A Writer's Year

Been quite a gap since my last post (I'm giving you my sheepish look, it's really very adorable). Time melted away from me, but I did wind up my school year and managed to sell our Yass home.

With only a few days until I make my New Year To-Do List, I thought I'd reflect on the past year to see what achievements I've made with writing and how I may be able to improve my productivity over the next year. New Year's resolutions are common this time of year, we all think about how this will be the opportunity for us to pursue forgotten dreams, shed our bad habits and connect more with those we neglect. But it's also a good time for reflection. What were your resolutions, goals, ambitions at the beginning of 2011? Did you make any progress? What worked well, and what did you neglect to address?

I'm pretty happy with 2011, Not only did I finish MY ZOMBIE DOG, but I had an interview with an editor from a children's publishing house. Like most years, my productivity was condensed at the beginning of the year and tapered off the last two months to almost non-existence.

What was your best achievement this year? What do you need to work on? 

Now to celebrate my return to blogworld, I'm gonna go visiting my favourite blogs!

Read More

When you don't write...

NaNoFail. I know, I know, it's not over yet, but somehow I can't see me getting in 44,000 words in ten days while teaching full-time and presenting my house for sale. This is my first fail year after three NaNo wins. Am I disappointed? Not a bit, and that surprised me.

I'm usually pretty hard on myself about getting stuff done and about priorities. I've posted before about the need to prioritise your writing in your day and not saving it for 'spare' time, spare time doesn't exist, you need 'writing time'. But every now and then we fall off the literary wagon and instead of wallowing in self-pity, I think you have to just give yourself a break. And then move on. Pat yourself on the shoulder for not being 200% perfect, do what you need to do at the time and then plan a near future date that your writing will restart. For me, it's the school holidays. 

I'll probably start  dipping back in before that, but I've also got to display my home for prospective buyers in the next few weeks, organise the sale of our other property, shop for a home in Brisbane, do the conveyancing for our purchase, pack up our belongings, teach, do up my paperwork for my next teaching accreditation, etc, etc, etc. So now is the time to pace myself.

How's November looking for your writing? If you've slacked off, what will be your 'get back into it' date?

Here's what I've been doing this month instead - painting my house:

From this:

To this:

And I've painted inside too:

Read More

Ready, Set... What was I saying?

NaNoWriMo has begun! Actually it began on the 1st of November, but I was having issues deciding which story to begin. After running through all the possibilities, I decided to go with my original idea of book 2 in the Dog Show Detective series.

Kitty Walker continues to chase those elusive show ribbons with her best friend, Miniature Schnauzer, 'Spade'. Unfortunately, Spade happens to be the worst show dog ever. While Kitty tries to mend Spade's naughty ways through obedience school, she stumbles upon another mystery. Someone is breaking into the cars of the obedience school members while they are busy on the field. Things escalate to house break ins. It starts to become obvious that one of the obedience school members are responsible for these thefts. But who? 

Surely not Kitty's mother? 

Mrs Walker tries to prove her own innocence, after all, Kitty is banned from solving mysteries after she put her life at risk when got involved in the last mystery. Sadly Mrs Walker is as bad at detecting as Spade is at dog showing. Ultimately, Mrs Walker will need Kitty's help, especially since the crimes have escalated from theft to murder.

Day two, I've managed 1632 words. Opening with a show, Spade nicks a scarf off the judge and makes her chase him around the ring until he gets bored. Now Spade has been sentenced to dog obedience school or his showing future is over.

Schroeder, my less naughty, more sooky Miniature Schnauzer

Read More

NaNo - when now????

I was so cool about NaNoWriMo this year. Planned way ahead. Figured I'd do a sequel to my children's mystery novel DOG SHOW DETECTIVE. Plotted it out, have character sketches and a few little plot twists all mapped out. Now I've changed my mind.

After much feedback from beta-readers, both writers and kids in the targeted age group, I've decided DOG SHOW DETECTIVE is not as completed as I first thought. I need to juice up the start and add something more to the main character to push us into caring about her. Knowing this may change other aspects of the story, I'm not sure I should be jumping into the sequel.

The big question is what project do I focus on for NaNo. I could do another kids' horror story like MY ZOMBIE DOG, or I could go with a Science-fiction YA piece, or a teen spy-thriller. No rush there's still two and half days before I need to begin writing. No hurry.

How are your NaNoWriMo plans coming?

Read More

Writing Secrets

I've been keeping secrets. Nothing too exciting, but the cover up and sneakiness has gotten me thinking about characters. I love having secrets in stories, either the main character is covering up a secret or they learn the truth about a long-kept secret. Sometimes I'm forced to wonder why they go to so much trouble. They can't swim? Big deal, why would that be a secret? I'm terrified of hairy spiders and am happy for everyone to know. I have abandoned a classroom of children in my frantic fleeing when a huntsmen has made his evil entrance - more than once. Even the big boys over 6ft tall know they can not intimidate me, but will squeal like a squeaky toy if a spider is anywhere near.

But there are some things I've hidden.

