This week, Chigozie Obioma's debut novel The Fishermen was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize. Obioma was already on my radar, first because I'd been hearing about the book, and then because I booked into a workshop he's running at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival next month. I booked into it so fast, it was like [...]
Category: Learning
Things of interest (to me anyway)
Once more I have a raft of open browser windows across the top of my screen. I haven't made much progress on the footy scarf I'm knitting for my husband's boy. Luckily I told him it would probably be ready for next season. The reason why I'm going slowly with this project is mainly because [...]
Wednesday wrap with lettuce
Today the most important thing I'll do is go here: Kate has been talking about this place for ages, on twitter, and while I have done three drive bys in an effort to get a gelato, it just hasn't worked out. I couldn't see the shop, there were no parks available, and so on. But today [...]
Long time, no blog
Melbourne has been particularly beautiful over recent days. Last week I went to Rickett's Point to get some author photos done. This is how gorgeous it was: The photographer had said 'Let's wait for a dark, stormy day, get some moody clouds.' Well, Melbourne [shakes fist at sky] you aren't behaving. I am, apparently, one of [...]
I do not pretend that I have led a blameless life
Ned Kelly It's always interested me that Ned Kelly was executed on this day, just an hour before the official time of remembrance for all those who died or suffered in war. As Remembrance Day marks the end of World War I (which came 38 years after Kelly was hung) it could be coincidence; it probably is. We have come to [...]
Friday wrap, with lettuce
Ouf how time is pressing against me, with lots of things clamouring for my attention. Once I worked in a place where a (wonderful) graphic designer used to call out to the room "priority conflict!" when deadlines were ticking closer and she had heaps to do and now it's what I feel like shouting too, [...]
‘Hemingway Keeper’ Michael Katakis talks to Laura Jean McKay
The Wheeler Centre has a fabulous program of events throughout the year, including the occasional 'lunch time treat' such as yesterday's chat with writer and photographer Michael Katakis, and author Laura Jean McKay. The name of the event was 'Hemingway's Keeper' and it caught my eye, bien sur. I have a love for Hemingway that [...]
RAIMOND GAITA TALKS WITH MARIA TUMARKIN
I've just finished Romulus, My Father. Many people have told me it was a wonderful read, and as time went on, it seemed more and more were telling me this, so it seemed timely that I went and saw Raimond Gaita in conversation. I picked up this ticket (and one for Philip Henser that morning) [...]
The Writer as Editor, with Christina Thompson, Alice Pung & blow-in Gideon Haigh
Chris Wallace-Crabbe moderated this panel, and the first note I have written was something he said: Editing is almost everything. He introduced the panel, saying they'd asked Gideon along even though he wasn't on the program. Christina spoke for a while, giving her background. She worked for Peter Craven on Scripsi, the lit mag he [...]
Alex Miller & Helen Garner at Mildura, 18 July 2014
I saw Helen Garner at two events in the last week. It's a bit exciting because before that, I'd never seen her and I'm not sure I'd even heard her voice. So it was interesting. This session at Mildura was billed as a reading, and both writers read. Apparently they arm wrestled (really?) and Helen [...]
Ssssh, don’t tell anyone. Let’s keep it secret.
I'm serious. I was in two minds about blogging about the Mildura Writers Festival. (Some print material had the apostrophe, some didn't. I'm making a call and going without. Just because then I don't have to slow down to put it in.) Imagine I'm whispering all of the following to you. We're in a cafe, [...]
Voice/POV workshop with Robert Gott
Yesterday I trammed up to the Wheeler Centre, for another Writers Victoria workshop. During the round-the-table intros, I described myself as a workshop junkie. It is true. But I find that it's interesting to meet other writers, to meet facilitators/teachers, to hear what people are working on (I made a note while listening to people's [...]
Going Global, ASA Seminar held Wed 14 May, Melbourne
Anne Beilby, Rights Manager at Text Publishing.I went along to this not quite sure what it was about (my fault, no one else's.) But I knew two things:1. Anne Beilby from Text Publishing was the speaker and 2. she is a guru when it comes to all things to do with publishing rights.Actually I knew [...]
Literary bits & pieces
This is quite good but the best quotation is the first one from Elizabeth Wurtzel. Never mind the bizarre photo accompanying it. You glance at it: something's not quite right. You look closely at it. Yep, it's weird. It’s really hard to be a writer. You have to be born with incredible amounts of talent. [...]
PWF2014 catch-up post. OK. This one is weird but IT WASN’T MY FAULT
So I see an event listed. It's free. It falls into a slot where I have nothing to see. It's in a location that I know, ie I don't need to look at the map to get there. And it's got 'culture' in the title. The Lucky Culture, with Nick Cater, columnist with The Australian [...]
