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Professional Writing Organisations: What’s the go with Those?
For a start, what do I mean when I say, ‘join a professional writing organisation’? Do I mean a writing group (in my mind, a different beast)? What deems an organisation professional? What makes it worthwhile spending the money to be a part of one? If you’re not sure whether joining a writer’s group/writing centre/all permutations thereof is the right step for you, you’ve come to the right (or ‘write’?) place! Read on for my analysis of all the little things that might influence your decision… And at the end, I’ll provide a list of places you might want to follow or join! When is it time for me to…
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Aussie Expats Update – Our Second Thanksgiving
Hellllloooooo world! Well, it feels like it’s been so long since I did a blog post about James and I going on an adventure that I found myself not quite sure what to put in this one. Still, since I failed to put it together and get it out last week, I really had to pull myself together over the weekend to tell you all about our Thanksgiving in Tulsa. Before anything else, I just want to say that we feel beyond fortunate to have met so many kind, generous, and just all-round wonderful people in the time we’ve been living in the US. Our various friends have taken us…
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Aussie Expats Update – Writing, Revising and Rehab: Just Another Week!
The end of another week! It always feels like a bit of a shock to reach Friday again. Of course, since I’m on uni break, the time seems to be flying past… And, of course, I’m not getting anywhere near as much done as I wanted to. Every day seems to be jam-packed (though I’ll confess that I’ve managed to find some time for a few naps here and there, in the interests of somehow continuing to be a nice person), and then I reach the end of it and realise that there are things I wanted to get to that I didn’t. The best thing to do is to…
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Writing Writing Writing: Wearing Down the Keys
Happy Monday everyone! Never ones to sit still for long (apparently: this forever-travelling lifestyle is quite a new one for us!), I’m already neck-deep in planning our next adventure in just under a month’s time. Still, I’m also cherishing the chance to enjoy somewhat more lazy days with no study hanging over my head, especially since there are plenty of little ‘to do’ items that I’d like to tick off while I’m on a break. Regardless of everything else, what features highest on my priority list is, of course, writing—which, for the purpose of this list, includes working on editing my behemoth of a novel—and I’m feeling really excited about…
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Challenges: Proofreading and Feedback
Huh. Well, this one is a bit of a doozy. You write, and write, and write, and you think you’re getting better. In fact, you think your latest piece—whether it’s a story, a poem, a novel, an essay—is pretty damn good. But, you’re also conscientious and maybe you’re entering a competition or putting it somewhere for the world to read, so you ask a few people to read over it for you. Oh man. Buckle in. Where to start with this one? To kick it off, I’d like to say that if you have a small group of talented, painstaking and helpful friends out there who will proofread your work…
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Aussie Expats Update: A Ball, Cookies, Hiking and General Adventures!
Holy schmolys people. What a doozy of a week and what a lot to cover off on, plus, stacks of pictures (you can thank me later). As I mentioned in our last update, we had the St Barbara’s Day Ball for James’s Brigade on Friday night. Of course, this necessitated an early slammer of a gym session for the day, some bright red toenail polish, a couple of cheeky G&Ts, and a whole bunch of cheesecake. Despite my promises not to eat as many pieces of cake as last time, I think I ate more (thereby, one might argue, actually keeping my promise. Semantics). I would like, however, to point…
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Biting the Bullet: to Submit or not to Submit?
You know how sometimes you’re on a roll, getting stuff done, thinking that there is a high likelihood that you may in fact be superhuman… When you suddenly realise you’ve forgotten to write your Monday blog post? Yeah, that just happened to me. I’m feeling pretty chuffed with myself for getting through some time-consuming chores this morning, so I won’t be too harsh on myself; besides, here’s the post! I mentioned last week that I was in the process of working on a piece of speculative fiction, and I actually started writing this particular one as an entry into the The Screw Turn Flash Fiction Competition (deadline is tomorrow, so if you’ve got…
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Aussie Expats Update – Uni Break and another 2017 Bulletin!
Happy Friday everyone! Well, James and I are currently hoofing (great word, right?) our way from Lawton up to OKC. We’re collecting his eldest sister, Amy, tonight and then James has a 20km race tomorrow. Yuck! Well, I mean, he’s looking forward to it, so I guess that’s all that matters. Ahem. I can’t believe I’m in love with a man who likes to run 20km races for fun. Good god. Anyway, I’m on uni break. Finally! Despite a bit of a kerfuffle on my way to Oklahoma City Community College on Tuesday—our debit cards have been scammed, which is just awesome—I managed to get in and smash out my 120…
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Aussie Expats Update – The Risks of A Break in the Juggle of Life
Well, here we are starting the second week of January. Yeeeeesh. I’m sure there are a lot of people getting ramped back up again for work, or university, or the countless other things that require our energy and attention. I wish you all luck, but for me, the end of the tunnel is in sight. Well, this immediate tunnel, at least. After my psychology exam next week I’m due for a blissful month off from lectures and assessments, during which I will theoretically achieve monumental goals—like splitting the atom or starting (and finishing) my next manuscript, or becoming a world-famous blogger—and in all likelihood won’t achieve much at all… Other…
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Aussie Expats – A 2016 Recap and The Year Ahead
HELLO EVERYONE!! Well, it wouldn’t be the end of the year without an obligatory ‘look at everything we did’ kind of post, so I’m going to do one, mostly because it wouldn’t be an understatement to say that 2016 was a big year. Mammoth actually. Those always seem to happen when you’re getting ready to put up your feet and tell everyone that ‘last year was huge, we’ll take it down a notch for this one’… Actually, as you go along in life (it seems to me), there’s nothing but big years. And they speed up, until they’re flying past and slipping through your outstretched hands. At least that’s how…
