Day 5 and Still Running!

Today is day 5 of the Emerging Writers’ Festival, and I thought I’d do a quick wrap-up post of the things that have made an impression on me and what’s been great about the festival since my last post, and what my experience has been as an intern.

My last post was just after the launch. Since then has been a Masterclass, the Artists’ Party, and the Town Hall Writers’ Conference.

During this time I needed to finish a heap of assessments, and I tell you what – there should be a dangling carrot like the festival at the end of every semester – there would be so much less procrastination! I didn’t want to be stuck at home working, so I was super-productive and have managed to get everything finished a whole day early. I’m going to hand it all in this afternoon, and I’m OUT of semester one! And I can finally say “Yes, I’m coming up to the festival hub for drinks!”

The Business of Being a Writer Masterclass I worked, but the whole thing was coming over a PA, so I could hear everything that was going on. I’m actually kind of upset that I’d missed out on these classes in previous years – all the things I’d been confused about or wondering about the business side of this was covered in this class. Things like invoicing, setting rates, what to do once you’ve got an ABN, copyright. Everything. I highly recommend this class for everyone next year.

My favourite idea that came from the masterclass was Aden Rolfe’s idea of “Speculative Administration”. Freelancers, he said, necessarily have to spend about 15% of their time engaging in this “Speculative Administration” – things like researching markets, applying for grants, seeing what competitions and deadlines are coming up, thinking about where you’d love to be published. As a result, freelancers can only ever use 75% of their time on the other work. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just something to be aware of.

Friday night’s Artists Party was loud and amazing. I’m continually thrilled by how many amazing people are involved with the festival, and how everyone is ready to chill out and have a chat. We’re not friends already? Alright, cool, who are you? Let’s be friends.

Over the weekend was the Town Hall Writers’ Conference. I worked on Saturday morning, catching the Seven Enviable Lines panel. Favourite lines – “Procrastination: Don’t do it.”. “Never, ever take fear-based advice”. And “Don’t be a jerk”. This “Don’t be a jerk” thing was echoed all weekend, and I think it’s really important in a community as small as Melbourne’s. You’re going to come across the same people again and again, so for the love of God, don’t burn bridges! That’s not to say don’t be critical – one of the things I loved about the weekend conference was the way that many people were brave enough to disagree and really thrash out ideas. Critical is okay. Critical is constructive. Just don’t be a jerk.

After a MASSIVE Friday/Saturday-AM working, I decided to go home to get a heap of this homework done. Everything’s due today and tomorrow. While leaving the Town Hall program to do homework sucked, I really wanted to be able to rock up on Sunday and see some great panels – including one by my mentor for next semester, Francesca Rendle-Short. More on that mentorship post-EWF, no doubt.

Anyway, I intended to come home and be very productive. Instead, I came home and collapsed in an exhausted puddle. I slept for five hours. When I eventually woke, I felt much better, and ready to tackle assessments. I put on headphones, and the newly-discovered Vitamin String Quartet (perfect for studying!). And I powered through almost all of that assessment work.

Which meant I could catch panels on Sunday! I feel like I tweeted the panels to death, so you no doubt already know the highlights. I will say though, that I really loved the digital writing panel, and how it made me feel excited and more energized about this here blog. Post-festival I’ll be around at the Future Bookshop, writing up a storm, and I intend to use the time (at least in part) to re-commit to LGWABP. Time commitments before me still mean I’m a busy woman, but I can see my way to posting more regularly. So thanks, especially to Carla Sammut (@easyasveganpie), for getting me excited again.

