Launch of ‘Mirrors – The Writing Workshop Anthology’

MIRRORSThere’s nothing quite like the excitement and buzz that surrounds the launch of a book.

The hard work is done.

The clumps of hair you ripped out in despair have grown back.

Your friends and family are here and are incredibly proud of you even before the alcoholic punch.

And the Luminary is ready to press PUBLISH and shoot you into the world of the PUBLISHED AUTHOR.

Authors

Authors

Adrienne Sims, the Service Unit Manager of the WEA, graciously launched Mirrors – The Writing Workshop Anthology. In recognition of the authors’ fine achievements Adrienne presented congratulatory certificates.

Adrienne Sims launching 'Mirrors'

Adrienne Sims launching ‘Mirrors’

Sue Masens read her bittersweet story A Ship of Dreams included in Mirrors. The backdrop was her old photo of the ship that sparked the memoir.

Sue Masens

Sue Masens

Congratulations to all the authors included in Mirrors. It’s a fine achievement and a worthy contribution to the world of literature.

Treat yourself to Mirrors – The Writing Workshop Anthology for only $1 from Amazon.com. Purchase here.

Check out Margaret Jackson’s wonderful blog ‘Marg’s Slices of Life’ for more about the launch.

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Friday Fictioneers – 11th April

Every Friday writers from around the world contribute 100 word stories prompted by a photograph supplied by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields to Friday Fictioneers. Everyone is welcome to contribute and we love comments on our stories.

copyright - DLovering

copyright – D Lovering

To honour the English Queen

Mayor Fernandez suggested a maypole to honour the English Queen travelling through their tiny village on the way to Madrid.

The women excitedly cut their brightest shawls and dresses into strips. The men felled the straightest trunk in the sparse wood.

The morning of the Queen’s visit they cemented the trunk into the middle of the road and hooked the streamers to the top. That’s when the villagers discovered there weren’t enough streamers for everyone.

By the time the Queen arrived the villagers were still fighting in the dust, and a crooked pole hung with shredded rags blocked her passage.

Posted in Short stories | Tagged , | 46 Comments

E-Book Launch

Mirrors The Cover

Mirrors
The Cover

The long awaited collection, Mirrors, will be published tomorrow night!

The authors have put up their feet now, and so can you while you enjoy the read. Here’s a taste of what you’ll find inside the cover.

Mirrors is an anthology of short stories, creative non-fiction and poetry from nine Australian writers. Set in cities, suburbia, and the Far North these authors explore the desires, the humours and the sorrows of life.

Each story is the shard of a mirror that reflects the lives of the ordinary people in extraordinary ways. A man exposes his desire for celebrity and greatness. A girl discovers a dragon in her backyard. A one-way mirror reveals a horror no mother should ever witness. Borrasca is an exotic and flamboyant woman but her true identity is shrouded in dark secrecy. The unlikely friendship between a Chinese gardener and a young girl ignites a mining town.

Mirrors is a collection of writing that captures our humanity and reflects it back at us.

You won’t get a better read for only $0.99! Check out Amazon by the end of the week.

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Friday Fictioneers – March 21

Every Friday writers from around the world contribute 100 word stories prompted by a photograph supplied by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields to Friday Fictioneers. Everyone is welcome to contribute and we love comments on our stories.

Copyright - Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Copyright – Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Letters from Abroad

My sister’s letters home to Australia said nothing of a condemned building, a clapped out elevator, paint peeling walls and six flights of stairs reeking of urine.

Instead her letters told of a penthouse with views of the Seine, the breakthrough singing role, the riotous applause of her debut.

Gran constantly asked her for a programme. Mum begged for publicity shots of her Opera Star Daughter to wave like Dior perfume under the nose of her customers. I’m expected to bring back these sacred artefacts they have never received.

No doubt my sister will be very surprised to see me.

Posted in Short stories | Tagged , , , , | 56 Comments

Friday Fictioneers – March 14

Every Friday writers from around the world contribute 100 word stories prompted by a photograph supplied by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields to Friday Fictioneers. Everyone is welcome to contribute and we love comments on our stories.

Copyright - Adam Ickes

Copyright – Adam Ickes

The Straight and Narrow

My husband terminated our marriage through the back window of a taxi. The engine was running and the meter ticked over wastefully.

Our conversation follows, verbatim.

‘Sorry, but you’re so boring,’ he says.

‘I can be unpredictable.’

‘I’ve just dumped you, but you still came out to wave me off.’

‘Wait. I’ll go inside.’

I keep to the concrete path that symmetrically bisects our lawn.

‘You can’t even walk on the grass,’ he yells.

I falter. I’d cut every blade of that couch yesterday with my shears. His request is unreasonable.

I turn to tell him but the taxi pulls away.

Posted in Short stories | Tagged , , , | 50 Comments

Field of Flowers Award

field-of-flowers-award

Zainab Javid kindly nominated me for this award. Thank you so much, Zainab. I’m very honoured.

I’ve been following Zainab’s blog for a few months. It’s a delight. Her photographs and drawings are exquisite. On the top of her homepage is one of the most beautiful portraits I’ve ever seen. Zainab writes thoughtfully and straight from the heart about life, her travels, in her fiction and bringing up her son. You can share the pleasure by checking in at her blog http://zainabjavid.wordpress.com/

I’ve nominated 7 blogs in which the personality of the blogger radiates through. Although I don’t know most of them personally when one of their posts comes into my reader it feels like a message from a friend. Let me introduce you to them so you can have the pleasure of visiting them, too.

