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The Power of Passion
May 6, 2012Our 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, 2012It’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, 2012There’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 …
We launched with style!
February 28, 2012Journey: Experiences with Breast Cancer was launched last Saturday at the Eltham Community Room in Panther Place (Victoria). It was stinking hot but that didn’t stop the crowd coming and sharing in the joy. It’s taken two years of work to get Journey to the gorgeous book that it is and we’re very proud of it. Irene Harrington was our official launcher and there were many great readings from the book.
There were many contributors in the room who didn’t know each other but there was very much a feeling of connectedness.
If you missed out on the launch and want to buy a book, please go to our purchase page. It’s $32.00 and no charge for postage. It will be in all good bookshops very soon as well, or at BreaCan in the city.
Luckily we love reading
February 20, 2012Our short story competition has now closed and we’re getting hyped up for reading. With around 200entries, that’s a lot of words.
Why do people enter writing competitions? Or why should you? Well, because we’re writers ourselves, we believe there’s a lot of value in doing it.
Firstly, by entering a competition, a writer has the task of actually finishing a piece and making sure that it’s of publishable quality. Many writers do have trouble finishing a story, believe it or not. Have a look at your notebooks. How many starts have you made on a story and then abandoned it because you don’t know how to finish? It’s apparent when reading stories too because it can be going along nicely and then the end seems to let the story down.
Secondly, sending stories out, whether to competitions or as submissions to journals such as [untitled] not only makes a writer finish stories but it allows them to put them out into the world rather than keep them in the bottom drawer of the desk. This is how you improve as a writer.
So, we here at Busybird will be trawling through the [untitled] competition entries in the next few weeks in search of great stories to be included in our next edition due out in April.