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Take Some Pride in Your Work
July 9, 2015
I have a headache.
A pain, like somebody thrust a spear through my right eye and forced it out the back of my head.
This pain is not a migraine.
It’s not a tumour.
It has no medical-based cause.
It comes from reading stuff sent out into the world before it’s ready.
It’s tantamount to sending a six-month-old foetus out into the world and expecting it to thrive.
You see, you’re only as brilliant as your reader’s capacity to understand you.
So your premise could be mind-blowing. It could, in fact, be the most brilliant idea that’s ever been conceived in the history of brilliant ideas. But if you send it out half-cooked, poorly articulated, or badly punctuated, then it means nothing.
Any narrative is a guide providing the reader a tour through the story. The tour itself might force the reader to think, might be disturbing or thought-provoking, it might be hard to digest and you might even wish you weren’t taking it, but at no time should it be incomprehensible.
Your writing’s not going to win readers over on potential. Some people just don’t get this. They think their writing can be horrifically punctuated and the grammar appalling, but that their idea is so mind-blowingly brilliant, that they themselves are so mind-blowingly brilliant, that it doesn’t matter, we’ll forgive them, love them, and love what they’ve written.
Uh uh.
The majority of readers will not persevere with writing that grandly suffers any (let alone all) of these flaws. What it really demonstrates is that the author hasn’t bothered to put all due care into their work, so why should we bother investing our time into it? Why should we read something that’s going to require constant deciphering? Life’s too short.
And taking this further, why am I going to invest again in you as an author? If anything, in a situation like this, you’re only damaging your own reputation – your own brand. If you’re running a business, and releasing literature of this quality as a promotional tool, you’re not likely to win clients, because you’re writing is going to be a reflection of you – if this is how you write, how do you conduct business?
If you’re a baker, would you leave your pastries on muddy shelves? If you’re a carpenter, would you sell chairs with uneven legs? If you’re a plumber, would the pipes you fix constantly leak, or pump water to the wrong places? If you’ve answered ‘no’ to these questions, why would you treat your writing any differently?
The advent of e-publishing has made it is easy for people to self-publish. Digital publishing has made self-publishing cheap and simple. But just because publishing has become so accessible isn’t a reason to not take the utmost care with what you’re releasing. You need to polish it to a standard that people won’t be complaining about punctuation and/or grammar, and will thus be free to focus purely on content.
You have one chance to make a first impression. Screw it up, and many won’t give you a second chance. Those who do will be harder to win over, waiting for you to trip up.
Take some pride in your work.
Don’t send it out in the world until its ready.
LZ.
An Update on P17 #12
June 25, 2015
Page seventeen’s submission window for the 2015 issue is still ticking along and taking submissions (as well as waiting for yours if you haven’t submitted yet!). But in the meantime, we have a couple of announcements on the new issue … don’t worry, nothing bad. You might even nod approvingly.
Firstly, it didn’t seem fair that this submission window ended up a little shorter than previous years, so the deadline will be extended. Both general and competition submissions will now be accepted for Issue 12 until Friday 17 July.
Secondly, Issue 12 will be the first issue to be made available exclusively as an e-edition. This means greater exposure for included writers, and greater ease of purchase for anyone wanting a copy. Considering that the main purpose of page seventeen has always been to promote new writers, it’s a natural move to prioritise internet-based exposure and make the issue more readily available to anyone with an internet connection.
We will still be having a ‘launch’ that will have details announced closer to the date, but look out for it closer to the end of the year.
For anyone who still hasn’t entered for inclusion in the latest issue or a chance to earn a prize in the competition categories, you’ve gotten an extension but don’t dally! Be confident in your own work, and be bold. Write something that demands attention – that screams to be heard. Write something that declares you to the world. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry – we want to see you, and we want to hear your voice in the lines on the page.
Best of luck all who have already entered, and to all who are planning to submit to page seventeen. Maybe you can help make Issue 12 the best yet. I’m looking forward to hearing your voices.
Beau Hillier | Editor, page seventeen
The Launch of Joffa: Isn’t That Life?
June 10, 2015
Tomorrow night, we’re launching our newest book, the autobiography Joffa: Isn’t That Life?
When we first had Joffa into Busybird last year and pitched to him that he should write an autobiography, he expressed several concerns. Firstly, he was worried people would think he was grandstanding.