At school all the teachers know I'm moving to Brisbane at the end of this semester and won't be back next  year, but I find I just can not tell the kids yet. They keep quizzing me about classes next year and I've been very evasive, on the edge of lying, because I don't want to hurt their feelings. I'll miss the Yass kids.

There's another secret.

I'm scared of zombies.

Terrified.

I know, I wrote a teen story called MY ZOMBIE DOG, and yes, it has lots of zombies. But I'd never sat through an actually zombie horror flick because they give me the jeebies. I LOVE horror films, my favourite being HALLOWEEN (the original). I'm not squeamish and I find the slasher flicks funny. But there is something just WRONG about those glazed over eyes and the slow shuffling. 

I have so many ideas in my head for more zombie tales that I want to overcome this prejudice against the un-dead, so, in my quest to better understand zombies (sometimes called the living-impaired), I've started watching THE WALKING DEAD. Many brain-nomning fans will remember this as a pretty well known comic book series. Now we get to watch it on tv. I got so scared I kept running out of the room and all night long I dreamt of worm-filled zombies.

I have a couple of suspension of disbelief issues with this show - when shot in the head the zombies bleed. Many of them have been dead a long time and are rotting - where's the blood coming from??? And there is a scene where the cop comes across a home where the occupants committed suicide rather than become infected - on the wall above their bodies in blood is the message 'God Forgive Us'. Um, ok, maybe... but this would mean the guy shot his wife and then before completing the double suicide pact, dipped his hand in his wife's head and used her blood to write the message before shooting himself - probably having to re-dip several times. Surely a permanent marker would have been better???

So what is your character hiding? And most importantly - WHY is it a secret? Or is someone keeping a secret from them? Is it BELIEVABLE?

In MY ZOMBIE DOG, Zane's mother keeps a secret from Zane. She didn't get his dog from the pound. She didn't want him to know she got the dog for free... from a voodoo witch doctor.

Read More

Apples and Zombies

This week has been huge.

The Apple populated world suffered the loss of an inspiration and innovator, Steve Jobs. It has been an amazing experience seeing people respond to this incident in such a big way. Interesting to see a corporate leader admired and worshiped as much as a mega-movie star. I'm starting to think it would be disrespectful for me NOT to buy an iPad now.

But on a more cheerful note, October 8th was World Zombie Day. Queensland Emergency Services tested out their QLD Alert website with tweets and updates on preparing for a zombie apocalypse. 

It was lots of fun, you can see the conversation in Twitter by searching the hashtag #zombietest - even QLD Rail got involved so you'd know which escape route to take once it was already too late and the city was overcome by zombies.

I've been on school holidays and spent most of that time working on our house (getting it all pretty to sell, then I can pick out my next house in Brisbane, hopefully outside of the zombie-zoned areas).

Edits on MY ZOMBIE DOG are coming along, with the protagonist jumping from 11yrs to 14yrs old. I need to get more of a move on with that and send the revised MS back to the publisher for consideration. But school goes back tomorrow and I MUST finish marking about 80 newspaper articles written by Yr10 students. Ugh, I hate marking - anyone want to do it for me?????

I will not be distracted, I will not be... I wonder if I can find a cute little sign saying 'Beware of the zombie dog' online?

Read More

Unrequited Love

Amazon broke my heart.

I was so excited about the new release Kindles, even though my latest Kindle is only 6mths old I was keen to jump in with a new e-ink touch screen Kindle. 

Then I read the small print.

US only.

Kindle Fire then?

US only.

It seems the only new Kindle they will ship internationally is the cruddy cheap model that has no touch, no keyboard and no robot to read the ebooks to me! I had grand plans of a Kindle Fire giveaway with the release of my first ebook (still a whiles off) but now I feel like I'm sitting by the phone making up excuses for why that guy didn't call. The truth? Maybe Amazon are just not that into me.

I could retaliate by switching to the iPad as half my family have, but I don't want to act too rashly - maybe I could just move to the States?

Or, I realise, I could just keep reading on my current Kindle that I was more than happy with a week ago (Nah, that's just crazy talk).

Read More

Exciting Times for e-books!

I woke today to some exciting posts in Google + - Amazon have announced their new Kindle!

I am a huge Kindle lover, I have hundreds of titles on my beloved Kindle and I take it everywhere with me. I've even gotten used to the robot voice for listening to books on the writing craft while driving (I prefer the woman robot to the man robot).

Our house is a little torn with our devices. Hubby and Matilda (10) love their iPads and read on those, whereas Emily (13) and I are Kindle all the way. I love the e-ink reader for reading long passages without straining my eyes, plus the tablet won't read to me. So if I love e-ink, why am I excited about Amazon producing a tablet device that is smaller and less sexy than the already iPad (which I already don't want).

At first I wasn't at all impressed. I couldn't understand why Amazon would produce a device in an already overcrowded market when they are already winners with their Kindles and the fact that the non-Kindle devices still host the Kindle app (so even if it's not their device they sell books through it). While out shopping I looked at some iPads and figured if Kindles were going this way then I might as well buy the real thing. I didn't. I realised if I had an iPad I would hardly ever get any reading done because of the lure of Facebook and internet and, and, and. Never mind trying to get my manuscripts written.

