough to be confusing but not diverse enough to be enlightening.

There is also a problem of accessing overseas magazines to research their preferred style and voice. So many blogs/podcast/editors I’ve heard say this research is a must   If you live in the country of origin it is likely that the library will stock popular children’s magazines but if you have to subscribe from Australia to say, two of the Cricket media magazines, a Highlights magazine and The Caterpillar this can get pricey (over 150 annually) and impossible to justify on a purely cost-benefit analysis.  Even if you’re lucky enough to climb the slush pile and win the grand prize of publication  the rewards are likely to be less than $200 per story.

As far as competitions for children’s writers I wonder if many organisers have thrown in the towel because there were simply too many entries. It does seem ironic that high demand leads to cancellation. I’m only speculating. Maybe somebody more in-the-know can shed light on the demise of children’s writing competitions. I keep a submissions book which lists the manuscripts I’ve entered going back to 2012. It reads like a column of death notices for fallen competitions. My most disheartening discovery was that the Mary Grant Bruce award was no longer listed in the Fellowship of Australian Writers Awards in 2015. This was a rare opportunity that accepted children’s short stories up to 5000 words. Last year the Fellowship of Australian Writers offered 19 different annual awards across many genres and forms.  There was not one award for children’s writing. The 2016 awards list will be released on Sept 1st.

I am powerless to influence the trends in the children’s short story market. So I can only file away my unsubmittable stories and hope a market opens up in the future.

3. Novel woes. I was told a by few sources working in children’s editing/publishing that no Australian publishers would take the risk on a middle-grade novel from an unknown author that was as long as mine – 85,000 words. I received a  manuscript assessment that suggested I need to expand certain parts but at same time somehow simplify my story (among other criticisms.) It seemed an impossible depressing task to cut words and yet expand chapters  so I put it away – for a while.

My comfortable middle grade wagon was going nowhere. The most sensible option (the least masochistic) would probably have been to give up on my writing journey and call for a taxi to take me to a new destination (Painting? Photography? Gardening?) This was harder than I thought. I tried for a week – maybe two. But I realised writing wasn’t just a pastime it had become a compulsion. I couldn’t stop thinking about my novel (could I fix it?). I got it out and rewrote a few of the early chapters with the aim to strengthened my main character’s motivations. Against my better judgement I even wrote another middle grade short story that came to me unbidden. This had to stop.

Strange, how the social media universe sometimes seems to nag you. As I pondered my stagnation I clicked over to twitter and somebody had tweeted this timely post quoting  Coco Chanel

“Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door. ”

I had to come up with a way to satisfy my writing habit and still have some achievable goals. Hence I hopped out of my comfortable pot-holed middle-grade car and decided to try out some new vehicles.

fast car

New Vehicles

Poetry writing

I wrote poetry as part of a 10 day WordPress Challenge. This is a great exercise which not only offers a daily prompt to get you going but also provides notes on different devices and forms of poetry. It is the best free course I’ve ever done. And while your poetry is not ‘marked’ the feedback you give and receive is fun and encouraging. The greatest lesson I learnt from this challenge was that I produce my best work when I have to and I have guidelines.  For me deadlines and prompts are the best writing coaches. Admittedly I was exhausted after the 10 days but also chuffed that I had managed to write that many poems. I had never even attempted a single adult poem before.

While I know I will never become a great poet, I’m sure the language and the economy of words used in poetry can improve my fiction writing. Picture book writing and nano-fiction, in particular, require a beauty and sparseness of language that is closely related to poetry.

Adult short stories

Unlike children’s writing there seems to be a plethora of opportunities for adult short form writing with a wide range of word counts, genres and forms.

There are many literary magazines and international competitions accepting submissions throughout the year. Two good sites that list these opportunities are:

Aerogramme Studio

Australian Writers Resource 

I also recently purchased, Mslexia Indie Presses 2016/17. This is a wonderful resource for British markets (many of which accept international submissions)

In past years I have started many adult short stories and finished a few. I decided to make a conscious decision to write more in the next 12 months and finish at least two of those languishing in my files.

It is not easy to change gears between adult and children’s short story writing and the effort sent me scuttling for dusty short story collections on my shelf and listening to short story podcasts – Selected Shorts and The New Yorker. I prefer the Selected Shorts selections (less high-brow) but I enjoy The New Yorker discussions (sometimes more than the story itself).

