Stories at The Mosh Pit

I have written before about my Small Writing Group.  It’s interesting  that we have continued to call it the small group despite quite a few attempts to come up with a more unique name.  We have kept our numbers  small and  our writers, while diverse in writing style, genre and age group, are on a similar writing level.  We have grown and developed in our writing and in our critiquing.   It’s no longer about just punctuation and grammar but  the overview of the story  and how we can improve. We have developed a trust in each other to both tell the truth and hear the truth in a respectful way.

Two of us – Jess and I were recently invited to be on the ABC Treasure Hunters”  program.  We were asked about our group and what it was like to share our writing with others. Was it difficult?  We have learned it is essential to be able to share, but initially nerve wracking. Writing is a solitary occupation but sharing and critiquing helps enormously with our progress and our confidence.  

This brings me to our latest project.  We have organized an event  - “Stories at The Mosh Pit” which will be a live read by six of our group members and two guest readers. This gives the writers a wonderful chance to share their stories through live reading.  It will be held at a the Mosh Pit which is a popular and funky Record Store and Coffee shop at Cardiff CBD.  It is to be held on the Saturday 31st May and will start at 2pm and go to 4pm or later. There will be coffee and food available and music in between the readings.  

Anthony Skully  from the ABC 500 Word Stories is one of the guest speakers and will give a short talk on writing getting  your story published online at ABC Open. 

Karen Whitelaw is the second guest speaker.  Karen is a published author and writing tutor who teaches creative writing through the WEA. Karen has organised and guided  a number of writers from the Writers Workshop she teaches, through publishing an e-book anthology of short stories called Mirrors.  Karen will give a short talk about Mirrors and will also read one of her stories.

So if you would like to hear stories read live by local writers, please join us at the Mosh Pit on Saturday 31^st May at 2pm.

On Getting published on ABC Open 500 Word Stories

Recently I went to the Newcastle Writers Festival.  I went particularly to support fellow members of our small writers group who were live reading their stories.  One of these writers had won first prize in the short story Catchfire Press competition.  This was an amazing story and well deserving of first place in the competition. The other three writers  were to read their own stories that had been published on the ‘ABC Open 500 Word Story’  online site. 

It’s the ABC Open 500 Word story site I want to talk about today.

Run by the ABC this site is a wonderful place for budding writers to get their first ever publication of a story and after that as many more as they would like to submit. 

As it says, these stories have a limit of 500 words.  The story must be true and written in the first person. Each month there is a theme given.  Recent themes have included “Cringe” and “First Memory”. There are clear guidelines on the site regarding submissions.

The people who moderate in the Newcastle and Hunter branch are Anthony Skully and recently when Anthony was away, Bronwyn Purvis.  They are super supportive of the ABC writing community. Anthony runs workshops on how to write for the 500 Words, throughout the area and gives great encouragement to all.

I have written two stories in the last two months and they’ve both been published.  It’s a great feeling when you get the email to say your story is up on the site.  And you can then say you are a published author. A friend who has only just taken up writing and who sent in a story to “First Memory”, said waiting to hear if it was accepted was like waiting for a baby.  But just amazing and encouraging to hear it was accepted.

At the festival the ABC 500 group was the best of all the presentations I went to. There was standing room only.  A number of people read their stories which were welcomed with great delight by the audience.  Some made us laugh, some had us on the edges of our seats. All were amazing.  Bronwyn had a slide show up to match the stories and some stories were pre-recorded and played on the day. The atmosphere was wonderfully friendly and discussions later were amazing, with extra stories being told.  One reader of his stories was 97 years old!  The readers were from all walks of life.

It was the wonderful atmosphere that was the best part of that day – friendly and encouraging and happy.

So thank you ABC for providing this wonderful place for people who write, to be published and share their stories..

And to all you writers out there who would love to see your story in print  give it a go.