But.

Then I saw the big news today - lots of Kindles!

There will be the Kindle Fire selling US$199, an e-ink touch screen kindle from US$99 (that's the one I want) and an introductory Kindle at only US$79. At these prices Kindles will become more accessible to the public and will probably fill quite a few kids' stockings this Christmas.

Add this exciting news to the fact that Kindles are now available from Woolies, BigW, Dick Smith (and probably more places) in Australia - I believe ebooks are about to experience a whole new BOOM! 

Authors who are prepared to handle their writing as a professional business and produce QUALITY ebooks have a real opportunity opening up to them. Exciting times. I have shivers - how about you?

Here's a great article by Andrew Wilson, on why ebooks are the way for authors to control their future:

How you can make a million writing your own e-book

Read More

YouTube and Writers

YouTube - not just for dancing cats

Do you YouTube?

One of the social networking suggestions Aleesah Darlison made during her 'Promote Your Book' workshop recently was to set up a YouTube page.

Sure, I had a YouTube account, who doesn't, but a page? This had never occurred to me. If I have one talent above all others, it's following instructions. I set about creating a YouTube page under my username charmaineclancy. I know I need to add some more exciting clips, because the most recent recommendation from YouTube for me was a clip called 'Schnauzer napping'... can't wait to see that one.

On Aleesah's page she keeps book trailers, interviews, interesting clips about native animals that feature in her books and more. This is a great resource to use for writers workshops, school visits, book launches and building up your platform. If you don't have a YouTube account it's easy. Go to the site and create an account - I recommend using your author name and if that's taken, add the word author in front. For example, if charmaineclancy wasn't available I'd use authorcharmaineclancy.

Once you've joined and signed in, you'll see some arrows by your name in the top right hand corner. That releases a drop box menu. Click on Channel and set up your channel (this is the page for you to share your clips). In Settings you can change the colour, add your author pic and bio. Videos is where you upload your own clips. I'm yet to do that, hey, maybe one day soon I'll even vlog. In the meantime if you'd like to see a vlog about the craft of writing, visit The Creative Penn's YouTube page.

Want to share YouTube clips on Blogger?

1. Find a clip you want to share, underneath is a button titled 'Share' - click it.
2. This brings up a link for sharing, but now click on 'Embed'. Here is the code you need to embed the clip into your blog. Copy the code.
3. You can change the size if you need to (if you have a narrow blog column), I always just go with the smaller size listed (560x315).
4. Now Blogger does not like code when you are in 'Compose', so I usually choose to go to HTML and insert the code. But there is another way.

Alternative - Probably easier:

1. In Blogger, when composing your blog, click on the button for 'insert a video'.
2. Choose 'From YouTube'.
3. In the search box you need to type in the title of the clip - the one I've chosen was called "Interview with Aleesah Darlison".
4. Choose the correct clip from the list of possibilities. Ta-da!

If you have a YouTube Channel set up already, share your link in the comments :)

Read More

Telling A Story Masterclass

Me totally invading Brian Falkner's personal space

I'm still recovering from inspiration overload I received at the recent CYA Conference. The day kicked off for me with a writing masterclass hosted by author Brian Falkner.

This master class ran for a few hours and was absolutely jammed packed with tips and advice on writing. I have about ten notebook pages filled. Here's just a tiny taste of what we enjoyed:

Muse
If you turn up every day at the same time, ready to work, and start writing without inspiration - then eventually your muse will turn up too.

Characters
As an exercise we were asked to share one observation about the person sitting next to us. Then we were asked to share one thing about ourselves. What was noticed was that we tend to make superficial descriptions of others, like the colour of their hair, or if they wore glasses, and we offer more personality descriptions of ourselves. So don't just decide your character is 5ft tall, short brown hair and freckles, instead tell us that they pick up any shiny objects they find on the ground, just like a magpie. This was summed up as shallow vs deep characterisation.

Conflict
Conflict must come from the story and not be placed simply for more conflict. Obstacles must seem impossible to overcome. When faced with a dilemma, give your character two choices - each with their own dire consequences, or, make them think up a third option. Also, danger must always be immediate, not something coming slowly. Characters are avoiding an oncoming train, not a possible problem that may happen some time next year.

Scenes
If you have trouble writing a full scene that includes a variety of writing techniques, try the following method:

1. Start by writing the narration. Explain what happens in this scene, where your character moves and what he does.
2. Go back through your paragraphs and insert description. Give the reader a sense of place and images for characters.
3. Now go back through what you have and add dialogue and actions.

We also talked about narration, description, writing tips, point of views, dramatic irony, overlapping suspense lines and much, much more.

Brian Falkner has a great range of novels, and I've chosen to begin by reading Brainjack:

Check out the book trailer!

Read More

Scene Change

I only re-sparked my passion in writing a couple of years ago when I moved to my lovely country town outside of Canberra. Long cold winters by the fire provided plenty of time and ambience to work on my manuscripts.

