Follow the attached link to submit your views on the current restrictions on parallel importation of books to the Productivity Commission. The Australian Society of Authors supports retention of the current system. The ASA supports the right of writers to transact Territorial Rights. This right should not be removed so that some booksellers can improve their profit margins. January 20 is the deadline:
http://www. asauthors. org/scripts/cgiip. exe/WService=ASP0016/ccms. r?PageId=10160
Anita's blog is largely about gratefulness - hers and others - but she also posts about things important to her including books, reading, literacy and Aboriginal arts and culture. The above photo was taken by Tammy Law at Anita's TEDx talk in Brisbane, 2013.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
FROM LITTLE THINGS BIG THINGS GROW
We have a new national anthem, yes, we do. We don’t need a referendum on it, just accept it as given. Trust me.
It’s called From Little Things Big Things Grow and it’s about the Gurindji Wave Hill walk-off in 1966 – a fight over wages and conditions that ended in a battle for land rights. It’s about the proud Gurindji people and their stand against the might of the cattle baron, Lord Vestey.
The stand was political activism by a mob with no citizenship rights at the time, but strong in Aboriginal pride and courage as they fought for basic human rights on their own land.
It is a story that ended in 1975 when Prime Minister Gough Whitlam poured soil into the hands of Gurindji elder and activist Vincent Lingiari. It was an act that symbolised the return of the land to traditional owners and many will know the iconic image by Merv Bishop documenting in my mind, one of the most significant moments of our time.
The song From Little Things Big Things Grow was written by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody as they travelled through Queensland in the late 1980s, and it has now been released in book form so that young Australians can read, sing and learn about this shared history.
Indeed, there is a Gurindji interpretation of the song in the book as well. How wonderful would it be to have our national anthem in an Aboriginal language!
What inspires me most about this publication is that this book project has given new meaning to the word ‘collaboration’. There are so many organisations and individuals on this project that if everyone involved bought a book it would make the bestseller list immediately. Of course, that’s not the goal of this book, education is, as is the revenue required to build a new art centre for the community.
In a nutshell - the book, like the song itself was inspired by the late Vincent Lingiari who lead the Gurindji / Wave Hill Walk off. It is also a tribute to Frank Hardy, the left-wring writer who brought the plight of Aboriginal Australians to international attention with his book The Unlucky Australians in 1968.
On the page the song words come alive with illustrations by the kids from Kalkaringi in Gurindji Country. I was so excited and inspired to meet some of them at the launch and was like a groupie waiting to get an autograph and photo. The future of Aboriginal literature and publishing is as bright as bright and wide of the smiles of the students who I met at the launch.
The kids’ artwork sits alongside paintings by QLD artist Peter Holden, who made his first trip to the Aboriginal communities of Daguragu and Kalkarinji in the NT back in 1998.
From Little Things Big Things Grow is published by One Day Hill (which is owned and run by Bernadette Walters) and was a collaborative project with Shirley Hardy Rix – daughter of the late Frank Hardy) and Affirm Press, and all profits raised from the book will go towards art and literacy projects for Gurindji children.
Funds from the project will be channelled through the Ian Thorpe Fountain for Youth, which focuses on Indigenous literacy projects in the Northern Territory.
The project Patron is Tom Uren who was the first person to raise the plight of the Gurindji in parliament after the Wave Hill walk-off, and was instrumental in the successful outcome of the strike.
Other ‘collaborators’ and funding bodies include the Music Outback Foundation, the Dagaragu Council in the NT, the Calverstone Foundation, the Diwurruwurru-Jaaru Aboriginal Corporation, the Lingiari Foundation and many more.
Why you should buy a copy of From Little Things Big Things Grow
I know I don’t even have to write anything here. It’s obvious!
This book needs to be in every household in Australia. In every classroom and every library. Hell, I think it would do well to be in doctors waiting areas. It is essential reading, urgent reading. It is a story that EVERY Australian SHOULD know. And it is a song that everyone should sing.
