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July 2016 Writing Calendar
I decided to put this calendar for the month of June together on a whim. And then people loved it. So this is the monster list of everything even remotely writerly and literary that is going on in Perth and WA in the month of July 2016Â from today onwards. So a few quick answers to questions: Will this list always be on this site? MEAA WA is keen to cross-post/host/something along those lines. This will also be cross-posted at Emily Paull‘s site. And possibly on DWOA once we tweak a few things. Can you compile a list for Victoria and Melbourne? Not at this point – no time to spare.…
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The writing plan for June
It’s June today. A June day, today, let’s say since June began the day before yesterday. On this June day my TBR is neither pile nor stack, it is a scatter instead, in bags, on shelves, across the floor, under laptops and beds. It’s also not To Be Read but rather like quantum, a mix between the two, some To Be Read but some also read already so To Be Reviewed. I need a plan.Â
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27 ways to support diverse writers
I had this thought one day. I should qualify that it was between the hours of midnight and four am, generally not a great time for coming up with new ideas for me but a good time to work on ideas I already have. I thought about how I didn’t always see a lot of non-POC authors discuss, read, review POC authors’ works or interview them despite doing so for various non-POC authors regularly on their blogs. There are some authors who don’t do that sort of thing on their blogs at all for anyone else’s work and that’s fine and up to them but there are some that do…
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The Australian Women Writers’ Challenge 2016
So in case you didn’t know, I often volunteer, and often fail (sorry Elizabeth) at rounding up and discussing what people have read for the Australian Women Writers’ Challenge in the genres of non fiction and short fiction and poetry. Occasionally, I interview authors for podcasts as well. The Challenge aims to get people reading more books written in all genres by Australian female and female identifying writers and to promote their work since we seem unable to rely on mainstream media to do a good enough job of doing so with no gender or racial bias involved. This year we hope to introduce a bingo card element to the…
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Australian Women Writers Challenge 2014
Marisa Wikramanayake announces her intention to participate in the Australian Women Writers Challenge for 2014
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Why you shouldn't let your muse get drunk on champagne/how to braintrain your muse
Muses and alcohol… when you need control, that’s not a healthy mix. So this came about because someone I know who requests writing advice on a regular basis, said she had a muse problem. The person she had based her muse on was going through a change of circumstances and that meant that she felt uninspired to continue writing – the change didn’t fit the story. So I thought I’d clear up some things about muses.
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The writing process, step by step
We discussed the process of writing in the last post. This post is about the steps in writing a book and getting published. So the first one was about how to get started with writing as a hobby or getting used to writing in general process wise and this is about the process of writing, editing and publishing a particular book.
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How to write a book: Part 5: Structure (or Chapter and verse)
Structure. It is kind of strange to be discussing this prior to plot or idea but hey, I am flexible. You can read the discussions in any order you like. Structure refers to the way you organise a book such as chapters and the order of information. An editor who performs “structural editing” service on your work will read it to tell you how well your story or information is structured. In other words, where your chapters go, how many there should be and if you have put material that’s in Chapter 1 in Chapter 42 by mistake.
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Inspiration (or is there a muse?)
Yes. And no. What there is, is this wonderful awesome thing in your head called a brain. There was a reason in Greek mythology as to why Mnemosyne (nem-o-seen) was the mother of the muses. She was the goddess of memory and she named everything. Cognitive science now tells us that memory and emotion are important in the process of creativity. So let me use Sedition (the novel I am writing) as an example so you can understand what I am trying to tell you here.
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Want to know how to write a book?
Then join the most appropriately (but not very imaginatively) named “How to write a book” group on the Emergen networking site. The content is free, the membership is free – everything is free. You can either just read the posts or sign up if you want to comment. So why should you be interested? 1) It’s going to teach you or help you write a book 2) It’s free. FREE. 3) You get to chat to other would be and published writers 4) I am the person running it. I AM THE PERSON RUNNING IT. As in, you get to find out how to write a book from me. And…