It's no coincidence that my character (Kitty Walker) finds herself moving to a small country town in DOG SHOW DETECTIVE. I wanted to share the awe of driving pass cows in the morning, something that only a city-raised kid could understand.

The kids in my high school have been great inspiration for me too, country kids have a certain quirkiness and brashness that is endearing. I've been lucky enough to have a great writers centre not too far off in Canberra (ACT Writers) and many of you know I attend workshops religiously.

If this were a story it'd be time to shake things up. So we will.

Twice now I've flown up to Brisbane when the annual CYA Writers Conference, and I've made some good friends. So, although I hate change (here comes the inciting incident), when hubby was offered a position he really wanted at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, I wasn't too horrified.

I'll miss the cows, the country kids and the wide spaces, but I'll love being close to my dad (also a budding writer) and joining in the writing activities with Queensland Writers Centre (I've become a member already!). I can't wait to find a critique group to join too :)

My plan next year is to cut back on my teaching hours and step up my writing schedule. I is gunna be a real writer!

Read More

Pitch Your Manuscript!

I'm back from the CYA Conference (Children's and Young Adult Writers and Illustrators). Phew, it was exhausting! But of course, it was also absolutely brilliant.

Brisbane's a fair distance from Yass, but it was well worth making the effort. There was a fantastic master class, workshops and book releases. I loved it all, especially the pitch session. I know, I know, those of you who remember my post last week, Surviving a Pitch Session know that I was FREAKING out about my pitch. Turns out pitching is no where near as scary as I thought.

I'm glad I did some research and that I took along some information about my other works. I pitched to an Editor of my choice of publishing house my manuscript MY ZOMBIE DOG, but we also talked about what other works I had ready to go and what I was working on. The editor was very friendly and put me at ease immediately. She gave me feedback on the chapters I had sent her and had some great ideas for fine-tuning the story. The best thing about meeting with the editor is that she told me she loved the idea of MY ZOMBIE DOG. That felt very nice :)

The end result was that I do have some more work to do on this manuscript. Actually one of the changes was suggested to me by kids that critiqued MY ZOMBIE DOG - they wanted my main character Zane to be older. Guess what? So did the editor. But the good news is that once I've reworked MY ZOMBIE DOG, the editor would like me to send it through to her. So, regardless of how this turns out, at least I know I'm on the right track!

Unfortunately many of my other stories are mysteries and the feedback was that mysteries are not popular with kids at the moment. I figure that's okay, they're bound to come back as a trend and then I'll have several manuscripts ready to go.

My advice to you? If you get the chance to pitch in person to an editor (or agent if you want to go that route) then do! The personal feedback you get is well worth it. I'll blog more about the workshops at the conference later, but for now, my brain needs some recharging.

Read More

Marketing DIY for Authors

I've been a workshop glutton. My latest was on Marketing Your Book run by author Aleesah Darlison. Okay, so technically I don't have an actual book that I can hold in my hand, but I do have MY ZOMBIE DOG and DOG SHOW DETECTIVE out there pitching.

The great thing about this workshop is that we covered marketing yourself as an author and your unpublished manuscript to editors and agents. Some of the things we were asked to consider were:

• What do you want from your writing career? Do you want to be known for your ability to raise controversial subjects, or for your wit and sense of fun? Knowing this will help understand the image or persona you want to put forward. I'd like my books to show that sense of humour and fun within the Aussie culture. I'd like to celebrate the oddity that is people.


• What is unique about your writing? For me it is that teaching gives me an insight to children's interests in literature and theme topics. Plus I write a really good dog.

I've come away from this workshop with a to-do list:

1. Build a Facebook Fan page. Okie-dokie, you can help me keep that page by clicking on the like button in the FB box to the right, or just going to this link: CHARMAINE CLANCY 


2. Build a Youtube Channel page. Sort of done. I've set it up now, you can visit here: CHARMAINE CLANCY YOUTUBE I need to find some more relevant videos that I can store there, and this is where I will keep my book trailers (when I have book trailers).


3. Have a one sentence answer ready for when I am asked 'what do you do?' Mine is: I write mystery, fantasy and adventure fiction for children.


4. Do up my Writing CV. Okay, haven't started that one yet.


5. Write my synopsis for all my manuscripts, even those that are not yet finished or even written. You should have a synopsis ready at a pitch incase the editor/agent would like to discuss your other works.


6. Practice my pitch for this weekend's CYA Conference!

What's on your Marketing DIY to-do list?

Read More

Surviving a Pitch Session

I have pitch-fear!

Next week I pitch. Not the safe kind of online, or written pitches I've tried thus far... no... I pitch in person. I really didn't think it would be a big deal. After all, I've sent my first ten pages in, they'll either like it or they won't. So what's 15minutes chatting with a publisher?

Gulp.

