I want to start this post by saying that it’s not aimed at anyone or anything personally. I know you’re groaning and thinking whenever someone makes a statement like that, they’re really having a dig and blogging about it to really drive home the point—or stick the knife in deeper. I’m not. It’s been just been on my mind and since I’ve been neglecting the blog for a bit, it seemed right. Also, there are serious sides to this business some people are scared to touch on. Not me! (7 words ending in –ing... that’s not good but another story entirely)
So this post is about plagiarism. The definition should be well known to us all but I’ll stick it here anyway. Plagiarise – take (the work or an idea of someone else) and pass it off as one's own. oxforddictionaries.com We’ve all read a book and thought, wow that was a killer idea. We’ve all read a paragraph and thought, I wish I came up with that. We’ve all seen a title and oohed and ahhed over it. Awesome! I love it when any number of those things happen. Sometimes I read a sentence twice and analyse the flow, the words, the impact. I would never copy it. No I haven’t been accused but over the course of my writing and studying life it’s come up a few times. Either that someone else has plagiarised or ‘borrowed’ and they’ve been taken to task over it. At the end of the day it isn’t fair. If I took that awesome sentence with its flow and impact and genius and passed it off as my own, I would be stealing it. Even if I took some of it and rearranged it to be how I like it, the words would be the same and they still wouldn’t be mine. We’re all in this business to be the next best thing. I would love to have written Twilight or Harry Potter or even The Diary of a Wimpy Kid but I didn’t. I’m over it. If I couldn’t think of my own stories and twists and turns, I couldn’t be an author. If my imagination was broken (that’s how my five year old puts it when she can’t play on her own) or I couldn’t come up with a killer idea of my own, then I don’t deserve to be a published author. Creative writing is just that. You create. You can’t steal, copy or ‘borrow’. People keep telling me that every story has already been written. Every idea has already been thought of and used. They’re right. But it’s the unique spin you put on your story that makes it yours. It all starts with an idea but it takes your voice and your emotions and your experiences to turn that idea into your story. Own it. Create it. Write it. Nuff said =)
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I’m going to once again apologise for what is surely to be a rambling post about me *grin*. I can hear that song in the background... "You're so vaaaiiiin, I bet you think this song is about you, don't you, don't you?"
I was visiting the blog of one of my good friends this morning, a debut author with Noble Romance Publishing, Tamara Gill (hit her name to see the blog post), and it hit me that I’ve never really told anyone how I came about this mad journey to be published. In the absence of a better idea today, I’ll tell you all about it (and apologise if I have told you but can't remember)... Like Tamara, I didn’t start writing in primary school, scribbling in the backs of journals or whatever, hell I only just passed English and that was only because I had a teacher who was an insane cat lover. Write a story about a cat and you got an automatic A which balanced out the F’s and U’s I got for PE (no athletes in me waiting to break out). But I was a reader. I have always been interested in any and every book I could get my hands on. In the years after my cat loving teacher, I would get so frustrated with reading out loud. I always wanted to fly ahead and see what happened next. This I got from my mum. I can read a book in a day and then still pick up the sequel and stay up till the early hours of the morning lost in someone else’s world. I remember mum hiding them when she heard dad’s car pull in the driveway. We had Mills & Boons all through the house, under couch cushions, in the utensil draw. You get the picture. So when I was about 19, I got a job working in a security control centre. Sometimes it got so boring and with nothing else to do, I would read. A lot! When I got transferred to Patrols, hours would go by in the small hours of the morning without one phone call or break in so we would watch movies, play Playstation, read books, whatever it took to stay awake (it was a great job, really, I loved it!) Anyway, one night I finished a book that had such a crap, anti-climactic ending that I threw it down in frustration wondering why I wasted money on it. And then the lightbulb moment came that I could do better. Every budding writer thinks they can do better, don’t they? ‘It’ll be easy, if they can do it crap, why can’t I do it awesome?’