IMG_6133
If your writing is going nowhere at least there is always reading. My short story collection. I come back to the Tom Bailey one often as it not only has essays on short story writing but 33 stories from the greats of the form.

In children’s stories all story threads should be tied up neatly – the plot is all important. In adult fiction there is usually some shift in the character, but the language and the mood created are often as important as the plot. A good short story often leaves the reader pondering. I like the description I read somewhere  – ‘An adult short story should, end but never close.’ Good short stories often reveal something profound about the human condition. On comparing the novel to the short story, V.S Pritchett’s is quoted, ‘The novel tells us everything whereas the short story tells us only one thing, and that, intensely.’ (From On Writing Short Stories edited by Tom Bailey)

I have managed to complete one adult short story recently but I feel it’s not quite right – almost a fusion between adult and children’ s writing. I am keeping my eye out for a course that will force me to do assignments and take my short story writing to the next level. If there is one thing I learnt from the poetry challenge is that I need prodding.

Personal essay

I wrote a nature essay that has been swirling around in my head for many years. I sat down to write it with great trepidation. Whereas poetry is an embellished representation of your heart and fiction is your imagination, a personal essay is your mind and personality laid bare. This is the one piece of writing I actually felt embarrassed about showing to my very non-judgmental (except re bad writing – as it should be) writing group.

Having said this – I really enjoyed writing this essay about mine and my children’s carefree childhoods in close contact with the coastal bush. Words flowed more freely than in any other form of writing I’ve attempted. Writing blog posts has definitely helped me find my voice for this kind of writing.

There are quite a few competitions and occasional markets that accept personal essays. Sometimes they have an open topic and other times they ask for specialised subjects such as travel stories or nature essays.

I am sure there will be more ruts in my writing journey (and hopefully a few downhill sections). But, hey, there is still screen-writing, play-writing, novellas, flash-fiction, non-fiction articles, picture books, romance…

Have you tried any shiny new forms of writing?

Literaleigh, Writing

What I learnt at the pitch session

Leigh Roswen

Recently I attended the NSW Kids and YA Writers Festival which was an inspiring, informative and entertaining day.

nsw writers festival

One of the sessions I attended was pitch session  for middle-grade and YA authors. Writers could sign up upon registration, then during the session six were drawn to present a 3- minute pitch. I’ve never attended a pitch session before so I was eager to see how they worked. You see, in my braver moments I imagine putting myself forward for my middle grade fantasy. This is what I learnt from the judging panel (agents and publishers) and those courageous souls whose name was drawn out of the box to present their work.

  1. State the title, genre (see this post – Lara Willard) and specific age suitability of your book. eg 7-9 yrs, 9-12 yrs. (just middle-grade can be considered too vague) Young adult, New Adult, Adult.
  2. Don’t try to recite a whole synopsis. Concentrate on the human emotion, the central conflict, the theme. It is very hard to listen to a convoluted plot. Things have to be much simpler in the spoken word than in the written. It’s hard to digest names, places and events in a monologue. The pitch is more like a blurb than a synopsis.
  3. Always read a sample of your work. Probably the first page is best, as then there is no need to set the scene. This seemed to be the most important part to the judges and I came to realise why. A good premise is not much in itself. A captivating voice and engaging style is what really made the audience sit up and take notice.
  4.  Introduce yourself. Be brief. The work is more important. Help the listener understand your motivations, experience, staying power and enthusiasm. Things you might mention are, occupation (if it relates to your writing), your driving force and  relevant writing successes (eg competition/publications).
  5. State where your book fits in the current marketplace (not mandatory) eg My book will appeal to readers of…and … OR  I was inspired by the world-building of…., the quirky characters of… and the off-the-wall humour of ….These options are preferable to comparing with just one book as agents/publishers don’t simply want a version of an existing novel.
  6. Is there something that makes your book different? eg an unusual structure, an alternating POV, unreliable narrator.
  7. Above all PRACTICE. Make sure the pitch fits into the time limit. Have prompt cards or small notes but don’t be trying to sort them out as you take the stage. Experiment with the order of the above. One pitcher opened with a dramatic reading from a passage of her text. This worked well for her. Don’t underestimate how flustered you (and definitely me) may be when there is a panel of agents staring coldly (it seems) over the rim of their glasses at you. Practice gives you confidence.
  8. Before you decide to throw your hat in the ring for a pitch session, I’d suggest attending at least one previous session. I learnt a lot from the judge’s comments and I’m sure there is more to learn. In fact, I want to know what I’ve left out for future reference (one day I might just build up the courage).

