OhMyGod – Feedback....

One of my Blog visitors – another writer – has said that what they liked best was the writing on the Tony Backhouse Gospel singing workshop and that she found the small process note on researching for a week and then writing one page of novel the most boring (this person by-the-way teaches in the creative writing program at Melbourne Uni) So.. I explained that I thought the magical writing the novel process is often mythologised and I wanted to have an opportunity for students etc to grasp that it can often be a hard boring slog that if one is to succeed at one simply must proceed with the everyday foundation work – that it is like a beautiful cool change after three hot days when beautiful inspiration strikes but that those days can be few and far between and that despite this we simply have to keep at it – I nod here to my friends Michael and Rohana (and their two young children) whose whole family is like a little writing factory. I took a leaf out of their book by deciding to send out at least one piece of writing a week – so the week before last I sent three poems off to a writing competition and last week I sent 10 pages of the novel off to an agent to see if she thought it was sellable here and internationally. My feedbacker also found Margo and Catherine's Blogs a bit pedestrian, which I found a bit harsh, because as writers of children's and young adult fiction I think both Margo and Catherine document incredibly well what that can entail these days – stacks of readings and conference presentations – and actually presenting the visible presence of the writer as well as the writing. I also recently heard an editor from Allen & Unwin (Margo's publisher) speaking about how important this was as an integral part of the selling process these days. Also I think Margo's recent tours of the US and New Zealand (and her Blog Tour) were far from pedestrian. So here's one little fan standing on the bank and waving and wishing you all well. Yes, I also think that as a writer then ultimately the writing is the thing, but in the meantime, if you're up to it, the rest of it can also be expected from a writer these days. Go well

LW.