sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Ouch

by

My back is playing up. I have a sharp pain near my right shoulder blade that just won’t go away. It was sore yesterday, had me tossing and turning all night and today is so sore I can’t vacuum, which is what I had planned for this morning. I’ve tried all my usual tricks. There’s an exercise involving lying flat on the floor with books under your head to bring your spine into alignment. Hasn’t worked this time. I’ve tried stretching the shoulder gently. Hasn’t worked. I have a bottle of stuff called Pain Cream which smells delightfully lavendery and that does ease the pain temporarily but doesn’t cure it.

Anyway, the good thing is, the shoulder pain doesn’t get worse when I sit at my desk and type, so instead of house work I’ve been able to get some stuff done. I uploaded ten new reviews to Aussiereviews, which always makes me feel good. The postie rewarded (?) me with bringing a parcel containing another seven books for review, this time from ABC Books.

The review update done, I had a chance to revisit one of my little 600 word stories from last week, which is coming along. I also typed up some free verse poems which I wrote at bedtime a couple of nights ago. I think I might have the beginnings of a free verse novel there. The main character has started whispering little snippets to me and I’ve had to jot them down.

I used to write everything down as it came to me, then redraft as I typed it into word on my computer. These days, I write prose straight onto the screen, though I still like to reread in hard copy. Now that I’m working with poetry for the first time in a long while, I’m finding the inspiration is hitting me when I’m away from the computer and when it isn’t necessarily convenient to use the computer. I don’t have a laptop, but even if I did, I like writing the old fashioned way sometimes.

Anyway, it seems the sore shoulder has been a blessing today because I’ve got lots done. I’d best stop complaining about the pain and take the time to write write write.

Newsletters

by

I had an article in this morning’s Pass It On Newsletter. If you are an Aussie writing for children, or even thinking about writing for children, this newsletter is a must have. It is a weekly offering in the form of n interactive networking newsletter. Interactive because the content is submitted by fellow subscribers, and compiled by the wonderful Jackie Hosking. There is news, articles, hand tips, useful web links, book reviews, author profiles and much more in each week’s issue.

Anyway, I had an article n this morning’s issue entitled Eight No or Low Cost Ways to Promote Yourself. Self-promotion is important for published and unpublished writers, but can sometimes be quite daunting. Putting my experiences into an article will hopefully help otters and also served as a reminder to myself of the things I should be doing.

I also had an email from Di Bates, accepting an article for Buzzwords Magazine. Again, if you are writing for children, this is a must-have ezine. Buzzwords is a bi-monthly electronic magazine filled with news, interviews, articles and more, compiled by Di, who is a well known and respected author, and newly the editor of Little Ears, a children’s magazine which is shaping up to be a wonderful publication.

The article for Buzzwords (which will be published in November) is about Aussiereviews, my review website, and about how and why I set it up and maintain it. Di said the nicest things in her acceptance email, which have given me a nice warm glow. All praise is nice, but praise from a respected peer is always special.

I write articles to promote myself and my books, but I also do enjoy helping and/or inspiring others. Best of all, when I write such an article I remind myself of lots of things which I already knew but which might be stored away in the deep dark recesses of my fuzzy brain. Bringing them to the fore renews my awareness of them and refreshes my enthusiasm.

Check out Buzzwords and PIO,if you haven’t already, and, if you know something about anything, consider sharing your knowlegde through an article. You might help others as well as yourself.

Reports

by

The good news – today I spent most of the day writing. The bad news – I was writing school reports. Yes it’s that time of year and, as a part time teacher, I had to give up some of my writing time to produce feedback on my students’ progress.

When I started I was feeling a little resentful of the time being taken away from more productive pursuits. I figured I would perhaps do some, so that I could tell myself I’d made a start, and then have a break for some quality writing time. Then, once I’d got started and mastered the new reporting form which involved logging on to the server from home and filling in the appropriate fields, I figured I’d keep going until I’d done it all. Then I could get it out of the way and have tomorrow for writing time.