 

Literaleigh, Writing

Writers Group: What works?

Leigh Roswen

writing group sepia

I wouldn’t still be writing without my critique group. Writing simply would have been too lonely and frustrating. My abilities would’ve stagnated. There is only so much theory you can get from books and courses. You need to write and you need feedback. Sometimes you need to be told the same thing a dozen times before it truly sinks in (and maybe twenty when it comes to the difference between being and been – Sorry guys). Manuscript assessors or competitions with feedback can’t consistently deliver that. They also can’t provide friendship and support the way a writers group can.

I’m sure there have been many writers who’ve been successful without peer critiques but there would be few of those that didn’t have the help of a family member or close friend or agent who read and commented on their text before they sent it to publishers. Lucky you, if you have a loved one who has the patience to wade through several drafts and give you honest feedback. Most of us don’t.

I don’t want to sound like it’s easy to find a writing group that you feel comfortable with. It’s hard. This is not a book club get-together. You are baring your unfiltered mind to fellow members. You are sharing unpolished work and crazy ideas. If you were to equate mind to appearance it would be the equivalent of other’s seeing you stagger out of bed in your underwear first thing in the morning.

So how do you even begin to look for a writers group? Most of the groups I’ve been involved in have come about as a result of meeting people at local writing courses. I will be forever in the debt of well- known children’s author and generous networker – Di Bates. I participated in a course she ran on children’s writing and through her I was introduced to Danika. That was over five years ago and we are still meeting regularly having gained and lost some members along the way. Local writer’s centres and societies often run writing groups – even if you don’t like their format it is important to get yourself into situations where you can meet other writers and find those that you click with. Social media tags eg (#amwriting #amediting), attending writing conferences and participating in NaNoWriMo regional groups may lead to finding your perfect writing partner/s. I have no experience of online critique groups but I know they work well for some and maybe the only option for those in remote areas or with limited time.

I certainly didn’t land in my current fabulous writing group on my first attempt. In many former forays into writing get-togethers I worked out what works and what doesn’t for me. I stress for me because it very much depends on what you want to get out of a group. I’ve written down a few things that I found problematic:

– Writing groups that just do exercises/games. This is fun when you are starting out and can be good for idea generation but it often means you are not writing what you want to write and not getting meaningful critiques either. Particularly if the exercises involve writing things on the spot. I am hopeless at on-the-spot writing and never feel entirely comfortable sharing it with anybody. I believe writing impromptu is a different skill than writing and re-writing in a considered and careful manner. Also if you are all writing about the same thing for a particular exercise it can become unnecessarily competitive.

– Writing groups that are just about coaching/accountablity rather than critique. If you are an established writer with editors and publishers or you are held back more by your time management than the quality of your work this type of group or networking is great. If I could only have one, though, I would opt for the critique variety as they can still act as a motivating force but the accountability-type group can’t improve your writing.

-Writing groups that become more about something other than the writing. Do you find yourself baking and preparing lunch for 2 hours before a meeting? Or do you meet in noisy cafés where it is more about chasing down the best latte than getting down to the nitty gritty of your character’s development. Or does the group spend hours talking about the non-writing stuff?

– Members of the group find it difficult to take criticism of their work. That doesn’t mean everybody should accept criticism without comment. I often ask fellow members for clarification or explain why something is difficult to change. But even in that process I’m learning. Honestly, 90% of the time I come around to their viewpoint anyway. It is when members get emotional or overly precious about aspects of their work that it can become very awkward and unproductive.

– Conversely members who are rude or demeaning in giving critiques. Yes, writers do have to have thick skins. But if you find yourself crying or ripping up your work after each session then don’t torture yourself. Leave. No writing group at all is better than one that make you feel worthless.

