Often the best part of a long-awaited event is the anticipation and excitement before the actual occasion. I’m so thrilled this wasn’t the case for our writing group weekend. We had an amazing time.
Our group has been together for almost five years. In that time one has moved to Australia because of work, and another down to Christchurch. They skype into our critique meetings, and if either are in town for any reason we rearrange or add meeting dates.
Like some others of the group, I hadn’t been to Christchurch since the big earthquakes, and I was interested to see what has happened since then. There were two things that struck me. One was the feeling of space. In the city centre a huge number of buildings were completely destroyed, or so badly damaged they were dangerous. Over time the rubble and buildings have been removed and while there is now building going on there are still many empty lots, hence the feeling of space.
Christchurch is flat, so it’s always been a little difficult to get your bearings, and when we first arrived in the city I wasn’t sure where I was until we came to Cathedral Square. Suddenly everything slotted into place, and I was utterly shocked at the change. Yes, I was expecting it as I’ve read a lot about the work and changes going on and friends had told me their reactions, but nothing quite prepares you for seeing something yourself.
The other aspect you notice is the ingenuity shown by people. We often glibly say that life has to go on, and it does. You need somewhere to live and if your business premises are destroyed you still need to earn money. Much of the city centre and shops were destroyed and in their place is the Container Mall. Amazing!
Really glad to see a bookshop.
After the city centre we visited Sumner and Lyttleton, both badly damaged in the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 on our way to Diamond Harbour.
The sightseeing was both sobering as well as fascinating, and we also had an opportunity to talk with each other and catch up on news. In addition the weather was wonderful, a beautifully clear and hot Canterbury day.
This was the amazingly creative view from the house at Diamond Harbour.
Over the weekend we spent time on writing exercises and critiquing our current works in progress. As this was a weekend jaunt, we decided that everyone would have a critique rather than taking it in turn with two or three per meeting.
Our format is to email our extract (usually around 20 pages) to the group one or two weeks prior to the meeting. This means we are able to have a longer piece of work critiqued, and everyone has time to read and note comments before the meeting. However, as we were all having a critique this time, we agreed to a maximum of 5,000 words, which is still about a chapter of a WIP.
The weekend was such a success; we've decided to make it an annual event!
If you are part of a good writing group, I'd certainly recommend this kind of weekend. Here are some of the reasons why:
- We were fresher for giving and receiving feedback as we hadn't just finished work and struggled through commuter traffic.
- We did some writing exercises rather than working on current stuff which gave us a different creative outlet.
- It was great to be able to talk about books, writing, publishing, marketing etc. without the other person's eyes glazing over within 30 seconds!
Next time we may decide to have it as more of a retreat with time for working on our own manuscripts, but whatever format it takes, I'm already looking forward to it.
Today I'm flying down to Christchurch, which in itself makes it an exciting occasion, but the reason for the trip is that I'm spending the next four days with the other members of my writing group. We've been planning our own writing retreat/getaway for some time and it's finally arrived.
As a group we met about five years ago when we joined a writing class run by John Cranna of The Creative Hub. John founded the AUT University Centre for Modern Writing and designed the Masters Level writing course. I'd been considering applying for this course when in 2010 I discovered John had founded The Creative Hub and one of his initial courses was an advanced writing course. I applied to join and after submitting some of my writing, and then an interview with John I was on the course.
We met at the Michael King Writers Centre in Devonport each week for a year. It's a great place to meet with fabulous views over the Hauraki Gulf. John ran the meetings, but we also had some great workshops on specialist subjects by New Zealand writers and publishers.
Some of the notable ones for me was one on dialogue by Roger Hall and an absolute standout by Judith White.
Judith's topic was
writing with emotion without it turning into sentimentality or
melodrama, and as usual there was a writing exercise to do with the topic. There are a huge range of emotions we could have
chosen, but we all wrote about sadness on some level. At the end of each workshop we would share our writing and this one was no
exception. It says much about the belief and trust we had in each other
that we all shared what we had written even though it was very emotional. I
don't think I've ever seen John so worried as he was when he returned towards the end of the workshop and saw that most of us had been crying.
The thing that made the course so special for me were the other eight participants. We write in different styles and genres, but as individuals and a critique group they are incredibly supportive and always give insightful and constructive feedback. Almost five years after that course, we're still together as a writing group and looking forward to spending time together.
