Offline October - clarifications

I meant to add this to the post yesterday.  To clear up any confusion, you're allowed 1 hr each day on the internet. 

Excluded from that hour is anything work related - so for me, I'm excluding time spent on the internet for my web design work, survey sites (I do some online surveys for extra income), and ebay sales.  All of which produce some income for me.  I just have to make sure I don't cheat!

I'm still to clarify whether writing blog posts offline counts towards the time :)

Given that I can quite easily spend several hours each day on Facebook and forums I'm on, it's certainly going to be tough.  I'm already seeing which sites / threads I value most and which are just habit.  I know I can do it - I spend less time than one hour checking my email etc while I'm away because I'm paying for the data!  Some days I don't even check it while I'm on holidays. 

It really is just habit.  I need a break - I get on the computer.  It will be about finding other things to do instead of mindlessly jumping on here.  It will mean having a plan when I do get on, not mindlessly surfing.

Wish me luck :)

Offline October

I'm seriously considering joining in Offline October.  It's been started by 2 writer friends as a way of gaining back time wasted on the internet, a way to reclaim your creativity and time. 

It's not just for writers - "It’s for anyone who believes the internet is dominating too much of their time and they’d like to either have a break or get it under control."

I've been trying to cut down on the internet lately - and have been achieving a lot more - and have been 'in training' this week seeing how I'd go with only 1 hr internet / day.  It's tough.  It requires the breaking of a lot of habits. I tend to use the computer as a bit of a decompressor, a way to relax.

I really think I need to do this. Check it out and see if you'd also like to join in.

RWA 'Diamonds are Forever' Conference: Part 3

As most people were checking out of their hotel rooms on the Sunday morning, there was no official walking party to the beach.  So I went on my own and had a lovely time picking up shells, taking photos etc.

Sunday started bright and early with the announcement of the Group Grants award (our face-to-face writer's group was lucky enough to be awarded a grant to go towards paying for a workshop on self-publishing later in the year). 

We then heard from Harlequin Australia and had a lively panel session - 'Speed-dating with Aussie Publisher's where publishers and agents from Harper Collins/ Avon, Curtis Brown Australia, Momentum, Harlequin and Simon & Schuster tried to 'sell' themselves as to why they would be good to submit to. 

After morning tea, we broke into our first session of the day.  I had 'The Joys and Challenges of Romatic Attraction' by couples therapist Dr John Barletta.  It was quite an amusing talk, with lots of good information.

After lunch, I attended 'Why TV can be a writer's best friend' with Amanda Ashby and Sara Hantz.  Boy, these ladies watch some TV - I don't know how they ever find time to write!  (Actually I think it was Amanda who admitted she writes in the ad breaks!!)

• Television teaches us how to use action, emotion and characterisation.
• Show not tell to heighten emotion.  ie Let the reader see for themselves.  It's more believable than just telling people something.  It's why the news uses 'live coverage' even when there isn't anything to see.
• To make every action count, you need to follow it up with a reaction.  It improves both your character arc and your pacing.
• Take the time to highlight the emotional fallout.
• Look at what your characters are doing, not what they're saying.  Character is revealed through action.
• Backstory makes a character feel more real and where motivation for their actions comes from.

That was followed by 'The hidden strength of secondary characters' with Erin Grace.

• We should know our secondary character's life story and personal quirks, even though it doesn't all have to be revealed to the reader.
• Having a secondary character reveal facts, hints and secrets about the hero/ine can be more effective & credible than narrative.
• A secondary character adds layers to the main characters.  They may also act as a mirror to the mains.
• They can be used to cause conflict, deliver vital plot information
• A secondary character MUST move the story forward - otherwise drop them.
• Consider the length of your book - the more secondary characters, the longer it needs to be so that they're not cardboard cutouts.  Also the more secondaries, the more complex the plot may be.
• Secondary character doesn't need to have a character arc - it's not their story.

We finished up with another speed-dating session - this time with Alex Adsett, Random House and Penguin.

The next conference was launched in spectacular fashion - now everyone is looking forward to Fremantle in 2013!

So that was it.  An exhausting yet motivational and knowledge-filled 3 days.  3 days of lots and lots of chatting, hugging, the occasional squeal and eating!

See you all next year!

RWA 'Diamonds are Forever' Conference: Part 2

Saturday morning saw the official start of the conference. The approx 350 delegates gathered for the welcome, and the First Sales presentation.  This is where all of the delegates who have made their first sale since their last conference get presented with their blue First Sale ribbon.  This year we had over 30 new published authors - I'm so happy for them all, especially my friends who received theirs.  One day I'll be up there!!!

Eloisa James gave an emotional keynote address and I don't think there were many dry eyes in the house!  This was followed by a presentation by Joanne Grant from Harlequin, and a panel discussion 'Beyond the Big Six' discussing the smaller publishers and self-publishing.

