Thank you for all the kind emails and posts that you sent, they were all greatly appreciated. I do expect to have to go back to the UK within the year to sort out the inevitable but, in the meantime, I’m happy and confident that all that can be done is being done.

So what now, I hear you ask, well … May is going to be a big month writing-wise for all those who choose for it to be. For all those who have been regularly (I was going to put incessantly, but that seemed a bit too direct even for me) asking for in-person workshops, listen up because here’s proof I wasn’t ignoring you (even if it may have felt that way over the past months).

May 18th, 19th, and 20th is the weekend of the Sunspirit Festival in Fremantle, WA. There are many exciting things organised, many around GrandMother Drum – a 7ft wooden drum, inlaid with crystals and envisioned by Tribal North American Grandmother to promote peace and healing. It’s the first time it’s come to Western Australia and if you haven’t heard it before I strongly suggest booking in for one of the workshops or concerts, well worth your time. For more info on this click here.

But the other great news about the weekend is that I’ve been invited to hold writing workshops over the entire 3 days – yep, 3 days of writing workshops! I had thought of doing a complete weekend course but thought that might limit the number of people able to attend, so in the end I divided the days into individual workshops for those who only want (or are free) to attend the odd one or two, but I’ve also organised a special price for those who are eager to attend for entire days.

Want to know what I’m covering?

FRIDAY18th

(16/5 Please note that Friday morning workshops have been moved to Sunday morning. Hopefully that suits everyone better, sorry if it messes anyone around. EB)

2 – 3.30pm ~ Playing with Words
What do your word choices say about you, your writing ability and your preconceptions about the reader? It’s all too easy to use the first (or the second) word that comes to mind, but is it the right one – or even the right phrase – to use? In this workshop we’ll be covering all manner of writing techniques and word choices that may be letting you down.

4 – 5.30pm ~ Using your Senses
Don’t just share a story with your reader; have them in the room experiencing it with you. Have them tasting the home-made soup, touching the rose petals, smelling the burning wood of the bushfire. Learn techniques to bring your story to life, without losing it in description.

SATURDAY 19th

(19/5 – There are still a few tickets available for each session, so feel free to turn up and pay on the door. EB)

10 – 11.30am ~ ‘Show, don’t tell’ Demystified – at last
We hear it referred to all the time as being something that dramatically and consistently improves all aspects of your writing, but do you really understand how it works and how to make it work for you? Come along to this workshop and let me clear up the confusion once and for all!

12noon – 1.30pm ~ How to Touch Your Reader
There’s nothing quite like knowing your writing has touched a reader – it might have made them laugh, cry, jump for joy or simply stopped them from putting your writing down. It takes more than a good story – it takes skill and insight. This workshop shares techniques I learned from writing for Chicken Soup for the Soul.

2.30 – 5.30pm ~ The Secrets to Self-publishing Successfully
Are you looking for somebody to share honest, insightful and practical information on publishing before you create your own book? Somebody who will answer your questions?

Over the last two decades, I’ve been published, I’ve self-published, e-book-published and all manner of other things. And, as a writing coach, every week I hear of people who have made any of the many classic mistakes in publishing that I just know will cost them dearly. So please, please, please, if you’re thinking of publishing a book or e-book, take a couple of hours out of your day and save yourself a possible fortune in money and heartache.

SUNDAY 20th

10 – 11.30am ~ Writing Dialogue that Works
We all write and we all talk, so why can it be so hard to write powerful, realistic dialogue and conversation that jump off the page? Using no dialogue is bad, but using stilted dialogue is worse. Learn the secrets, the structure, and the hidden tricks that will make your readers think all your conversations are real.

12noon – 1.30pm ~ Finding the Perfect Pace
Does your story have a soggy middle, a slow start or perhaps it leaves your reader exhausted and gasping for air? Pacing your story correctly at each turn is vital to the enjoyment of the reading. It’s not hard to do if you know how, but you do need to know how. So come along and learn your ideal pace!

2.30 – 5.30 ~ Practice to Perfection
We all know there’s a huge difference between knowing logically what has to be done and doing it successfully. Yet sometimes all it takes to cross the divide is sitting down with somebody and letting them physically show you how to improve.

