Becoming A Fiction Writer
One girl, one dream … and a whole lot of procrastination
January 10, 2012 by amanda

What Amanda read in 2011

So, it’s the beginning of 2011, my fiction writing efforts have taken a big dive, and this blog has been terribly neglected – but I will get back on the horse! I’m writing a lot more at the moment (more on that to come but look at 750words.com if you need help too) and have, of course, been reading all this time. I thought the first thing to do is gather all the virtual scraps of paper where I’ve listed my 2011 reading fun and make a definitive list – I’d hate to lose the record of all these great books I’ve read and enjoyed. You’ll have seen the first twenty-odd books listed here before but I thought I’d put them all together for you … so with no further ado …

  1. Twenty-Somewhere by Kristan Hoffman – yes, my writing friend whose blog I closely follow – someone who I know I’m going to be able to say “I knew her before she was famous”. Twenty-Somewhere was also my first ever e-book, read on my new iPad. Oh – before I forget – it’s an episodic, chick-littish read, following three college friends as their lives take different paths in their twenties – lots of fun.
  2. Dexter Is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay. A totally random read for me, I found it on a summer reading list from the local ABC radio, in connection with our upcoming writers festival. A thriller featuring cannibalism, not my normal style at all, but well-written, great story, and, well, totally different! Since I’m aiming to read some different genres this year, I’m glad I read this. Don’t think I’ll go back and read the others in the series, though.
  3. The Still Point by Amy Sackville – I read most of this last year but just finished it off – a story of an Arctic misadventure and its impact a couple of generations later, and a nice enough story but I felt like I knew nearly all about it right from the start and then the book slowly told me not much.
  4. Dancing In The Moonlight by Raeanne Thayne … oh goodness me. In the spirit of expanding my genre experience, and with the thrill of downloading books on the Kindle app on my iPad, I tried a Harlequin romance novel. The reviews said stuff like “not as corny as its title” and “I didn’t even realise it was a romance novel until the end” but … these reviews were wrong. Romance genre experiment officially over.
  5. Indelible Ink by Fiona McGregor is an excellent piece of Australian literature, with the same kind of “slice of modern life” feel to it as I got from Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap. If you’re a fan of the other Aussie fiction I like, you’ll like this.
  6. In the Wake by Per Petersen, a Norwegian writer of some note. Haunting, lyrical story. Very readable and lovely.
  7. Heart Songs by Annie Proulx, since she’s coming along to the Perth Writers Festival this year. It’s a short story collection which started out all being about hunting (not really my taste) but ended up being much broader – beautifully written.
  8. The Legacy by Kirsten Tranter, a new Aussie novelist who will also be at the Perth Writers Festival. Bit of a mystery novel, bit of a typical lit fic, definitely enjoyable and nice to see a novel set partly in New York but with an Australian perspective.
  9. Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan (also coming for the Perth Writers Festival) – a novel about a Catholic priest, it had a great beginning, a great ending but for me, a bit of a so-so middle with a hefty chunk of back story that had me skipping through it to “get back to the story”.
  10. Why You Are Australian by Nikki Gemmell – a non-fiction “letter to her children” detailing her trial return to Australia for a few months, trying to decide whether she could live her again after many years as an ex-pat in London. For me, a beautiful homage to what is best about my country and why I wanted to raise a family here and not elsewhere. To the general reader who is either not Australian or hasn’t had an ex-pat life, and doesn’t have children – perhaps less of interest.
  11. Blueeyedboy by Joanne Harris of Chocolat fame, though it’s best not to think about that, because the two books couldn’t be more different – yet are both excellent. Blueeyedboy is kind of a mystery/thriller told through online fan-fiction and blog-style entries. Bizarre but excellent.
  12. Wonders of a Godless Worldby Andrew McGahan, one of my favourite Aussie writers. Every book he writes seems totally different, and this was no exception; a vaguely fantasy-style story that’s hard to explain yet a beautiful read. Perhaps my favourite of his?
  13. Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta, a re-read of this YA book I read at least a decade ago, after seeing Melina Marchetta speak at the Perth Writers Festival (ooh, just Wikipedia-ed her and discovered we share the same birthday!). Excellent novel. Vivid and honest about the life of an Aussie-born teenage daughter of immigrants in Sydney, and it says a lot about Australia and our way of life here, both good and bad. With a suitable dose of teenage angst!
  14. Baby Steps: A Bloke’s-Eye View of IVF by Jason Davis – creative non-fiction, which you may recall I decided to put on this list; a fluffy account of a slightly more important subject, but interesting to see a man’s perspective.
  15. The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan is a cross between comedy and crime, lots of fun and with a few interesting plot twists. I think it’s the first in an ongoing series, although I probably didn’t enjoy it quite enough to grab the next one.
  16. The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbins, another non-fiction (but well-written) addition to my list. Scary stuff about the pressure teenagers are under to succeed in high school and college life in the United States.
  17. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta – yes, I had to keep reading her stuff after loving Looking for Alibrandi last month. This YA novel was good, but not great – nowhere near as powerful as her debut.
  18. Surfacing by Margaret Atwood; I haven’t read any of her stuff for ages but since I’ve been following her on Twitter (she’s a real addict – @MargaretAtwood) I felt the need.
  19. The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta, again. This is her newest, and involves the same characters as Saving Francesca, but five years on (and it stands alone as a novel). Heaps better than Saving Francesca in my opinion, excellent in fact, although definitely for the older end of YA or even just for fully-grown adults like me! Great Aussie slice of life.