Oh, also – just a quick shout-out to my amazing brother, who recently joined Twitter. He’s a fantastic chef, and he’s joined Twitter to follow restaurants and chefs. And bless him, I’ve been tweeting #ewf12 pretty hardcore over the last week and it’s gonna continue, and he hasn’t unfollowed me. Thanks, Chris! x

The last exciting thing is ewfDigital! It went live last night, and it’s all up and functioning and exciting today. It looks freakin’ awesome, and there’s a heap of content up there. I’ve only managed to look at about half of it, and going back just now I see that today’s panel stuff has gone live too. ewfDigital allows people who can’t make it to Melbourne for the festival to engage through videos, blogs and Twitter. Not only is there content going up from panelists, but you, as the audience, can create your own content in response to the stuff that’s up there. Just like question-and-answer time at the end of the panel, where you have the right to respond. Only better. Way better.

Right now I’m off to a briefing for the Future Bookshop, and tonight I celebrate with my best mate and wine and an Industry Insider panel about emerging critics and Lord of The Fries after. I’ve finished assessments! Let me loose on the festival!

It’s Here!

Last night saw the launch of the 2012 Emerging Writers’ Festival. It was a brilliant show, complete with bum-dancing, crumping in a row-boat, chair persons almost crying while thanking Lisa for an amazing 3 year captaincy, and the incomparable Tully Hansen winning the Monash Prize. Congratulations too to Michelle Li for taking out the Monash component;  we were lucky enough to hear some of her entry last night, and it was lovely.

I’d like to apologize in advance to my partner, my body, my diet, my house, my washing pile, my skin… My mum, who won’t hear from me for a few weeks… My final assessment for not getting the attention it needed pre-festival and now will be completed in an exhaustion fug… If last night was any indicator at all, by the end of these eleven days, I’m going to be so happy, but incredibly tired, too.

As I tweeted late last night – my life right now? Fuck yeah! Sometimes everything just comes up aces, and that’s exactly what’s happening right now. Good one, life!

Today I’ll be working at the Business of Being a Writer Masterclass, and meeting a heap of brilliant people no doubt at the artists’ party this evening. I will never stop being astounded by how many great people are involved in the festival.

Yeah, and this is just day 2. Imagine how gushy this is going to get by the end of the festival! #loveattack

A Sad Goodbye

Sad news all over Twitter this morning, that Maurice Sendak (author of Where the Wild Things Are) has passed away, aged 83.

Here’s a great post saying goodbye.

Most kids owned a copy of Where the Wild Things Are – I did not. Instead, I owned a copy of a collection which had drawings from Maurice Sendak in it. His drawings (accompanying Else Holmelunk Minarik’s Little Bear Goes to the Moon) brought the story to life. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve admired Where the Wild Things Are for its ability to tackle things that kids don’t overtly understand, at the same time as telling an absolutely BRILLIANT, not-too-clean, exciting, wildly imaginative story. I’m sad that Sendak’s gone, but I know that his books will always sell, because nobody would want their children to miss out on his work.

RIP, Maurice Sendak.

Monash Prize Shortlist Announced

The Monash University Undergraduate Prize for Creative Writing is kind of a big deal. It gives a really good opportunity to undergraduate writers. If you’re an emerging, undergraduate, reasonably unpublished writer, then you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s not an easy position to be in, it’s hard to get attention to your work, and getting paid or published is rare. That’s why the large stack of cash ($5000!) and publication with Penguin given for this prize is also a pretty big deal.

This morning, the short list for the Monash Prize was announced, and I’m absolutely thrilled to see three close friends of mine on there, representin’ for RMIT, our course, and their BRILLIANT amounts of talent. Overall, I’m really glad to see the list stretches across so many different universities, and contains an almost equal spread of men and ladies. Given these submissions were read blind, it’s really nice to see such an even playing field.

Well done to all the shortlisted writers. I’m looking forward to seeing the prize awarded at the EWF event, Stories that Matter.

A Month Of Reading

This month has been HECTIC. Between juggling a new role reviewing for The Big Issue, the heating-up of the Emerging Writers’ Festival and all my regular uni work, I’m really surprised that I’ve found time to read. Granted, three of the six books I’ve read this month were for one of those roles, but still…

This month I discovered that I don’t like Les Murray’s poetry, but he can write really clearly about depression. I learned that Daniel Handler still has it. I learned, again, that I should really follow up book recommendations more quickly (reading The Lover, and Raf, I love it, thanks for the recommendation! And sorry for being so slow about it.)

