Mr Emerson and JoJo Cat
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Tag: Advice
Dealing with Change
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Not So Secret Society of Women Writers
I’ve been asked if I belong to a writers group. After reaching saturation point with courses and workshops, I decided to get serious and join a writers group. Currently I am a member of two organisations, Girl and Duck.com and The Society of Women Writers Qld Inc. One real and one virtual, both offering the interaction and motivation I crave.
I also belong to two book clubs, one leaning towards the literary and the other crime, but that’s a whole new blog post. Today my information flow is about—
The Society of Women Writers Qld Inc (SWWQ) which provides an invaluable support network for women writers. Members share comments, feedback, achievements and encouragement, or listen to guest speakers at monthly meetings.
The Beginning
In 1925 the Imperial Press Conference Sydney hosted a conference for Visiting Writers and Journalists from the United Kingdom. At that time women were excluded from the all-male journalists’ club. This led to the wives of the delegates and the invited female delegates forming their own group which became The Society of Women Writers. Thus (Dame) Mary Gilmore, Pattie Fotheringham, Mary Liddell and Isobel Gullett became the four Vice Presidents. Zara Aronson was Honorary Secretary; Agnes Mowie and Blanche d’Alpuget were Honorary Treasurers. Abigail Clancy was one of the founding committee’s fifteen members. In 1982 The Society of Women Writers Queensland was incorporated and Mocco Wollert became their first State President. Di Hill is the current State President.
Postal Magazines
In 1975 Bridget Godbold felt inspired to start her own group of writers in Queensland. While in Sydney for the Society of Women Writer’s Fiftieth Commemoration, she was asked by their Federal Executive to produce a Queensland postal magazine, based on the success of a Victorian experiment called MURU.
Bridget, with four women from Townsville, Boonah, Kingaroy and Burleigh Heads, created MORIALTA. This Aboriginal word means ‘everflowing’ and epitomised their motto to Keep Thoughts Everflowing into Creative Writing. The first edition of MORIALTA was produced in 1976.
Postal magazines are ideal for isolated writers or those who find it difficult to attend meetings. An electronic newsletter is also available.
The Alice Award
Every two years, since 1978, the Society shares the privilege with other States and awards a non-acquisitive bronze statuette, The Alice, to an Australian woman writer who has made a significant contribution to Australian Literature. Well-known past recipients include, among many others, Nancy Cato, Ruth Park, Kate Grenville, Margaret Scott, Dame Judith Wright, Dame Mary Durack, Jill Shearer, Christobel Mattingley, Susanna des Vries, Dr Claire Wright and Sally Odgers.
Ring of Bright Water
SWWQ’s newsletter Ring of Bright Water is compiled monthly and sent to members either electronically (preferred) or via Australia Post, keeping members updated on upcoming events, competitions, publishing opportunities, members achievements, writing and more.
Writers Retreat
The Society organises an annual retreat, held in October on Bribie Island, north of Brisbane. Here writers can dedicate quality time to their works-in-progress; join structured workshops; begin new work; discuss writers, writing and books and generally share good times with like-minded people.
Competitions
Competitions for Short Story, Article and Poetry categories are held each year for members and the Estelle Pinney Short Story Competition is held annually and is open to Australian women writers over the age of 18.
The Society publishes anthologies of members work occasionally and supports many other literary events in Queensland. SWWQ is affiliated with Society of Women Writers in WA, VIC, NSW, TAS.
For further information please contact the Secretary
secretary@womenwritersqld.org.au
or visit their website http://womenwritersqld.org.au
My Journey
I have entered two short stories in the Estelle Pinney Short Story Competition which closes Wednesday 31 July 2019. At the moment, I am reading The Rose and The Thorn written by member Indrani Ganguly. After attending a meeting with guest speaker Virginia Miranda, author of Flash Fiction Volume One, I enjoyed the writing exercise she set with picture prompts and I’m all fired up on the joys of flash fiction.
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Samantha says…
Friendship
A thought put into words for the New Year.
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Blogging Pleasure and Pain
I’m reading blog posts which say ‘Posting has become a chore’ or ‘It’s hard to post regularly’ or ‘Feeling the pressure to post’—-stop right there!
Take a break, the earth, the sky and the stars will still be there, the world will still turn.
Conversely there are serious blog posts coercing, er, cajoling the writer into a formula. Or worse, a winning formula to be the best blogger in the blogosphere.
There’s even a blog ideas generator, how unoriginal can you get!
YOUR WORDS, YOUR WORLD, CREATE YOUR WAY!
Does a technique overcome bloggers block? Better blogging supposedly comes with strategies, structure, schedules, regularity, planning…bah, humbug I say! There’s probably enough pressure in your world without adding more via your blog. If anything, blogging should be
a freedom,
a release from the daily grind,
your little patch of calmness,
a zone of personal creativity,
a focus on what you want,
how you want to say it,
and most of all, don’t worry,
let your originality take over.
