Yep, that’s the sum total for September. Another fallow month. I am aiming for a little more in the next few months before the end of the year but it will require some planning. The planning I can do; it’s the execution of it that gets mucked up along the way.
Posted in Short Stories
Tagged creativity, end of month summary, slice of life, writers, writing
Well, this is embarrassing. There’s nothing here.
No, that’s not an error message. That’s the state of affairs for August.
No submissions. No new stories started. No new stories finished. No old stories finished. A couple of ideas for new stories happened and very brief notes were made. One pointillism piece finished.
Here’s the answer to the question you didn’t ask.
Two cups of emotional fatigue. Splashes of mental health that resembled a dropped trifle. Combined with work demands surrounding the HSC and Major Works. Stir and bake in a tepid oven for ages.
It was about the middle of the month when I pulled the pin on everything and simply stopped worrying about producing work and let the ground remain fallow. The idea of a fallow time is something I want to think about in the new few months.
That’s a wrap on August.
Posted in Short Stories
Tagged art, end of month wrap, fiction, just because of thoughtfulness, pointillism, writers, writing
What happened this month?
Each month there are expectations, and each month there is reality. Somewhere between those extremes is a box of doughnuts that turned up unexpectedly because your daughter has a friend whose mum works for Krispy Kreme, and you don’t refuse the offer of free doughnuts.
I am aiming at producing more work month by month but sometimes it is akin to aiming for the toilet bowl and missing, despite all precautions and preparations leaving a mess to clean up, yet persistance is key. Keep thinking, keep making notes, keep writing paragraphs.
There might be strange things afoot at the Circle K but they will be “Most excellent.”
I completed a new pointillism piece
Made 4 short story submissions. I missed a few deadlines for a number of reasons, particularly time and lack of prepared material. I have sorted a couple of stories for completion some time in August but there’s always that issue of balancing time with school marking and Major Work readings, plus it’s the busy time of year for dance and Physical culture comps for my girls. That’s always the way. Sometimes is it working inbetween the gaps.
Poem Illustration. One of my favourite things I completed this month was an illustration for Dr Willo Drummond’s poem, Sail, from her debut collection Moon Wrasse. I heard her speak at an In Conversation event with WestWords, and she read this poem and commented on hopefully one day finding an animator to produce it. I am no animator but my brain said, “Oh, shiny new thing,” and so I set about composing a series of images based on my reading. I messaged Dr Willo and asked about the inspiration behind the poem which allowed me to refine a couple of the images. The poem is reproduced with the permission of the author.
I read two books (a new addition to the EOM Wrap):
Peter M. Ball – You Don’t Want to be Published (Brain Jar Press)
This is not a how-to-write book. This is a how-to-understand-the writing-game-and-make-it-work-for-you book. Peter’s collection of essays from his blog posts is mind expanding as you grapple with the notion that you ARE a writer AND a business. Treat them with all due respect.
Kyle Perry – The Bluffs
A cracker of a debut crime novel. Dive in, enjoy the read, experience the wilderness of Tasmania as four missing school girls are thought to have been abducted by The Hungry Man. Fantastic popcorn for the brain. A great beach read or tucked up by the heater under a blanket.
Posted in Short Stories
Tagged art, creativity, end of month wrap, flash fiction, just because of thoughtfulness, summary of the month, writers, writing
Happy New (Financial) Year’s Eve to all my Antipodean folk.
It’s half way through the calendar year so it’s time for the end of the month wrap and a little look forward both for the next six months and into next year. Side note: a couple I know celebrate their birthdays on June 30 and December 31.
At the end of May I knew June was going to be a creative write off with the amount of school marking coming up. Despite that black hole of creative suck that sucks worse than any sucking machine invented could ever suck, there were some good things that happened this month.
Here’s a list
There was certainly less writing than what I would have liked but I knew that it was going to be very difficult to have the headspace to write so I used small pockets of time to create art.
What will July look like?
During the holiday break I will be working on some short pieces for upcoming deadlines, then looking at future deadlines to see what I will work on. I know the next school term is also a creative graveyard with the amount of marking but I am hoping to carve out time for small, achievable projects.
Very soon, Postmarked Piper’s Reach will be going out of print with Vine Leaves Press but there’s still a chance to grab a copy.
Jodi Cleghorn and I are enormously grateful to Jessica Bell and Amie McCracken for giving our book a home, and for a cover that I was totally enamoured with from the very first time I saw it.
Read the story of Ella-Louise Wilson and Jude Smith as they unravel their lives through letters.
LINK HERE
Greetings from the desk of The Drum and Page. At the beginning of each year, I choose a word to help give me focus to the coming year.
In 2021, it was Limitless/Breakthrough.
For a COVID year, there was little breakthrough and a lot of limitations, yet it was a year to keep thinking what it means to be a writer and an artist.
Last year, 2022, the word was Relentless.
For many reasons, 2022 was relentless, particularly on a personal front, yet my focus was on moving in a direction where my writing was developing. This resulted in three publications: The School Magazine for The Diving Tower (November), winning the WestWords Living Stories Prize in July for We Three Kings, and winning the Blacktown Mayoral Creative Writing Prize in December for Cutting Through.
I was also a member of the WestWords Academy which was a fantastic time to network and gain further understanding into the writing and publishing world.
What does this next year hold?
In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9
I had this verse running through my head over the last few days and while I can plan and prepare, no one knows where the wind comes from or where it is going to so you make sure you adjust the beach towel wrapped around your neck, pretending it is a cape, and stand facing the wind so the cape billows out behind you, and you strike an appropriate superhero pose.
I know I want to maintain, and build on, the momentum I gained from last year. Therefore, my word/s for 2023 is:
To determine what this will look like for me, I have to examine my practices and my focus on where I want to expend my creative energy. Hence, for me, my words mean clearing the decks of older projects by either removing them from my work lists, or leaving them for another time. It also means dropping those things that look shiny and interesting but don’t advance where I want to go. For example, I’d been thinking for some time about a Red Bubble/Etsy store to sell my art, but that’s a whole business side of things that I don’t have time for. My art is personal expression and peace. If someone offers to buy a piece or wants a commission, that’s fantastic. My business focus is on writing and the craft of writing.
This year, a year of pursuing, and a year of pursuit, means finding the ‘thing’ – whether that is a story, art, reading, that fills me up and allows me to develop. I am hoping time spent with the projects that give me a sense of fullness will replenish me. There is always something to write, an idea to let compost, a paragraph to edit, a character to let loose in the lolly aisle at the supermarket with $100 to spend and see what they return with.
Long pieces of work have long gestation periods and long blocks of time for writing and editing. This may mean a less visible year, yet I will still be pursuing my writing goals and aims.
I have a couple of new desk buddies/guardians/motivators courtesy of Christmas to help me along the way.
Success is fleeting and unpredictable. Last year’s wins and publications were succour in a time of distress and stress. Success this year will look very different, and I am willing to change the criteria of ‘success’ to allow me to pursue my writing goals.
Think I need to invest a good pair of running shoes to make it through this year.
I am an English teacher and drummer/percussionist with an interest in literary pursuits, creative endeavours, rhythmic permutations, theological amplifications and comedic outbursts.
Here you will find my creative detritus: articles on living a creative life and writing explorations.
And other ideas I have snaffled from the papers stuck on the fridge door.
Twitter: @RevHappiness
Instagram: @handwrittenpages
My collaborative epistolary novel, "Post Marked: Piper's Reach," written with Jodi Cleghorn (@JodiCleghorn) out now via Vine Leaves Press.
Come and browse through the library; there is no need to be silent.
A Fullness in Brevity - Adam Byatt 