Yes! We now have a Write On Essex website: http://www.writeonessex.co.uk/
Not much there at the moment, but more coming soon!
Friday 10 February 2012
Thursday 2 February 2012
The Essex Book Festival
The 2012 Essex Book Festival will be taking place this March. Events are lined up across a variety of locations (not least our beloved University of Essex campus) and undoubted highlights include talks from Alexander McCall Smith, Jodi Picoult, Marina Lewycka, former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion and Essex’s own Marina Warner. I’ll also be hoping to make it down to the Lakeside Theatre at the University for the Writers’ Showcase on 2 March, a reading of work-in-progress from the theatre’s resident writing group, if only to see how they do things at the other end of the campus.
I do love to hear how other writers work, and hearing a favourite author speak about a much-loved book is a rare treat. Naturally there are nerdy thrills to be had from the “backstage” gossip and the possibility of sharing your humble musings on the story with the creative force behind it. There’s also something reassuring in hearing how a respected author overcame his or her struggles, and how with the right routine writing success can be possible. I attended a talk with Sarah Waters a couple of years ago and it was a fantastic opportunity to find out more about how she created one of my favourite books, her thoughts about the layers of the story and to hear other readers reactions to it. In the last few months I’ve had several opportunities to hear authors talk about their writing and each time I’ve come away eager to read what they’ve spoken about so passionately but also with a renewed work ethic for my own scribblings.
So if you’ve never attended a talk with an author, whether a favourite or someone you’ve never read or even heard of before, I highly recommend it – and with such a great set of writers on the bill at the Essex Book Festival you don’t even have to venture far from home to do so.
Wednesday 25 January 2012
Pens* Win Prizes!
*When those pens have been put to excellent use in the creation of the finest, award-winning literature.
Entry is now open to the 2012 Bristol Short Story Prize. Stories on any theme are welcome and a top prize of £1000 is up for grabs. Entries must be no longer than 3000 words and the closing date is 31 March 2012.
For more info see the website - http://www.bristolprize.co.uk/
Sunday 11 December 2011
Artistic Work
It never ceases to amaze me the liberties some people will take. I have just had communication from a fellow writer, a very talented chap, about an experience he's had on another blog site.
This fellow wrote a bit of local history in such a way that he captured the spirit of the 1960s high life + World War II drama + "It's a Wonderful Life" all rolled into a jolly good read. He did version after version to get the words and tone balanced in a harmonious blend that was a delight to read, and then he submitted it to the local blog site run by a committee woman of that town. You know the type... pearls and "Darlings" and a lot of pretension... a small mouth that makes moues and a weak chin. She is new to that town and, desperate to fit in, she has taken up the torch of town historian, though she is from a place far away.
My friend, who is a native son submitted his piece thinking that perhaps a chance reader would see it and remember. He looked forward to reading it himself! And then he did... and oh....
She'd chopped it up! She took out sentences that made sense of the lightness of feeling, and rendered dialogue to inane prattle, in one fell swoop. In effect she'd taken the paint brush out of the hand of an artist and said "Paint it THIS way!!!"
And that, Dear Reader, is a sin. In publishing or critiquing you can offer advice and suggestion, insert notes and queries, and brain-storm with the artist to your heart's content, and theirs. You can even say "I can not use this work in this form" and that is fair dues. Everyone gets rejected at some point.
But you must never ever do the actual re-write yourself. And should you stoop to that depth you must never follow through and print it... especially without the writer's consent. That is not only bad taste it is possibly illegal. I am no expert on copyright laws, particularly on the Internet, but I know they do cover the existence of your material.
So... writer and publisher beware. And be in communication. And be honest. But don't be spraying your graffiti over someone else's work.
Good writing and reading to you!
Shar
This fellow wrote a bit of local history in such a way that he captured the spirit of the 1960s high life + World War II drama + "It's a Wonderful Life" all rolled into a jolly good read. He did version after version to get the words and tone balanced in a harmonious blend that was a delight to read, and then he submitted it to the local blog site run by a committee woman of that town. You know the type... pearls and "Darlings" and a lot of pretension... a small mouth that makes moues and a weak chin. She is new to that town and, desperate to fit in, she has taken up the torch of town historian, though she is from a place far away.