  20. What is Left Over, After by Natasha Lester, a local writer who I met at the Perth Writers Festival. This novel won the TAG Hungerford award and I can see why it beat mine. A million times better! It’s got a great storyline about a woman suffering from a tragic loss and much of it is set in the south-west of WA.
  21. Land’s Edge by Tim Winton – it’s a memoir, rather than a novel, but is typical Winton – quite mesmerising, especially for a fellow West Aussie like me who can picture the beaches and coastlines he’s talking about. I learnt we grew up in the same Perth suburb, and am hoping that’s a Lucky Thing!
  22. Dead Line by Stella Rimington – another in her Liz Carlyle spy series, and yes the only spy author I read – but she’s authentic! And lovely! And I saw her at the Perth Writers Festival a few years ago. I’ve even got another of hers on my to-read pile right now.
  23. Fall Girl by Toni Jordan – her second, and one I was inspired to read after seeing her at the Perth Writers Festival again. Excellent book, amazing how she got me all sympathetic to this family of con-men (and con-women), so funny with many laugh-out-loud moments and some lovely twists in the plot. Something different to everything else I’ve read lately, so very refreshing!
  24. Avoiding Mr Right by Anita Heiss. I really wanted to *love* this book, because I love the idea of it – urban Aussie chick lit with a strong Aboriginal woman as the protagonist. But unfortunately I just couldn’t get past the chick lit part. It’s just not my genre. If it’s yours, however, then this is an excellent book. If I were a chick lit lover I think the only criticism I’d have is that it reads at times like a guidebook to Melbourne cafes and pubs (not necessarily a bad thing!).
  25. Present Danger by Stella Rimington – yes, another in the Liz Carlyle series, this time caught up in the leftovers of the Northern Ireland conflict. Good but I should have left a bigger gap between reading the previous one and this – it started to all sound a bit the same.
  26. When My Husband Does the Dishes by Kerri Sackville, an Aussie blogger turned published author – this is non-fiction and hilarious, easy for any wife and mother to relate to.
  27. Belly Dancing for Beginners by Liz Byrski – a local writer – and I admit when I started this novel I thought I was not going to like it, as it seemed clearly aimed at women somewhat older than me. Fortunately I read on, and it was a delight. I love books set in Perth (so exciting to know the places!) and the characters here were so lifelike yet so interesting. A great read.
  28. Mosquito Advertising by Kate Hunter – a writer I heard about on Twitter. This is YA and fantastic – a bunch of teenagers who put together an advertising campaign and beat the big-wigs! I think there’s a second one out which I must look up.
  29. Me and Mr Booker by Cory Taylor. It came on my list via the First Tuesday Book Club. And it follows a bored teenager who has an affair with, you guessed it, Mr Booker. Loved it.
  30. Lucy Springer Gets Even by Lisa Heidke. Another writer who came to my attention on Twitter (yes, writers, it’s totally worth you being there if you’re not!). This is chick-lit and not entirely my scene but would be excellent for chick lit lovers.
  31. We Are All Made of Glue by Marina Lewycka, the third of hers and both different and similar from the first two – didn’t love it as much but still worth a read.
  32. Undertow by Nicole Lobry-de Bruin, a novel I read because Nicole was about to turn up in my advanced blogging class! (I love meeting proper published novelists!). It’s, as she said, a kind of typical coming of age novel but I thought it was beautifully written and I look forward to Nicole getting back on the novel-writing wagon.
  33. Last Summer by Kylie Ladd. Kylie’s another writer I’ve “met” on Twitter and probably my favourite of all my Twitter discoveries (people or otherwise!). Last Summer is the story of a bunch of friends and what they do when one of them dies – it’s so every day but totally perceptive and beautifully-written. This is the kind of novel I would love to publish myself. One day!
  34. Under Suspicion by The Mulgray Twins. I read this little who-dunnit entirely because I was intrigued by the idea that these twin sister wrote it (and several other books, I believe). They have lived parallel lives (as English teachers) and have lived together the whole time! I’d love to see them writing – it must be a lot of fun for them and that comes across in the book.
  35. The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do, a famous Australian comedian and refugee immigrant from Vietnam – it’s tragic and comic all at once, a quick read but a great read, and should be compulsory for all Australians who are concerned about “too many” refugees being allowed to enter Australia.
  36. The Children by Charlotte Wood – would you believe she’s another of my Twitter discoveries? In other words, another female Australian novelist, definitely my favourite kind of writer. The Children looks at a bunch of grown-up kids coming back to their hometown when their father ends up in hospital and it’s brilliant.
  37. The Taliban Shuffle by Kim Barker is non-fiction but well-written and a very interesting tale of Barker’s experiences as a journalist in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
  38. You’ll Be Sorry When I’m Dead by Marieke Hardy is non-fiction again, a memoir of sorts, a collection of essays by Hardy who is one of my personal Aussie heroes :-)
  39. My Favourite Wife by Tony Parsons is a great novel set in China, following an ex-pat family, I loved it both for the story and for the setting.
  40. Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy is, again I’m sorry, non-fiction, but it is on my list because I think every parent in the universe should read it so you will remember to breathe and let your children experience life without wrapping them up in sixty layers of cotton wool.
  41. The Naked Husband by Mark D’Urbanville is chilling. It’s the story of a man who has an affair but it’s told so frantically that I often had to stop reading it. But I had to keep going back to it. It’s hard to explain but it’s really something.
  42. The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas was one of my favourite novels the year it came out, and this year the TV series adapted from it was screened for the first time and I just had to re-read it. It’s still great although, for probably the first time in my life, I might actually say that the TV version is even better! It has a few tweaks to the plot which makes it all the more dramatic and effective.
  43. The Submerged Cathedral by Charlotte Wood, yes I have become a big Charlotte Wood fan and am gradually gathering her novels from the library. This one was beautiful though sad and features some fascinating characters.