As a Writing Coach I’ve been supporting and guiding writers for over a decade; helping them to become the writer they want to be. If this sounds like what you need, or you want to put in to practice everything that has been covered over this weekend, why not join this small group for an afternoon of writing exercises, critiques and insights? I promise to be kind – honest, but kind.

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So, which of those appeal? All the topics are essential to just about every kind of writing – that’s why I picked them. Class sizes aren’t particularly large, which means you’ll need to book quickly, especially since you know how rarely I take up the offer of running in-person workshops.

For prices and bookings have a look at the Sunspirit Festival website.

I’m also doing a Q & A Session on All Things Publishing at the Bodhi Tree on Sunday 27^th May, and starting a Group Coaching for Writers on Tuesday 29^th May.

Check them out and book in or why not tell me if there are other events I can organise to help you?

Either way, because of that I’ll be posting less here, but more on my Facebook Fanpage - Writing to Inspire – and providing more ongoing support and events through the Writing to Inspire website. While I understand this may put a few people out, I hope that it will actually provide a lot more relevant support to writers everywhere.

For example, the ability to post short stories, book reviews and writing prompts online, and then receive comments on them, will definitely fill a need I know exists. The short story competitions have already proven popular. But these are just a couple of ideas in the process of becoming tangible.

So for this reason, I hope you will forgive my absence from this blog for a while, but I hope you will join in on all the other exciting things going on at Writing to Inspire and, of course, the Facebook Fanpage.

I’m delighted to say that the Writing to Inspire site is now set up for writers to post their work online. What’s more there’s also a facility that allows readers, other writers, friends and family to offer comments and feedback. How exciting is that?

At the moment it’s dedicated to stories that were inspired by the site’s Daily Writing Prompts, but hey if you’ve been to the site you know how many prompts there are and how many stories they could start. So if you want to post a story, but haven’t yet used one of the prompts now might be the time to try it.

I can’t wait for somebody to use the option. So if it appeals, please don’t let the thought of being the first deter you. Have a go.

Having read and reread entries I think I can safely say I have, for the moment, had my fair share of spreading crimson puddles of wine, blood and tomato ketchup, and the journals of those recently departed. But it was entertaining to see how everybody took the selected first lines on different journeys.

In fact this was my first deciding factor in the judging. To me a strong story is everything; even if you have perfect writing skills it won’t help a weak or implausible story. However, in my mind, if you have a strong story, occasionally lapses in writing techniques can be overlooked.

I was looking for the unexpected in the plot, something that delighted or surprised me, something that flowed seamlessly, had impact or perhaps something that reflected so closely to humanity that it caught my breath. This is where the pile of possible winners really shrank dramatically.

There was a wide array of storylines and it was a wonder that there were no similar stories, especially considering how so many went in similar directions. The diversity of the creative mind has always kept me guessing.

Anyway, once I had selected my favourite plots from there I went through focusing more closely on the writing techniques, although in most cases that simply came down to the quality of proof-reading. It’s a line that’s so often repeated in Judge’s Reports that I was almost loathed to mention it, but I decided I would for future reference – please proof read your work or get somebody else to, it does make a huge difference.

My other comment for future reference is: please read and follow the submission guidelines. Since this is our first competition and the request was different from most other competitions I wasn’t too strict on the ‘print on both sides of the paper’ but next time I’m afraid I will. I’m a greenie at heart and wherever I can feasibly save trees I will.

So I guess you want to know what won and why?

FIRST PRIZE

‘Hell’s Kitchen’ by Susan May

I chose this one because it was topical with a smooth twist that was unexpected and clear. The vocabulary was diverse and varied, without having to resort to unusual or clunky words. The character and his emotion was strong: I was there with him fighting to save the Beef Bourguignon. What’s more all the clues were there to imply the ending but they were all woven in so well I didn’t realise until I read the final paragraphs.

SECOND PRIZE

‘Truth be Told’ by Sarah Jovanovski

This was a story that struck me because of the characters and the believability of the behaviours. The honesty of Noah’s feelings, thoughts and behaviour stayed with me long after I had finished the story. While I was hoping for a stronger ending, the fact that it wasn’t there and that there wasn’t a twist made it even more realistic and believable.

THIRD PRIZE

‘Secret Words’ to Susanna Freymark

Again, this is a story that tells of the pain and emotions that we live with when communicating with others. But what I liked about this one was how it showed one simple gesture and move can change the whole energy of a friendship and the way we look at the world around us. This was one of the few stories submitted that strongly implied hope for the future, if not the classical happy ending. It is a story that I believe any parent of a teenage child will associate with, and maybe also teenagers.