My friend, who is a native son submitted his piece thinking that perhaps a chance reader would see it and remember. He looked forward to reading it himself! And then he did... and oh....
She'd chopped it up! She took out sentences that made sense of the lightness of feeling, and rendered dialogue to inane prattle, in one fell swoop. In effect she'd taken the paint brush out of the hand of an artist and said "Paint it THIS way!!!"
And that, Dear Reader, is a sin. In publishing or critiquing you can offer advice and suggestion, insert notes and queries, and brain-storm with the artist to your heart's content, and theirs. You can even say "I can not use this work in this form" and that is fair dues. Everyone gets rejected at some point.
But you must never ever do the actual re-write yourself. And should you stoop to that depth you must never follow through and print it... especially without the writer's consent. That is not only bad taste it is possibly illegal. I am no expert on copyright laws, particularly on the Internet, but I know they do cover the existence of your material.
So... writer and publisher beware. And be in communication. And be honest. But don't be spraying your graffiti over someone else's work.
Good writing and reading to you!
Shar
Thursday 29 September 2011
Long Time No See: So you wanna be a writer?
My friend, the writer Kate Lovell, has written this excellent piece on a mind-hurdle that I find particularly difficult to clear - so I am reposting...
Long Time No See: So you wanna be a writer?: So life got in the way and I haven't posted on here for an age. Long time no blog! I shouldn't really say life 'got in the way' - life has b...
Long Time No See: So you wanna be a writer?: So life got in the way and I haven't posted on here for an age. Long time no blog! I shouldn't really say life 'got in the way' - life has b...
Tuesday 6 September 2011
SEPTEMBER MEETING & THEME
Our group is meeting on Monday, 19th of September at 18:30 (that's 6:30 p.m. to us non-military types!)
Our theme is: The ending it should have been.
Monday 11 July 2011
WRITING GOALS
Our corporeal group meets monthly and reads what we've written from the month before. We find this keeps our gears oiled, and really one of THE best ways to become a better writer is to WRITE!
In case you are interested in virtually joining us here is the following info for you:
July's writing theme(s):
1. Why are you scared of her?
2. Writers are secret psychpaths
DUE DATE: JULY 25th 2011
Pick either or both of the themes and craft a story or poem. We will read it at the group meeting and/or post it here and give you some feedback.
Please submit your work to writeonessex@gmail.com and our thanks to NAWG for the wonderful book they sent us to support new ideas for writing!
Saturday 25 June 2011
The enemies of creativity
This post is going to be a lot more open-ended than those I have written previously, because this time I’m not sure I have a solution to all the problems I pose.
A few weeks ago the UK enjoyed a succession public holidays equalling lots of long weekends. Like most people I spent this time visiting relatives, patronising the garden centre and lounging about in an indolent and despicably unproductive manner. However, all that was after breakfast. Before the morning repast, immediately upon waking, I wrote. I wrote more steadily and freely than I have in a long time. Before the rest of the household roused themselves for the day I found a quiet spot at a desk with a view over the garden and wrote solidly for about hour every morning of my holiday.
That which I wrote may be a long, long way from genius (I’m being too modest, I know), but it was words down on the page and I returned to work feeling a great sense of achievement.
Returning to my flat, work and the normal routine completely killed this creative drive. Try as I might, I can’t match the level of productivity that I reached over those few days in April.
Why is it so hard to write, when writing is what I want to do? I procrastinate, distracting myself with housework – housework for pity’s sake! Dealing with the humdrum tasks of my life seems to sap my creative juices. A break from the routine pulled me out of the rut I had fallen into. But now – I’m right back in there.
There seemed to be three key components to my productive weekend that I need to reproduce;
*Don’t all rush at once.