That’s it (in so far as I can’t find any more virtual scraps of paper in my email account). You’ll see I have an increasing emphasis on female Australian novelists, which I don’t think is a terribly bad thing considering I would like to be one! Stay tuned for some more news of my fiction writing life in the near future … and do feel free to add some reading recommendations for me, or your favourite read of 2011, in the comments below.

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June 17, 2011 by amanda

A reading slump with a writing stint on the horizon

Something happened to me this past month that has not happened to me for a very long time and perhaps even ever. I just wasn’t into reading. As you’ll know I’m usually a pretty prolific reader (considering I don’t get much free time between the small boy and work and the rest of life). At first I thought it was just that I was extra tired (but no, not really), and then that the books on my pile just weren’t really that great, or at least not what I felt like reading. That’s not usually a problem for me – I read wide and varied – but I’ve just come home from the library with a bunch of books that I’m pretty sure I really, really want to read – including a couple of “easy” reads (a YA novel I’ve heard is great, for example) that I’m hoping will get me reading “properly” again, instead of just a couple of pages in bed at night before deciding I’m “too tired”.

That’s one part of my update – and I’m very keen to hear in the comments if you’ve had your own reading slump, and how you got out of it – but the other part is much more positive. I’m starting a short Creative Writing course on Monday! Through Facebook I won a competition run by the Sydney Writers Centre – using this photo to explain how I snatched some little bits of writing time (considering I won’t let the small boy watch TV yet):

… and as a consequence I got a voucher towards the cost of a course. Too good to go to waste, I thought, so I enrolled in their five-week Creative Writing Stage 2 course (online, of course – no Sydney holiday for me!). According to the course blurb it sounds like there’s quite a bit about character development, structuring and scene development, which I’m very keen to think more about. I’m also excited to be doing just a short course (not too much commitment required!) so that I’ll be doing some more regular writing and thinking about writing – I’m sure I’ll find that very motivating, much like when I took part in Sage Cohen’s Poem A Day challenge in January. So keep your fingers crossed for both my reading and writing!