One thing you discover when you talk to Joffa, though, is that he’s modest, he’s not afraid to poke fun at himself, and he is also selfless – on top of his work with the homeless, he volunteers for several charities, and gives time to make benefit appearances. He has fun in the Collingwood Cheer Squad, but it’s all part of the showmanship of supporting your team. Nothing about Joffa involves grandstanding.
Joffa was also worried about his writing. He admitted he might be shaky on grammar and punctuation, and that he was okay writing short passages (e.g. a page of two), but more than that and he was prone to repetition.
Some might laugh at that, but it’s important for writers to know their strengths and weaknesses. We have dealt with authors who think they’re infallible, are closed to editing, and ultimately their work never realises its potential. To get the best out of your writing, you need to be challenged to think outside your parameters.
When Joffa began turning in chapters, he proved he underrated his writing – it’s evocative, sometimes almost poetic, conjuring strong visuals, whilst keeping the storytelling emotive. We had to clean up some punctuation, grammar, and repetition, but that’s standard with any edit. He was also receptive to areas of the book he had to work on, and some structural reshuffling we performed. He was an editor’s dream as an author.
Once a first draft of the book was completed, it went back and forth between us and Joffa until everybody was happy with it. Joffa produced a compelling read and had the courage to bare himself publically. It’s a good lesson in the virtue of sharing your story – stories touch people, and can have a positive impact on their lives. Joffa’s story promotes a strong message: despite adversity, despite anything you go through, you can make something of your life, and you can do so and develop compassion, empathy, and graciousness.
Joffa himself has come through an abusive upbringing and teenage homelessness, and his daughter has epilepsy, but he’s never played the victim of circumstance, and he hasn’t – as others might have – gone off the rails. If you have a preconception of Joffa that borders on negative, or is maybe even a little derisive, just talk to him for a few minutes and you’ll reshape your impressions.
A big thank you to all the Pozible contributors who pledged money to help make the book a reality. A book is an expensive endeavour: editing, layout, design, promotion, distribution – it all adds up. Busybird Publishing is a boutique micropublisher, and we’re grateful for all the help.
A thank you, too, to wife-and-husband team, Blaise van Hecke and Kev Howlett, owners of Busybird Publishing, Blaise for all her tireless work behind the scenes getting the book going and coordinating the work in putting it and the launch together, Kev for the design of the cover and his ideas throughout; senior editor Melissa Cleeman for her meticulous editing, organising the launch, and her media work to get the book out there; and assistant editors, Rebecca Courtney, Shevon Higgins, Johanna Boutros, Joey To, Lisa Roberts, Isabella Gilmore and, again, Blaise, for their editing on the book and shaping it into what it is; and Tom O’Conell for his tireless proofreading.
Here are the details for the launch:
- When
7.00pm – 9.00pm
Thursday, 11th June
Where
Bella Union
54 Victoria Street
Carlton 3053
If you’re intending on coming and haven’t RVSPed, please RVSP immediately, as you’ll need to have your name on the door. So call us on (03) 9434 6365 or drop Melissa an email.
LZ.
The Beginning
May 28, 2015
Page seventeen has the specific focus of providing a home for new writers to have something published. Through both general submissions and competitions, the annual collection invites every individual looking to really make something of their own writing, and still feels new to the game, to submit to us and see if their gamble has resulted in a winning formula. Sometimes it does, and it gets published. Sometimes it doesn’t and that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad – maybe it just needs a little more trimming of superfluous lines, or the characters could use a little more development, or so on. But we invite everyone to take that chance and have a go at being a writer.
Hm, hang on. Being a writer. That’s a heck of a thing to worry about, isn’t it?
Or maybe it isn’t. Especially if you take a moment to step away from the sensationalism that surrounds ‘being a writer’, especially on social media. Anyone with a writer-esque contact on Facebook will likely get the regular feed of quotes about being a writer, posts about how awesome it is to be a writer and so on. Don’t get me wrong, these are great forms of encouragement. Sometimes it’s good to be reminded that the old ‘solitary artist’ babble isn’t necessarily a truth; that there’s a whole community of like-minded artists out there. But a lot of the time it just doesn’t really scratch the surface, does it? They’re not likely to help you feel any different as someone who creates content.
Only you define yourself as a writer. And only you decide how important that quality is to you. You could be an accountant who happens to be a writer. Or you’re a writer who happens to keep a day job as an accountant. You could be a writer as a career path, or as something to do in a hobby.
