RWA Writing competitions

The Romance Writers of Australia run a full-on competition season with contests for published and unpublished authors, in all styles of romance. 

Now that I've finished my novel, I've been busy editing it - it's as time-consuming as writing the thing in the first place!  I have a couple of wonderful critique partners who give me advice and feedback as I go, but competitions are a great way to get your work out there anonymously for feedback.

So far this year I've entered an American contest - the Emily (first 3,000 words), and the STALI (Single Title and Loving It) for the first 5,000 words.  I haven't had word back about the Emily yet - to be honest, I'm not expecting much because my story is quite Australian, but I thought I'd put it out there and see how it did.  A couple of days ago I got my results for the STALI and while I didn't come close to finalling, I got some great feedback - and a wonderful comment that I'll look back on whenever I doubt my writing!

I've just held my breath and sent off the first 10,000 words for the next contest - the Emerald.  If I'm lucky enough to get through to the 2nd round of it, I'd have to send my full manuscript in, so I'm now very busy head-down, tail-up trying to get the rest of it edited by mid-Jan.  Even if I don't get through to the 2nd round, having a deadline will make me get it edited anyway :)

Do you need a deadline to get things done?  Or are you an internally-motivated person?

Back into the garden

It's been a couple of years since I've tried to grow a vege garden.  I had some bad years where everything died, I got busy, ran out of time, so I gave up.  I have lots of excuses - just ask me :) 

Anyway, some friends inspired (read shamed!) me into starting again.  So I'm starting small with a few veges in containers. 

Hopefully this time I can keep it going and gradually expand.

Tomatoes and basil (grown from seed)

Strawberries - we've already had a couple of berries off it - yum!

Tomatoes (grown from a seedling)

Peas and snow peas

Peter Pan

Some photos that my niece took of the Peter Pan production.  It went fantastically well - a few dramas behind the scenes some nights, but apparently they weren't noticed by the audience.  I was so privileged to be a part of it in a crew capacity - the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes is staggering!

The play was set in the grounds of the historic Tocal Homestead - you could go early and picnic on the lawn.

The front verandah became the Darling's nursery

Jealous Tinkerbell!

'Flying' away - amazing puppetry

The Lost Boys of Neverland

Villainous Captain Hook

Oh no, the Wendy-bird has been shot!

Billy (in the furry orange vest) was Curly - one of the Lost Boys

The Mermaid's Lagoon (with the Neverbird in the background)

Michael, John and Wendy with the Lost Boys

Peter Pan scares pirates Smee and Starkey while they are kidnapping Tiger Lily

A cunning plan by Hook

Interrupted by Peter Pan

Lost Boys beg Peter to let them go and live with the Darlings

Tink dying - 'Children of the world, if you believe in fairies, clap your hands!'

Hook tries to recruit John as a pirate about the ship

The Pirate ship & mermaids

Startled pirates

Starkey walks the plank

Listening for the Cock-a-doodle-do

'It's Hook or me this time'

Tink, Peter & Narrators

Impromptu cast photo after closing night - there were about 60 people in the cast ranging from 5yo - adults.

Offline October

Offline October is over.  I'll be honest and say that some days I spent more than an hour online - particularly days when I was tired and didn't want to think.

What it has achieved though is being more mindful of the time that I've been online.  And also prioritising the time so that it's spent making real connections with people rather than mindlessly surfing and getting caught up in dramas about people I don't know.

I've (hopefully) been more responsive to personal emails. I've made steady progress on my editing, and gotten critiques back to my critique partners more quickly.  I was also able to read more books - which is definitely a good thing :)

I've spent more time in the garden, and kept up with the housework more.  I even managed to do some decluttering!

So all in all, it was a useful exercise and one I should repeat on a regular basis!!

Homeschooling Monthly Memories - Oct 2012

This month has been totally dominated by Peter Pan - with rehearsals 2-3 times / week.  The performance has started - they had 3 successful performances last week, with 3 more to finish it off this week.  It's been fantastic, and while part of me will be thankful to get back into routine, a big part of me will miss it!

Cubs 'Curriculum':

• Billy has only made it along to one Cubs night this month due to rehearsals.  One of the dads brought along some 3 and 4 day old chickens for the kids to hold.

Intentional Learning:

Creative Arts

• Rehearsals, drama class and Peter Pan performance.  Need I say more!  They've been performing to about 180 people per night..
• Wrote a Minecraft parody song to the tune of Moves Like Jagger

Some of the Lost Boys back stage - Billy is in the furry orange vest.  More photos coming once I get them from my niece.