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May 3, 2011 by amanda

April 2011 reading list, and how I read up a storm

First up, the quick answer to how I’ve been getting so much reading done lately: I’ve been doing a lot less writing. Sad but true, perhaps. A fellow new-ish mother commented last month that she couldn’t understand how I’d had time to read four books in a month – well, this month I’ve scarily doubled that, and one of my secrets is that I cook with a book in my other hand (and not a cook book!). It also helped this month that we had a five-day weekend with the Easter and Anzac Day holidays. But anyway, without further ado, my April reading list is as follows:

  1. The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan is a cross between comedy and crime, lots of fun and with a few interesting plot twists. I think it’s the first in an ongoing series, although I probably didn’t enjoy it quite enough to grab the next one.
  2. The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbins, another non-fiction (but well-written) addition to my list. Scary stuff about the pressure teenagers are under to succeed in high school and college life in the United States.
  3. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta – yes, I had to keep reading her stuff after loving Looking for Alibrandi last month. This YA novel was good, but not great – nowhere near as powerful as her debut.
  4. Surfacing by Margaret Atwood; I haven’t read any of her stuff for ages but since I’ve been following her on Twitter (she’s a real addict – @MargaretAtwood) I felt the need. This was very well written but a little depressing, perhaps.
  5. The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta, again. This is her newest, and involves the same characters as Saving Francesca, but five years on (and it stands alone as a novel). Heaps better than Saving Francesca in my opinion, excellent in fact, although definitely for the older end of YA or even just for fully-grown adults like me! Great Aussie slice of life.
  6. What is Left Over, After by Natasha Lester, a local writer who I met at the Perth Writers Festival. This novel won the TAG Hungerford award and I can see why it beat mine. A million times better! It’s got a great storyline about a woman suffering from a tragic loss and much of it is set in the south-west of WA.
  7. Land’s Edge by Tim Winton – it’s a memoir, rather than a novel, but is typical Winton – quite mesmerising, especially for a fellow West Aussie like me who can picture the beaches and coastlines he’s talking about. I learnt we grew up in the same Perth suburb, and am hoping that’s a Lucky Thing! My only criticism is it was a little on the short side.
  8. Dead Line by Stella Rimington – another in her Liz Carlyle spy series, and yes the only spy author I read – but she’s authentic! And lovely! And I saw her at the Perth Writers Festival a few years ago. I’ve even got another of hers on my to-read pile right now.

The Piper’s Son was excellent and was looking set to make Melina Marchetta the twice-in-a-row winner of my book of the month award but then circumstances had me picking up Natasha Lester’s book from my “read-sometime” pile (all my due-back-soon library books were at the far end of the house and I didn’t want to wake up my little boy by retrieving one). What is Left Over, After then won me over – beautiful characters, a captivating and relevant storyline and a local setting, and great writing. I’m not just saying that because Natasha might read this!

And finally, let me give you my monthly writing update. I’m hoping that voracious reading is a precursor to unstoppable writing; but I actually have made some progress, getting out my third novel idea (the one I refer to as “the Trans-Siberian one”) and doing some really detailed outlining. It seems that with each novel, my planning process gets more and more detailed and I think and hope that will lead to a better quality output! I also think it’s more necessary as I’m needing to write in short, interrupted bursts (thanks to life with the small boy) rather than the long, luxurious days of my first novel manuscript where I could easily write for a few hours at a time without even shifting the position of my bottom. (Hmm, no wonder I need so many physio visits now.) It’s early days but the planning is exciting me, and the idea of writing when I actually know what to write is exciting me too, because I’m hoping that will give me more brain space to make the writing beautiful. Fingers crossed.

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April 8, 2011 by amanda

March reading list and a Becoming A Fiction Writer update

“Hisashiburi,” as they say in Japan, “long time no see!” Let’s start with my reading list for the month just gone … during March I managed to read just four books:

  1. Blueeyedboy by Joanne Harris of Chocolat fame, though it’s best not to think about that, because the two books couldn’t be more different – yet are both excellent. Blueeyedboy is kind of a mystery/thriller told through online fan-fiction and blog-style entries. Bizarre but excellent.
  2. Wonders of a Godless Worldby Andrew McGahan, one of my favourite Aussie writers. Every book he writes seems totally different, and this was no exception; a vaguely fantasy-style story that’s hard to explain yet a beautiful read. Perhaps my favourite of his?
  3. Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta, a re-read of this YA book I read at least a decade ago, after seeing Melina Marchetta speak at the Perth Writers Festival (ooh, just Wikipedia-ed her and discovered we share the same birthday!). Excellent novel. Vivid and honest about the life of an Aussie-born teenage daughter of immigrants in Sydney, and it says a lot about Australia and our way of life here, both good and bad. With a suitable dose of teenage angst!
  4. Baby Steps: A Bloke’s-Eye View of IVF by Jason Davis – creative non-fiction, which you may recall I decided to put on this list; a fluffy account of a slightly more important subject, but interesting to see a man’s perspective.