. WRONG! Not that I can’t do it better (I still think I can in some instances) but wrong that it’s easy. I started penning my first book back when I was 20-21 and now I’m 28, I’ve had one short story published and that’s it. I take away the time I was pregnant since I couldn’t write my way out of a paper bag when I was full of hormones (I was a crier) so take four years (pregnant with two and then feeding and sleepless nights) and that leaves me with about three to four years of getting serious, joining writing groups and organisations like SARA, RWAus and various critique groups. So where am I now? Consider before I answer that most published authors I speak to say it took them on average eight to ten years to get a contract. I have a full and a partial (three chapters) on the desk of a New York Editor as we speak. I have a partial on the desk of a UK editor. I have two contest finals under my belt, a short story and other small accomplishments. But I’ve written about five full stories (the first one is soooo bad, I’m going to start again from scratch with just the idea) a few shorts and heaps of beginnings yet I’m still chasing the dream. Hopefully it won’t take me another six years but I’ll keep chasing. I couldn’t imagine any other career that would keep me as happy and as satisfied as being an author. (Other than mum of course =) nothing can beat that!) I thank my lucky stars everyday that I live in a country like Australia but, like every other country, we are at the mercy of the elements be they snow, fires, storms, hail, blinding heat or monsoon floods. Unfortunately Mother Nature made herself known in the state of Queensland where record rains, an already wet ground and an over capacity dam has wreaked havoc across an area larger than Texas. 75% of the state is now either under water or has been affected in some way. Lives have been lost, houses ripped from their foundations in what people are calling an inland tsunami and thousands displaced.
Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, summed it up perfectly when she said the floods would break our hearts but wouldn’t break our spirits. The Aussie way of life is shining through in the millions of dollars donated so far to those affected. It doesn’t matter that we’re all strangers, in other states or other countries, we all give what we can when we can. This isn’t the first time our little country has faced tragedy on this scale. It’s not something you can ever get used too but we are pretty good at banding together in the after-mass. In saying all of this, if you can donate in anyway (cash is preferable but I know not everyone can help this way) every little bit counts and is hugely appreciated by Australia as a whole not just those who tonight don’t have homes to sleep in or the arms of their loved ones around them. If you would like to help, I have posted a few links down the page you can follow wherever you are in the world. I will keep updating these links as they come to light. Thanks in advance for your generosity. Bronwyn. If you've been living under a rock or in another country *g* please go to - ABC News for up to the minute updates. If you have toys, children’s clothing or nursery Manchester go to - www.qldytoyappeal.com.au If you live in New York City you can still help by going to - http://www.theaustraliannyc.com If you would like to donate books for rebuilding libraries and replenishing school stocks, you can find the info on either of my Facebook pages - Bronwyn Stuart Bronwyn Stuart Fan Page The Australian Red Cross has agreed to manage the distribution of the donated funds on behalf of the Queensland Government. All donations of $2.00 or more to the appeal will be tax deductable (for Australian residents). Donate over the phone: To make a donation using your credit card, call 1800 219 028 or visit www.qld.gov.au/floods. Donate at a bank: Donations can be made at any Queensland branch of The Bank of Queensland, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ, NAB or Suncorp. Advise the bank that you want to make a donation to the Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal. Donate online: You will need to have internet banking set up with your financial institution. The account details for donations are:
If you would like a receipt for tax purposes, please forward a request, with proof of donation to: Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal C/O Department of the Premier and Cabinet PO Box 15185 City East QLD 4002 Send a cheque in the mail: You are welcome to post a cheque donation – please do not send cash. Cheques should be made payable to: The Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal ABN: 69 689 161 916 Cheques should be posted to: Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal C/O Department of the Premier and Cabinet PO Box 15185 City East QLD 4002 First, Happy New Year to you and yours from me and mine! I had a great end to 2010 slash beginning of 2011 when I received an email notification that I finaled in Southern Magic's Linda Howard Award of Excellence. Yep!!! My second official final and I couldn't be more buzzed. What's even more exciting is that the final judge already has one of my manuscripts on her desk from conference pitching in Sydney. All I want to do is start the year happy dancing but keeping everything crossed at the same time that this will be it for me! Yep, getting ahead of myself once again but who wouldn't? And can you picture that dance? Something like a crab shuffle =) So are you on the contest band wagon, non-believer, published because of or totally against? Me, I'm still on the fence since the number of contest entries V finals V wins doesn't even begin to even out... My friend had a great idea that I should start a seperate page to blow my own horn (that's not exactly how she put it and thanks to Cheryl for the suggestion) so that's what I'm going to do. Tomorrow. Tonight it's the last read of the finaling MS and that bloody synopsis. Wish me luck! In Australia we don't have Thanksgiving or anything like it, Christmas is our big one for the year (besides Easter) but I wanted to share some of the things I'm thankful for at the end of a full on year...