The old hippie saying ‘go with the flow’ is appropriate when doing morning pages and you may like writing in the morning or writing in the evening. Don’t push yourself to write to someone else’s rule, someone else’s timetable. Free-writing is better than no writing. You can actually write anywhere, anytime, and I don’t mean social media.
Self-control up to a point.
Yeah, I know people who have to have a hammer hanging over their heads on a piece of string. If they stand up, the hammer hits them on the head, they sit back down and do another 500 words of pain. One famous writer actually tied his body to the chair to write.
Then there’s that annual trial by acronym.
Which does not spell g-o-o-d w-o-r-k to me.
Do you really want a target audience? Do you personally know anyone who is making a decent living from blogging? They’re the ones in the pressure cooker. If you are not commercially selling, I say ‘Do your own thing!’ and that’s exciting.
I speak from experience. You will find your own rhythm if you truly want to write. And nobody, least of all me, will help you or hinder you. You’re on your own, kid.
YOUR WORDS, YOUR WORLD, CREATE YOUR WAY!
‘Work hard to create great content’ – if it’s too hard it won’t work.
‘Blog often while controlling quality’ – we all know quality varies.
‘Find your competition and observe them’ – nothing worse than a lurker.
‘Write to please your readers’ – first ask yourself ‘Am I pleased with it?’
‘Improve your blog writing formula’ – your creativity is not a prescription.
‘What is your target market searching for?’ – don’t pander to the people.
‘What type of content do readers prefer?’ – write your content and let them Follow.
‘Start internal link building’ – in other words Liking but not liking.
‘You need to know the right audience for you’ – other bloggers will work that out.
‘Make your blog post titles catchy’ – why get hung up on headings.
‘Don’t have time to write then reblog or hire a ghost-writer’ – ha ha ha ha ha.
‘Images are important to highlight your post’ – keep them relevant, naturally.
‘Good eye-appeal in formats and layouts’ – beauty is in the eye of the blogger.
‘Learn basic SEO’ – because it’s basic but not life threatening.
‘Reply to Comments daily’ – meaning a proper reply or else deactivate Comments.
‘Bill Gates once said Content Is King’ – well, hey, that’s a given.
‘Keep wordcount down’ – there are people who can still read lots of words.
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
YOUR WORDS, YOUR WORLD, CREATE YOUR WAY!
My Favourite New Bookmark
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Young When You’re Old
Seniors Week 2018
Celebrating a Queensland for All Ages
Seniors Week provides the opportunity for older Queenslanders to explore programs and services, events and activities, connect with people of all ages and backgrounds from 18-26 August. Celebrate the many contributions older people make in our communities. Visit https://www.qldseniorsweek.org.au/
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
‘A Garden of Lilies’ Tales from Judith Rossell
With a knowing smile, this Victorian-style book of manners is reminiscent of the period of parenting when misbehaving children were given orders and told dire consequences would ensue if they did not obey. Despite warnings, when a child in this book ignores an instruction, there is an aftermath of great magnitude.
In “A Garden of Lilies: Improving Tales for Young Minds – by Prudence A Goodchild” children’s author and illustrator Judith Rossell has produced an atmospherically illustrated and tightly written volume. She has also mastered the art of a left-right jab, hitting with swift endings which leave the reader breathless.
Each punchy short story closes with a judicious moral. For example, Isadora daydreamed too much during her chores. One day she daydreamed while idly brushing her hair. Let’s just say she didn’t get to finish the task. “Moral: For hair that’s glossy, clean and bright, Two hundred strokes, both morn and night”.
After Isadora’s tale, there is what appears to be a lovely page entitled “Care of the Hair” with a recipe for making Soft Soap which “…will improve both the texture and colour of the hair” until things get a bit nauseating. Apart from kitchen scraps, the mixture must boil for hours until it forms a clear, thick jelly.
Basically the stories are about kids being kids and the 21st century reader should see the endings for what they are – a sample of Victorian etiquette and psychology which we would not dream of using on children today. Right? Okay, explain that to your child and laugh.
This slim book is approximately sixty pages (with attractive binding and colour plates) and scattered throughout are “Interesting Facts” and helpful hints like An Economical Recipe for a Plain Cake, A Useful Compass, Parlour Games and my personal favourite, An Album of Sea-Weeds. I will work on drying and pressing seaweed during my next holiday! Hmm, would seaweed smell like that starfish I once brought home?
In closing, I will give a shout-out to Mr Lindon of Woolloongabba, Queensland (Page 45) who grew a giant marrow. I think he must have read the book’s suggestion To Grow a Giant Marrow which signifies “A Garden of Lilies” is indeed a versatile volume!
I cannot give you a childproof safety rating but I think it is suitable for a sliding age scale and my own rating is 5-star.