A Spot of Bother

A few of my writing group and I entered a story each in the ABC 500 word stories on the theme of Cringe last  month.. After reading them a friend told me her own cringe story recently and I thought I’d share it here.

This friend, I’ll call Beth, had taken advantage of the flue needle available at her workplace. Now Beth had had a narrow escape years ago when she had been diagnosed with melanoma but the Doctors managed to excise it before it became too invasive. She still has a large scar from the surgery. Consequently she regularly checks her body for signs of skin changes.

 Recently she found a black spot on her arm that she thought was dirt. She scrubbed at it for a couple of days in the shower but it seemed to be spreading a little and she couldn’t get rid of it. 

 Becoming increasingly worried – and who could blame her -  she contacted her GP whom she hadn’t seen for ages and pushed to get a quick appointment.  

 She had a brief chat with the Doctor , explaining her concerns.  The doctor examined the spot closely. 

“Hmmmm.” Said the doctor.

 “Oh God” thought Beth.

“What is it?” asked Beth. 

“Hang on a minute” said the doctor and she got a swab. 

 Beth watched in trepidation which quickly turned to a cringe when the Doctor wiped the residue left from the small band- aid that had been put on the spot where Beth had had the flue needle, days previously. The doctor laughed and Beth thanked her and left, clutching her dignity all the way home.   

Memories

Recently I submitted a story to the ABC Open 500 Word Stories in the “First Memory” theme.  There was a word limit of 500 words so the story had to be brief.  In thinking of early memories I triggered a wonderful scrap of memory that I have replayed often since. I have written it here.

Memory is a funny thing. Some memories are visual and have a story others may be a brief moment in time or a scent, or a sound.  An early memory that has been visiting me lately and is almost like a meditation, is a moment in time.  I know it happened when I was very young and I know I am sitting in a rowboat while my dad rows us along lake Macquarie. I know that.  But I see  and experience a small part of that scene.  I watch over the side of the boat as the flipper shaped oar dips into the deep green water and pulls the boat forward, powered I know by my dad’s young strong arms. But I don’t see him. I see the oar pull through the water then rise up dripping  as it swings back to dip once more in the propelling and compelling rhythm  of the rowing.  I marvel at the deep green water and peer down to see if I can see the bottom.  I hear the lap of the water on the side of the wooden rowboat, and the smell of the wet wood and the bait and the salty water mixed together wafts gently over me.  I give myself over to the experience.

The Launch of Mirrors, The writing workshop anthology

I want to share with you some wonderful news.  I am part of the Newcastle WEA writing workshop which is run by our tutor – Karen Whitelaw.  Karen is an amazing tutor and published writer.  She has a wonderful ability to guide and advise emerging writers at each level of their writing as they grow.

In 2013 Karen suggested that we were now writers and should write and publish an anthology of short stories.  And so our journey began. We wrote and edited and wrote some more.  We critiqued each other’s work and with Karen’s expertise and guidance we each ended with a short story worthy of publication. Karen and Dianna – who is a member of our group and a whiz with grammar etc. -were the co-editors.  

 Then Karen set about the arduous task of publishing our work as an E-book.  She generously gave massive amounts of her time until finally the task was done.

Last night our anthology was officially launched. 

 

                                          

                                                 Mirrors the Writing Workshop Anthology.

 

We gathered with family and friends and then celebrated together.  We are now published authors every one, all due to the encouragement and hard work of our tutor Karen, helped by Dianna.  Thank you Karen from the heart.

You can find our anthology on Amazon.  If you Google :   Amazon.com Mirrors workshop anthology Karen Whitelaw,   you will find it easily.  The cost is 99cents.

There are nine stories, all by Australian writers and the topics are diverse.  As I don’t know how to re-blog someone else’s blog I will direct you to Karen’s blog “the Writer’s Life” – E-Book launch, where Karen writes a lovely summary of the anthology. 

It has been an amazing experience to be part of publishing this E-book. Hope those of you who download the book enjoy it as much as we enjoyed writing it.