The first on the list is my family and friends. Obviously! To my man who doesn't complain too much when the dishes aren't done or his clothes aren't clean because I've been writing (or playing scrabble - working on my vocabulary). To my kids who put up with being shushed every five minutes when they interrupt the zone. To my friends who offer to look after the kids for a few hours so I can work. To Kelly and Alexis who so far this year have bought me a Glee soundtrack (I love Glee) and Debra Dixon's GMC (I love you guys). To SARA for being there when I need a whinge or advice or editing help and for getting me out of the house once a month for ten months of the year. To the various loops I'm on for helping me out of tight jams and answering questions I need answered yesterday. I'm thankful also for you. Thanks so much for following my ramblings for another year, for leaving comments and playing along. Thanks to Rob who would never log onto a romance blog but does so because he believes in me. Thank you to my new friends made through Harlequin's contest, hopefully in the new year we'll all have occasion to celebrate =) From mine to yours, have a Merry Christmas!!! I woke up this morning (at 6am, yuck!) and was stuck wondering what makes some people so hideously festy at Christmas? Is it the tight-asses who don't want to part with their money to buy someone they love a thoughtful gift? Is it the bean counters among us who've already calculated how many months they'll have to pay weekly installments on the credit card? And if it isn't the monetary worries, is it those people who think wearing a silly hat or costume at Christmas is dorky? stupid? or just plain dumb? For those of us who aren't in it for the religious reasons (I've got nothing against you, I'm just a good 'ol fence sitter) do you love Christmas or hate it? I happen to lurve it! Right down to the last decoration on the tree, to seeing my beautiful kid's smiling faces, to spending time with both of my families, relaxing, laughing, drinking. I love Christmas! In Australia we don't have anything really besides Easter and even then most people go away or live for four days in chocolate induced comas.
So I work nights in a large retail store (small department store for my American friends) and we get red t-shirts to wear instead of the standard and they say Santa's Little Helper on them. Of course I'm going to wear an elf hat! I am the helper of the jolly fat man! This Thursday marks the start of a dress up week where we have to dress like toys so fairies, Toy Story, Bananas in Pajamas, etc. Last time we did it, I went as Bob The Builder's Wendy and as stupid as I looked (and I looked really, really, really stupid) it was a great laugh. This time I'm thinking about going as a fairy and dancing around the store for five hours, handing out candy canes to the kids. Why? I know I look stupid, I know the teenagers are tittering (not that they'd know the meaning of the word) but who cares? The kids eat it right up and that's what Christmas is about for me. Keeping the dream alive so I can use the threat of 'Santa doesn't visit naughty girls'. So I can put a smile on a kids face and a lolly in their mouth so mum can finish doing her last minute pick ups without all the screaming and yelling. This is why I wait all year for only two days off. It's why I start shopping in February and want to put the tree up before it's December. It's because inside all of us, if you look really hard, a child still lingers and he or she just wants to have fun... The question is, are you festy? or do you like to go all out and have fun? Are you in it for the religion, the kids, the presents? I want to know So, we've all had that conversation where someone says, "Oh, so you're a writer/author?" (At this stage, they're wearing a semi interested face.)