Now that it's fast approaching I am in panic mode. Eeek! What if I just make a fool of myself - and not in the good way I usually intend to make a fool of myself? So, in preparation for the CYA Conference in Brisbane, I am searching for advice on pitching in person. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Don't:

• Act like they are providing a service to you. You are not doing them a favour, treat them like you have a product to sell to them. (Fabianspace)


• Assume they will make allowances for you because your work is just so special, play by the rules. (Fabianspace)


• Spend the whole time talking about your manuscript and going over what they've already read. Make a personal connection. (Nathan Bransford)

Do:

• Welcome feedback. You don't have to implement every change suggested to your manuscript but take it all in for serious consideration - this person knows what they're talking about and the feedback is generously provided to help you. (Nathan Bransford)


• Know the summary or synopsis of your story by heart. You might be asked to refresh their memory. (Redlines and Deadlines)


• Have a synopsis handy for any other manuscripts you have ready or nearly finished. You might have time to discuss those. 


• Do your homework. Know a little about the publishing house you are pitching to. I'm pitching to Black Dog Books and know that they have novels aimed the same age group as my manuscript and in the same genre. I can specifically point to some of their current books and say my novel is like a cross between this novel and this one. At the very least, know that they publish the sort of genre you produce. (Writing World)

That's all I got - any suggestions????

Read More

Phooey to the End of Books

I don't think so!

Many conversations about the future of books, publishing and reading seem to be gloomy these days. I read blogs, hear radio conversations and even meet authors that think authors will suffer great income loss over:

A. the introduction of ebooks

B. cheap ebooks (99c)

C. competing with tv, movies, internet and gaming for children's attention.

I say phooey to all that. I think the future of books is brighter than it's ever been. Here's how I validate my excitement for this industry:

1. The introduction of ebooks has enabled MORE people to access fiction in a variety of mediums.


2. By having a novel available online, you have opened your readership up globally. You don't have to rely on only reaching a national market. If an Australian publisher prints one of my novels, I will still have to try to secure an agent/publisher for each other international market such as the UK or US.


3. Cheap ebooks have excited readers and tweaked an interest in otherwise cautious customers. This in turn develops a fad of reading, the more you read the more you want to read. 99c will gain initial interest, but readers will evolve to be more aware of their own taste and more discerning towards the quality of fiction they read. I now scrutinize my purchases and do not base my choice on price. I trust other readers to do the same.


4. Hooray for technological distractions. The iPads, laptops and iPhones might be popular with teens for the games they supply but the wonderful phenomenon I'm noticing is kids that wouldn't usually want to buy books now want to, all because they can download them onto their iPod etc. I had a yr7 media class (12-13yr olds) and introduced them to online books via Amazon. I showed them how you can get Kindle for your iPod. They were all so excited about this and most downloaded the app. A lot of these kids would have scrunched their noses up at me suggesting they borrow a book from a library.


5. Ebooks are making reading a very popular trend. This in turn makes people want to own books and buy books for their shelves as well as their iPads. It has almost become a fashion statement for our living rooms. Don't believe books are trendy? Department store catalogues are expensive to produce and distribute, this makes space on them prime real estate. As you can imagine, front page is pretty special. In the past. I've only noticed books get a small corner of a page in the middle somewhere. Yesterday I was so surprised and pleased to see a Big W catalogue feature the first TEN pages all for books and that they now sell the Amazon Kindle here in Australia!

So, aren't you excited?!

Read More

World Building for Fantasy Novels

You've got the whole world in your hands...

Wow. Another amazing writers workshop.

This time the workshop was held in Canberra and it was run by the extremely talented and popular author, Fiona McIntosh.

World building for fantasy novels was the focus of this workshop, and my head is still spinning from all the great advice Fiona generously shared. I have pages and pages of notes on this topic now, but here are just a few points Fiona got across about world building:

• You need to introduce your fantasy world in the first chapter. Readers are impatient now and want immediate satisfaction, so along with the hook, character and inciting incident, they want a sense of setting. In my story THE COSTUME MAKER, my characters are sent from this world to the fantasy world. I can get around this by using a prologue that occurs in that world.


• Don't get hung up on the details of your world. Yes you should know your world and love it, but ultimately readers purchase books because of the characters and story. In some of the best Fantasy novels you barely notice the world because you are so lost in the story.


• Read novels in the genre and the sub genre you wish to write in. Focus on the way they set up their world.


• Don't over-describe everything in your world. Assume your reader is intelligent and imaginative and can fill in the gaps. They've seen a blue sky before, don't spend five pages on it.


• Culture is part of the world. Think about food sources, language, authority, etc.

Okay there was loads and loads more, but you'll have to attend one of Fiona's amazing workshops to learn it all. I can tell you she has inspired me to take a more professional approach to my writing. Fiona shared with us her schedule for a great balance between writing as a profession, family and life in general. I'm keen to get productive!

And to brush up on my reading I've got The Whisperer on my bookshelf:

Plus I've just ordered Royal Exile, the first in the Valisar trilogy - what amazing cover art!

Read More

5 Benefits of a Writers Workshop

Merimbula, a great place to relax and write.