It’s pretty close but I think I have to say that Looking for Alibrandi wins my book of the month title – as a piece of Young Adult fiction it’s pretty much perfect, I think, and the different (highly relevant) themes it raises about growing up in Australia are not only interesting but also pretty important. I’m going back now to read the rest of Melina Marchetta’s novels, because everything she said at the Perth Writers Festival just made me want to run out of the room to get her books to read (fortunately I stayed put and heard more interesting stuff!).

So, what about your fiction writing, Amanda, I hear you ask? After such a procrastination-free start to the year, my little tagline up there (One girl, one dream … and a whole lot of procrastination) has come true again. Hmm, probably I should change it! I haven’t even been happy with the Becoming A Fiction Writer website and if you’re reading this via RSS you should know that I’ve gone back to a really basic WordPress template while I think about how to redesign it (no need to click through to look!).

Without wanting to sound like a broken record, there are a few issues, the most significant one of which is time – although I met Natasha Lester at the Perth Writers Festival who is now a published author and wrote her novel (and the next one) with small children. She did say, though, that she was a real stickler for routine and wrote whenever the kids were asleep, something I also tend to do but I then write stuff that I “have to” write to pay the mortgage. Procrastination, minor illness, disorganisation, distraction, and so on and so forth, these are the other things that are stopping me. I’ll get there, I’m sure, I just need to work myself round to a smart routine and some super-high motivation and then I’ll be writing again. Stay tuned!

Oh, and if anyone has a fantastic idea for the kind of template that would just fit my blog perfectly, do tell me.

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March 15, 2011 by amanda

Meeting your writing heroes – and speaking to them!

Like many writers, I can be a bit on the shy side. Now, some of you who know me personally might think I’m telling porkies, but it’s really true. If I’m teaching or training then that’s not a problem, and I’ve certainly got a lot less shy over the years, but the one thing that had eluded me until recently was the ability to go up and talk to famous people!

I’m not talking rock stars or presidents or anyone like that, because I’m sure I still wouldn’t have the guts to talk to them, but I have finally become just a little bit better at speaking to writers – who seem more like real people than weirdo celebrities, right?!

It all began very soon after the birth of my little boy, almost a year ago. My teenage-era hero, Australian journalist Jana Wendt, was coming to Perth to launch a book and there was an event scheduled right close to me. Problem was, I would most likely still be in hospital, or be nine and a half months pregnant and waiting. But (helpfully) my little boy arrived ten days early and so when the Jana Wendt event date rolled around, I decided to go. It was my first boy-less excursion and it was rather weird, but I really wanted to make the most of it. Knowing I had to get home quick-smart after the event finished (as my little one would probably be screaming the house down by then), I raced out of the lecture hall, bought her book and was third in line at the signing table.

Not content just to get my book signed, I willed myself to be brave enough to have a conversation. I blathered about how she’d been my hero as a teenager and I’d wanted to be a journalist because of her (her answer was something like she was sorry to hear that!), and I tell you, I was immensely proud of myself. And it seems this was the beginning of a new confidence.

At the recent Perth Writers Festival, I spoke to several authors after their presentations or events (at the very tent pictured above). Carmel Bird, an Aussie writing icon, and someone whose books have been sitting on my bookshelf forever, was just a normal person who liked the name of my son. Speaking with Natasha Lester, a local first-time novelist, reinforced for me that writers are ordinary people just like me, and that means that I could actually do it too. The only hero I didn’t get to meet was Ramona Koval – you’ve heard me rave about her ABC radio programme, The Book Show, before, and I sat enthralled through her role-reversal interview, but unfortunately I had a first birthday party (for a group of babies, mine included!) to dash to – I was already an hour and a half late, since I’d decided I couldn’t bear to miss seeing Ramona LIVE! I’ll just have to keep an eye out for another opportunity there – at least I know I’m brave enough already.

So my question for you: who’s the writing hero you’d love to meet? And are you brave enough to speak to them? Let me know in the comments.