A few weeks ago the UK enjoyed a succession public holidays equalling lots of long weekends. Like most people I spent this time visiting relatives, patronising the garden centre and lounging about in an indolent and despicably unproductive manner. However, all that was after breakfast. Before the morning repast, immediately upon waking, I wrote. I wrote more steadily and freely than I have in a long time. Before the rest of the household roused themselves for the day I found a quiet spot at a desk with a view over the garden and wrote solidly for about hour every morning of my holiday.
That which I wrote may be a long, long way from genius (I’m being too modest, I know), but it was words down on the page and I returned to work feeling a great sense of achievement.
Returning to my flat, work and the normal routine completely killed this creative drive. Try as I might, I can’t match the level of productivity that I reached over those few days in April.
Why is it so hard to write, when writing is what I want to do? I procrastinate, distracting myself with housework – housework for pity’s sake! Dealing with the humdrum tasks of my life seems to sap my creative juices. A break from the routine pulled me out of the rut I had fallen into. But now – I’m right back in there.
There seemed to be three key components to my productive weekend that I need to reproduce;
- Most obviously, getting to work early in the day. My ideas seemed strong and vivid before the day caught up with me, and the sense of achievement was enough encouragement to wake up early the next day to do the same again. Of course, the answer is to get up early and write first thing. Trouble is I’m a lazy son of a gun. Can I have a volunteer to kick me up the backside at 6.00am every day?*
- The novelty of a fresh perspective. For me it was a view over a shady, suburban garden. How do I refresh my brain sat at my kitchen table staring at the view of the factory chimneys?
- A feeling of freedom. I couldn’t do any housework even if I wanted to, because my house was fifty miles away. When Virginia Woolf wrote about a room of one’s own, she should have thrown in a handful of servants too. How do you find time to write when there are always metaphorical potatoes to be peeled?
*Don’t all rush at once.
Wednesday 15 June 2011
Publishing e-Stories
I'm writing this quickly... I have to wake my husband up in six minutes and start getting ready to go to work. But before I do, to say I'm e-reader obsessed is putting it mildly. I get obsessed easily, anyway, but this whole e-reader device thing has made my writing life sooo much easier!
Yeah, I have downloaded some fiction - ok a lot of fiction. Most of it free from Project Gutenberg and even some free books from Amazon!
And that's what got me noticing that Amazon is offering stories by famous writers... short stories... for mere pence. But not all of the stories are by famous writers, either. There are people I've never heard of putting stories on Amazon for the Kindle e-reader, for say 69p a go.
How do they do that?? Well, I am the queen of researching random stuff... so naturally I Googled it. And I share with you this little guide...
"How to Make Money Publishing Short stories For Kindle"
Ok... now I'm three minutes late. Gotta goooooo!
Shar
Yeah, I have downloaded some fiction - ok a lot of fiction. Most of it free from Project Gutenberg and even some free books from Amazon!
And that's what got me noticing that Amazon is offering stories by famous writers... short stories... for mere pence. But not all of the stories are by famous writers, either. There are people I've never heard of putting stories on Amazon for the Kindle e-reader, for say 69p a go.
How do they do that?? Well, I am the queen of researching random stuff... so naturally I Googled it. And I share with you this little guide...
"How to Make Money Publishing Short stories For Kindle"
Ok... now I'm three minutes late. Gotta goooooo!
Shar
Thursday 2 June 2011
Summer time and the writing is easy!
Salutations fellow scribes.
I would like to draw your attention to this year's Guardian Weekend Short Story competition. They are looking for 2000 words on the theme of "journeys" by 13 June.
Last year's winner was published alongside the likes of Hillary Mantel and David Mitchell in the Guardian Weekend magazine's fiction special, and no doubt this year's line up will provide equally illustrious company for the winning author. So why not give it a whirl?
I would like to draw your attention to this year's Guardian Weekend Short Story competition. They are looking for 2000 words on the theme of "journeys" by 13 June.
Last year's winner was published alongside the likes of Hillary Mantel and David Mitchell in the Guardian Weekend magazine's fiction special, and no doubt this year's line up will provide equally illustrious company for the winning author. So why not give it a whirl?
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