Dee White, author of Letters to Leonardo

Dee White, author of Letters to Leonardo is visiting Under The Apple Tree tomorrow as part of her Tuesday Writing Tips blog tour. Call back to hear her advice on understanding Point of View.

See you all then!

Oh and I'm baking a pie, so make sure you have a cuppa ready. We'll be in the garden...

Taking the Risk

My mother-in-law is an inspiration to me and the rest of our family. Here is a photo of her on holiday with my brother-in-law and his kids. Yes, she’s the one smiling in the front seat and NO this is not photoshopped.

She turns eighty in October and is currently planning her winter holiday north. In between she plays tennis and bush walks, volunteers at the local church and community centre and helps out twice a day at the small hospital for the aging in her town. She even has her own ID card and lanyard. Funnily for us Mum calls the patients there ‘the oldies’.

What my mother-in-law has taught me is to take the risk. To get ‘out there’ and to be a part of what is going on. To look outside the possibilities I have accepted as ‘the norm’ for many years. To see the opportunities available to me. To try something new.

In 2005 I was invited to a Breakfast with the Authors at the Somerset Literature Festival (I've been going each year ever since). The authors moved from table to table joining in on the conversation and talking about their work. It was my first encounter with the world of children’s literature (other than as a reader) and I was thoroughly enjoying myself.


Then when a children’s picture book illustrator sat down at our table and began to show us her portfolio with samples of rough sketches and reference photos, I was immediately captivated. That was my Ah Ha moment.


In the ten minutes she spent chatting with us a new world of possibilities opened up for me. Instead of dreaming about drawing and painting I decided to ‘get out there’ and ‘try something new’. I enrolled at the Gold Coast Art School and began creative writing courses. This lead to a 3rd place award in the CYA Lit competition in 2009 and publication this year with Penguin Australia.


So I took the risk.


It meant having belief in myself and it meant being supported by family who always believed in me, like my mother-in-law, my husband, my children and my late parents. I am grateful for them.


Tell me about your risks. Have you taken any lately?

PS. I have a special visitor popping in to my blog on Tuesday 2nd March. Dee White will be calling by to talk about 'Viewpoint'. If this is a troublesome area for you in your writing then stop by on Tuesday and join in with your own comments. Dee is visiting as part of her Tuesday Writing Tips Blog Tour.

Oh, and rush out and get your tickets to the Somerset Festival, Markus Zusak author of 'The Book Thief' is speaking along with a host of other award winning Australian authors and illustrators like: Jackie French, Nette Hilton, Leigh Hobbs, Melina Marchetta, James Roy, James Moloney, Sofie Laguna, Anthony Eaton, Belinda Jeffrey and more... too many to mention. Go have a look.

A Creative Space

Before I became a writer I always found other ways to release my creative soul. While the children were little I poured myself into my home, sewing curtains, pelmets, cushions, tablecloths and painting every room in the house at various times. My passion for English country interiors found me scouring antique shops and craft markets, op shops and garage sales. I could pair a Dutch delft vase with a chinese grocery store bowl and visitors would comment on their complementary arrangement. The value was not in the cost, but in the aesthetics.


In between house decorating and renovations, when cleaning bricks and stippling stencils were set aside, I would draw and paint. But I never had a space, a special area set aside for my pencils and brushes, paints and paper. Until recently.

Now I have a room called 'Mum's Study'. It is central to the family, near the laundry for hanging out that quick load and the kitchen for the essential cuppa. And Mum's Study is probably the tidiest room in the house. This is most likely because I like to procrastinate by arranging and re-arranging my piles of books, notes and sketches.

But because you are visiting today my procrastination has been given a purpose, a writer's purpose. "It's for my blog," I say.


So this is my creative space, a small room with a large picture window overlooking the front paddock, a room that captures the morning sun and the afternoon breezes.

I love the new office chair that hubbie bought me for my first book contract. Note the apple, a mother's day gift from my daughter. The blue notes board is my plotting board for the novel I am working on.

