Owen Ruckert has compiled a collection of poetry, prose, reminiscence and whimsy that will cause many people to have a Pavlova’s dog response: more meringue please. In a short piece titled ‘No’ she writes, ‘Ordering dessert cake from a menu [...]]]> 1. Review by Diana Simmonds in SAM – The University of Sydney Alumni Magazine, March 2010

Owen Ruckert has compiled a collection of poetry, prose, reminiscence and whimsy that will cause many people to have a Pavlova’s dog response: more meringue please. In a short piece titled ‘No’ she writes, ‘Ordering dessert cake from a menu is similar to buying a car without having spent a week on the Internet researching its power to weight ratio…’ In ‘The Lunchbox Review’ the daughter of the late proprietor of this Hunter Street establishment describes her mother’s daily routine in feeding the city’s workers. It’s a delight.

2. Review by Trevar Langlands in Writers Voice, June 2010

A recent guest on my radio show was Margaret Owen Ruckert, a writer and educator and a former teacher of TAFE Science. In 2007, she won the National Poetry Competition for the Society of Women Writers NSW. Her articles and poems have been published in newspapers, magazines, anthologies and literary journals. Margaret read from her new book of poetry, called You Deserve Dessert: Fact, Fiction & Fable. What an entertaining book of verse it is! Every poem is about food! Meet a trio of proper tarts, the beast of mud cake, crime caramel, a fruit cake feigning holiness etc. This… makes for entertaining reading from shape poems, character sketches, a dramatic monologue and much more to discover. I loved reading this book; I found it great with a cup of tea or coffee. Perhaps it’s great for diets, because you can read about the cooking and savour it without actually eating – OR you can simply have your coffee and be tempted to run to the nearest cake shop and fill a bag.

Here is just a taste…

Macadamia Slice

A slice of macadamia
is not the same
as a Macadamia Slice
or a slice of academia

A slice of a macadamia sphere
is best achieved by bringing in technology
and letting it split the atom again

A slice of academia
occurs when you are invited
to a luncheon at the University
and they pay your way

A Macadamia Slice
occurs but once in any cookbook
a unique collaboration of exquisite
ingredients and together with said nut
they become almost academic

COME WITH ME by PAM BAYFIELD

A VOYAGE WITH PAM BAYFIELD AND JOAN FISHER

This journey of a brave young nurse to her life of service to others is told with sympathy, understanding and then crafted into a beautifully written story by Pam Bayfield. Joan Fisher shares her memories with Pam in such a way [...]]]>

COME WITH ME by PAM BAYFIELD

A VOYAGE WITH PAM BAYFIELD AND JOAN FISHER

This journey of a brave young nurse to her life of service to others is told with sympathy, understanding and then crafted into a beautifully written story by Pam Bayfield. Joan Fisher shares her memories with Pam in such a way that the reader is drawn into the anticipation, excitement, fear and reality of war service under challenging conditions.

The love stories of the girls are told through their letters and the intimacy of the moments thus explored makes inspiring reading.

Going to foreign ports Joan and her friends Ida and Winsome could never have dreamt of, we share the taste of places as strange to them as they would have been to us and through her own skill as a story teller, Pam shows us the emotional roller coaster of girls in their early twenties, much less prepared for life than young women of our time.

A sense of period is contained yet described in such fine detail it is almost as if we are also in Aden, Borneo as well as on the hospital ship.

Like many dedicated to the service of others, Joan Fisher describes caring for others as ‘a privilege’.

This book is essential reading for any young women contemplating entering the Defence Force nursing or indeed hospital nursing for it will give them an insight into the lives of those who have gone before, the empathy and also sadness with the patients needed to make a good nurse. More importantly, to the general reader, and those retired from nursing professionally, it will be a reminder of the sacrifices of the few for the many.

Congratulations to Pam Bayfield for making Joan Fisher’s story so readable.

Renée Goossens
8 February 2010

Susanne Gervay, Author

The theme of a story is driven by the author’s voice. It’s the author’s perspective, humour, sadness, observations and view of the world. Writing is a journey that matters. So writing must have integrity. Even where the work is light and humorous, it should be grounded in experiences and observations that are [...]]]>

Susanne Gervay, Author

The theme of a story is driven by the author’s voice. It’s the author’s perspective, humour, sadness, observations and view of the world. Writing is a journey that matters. So writing must have integrity. Even where the work is light and humorous, it should be grounded in experiences and observations that are meaningful and funny to the writer. It’s about inviting readers into an authentic emotional life which includes imaginary worlds, where readers travel with the story making it their own.