PWF14 catch-up post, Intelligent Design with Margaret Drabble, Eleanor Catton and Jeet Thayil
INSERT NOTE HERE: THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THE COMMENT SECTION NOW, ABOUT THE LUMINARIES. JUST SAYING. The first note I have written here is: 'Margaret Drabble's pearls.' They were beautiful. I'm noticing pearls, and wearing them a bit more this year. A writerly friend and I have decided 2014 is 'the year of the [...]
PWF14 catch-up: Intelligent Design with Eleanor Catton, Margaret Drabble and Jeet Thayil
The first note I have written here is: 'Margaret Drabble's pearls.' They were beautiful. I'm noticing pearls, and wearing them a bit more this year. A writerly friend and I have decided 2014 is 'the year of the pearls.' We are trying to bring them back, and it was good to see Drabble is on [...]
PWF14 catch-up: Fallen Women with Hannah Kent, Evie Wyld & Annabel Smith
What a line-up! This session started with Annabel-tech-guru-Smith encouraging the audience to live tweet, and gives us the panel members twitter handles. (@HannahFKent and @eviewyld if you're interested. Annabel's is @AnnabelSmithAUS.) Hannah spoke first about Agnes, the protagonist in her dark, evocative Burial Rites. Hannah said she wrestled with the idea of whether Agnes was [...]
PWF2014 catch-up: The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton speaks with Susan Wyndham
On the Saturday (22 Feb) I went to listen to Eleanor Catton talk with Susan Wyndham about The Luminaries. I think this was the day I wore my new navy skirt I had bought in the op-shop at Freo the day before, when we went to find the Eyrie building. This is a skirt which [...]
Monuments to Love, PWF session w/ Andrea Goldsmith & Aviva Tuffield
Novelist Andrea Goldsmith spoke with publisher and editor Aviva Tuffield (Affirm Press.) First up, Andrea gave a great explanation of her recent novel The Memory Trap. She introduced the characters and told the audience something about them. Andrea is a skilled presenter, no, really, she goes beyond skill into gift territory. She clearly enjoys it [...]
PWF Day 1, Publishers Seminar, Session 5. THE PITCH.
What we've all been waiting for, and on the day, the Pitch session was mentioned throughout, with info about how it would work. This is how it worked:People were invited to put their names into a box and we were told they'd be pulled at random, and possibly up to ten or so would be [...]
PWF Day 1, Sessions 3 & 4
SESSION 3, THE COMPETITIVE EDGEThis was a session with a panel as follows: Rose Michael, commissioning editor at Hardie-Grant; Robert Watkins, commissioning editor at Hachette Australia; Penny Hueston, senior editor at Text Publishing and Inga Simpson, author of Mr Wigg and Hachette/QWC Manuscript Development Program alumna.)The questions to spark this session's conversations were: What are today’s [...]
PWF catch-up, Day 1, Session 2, LOST in the AMAZON
This was the blurb for this session: Given the range of print and digital publication options available today, which is the best medium for your book? With Aviva Tuffield (publisher, Affirm Press), Michael Heyward (publisher, Text Publishing), Chris Allen (author, Momentum Books) and Terri-ann White (director, UWA Publishing). My notes: Terri-ann started by saying that 'we need more readers.' She asked for a [...]
PWF14 – Publishing Seminar Day 1, Session 1 (Thurs 20 Feb)
This was a great day. I've been to 'meet the publisher/editor/agent' before but this all-in-one session, featuring the DELIGHTFUL and COHESIVE and FUN team at Fremantle Press, was a joy to watch and listen to. MEET THE PRESS 'Narrated' by author Deb Fitzpatrick, we ran through the stages of publication, from manuscript submission to sales [...]
How Orhan does it
Manuscript page from Orhan Pamuk’s notebook for “The Black Book." “There is no constant formula. But I make it my business not to write two novels in the same mode. I try to change everything. This is why so many of my readers tell me, I liked this novel of yours, it’s a shame you [...]
I do so love Bill Murray
As part of my education of my daughter, we watch lots and lots of movies together. She's seen all the good '80s ones, and all the bad. The comedies, the dramas and the horrors (think I scarred her recently with The Exorcist. Yes I am a liberal parent when it comes to movies and books.) [...]
Tracing influences
TS Eliot said Mediocre writers borrow. Great writers steal. I have, on order, a book entitled Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative by Austin Kleon. I'm interested in the idea of stories being recycled but also in the idea of plagiarism (am writing a new manuscript which has plagiarism [...]
A year later
Was just going through my old posts and came across this one from 21 December last year. Great things It interests me that a year ago I had my first draft completed of my second novel manuscript (labelled VERSION1) and that I was trying to come up with a structure for it. What I was [...]