You reply, "Yep!" with a big smiley face in return =D "What do you write?" "Romance." "Oooh. Really? Like smutty, trashy, sex stuff? (Paraphrasing) Really?" Followed by the laugh that really says, "Are you freakin kidding me? Why the hell would you want to do that?" This conversation comes up a lot for me and while I was blog surfing, staying up to date with stuff here and there, I came across Angela James of Carina Press answering the question and saying it in more ladylike language than I would have... 'If you had to reach out to someone who’d never read a romance, what would you tell them about Carina and romance books in general? Are you a mom, a wife, an employee, a daughter? Is your hair red, blonde, brunette or gray? Are you the oldest child, the middle child or the youngest child? Are you stick thin, pleasantly plump or struggling with those extra pounds? Are you young, middle-aged or in your twilight years? Tell me…have you ever been stereotyped or pigeon-holed based on those things, without anyone having gotten to know who you are, maybe without them ever having even spoken to you? How much do you hate it that people do that? Now, be honest, why haven’t you ever tried a romance? Because you’ve heard/thought/believed they’re…fill in the blank? Give your beliefs a basis in fact and try one for yourself. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised at what you find when you think beyond the stereotypes. Strong heroines, compelling stories, complex relationships (and yes, sometimes hot sex too). Try a romance today and get hooked on the adventure.' Link for the full GeekMom interview with Angela James is here. Love it! What a well done way to get your point across and still encourage people to pick up a romance today! Don't ever be ashamed about what or who you are just because someone doesn't understand! The people who laugh or turn their nose up when you say you are a romance author or writer are either ignorant, jealous, a dumbass who doesn't read anything at all or all of the above. I happen to love romance. I love escaping to worlds where chilvalry lives, where women can be whatever they want to be and equality exists! I love the sarcastic wit, the to and fro, the tension, the sex, the images the author puts in my head with her words. Why wouldn't I want to hop on the band wagon and share a piece of that pie? With that thought, happy Thanksgiving to my US peeps, have a great weekend to everyone else and enjoy whatever it is you do! My life this week has been full of the word ‘thousand’. One thousand words here for that contest, one thousand points here for that game, and one thousand hits on my website!! There are a few others but now I’m trying to think of them, I’m coming up blank…
So for the one thousand hits on my website, THANK YOU! Without the support and interest of my friends, family and fellow writers (wow, that’s a lot of F words) I wouldn’t be the happy author I am today. I would have stumbled, fallen flat on my face (different kinds of F words) and no one would have picked me up or dusted me off or encouraged me to go on. For that, I am eternally grateful. So I’m going to have the giveaway I promised when I reached the triple zeros. The prize book is Eloisa James’ Desperate Duchesses in trade paperback size and because it’s October and Breast Cancer awareness month, I’ll also throw in a pink ribbon hard cover notebook. For every comment I get on this post, your name goes into a hat and you have a chance to win the book. As a bonus (incentive really) if the winner is from Australia, I’ll include a big (hold out your hand and stretch your fingers…that’s how big) chocolate frog from Haighs Chocolate who happen to make the best frogs ever! If you’re overseas, I have a few little bits and pieces of pretties I will send with the book. If the winner is in Australia, you can choose the flavour from milk, dark or peppermint. Sound okay? If you’re not into historical I have a couple of other books to choose from such as a signed copy of Alexis Morgan’s Darkness Unknown or Laurell K Hamilton’s Swallowing Darkness. Totally up to you! Contest closes 7th November 2010. In the meantime, I’m going to be on a drive to boost my Facebook page numbers so I’ll run a separate contest for that. The link is here. For everyone who likes the page and then likes the contest status, you’ll go into the hat for another prize. Then I’ll get one of my beautiful kids to draw the names for both contests. Right now though, I have to get back to editing Scandal’s Mistress so I can submit my baby =) Have a great weekend and good luck! So this last month I've been flogging my entry in Mills and Boon's New Voices contest and sadly didn't make it to the final 10. First, thanks to Nikki Logan who helped me out with polishing my entry until it sparkled. I won a kind of mentorship type thing with her at the Romance Writer's of Australia conference in August (through the Ovarian Cancer charity fundraiser) and it was a pleasure to work with her.
