It was a nice idea

As you are probably aware if you read my posts on this site, this blog was designed to track my progress into the world of writing.  Unfortunately what I have found is a number of things, the first is that I don’t want to talk about my jobs.  Well I do, but I don’t feel I can or that I should, it undermines the trust and integrity I want to have with my clients.  So that cuts out a lot of what I can talk about.

Also I am so busy with all the work coming in that to keep up a self-indulgent blog sits at the bottom of my to-do list.

So I want to say thank you for reading, and watching!  Sorry that after such a short journey I am letting go!

Rach

Ouch, really that long?

Sorry, I’ve been sick!  Attack of the ‘blurgh’ bug which left me curled in a ball.  Really there should be no further details discussed.

But I am on the mend, so after digging deep, I have managed to finish all my work, though it was not without two last minute disasters:

• The case of the mysterious text, which would jump randomly along with freaky characters into my 60+ page ebook.  It turned out that some of my cross references were causing this wacky behaviour so to teach it a lesson I removed them all.  They had done their dash earlier anyway, when I couldn’t change their colour and font (well I could but it would revert back on saving).
• The complete disappearance of the Gourmet Deli Trail in Gippsland!  What?  Yup, gone, well actually the road is still there just you can drop the ‘Gourmet Deli’.  The strawberry farm is no more, the Jindivick Smokehouse gone, Piano Hill Cheese company closed its tastings.  This may not bother you, but on Friday as I called each of these place to check my article I was gutted.  You can rewrite an article removing one or two of the places you visit but when they all go, really you no longer have an article! Thankfully I was able to write a new article and submit it yesterday.

Anyway all good now, should be back to almost daily posts again!

Gilgamesh fable winners announced

Well done to the winners of the Gilgamesh Fable Competition.  Unfortunately I was not amongst them!  The first two places were provided to entrants from NSW who were unable to be there, and the third place to a gentleman from Victoria who was there, in fact who was standing in front of me.

Names I cannot remember, but the stories I can, they were something like:

1. When all the cars ran over all the people

2. The mother and the happy ending

3. The great library of Om

Hearty congrats to each of the winners, my favourite (they read each out), was the Great Library.  It was so clever and witty about categorisation.  The other two were good, but it was sensational!

Gilgamesh did a fantastic job too, the Paella was divine, and it was lovely to have an afternoon listening to some great fables.  As it was also the book launch for the first book I bought a copy and have read the first one which I really enjoyed.

Happy Holiday Monday everyone!

Gilgamesh Fable Competition

As you know I entered the Gilgamesh Fable Competition some time ago and this weekend is their awards ceremony.  Currently I don’t know who the winners are, but I am not placing too many hopes into my basket. My story was a cross between fable and fairy tale so probably lands outside the square, potentially outside the whole scope stadium of what they are looking for, but it is true to me.  And! it did feature an animal along with a moral 🙂

I have been a bit lax in getting to events and awards, and would like to get out a bit more.  This one is on Sunday and best of all it doesn’t clash with a birthday dinner we are all attending in the evening!  So, we will all mosie on down to St Kilda for the afternoon.

For all the details, check out Gilgamesh’s blog.  You don’t need to have entered to be able to attend!

Hmm, that is the best I can write, it is too early in the morning! Breakfast is beckoning! Good luck to everyone else who entered!

some people live off rice!

I am sure that there are some writers out there that have a diet only of rice, or maybe bread, I am thinking rice might be expensive to cook because it involves the needing of electricity to boil the water.  But you know, you get my drift!

Why?  Well because there are some absolutely crazy jobs listed out there in the big wide world, jobs which want you to write thousands of ‘well-executed’ and ‘completely original’ words for peanuts.  For example would you write 200 articles each 250+ words for $50USD?

To be fair, some of the jobs are listed quite reasonably, but it is the providers that bid on them that go so low.  Really though I do wonder how someone could provide something of quality for that price!

Needless to say, it is not me going for them!

simple things that I complicate!

Microsoft Word 2008 – it should be easy!  Indeed many would say it is, and to be honest I am quite handy with it, but then all of a sudden it makes you feel like a marsh mellow!

Enter creative Rach, who downloads new funky font from the internet.  With a little help from search she locates the Font Book and adds the little critter in.

TA DA!  Pats herself on back – job well done.

Goes into word, clicks on Fonts option, scrolls down.. dump dah, nothing!

Closes word, reopens word, clicks on Fonts option, scrolls down.. dump dah, nothing!

Shuts down Mac, restarts (yes kind of obvious but whatever), repeats steps.. dump dah, nothing!

Cleverly puts font into ‘fun’ book, but still cannot find in word! Dump dah!

Looks up help tutorial, in which it says, download font, double click it and you are done!  No, I am not!  People bagged the tutorial for its need to explain something so simple, but what about me?

Patience wearing thin, hair even thinner, I decide to change tack, I open the drop down menu of ‘Format’, go to Font, and arrow down and my little stupid font is there!!