From Little Things Big Things Grow is a gift to our children, and no more obvious was this to me than at the launch at the Peace Centre, Sydney University. As Jeff McMullen MC’d and 2008 Sydney Peace Prize winner Pat Dodson launched the book, and Jock Vincent (Vincent Lingiari’s son), Gurindji elder Gus George and Peter Hudson all spoke about the value of the project, I smiled as I watched the children in the room sitting quietly on the floor as the speeches continued. Fully engrossed in the colourful pages I watched them going through the book fingering the words as they read them. The target audience, young Australians, were already proving that this is a fabulous book. A book they want to read.
Buy it for everyone you know for Christmas. Parents, children, siblings, friends, colleagues.
From Little Things Big Things Grow is available at good bookshops everywhere for $19.95. A special hardback edition is also available for $29.95
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Words of advice from the deadly presenters at the 2008 BWRC
In June this year I was fortunate enough to be sponsored by the Copyright Agency Ltd (www.copyright.com.au/) through their Professional Development Grants scheme to attend the 2008 Black Writers Reunion and Conference (www.blackwriters.org/) in Tampa, Florida.
I gave the keynote address on the Black Words: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and storytellers research community of AustLit (www.austlit.edu.au/specialistDatasets/BlackWords), and the current state of Indigenous literature and publishing in Australia. I was also able to do some professional development of my own, attending numerous sessions on different aspects of the writing and publishing industry. Even as an established writer, I came away from every session with a greater understanding of the craft of writing.
Some of the sessions that stood out for me include the following:
WORKSHOP: Writing effective dialogue: the key to great fiction – with Jewell Parker Rhodes
Jewell Parker Rhodes is the author of four novels. Check her out at: www.jewellparkerrhodes.com
Tips from JPR:
1. Dialogue has to advance the story – advance the plot.
2. Dialogue shows the character.
3.Dialogue gives an immediacy and intimacy with the story and characters and helps to show tension and conflict. It brings tension off the page.
4. All actions / reactions / gestures between characters will exist between dialogue – turning backs, rubbing hands and raising arms are the gestures that go on during dialogue.
5. Diction must match characters. Each character must have idiosyncrasies that affect their rhythm of speech.
6. When you add a tag like ‘He said’ you take the reader out of the immediacy.
7. Readers should be able to know who’s saying what by the style of the diction.
8. Most good dialogue is about the subtext – what’s not being said (between the lines).
9. Create the dialogue on the page so it comes alive.
10. Pretend that you are writing for the stage and it will improve your dialogue.
11. What is the power display during dialogue – are characters standing or sitting?
12. A character is: what they say / how they say it / how they react and how they think.
13. A whole lot of dialogue in first person is a monologue.
14. Even a 1st person monologue (dialogue in a solo voice) needs emotional restraint / tension / diction and structure.
WORKSHOP: S.P.E.A.K. – Sensational, Powerful, Engaging, Authoritive Keys to Public Presentation with Patricia Haley
Patricia Haley is the consultant for In A Manner of Speaking, and her interactive session gave vital tips on how to be the deadliest public speaker on the circuit. According to Patricia, the key to delivering the best performance is:
BE SENSATIONAL
• Know your material – this will give you the ‘WOW’ factor.
• Research and prepare your topic (good planning makes you sensational).
• Recite the mantra: “It’s not who you are but what you know”.
• Sensational speaking comes from the power in your voice.
• Take a risk – when you want to get your point across, get quiet momentarily, and draw people in. Be a magnet and draw people to you
BE POWERFUL
• Powerful speaking means having prestige, influence, force, potency and effect.
• Be genuine. The audience is there because they want to hear what you have to say.
• Connect with your audience (if possible mingle with your audience before your gig).
• Relax or meditate before your gig to ensure you can be ‘present’ with your audience.
• Time is everything – engage your audience with the correct terms and right pitch.
• Check the presentation barometer – are people engaged or watching the clock?
BE ENGAGING
• Remember the events that you have personally attended- what captured your attention about those? What worked? What did not work? What did you find particularly interesting? What did you learn?