After morning tea (the food was all very yummy!), we split up and headed off to our chosen breakout sessions.

First up I had "Relentless Conflict - You owe it to your characters" with Helene Young.  We discussed the GMC (goal, motivation and conflict) of the characters in Avatar.  I haven't actually seen the movie so was a bit lost at times but still got a lot out of it.

• Use what the character desires most and fears most to strengthen their conflict.  Put it into the GMC grid. Can you make the motivation more memorable? Can you realign them so that they conflict more with each other?
• Make sure your reader stays invested in your characters because they want that conflict resolved.

After lunch, I had "Engaging your reader" with Anne Gracie.  Notes from that session:

• Look at the 1st 5 pages of your 'keeper' books.  How does the writer make you engage with the character?
• First scene needs to show heroine is like - if she's witty, make the first scene witty etc
• You need to create reader engagement on an intellectual, psychological, emotional, structural and technical level.  Anne went through examples of each of these.

I then attended the "Love in the face of danger - Romantic Suspense Panel".  I don't write romantic suspense at this stage, but I do enjoy reading it.

• The stronger the villian, the stronger the hero/ine has to be to overcome them.  So if your villian is too weak, the hero doesn't look great overcoming them.
• Put as much work into the villian as the hero/ine.
• Every crime twist has to make it harder for the relationship.

After afternoon tea (more food!), we reconvened for a panel discussion "New York, New Directions" and had our Annual General Meeting.

Saturday night was the Awards Dinner.  The meal was delicious, everyone was glammed up, and we had a lovely night.  Congrats to everyone who received an award (once again, especially to my RWA friends!)

Some of our writer's group.

This was the 'other' dessert.

This was my dessert - very rich but very delicious!

Homeschooling Monthly Memories - August 2012

We were away for almost 2 weeks during August, but still managed to pack in lots of learning.

Cubs 'Curriculum':

• Billy wasn't at Cubs much in July due to us being away and clashes with Peter Pan rehearsals.  When he was there, they worked on codes and Promise & Law activities.

Intentional Learning:

Creative Arts

• Rehearsals are well underway for Peter Pan (Billy is playing Curly, a Lost Boy) with it ramping up to several rehearsals each week. 
• He's made a green screen using cardboard and has been playing around with green-screening special effects and other video techniques using video editing software.
• He's been watching a youTube series called Film Riot  to learn more video editing & filming techniques.
• We visited both the Archibald Prize exhibition and the Walkley Press Photography Award Exhibition.
  
  

Archibald Prize exhibition

Walkley Press Photography exhibition

HSIE

• Australian history


• We continued our reading of Thomas Appleby - Convict Boy by Jackie French
• We watched the BHP Sound and Light show at Newcastle Museum showing how steel-making used to happen in the area
  

  

  The BHP Sound & Light show

• He watched a Brain Pop movie on the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and we discussed it.

Maths

• We're working through the Murderous Maths book 'Awesome Arithmetricks' as our maths 'spine'
• Topics covered included subtraction with borrowing.
• He's been testing his addition skills using a MathEd tablet app game.

Science & Technology

• We visited the hands-on Science section at Newcastle Museum.
• He's watched BrainPop movies about bacteria, atoms, gravity and the phases of the moon
• He's worked with RPG Game Maker and video editing software & green-screening techniques
• We visited Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and Sea World.

One of many native Australian animals at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Little Penguin feeding at Sea World

English

• Storywriting
• Discussion of synonyms
• BrainPop movie about the book Frankenstein, Mary Shelly and the Romanticism era

PDHPE

• Billy did a High Ropes challenge course on the Gold Coast
  

As well as the usual:

• martial arts, circus, archery and AFL (AFL has now finished for the year)
• time spent hanging out with friends and family

RWA 'Diamonds are Forever' Conference: Part 1

The Romance Writer's of Australia annual conference (themed 'Diamonds are Forever') was held at the funky QT hotel in Surfers Paradise, Queensland.  The decor was funky, the staff uniforms were funky - the valet met me at the door wearing boardshorts and a stripy red jacket!!

On both Friday and Saturday mornings, a small but enthusiastic group met at 6:30am to start our day with a walk along the beach.  The weather was very kind to us, and the sunrises were spectacular.

Friday was a full day optional workshop with screenwriter and thriller writer Alexandra Sokoloff, Screenwriting Tips for Authors.  I had the 'honour' of being MC for the day (in front of 150 people!) which was quite nerve-wracking.  Apart from that though, the day was excellent. 

Alex talked about how movies follow a certain structure - eg in a 2hr movie, there is a climactic scene approx every 30 minutes - and how you can use that structure in novel writing.  As far as I know, her ebook and blog go through everything she did in the workshop. 

