Books

Three reasons why your writing goals should be elastic and your imagination free

/ HM Waugh / 5 Comments

pablo (1).pngI love to treat my goals a little like my plotting. Give them freedom, and watch them grow and mutate into something better (preferably with superpowers or rainbow hair).

I feel the point of a writing goal is to give yourself a basic framework so you ACTUALLY START WRITING and then you can feel free to escape on the tail of whichever idea takes you.

Remember that little goal I set myself for January? Janowrimo? Newsflash – I didn’t make my 50,000 words (I wrote 35,000). And I’m not disappointed in the slightest. In fact, I’m totally stoked with what I achieved!

So, why shouldn’t you mind if you don’t achieve your writing goals?

1) You got in there and wrote! *celebrate!*

Okay, so when I’m suggesting you didn’t achieve a goal, I’m presuming it still inspired you to write and connect and plot and create. If you wanted to write 50,000 words and you managed 400 before giving up and turning the tele on, your goal clearly hasn’t worked at all. Go find yourself a more awesome goal. Continue reading →

AWW 2017 roundup and 2018 launch!

/ HM Waugh / 5 Comments

AWW-2018-badge-rose.jpgWith all good 2018’s comes a #AWW2018 challenge!

Challenge accepted!!

I’ve signed up for more of the same, please – read at least 10 books by Australian Women Writers and review at least six of these.

Piece of awesomesauce cake!

Looking back on #AWW2017 I did pretty well considering I was undertaking the hardest year of post grad study in the known universe (or so I thought…).

Here are the links to my reviews from last year – some fabulous reads from excellent Aussie authors:

A sequel that lived up to my ultra-excited expectations – ‘Gemina’

A great read for younger fans of fantasy – ‘Eve and the Runaway Unicorn’

Answer the call – ‘The Shark Caller’

Ponies + Mermaids = Gold… ‘Lulu Bell and the Birthday Unicorn’

Entertaining and heart-warming – ‘The Memory Shed’

A super start to a defo non-fairytale fairy series: ‘Valentine’

Recommended reading for all teen girls – ‘Risk’

Fun and daring make for an ideal combo – ‘To the Lighthouse’

Superb book-hug: ‘Take Three Girls’

And even though she’s technically a kiwi (heck, so am I sort of) I’ll add in the wonderful A total YA package – the clever and crisp ‘Spark’

 

Have you taken up the challenge? Join us!

Janowrimo – the busy writer’s solution to a hectic November!

/ HM Waugh / 10 Comments
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I spent Christmas holidays on Rottnest Island – glorious!

There’s so much going on at the back end of a year. Study, end-of-school stuff, holiday prep… rush, pack, buy, wrap, plan…

Sometimes, November just doesn’t feel like the best month to decide to write 50,000 words (Even though I do love Nanowrimo!!)

So I’ll share a little thing I like to do. I call it Janowrimo.

I mean, wow, how inventive am I??

I sit down and write 50,000 words in January. It’s a marvelous month where Christmas is over, school hasn’t started yet, and that heavy headdress of end-of-year strain has been replaced by a marshmallow-and-rainbows sort of freedom from whence springs great writing.

Last year, I didn’t manage to do Nanowrimo at all because of study commitments, so my 2018 Janowrimo is twice as important. I’m breaking with tradition this Janowrimo, and NOT (shock! horror!) aiming to write a single MS over the entire month. The first thing I’m aiming for this month is a chapter book involving some splendid gardening and unlikely friendships.

Wish me luck! Maybe even join with me?

Back on board… the keyboard that is!

/ HM Waugh / 3 Comments

Uni is over. And I don’t just mean the semester. Or the year.

I mean The Whole Thing! 

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I’ve spent this year getting a Grad Dip in secondary teaching, and last Friday I finished my final prac! Done, over, ended, complete, passed it (aced it!). I’m so proud of myself.

And… I can be a writer again. Because, believe me, much as I love it… writing had to take a back seat this year. And when I say back seat, I mean eventually it got thrown off the bus and had to walk home.

Through a freak hail storm.

Without even a hat.

And then some dude drove past too fast through a puddle and my writing got oily grit all over it…

 

Anyways… I’ve got some fab storylines in the back of my brain, and a crisp and up-to-date idea of how high schools operate these days.

As well as TIME (so vital!).

So, keyboard, brace yourself…!

How to take critiques without crying – 5 steps to awesome

/ HM Waugh / 6 Comments
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Made by me using pablo…

Critiques and beta readers… they’re how our craft gets richer, our writing more fab-tabulous, and our manuscripts closer to published. But do we all know how to accept the feedback when it comes?

I didn’t.

I think I’m better now. I’ve taken a crash course in how to receive feedback. Here are my top five tips:

1. Take it and nod

Seriously people. Someone’s just taken the time to read your work and give you feedback. That’s huge. So maybe the feedback isn’t what you wanted to hear…? Continue reading →

Totally, woefully lax… but I have an excuse!

/ HM Waugh / Leave a comment
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made by me, using pablo :o)

I know. I used to be posting every week and browsing through all your awesome posts. And then suddenly… nothing.

It’s like I walked off the edge of a cliff or sailed for Mars or something. Fear not… I’m still here, and I’m still sitting at the same desk. Just doing different stuff.

You see, I blog about books I’ve read…

…and writing I’ve done.

And basically, the only books I’ve read this past month are textbooks (and you don’t want me to blog about those)…

…and apart from a few stolen moments, the only writing I’ve done is academic.

(And trust me, you don’t want that either!)

So this is me, checking in, giving you all a high five because you’re all fabulous, and then logging back out to finish my current uni assignment.

Because if I don’t, this blog will morph into procrastination, and we don’t want that, do we!

Take care awesome people!

I’m on! 2017 Australian Women Writers Challenge accepted!

/ HM Waugh / 2 Comments

AWW2017-badge.jpg I’ve signed up for the 2017 Australian Women Writers Challenge!

The challenge I’ve set myself for this year (apparently it’s called  the Franklin…) is:

  • Read ten books by Australian women
  • Review at least six of these and link the reviews back to the AWW2017 site.

Of course, I’ll be reviewing in the Children’s Books area, which should be a joy because we have so many awesome women writers making awesome books for kids and young adults.

In fact, I just read one today :o).

How times have changed…

/ HM Waugh / 2 Comments
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Made by me using pablo…

Back in 1910, this was how children’s books rolled. It’s one of my favourite quotes from one of my favourite series as a child – the famous Billabong books by Mary Grant Bruce.

I can just imagine turning up to my critique group with a sentence like this in a middle-grade manuscript… I don’t think they’d laugh me out of the house, but only because they have excellent self-control. And yet I spent hours dreaming of riding horses on a cattle farm in outback Australia because of these books!

The power of words, be they strange or familiar…

Recently someone was telling me how historical kidlit fiction should use modern language to avoid alienating the readership. I’m not so sure. There was something about Bruce’s writing that immersed me in her time.

However, I draw the line at anything like the quote above…!