• Interact with your audience sincerely.
• Look at people in the eyes – lose eye contact you lose your audience
• Say what you mean, and mean what you say.
HAVE AUTHORITY
• Master what you say.
• Before your speech do the following:
1. Reflect – think about what you are going to say so you are confident about what you feel, know and believe.
2. Edit what you are going to say – be succinct
3. Read and re-read your speech and you will edit again while learning the material more.
4. Talk the talk and walk the walk – work the stage, hold your product. Look authoritively (I think I just made that word up!).
5. Believe that you can do it.
THE KEYS - Unlock your potential
• You are speaking for a purpose and that should be your focus.
• Don’t put the emphasis on being perfect.
Further tips:
• Checkout books on public speaking on Amazon.com
• Join Toastmasters – an organisation dedicated to having people become confident and comfortable as leaders and presenters.
• Check out Public-Speaking.org for articles and further tips.
• Check out Public Speaking Australia: www.publicspeakingaustralia.com.au/
• Use a digital voice recorder – tape yourself, listen objectively to determine where adjustments need to be made.
WORKSHOP: 9 Things Every Writer Must Know about the Law – presented by Prof Tonya M. Evans-Walls
While Prof Evans (www.legalwritepublications.com) was obviously focussing on issues and laws relevant to American-based writers, however, the questions she poses are also relevant to Australian writers. The 9 Questions writers should know the answer to are:
1. What is intellectual property? And in Australia be sure to understand the concept of Indigenous Intellectual Property as well.
2. What is a copyright and how is it created and what can and cannot be copyrighted?
3. What is the Poor Man’s copyright and how can you register your work?
4. How much can you quote without permission (eg, if you want to use song lyrics in your novel, how do you go about it)?
5. When in the writing process should you register your work?
6. How can you get permission to use copyrighted materials in your book?
7. What laws should you be aware of if you write about real people and events?
8. Who owns the copyright if you collaborate with someone else on a book?
9. What contracts are an absolute must if you decide to self-publish?
Tonya Evans-Walls has blogs and examples of her own creative writing on MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/legalwritepublications
Resources to help answer the questions for Australian writers:
• Australian Society of Authors: www.asauthors.org/scripts
• Australian Copyright Council: www.copyright.com.au/
• Arts Law Centre of Australia: http://www.artslaw.com.au/
• Writing Cultures: protocols for producing Australian Literature: www.australiacouncil.gov.au/publications/literature/writing_protocols_for_producing_indigenous_australian_writing
WORKSHOP: Working with literary agents with Mondella Jones
Mondella Jones runs her own literary agency (http://writers.aalbc.com/mjla.htm) in California and has a background in marketing, event management and editing. This workshop focused on some of the common mistakes made by writers when trying to find an agent:
1. Most query letters are TOO long! Keep your query letter brief – it should only be long enough to gain an agent’s interest.
2. Don’t submit material without having sent a query first – most agents won’t return your mss if it is unsolicited, and NEVER send the complete mss
3. Don’t use generic greetings – find out the agent’s name AND their gender if possible. If you don’t know the gender from the name itself, use ‘Dear Mondella Jones’.
4. Don’t send a query for an incomplete project – if the agent is interested they will want to see it all straight away. The agent will have moved on by the time you finish it.
5. Don’t send in an mss or letter with spelimg misteaks or typos - Check your grammar and punctuation. Have someone else read your work before you send it off.
6. Don’t send anything without an SSAE – if you want a response, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and for the correct amount of postage!
7. Don’t forget your contact information – apparently Mondella has received a number of wonderful projects but they arrived with no contact information for the author – der! Agents don’t have time to hunt you down!
8. Don’t send to just any agent – do your research, see which agents represent the kind of books you’re doing.
9. Don’t seek a new agent while you have an existing relationship with anther agent – apart from it being unprofessional and bad form – they all speak to each other so your current agent will find out anyway.