This weekend we drove down to Merimbula (coastal town popular during whale-watching season). While visiting the in-laws, I also got to take part in a writers workshop run by Writers of the Far South Coast. I met some wonderful writers and am always in awe of how people from such different backgrounds and lifestyles can come together with a common interest and goal.

I know I could spend the time that I travel around participating in workshops actually writing, or doing writing exercises from a book or the web. But I get a lot out of writing workshops.

So why take part in workshops?

1. Learn - This gives me an opportunity to hear from published authors and writers with different experiences from myself. I learn a lot from the speaker and the other participants.


2. Reminder - Even if I've been going through a writing lull, hanging out with other writers reminds me to get back into my WIP.


3. Sharing - It's a good environment to bounce your ideas of other writers and see if they can help you smooth out any wrinkles in your current story.


4. Socialise - You are all passionate about the same thing, writing is a great thing to have in common.


5. Push your boundaries - This is my favourite reason. During a workshop I will take part in exercises I might otherwise shy away from because I think they're too hard or outside my comfort zone. You are pushed to perform when you take part in a workshop. For example, in this workshop we were asked to write a Haiku. I'm not a big fan of writing poetry and even less of writing haikus, so I would never have tried this if I wasn't in the workshop. We were asked to continue from the line 'For deliciousness'. Here's my attempt:

For deliciousness

try pieces of lemonade

sprinkled in the sun

We also did some sensory invoking exercises, worked on characterisation details and setting's mood. I came away with a new scene for my mystery novel The Warracknabeal Kids, as well as a small inspiration that promises to ferment into a new story idea. Best of all, I made some new writerly friends.

Read More

Writing Time

The real life Fossil aka my zombie dog.

This year I made time for my writing. It wasn't easy. Like a lot of other writers who also work and parent, I tried to write in my 'spare' time. Pfft! There's no such thing as spare time. So this year I started making 'writing' time. Spare time is for tidying the house, or watching a flick. This has paid off, I'm getting a lot more accomplished.

I've also been attending a lot more writing workshops and seminars. Last week I was at a science talk for writers and this weekend I'm off to the pretty coastal town of Merrimbula to attend another workshop:

The Psychology of Creative Writing

I started out my Uni years studying psychology, so I'm really looking forward to this topic. Of course I will let you all know how it goes.

This week I also finished my last lot of edits for MY ZOMBIE DOG. Yay! The book is now completely in present tense and I'm really happy with how it flows. My beta readers (all kids between 10 and 13) are all very positive about the story, and ask for more stories like this one. My main character is Zane, and he has his hands full with this crazy zombie plague, but everyone loves his loser mate Kev' the most. I'm now ready to start querying MY ZOMBIE DOG. I already have a pitch session lined up for a conference in a few weeks (shaking a little).

The best part of finishing a project is getting to work on a new one. I'm excited to get back into Warracknabeal Kids and finish off the first draft of this outback murder mystery.

Are you using your writing time, or still trying to find 'spare' time?

Read More

Science in Writing

As part of my endeavour to immerse myself in the culture of writing, I attended a FREE seminar held at CSIRO (initialism for some sciencey department) titled:

Get Your Facts Right: How science can help you write your book.

This was organised by my local writers centre: ACT Writers Centre

The speakers covered topics about weather predictions for 2050. It was great information if you intend to ever include a storm, flood, drought or fire in your story. For instance, did you know that if the Great Barrier Reef was to die off and no longer exist, that storm surges along the coast of Queensland would be much worse?

I also found it interesting to learn that if global warming keeps affecting Australian summers and heats reach low 50 degrees in summer, we could still survive but our lifestyle and culture would change. We'd have to do all outdoor activities at night when it's cooler and try stay still and indoors during the day - good weather for vampires? And that you might first notice the onset of a deadly heatwave by the unusually high death of parrots?

There were also experts in the field of forensic science. One interesting story was about a copper that killed his ex-wife and tried to make it look like suicide. The investigating policeman said he wouldn't have been suspicious at all, until he stepped into the bathroom. The toilet seat was up in a house where a woman lived alone. That little clue might not be evidence, but sparks suspicion and then the police can search for some evidence to convict.

I was surprised to learn that even if the police witness a crime taking place, they still need to gather forensic evidence to convince a jury. And that scientists are working on one day being able to produce a picture of how a suspect would look based on their DNA sample.

Have you joined your writer's centre? They can let you know whenever there are writers events you might find useful.

Read More

Blogfest - HATE

Tessa's Blurb hosted a blogfest on Friday, and although I missed posting on time, I decided to give it a go anyway. The idea was that we would all post a scene with a character showing hate. I hadn't noticed before, but none of my main characters express hate in my stories. I did manage to find a scene in My Zombie Dog, where Zane's mate Kev expresses strong feelings against the girl of Zane's dreams. Here's is Kev's hatefest:

I could get a real dog, a nice Border Collie like Max. Molly and I would have matching dogs, we could spend afternoons together down at the off-leash park. Perfect. Except, it seemed like I was forgetting something…

Then it hit me. Actually he hit me. Kev. He punched me in the arm and said, “Miss Seagull let you out huh? What do ya want to do? Handball?”