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February 28, 2011 by amanda

February reading list and book of the month

Considering how short February is and how speedily it has flashed by, I’m almost surprised that I did manage to finish a few books. This month I got through:

  1. Heart Songsby Annie Proulx
  2. The Legacyby Kirsten Tranter
  3. Be Near Meby Andrew O’Hagan
  4. Why You Are Australian by Nikki Gemmell

Now, without meaning to get boring with my theme of Australian literary fiction writers, I have to admit that my favourite book this month was Kirsten Tranter’s The Legacy. Although it didn’t strike me as particularly literary and not as “beautifully written” as Nikki Gemmell’s non-fiction work, the story was all-important here – a bit of mystery, a bit of suspense, some intriguing characters. It’s a close call though, because Gemmell’s sentimental book on a 1970s/80s Australian childhood, comparing it to raising a child here now, and musing on the culture shock of returning to Australian from Europe, obviously all hit home for me, and I consumed the entire book within a day, but still, Tranter’s interesting story won me over. I’m looking forward to hearing her speak at the Perth Writers Festival next weekend.

Coming up for the next month, I’ve got a pile of books ready to dive into, a few more related to Writers Festival visitors (I can never get through all the ones I want to between the programme announcement in January and the festival itself at the start of March) and a couple on my iPad Kindle app – classics and other genres (but not romance again. I’m totally over that idea.) What books are on your reading pile for the next month?

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February 14, 2011 by amanda

Today’s for loving libraries (easy for me)

While many of you might know today as Valentine’s Day, my husband doesn’t usually recognise this event and luckily for him, I have also discovered that it is also Library Lovers’ Day here in Australia. Since I do sincerely love libraries, that seems a reasonable substitute and instead of a big bunch of flowers I’ll be happy to have an extra half hour or so to delve into one of the numerous exciting novels I currently have on loan from my local library.

Whichever way you’re celebrating, have a terrific day, and keep an eye out this week for news on my success (or otherwise …?) with my February goal of revising my novel. As a teaser, let’s just say it’s not going quite as well as the January month of poetry did – but more later. I’m off to enjoy a good book. Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy Library Lovers’ Day!

[Thanks to Andrew Stawarz for the pic]

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January 31, 2011 by amanda

January 2011 retrospective: Poems galore and a book of the month

So, January’s about to finish and it’s time to look back on my writing and reading experience and see if I got off to a good start in my quest to become a fiction writer … a published one, that is! First up, I managed to read a few good and a couple of not so good books this month – you can always check my full 2011 reading list for details, but in summary this month I read the following:

  1. Twenty-Somewhereby Kristan Hoffman
  2. Dexter Is Deliciousby Jeff Lindsay
  3. The Still Pointby Amy Sackville
  4. Dancing In The Moonlightby Raeanne Thayne
  5. Indelible Inkby Fiona McGregor
  6. In the Wakeby Per Petersen

And the clear winner for January’s book of the month for me is Fiona McGregor’s Indelible Ink – not just because I’m being patriotic about Australian literature but because it was the most interesting novel for me, one where I enjoyed every character and wasn’t quite sure where things were headed.

As for writing, my January focus was on writing a Poem A Day as part of a community of writers undertaking the challenge together. Today is January 31, and although I haven’t yet posted my final poem in the community forum, I have drafted it, and I have 30 other poems all finished as well, so I’d say I’ve successfully completed January’s goal. Not only that, but I think my writing will have all kinds of benefits from this month of poetry writing, so many in fact that I’ll tell you about them in another post (where I’ll be brave enough to share a poem or two from my new collection of them! – most of them are very average though so don’t get your hopes up).

This month-by-month focus is definitely going to work better for me I think – my goals are in a manageable size and shape, so to speak. I’m already itching to get going on my February task of revising Kanako’s Foreigner.

How are your goals or tasks going so far in 2011? Do let me know, a problem shared is a problem halved – and we can celebrate any success together.

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January 27, 2011 by amanda

2011 Perth Writers Festival programme has me salivating

Oh, sweet darling that is the Perth Writers Festival. Honestly, I’m going to go out on a limb here and admit that pretty much nothing else gets me as excited and inspired as getting a massive overdose of writing, writers, reading, and books, and that’s what the Perth Writers Festival provides every year.

I’ve just come home from the launch of the 2011 Perth Writers Festival programme (and yes down here we do say programme, so that red squiggly line that wants me to type program can just disappear, please!), and have devoured the Festival brochure, drawn rings around the people I just must see, and even been online to reserve a few relevant novels from my local library (with major apologies to the writers, but my budget just doesn’t stretch to buying every book I want, plus my husband would kill me as books take up space, which he claims we don’t have).

