Tag: Writing Life

Interviews

Interview with Anne Wilkins

Pauline Shen

In this post, we’ll be hearing from the delightful Anne Wilkins, contest-winning writer of science fiction and horror, based out of New Zealand. Anne shares her experience with writing contests, anthologies, and persisting past letters of decline. Anne also opens up on the personal side of balancing writing with life events, family, and career decisions.

Anne, you’ve got heaps of writing achievements! Multiple contest awards, several runner-up spots and honorable mentions, and an ever-growing list of publications. How long have you been writing and what made you decide to enter competitions?

Oh wow, that’s so kind of you to say because I still very much feel like a beginner. I was that kid that loved creative writing in school, from primary right through to high school, but by the time I got to university there was no time for it. All I ended up doing at university was essays, most of them very boring (Land Law — I’m looking at you). Then fast forward to a career where I was a family lawyer, and I was kind of writing stories, but true ones, in affidavit form.

When I had children, I think I finally had the time and the head space to write creatively again. Most of my beginning stories were written for my children, stories about cats, fairies, witches. I realised how much I missed that creative side of my life — the joy you get from coming up with an idea, and transforming it into a story for someone to read.

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Writing

Returning to a Work-in-Progress – How to

Pauline Shen

One of my university professors used to say that he found it easier and more productive to walk away from an essay while he was mid-sentence with an unfinished paragraph on the page. His logic was that his brain would pick up the exact train of thought that he had been working with in the previous sitting so that his fingers could simply continue typing the remainder of that sentence and paragraph without much hesitation. Now, that may work for essays, but I’m not certain that it applies to writing scenes. I mean, how annoying is it to have your reading interrupted right when there’s a critical junction in the story? Or you’ve just gotten into a movie and the power cuts out? What a letdown! Creative writing is much the same; there’s some kind of bubble that bursts when disruptions occur—including when it comes time to shift attention to a more pressing task. Leaving the comfort of your home office to attend a dental appointment, for example.

Photo by Mikhail Nilov on Pexels.com
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Interviews

Interview with Galen Gower

Pauline Shen

In this post, we’re hearing from Galen Gower, writer and founder of Toad Shade Zine based in Memphis TN. Galen tells us about his creative process, shares his wisdom on incorporating feedback to develop as a creative writer, and gives us a sneak peek at an upcoming publishing venture.

Galen, you’ve started a Zine! What inspired you to launch the independent magazine, Toad Shade Zine? Tell us how it’s been going so far.

I literally decided I wanted to do a zine, bought the domain, blundered through making the website, and started sharing the submission call all in about three hours. I started out not telling anyone it was me doing it in case I really pet the rabbit with it, but it turned out pretty well.

I mentioned this in the second submission call, but the world really is full of things because people decide to do them and decide not to let fear or common sense stop them. I’ve never let not knowing what I’m doing stop me. Sometimes the results are disastrous, of course, but I’d rather go down swinging, you know?

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Interviews

Interview with S.A. McNaughton

Pauline Shen

In this post, we’ll hear from S.A. McNaughton, author of short stories and flash fiction from Ypsilanti, Michigan. McNaughton tells us how she manages her writing schedule, lists the many benefits of participating in writing contests, and tells us about the surprising social aspect of joining a community of writers.

You work a full-time administrative job while raising a preschooler at home. How do you arrange time for writing?

A very good question! It’s not easy, and it’s one of the reasons that I’ve found short fiction competitions to be a good fit for me. Many of them take place over weekends, and my very supportive husband is very good about giving me time to write.

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Interviews

Interview with Seralynn Lewis

Pauline Shen

In this blog post, we have the pleasure of hearing from Seralynn Lewis, contemporary inspirational romance author, writer of sweet & clean romance, and self-publisher based out of North Carolina. Seralynn gives us a glimpse into the process of writing a series, finding and working with an editor, and navigating the world of self-publishing.

Seralynn, you have multiple books available on Amazon. What has been the most surprising thing about self-publishing?

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Candid Talks, Nonfiction, Writing

Backing-up Your Writing

Pauline Shen

Sharing your drafts within a writer’s circle, workshop, or class can be extremely helpful to the evolution of your individual writing project as well as your development as a writer. Getting into the practice of allowing others to read your writing, receiving feedback on projects, and integrating criticisms into your revision process can make for huge progress. I’ve seen writers, however, express concern that whenever a piece of writing gets shared with a group, there’s a chance that someone may be dishonest. What I mean is that there’s a consistent fear among creatives that someone may attempt to steal work.

And I get it—you struggle to finish a draft only to keep it to yourself for the realistic dread that someone out there might be ready to nab it and plagiarize. In one peer-judged writing contest, the organizer tried to alleviate this concern by coding the webpage so that text could not be highlighted (and therefore no copy function could be used). A good attempt, but there are still other possibilities left open and every participant was well aware of that fact.

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Candid Talks, Nonfiction, Writing

Writers: Don’t Make this Mistake! Avoiding copyright issues through original wording

Pauline Shen

I remember when my family purchased our first home computer. I spent my evenings getting on the web through dial-up. Back then I would wait for what seemed like eons for websites to load. I was logging-on to chat networks long before instant messaging was a thing. If a family member needed the telephone, it meant logging-off and using the computer without internet—an impossible proposition these days. An offline PC meant playing 3D Pinball while listening to music on my radio.

Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com

The main reason my parents purchased the computer was to enrich my ability to complete homework and so I could learn about the looming technical age first hand. They knew jobs in the future would involve a computer. Pre-Y2K, this preparation meant learning how to touch-type on the keyboard. We didn’t have a fancy typing program. I simply looked for opportunities to practice. Like when you’re learning a language, it’s a good idea to seek out social situations to engage in speaking it.

Once my fingers got used to the keyboard layout, the next challenge was speed. How did I train this? While listening to tunes, I typed out the song lyrics as I heard them. It was fun! The result? I was one of few students in my secondary school who could type over 70 words per minute. My teachers used to say that it was possible to earn a few bucks on the side by typing essays and such. Great prospect—never happened.

Thanks to my parents’ foresight, in the 25 years since then I’ve placed my touch-typing skills toward a range of personal, academic, and professional endeavours. It’s a skill I use daily. Have I continued typing song lyrics? Well, no. Let’s hold on to that thought for a minute.

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Interviews

Interview with Jordan Blum

Pauline Shen

Jordan Blum, founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Bookends Review, holds an MFA in fiction and teaches composition at several colleges/universities. He’s published creative and/or scholarly pieces in several magazines, journals, and collections. Beyond that, he’s a former Features Editor at PopMatters and a past or present contributor to Grammy.com, Metal Injection, PROG, Consequence, WhatCulture, Loudwire, The Prog Report, and Kerrang! Finally, his three books (On Track: Jethro Tull, On Track: Opeth, and On Track: Dream Theater), were published by Sonicbond Publishing.

Jordan, you’re the Editor-in-Chief of The Bookends Review. What has been the most surprising thing about managing this online magazine?

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