“You don’t have a handball.”

“We can confiscate one from the grade 2 kids.”

I gave Kev a look, then looked over at Molly, still sitting alone, head down staring straight at her uneaten sandwich in her lap.

“Um, I think I might go and talk to Molly.” I made it sound like no big deal.

“What? Why would you want to do that?”

I shrugged. No big deal.

“Molly O’Mally? I hate that chick.” Kev narrowed his eyes in her direction and kicked a stone on the asphalt.

“Why? She’s alright. She’s kinda… nice.” I couldn’t meet his gaze. No big deal, no big deal, no…

“Dude, she’s my nemesis.” Kev grabbed me by the shoulders. He could be dramatic at times.

I was sceptical. “Really? You have a nemesis?”

Kev swiped the question away with a hand through the air. “Yeah, haven’t you noticed how we match wits in class all the time?” He crossed his arms and looked back at Molly, like he was weighing her up. “I’ll give her this, she’s a worthy opponent.”

“Um, Molly’s really smart. I mean like genius smart.”

Kev shrugged. “Yeah, you’re right, we’re probably just enemies because we’re too much alike.”

The bell rang and lunch was over, along with my only opportunity to talk to Molly.

Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

Read More

What Blocks Your Writing?

I don't get writers block in the sense of not being able to think of anything to write, but I do manage to block myself from writing by convincing myself there are other tasks that MUST be completed first. My latest? I wanted a new screensaver and just couldn't find the 'right' picture. I've now been working on this for three days. In this time I've gotten NO writing done.

What silly things do you let interrupt your writing? 

Tomorrow WILL be productive. That is my vow. But for now, here's my laptop wallpaper:

Read More

Writer's Dream Diary - Results

Look at that date - 8th August - that means we've come to the end of our Imagination Sparks Blogfest. Well I say Pffffft! to dates. I've read some fantastic writing exercise ideas from the blogs participating (you can visit them too, at the links below. I've been trying them all out this week and gotten some interesting results. Soooo, I've decided to extend the date and blog my results of each exercise I tried separately. If you're taking place, please blog your results too, so we can see how you went.

I'm starting with Milly's post from Paper Dolls. Milly is 13 and blogs reviewing tween and teen fiction with her little sister Tilly (they're also my daughters, so books are pretty major in our house). Both girls like writing and Milly's favourite writing exercise involves recording her dreams.

All writers know you should write down your dreams, and we all mean to... but... sometimes we need reminding. I tried this exercise for three nights with a pad and pen right by my bed, but kept forgetting to actually write things down - I'm pretty dopey first thing in the morning. I'm sure I had amazing dreams those nights.

On the fourth try I finally remembered to write down my dream. I was teaching a very disruptive class of teenagers English in a demountable classroom.

What?

In real life I teach (amongst other topics) English to teenagers in a demountable classroom. Even the kids were the same. I pointed out of Facebook that this dream was a bit of a let down. Who wants to record a dream just like real life? Then I thought more about it. One of the kids was trying to sneak out of the class. Why? There was a visiting carnival to the school and these kids were not allowed to participate. There were rides and shows and a scary looking clown. I kind of think the clown might have been someone evil undercover. 

Ta da! School taken over by evil circus and the only people left to help are the naughtiest kids in the school and the very tired teacher. Or maybe the clown is a pedophile, the kid that escapes class is sneaking around the back of the buildings in time to catch him trying to abduct a child. These kids might be disruptive, but they're brave if nothing else, and they always stick up for each other. There's no way this kid would just walk away.

Did you dream any good plots this week?

And I'm loving this blogfest so much, I've decided to run it again (maybe same time next year?) but next time let it run for a month (although I don't dictate how many times you post about you inspiring exercise).

Read More

How to Get Writing Ideas

This week is dedicated to the Imagination Sparks Blogfest. Writers are sharing their favourite writing exercises on their blogs. It's not too late to join, simply add your name to the list at the bottom of this post. Post on your blog which creative exercise gets your imagination warmed up and visit the other blogs to see what they suggest. Some people are super organised and blogging several exercises, but you can do just one if that's what you prefer (we're pretty easy going here at Wagging Tales).

In my last post I blogged about a great way to get your mind in the zone to write by Tom Evans - check it out, there's a free audio!

On the weekend I attended a writers workshop (I've been sneaking in a lot of them lately) hosted by author Sue Whiting about writing for children. It was a great day, very productive, and I picked up a new writing exercise. Apparently Sue picked this one up from Markus Zusak (The Book Thief).

Here it is:

On a big piece of paper, a whiteboard, or even on your laptops (I used an app from the Mac App Store called SimpleMind) you write, in the top left hand corner your first idea or action for your character. It could be something simple and everyday, like 'doing homework'. If you look at the pic, you'll see the idea I started with was 'Kitty loses her mobile'. Kitty is an 11yr. old mystery solver from my novel DOG SHOW DETECTIVE. I'm looking for ideas for the second book.