You might be able to guess from my blathering and generally wobbly speech that I’m rather excited by what I’ve found and I can’t wait until the first weekend in March when this all takes place. Some time ago I already snapped up tickets for the Armistead Maupin evening (this was one of the early announcements) but now I discover I may have to sandwich Annie Proulx in before him and after a day full of some of my favourite local writers and writing personalities (oh, I even told my husband who really didn’t get it all, that dear Ramona Koval from ABC Radio’s The Book Show will be here, I adore listening to her and her podcasts have got me through many a boring dinner preparation!). And I can’t believe I really only found out tonight that Joanne Harris (yes, author of Chocolat, among others) will be here too.

For me, seeing and hearing so many writers within a few days gives me a major inspiration boost, and even just thinking about it six weeks ahead of time gets my fingers pretty itchy, too. One thing I really love about the writing world is that 99% of writers are absolutely ordinary people, and the nature of books and writing means that even most successful writers are not particularly affected by their fame (probably because not too many of them become rich because of it!), and mingling with them at a festival makes me truly believe that I can be “one of them” too. I think it must be much more daunting to want to be a famous actor or rock star, because there’s so much more hype surrounding those personalities. Thank goodness my big dream is just to become a fiction writer!

What does seeing writers “live” do for you? Let me know what you think in the comments (and tell me if I’m insane. I can take it).

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January 13, 2011 by amanda

Amanda’s 2011 reading list on Becoming A Fiction Writer

In 2010 I managed to read a so-so 44 books – I’m pretty sure that’s less than I’d read in previous years, so I’m keen to improve on that this year. Not that quantity should get in the way of quality, but I often scan a bookshop or library and think to myself that life is way, way too short to read all the books I want to, so I’d better get going!

As usual, I’ll keep adding to this reading list of books (usually fiction) I’ve read during 2011. Do leave your thoughts and comments at the bottom, or a link to your own reading list if you have one. I always like perusing other people’s lists to get some new ideas for my to-read list.