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I find it interesting now that I look over the prize winning stories to see that they are all simply stories told with a strong voice and through strong characters. Perhaps another aspect to heed for next time.

Thank you again for entering the competition. For those that are interested in reading the winning stories I will endeavour to post them here shortly after the winners have been notified. And for those who are interested we will be announcing our next exciting competition very shortly.

The challenge though is that we all have a primary sense, a few that are average and one sense that definitely lags behind. Chances are that your writing reflects this, (if you’re visual, you probably include a lot of visual descriptions, and so on). Yet, ideally, your writing would be stronger if it had a balanced inclusion of them. So the question is – how do you fix it?

The first step is to find out which is YOUR primary sense, and how the others senses order after that. To do this:

1. Go to a place that is full of sensory information, consider a coffee shop in a busy shopping centre, a farm yard, a train station, a family sit down meal, or something similar.
2. Draw up a piece of paper so that it has 5 different sections on it.
3. Title each with a sense (sight, smell, touch, taste, smell).
4. In each section list what you are noticing using the appropriate sense. For example: laughter of child (sound), warmth of the coffee (taste)
5. Once you have a significant number of items under each heading. See which sense has the most items and which has the least. The result is usually a direct proportional to which senses you use most and least. Unless of course the place you have picked for the experiment doesn’t offer a balanced selection. If that’s the case, consider trying the exercise again in a different setting or using different triggers.

When you’ve discovered your weakest sense, I’d recommend taking a couple of minutes out of each day to focus on it, to use it and to consider how you could use the information you’re absorbing through it in your writing. For example: when you pick up an envelope how does manilla paper feel? How would you describe it? How would you phrase a description if it was in a story?

Hope that helps.

If you want to know more about Writing with your Senses, why not come down to the Bodhi Tree bookcafe this Sunday (July 19th) and be part of the free talk I’m giving from 10 – 11am? It should be fun.

See you there.

They’ve got some great speakers in, of course, a great location. Just remember to take your Ugg boots.

Here’s the link to check it out: http://www.bridgetown.com.au/accom_result1/words-in-the-valley-writers-festival/

It seems to me that most people, especially women, find it challenging to go out and promote themselves. I’m not just talking about writing here but every form of promotion – career changes, dating, making friends. I don’t know if it’s upbringing, modesty or a fear of rejection, but either way the inability to sell yourself and your books can be a huge hiccup in the plan to make money from self-publishing.

Yes, it would be nice to get a book distributor to take on your book, but the chances of that, are sadly, limited. Don’t get me wrong, it does happen. Both Stolen Moments and Caring Moments were taken on by a distributor, but it took us a year to tee it up, and due to changes in the company they haven’t taken on any more of our publications.

But either way, if they take you on it costs. A distributor, on the whole, will want around 20% of the recommended retail of your book, which (if you’ve been wise and not printed a truck load of books) will be a substantial cut of your profits.

But unless your books are in the shops how are you going to sell the whole print run?

For many years I’ve sold my books online, at talks, on stalls, at writing events, and I’ve sold many of them. Still I always steered clear of putting them in shops. Why? I could give you a whole list of reasons, but basically it comes down to having to approach an environment that I knew nothing about. I didn’t know how the system worked – how would I invoice them, how would they pay me, would they take books on consignment? My list of questions just went on, and every time I contemplated putting my books in stores the list of reasons why not to reared its head and I backed off.

However, not wanting to be beaten, I eventually did something to learn the system – I got a job in a book store. After all, why take little steps when in one step you can learn the whole process. And it worked, now my books are in the book stores, and (more importantly) selling in greater amounts.

And the moral of this story?

Sometimes it’s simply a lack of knowledge that stops us from achieving.

There’s also another upside to this story. Since I started working part-time at Bodhi Tree bookcafe selling books, Karen (the owner) and I are organising a whole stack of writing events – after all, reading and writing go so well together.

AND …

on June 14th at our inaugural Writers’ Brunch Karen will be talking about how to get your book into book stores, not from a writer’s point of view but from a book seller’s view point. Find out what encourages shops to take on your book and what will put them off immediately.