10. Don’t skip a professional editor – use a professional editor once your mss is complete, not your cousin, lover, mother – unless they are professional editors.
For links to relevant organisations related to Literary Agents, Editorial Services, Ghostwriting Services, and Manuscript Assessment Services go to the Australian Society of Authors website: www.asauthors.org/
WORKSHOP: From writer to editor: Copyediting Principals that work with N.Kali Mincy
N.Kali Mincy (http://coachgreatwriters.com/)is a writing coach and speaker with over 30 writing credits including “Creative Writing: Teaching New Writers Character Development in Fiction,” “The Fiction-Writing Toolkit,“ and “Copyediting Essentials.”
Some quick tips from Ms Mincy for copyreditors:
- Always ask for the style sheet for the house you are copyediting for
- Ask the right questions of the author you are editing – be specific. Give options of how something may be written differently.
- Look for redundancy / repetition.
- Consider the audience – their age and their education.
- The editor’s job is to propose. The writer’s job is to dispose!
- The copy editor’s job is NOT to make content changes.
- The first sentence / the first paragraph is the most important.
- Look up words you are unsure of
- Use the 4 C’s – clarity, coherency, consistency, and correctness
WORKSHOP: How to write a screenplay with Mike Matteo - author, screenwriter, teacher and film junkie
An exciting and energetic session, Mike suggested students in this session ask themselves the following questions:
• Why you like a particular movie?
• Why you don’t like a particular movie?
All screenplays need conflict, so ask yourself:
• What if?
• What now?
• What next?
In life, one thing happens after another. In movies, one thing happens because of another.
Every screenplay needs to do these things:
1. Get the audience’s attention
2. Establish nuances of character
3. Establish character relationships
4. Show internal conflict – how is character being affected
5. Build foundations for the rest of the script – needs to set up the next part of the script
Some terminology and explanations
• Plot point – an event that makes the script move along quicker.
• Thought line of action – every action has to have a valid reason.
• The protagonist - needs to be liked but needs to have flaws.
• The Antagonist – needs to be strong but balanced, they are either about greed or power or both. Must also have a human quality and essence of humanity.
Examples of films to watch
With a plot driven script – Armageddon
With a character driven script – Forrest Gump
Opening scene – The Godfather
Final tip: all writing should evoke emotion / should make you want to see more, read or see a sequel.
Suggested reading: The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats, Part 1: the screenplay (otherwise known as the ‘Bible of Hollywood’)
The next Black Writers Reunion & Conference is scheduled to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 18-19, 2009. For more information go to: www.blackwriters.org/
I gave the keynote address on the Black Words: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers and storytellers research community of AustLit (www.austlit.edu.au/specialistDatasets/BlackWords), and the current state of Indigenous literature and publishing in Australia. I was also able to do some professional development of my own, attending numerous sessions on different aspects of the writing and publishing industry. Even as an established writer, I came away from every session with a greater understanding of the craft of writing.
Some of the sessions that stood out for me include the following:
WORKSHOP: Writing effective dialogue: the key to great fiction – with Jewell Parker Rhodes
Jewell Parker Rhodes is the author of four novels. Check her out at: www.jewellparkerrhodes.com
Tips from JPR:
1. Dialogue has to advance the story – advance the plot.
2. Dialogue shows the character.
3.Dialogue gives an immediacy and intimacy with the story and characters and helps to show tension and conflict. It brings tension off the page.
4. All actions / reactions / gestures between characters will exist between dialogue – turning backs, rubbing hands and raising arms are the gestures that go on during dialogue.