A few weeks ago was another Kill Your Darlings‘ literary trivia night. Our team came second, and I won second prize in the raffle, so I came home with a pretty great swag of books (and a free high tea at the Windsor!) which are listed here under “gifted” (minus the high tea).

Books Bought:
Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, 18^th Edition.
Camera Lucida, by Roland Barthes
Voiceworks: Translate
Kill Your Darlings Issue 9

Reading Copies:
Mary Bennett, by Jennifer Paynter

Gifted:
Love & Hunger, by Charlotte Wood
A Tiger in Eden, by Chris Flynn
What Remains, by Denise Leith
Under Stones, by Bob Franklin

Borrowed:
Bite Your Tongue, by Francesca Rendle-Short

Books Read:
Daughters of Troy, by Euripides
Fire, by Raymond Carver
Why We Broke Up, by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman
Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria, by Sigmund Freud
Killing the Black Dog, by Les Murray
Mary Bennett, by Jennifer Paynter

Currently Reading:
The Confidence Gap, by Russ Harris
Wabi Sabi Love, by Arielle Ford
The Lover, Marguerite Duras

What have you been reading this month?

Are You Ready?

I hope that when you read the title you heard me screaming at you Mike Whitney style, because that’s how it was intended. (Aw. Looked for a Youtube clip to link to all witty-like, there’s none that I could find and that’s endlessly disappointing. I am sorry.)

Anywho, with the EWF program now up you can check out all the amazing things that are in store for those very special 11 days. And start booking, ladies and gents!

AND there’s a post up on the EWF blog today which details the event I’ve been working on, Down The Rabbit Hole. There’s also details up that lots of people have been waiting on, about how to register for the event. Registrations open on the 30th, which is Monday. I know the first Queensland event sold out in ten minutes, so get in quick!

Also, our online host Patrick O’Duffy has a great post on his blog about his involvement in the Rabbit Hole and why he’s so excited!

The Toothsoup Prize Arriveth!

The amazingly driven Phill English (of toothsoup fame) last week launched a brand new prize for emerging writers.

With limited publication opportunities and paid gigs in this writing biz, The Toothsoup Prize is a fantastic opportunity for those of us trying to get a foot in the door. It will provide writers with a readership, a bit of cash, and a publishing record.

Phill was kind enough to talk to me…

SvZ: So you’ve started a prize – tell us a bit about that. Who’s it for, what kind of submissions are you looking for, and how do we get involved?
PE:  Well, it’s called the toothsoup prize (or The Toothsoup Prize, whichever format floats your boat!) and it’s intended for Australian short story writers who have an unpublished story between 1,000 and 2,000 words. I wanted to be as broad and inclusive as possible, so I tried to make the guidelines pretty open.
At the risk of sounding obvious, I’m looking for great stories! More specifically, I’d love to read stories that are original and fascinating and creative and unexpected and moving and all those great properties that the short story format is able to possess. I want to be able to return to these stories again and again and be inspired by them.
You can get involved pretty simply by submitting your short story! But if you want to share the love, more exposure via Twitter, Facebook, blog posts, interviews such as this one would be greatly appreciated. You can also contact me directly via email (phill[at]toothsoup[dot]com) if you wish to make a private donation to the kitty (like one awesome person already has).

SvZ: What will happen to the pieces that win?
PE:   Each winner will be featured on the prize’s website as a past prize winner, and I’m hoping to be able to perform an interview and a reading with the author and host them in the same space. Eventually it’d be nice to put together an anthology of winners and honourable mentions after a year or so, but that’s a little way off yet. We’ll see how the first couple of rounds pan out first!

