Here’s my Christmas wishes for all of you,

Lakshmi

CHRISTMAS WISHES FOR WRITERS

Wishing you the courage to pursue your dreams and the discipline and persistence to see them through, right till the end.

Wishing you beholders of your work who see the beauty and wonder in what you create.

Wishing you financial reward and recognition for your work.

Wishing you friends and fellow travellers on the writing path, who share disappointments and success with equal fervour.

Wishing you editors who understand what you’re trying to say and help you say it better,

Publishers who honour your vision and bring it to the widest possible audience.

Wishing you readers galore and letters of connection that move you to tears.

Wishing you the strength to endure the sting of rejection and the distraction of praise,

Patience, determination and the ability to get up and start all over again.

Wishing you all the time you need.

I wish you freedom from fear of the blank and empty page,

A peaceful silencing of the inner critic, and the death of all self-doubt.

I wish you a hide of leather and a heart of gold.

Most of all I wish you the joy of creation and the ability to stand aside and let the words find their own way.

I wish you characters who tell you their stories and speak for themselves.

I wish you plots that hold and won’t let go,

Scenes that fit and sentences that glow with perfection.

I wish you words;

An ocean of strong, expressive words pouring from your pen or onto the screen.

Words that sing the truth of this weird and wonderful human life.

Words of hope and despair, pain and pleasure,

Words that move others and help them know they are not alone,

That we’re all in this glorious mess together.

Words of wisdom and joy and love.

Words that only YOU can write.

Words that shine a light.

with love,

Edwina

OH THE PLACES YOU’LL GO

(0r some advice on life and writing)

 by Dr. Seuss

You can get so confused

That you’ll start in to race

Down long wiggled roads at a break necking pace

And grind on for miles across wierdish wild space

Headed, I fear, towards a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…

…for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go

Or a bus to come, of a plane to go

Or the mail to come, or the rain to go

Or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

Or waiting around for a Yes of No

Or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite

Or waiting for wind to fly a kite

Or waiting around for Friday night

Or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake

Or a pot to boil, or a Better Break

Or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants

Or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.

Everyone is just waiting.

NO!

That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape

All that waiting and staying.

You’ll find the right places

Where Boom Bands are playing.

With banners flip-flapping,

Once more you’ll ride high!

Ready for anything under the sky.

Hope that helps all of you out there waiting.

Waiting to hear back from agents, editors, publishers and readers about your work, whether it’s a yes or no, enthusiasm or polite dismissal, can be the most difficult part of a writer’s work. The trick is letting go of urgency, letting go of impatience and most of all , letting of any expectations for specific outcomes for our work. In order not to be endlessly distracted and hurt by the constant round of submissions and waiting we have to find a way to release those expectations and just keep on writing, because that’s what we do. Because we love it and find enough joy in the work itself to keep on going.

Easier said than done. But worth a try. Keep writing.

Even when we’re stuck in the dreaded “Waiting Place.”

“Writing is a second chance at life. Although we can never go back in time to change the past, we can re-experience, interpret, and make peace with our past lives.”

Jane Taylor McDonell, Living to Tell the Tale

Writing fiction has the power to transform even the ugliest of memories into something else, maybe beautiful, maybe funny, maybe hard and ugly too, but in a different way. Through changing the details of your memories writing stories you can free yourself from the pain of the past and create happy endings where perhaps none existed before. Trouble is (or maybe it isn’t a problem at all) when you write fiction based on the facts of your life, the memories get mixed in with the made up bits and you can’t really remember which is which. 

Create something beautiful from your uglies and let them go forever.

Love to all,

Edwina

Bernie, youth worker and dog trainer extraordinaire has this to say about the writing journey, “It’s just like the jumping dogs. You need to: look up, aim high, believe in what you’re doing, and the reward is on the other side of the wall. No point looking
down at the ground when you’re on the way up.
Classic.

Back from retreat and ready to make a new start. Time to move on from angst about Thrill Seekers ever coming out (in my lifetime anyway) and make this blog more useful to those who read it by sharing hints and tips to nurture the writer’s spirit. Writing is a joy in itself but the path to being a recognised, published (and paid) author is long and often holds many challenges.

In the words of a song I heard once on Sesame Street, “It’s a long hard road, But I’m gonna make it. It’s a long hard road, but I’m gonna try. It’s a long hard road but I’m gonna get there. I’m heading for the morning sun!”

Keep focused on the work itself. Sit down every day and do your best. Feel the joy of creative expression, enter that zone where everything else fades except the words on the screen or page and the characters in your head. Become one with your story and let it do all the work. Then sit back and trust that the very same source your ideas came from will find the right beholder/publisher/readers.

Trust.

As one of my all time favourite writers, D. H. Lawrence said,

 ”The creative, spontaneous soul sends forth its promptings of desire and aspiration in us. These promptings are our true fate, which is our business to fulfill.”

So if, like me, the urge to write is strong in you, you get grumpy if you don’t write every day and depressed at the thought of ever stopping, then there’s your answer. Writing is not just a career. (All this hard work for, most of the time, very little return, you’ve got to be kidding!)

It’s a calling.

So, what are you waiting for? Write something!

Lots of love,

Edwina

I’m off for a six day yoga and meditation retreat with Clive Sheridan. Preparing for a whole week without cleaning, cooking and even writing. A real holiday! YAY!

I’m excited. Griffith REVIEW has just asked me to read from my story “The Raft” at their Christmas party. That’s on the 10th of December, so if you’re in Brisbane, please come along to Avid Reader book shop in West End on the night. I’d love to see you.
“The Raft” is in the latest issue of Griffith REVIEW. It’s their summer fiction special which has lots of famous writers including Frank Moorhouse, Kate Grenville, Nikki Gemmel, Rodney Hall, Will Elliot, Krissy Kneen, many others, and me! It’s a great read. I’m really enjoying dipping into it at bedtime. Love the photo essay too.
“The Raft” is an excerpt from Thrill Seekers which WILL be out in the new year, even if I have to fly over to England and print it out myself!

Feeling very inadequate as a blogger, after seeing this funny, educational and entertaining post http://www.murderati.com/blog/2009/10/31/kill-your-squirrels.html

It must’ve taken her days! When –  I stop work, the children have left home, I don’t have a yoga practice and daily walks to keep up, family and friends to communicate with, a house to clean and meals to cook, and don’t want to use every other minute for my actual writing projects – then you can expect the same from me! Until then, just click on the link.

Have a great day one and all.

No, not from Ransom. Yet. This was a very thorough and vigorous go through of my “Broken” story for Asia Literary Review. Tim Cribb there put lots of work into it and though at first his addtions of whole parapgrapsh were offputting, once I took on his intention and reworked them into my own voice, I think we’ve made a really good story. Thrilling to have someone read your work so closely and carefully. Onwards and upwards dear friends!

I’m keeping myself very busy redrafting the grief book. enjoying the work.
Writing is a great job.
I’m moving chapters around, taking out huge chunks and making them appendixes, fiddling with sentences and words as well as structure. It’s shaping up now. I’m starting to get a feel for what it’s going to be in the end.
Get ready. Here comes another one!