– Groups with fluctuating membership. It’s important to build a relationship with fellow critiquers to get to know them and their work. It is difficult for someone to critique the middle chapter of your novel if they have no idea how it started. It is not critical if members miss a meeting or two but having new people every second meeting can be disruptive. Also it takes a certain familiarity to feel at ease with somebody both criticizing your work and allowing you to criticize theirs. Our group is lucky enough to have had the same five members for over 2 years now.

 

Now  I’ve talked about how to meet writing partners and possible problems with writing groups. I’ll move on to what works for our group. I would love to hear the variations of how other successful critique groups operate. Our procedures aren’t set in stone – any group should be willing to evolve to better meet the needs of their members.

– We meet fortnightly. We used to meet monthly. This was too long to sustain the motivation between sessions. We all lead busy lives and more often than not one or two members can’t make it on the day. This meant that it was often two months between sessions if somebody missed one. By then they were practically strangers (not really but you know what I mean).

– We have five members. Any more that this and it gets too onerous to edit everyone else’s words. Much less and there may not be enough eyes or viewpoints to make well-rounded criticism. I like five because if one or two are away then three can still have a meaningful meeting. You often find that different members have different strengths (thank goodness the others know more about punctuation and grammar than me).

– We take it in turns to meet at each other’s houses. Five people can easily fit around a dining table and we don’t go to any huge effort for food. A morning tea with nibbles. We joke that an essential requirement of our group is a tolerance for pets. At last count we had eight dogs and four cats between us (Pat has over half those). They invariably provide us with some distraction (my dog is the worst attention-seeker).

cat editing sepia
Getting a little help from Pat’s cat

 

– Every meeting we critique up to 1500 words of each other’s work. This can be part of a novel, a picture book text, a poem, or series of poems , or a short story or even pitch letters and synopses.

– We don’t always write in same genre or for the same age group. I have read elsewhere that groups should only be formed who write in the same genre eg all middle-grade or all YA. This maybe be ideal, but having people who you get on with and are good at offering criticism is much more important than sticking to a group that writes your exact genre. Also I would argue that the variety is refreshing and as a writer you don’t feel restricted to presenting the same genre every week. We’ve had adult flash fiction, picture books, children’s and adult poetry, middle grade and YA Novels presented at our meetings. I even got valuable feedback on a nature essay I wrote.

– We send out our work via email attachment 2-5 days before the meeting. I like this method because, as I’ve said before on this blog, I am a slow thinker and writer and I like to give a considered critique rather than a hurried on-the-spot one. Some of you may be excellent at the off-the-cuff critique so this may not be necessary. Or if your group is large (over 6) the emails and pre-work may be too overwhelming. We each choose the method we prefer for editing. Some of us prefer to use Word review in-document comments others just prefer to use a pen on the printed-out text. Either way we bring a print-out of our own work and critiqued work of others to each meeting.

– Each meeting we take it in turns to have our work read out. Mostly, we get someone else to read our piece. This can be enlightening as other readers don’t make the same assumptions about your work. This can be particularly useful with poetry and picture book texts where language and rhythm are all important.

– At the end of the reading we discuss the piece and explain our critique comments. The discussion is often as productive (and definitely more fun) as the comments themselves. At the end of the discussion we pass over the commented piece to the writer to take home.

– We are not all business. We DO chat. We chat about our inspirations, our rejections, our successes, writing opportunities and festivals, our experiences of publishers, self-publishing, manuscript assessments, courses, social media – every topic related to writing and… some not – families – human and furred. This is important. I have learnt so much and reached wider writer’s networks by listening and learning from the others in my group. The support to keep going and being around people who understand your passion and struggle is invaluable.

If you are curious these are the websites of the others in my writing group:

http://www.danikahall.com/

www.patsimmonswriter.com.au

http://www.diannellisbooks.com/

www.kateoneil.com.au/

Love to hear about your experiences of writing groups – positive or not. Do you have any other procedures, tips about how a successful critique group operates?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Literaleigh, Writing

Day 8 #introtopoetry

Leigh Roswen

list with border

Prompt : Pleasure

Device : Anaphora (repetition of a word/phrase at the beginning of a line)

 

Lists

Lists for shopping – bread, milk and jam

Lists for camping – torches, hat, billy can

Lists of party invitees – Robert, Jill and Sam

Lists have their place,

They free brainspace –

Then there’s,

Lists to do before you die.

The bucket list’s the trend.