Wagner’s The Ring Cycle
Brünnhilde Last night the Wheeler Centre hosted another event at The Capitol (I've been to a bunch of them lately around the city) and it was Julia Zemiro talking to a panel of people about Wagner's The Ring Cycle. (Panel being director Neil Armfield, foodie Maggie Beer, poet and writer and Australian Book Review Editor [...]
Ian McEwan: On making love work in fiction
If you watch one thing today, let it be this: On making love work in fiction Some quotations: novelists struggle constantly with trying to portray the concept of sustained happiness. There's always the danger that it will seem sentimental, or smug. Unreal. And I think only Tolstoy has truly achieved this "Anyway, literature loves difficulty, [...]
Words
Missing Persons WORDS. I want to talk about words. There are good ones (the solid old Anglo-Saxon ones, often single syllable, and very concrete, like rock, earth, tree, stone, bread, love, sky) and the 'bad ones',which for me are usually poly-syllabic, newer, or Latinate. Cerebral. Adverbial. Hemingway knew the worth of single words. His style [...]
Colm Tóibín workshop – Melbourne Writers Festival 2013
UPDATE: It was announced yesterday that Tóibín's The Testament of Mary has been shortlisted for this year's Man Booker Prize. I haven't read it but it's 'on the list.'*It's a writing day today. I'm lucky to have taught my last session for term last Wednesday and so have been burrowing into my manuscript, wrangling with [...]
Workshop with MJ Hyland at the Melbourne Writers Festival
MJ Hyland has written three novels and I enjoyed all of them, particularly the second (Carry Me Down) and third (This is How). Her stripped-back prose and clever, clever management of points of view I find exciting. In an earlier writing course I did, in 2009, in between meetings every two months we read books [...]
Laurent Binet and HHhH
I read a bit more of HHhH last night, but I was so whacked I couldn't read much. (Twitter does seem a little quiet today, I think people are catching their collective breath after an amazing first few days.) The voice of HHhH is easy to read I find; the narrator, purportedly Binet himself, cast [...]
Melbourne Writers Festival 2013
Two days spent at the festival and any ONE of the following sessions would have been amazing. I've taken notes and will regurgitate later, but for now, let me tell you about what I've seen. Yesterday I went to: 1. An In Conversation with Laurent Binet. His first novel HHhH (which I just started reading [...]
Hipster versus indie versus everything else
When the generation gap becomes apparent, we oldies need to go directly to the youngies to get things explained. Which is why I asked my 16-year-old daughter again to explain to me who hipsters are, and how they differ from the other groups. I'm not the only person to struggle with this, so here is [...]
Catching up on… The Writer’s Room Interviews
I've mentioned this fabulous suite of interviews before but really, they are such a great source of information and insight that it's worth mentioning them again. You really should subscribe. (It's The Writer's Room and you can go here to find out more.)Author Charlotte Wood established this project earlier this year? Late last year? A [...]
So what’s it about?
This is what I'm grappling with now. A distillation of my second manuscript into one or two sentences that tell another person what it's about. A few years ago I did a Carmel Bird* workshop. We went around the class (natch) each saying what we were reading and what it was about. This is how [...]
Excited about MWF13
I haven't been this excited about the Melbourne Writers Festival in like, forever, and I haven't been to anything at any festival for ages. No offence to previous organisers, but this year is pretty dang fabulous and I've diarised a total of 16 spots. This is what caught my interest this year: There are various [...]
The Review Page, still in the factory
I'm still trying to work out how to drive this bloody wordpress. I've created a new page at the top for 'Reviews' and I want to have pages linked off that, for each review I write. Not so easy it seems but I shall prevail. Somehow. The last couple of days I've read two blog [...]
As promised, the book review post # 3
While I gird my loins to write my first, thoughtful and considered book review (and egads, which one to choose?), here is my third installment of notes and thoughts. It's messy and somewhat incoherent, something I will try to avoid when reviewing though I can't promise much. I haven't had a chance to proof this, [...]
My excuses and I do have several
Reasons why I have not yet posted on book reviewing: 1. I've been procrastinating 2. I've been writing (which is better, yes?)* 3. I've been teaching (a little bit) 4. I've been re-watching West Wing (a lot) 5. I've been reading heaps. Just finished abotu three in a row that didn't do it for me, [...]
While I’m cogitating on the next ‘How-to’ book review post…
I wanted to quickly list the books that I have on my shelves that I have found (variously) helpful in improving my writing skills but thought I'd also write a bit about my beliefs for revising work. Editing Knowing and clearly understanding what the different types of revision are is a first step and this [...]