5. Diction must match characters. Each character must have idiosyncrasies that affect their rhythm of speech.
6. When you add a tag like ‘He said’ you take the reader out of the immediacy.
7. Readers should be able to know who’s saying what by the style of the diction.
8. Most good dialogue is about the subtext – what’s not being said (between the lines).
9. Create the dialogue on the page so it comes alive.
10. Pretend that you are writing for the stage and it will improve your dialogue.
11. What is the power display during dialogue – are characters standing or sitting?
12. A character is: what they say / how they say it / how they react and how they think.
13. A whole lot of dialogue in first person is a monologue.
14. Even a 1st person monologue (dialogue in a solo voice) needs emotional restraint / tension / diction and structure.
WORKSHOP: S.P.E.A.K. – Sensational, Powerful, Engaging, Authoritive Keys to Public Presentation with Patricia Haley
Patricia Haley is the consultant for In A Manner of Speaking, and her interactive session gave vital tips on how to be the deadliest public speaker on the circuit. According to Patricia, the key to delivering the best performance is:
BE SENSATIONAL
• Know your material – this will give you the ‘WOW’ factor.
• Research and prepare your topic (good planning makes you sensational).
• Recite the mantra: “It’s not who you are but what you know”.
• Sensational speaking comes from the power in your voice.
• Take a risk – when you want to get your point across, get quiet momentarily, and draw people in. Be a magnet and draw people to you
BE POWERFUL
• Powerful speaking means having prestige, influence, force, potency and effect.
• Be genuine. The audience is there because they want to hear what you have to say.
• Connect with your audience (if possible mingle with your audience before your gig).
• Relax or meditate before your gig to ensure you can be ‘present’ with your audience.
• Time is everything – engage your audience with the correct terms and right pitch.
• Check the presentation barometer – are people engaged or watching the clock?
BE ENGAGING
• Remember the events that you have personally attended- what captured your attention about those? What worked? What did not work? What did you find particularly interesting? What did you learn?
• Interact with your audience sincerely.
• Look at people in the eyes – lose eye contact you lose your audience
• Say what you mean, and mean what you say.
HAVE AUTHORITY
• Master what you say.
• Before your speech do the following:
1. Reflect – think about what you are going to say so you are confident about what you feel, know and believe.
2. Edit what you are going to say – be succinct
3. Read and re-read your speech and you will edit again while learning the material more.
4. Talk the talk and walk the walk – work the stage, hold your product. Look authoritively (I think I just made that word up!).
5. Believe that you can do it.
THE KEYS - Unlock your potential
• You are speaking for a purpose and that should be your focus.
• Don’t put the emphasis on being perfect.
Further tips:
• Checkout books on public speaking on Amazon.com
• Join Toastmasters – an organisation dedicated to having people become confident and comfortable as leaders and presenters.
• Check out Public-Speaking.org for articles and further tips.
• Check out Public Speaking Australia: www.publicspeakingaustralia.com.au/
• Use a digital voice recorder – tape yourself, listen objectively to determine where adjustments need to be made.
WORKSHOP: 9 Things Every Writer Must Know about the Law – presented by Prof Tonya M. Evans-Walls
While Prof Evans (www.legalwritepublications.com) was obviously focussing on issues and laws relevant to American-based writers, however, the questions she poses are also relevant to Australian writers. The 9 Questions writers should know the answer to are:
1. What is intellectual property? And in Australia be sure to understand the concept of Indigenous Intellectual Property as well.
2. What is a copyright and how is it created and what can and cannot be copyrighted?
3. What is the Poor Man’s copyright and how can you register your work?
4. How much can you quote without permission (eg, if you want to use song lyrics in your novel, how do you go about it)?
5. When in the writing process should you register your work?
6. How can you get permission to use copyrighted materials in your book?
7. What laws should you be aware of if you write about real people and events?
8. Who owns the copyright if you collaborate with someone else on a book?
9. What contracts are an absolute must if you decide to self-publish?
Tonya Evans-Walls has blogs and examples of her own creative writing on MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/legalwritepublications
Resources to help answer the questions for Australian writers:
• Australian Society of Authors: www.asauthors.org/scripts
• Australian Copyright Council: www.copyright.com.au/
• Arts Law Centre of Australia: http://www.artslaw.com.au/
• Writing Cultures: protocols for producing Australian Literature: www.australiacouncil.gov.au/publications/literature/writing_protocols_for_producing_indigenous_australian_writing
WORKSHOP: Working with literary agents with Mondella Jones
Mondella Jones runs her own literary agency (http://writers.aalbc.com/mjla.htm) in California and has a background in marketing, event management and editing. This workshop focused on some of the common mistakes made by writers when trying to find an agent:
1. Most query letters are TOO long! Keep your query letter brief – it should only be long enough to gain an agent’s interest.