The next step is to think of 5 things from that first idea, they can be 5 things that could happen next:

In case you're wondering, Spade is Kitty's Miniature Schnauzer, not some overzealous friend. Great, already you have 5 ideas, but from there, you add to EACH idea, 5 things that could happen next. That gives you 25 new possibilities! Here's a close up of 5 things that could happen after Jessica tries ringing Kitty's number:

Do you know what you do next? Yep, 5 things that could happen next of each of those. Then you spend a couple of minutes looking over your ideas and write for a few minutes whichever ideas you like. My idea from this is that the girls come across a body hidden in the overgrowth by the river.

Got an idea you want to share? Come on, sign on! Or checkout the blogs below for some more imagination sparks.

Read More

Ways to Spark Your Imagination

Today I'm posting as part of the Imagination Sparks Blogfest - and sharing one of my new favourite creativity exercises. It's not too late, you can still join in the fun :)

I recently posted about a creative writing exercise book called The Art and Science of Light Bulb Moments by Tom Evans. I love this book and was lucky enough to talk to Tom about his exercises that energise, calm and exercise the imaginative parts of our brain. Tom was generous enough to share a link to a FREE audio exercise you can try. This is something to do first thing in the morning or right before you start writing, the breathing, listening and visual exercise will energise your creativity! So here is Tom Evan's exercise Getting in the Zone just click the link, follow the instructions and listen:

http://audioboo.fm/boos/285812-getting-in-the-zone

Part of the magic of this exercise is the breathing - I had no idea we could energise different sides of our brain by controlling our breathing! Try it and let me know how it goes for you.

This week I'll post other exercises from Tom Evans and at the end of the week I'll post my response to everyone else's creativity exercises - I'm going to try them all!

If you'd like to see Tom Evan's books on creativity, check out (click on the book):

Or visit Tom Evans at his website for a Free download: Goals of Learning.

Read More

Imagination Sparks Blogfest

It's here! My first-ever blogfest!

This is the IMAGINATION SPARKS BLOGFEST

What does that mean? It's easy. We all know at least one good warm up exercise to get our brain geared up and ready to write. That one creative task that gets your imagination bubbling with ideas. I thought we'd share them and try each others.

Here's what I want you to do.

1. Register your blog in the link list to show you are going to try and participate. Sign up will be available for one week.
2. On the 1st of August (hey, we won't be cross if it goes up a day or two late), post one of your favourite writing exercises that we can all try. You might want to credit the creator of the exercise if you know where you found it.
3. Read other peoples blogs and try some of those exercises.
4. Do a follow up blogpost to let people know which exercises you tried and what results you got. You can post your followup whenever you can. Visit the other blogs to see how they went with the exercises.
5. Get great new ideas and make new bloggy friends!

Read More

Google + Writing Circles

Are you Google +ing yet?

I was sceptical. I still remember the wasted moments wandering through an empty Google Wave. I questioned Google's approach of limiting the sign ups for Google + - after all, social networking only works if everyone's there.

BUT. I love the ease of adding people to your circles. Now instead of bombarding my friends and family with the endless links I find on the craft of writing, I can target those posts directly to other writers. I also feel more comfortable adding people, knowing I don't need their permission to follow them (like Twitter - you can block someone if necessary).

People will migrate from Facebook and Twitter to converge in Google +. I don't expect it to be quick, others will be wary and many will be nostalgic about the platform they've spent so much time building (remember the die-hard Myspace enthusiasts?). I'll stay in Facebook while I've still got Friends there - I'm not attached to particular platforms, but I'll go where the people are - I like the people.

If you're not in Google + but would like to start building your profile there, drop me an email and I'll try to send you an invite (I'm not sure how many I can give out, so first in first serve). If you've already started and want to add a widget to your blog to promote your Google + check out:

www.widgetsplus.com

Now, I'm thinking... BLOGFEST TIME! I've never held a Blogfest before, exciting times.

On the 31st July I'll post up details of the 'Imagination Sparks Blogfest' and how to sign up. For the blogfest we'll all share a creativity exercise that helps get our Muse revved up to write. To get you started, I'll blog about a great exercise Tom Evans, author of The Art and Science of Light Bulb Moments generously shared with us.

Read More

Art and Science of Lightbulb Moments

I've come across a great read for writers, a book that provides exercises to boost creativity, but also explains how our minds work and what sparks those ideas that turn into gems.

I first came across this author on Joanna Penn's podcast The Creative Penn. Tom Evans is the author of The Art and Science of Lightbulb Moments.

I'm still getting through this book, but I'm loving it. The exercises are fun and new and prompt a different perspective for your writing. I absolutely recommend this book, but don't just buy it, make sure you try the exercises! You'll never get stuck in your novel again.

I'm also having lots of fun planning a writing workshop for primary school kids this week. My first priority is to make sure the workshops are fun, so I'm finding lots of tactile and humorous ways for us to develop story ideas together. After all, writing should be fun! The added bonus is I'll have my target audience for MY ZOMBIE DOG, so there might even be a sample reading. 

What are your writing plans this week?

Read More