Check, a show on west end

Check, the northern lights

Check, Egyptian sights

Check, a polar bear, French cycle, Machu Picchu trek

Check, Check, Check.

But what if you should die before the list’s complete?

Do you lie on death’s bed with thoughts of rank defeat?

Or worse, the list’s through, well before your dying day

Is there nothing left to live for? Will your life just slip away?

Lists they don’t account, for the unbidden and the free,

A yellow moon, a friend’s smile, a perfect sip of tea.

A small gift wrapped with love and care

That funny story just made to share

So let life’s pleasures be

and leave the

Lists for shopping.

Lists for camping.

Lists for party invitees.

 

Literaleigh, Writing

Day 4 #introtopoetry

Leigh Roswen

Path to sea

Prompt:  Journey

Device:  Simile

At Journey’s End

Like an undemanding lover

Patiently you wait for my return.

Although I’ve laid with others,

You forgive –

my fickle ways.

I know your lumps and dips

And unfashionable,

Squishy bits

And the way the seabreeze

Caresses me

When I lie in your embrace.

Oh, those that I’ve endured,

The low and barely stable,

The smelly and the squeaky

And the just too-perfect,

Crisply starched.

Curse, the ocean-going ones,

All sickening and rocky.

The hard hip-breaking types

Under canvass,

Flapping and leaky

Soon this house

Won’t hold me and

I’ll wander once again.

But there’s comfort in knowing

My own bed’s at

Journey’s end.

 

 

Literaleigh, Writing

Day 3 #introtopoetry

Leigh Roswen

I haven’t quit but my internet connection did, for two days.  Hence I am posting Day 3 now. Rather then inundate you with 3 poetry days all at one I will still post one per day. For the Day 3 acrostic challenge I wrote two poems. The first in praise of my writing group and a preface to a blog entry that I will soon post about the value and workings of a good writing critique group. The second is a rather childish offering but a good excuse to post a picture of my constant companion – the distractordog.

Prompt : Friends

Form:  Acrostic

Writing Group

We gather each fortnight

Round a table with tea

I want to say it’s engaging and educating but

There’ isn’t any ‘e’

I‘d like to say it’s fun and friendly but there’s definitely

No eff. So I’ll say our

Group’s supportive, informative andteapot writing group

Giving. Its listening, critiquing

Reading aloud, commiserating

Oh, and congratulating too

Uplifting and motivating. A real

Pleasure to be with you.

 

Faithful Friend

Muzzling wet nose

Yucky licky kissesDistractordog for blog

Devoted doting eyes

Obedient for food

Gambolling in the garden

Gorgeous waggy tail

Your faithful friend and mine

 

 

 

Literaleigh

In and Out of my Comfort Zone 2

Leigh Roswen

My second (somewhat belated) post of things I have done IN and OUT of comfort zone. The out is the important one as these are the things that  have taken a little courage or effort to push beyond the everyday.

IN : Stayed in a lighthouse keepers house. It has always been my fantasy to live as a lighthouse keeper, far from civilization, surrounded by the wild ocean and coastal bush. I got to live this fantasy for two nights at Green Cape Lighthouse in Ben Boyd National Park near Eden. We had unlimited access to the classic lighthouse and an enthusiastic ranger to give us some fascinating historical insights.IMG_4221

We learnt that in the sitting room adjoining our bedroom an inquest was held into the tragic wreck of the Ly-ee-moon in 1886. This ship grounded on the rock platform attempting to round the cape, resulting in the violent death of 71 people, many of whom were women and children. It was eerie to sit on the lounge chair within sight of the churning ocean and think about the harrowing testimonies that took place in that very room. The third officer who was at the helm at the time of the grounding blamed the Captain for not responding to his call for assistance. Both men were charged with manslaughter after the Green Cape hearing but were later exonerated by jury in Sydney.

The exIMG_4194perience lived up to my expectation but I have a new slant on the life of lighthouse keeper families. One of the keeper’s living in our accommodation had eleven children and his assistant in the neighbouring cottage had 16 (or was it 17) children. The wives had to be trained nurses and teachers and only had a cook as help. At least the children would have had fun playing with each other. Right? Wrong. The children of the head lighthouse keeper were not allowed to mix with the assistant’s children and were kept indoors when the assistant’s family were out, and vice a versa. This was to eliminate the risk of arguments between fathers over their offspring’s spats. I think I will revise my fantasy and be very happy with my breif cushy lighthouse keepers experience.