2. Don’t submit material without having sent a query first – most agents won’t return your mss if it is unsolicited, and NEVER send the complete mss
3. Don’t use generic greetings – find out the agent’s name AND their gender if possible. If you don’t know the gender from the name itself, use ‘Dear Mondella Jones’.
4. Don’t send a query for an incomplete project – if the agent is interested they will want to see it all straight away. The agent will have moved on by the time you finish it.
5. Don’t send in an mss or letter with spelimg misteaks or typos - Check your grammar and punctuation. Have someone else read your work before you send it off.
6. Don’t send anything without an SSAE – if you want a response, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and for the correct amount of postage!
7. Don’t forget your contact information – apparently Mondella has received a number of wonderful projects but they arrived with no contact information for the author – der! Agents don’t have time to hunt you down!
8. Don’t send to just any agent – do your research, see which agents represent the kind of books you’re doing.
9. Don’t seek a new agent while you have an existing relationship with anther agent – apart from it being unprofessional and bad form – they all speak to each other so your current agent will find out anyway.
10. Don’t skip a professional editor – use a professional editor once your mss is complete, not your cousin, lover, mother – unless they are professional editors.
For links to relevant organisations related to Literary Agents, Editorial Services, Ghostwriting Services, and Manuscript Assessment Services go to the Australian Society of Authors website: www.asauthors.org/
WORKSHOP: From writer to editor: Copyediting Principals that work with N.Kali Mincy
N.Kali Mincy (http://coachgreatwriters.com/)is a writing coach and speaker with over 30 writing credits including “Creative Writing: Teaching New Writers Character Development in Fiction,” “The Fiction-Writing Toolkit,“ and “Copyediting Essentials.”
Some quick tips from Ms Mincy for copyreditors:
- Always ask for the style sheet for the house you are copyediting for
- Ask the right questions of the author you are editing – be specific. Give options of how something may be written differently.
- Look for redundancy / repetition.
- Consider the audience – their age and their education.
- The editor’s job is to propose. The writer’s job is to dispose!
- The copy editor’s job is NOT to make content changes.
- The first sentence / the first paragraph is the most important.
- Look up words you are unsure of
- Use the 4 C’s – clarity, coherency, consistency, and correctness
WORKSHOP: How to write a screenplay with Mike Matteo - author, screenwriter, teacher and film junkie
An exciting and energetic session, Mike suggested students in this session ask themselves the following questions:
• Why you like a particular movie?
• Why you don’t like a particular movie?
All screenplays need conflict, so ask yourself:
• What if?
• What now?
• What next?
In life, one thing happens after another. In movies, one thing happens because of another.
Every screenplay needs to do these things:
1. Get the audience’s attention
2. Establish nuances of character
3. Establish character relationships
4. Show internal conflict – how is character being affected
5. Build foundations for the rest of the script – needs to set up the next part of the script
Some terminology and explanations
• Plot point – an event that makes the script move along quicker.
• Thought line of action – every action has to have a valid reason.
• The protagonist - needs to be liked but needs to have flaws.
• The Antagonist – needs to be strong but balanced, they are either about greed or power or both. Must also have a human quality and essence of humanity.
Examples of films to watch
With a plot driven script – Armageddon
With a character driven script – Forrest Gump
Opening scene – The Godfather
Final tip: all writing should evoke emotion / should make you want to see more, read or see a sequel.
Suggested reading: The Complete Guide to Standard Script Formats, Part 1: the screenplay (otherwise known as the ‘Bible of Hollywood’)
The next Black Writers Reunion & Conference is scheduled to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 18-19, 2009. For more information go to: www.blackwriters.org/
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