Workshop in Brisbane – writing memoir
On Sunday I flew up to Brissy to attend a workshop at the Queensland State Library, run by the QWC. Facilitated by Patti Miller, it was on Writing the Real Story. While my focus is fiction, and novels (although am working on a novella en ce moment, god knows why, it seems from my reading [...]
Writing book reviews: How to post # 2
I have three new books: Madeleine: A Life of Madeleine St John by Helen Trinca The Memory Trap by Andrea Goldsmith All That Is by James Salter I don't know when I'll read them. I already have so many unread. But I'll put them into my inventory and put them beside the bed and get [...]
Learn with me: Book reviews ‘How to’ post #1
So, I feel I'm crap at writing the sort of book reviews I want to write. I know good ones when I see them, I enjoy lengthy and meaty reviews, ones where the focus can shift from the specific book at hand and include other works by the same author, and indeed relevant pieces by [...]
Game of Thrones – Friday video
While I'm getting my act together to put up some more stuff about book reviewing, please enjoy the interview below with George RR Martin, creator of the Fire and Ice series (Game of Thrones). Even if you are not a GoT watcher/reader, or 'fantasy person' (I'm not ordinarily but I will confess to loving this [...]
The art of reviewing
There's been a bit of talk around the traps lately about literary criticism, blog reviewers (or should I say bloggers who review) and readers who review. Also aspiring authors who review. I was recently asked if I would be interested in doing reviewing and my knee-jerk reaction was to say NO. There were various sentiments [...]
Checking in from ORANGE County
So we leave tonight. It's been a whirlwind trip but when my friend asked me what I had planned for when I got home, I said 'What, you mean after I take to my bed for a week, depressed?' I know that I couldn't do what he does - flying all the time. It's relentless [...]
Overnight successes
Here is an interesting article/interview with The Rosie Project author Graeme Simsion, on how his wildly-successful debut novel came into existence. For what seems like an overnight success, this project was years in the making. It gives those of us working hard at our 'things' hope and reassures us too (or me, anyway) that persistence [...]
Isabel Allende & Friday wrap (with rocket)
I haven't read a lot of Allende but I remember being very taken with Eva Luna. I just saw a link to January Magazine, who have an alphabetical list of authors who have websites. There are a lot of names but not so many that I recognise. The Allende link I have below goes to [...]
Edited – Not about Building web traffic and all that jazz
EDITED - I couldn't find that post again on building blog traffic. I'll keep trying but in the meantime, here is another link from Jane's site. I have to say, it's one of the most comprehensive 'writer support' sites I've seen. You could spend days trawling through the material. Below is a link to some [...]
Now with blogroll
I've copied across many of my writerly links from my personal blog so that I can have them stored here because this is the space I'm shaping into the writing thing, the other blog is just personal blah blah stuff. There are a lot of helpful links to the left-hand side (in terms of writing [...]
New: Sydney Review of Books
There's a lot of good stuff going on right now in the Australian reading/writing world. First came the Australian Women Writers space, created by Elizabeth Lhuede in 2012. Elizabeth blogs at Devoted Eclectic. The AWW have a 2013 reader challenge that you can sign up for, which follows the inaugural challenge last year. The AWW [...]
First interview with Amanda Lohrey from The Writer’s Room
Writer Amanda LohreyIf you haven't already subscribed to this new publication, and you are a keen student of learning as much as possible about 'the craft' (and also if you are a nosy sticky-beak like me and love to read about writers and their writing processes) then get thee here and subscribe. If you do, [...]
Advice from The Times on writing well.
This is an excellent article on writing, from The New York Times. I reckon you could spend a day reading it and following the links and making notes and having either light-bulb moments where you go 'ahhhhh' OR affirmation moments where you go 'yes, that's right, that's what I think.' It's one article that encapsulates [...]
What is it about Helen?
I wanted to go to the Helen Garner talk at the NonFictioNow Conference in Melbourne last year, but couldn't, so was very pleased to see this video via Virginia Lloyd's twitter. I can't seem to embed the video, so here is the link to the Wheeler Centre website, which will take you directly to the [...]
Emotional fiction with moral heft
From a recent New York Times piece on writer George Saunders, I took a few notes. I found it fascinating what he says about fiction and the idea of 'emotional fiction' especially. The thing on the table was emotional fiction. How do we [Franzen, DFW and Ben Marcus] make it? How do we get there? [...]
Understanding metafiction
Metafiction is on my list of things to learn more about. Here is a great post on it from Ryan O'Neill.
Missed a few days
So, yesterday I did [another] writing workshop. This one was more to meet people than to learn, though I did learn some things so that was a bonus. The workshop was run by Rebecca Starford from Affirm Press/Kill Your Darlings and Jon Bauer, who wrote Rocks in the Belly. I took my copy of Rocks [...]
SERAGLIO 