 

OUT:

Became a nervous passenger (again)

I got in the car with my L-plated son. Ok, so this shouldn’t really count because it is inevitable (and I made my husband do the first twenty hours). If you are a parent it is just one of life’s humps that has to be endured. Unlike teaching your child to read, catch a ball or even cook, there is little joy in sitting white-knuckled in the passenger seat trying to stay calm, very calm. And its hard to explain how to do something that you rarely analyse.

‘Which way do I turn the wheel to get out of here,’ my son asks.

I don’t know I just do it, I feel like saying, but I don’t. I grab an imaginary wheel and pretend to reverse the car out of the car park. ‘Anti-clockwise,’ I say.learners collage 2 cropped

Completing the 120 hours of driving time required for a NSW drivers licence is onerous. Every time I’m tempted to just hop in the car and relax into the driver’s seat a little voice says, You should be making Unruly Son drive or you’ll still be filling in his driving log on the way to the retirement village.’ I know parents who have put the task off and then Freddy’s Higher School Certificate looms (can’t do it now) and then suddenly he’s off to university or has to move away for work (no time then). Before they know it their Freddy is in his twenties and is restricted to using friends or public transport to get around. I shouldn’t whinge I only have two children and Son Unruly is my last to go through the driving log marathon. I know, all too soon, he’ll be an independent driver and I will be anxiously lying awake at night hoping to hear the sound of the car pull into the drive.

Let go of my manuscript

I sent the manuscript I have been working on for four years off to a manuscript assessor Was it ready? Probably not. Will it ever be ready? That’s what I need to know, no matter how painful that revelation may be. The novel I have sent off is the first book in a middle grade wannabe trilogy. I’ve heard some words of wisdom regarding series advising to write all the books before submitting, in order to minimize plot inconsistencies. Unfortunately with this practice you have no idea (or at least I haven’t) if the whole premise is flawed or unmarketable or targeted at the wrong age group. Could I be  wasting my time doing subsequent books in the series? Halfway through Book 2  I had this very crisis of confidence and realized I needed some professional feedback.

It was difficult pressing that send button knowing that a stranger will be reading my manuscript with a critical eye. In a month’s time I may be sitting in a corner rocking after reading the critique. However at least I will have an independent opinion on whether to move forward.

Any writers who have any thoughts on how to handle series submissions I would be interested to hear.

 

Literaleigh, Writing

Writing at Midnight

Leigh Roswen

IMG_4027

I am going to indulge in a bit of magical thinking. I am going to be sitting at my computer writing at midnight and hope the act of writing in the first minutes of 2016 will be a portent for the rest of the year.

Truth is, I love not having to do anything ‘special’ for New Years Eve. My big kids have their own parties to attend. My husband is worn out after a hectic year and will probably just slump in front of Netflix sci-fi. That means I’m free! Not just to do what I like, but to do what I like without a pinch of FOMO. Yes, FOMO. My daughter taught me this acronym it means Fear Of Missing Out. I usually scoff at sms abbreviations but I find myself using this one more and more. Generally I apply it do my overactive, overcurious dog who wants to be everywhere she’s not.  At the neighbours when she is home, with every dog who walks past, outside when inside, inside when outside, upstairs when downstairs, eating your dinner when she has her own feast. She signifies all these longings by heartfelt crying. I’m thinking of renaming her FOMO.

I digress. New Year’s Eve is rife with FOMO. I don’t miss my younger years stressing over where to go and who with. You had to have a good time with drinking and shouting involved otherwise you felt like a loser.  In my experience this pressure to have  maximum revelry generally led to disappointment. Going out with friends on other nights of the year was less loaded with expectation and lecherous drunken strangers.

Later in life when the children were small we’d troop down to be beach close to Wollongong and watch the nine o’clock fireworks. Without small children to oh and ah fireworks are an anti-climax. Call me a Grinch, but nowadays I can’t help thinking about all that money going up in smoke and all the scared dogs and wildlife.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year’s Eve whether it be a noisy or quiet celebration or none at all. I’ll be sitting at my computer doing what I love – what better way to bring in the New Year.