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Stories are Currency
June 20, 2012
Humans, by nature, are curious. And because of this we are natural storytellers. It’s our way of making sense of the world and connecting with other humans. There’s no escaping it. Before technology we were telling stories around the fire and drawing images on cave walls. Does this mean that stories are the currency of life?
Everything we know is a story. Science is the story of what is and where it came from. Religion is the story of why it is so. Morals are the stories of how we should behave. There’s no escaping stories and of course we don’t want to.
With technology changing the way we communicate, it seems that it’s even more important to tell our own story. There’s that need to be heard and understood and validated.
So, what’s your story and how do you tell it? Words, pictures, music?
Taking Flight
May 30, 2012
Busybird has been all over the place in the last few weeks and while we might have wings, it’s good to be home and take time out to get grounded again. So, what have we been doing? [untitled] issue five has its own wings now that we’ve released it into the wild. For any of you 40 or so people who already have a copy, we’d love to hear what you think. Personally we believe that Australia has some awesome new writers out there and this issue continues to prove just that. We’ll be at the Emerging Writers’ Festival this coming Sunday to continue our work in advocating new and emerging writers. We’ll be in the Atrium of Federation Square as part of the Page Parlour.
Kev and I were up at Mildura last week where we had the honour of hanging out with 21 up and coming talented writers at a writers’ camp. What a blast to spend a few days with year 7-10 students with such an abundance of talent and a willingness to work hard at stories, songs, poems and drawing.
While we were there, we penned a song for Cheeky Monkey and tortured the kids with our singing! Our apologies to the school counsellor who’ll have to pick up the pieces after that.
In June, Les Zig and Blaise van Hecke will be running an intensive weekend workshop for writers wanting to polish up their work ready to submit to publishers, or for those wanting to self-publish. Check out the details here. Who said that winter was a time for hibernation!
The Power of Passion
May 6, 2012
Our book, Journey: Experiences with Breast Cancer is important to us for many reasons. Most importantly, it’s a book with very valuable content about a topic that we feel strongly about. But aside from that, it’s the fact that we feel that we can make a difference to readers and writers alike. Let me explain.
This realisation came to me on Friday night at the Olympic Room at the MCG. We were there for a fundraiser for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre. I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to talk about Journey to the 200 or so people who attended. I was very nervous about this because I’m not used to public speaking, especially to such a large crowd. I prepared my speech and practised it repeatedly during the day.
When it came time to talk, all the nervousness fell away because I was talking from the heart about something that is very important to me. This book really is about the strength of community and the valuable therapy that is reading and writing. I’ve long held the belief that writing is good therapy. And this was cemented for me last week when I met the award-winning author Barry Heard. Barry suffered a nervous breakdown twenty years after he had returned from the Vietnam War. His family was told to prepare for the worst, maybe within three months. His therapist asked Barry to write down his thoughts as a way to get through the days at the Heidelberg Repat Hospital. He didn’t stop writing for two years.
I asked Barry if he thinks that writing saved him. He replied, ‘without a doubt’.
So, when things gets hard, it’s worth writing things down to try to make sense of them. This is what we have with Journey. Real, raw stories that are as valuable to the writers as for those of us who read them.
These are the things that I learned from putting Journey out into the world. Always seek a second opinion; you are not alone; cancer is about living, not dying; learn to laugh at life.
Let’s Get Published!
April 21, 2012
It’s true, isn’t it, that there are things that happen in our lives that would seem unbelievable if we read them in a book? So when we write some of ourselves into our stories, we actually have to sometimes leave those details out. But how can you tell if the things you write (experience or imagination) are believable?
The best resource any writer has is someone they trust to read their work. Someone who has a good idea about what makes a good story (fiction or non-fiction). NOT someone in your family, or a friend, who will tell you useless things like, ‘Yeah, it’s good,’ or ‘It’s got too many big words.’
Your reader doesn’t necessarily have to be another writer but someone who reads a lot. Their experience from reading will inform them about language, pace and grammar.
Once you feel ready to send out your short stories or novels, what do you do with them? Writers Victoria is a great resource (as are writing centres in every state). There are competitions and opportunities available to anyone to ask about. Then there’s the Australian Writers’ Marketplace, which is a great resource for finding agents, editors, publishers and other writing services.
Busybird is a big advocate for new and emerging writers. We already publish two journals, page seventeen and [untitled] that are great places to start. But if these journals aren’t fitting your goals, or you’re not even sure if you’re on the right track, check out our workshops and Let’s Get Published!
Autumn Rains From My Room
April 9, 2012
There’s something about being rugged up inside on an Autumn day and writing. We’ve been busy catching up on chores long overdue and now the desk is free. So, what are you all writing out there? I’m back into my novel which I haven’t touched for many months and it’s been calling me, telling me to get back to it. This is a novel that I actually started almost ten years ago and I’ve come up with EVERY excuse not to write it.
I spend most of my time encouraging others to write, giving them tips, helping people to get published but now it’s time for me to take heed of my own advice and get cracking.
And the best way to start is stop with the procrastination and sit down and write …