Where I sit and read with feet up

My art desk and easels and a part finished portrait of my daughter for her 18th.

The reading and thinking couch bed, with my dad's 'tambourica' and my sister's resonator guitar (just visiting)

Recently other authors and artists have been posting about their creative spaces. Check out Sheryl Gwyther's , Katherine Battersby's and Jason Nahrung's blogs. Perhaps you'd also like to tell me about yours.

Happy Feet

A few days ago I posted on facebook that I had 'Happy Feet.' Some presumed this might have something to do with penguins. And they were right. Only it is just one penguin, a very big one, actually the biggest and only penguin in the publishing industry - Penguin Group (Australia).

My feet are happy, because they have been dancing around the house for a few weeks now, ever since I first received an email informing me my manuscript, 'Pond Magic', was on the desk of Penguin's children's publisher 'for consideration'.

Fast forward through Christmas, holidays with friends, overseas guests and New Year. Even with all those distractions, my mind was very much on whether the children's editors at Penguin would enjoy my story.

I had submitted Pond Magic to a select few publishers 6 months prior and the waiting room I found myself in was starting to grow dull - after all I'd read all the magazines.

Then on the first working day, a Monday, after New Year I received the email which blew me away. The executive editor 'enjoyed my story' and said: 'It's great fun, with a strong voice, likeable characters and themes that will appeal to the tween age group.' What's more they felt it would make a terrific addition to their Aussie Chomps list.

Did I open the champagne? you might ask. Well, no. Firstly, my manuscript was nearly 14,700 words long and the Aussie Chomps maximum is 12,000.

'Could I cut it back, please?'
'Why, yes, of course.'
The very next day I set out my instruments, sharpened my pencil and took to my manuscript with the precision of a brain surgeon. How do you cut nearly 3,000 words from what is a relatively short story? Very carefully.

I created a table on word and then read through my manuscript once more (for the millionth time), carefully writing down every plot point, character development and humorous remark in each chapter. There appeared to be two chapters where not a great deal happened, although they did show more about the characters. I decided to cut back both chapters by half and then systematically cut 100 words at least from each of the remaining chapters. This worked and I loved doing it. Playing with words and language have always been a passion of mine.

After smoothing out any wrinkles the editing had created, I re-read the manuscript again (I can't remember how many more times) and emailed it to the Aussie Chomps editor at Penguin.

Two days later I received a formal offer of publication.

'Pond Magic' will be published in September this year in Penguin's Aussie Chomps series.
I'd like to thank the writers who have believed in me and supported me along the way to my first publication, (especially all the writers of the Kwd group):

Sheryl Gwyther for your advice,

Dee White and Matt Zurbo for your critiquing.

and


Narelle Oliver for your passionate belief in my manuscript 'Pond Magic'.

The Queensland Writer's Centre for the editorial consultation,

The CYA competition judges,

and The Gold Coast City Council 'Creative Juices' team.



Thank you also to my readers:

Nadia, for your support and feedback,

Daniela, for every time you obliged when I shoved a chapter under your nose,

Rob for bouncing ideas and brainstorming in the wee hours of the morning,

Peter (14), for reading the final edit,

Elesia, Rosalia and Craig for your enthusiasm

and Ellen (aged 11) who wrote the first review of Pond Magic on this blog back in May 2009.

I know this sounds like I have won an award, but I am truly grateful to be so blessed.

Warm up those artistic muscles (warning - nudie pics)

Watercolour Pencil Sketch. Life Drawing. A.Sunde 2009

Even though I love to draw children, life drawing sessions are essential to the development of my skills as an artist. With a live model there is no choice but to draw the figure in the position I see her/ him. That means it's not possible to turn the model on his/her head (as I might a photo) simply because it's easier to capture a certain curve or a particular stroke.