SvZ: Why start a prize? Aren’t there plenty of opportunities for writers already?
PE:   There are certainly a lot of opportunities for writers to get published, for sure. We have a thriving literature journal culture here in Australia, both in print and online spaces. But of the competitions out there, many are either formidably large, genre-gated, or invite so many entries that it may seem to writers to be a bit like a lottery. I’m hoping that the toothsoup prize will slot into the gap between those extremes and provide writers with incentive to write great stories and give them the thrill of being in the race for a nice little cash prize.

SvZ: In this weird, unstable atmosphere with arts funding cuts and speculation around major prizes’ future, do you think private, grass-roots competitions like yours will be the way things will happen in the future?
PE:  I think there will always be major prizes for established authors, for sure. But in terms of encouraging new and up-and-coming writers, the grant system can only support so many out of the thousands of talented individuals out there. Grass-roots comps like this might help to encourage those writers to get their work out there and read by their peers.

SvZ: You launched the prize last Wednesday – what’s the response been like so far?
PE:   Well I’ve already seen three entries hit the reading pile before the weekend, and two of those three donated to the prize pool. Adding to that a private donation of $20, and the prize has already been raised to $80! I’m sure I’ll see plenty more entries rolling in over the next couple of weeks, plus the usual avalanche closer to the closing date. I cannot wait to read them all.

Thanks, Phill!

 

Oh, What Could It BE?!

I know all you Melbournites are waiting with bated breath for the online launch of the EWF program tomorrow, and fair enough. It’s exciting stuff.

On that note, a teaser went up today for the event I’ve been working on… Just to get your curiosity running WAY overtime. Oh my, what could it BE!?

Outing My Infantile Love of Tupperware

I’ve got a post over on the EWF blog today. It’s my two-month check in, reflecting on my experience so far as an intern. In it, I talk about how I’ve learned to love the humble spreadsheet, and I out my childhood love of Tupperware.

I haven’t posted much on here about my EWF experience, because my lips have to remain sealed about so much of it. Surprises! Oh, so many surprises! A lot of these surprises will be revealed on the 24th of April (that’s only a week away!) when the EWF program gets launched online. The official program launch is on the 4th of May (6.15pm, but I can’t for the life of me find an event for it anywhere?) at the Wheeler Centre, and I hope to see you there!

Opportunities a Plenty

Being involved with EWF more closely this year has opened my eyes to the amazing amount of opportunities they have available for writers, outside the festival itself. There’s a bunch of deadlines coming up, so I thought I’d just do a heads-up for anyone that might be interested in these opportunities. I’d encourage people to apply, because EWF’s a fanastically supportive atmosphere, and a wonderful starting point. Having this stuff on your resume is so helpful, and in terms of experience it’s priceless. And some of these are lucrative. Woot.

–> The Monash University Undergraduate Prize for Creative Writing. Most prizes are almost impossible for an undergraduate emerging writer to win. They either require a publication history, or a whole book, or a completed manuscript, or… a bunch of stuff a lot of undergrads just don’t have. The Monash Prize has a large bundle of money to give to its winners, it’s for previously unpublished writers (see website for specs on this), and entries are reasonably short pieces of writing. Winners are also being published as an ebook by Penguin. Entries close April 23rd.

–> Words In Winter Writer’s Residency. A two-week writing residency at “a high-profile CBD location”. The theme is a future of writing, which is a pretty hot topic at the moment. If you’re concerned with digital story-telling, blogging, ebooks, self-publishing, or anything that’s wrapped up in the idea of the “future of writing”, then apply for this residency. There’s ten spots available, and EWF’s offering a publishing opportunity post-residency. Applications close April 20th.

–> Australian Poetry’s fantastic Cafe Poets program is launching their next round as part of the EWF in May. The program puts poets in cafes as writers-in-residence, giving the poet a space to work, free coffee, and an outlet: contact with the public. Applications close April 24th.

With all these opporunities available, you’ve got no excuse not to make stuff happen. Give it a go! Entries for all these close very soon, so get writing!