HSIE

• Australian history
• We're reading Daughter of the Regiment by Jackie French
• We went to the Murrurrundi Frontier Day - we caught an old train there, dressed in period costume (B was a bushranger) and watched a 'robbery' of a Cobb & Co coach








• We attended an excursion to the Morpeth Museum where they took part in a mock trial and looked at (and in some cases could interact with) historical exhibits
  

• Watching Behind the News for current affairs information.
• Watched a BTN special on Animals and the Environment
• He's been keeping up with information about Hurricane Sandy as he has friends in that part of America

• He watched Brain Pop movies on the Beatles, Mayans, Aztecs, Eleanor Roosevelt, Conquistadors (that's just what I know of - he's been watching them by himself)

Maths

• He watched a Cyberchase episodes on predicting from data, interpreting changes in line graphs and time/distance/speed
• He's been playing a computer game called 5th grade adventures with maths puzzles
• He learnt to play chequers

Science & Technology

• We watched Backyard Science TV shows
• Played the Totally Gross science board game with a friend
• He got the circuit kit out for another run
• He watched a BTN Special on Innovations
• He's been helping me in the garden
• BrainPop - videos he's watched have included - dyslexia, fire, Ada Lovelace, Hurricane Sandy, invertebrates, ecosystems (plus more - I've lost track!)

English

• He watched a BrainPop movie about dialogue 
• Learnt about indefinite articles
• Did an exercise on exposition - including pronouns, adjectival phrases and verbs

Italian

• He's learning Italian with some other homeschoolers - so far they've learnt greetings, asking and answering how are you, numbers and how old are you.  He's really enjoying the lessons.

PDHPE

• He's taken part in archery and martial arts, as well as a game of ten-pin bowling with friends
  

As well as plenty of time spent hanging out with friends and family, cooking etc.

JuJitsu Seminar

Over the weekend I attended the Australian JuJitsu Association national seminar in Sydney.

The dojo wasn't what I was expecting - it was like a giant igloo shaped marquee had landed in the carpark at the Sydney Olympic complex at Homebush.  There was one big mat inside - I was expecting different rooms or something.  We were split into 3 groups depending on belt level - there were over 140 participants on the first day - so it got quite crowded on the mat at times when people were doing throws etc :)  Our Defendo group had about 40 people there (adults and kids over 12) so we made the numbers swell!

On both days, we had 6 x 45 minute sessions with instructors from different clubs all around Australia.  The brain hurt by the end of it - so did the body!  We did a lot of wrist locks and arm locks, some grappling work, knife defense work, nerve control (I have the most spectacular bruise on my inner thigh from that!).  I honestly can't remember what else - hopefully it will come back to me when I'm at training again!

This was at the end of day 1 - I'm at the back somewhere.

As well as the seminar itself, it was a valuable weekend spending social time with members of our Defendo group.  We had shared apartments, so got to know our roomies a bit better in the down time.  We also went out for dinner on both Friday and Saturday nights which let us chat and 'bond' outside of class.

It was a great weekend and I'm hoping to do it all again next year :)

Italian lessons

I had the opportunity to start something today that I've wanted to do for years - learn Italian.  One of our homeschool mums who is fluent in Italian (and passionate about anything Italian) has offered beginner classes, and both Billy and I are going along.

Today we learnt greetings, how to ask someone's name and how to tell them our name.

My brain hurts though - it's hard to learn new stuff when you get old :)

Homeschooling Monthly Memories - September 2012

Another busy month.  We had our re-registration visit from the NSW Board of Studies and were successfully renewed for another 2 years.

Cubs 'Curriculum':

• Billy attended a district wide Cuboree (approx 600 kids in attendance) which had a Medieval theme.  Activities included water activities, old-fashioned games, chariot racing, flying fox & rock-climbing, crafts etc.

 

Intentional Learning:

Creative Arts

• Rehearsals have been full on for Peter Pan (Billy is playing Curly, a Lost Boy) with several rehearsals each week. 
• His drama class gave an end of term performance that they'd written themselves
• He's been learning more about special effects with Sony Vegas video editing software and a green screen.

HSIE

• Australian history


• We continued our reading of Thomas Appleby - Convict Boy by Jackie French

• He watched Brain Pop movies on the WWII, Queen Elizabeth I, 9/11 and the US Constitution

Maths

• He watched a school show called 'Maths Shorts' covering Phi and Fibonacci numbers
• He watched a Cyberchase episode on budgeting 
• He watched a Brainpop movie on stocks and shares
• We discovered an awesome addictive app called DragonBox with teaches algebra using puzzles
• We watched a documentary on the history of numbers called The Story of One
• He's been doing hands-on maths with measuring while cooking

Science & Technology

• We watched Backyard Science TV show
• He did some Java Minecraft mod programming
• He watched a Happy Scientist video on how to tell the gender of a skeleton
• It was Natural Disaster month on BrainPop - videos he's watched (and done the quiz) have included - tides, ageing, tectonic plates, ozone layer, winds, Neptune, hurricanes, the heart, digital animation, computer history and computer viruses.

English

• He watched a BrainPop movie about plagiarism 
• He wrote a thank you letter and we discussed how it should be set out
• We've been playing a never-ending game of Scrabble!
  

 

PDHPE

• Billy watched a TV show called My Great Big Adventure about finding our identity
• He's taken part in archery and martial arts
  

As well as plenty of time spent hanging out with friends and family

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!