Graphite Sketch. Life Drawing. A. Sunde 2009

Before I start to draw I have learnt to do warm up exercises designed to loosen my strokes and relax my mind. The exercises train my brain to remember arm and hand movements through repetition, using both left and right hands (sometimes simultaneously). It also shifts the focus of my mind to the 'right brain'. In other words the left analytical brain becomes so bored with the exercises it switches off and hey presto I am able to draw what I see and not what I 'think' I see.

These movements will then help me more accurately capture the image before me, even when I'm not looking at it. That makes it sound simple doesn't it?

Acrylic sketch. Life Drawing. A.Sunde 2009

I study Life Drawing at the Gold Coast Art School http://www.artschool.com.au/ with Tony Champ. We begin by drawing circles, repeatedly, without taking the pencil off the paper, big ones, small ones, in one direction, then the next, with our right hand and then our left for ten minutes each. Then we do figure eights, then ellipses.

By now it's apparent to me that a certain direction of stroke feels uncomfortable and awkward. My hand just doesn't naturally relax into the movement. That will be my weak stroke and that's the one I need to practise the most, just like an archer practises his aim so he can shoot the bullseye with his eyes shut.

Speed is essential in Life Drawing. The less time you have the looser your strokes. You learn quickly to draw from the elbow and not the wrist. These exercises have helped me to achieve that relaxed sketch I so admire in others.

But the real trick is to draw with your heart and not your intellect.

Submissions

I have a little manuscript, an urban fantasy for 9-13 year olds, which I submitted to four Australian publishers this year. Three of these actually invited me to submit. How do you get an invite? Simply attend as many conferences and workshops where publishers are present. I've found the publishers at these events are very approachable and also looking for the opportunity to meet new authors like me.

The CYA conference has the 'Pitch' sessions each year, where you may pitch your manuscript to a publisher or an agent for a fee. This is really worthwhile, as through the CYA pitch I have met a leading children's publisher and a literary agent, both of whom were interested in my work. Hopefully this may lead to future opportunities. An editorial consultation at the Queensland Writers Centre also helped me to fine tune my approach to being published. The consultant has since introduced me to publishers and even obtained on my behalf an invitation to submit to one of these.

And then there is the slush pile for unsolicited manuscripts. Many publishing houses do not accept these; others only have their slush pile 'open' at certain times of the year. My little manuscript found itself on one of these slush piles where it was waiting up to six months to be read. Luckily an industry contact (through conferences and workshops) enquired on my behalf and my manuscript found itself being fast tracked to the editor's desk.

Yesterday I received an email from this publishing house, informing me my manuscript has potential and I will hear from them 'in the near future'. Now that is something to celebrate.

The Battle is Won! And what did I learn?

Parallel Import Restrictions on books in Australia are here to stay.

Today the Australian Labor Party Cabinet and Caucus decided not to accept the Productivity Commission’s recommendations. This decision shows their support for the Australian book industry and the people who work in it. I applaud them for understanding the complexities of this issue.

http://www.booksellerandpublisher.com.au/articles/2009/11/13936/

As a member of Saving Aussie Books action group I have learnt a great deal about the impact standing up for what you believe in can achieve. I know now I have a voice and that voice can be heard. Through this campaign I wrote my first letter to a Prime Minister, a Premier, many Senators and politicians both federal, state and local. I spoke on radio and left my very first comments on local and international digital media sites. I had my first letter to the editor published in the Courier Mail and hand painted my first protest placard. My voice could be heard loud and clear at my first street rally outside the Dymocks store, Brisbane and I answered my first live interview by a national journalist in between handing out leaflets. And then there was the petition. It is a wonder my friends are still speaking to me. At BBQs, birthdays, school fetes, evening classes, P & C meetings etc the petition was always being passed around.

I’ve learnt so much on this journey. I’ve learnt we all truly have a voice and an opportunity in this great country to be heard. Thank you to the politicians who listened and understood. Thank you to everyone who posted, emailed, wrote, phoned and spoke in support of our cause. I am elated. It was indeed a privilege and an honour.

But best of all I have made some life long friends.

Three cheers for the Warrior Women of the Book.

WWOBs rule!

http://savingaussiebooks.wordpress.com/