There’s only one thing that should never change, regardless of how you view yourself as a writer. You may take breaks, you may go months without writing anything of substance for whatever reason, and you may write in different styles or for difference audiences. A thousand different branches with the same beginning point, the same alpha from which everything else is just the omega.
The work means something.
Now, that sounds a hell of a lot heavier than it actually is. Meaning? Oh crap, you mean social commentary? Or strongly-developed themes? Is my writing meaningless unless it’s a thesis on the human condition, or the folly of war, or how it’s important to recycle? No, calm down, put that pedestal away. It can have those things, but they don’t constitute meaning.
What’s important is that it means something to you. That you put something heartfelt in it. That you made it your own. It doesn’t have to have details from your life, and it doesn’t have to be loaded with your thoughts and preoccupations. But it has to have a point of inspiration. Something that defines your reason for choosing that topic, those characters, this setting. Sometimes it’s just purely a what-if situation but it’s never totally random.
Whether you believe it or not, people are looking forward to seeing your work. People are looking forward to finding a fresh new voice – your voice. Make sure it really is your voice. Make sure you’re speaking clearly. That’s all you really need to worry about in the initial act of writing. Speak clearly. The other elements can be refined.
Be a writer later – including submitting your work, whether that be to page seventeen or elsewhere. Make time to enjoy writing now. Make time to create something that feels meaningful to you.
Beau Hillier | Editor, page seventeen
The One Truth
May 13, 2015I’m often asked what’s the best way of writing a book.
I’m asked, like I must have some secret formula, because I’ve done it several times. Well, I have only one real answer.
Sure, you might require planning. As I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I’ll write out the names of every character I think I’ll use. I’ll map out locations, like restaurants, bars, schools, or whatever’s required. If I need a specific blueprint – e.g. a house that’s important to the story – then I’ll draw that up, so I can know the space my characters occupy. I might bullet-point some plot points (and will definitely do so as I write). But this is my methodology. It mightn’t work for you. You might have a completely different way of working. That’s fine. You need to prepare in whatever way you see fit. Ultimately, there’s only one commonality that we’re all going to share if we want to write a book.
You might think you need a special place to write. You can’t write because kids are running around screaming and the house is a mess. We can long for an ideal space, for a writer’s den, with our trusty laptop set on an antique desk by a window overlooking the idyllic countryside. That’ll do, won’t it? That’s perfect. And will get us in the mood, won’t it? Well, it might, but rarely are circumstances ideal. We need to deal with what is, because, invariably, when it comes to writing a book, whether we’re working in our dream location, or penned up in the toilet because it’s the only room where we can escape and have some privacy, the same duty remains to us.
But what about time? We might work, might have a partner, might have kids, might have housework, might have dialysis, might have a full day. That’s hard. It’s near impossible. Unfortunately, short of inventing technology that can stretch a twenty-four hour day into twenty-eight, we can only work with what we have. So whether we have eight hours a day where we can lounge around and work on our book, or only fifteen minutes a day, we’re still left with the same overriding requirement.
There will always be reasons that you can’t write. Excuses. Life will never be ideal. We’re too tired. Too busy. Not in the right headspace. It’s too noisy. My writing space isn’t set up correctly. My computer is old. My brain has turned to mush. I keep getting disturbed. My friend is having a meltdown. I’m having a meltdown. I don’t know if I can do it. I don’t know if I can write. Who’ll read it? Who’ll want it? What’s the point of it? This. That. Everything. Every single thing. Yet, despite it all, if we really want to do this, guess what we have to do?
There’s no magic formula. Whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, whatever our methodology, we’re always left with one simple truth.
Writing is a muscle. Sorry for the cliché, but it is. You want to write a book, you do so by sitting down and writing it. By doing that every day, you build up that muscle so, next time you sit down to write, you welcome the prospect, your muscle tells you, ‘I can handle this’; you build it up so that it’s strong enough to endure tough patches and flat patches; so that on those days you don’t feel like it, when you’re exhausted, when you’re not in the mood, when the house is burning down around you, that muscle will pick you up and carry you – kicking and screaming if need be – the rest of the way, because there’s only one way it’s ever going to get done.
And that’s it. That’s all. Finito. No tricks. No tools. Nothing but this one reality.
If you do that, you’ll get there.
LZ.