Writer Mama

~ meg ~ 8 Comments

I’m reading Writer Mama, and it’s changing the way I view my life.

Freelance writer Christina Katz delivers nearly 300 pocket-sized pages of wisdom that will help any writer, not just the mamas among us. Most writers can benefit from advice about how to work from home, be your own boss, build on your strengths, and follow your interests. I read Katz’s Get Known before the Book Deal as research for an article I wrote for WQ, and read in conjunction, Katz’s two books have inspired me to create a framework to organise my writing activites. I devote time to research, generating ideas, networking, and creating opportunities, as well as the actual writing.

pompidou

In between all this writerly biz and mama stuff, I’ve read a few gems lately. The Writing Class, by the wonderfully named Jincy Willett, lived up to its reviews. As a long-term inmate of the crime genre, I especially enjoyed the way it spoofed the nuts’n’bolts of the craft, like the Centre Pompidou above, showing its pipes.

Now Larson‘s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is waiting patiently on my bedside table, waiting for me to finished some other required reading for work. Anyone who’s read it, please give me the jist, the flavour, the je nais se qua of it all (no spoilers please).

Next week sees the release of the Byron Bay Writers Festival program – check out the Sunday sessions for a surprise late entrant!

Long time between thinks…

~ meg ~ 2 Comments

The only downside to landing your dream job? It eats your life! In fact, I have been so immersed in work that I have neglected my writing shamefully. But now, my wonderful employer has supported me to reorganise my hours to a more writing-friendly schedule … Hey presto, Magic Writing Thursday is born! Awesometown! I’ve edited two and half chapters, and now I even have time to blog.

Last week, I survived a meeting with a team of editors discussing my manuscript. I won the opportunity for this maunscript appraisal through the CAL/Society of Editors mentoring scheme, and it was an honour and a privilege to be chosen. But, imagine this: leading industry professionals view your dearest project, o precious fruit of your imaginings, and then list everything that’s bad about it in a detailed report. The report arrived a couple of weeks ago, when I skimmed talk of ‘an enjoyable, fast-paced narrative’ and got straight to the comments that would keep me awake at night.

Then I plunged headfirst into a deep slump of what my writing buddies have termed ‘my-book-sucks syndrome’.

However, the opportunity to meet with the editors snapped me out of the slump, and made the whole appraisal process intensely valuable: I sat with Craig and Marlies for an incredible hour and a half of deep discussion about Pregnant Pursuit, and gained insight into the rationale behind their comments.It was especially amazing to hear Craig Munro’s stories from when he was editing Johnno. I felt a part of the incredible literary community in Brisbane, even if just for a day.

Since then, I have approached the task of editing with more clarity and determination. I am clearer about what needs doing, and how to do it. Swallowing my pride, keeping an open mind, and following things through has helped me to trust the process of addressing critical feedback to strengthen my work.

The surprising thing in studying the craft of writing is not that I must continually improve my facility with words, and develop an effective balance between creativity and competence. It is that I must become a better person – more resilient, persistent, and humble.  As a writer, I must scrutinize my character and experience for strengths, weaknesses, flaws and gifts; I must know these well and work with them wisely.

Overwhelmingly, as a result of the manuscript appraisal, I am left with  a deep sense of gratitude – not just for a more mature manuscript, but for an opportunity to work with people who treated my story with respect and care, and showed infinite patience in helping me honour my craft.

Research is fun!

~ meg ~ 8 Comments

I’m in the swing of editing my first manuscript, and feel the time is right to start developing the story idea for my second book. You know what that means… research!

And now my blood is roaring like a cannon. On the way home from work in Brisbane city, AKA Brisvegas/Brisrael/Brisbados , I impulsively stopped by a construction site. I climbed four flights of rickety scaffold stairs to lob into the site office. I was wearing a skirt and open-toed sandals, and carried a shopping bag holding pumpkin, bread, and toilet paper. A total pro!

I had to face my fear of mocking stares from blokes in hi-viz shirts, vertigo, and possible rejection. I turned around to leave half a dozen times before I cranked up the courage to JFDI. And you know what? The site manager was helpful, his wife is a fan of my genre, and I am now in negotiations for a tour of deep excavation work under a high-rise building!

This bit of research may even top the monster-truck experience for my first book…

Plum genre-bender

~ meg ~ 6 Comments

Crime fic is at the top of my reading lovelist, no doubt about it. But spec fic is a close second. Usually hard sci fi, but fantasy sometimes does it for me, too.

So I’m very interested to see Evanovich’s brave experiment in crossing the streams. I’m halfway through Plum Spooky: I’m loving her intentions, and the execution ain’t half bad! Fantasy has just that floaty softness that crime fic doesn’t usually deliver. A tasty read indeed–and this from a palate suffering Plum-fatigue!

Of course, there’s the whole hard sci fi tradition of genre-bending with the time cop, space cop, continuum cop, et al. And TV audiences are familiar with the joys of the psychic detective. But these stories tend to take themselves So Very Seriously! Evanovich’s dash of riot grrrl – lipstick feminist slapstick – makes for a new breed. She puts the lovechild of Kinsey Milhone and Bridget Jones into the Forbidden Forest, with pleasing results.

The dash of genre-bending also helps overcome the dramatic gridlock of the Plum series. Now that Stephanie’s slept with both Ranger and Morelli , do we really care if she ends up with either of them? I’m afraid the cork has popped on that one for me. The pressure for bigger and better crimes has made for weaker plots, too. But “between the numbers” there is space to open up new love interests, and new spooky plotlines. Brilliant!

Can anyone offer other examples of feminist crime fic fantasy?

Welcome to my new blog!

~ meg ~ 2 Comments

If you know me, you know I love reading and writing crime fiction, and being a mama. I’ve figured out a way to combine my interests: now I study maternal feminist crime fiction!

I can’t stop until the case is closed [to paraphrase Sara Paretsky]…

If you like crime fiction too, or if you’re a parent struggling to find the elusive work/life balance, join me here at mamaguilt to share and explore our experiences.