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Sam van Zweden

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Questioning

The last few weeks have contained more questions than I’ve had to ask in quite a while.

I’ve found myself a spot reviewing books for RMIT’s magazine “Catalyst”, which is incredibly exciting. It’s a really well-produced glossy thing, with an incredibly patient and helpful editor. The last few weeks have seen me drafting and re-drafting before submitting, then re-drafting and re-editing, re-working, re-submitting. My final submission was something I’m proud of. It was a hard task to review a whole collection in just 500 words, but I feel like I gave it a pretty good shot, and produced something I’ll be proud to see in print.

Writing reviews for print is new to me. As was raised in a comment on my last post, reviews for my blog are quite a bit different – they can be almost throw-away, conversational pieces full of half-baked impressions. I’m not entirely sure I’m happy with this difference, and want to move LGWABP toward a more permanent style of reviewing.

All this aside, the whole process of writing a review for print, to be put before an editor, made me realise how much I don’t know. I’ve sent out copious emails to various people in the last few weeks.

“Do I put ‘ed’, or ‘edited by’?”
“What’s conventional to include at the top of a review?”
“Invert the paragraph? What does that mean?”
“What’s a word for overly comprehensive, in a negative way?” (This question did get a pretty fantastic reply in the form of a metaphor about an obsessive lepidopterist whose rampant cataloging robs his obsession of beauty… Unfortunately that didn’t make it into the review, but by far the best answer possible to such a question. Thanks, Tully!)
“Can I have a random subjective paragraph in here?”
“How academic does this need to be?”
“Do I italicise the title, or put it in inverted commas?”

Even though I’ve been reviewing books for ages now, both for TV and for my blog, there’s so much I still need help with.

Somehow this gets me excited – I’m actively seeking out things I don’t really know how to do. Forcing myself out of my comfort zone. Getting stuff done.

I’ve got a similar project coming up – I’m writing an article about a new local not-for-profit organisation, which I’ve never done before, nor anything like it… But I know I’ve got plenty of people to ask when I run into questions, and that I’ll be learning and expanding my skill set. Wish me luck!

 

A question to the floor: this new gig with Catalyst means that more than ever I’m keen on keeping abreast of new-release books, preferably before they’re released. So my current question is, how do I do that? Do I just need to keep tabs on publishers’ websites, or is there somewhere that brings all publishers together and talks about future releases from everywhere?

 

The BAS review will appear in RMIT’s Catalyst, which comes out on the 14th of February.

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Some Solid Advice

I’m a fan of Cate Kennedy. She’s a great writer, a wonderful editor (hey, Christmas is coming up! “The Best Australian…”? Anyone?), and I especially enjoy reading her columns and journal articles.

Having read some of her work before, I know that Cate Kennedy is a major proponent of turning the damn internet off when you’re working. She tells some harsh truths, she honestly gets to the crux of the problem, whether it’s time-wasting, or lying to yourself about what your work really is or wants to be…

Yesterday on The Inc. Blot (the Black Inc blog), Cate wrote her top ten tips for writers. Usually these lists are pretty gimmicky, or they take the piss. Mark Twain’s advice, “Use good grammar” and a very helpful BBC article telling me to “Get an agent!” are two such articles.

Cate’s list, however, is true to her usual form. She cuts through the crap, and gives real advice which talks to the real problems most writers face. Thinking about fame when what you need to do first is find somewhere to sit and write. Mucking around on Youtube. Self-editing before anything even reaches that page. Most importantly, just get the job done. Cate gives advice that helps you do that.

So head on over to The Inc. Blot and give her article a read.

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Look UP!

Overload Poetry Festival is here for its ninth year, and they’ve got a stellar program.

As part of the program, Overload are broadcasting micropoetry on the ticket text at Federation Square. Two of my pieces have been accepted. This poetry display will be running from the 10th-19th of September.

So if you’re going through the city and you pass Fed Square – look UP!

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Making Shit Real, Yo!

Today I met someone I respect quite a lot. I introduced myself, and he said “oh yes, Little Girl With a Big Pen, I read your blog.”

The name of my blog sounds surreal coming out of people’s mouths, like it’s a real thing. People out there read it. YOU! You read it!