Whether you already have a book or are planning to write one sometime, this Brunch is not to be missed. Click here to find out more and you book your place today.

Just a gentle reminder (well, perhaps as gentle as a sledgehammer), if you were thinking about attending the upcoming Writing from the Heart online course you need to enroll and pay today.

Why? Primarily because it starts tomorrow, there are only a couple of spaces left, and it’s excellent value.

Click here for the write-up and instructions on enrolling

Here’s a little taster:

When it comes to writing from the heart there are few styles more powerful than a personal essay – well-written, short, anecdotal, positive and touching stories about a real live person. And they have become highly sought after by anthologies, magazines and websites too.

Many publishers are willing to pay excellent money for the right to print a personal essay, regardless of whether it’s been published elsewhere. Ever since 1993, when the book ‘Chicken Soup for the Soul’ by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hanson, was published, editors have seen the importance of these heart-felt stories being shared.

And now quotes from previous attendees of the course:
‘Thanks to Elizabeth I can now source markets for personal stories, competently make my writing market-ready and sell it with confidence. Her editing skills are an asset in the writing community. I recommend this course to any writer who wants to break into this market.’ JOH, Australia

‘I’m delighted and proud of my first attempt. Thank you for a wonderful course. I have been enriched.’ AK, Zimbabwe

‘I thought the way the market information was presented was not only informative but importantly for me it was written in a friendly manner. It took away some of the awesome fear I have of confronting the real world of publishing.’ KM, Australia

‘Great course Elizabeth! I would not have taken the time to seriously try this genre but for your course. I made the last few changes you suggested and have the essay in to …………. After reviewing their requirements I see that my piece fits in every way possible.’ SM,Canada

To find out more about this or any of my other course visit the Writing to Inspire Writing School

And just to clear up any concerns about the ethics, I won’t be giving away any secret tips on how to win our upcoming competition, the information I’ll be sharing could easily be sourced elsewhere. It’s just that I’ll have it here, on my blog, in bite size pieces on regular days.

So, as of this Tuesday, I’ll be posting weekly tips (currently there are 4 tips, but chances I’ll add more as they come to mind).

In the meantime, if you want some information to get you going, how about reading some tips on Short Story writing?

And, if you’re interested in knowing more about the comp (and let’s face it, who wouldn’t be?) visit the Writing to Inspire Competition page. Don’t forget to print out the Entry Form and Submission Guidelines.

Below, in a month of Writing to Inspire firsts, are the details of our ‘First Line’ Short Story competition, as officially launch yesterday.

When I was designing this competition, I didn’t want it to be the same as everybody else’s; I wanted it to encompass some of the core beliefs of Writing to Inspire (and therefore mine).  For this reason, not only does it include three ‘first line’s that you need to use at the beginning of your story (You don’t have to use all of them, just pick one. But you could write three different stories each using a different first line), but it also comes with an added optional bonus – honest, helpful feedback on your story or stories.

How many times have you wished that somebody could give you just a couple of pointers on how to improve your writing? How many times have you entered competitions and wanted to know why your work was placed in the top three?

Well, here’s your chance. Read on to find out more.

Writing to Inspire’s ‘First Line’ Short Story Competition

ENTRY FEE:
$5 for one story.
$9 for two stories.
$12 for three stories.

CLOSING DEADLINE:
All entries must be received by 18th June 2011

PRIZES:
1st prize: $50 cash and a $100 Writing to Inspire gift voucher
2nd prize: $50 Writing to Inspire gift voucher
3rd prize: $30 Writing to Inspire gift voucher

CHOICE OF FIRST LINES:
Each story entered must start with the exact wording of one of the following ‘first lines’.

• The sheer silk cloth crumpled easily beneath her fingers
• ‘She kept a journal, you know.’
• Second by second the crimson stain crept

ADDED BONUS
All writers have the opportunity of receiving at least two sentences of personalised feedback on the stories they enter into this competition. To enable each writer to benefit fully from this feedback they will also be directed to relevant and specific information included on the Writing to Inspire website.

For example your brief critique may read:
Excellent first paragraph, but your story becomes confusing because you have too many characters for the story’s word count. Consider limiting the number of characters to three.
OR
Your plot, while good, would have been stronger if you had written it in first person. Also, consider using all your senses while describing.

For more details, the Entry Form and the Submission Guidelines CLICK HERE.