Probably obvious to everyone out there!  Not me, I thought a font would appear in a font list!  ROFL

braving the cold

My short story is now loaded on the site, it is a bit clunky to get to, but you can access it here – The Final Test.

I am still happy with it, though I would like to rewrite certain parts and touch it up a bit more.  It was one of those ones where you wish you could leave it for a few days and come back to it, but that is the nature of the competition and we were all in the same boat!  I have read the top 3 and they are all brilliant, especially first place, and I quite liked the twist with third too.

Remember if you want to check out the winners you will find them at the Writers Weekly Winner page.  I think I will probably enter again, perhaps I’ll avoid swearing and referencing sex as ways to increase my chances!

Don’t be too harsh with feedback, there is a fragile soul under this fleece covered exterior!

24 Hour Spring Writing Competition

Congrats to all the winners and runners up of the Writers Weekly Spring 2010 Writing Competition! Unfortunately I was well… no where!  I did struggle with wrapping it all together, the concept was good but I think my execution left something to be desired.  I am a little disappointed, but this is my first result and one of my first ever competitions entered.

So for those that do not know this competition requires that you write a short story in 24 hours on a certain theme!  It sounds easier than it is, what surprised me was how detailed the theme was.  For this year it was..

He’d had a lifelong weakness for football, golf, and younger women but none of that mattered anymore. The vultures were just outside, already fighting over the best morsels. He hadn’t moved or spoken in weeks but, as she reached over to touch the thin vein slowly pulsating in his hand, his eyes flashed open and he said…

Angela (the Editor, I think), does a summary of the most common themes, this year it was vampires, a love for motorcycles, an uncomfortable beside chair and Vegas.  Apparently some common story ideas are present every competition regardless of the stated theme, these include struggling writers, in the end it was just a dream, was on tv or was in a nursing home with a dementia patient.

Well I can take something from this experience, my story wasn’t about any of these things!  So for that I can be proud, it was unique, obviously not what they were looking for, but somewhere in the middle of their ‘bad’ and ‘brilliant’ piles. I might post it here if I can work up the courage!  Right now I am off to quickly read the winning story ‘In the Moment‘ by Eric Wallace in NY.

the story of…

The sun had set, the street quiet during the day was springing to life.  Men and women arrived to peruse the art of flesh and fancy, to wander amongst the moving bodies, dipping and swaying to the rythmic beat…

Here we met our first two characters. At the time Ian and I were dissecting the portion of cow that had come served as tapas, and discussing the trends of South Australian fashion which appeared to us to be centered around funky stockings and very short mini skirts.  The two gentlemen sat at the table beside us and took generous swigs from their oversized beers.

Enter from stage right (the elevated part of the bar), Cassie, named as such for no particular reason.  She was gorgeous, blonde, probably around 28-30 and stunning.  She recognised Marek, and so had a brief chat, sitting on a spare chair, before retreating to her friends.

YES we noticed her trail her hand across Marek’s shoulder as she stood up! YES we noticed her later at the bar, talking to her friends Barbie and Johnathon, stealing glances across the tables to his.  But NO! Marek didn’t notice, he at this point was attacking his very own appealing tapas.

You no doubt get the drift, girl wants boy, but does boy want girl?  Ian and I commentated the story during our own conversations, which was entertaining, mainly because neither of us had to compete in this competitive market.

Anyway after observing said couple and friends, it was clear that Barbie and Johnathon were definitely into each other and that Mark (Marek’s mate) didn’t seem to be making much ground with anyone.  But to Marek and Cassie, I don’t know, they were still flirting away when we expired and left these single groovers and shakers to dance the night away and hopefully entrance each other with their own magic.

So there you have it, the glimpse of life story which has no ending!  Aren’t you glad I shared?

Refreshed!

Yes I have been away.  I find it so important to recharge my batteries and experience something of life every now and then.  Being a writer especially, I have found that I am spending more and more solitary time with my computer, which is fantastic, but the real world is outside and it is hard to write about something if you do not live and breathe it every now and then!

So I escaped to Adelaide, which was fantastic, caught some live music on the Friday night, watched a storm advance across the sea towards us in Glenelg (then got absolutely drenched), ate Tapas and provided a running commentary for some of the clients (more to come on this), failing to find somewhere for breakfast on Sunday and finding instead the most scrummy yum cha and then watching my football team win a close game in a sports bar!

I hope always to live my life like this, blank pages ready to be filled with possibility, no idea too silly to have possible inclusion!

But I’m back in front of my computer screen, and ready for another week.  I have two current jobs at the moment, but need to seek more.  I have proposals in for another two, but am hesitating before going for more as I don’t want to be overloaded!

Anyway if nothing else it will give me a chance to blog read and write!  Also I am going to commence a new project to write my own book, not a novel but a researched book, so no doubt that will keep me entertained in my spare hours.