  1. Twenty-Somewhere by Kristan Hoffman – yes, my writing friend whose blog I closely follow – someone who I know I’m going to be able to say “I knew her before she was famous”. Twenty-Somewhere was also my first ever e-book, read on my new iPad. Oh – before I forget – it’s an episodic, chick-littish read, following three college friends as their lives take different paths in their twenties – lots of fun.
  2. Dexter Is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay. A totally random read for me, I found it on a summer reading list from the local ABC radio, in connection with our upcoming writers festival. A thriller featuring cannibalism, not my normal style at all, but well-written, great story, and, well, totally different! Since I’m aiming to read some different genres this year, I’m glad I read this. Don’t think I’ll go back and read the others in the series, though.
  3. The Still Point by Amy Sackville – I read most of this last year but just finished it off – a story of an Arctic misadventure and its impact a couple of generations later, and a nice enough story but I felt like I knew nearly all about it right from the start and then the book slowly told me not much.
  4. Dancing In The Moonlight by Raeanne Thayne … oh goodness me. In the spirit of expanding my genre experience, and with the thrill of downloading books on the Kindle app on my iPad, I tried a Harlequin romance novel. The reviews said stuff like “not as corny as its title” and “I didn’t even realise it was a romance novel until the end” but … these reviews were wrong. Romance genre experiment officially over.
  5. Indelible Ink by Fiona McGregor is an excellent piece of Australian literature, with the same kind of “slice of modern life” feel to it as I got from Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap. If you’re a fan of the other Aussie fiction I like, you’ll like this.
  6. In the Wake by Per Petersen, a Norwegian writer of some note. Haunting, lyrical story. Very readable and lovely.
  7. Heart Songs by Annie Proulx, since she’s coming along to the Perth Writers Festival this year. It’s a short story collection which started out all being about hunting (not really my taste) but ended up being much broader – beautifully written.
  8. The Legacy by Kirsten Tranter, a new Aussie novelist who will also be at the Perth Writers Festival. Bit of a mystery novel, bit of a typical lit fic, definitely enjoyable and nice to see a novel set partly in New York but with an Australian perspective.
  9. Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan (also coming for the Perth Writers Festival) – a novel about a Catholic priest, it had a great beginning, a great ending but for me, a bit of a so-so middle with a hefty chunk of back story that had me skipping through it to “get back to the story”.
  10. Why You Are Australian by Nikki Gemmell – a non-fiction “letter to her children” detailing her trial return to Australia for a few months, trying to decide whether she could live her again after many years as an ex-pat in London. For me, a beautiful homage to what is best about my country and why I wanted to raise a family here and not elsewhere. To the general reader who is either not Australian or hasn’t had an ex-pat life, and doesn’t have children – perhaps less of interest.
  11. Blueeyedboy by Joanne Harris of Chocolat fame, though it’s best not to think about that, because the two books couldn’t be more different – yet are both excellent. Blueeyedboy is kind of a mystery/thriller told through online fan-fiction and blog-style entries. Bizarre but excellent.
  12. Wonders of a Godless Worldby Andrew McGahan, one of my favourite Aussie writers. Every book he writes seems totally different, and this was no exception; a vaguely fantasy-style story that’s hard to explain yet a beautiful read. Perhaps my favourite of his?
  13. Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta, a re-read of this YA book I read at least a decade ago, after seeing Melina Marchetta speak at the Perth Writers Festival (ooh, just Wikipedia-ed her and discovered we share the same birthday!). Excellent novel. Vivid and honest about the life of an Aussie-born teenage daughter of immigrants in Sydney, and it says a lot about Australia and our way of life here, both good and bad. With a suitable dose of teenage angst!
  14. Baby Steps: A Bloke’s-Eye View of IVF by Jason Davis – creative non-fiction, which you may recall I decided to put on this list; a fluffy account of a slightly more important subject, but interesting to see a man’s perspective.
  15. The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam by Chris Ewan is a cross between comedy and crime, lots of fun and with a few interesting plot twists. I think it’s the first in an ongoing series, although I probably didn’t enjoy it quite enough to grab the next one.
  16. The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbins, another non-fiction (but well-written) addition to my list. Scary stuff about the pressure teenagers are under to succeed in high school and college life in the United States.
  17. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta – yes, I had to keep reading her stuff after loving Looking for Alibrandi last month. This YA novel was good, but not great – nowhere near as powerful as her debut.
  18. Surfacing by Margaret Atwood; I haven’t read any of her stuff for ages but since I’ve been following her on Twitter (she’s a real addict – @MargaretAtwood) I felt the need.
  19. The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta, again. This is her newest, and involves the same characters as Saving Francesca, but five years on (and it stands alone as a novel). Heaps better than Saving Francesca in my opinion, excellent in fact, although definitely for the older end of YA or even just for fully-grown adults like me! Great Aussie slice of life.
  20. What is Left Over, After by Natasha Lester, a local writer who I met at the Perth Writers Festival. This novel won the TAG Hungerford award and I can see why it beat mine. A million times better! It’s got a great storyline about a woman suffering from a tragic loss and much of it is set in the south-west of WA.
  21. Land’s Edge by Tim Winton – it’s a memoir, rather than a novel, but is typical Winton – quite mesmerising, especially for a fellow West Aussie like me who can picture the beaches and coastlines he’s talking about. I learnt we grew up in the same Perth suburb, and am hoping that’s a Lucky Thing!
  22. Dead Line by Stella Rimington – another in her Liz Carlyle spy series, and yes the only spy author I read – but she’s authentic! And lovely! And I saw her at the Perth Writers Festival a few years ago. I’ve even got another of hers on my to-read pile right now.
  23. Fall Girl by Toni Jordan – her second, and one I was inspired to read after seeing her at the Perth Writers Festival again. Excellent book, amazing how she got me all sympathetic to this family of con-men (and con-women), so funny with many laugh-out-loud moments and some lovely twists in the plot. Something different to everything else I’ve read lately, so very refreshing!
  24. Avoiding Mr Right by Anita Heiss. I really wanted to *love* this book, because I love the idea of it – urban Aussie chick lit with a strong Aboriginal woman as the protagonist. But unfortunately I just couldn’t get past the chick lit part. It’s just not my genre. If it’s yours, however, then this is an excellent book. If I were a chick lit lover I think the only criticism I’d have is that it reads at times like a guidebook to Melbourne cafes and pubs (not necessarily a bad thing!).
  25. Present Danger by Stella Rimington – yes, another in the Liz Carlyle series, this time caught up in the leftovers of the Northern Ireland conflict. Good but I should have left a bigger gap between reading the previous one and this – it started to all sound a bit the same.
  26. When My Husband Does the Dishes by Kerri Sackville, an Aussie blogger turned published author – this is non-fiction and hilarious, easy for any wife and mother to relate to.
  27. Belly Dancing for Beginners by Liz Byrski – a local writer – and I admit when I started this novel I thought I was not going to like it, as it seemed clearly aimed at women somewhat older than me. Fortunately I read on, and it was a delight. I love books set in Perth (so exciting to know the places!) and the characters here were so lifelike yet so interesting. A great read.

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