So, that’s what I did and now it’s all done for another six months and I feel good about that. But, along the way I realised that writing report comments isn’t the worst way I could spend my writing time, because I was writing (and in my opinion every bit of writing adds to your total experience) and, at the same time, I was actually challenging myself to really mean what I was writing.

It isn’t always easy (or possible) to come up with a completely new comment for each student. But it IS possible (and should be compulsory) to be sure that you can justify what are you saying. So, you have to stop and think before you write, and again after you’ve written, whether the comment is fair and reasonable. You also have to be constructive, so that you are offering the student and parent the chance to understand how they can improve or maintain their grades.

Anyway, I’m glad it’s over, but not so resentful of the time now that I’ve thought more about it. I also snatched ten minutes to jot down the outline of a story that’s been incubating, so I’m looking forward to get more time with that one.

Useful Website

by

Just a quick post this morning.

Avoiding housework (don’t tell my beloved) I clicked on a link in an email then clicked another link and eventually found a wonderful article about writing stories in rhyme by American author Dori Chaconas. It’s here.

It’s the best article about writing in rhyme I think I’ve come across. She explains about story elements, rhyme and rhythm patterns in detail, but in a way which is easy to understand. It has a lot to say to anyone who writes in rhyme – whether you are a beginner or more experienced.

I know I’ll be rereading it often.

Shoes

by

Nothing to do with writing, but last night I discovered I have a shoe fetish. Not for buying shoes (though that’s fun, too) or wearing shoes (though that’s necessary), but for the smell of good leather shoes.

I went to a shoe party (like a Tupperware party, but with shoes) and, as the shoes were passed around for us all to admire (and they were beautiful, good quality shoes) I found myself holding each one up to my nose and breathing deeply. That rich leathery scent of new shoes is divine! Of course my friends all thought I was crazy – but they already did, anyway.

So I had a scent-full night and came home with a lighter wallet. I fell in love with two pairs of boots, each very different, and decided I could justify getting both.

The brown pair are comfortable and semi-dressy, so I could wear them out or to work.

The red pair (yes, red) are sensible bots with elastic sides, like a pair of work boots. But I got to choose the colour – and I chose red. They’ll be great for school visits and such and will sit proudly in my wardrobe alongside the purple shoes I ordered last year.

Now for the writing-related bit. My number one piece advice to writers attending literary festivals and the like is to wear sensible shoes. They can be purple or red if you so choose, but do remember that you are likely to spend large parts of your day on your feet, and if they start aching, you cease to enjoy yourself.

If you are going to a conference, please do your feet a favour and pack your sensible shoes. You’ll be glad you did.

Productive Week

by

Today I wrote a poem over breakfast. As I showered, I was tossing around ideas and suddenly one grabbed me. So, cup of coffee in one hand and pen in the other, I wrote the first draft. Yes, it’s rough and will need revising (ALL writing needs revising), but I’m happy with where it’s going. It’s the first new poem I’ve written in a long time, though my pal Pemberthy wrote a limerick earlier in the week. I’ve just typed the poem up and saved it, tweaking a little as I went.

The poem caps off a really productive week for me, after several months of slow progress. This week I’ve written first drafts of two 600 word stories, created Pemberthy’s new blog and this one (and written six posts between the two), written a 1000 word article for Buzzwords and had it accepted, along with a request for another, and written a new proposal for a book with an educational publisher .

I’ve also managed to keep up with my daily life – running a household, spending time with the kids, reviewing some books for Reading Time and aussiereviews, marking assignments for my tutoring job, and teaching part time.

When I list it all, I feel like I’m showing off, but I promise I’m not. So many writers I know do so much both in terms of writing and in their other lives. What I do see when I list it all is that I have had a successful week. This inspires me to keep going and also reminds me that when I’m firing I CAN juggle all these things.

Here’s to full weeks.