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Judith Rossell — Biography
Judith Rossell is the multi-award-winning author-illustrator of the bestselling Stella Montgomery series (Withering-by-Sea, Wormwood Mire, A Garden of Lilies and forthcoming Wakestone Hall). Judith has written thirteen books and illustrated more than eighty, and her work has been published in UK, US, Germany and translated into more than twenty languages. Before beginning her career in children’s books, Judith worked as a government scientist (not a mad scientist, a normal kind of scientist) and also for a cotton-spinning company (which made threads for T-shirts, denim jeans, mops and teabag strings). Judith lives in Melbourne, Australia with a cat the size of a walrus.
ACCLAIM FOR WITHERING-BY-SEA AND WORMWOOD MIRE:
Indie Awards – Winner 2015, Shortlisted 2017
Australian Book Industry Awards – Winner 2015, Shortlisted 2017
CBCA Awards – Honour Book 2015, Notable Book 2017
Davitt Awards – Winner 2015, Shortlisted 2017
Prime Minister’s Literary Awards – Shortlisted 2015
ABA Booksellers’ Choice Awards – Shortlisted 2017
Australian Book Design Awards – Shortlisted 2017
Aurealis Awards – Shortlisted 2015
‘Hope’ Quote from Lin Yutang
Four Hugs a Day for Survival…
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Coffee Shop Wisdom
Platitudes, rather hippy dippy and old hat, short sugar-coated sentences designed to bolster the ‘feels’ of a younger generation. Look again. Each line creates an emotion, a memory jog, that tingle of happiness to the down-surge of sadness. Regret is there, the wince for things done wrong, then the smile for laughing out loud when you get it right. Basic universal rules for living.
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Proof-reading Style Errors
The style guide reads: Below are errors in style due to inappropriate or poor choices of language which can lead to boring, imprecise and inaccurate writing. In some situations, they may be relevant and suitable, but they are usually best avoided––
- Clichés, over-used phrases, e.g. bed of roses, pretty as a picture.
- Vogue words and trendy expressions, e.g. proactive, meaningful dialogue.
- Colloquialisms in formal writing.
- Parochialism in documents intended for a wide audience.
- Jargon in documents intended for a general audience.
- Euphemisms, e.g. pass away, upwardly mobile.
- Overstatements, e.g. fabulous, incredible, fantastic, amazing.
- Archaic words, e.g. herewith, thereby, hereinafter.
- Sexist terms, e.g. man-made, nurseryman, waitress.
- Tautologies, e.g. totally unique, completely empty.
- Ambiguity, e.g. maybe I would if I could.
- Unnecessary use of foreign words and phrases.
This information was retrieved from my older Word.doc files with no acknowledgements attached. As a touch of humour, I wrote the short profile of Aunt Belinda. I can only suppose such formal advice is for non-fiction writers.
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
First of the Month
When I was a kid we used to say “Pinch and punch for the first of the month” and I don’t know why. A lot of our practical jokes involved physical actions which resulted in the receiver going “Ow, ouch” and glaring fiercely while rubbing their arm.
This beautiful calendar art was created by Sue Zipkin, produced by Hopper Studios, and I will be sad to see it go. However, its final words are encouraging “Embrace Change”. How many of us will actually do that next year?
“A year from now you will wish you had started today.” — Karen Lamb
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Responsive
Mahatma Gandhi, Indian political and spiritual leader (1869-1948) said “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems” and “Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it” because who knows what is around the next bend…
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Writer’s Self-Help
Over the years I have read a handful of self-help books aimed at emerging authors, including the iconic Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and famous memoir On Writing by Stephen King, but recently I came across these two quite diverse publications which really gave me a nudge in the right direction.
“Use Your Words” by Catherine Deveny 2016 published by Black Inc.
“See Me Jump” by Jen Storer 2016 published by Girl And Duck.
Catherine Deveny’s book is written in plain straight forward language, and she gets right to the heart of the matter. There’s no place to hide once the momentum starts rolling. Be warned, this book is for adults. Catherine uses impolite language and bad manners to push you forward, sometimes against your will. Then you see that glowing light at the end of the tunnel, er, book. Well worth reading this boot-camp style book.
Jen Storer’s book is slim yet informative with small sketches dotted through the pages. Her style is easy, encouraging, friendly and humorous. It’s a book for adults but those with a yearning to write good books for children. Note the chapter 4 heading “Don’t let adults fix your character’s problem” which is a must for kids literature. Many of Jen’s sentences make memorable quotes, my favourite “Be brave. Don’t wait to create.”
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Simmering Manuscripts
My documentation is office-organised but my writing approach is organic. I will have four or five manuscripts simmering away then one will bubble to the top. That’s The One. I pursue it to the end. Sometimes those left simmering, sink to the bottom. Other times a new thought will be added and not even stirred into the mix, it will shine immediately and have my full attention.
You gotta love what you’re working on, right!
♥ Gretchen Bernet-Ward
Fire burn and cauldron bubble”
Thoughts Become Words 
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