So hey, thanks. Thanks for reading my blog, and giving me an audience, and making shit real, yo. I had a moment today where I realized that I’m doing something ace that I enjoy, and it’s getting somewhere. It’s been about a year since I started blogging, I think it’s a year in about a week’s time… Gosh.

And:
YEEEE! (RE: Recognition via blog)

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10bythen

Sometimes people online have freaking awesome ideas. A while ago, Megan Burke did the Comment July Challenge. J Kaye does the 100+ Book Challenge. And now, I’ve been invited to participate in the #10bythen challenge.

The idea? Submit ten pieces by the 1st of October. It’s a big ask. A really big ask. I usually submit about 2 each month. So this will make me work incredibly hard – but I’ll give it a shot!

If you’ve got Twitter, you should join in with the #10bythen hashtag and get ten pieces out by the 1st of October!

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Poetry Just 4 U

Officially dubbing this past week “success-a-palooza”.

Today marks the start of the Melbourne Writers Festival, which runs until the 5th of September.

I’m excited to have gotten tickets for Dog’s Tales, a night run by Chris Flynn which is usually on at the Dogs Bar in St Kilda, but for the MWF will spend a night at the Toff in Town. My dazzling non-fiction teacher Kalinda Ashton will be performing, as well as one of my favourite authors Josephine Rowe, and the woman who introduced to me the idea that short stories can be truly magical, Carmel Bird. Should be an incredible night!

Apart from this, I have some exciting MWF-related news: some of my micropoetry has been accepted for the RMIT Poetry 4 U program, which can be followed on Twitter throughout the festival, as well as selected pieces running across the LED screens at Federation Square between 12pm and 2pm daily throughout the festival. I’ve seen some of the entries from last year, and there was some great work, so follow the project or head down to Fed Square one day to check it out!

The general public are also invited to participate via Twitter, just add the #poetry4u hashtag to any nanofiction or micropoetry you might want to put out there.

Have a great festival!

0

Ricochet

Have you heard about Ricochet Mag?

It’s a new literary journal, which publishes emerging writers. Their first issue went live today, and it contains my poem, “The Tick-Tock Polka”. Go check it out, there’s some great work in there. And keep an eye on their blog, they post all sorts of helpful things about getting published and deadline reminders and whatnot.

3

My Face Hurts From Smiling

I could not smile any wider if I had instruments to help me do it.

In the last week, I have recieved two (yes, TWO!) acceptance letters from publications I love and respect. I’m not sure if it’s OK to publicize who they are before they’re released, so let’s just say that I’m in, I’ll be published, I’ll be pimping the hell out of these journals when they’re released, both to come out in the next few months.

It’s a funny experience – I’ve just had a moment where I went “Oh shit! People will be reading my writing!” Real people, with critical minds. That makes me a bit nervous…

I also now have this itch to write, follow it up, follow it up! Publication is not an end-point, it’s just the beginning.

4

Friday Flash: Mr Hughes

Mr Hughes sits dead in his chair, a glass of whisky in his hand, while a low crackle spews from the wireless.
Sasha has been laying at his feet since he died, at 5.54 this morning. It is now near lunch time.
Mr Hughes had decided to die, and so he did. His beloved wife had departed a week earlier, and Mr Hughes set his mind to giving up.
For a week as he shuffled toward death, he put his affairs in order. There weren’t many affairs to be ordered, but he left his estate to his dog Sasha, and left her in the care of the state, with the condition that she remained in the house until she died.
He had some trouble, did Mr Hughes. He thought of all the ways a man can die, but none of them took his fancy. They were too messy, or too expensive, or too illegal.
And so last night he sat down with Sasha, poured himself a whisky, and concentrated on the white noise the wireless had to offer. He sat as still as a statue, and stared out his window.
The rose garden stared back at him from the dew-touched morning lawn. How his wife had adored and tended to those roses! Her hands were bitten by thorns and calloused from secateurs, but the flowers nodded at Mr Hughes then as if in apology for his loss. In the week that Mrs Hughes had been gone, weeds had already started to take over the rose beds. Every time Mr Hughes looked at his wife’s secateurs he felt wrong to fix the situation.
Now he resembles a frozen tree, bluish and brittle, haunting yet beautiful. All Sasha can do is wait for someone to come and knock on the door to find her master’s body.

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