Secondly, I want to thank all of my amazing friends and family who stopped by and left a comment and voted. It's really, really awesome to know how many people support me in my endeavor to be published. Now, do I take this as a rejection? There were over 800 entries and some were really, really good. Only 10 were chosen to advance on to the next round and since I wasn't one of the 10, was I rejected? I'm not sure. I stopped to think about the thousands of submissions each line would receive every month and out of these, how many debut authors would be signed on and given a slot. Competing with how ever many authors they already have and are committed to publishing, the chances of being picked up through the contest were actually considerably higher than my slush pile chances. But I'm still not feeling rejected. I'm not sure if it's the fact that I can still submit my historical to New York, whether it's because I already have a partial on Sally Williamson's desk that I haven't heard back about yet or maybe it's that I want to write single title not necessarily category. I keep thinking that Harlequin would be a fantastic place to start out as an author and learn the craft and hone my abilities but is it what I really want? I have no freakin' idea! I'm far past the stage of subbing to anyone and everyone just to be published somewhere. I've got my three houses that I would climb over the bodies of my fallen fellow writer's to be published with and I won't stop until I achieve that goal but with the rising ebook trend and the emergence of Carina Press and other smalled publishers, am I aiming too high? Does wanting to be pubbed with Avon, Berkley or Harlequin seem like an unachievable goal? At the moment? Yes! I feel like I'm standing in Hawaii with my hands in the air waiting for it to snow. Is this how everyone feels? I reckon so! I've said it before to people who after a bad rejection or a bad result in a contest crack the shits, give up. Go home, tear up all your books, delete your files, throw out your dictionaries and never look back. Not me. Never. Everyone in my family has something they're good at, artistically speaking, and I despaired of ever finding my thing. That thing that sets me apart as a person, as a contributing member of society and as a successful individual. For me, that thing is writing a cracking good yarn! I've been at this for about six years now but I stopped along the way to have two babies, move house, change jobs and study. I figure that still leaves me about four years to reach the contract stage since most published authors I speak to took about ten years. Four years? It's not long on the bigger time line of my life. I'll be thirty-two. I've got about four complete and an unknown number of started manuscripts under my belt and more ideas than I'll be able to write in my lifetime. Can I do it? Am I close? You betcha ass I am! =) Now I'm going to turn off the internet, close all my browsers except for a Word document and I'm going to write my little heart out because this is who I am. I'm an Author! I want to know what it is about winter that makes the writer in me want to hibernate? Is it the dark cloudy days? The cold rainy nights? It shouldn't be. I'm writing dark historicals at the moment so you would think winter would help me get in the zone. Nup. Maybe it's that I changed jobs earlier this year as well as dealing with kindy drop offs and a three year old who wants to ask me every five minutes if we can pick up her sister? Whatever it was, with the emergence of the sun, I'm hoping to get my WIP finshed and start on the story that came to me in the middle of traffic the other day. I pulled off to the side of the road to jot it all down only to find that of the hundreds of pens I came home with from the conference, not one made it to my handbag or the car. So then I had to duck into Burnside Shopping Centre to buy one from Coles. The I sat in the carpark for about thirty minutes to get it all down.
My writing style includes getting the first draft of the first chapter done along with the details of the story but I had to pick the kids up from childcare and kindy and unfortunately children don't care if you're late because you were working on a love story. (That's what I tell my kids I'm doing when I'm shushing them or saying, give me one more minute) Procrastination is not my friend! Why would anyone even put that word in the English dictionary? It doesn't help anyone! So now I'm rambling but I'm in that kind of mood today. I want to be outside playing in the sunshine but I want to write as well. Every time I try to open my netbook, the kids zero in on me and pester, pester, pester. So the next two weeks of school holidays is going to be about me trying to work out a writing roster. After all, you can work with crap writing but you can't do anything with a blank page!! I can see lots more late nights in my future... |
DisclaimerI'm a published author but I'm still mostly stumbling about in the dark looking for the right paths so this blog is about that, though sometimes something will give the me the shits and I'll have a bit of a rant. I'll try not to be offensive but occasionally my mouth opens without asking my brain's permission so I'll apologise in advance. Archives
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