1. Jessie @ jessieansons.com : Jessie writes about life with joy and vigour. She questions every and any fascinating topic. She sees life’s irony and humour and often makes me laugh out loud.

2. Shona @ shonasim.wordpress.com : Shona’s intelligent and compassionate posts about the humanitarian work she does is inspiring. She describes her experiences so vividly I feel I’m there with her.

3. Michael @ summerstommy.com : Michael’s poetry about the intricacies of life is always sensitively written and resonates deeply with many readers. Yet he has a wonderful, and sometimes wicked, sense of humour which make his posts a real treasure.

4. Joanna and Ron @ lazuliportalswriting.wordpress.com : Joanna and Ron’s posts always move me in some way. Their fictional stories are a delight to read.

5. Dawn @ talesfromthemotherland.me : I admire Dawn’s beautiful writing, the warm honesty of her fascinating posts, and the fearlessness with which she faces the hard questions about life.

6. Dawn @ lingeringvisions.wordpress.com: Dawn’s photos are exquisite works of art. I won’t say much else; they speak beautifully for themselves.

7. Dieter @ 300stories.wordpress.com : Dieter has taken on the huge project of writing 300 stories in 300 days. He’s up to 219 and they are amazingly brilliant!

I hope the 7 nominees will accept this award. It’s a small thank you and an acknowledgement for the pleasure your blogs give me and, I’ve no doubt, many other readers.

All awards come with conditions with which to comply.

Rules of “A Field of Flowers” Award

▪Thank the blogger who nominated you
▪Place the award on your blog
▪Nominate 7 other bloggers and write a little something about why you would give these bloggers
“A Field Of Flowers”
▪Let your nominees know that you nominated them

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Mirrors – The Writing Workshop Anthology

Mirrors The Cover

Mirrors
The Cover

Remember your first time?

The first time a piece of your writing was published? How your heart tap-danced on your ribs? How you wanted to stick your chest out proudly and at the same time hide under your bed?

Remember how it felt the second time? Or the third? Doesn’t matter how many times I’ve been published I still feel that same ecstatic thrill.

It’s building up now that MIRRORS is ready to be launched. Times it by 8 other writers and that’s a lot of very excited authors.

Within the next few weeks the Writing Workshop anthology will be available on Amazon and we couldn’t be more thrilled. You just can’t see how excited because we’re under the bed.

Keep a watch for the final launch details here.

YOU’RE INVITED!

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The Land – Friday Fictioneers

Every Friday writers from around the world contribute 100 word stories prompted by a photograph supplied by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields to Friday Fictioneers. Everyone is welcome to contribute and we love comments on our stories.

Copyright - Danny Bowman

Copyright – Danny Bowman

The Land

In the beforetime people lived in a land thick with figs, sassafras, and palms. One day a young girl washing her hair in the lake saw a red stranger, his eyes flaming with desire.

She scrambled into the rainforest and hid under a curtain fig.

The man made the ground tremble to shake her out. She clung to the roots.

His red hair flamed. The canopy ignited. She cowered lower.

He opened his mouth. Molten earth spewed forth, incinerating everything: the forest, the lake, the people.

To this day nothing grows there. One rock in the shape of a crouching girl remains.

Posted in Short stories | Tagged , , , , | 56 Comments

A Fresh Look at Verbs

Verbs provide the energy and action of our sentences. They can make our writing powerful and vibrant, or flat and ordinary. Considering how important they are we often don’t give them the attention they deserve. Here’s an exercise I found, courtesy of respected author Beth Yahp, to create fresh ways of using them.

• Fold a sheet of paper in half lengthways.
• Write a list of ten nouns on one side.

Rain
Book
Fish pond
Artichoke
Cliff
Waves
Clouds
Guppys
Bruise
Cherry

• Turn over to the other column.
• Think of an occupation, eg. doctor, chef, baker, electrician. List fifteen verbs to describe the actions of that occupation.

A baker:
Prove
Knead
Cut
Bake
Sprinkle
Pour
Stir
Push
Pat
Fold
Slap
Knock
Bash
Shape
Tap

• Open the page.
• Connect the nouns from one list with random verbs from the other to see what interesting combinations you can get.
• Make sentences using the most appealing combinations.

The heavy rain kneaded their umbrella.
She watched the white clouds prove on the horizon.
The waves slapped the rocks.

It’s not recommended you make every verb unusual or unexpected. You might decide simple verbs like go, saw, came, work better for you.

What’s important is that the verbs you use are a conscious choice.

Posted in Writing | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Friday Fictioneers – 21st February

Every Friday writers from around the world contribute 100 word stories prompted by a photograph supplied by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields to Friday Fictioneers. Everyone is welcome to contribute and we love comments on our stories.

copyright - David Stewart

copyright – David Stewart

Waiting

We wait in silence for the bell. Jordan on the floor propped against our mother’s bed so he won’t accidently see her. He closed her eyes; he obviously doesn’t want her looking at him either. He’s flicking the hole in the knee of his trews.

I don’t say, stop it. I’d sound too much like her.

I’m on the stool we put beside her bed when she became feverish. I can’t look away. Her skin is as waxy as a candle. I try to hold my tears so she’ll burn quicker when they light her.

We wait for the rumble of the cart. And the bell.

Posted in Short stories | Tagged , , , | 45 Comments