back at work on the novel idea; I find I have to block out memories of this time last year when I was working on the novel that is now languishing in the study, having not won any prizes nor sparked any interest from publishers. I should send it off a couple more times before I declare it dead. I hope that this one is not only better but closer to what I want it to be, but I'm not sure; the motivation to persist has to come from within me, not from any confidence that this will be published, nor from the admittedly thin-yet-positive response to my short stories. The novel is Big; big ideas, big numbers of words; it can carry me away and cause me to lose perspective. so hard to see the palace when you're just a bricklayer working on an obscure but necessary back wall.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
the nice folks at Verandah have taken one of my stories for their wonderful journal - the second year running - go out and buy it now, oh, hang on, it's not out yet. Well, go and buy last year's then.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
bluebug four is a HUGE print run: 21 copies. I think that's about my limit, as far as photocopying time/costs (why does Officeworks only have one double-sided/colour copier) and compilation time go.
I'm thinking of going to the zine fest in Geelong in mid-August; will aim for two more issues before then.
meanwhile, I've just finished chopping a 60,000 word novel down into a 65-page script for a competition. I've learned quite a lot, including that when you put dialogue down on the page without the adjectives, it sometimes benefits from cuts that should have been made in the first place. now my new ambition is to win an Oscar for best screenplay.
meanwhile, uni assignments came back; it looks like I'll get an H1, which is relieving more than anything. some - not all, but some - of the other students were good
I'm thinking of going to the zine fest in Geelong in mid-August; will aim for two more issues before then.
meanwhile, I've just finished chopping a 60,000 word novel down into a 65-page script for a competition. I've learned quite a lot, including that when you put dialogue down on the page without the adjectives, it sometimes benefits from cuts that should have been made in the first place. now my new ambition is to win an Oscar for best screenplay.
meanwhile, uni assignments came back; it looks like I'll get an H1, which is relieving more than anything. some - not all, but some - of the other students were good
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
BlueBug 2 & 3 are now on the shelves for free at Sticky; only five of each. I think I've got the layout/compilation process sorted. I might even do 20 of BlueBug 4. I wonder if #1 ever got released? I gave it to someone at the Emerging Writers' Festival, but I'm not sure that it ever went out into the world.
Monday, June 19, 2006
might think about getting BlueBug back into production (can you tell I have a novel and a novella to write?); I had a list of themes and distribution methods that no doubt I'll never find again. they included: sending copies in the mail to random addresses; letterboxing just one street chosen at random from the Melways (and subtitling it: BlueBug: xyz street edition); leaving the "illness" edition in doctors' waiting rooms (tricky ethically, perhaps); leaving a pile of the food edition at the Vic Market. and so on. might go find that list.
reading someone's blog, I saw a piece about a one-page zine made up of extracts from other zines. I wonder if it'd be easier to just make BlueBug a single pager instead of trying to turn it into a "book". the zines at Sticky last night were so much slicker than BlueBug - though none, I'm pleased to say, had a handpainted blue bug on the cover. "You" zine is still going - I got my first copy maybe six years ago - I like their packaging, which varies; the ones in Sticky last night were packed in old video cases with "You" on the cover.
man, am I procrastinating or what? next I'll be blogging about what I had for lunch. time to go write something.
reading someone's blog, I saw a piece about a one-page zine made up of extracts from other zines. I wonder if it'd be easier to just make BlueBug a single pager instead of trying to turn it into a "book". the zines at Sticky last night were so much slicker than BlueBug - though none, I'm pleased to say, had a handpainted blue bug on the cover. "You" zine is still going - I got my first copy maybe six years ago - I like their packaging, which varies; the ones in Sticky last night were packed in old video cases with "You" on the cover.
man, am I procrastinating or what? next I'll be blogging about what I had for lunch. time to go write something.
a good list of online literary sites
last night I went into the city to the launch of Heat, to which I subscribe and from which I get rejection letters. it was held at a tiny zine shop called Sticky. I took in five copies of Bluebug #2, thinking I'd leave them there for free distribution. But the very tiny room was packed with people who got there before me - people who didn't have to wait for their partner to come home to childmind before they went to claim their free red wine - I couldn't hear the readings, so I sat on a milk crate outside the store reading Heat. a kind of virtual launch.
last night I went into the city to the launch of Heat, to which I subscribe and from which I get rejection letters. it was held at a tiny zine shop called Sticky. I took in five copies of Bluebug #2, thinking I'd leave them there for free distribution. But the very tiny room was packed with people who got there before me - people who didn't have to wait for their partner to come home to childmind before they went to claim their free red wine - I couldn't hear the readings, so I sat on a milk crate outside the store reading Heat. a kind of virtual launch.
