Blog
Welcome to the Busybird blog, where you can find helpful articles, updates, industry news and more. Make sure you stay up to date by signing up to our newsletter below.
Stories everywhere
January 15, 2013By simply living we are creating our own story. Much of it will be boring to recount when we come to the end of it but there will also be thoughts, feelings, things learned and interesting events that are worth leaving behind. So how can we work out what to tell and what to leave out?
I don’t know about you but I’m not really interested in what you had for breakfast or the fact that you are drinking a coffee at a local cafe as so many people might post on Facebook. But others might be. That’s the thing. It’s all subjective. That whole one man’s trash is another man’s treasure thing.
That means that you shouldn’t tell a story that you think other people will enjoy. You should tell a story that you enjoy because there’s bound to be another person who also likes it. The clue is to make the way you tell it interesting. The devil is in the details (apologies for cliche). So to be a good storyteller, you need to give it a good angle. You need to have your eyes open to the world and suck up every ounce of information. Just be observant. Go people watching. Go smell roses. Write down anything that spikes your interest. See shapes in the clouds.
Outside the Page – Between Giants
January 6, 2013Hi All,
Just a quick one tonight on the latest from our esteemed poetry editor, Ashley Capes.
The latest poetry collection from Ashley, called Between Giants, is currently available from Ginninderra Press. Ashley’s poetry is always a delight – check out the collection on the publisher’s website here, and say hi to Ash at his blog here if you feel so inclined (he’s just put up a review of Between Giants by Mark William Jackson, which you can zip straight to here if you’re interested).
Remember, I want to hear if there’s anything going on that might have slipped under my radar!
Beau Hillier | Editor, pageseventeen
Writing Competition
December 29, 2012It’s this nice quiet time of year when the Christmas silly season is over and there is a bit of down time to give to your writing. So why not dust off some of those stories you’ve been working on, polish them up a bit and sent them in to our [untitled] short story competition.
Here’s some things to think about sending us your writing a short story(s):
Is the story engaging?
Have you proof read it to make sure it reads well?
Have you checked the submission guidelines to make sure you tick all the requirements?
On the Twelfth Day pre-Christmas, this author said to me … (Abriana Jette)
December 24, 2012Nearly two weeks worth of reflections later and here we are, on Christmas Eve. The last reflection here is from NYC-based poet Abriana Jette, on her poem ‘If You See Something, Say Something’.
Happy Holidays, everyone! Stay safe and happy this Christmas and you’ll hear from me again soon enough.
Beau Hillier | Editor, page seventeen
***
The motto of New York City’s Transit Authority is meant to serve as a warning: don’t assume the package was left beneath the seat on accident; stay aware of your surroundings; if you see something, say something. I took the sound advice seriously, I said what I saw.
The miraculous aspect of a late night Coney Island bound Q-train ride is its blending of the ordinary with the extraordinary, the real tangled with the fantastic. The nun, lost in her own melody, became my source of vulnerability, I wanted her presence to be felt like a soft hum; I wanted her faith to be contagious. The decision to end the poem on a ‘Shh’ was a risk, the hush contradictory to the city’s appeal, but for locals, for us everyday commuters, a quiet train ride can often be a soothing source of calm, of peace.
‘If You See Something, Say Something’ is what I believe to be a found poem, meaning I got on the train, sat down, looked around, and found poetry.
***
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Abriana Jette earned an M.F.A. from Boston University, and an M.A. from Hofstra University. She is a poet and educator, splitting her time between teaching at the College of Staten and Island and the Borough of Manhattan Community College, and finishing her first collection of poetry, Pink Houses.
On the Eleventh Day pre-Christmas, this author said to me … (Marian Spires)
December 23, 2012Close to the end now – for both the reflections and for the Christmas rush. So I think out of sympathy for all of those run ragged from Christmas shopping, here a nice short reflection with plenty of imagery – it’s Marian Spires on her poem ‘mnemonic of love’.
Beau Hillier | Editor, page seventeen
***
A mnemonic is a device to assist memory. What do we know of love? How do we recall it once it as gone? This poem acts as a list of encounters that may or may not be opportunities for finding love. It is an act of remembering, of trying to make sense of these experiences. The form of the poem is chosen to reflect these fragmented memories with gaps, silences and plenty of white space. While there is an acceptance of the inevitability of loss in this piece, there still remains a yearning for connection, beyond the physical, through language.
***
Marian Spires (www.marianspires.com) is a poet, writer and teacher exploring the internal landscapes of personal and cultural myths with concrete language. She has performed her poetry on radio, television, at festivals and featured at poetry events. Her verse novella, Knowing Vincent (2010, Picaro Press), re-imagines Vincent van Gogh through the perspective of the women in his life.