A movie can be divided into 8 sequences:

• Act I, Sequence 1
• Act I, Sequence2
• Act II: Part 1, Sequence 3
• Act II: Part 1, Sequence 4 (Midpoint)
• Act II: Part 2, Sequence 5
• Act II: Part 2, Sequence 6 (Black Moment)
• Act III, Sequence 7
• Act III, Sequence 8 (Final battle)

We discussed the structure of many movies in various genres (lots of chick flicks!) and analysed which were the important scenes and how they were done.

Some notes I jotted down from the day:

• Often climaxes involve crowd scenes to make it seem more climactic
• A setpiece is a big climactic scene where you have to build a big set or a scene that isn't going to be cut because they're the 'money' scenes.  Also the scenes you see in the trailer.
• Every love scene - kiss, interrupted kiss, sex scene etc - must be a climax / set piece.
• Use index cards to brainstorm scenes.  Set up 40-60 index cards - write down the scenes you know.  Start arranging them to fit the structure.
• Opening image needs to set things up visually.  Where they are, genre, tone, world.  Themes / symbolism.
• The 'Plan' can and probably does change along the way.  The initial plan requires the least amount of effort for the hero/ine.  Plan changes at midpoint at act II climax because plan goes wrong.
• "The Dance" - we need to see the hero & heroine working together in some way to show they're perfect for each other.  Makes the reader want / hope for hero & heroine to get together.
• Hero/ine knows what they want, but not what they need.  The reader can see what they need.  After the black moment, the hero/ine realises what they need.  And that what they wanted isn't right for them.
• If there is a mentor in the story, the mentor has to disappear / die at the act II:Pt 2 climax so that the hero/ine can grow and become their own person.  (Dumbledore anyone?!)
• Act II: Part 1 is the genre fill-in / world-builing - eg Harry Potter - the classes, Quidditch matches etc; Mystery - police procedure; Caper - gathering the team, training

I've already bought a new corkboard and big post it notes so I can use Alex's methods to do a structural edit on my WIP!

Friday night was the Cocktail Party with a Diamonds are Forever / 1950s theme.  Lots of Marilyn Monroes, a couple of Elvises, lots of Pink Ladies and Sandies, and many glamorous frocks.  My personal favourite was Radar and Margaret from MASH.

I didn't get any photos on the night, but this was one of most of our face-to-face writer's group taken by fellow RWA member, Elle Fynllay. 

Stay tuned for the rest of the conference in Part 2 :)

Gold Coast: Sea World and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

** WARNING - Photo heavy post **

We had a couple of days together as a family on the Gold Coast before I headed off to my RWA writer's conference.  We stayed at a lovely apartment in Broadbeach - it was such a hardship to wake up to this view every morning!  I'd wake up early, make my cup of tea and take it out on the balcony - and just sit and reflect until the others woke up.

On the first day, we headed off to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.  I remember (or at least have seen photos of) going there as a kid myself!  There were lots of cute and cuddly Australian animals to pat or look at. 

And some not so cuddly ones as well :)  There are lots of photos of snakes on my camera - but I refuse to look at them, let alone put them on my blog!  Needless to say, I found other things to look at while the boys looked at snakes!  (Lizards are fine - the legs make all the difference!)

Billy and I also went on a High Ropes course while at Currumbin.  He found it extremely challenging due to needing a fair bit of upper body strength and having to stretch up to hold on to a lot of it, but he got through it!  (And luckily there is no photographic evidence of me in the lovely supplied overalls!)

We played Putt Putt golf that evening - this was a really fun place with 3 themed courses.  We played on the Jungle Run and the Fun Run.  I think Tiger Woods is safe - none of us are in danger of becoming professional golfers any time soon :)

The next day, we went to Sea World.

Where we watched Little Penguins being fed,

 The spectacular dolphin show,

and an impressive Jet Ski show,

Played on the coolest ever adventure playground in Castaway Bay (the best thing about it was that it was big enough for adults, so I got to play too!)

got wet on the Battle Boats and Flume ride

Met some new friends

And awwwed over the polar bears and penguins :)

After those two exhausting days, we went our separate ways.  We moved hotels, I went to my conference and Pete & Billy did things like Dracula's Haunted House, Ripley's Believe it or not, and the Waxwork Museum (including the dungeon of horrors!)


We stopped overnight at Coffs Harbour on the way home where Billy still thought it was warm enough for a swim!

It was a nice break away.

I'm back...

It's been a busy few weeks - hence the lack of blog posts.

We were away for about 1.5 weeks at the Gold Coast - part holiday, part writing conference for me.  More to come in future posts. 

We got home last Wednesday - which left 2 days to plan and organise a birthday party for Billy on the Saturday.  Yes, the boy turned double digits finally!!

It was a Minecraft themed party.  (I know, total shock, right?!)

Minecraft presents..

Minecraft cake..

Minecraft games.. (Pin the Pickaxe on Steve and a Creeper Pinata)

(Even the non-Minecraft gifts were well received anyway!!)

So it's taken a few days to recover, and begin to catch up on reality after being away.  I think I'm finally starting to make some headway on my to-do list!!