In my last post I mentioned some of the great things about reading and writing short stories, with special mention of the new Awesome Indies anthology.
One of the authors appearing in the anthology is Amy Spahn with a beautiful story called The Cost of Hope. On her blog, Amy has a great post titled 5 Things Short Stories Can Do that Novels Can't.
It's an interesting and insightful post in which Amy uses some of the stories from the anthology to illustrate her points. I'm thrilled she used Recipe for a Dinner Party as one of the examples. Head over to Amy's blog for some great reading.
And just a reminder that my new novel Still Death launches tomorrow (8th November) at the super-low price of $0.99 for the launch (it will be $2.99 post-launch). You can pre-order/buy it from the following retailers.
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Apple Store
Smashwords
Kobo Books
It's an exciting time right now. In addition to the launch of my latest novel Still Death, I have a short story that's been accepted for inclusion in the Awesome Indies Anthology - Awesome Allshorts: Last Days, Lost Ways.
I am thrilled to be included in such stellar company.
I like reading short stories, and I'm pleased that since the advent of eReaders there seems to be more collections of short stories available.
Reasons to read short stories
I love the intense nature of a short story and the way it gives you a glimpse into a different life. It's like a short conversation with a stranger that leaves you changed in some way. I find some short stories leave me thinking more about a character, their choices and their life, than a novel simply because there is less said and more implied.
In our busy world we can sometimes think we don't have time to read and that's a huge shame, but a short story can be read and absorbed during a train or bus trip to work, or during our lunch break. It takes us away from the humdrum and gives us a different perspective on our world.
Reasons to write short stories
Because of their brevity, you have to make every word count, especially in flash fiction where you may have as little as 100 words to tell a story. This means choosing exactly the right word, and/or exploring the possibilities and using a word that can offer different meanings and images but which still fit with the character.
Short stories offer a writer the opportunity to experiment: perhaps with different narrative structures or a tense that may be difficult to carry through an entire novel, both for the writer and the reader.
A short story is much more than an anecdote or joke, like a novel, it shows a character at a moment of emotion and change, and the stories in Last Days, Lost Ways do exactly that.
This weekend Awesome Indies launches their new website with a great sale - over 70 books by brilliant indie authors in a variety of genres, and a competition to win a Kindle Paperwhite.
This is the link to the new website and this will take you to the sales page.
As part of the launch I have two books in the sale - Lies of the Dead and Lives Interrupted. They are both reduced from $2.99 to $0.99 for this weekend.
Lies of the Dead is a crime/mystery story set in Cornwall.
Liam Trethowan disappears in circumstances which the police accept as a suicide. However, Liam's older brother Tom can't accept that the charismatic Liam would ever kill himself. His sister Andi had a stormier relationship with Liam, but finds herself drawn into the hunt for what really happened. This search leads them into a criminal world they're not prepared for, and when Andi and her twin daughters are caught in a dangerous showdown, Tom realises his search for the truth may have too high a price.
Lies of the Dead can be purchased from Amazon for $0.99 this weekend.
Here are some reviews for Lies of the Dead.
This book grabbed my attention from the get go and didn't ease up until
the very end. The characters are well developed, and very real. I
thoroughly enjoyed this read, and based on this novel, would highly
recommend Shauna Bickley's books. I award a strong 5 out of 5 stars to
Lies of The Dead. - Awesome Indies
Bickley paints
ordinary people in extraordinary situations and does it well. Lies of
the Dead is a very human mystery/thriller. Loved every moment of this
novel. - Rabid Readers Reviews
This was a fast paced novel that kept me engaged through out. It would even be a good movie. - Clue Reviews
Lives Interrupted is a contemporary drama set in London. It tells the story of a group of people living and working in the city, and how their lives interweave before and after a bomb explosion on the underground. They all experience the bombing and aftermath in different ways but none of them are left unscathed.
Lives Interrupted can be purchased from Amazon for $0.99 this weekend.
This is a powerfully written story of seven lives intertwined, and the
effect that the London Underground bombings had on them. It's a
challenging feat to handle an ensemble cast like this, but the author
presents each character's viewpoint in a clear and compelling way so
that the threads are easy to follow from scene to scene - Bev Robitai, novelist
Don't forget to check out the new Awesome Indies site and find some great reading bargains.