‘Show not tell’ is an old truism, yet it’s often hard to follow. Authors are motivated by sharing stories, ideas and often have altruistic ideals. The trouble is that writers often explain the ‘good’ values and what’s happening. They don’t trust the reader to understand. The reader will decide how to interpret the narrative. Once the work is printed and given to another party, it’s the reader’s journey and no longer the author’s. Powerful story is when the reader emotionally engages. Failed story is when the reader ‘listens’ to a lecture on what is happening and what they should believe.

There are many techniques that create this authenticity. A key one is description which should be a vehicle to advance narrative and/or develop character and/or theme. Descriptive passages may be lyrical but it is not enough. They must be integral to story. How many times do you see readers flip over long descriptive passages to find the story? Another key one is to build tension and interest through character and theme development. When the pivotal realization in the story arrives, it’s important not to over-write these realizations. The author has already laid the ground work for it. Imagine if in To Kill A Mockingbird as Atticus Finch walks out of the court room after defending a black man in a white racist community, Harper Lee gives a dissertation on racism and social justice. The power is in the simple line when the black Reverend Sykes says to Scout … ‘stand up. Your father’s passing.’

Susanne Gervay
www.sgervay.com
Blog – www.sgervay.com/blog

By Edita Diamante

Edita Diamante - Secretary and Editor

How many times do you hear the expression, “We are all in this together?” This goes beyond idle chats and empty promises. In fact, it is a universal statement that gives the idea that we are all connected – that what people do affect others. People do [...]]]> By Edita Diamante

Edita Diamante - Secretary and Editor

How many times do you hear the expression, “We are all in this together?” This goes beyond idle chats and empty promises. In fact, it is a universal statement that gives the idea that we are all connected – that what people do affect others. People do react and respond to every stimulus. Response may be passive and silent, but there is reaction. Example: when one commits suicide, this act creates extreme emotion like grief in the family and loved ones. Example: if a girl meets a fatal road accident as a result of her furious reaction to a malicious gossip or bullying at school, some people will have to be accountable to this outcome; this reaction can snowball.

In this age of the internet and worldwide web when the world has become smaller and family values seem to wane, the physical and emotional distances between individuals have never been wider. The abundance today of things to do for fun and entertainment is so much that we trade off our rest and sleep time for video games, internet and mobile phone chats, web search, and so on. Parents have less and less conversation time with their kids let alone supervise homework. Toys and peer group have become surrogate carers. There is so much entertainment and all types of indulgences available – temptations generated through the media by producers of goods and services and through the endless availability of credit cards. The human atmosphere does seem to get colder as the environment gets warmer. Watch out for Loneliness – the pox that dwells in every home, awaits to feed on any soul.

Situations beyond our control such as the death of a loved one, breakdown of a relationship, traumatic experience such as that experienced by soldiers at war or by victims of a crime can bring down even the strongest of characters and the brightest of talents to the pit of depression, loneliness and heartache which inevitably lead to fatal illnesses not to mention short life span. Why is this so? Well, medical science tells us that although the stress hormone ‘cortisol’ plays a very important role in our wellbeing, high levels in the body would be destructive.

Cortisol is a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal glands which are adjacent to the kidneys. It belongs to a class of hormones called glucocorticoids, which affect almost every organ and tissue in the body. The hormone is released by the body during times of stress – whether physical or psychological – that’s why it is called the ‘stress hormone’. Your family doctor can explain further how it affects numerous physiologic systems and help the body maintain blood pressure and cardiovascular function, slows down our immune system’s inflammatory response, balances the effect of insulin when breaking down sugar for energy and regulates metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and fat. This hormone can also mobilize calcium in the bone and circulates it back into the blood system causing bone loss and therefore, osteoporosis. More significantly, it suppresses the body’s immune system by killing the good bacteria thereby promoting the increase of candida, parasites and viral infection already present in the body.

If high levels of cortisol is caused by compounding stress – whether self-inflicted or not – it does seem veritable that health and wellbeing are within our control.

Being human, we all have the ability to bring joy and sadness to others. Inflicting pain upon another can be intentional. Frailty may be human, but as humans we do have a natural ability to overcome obstacles in life. We also have the power to bring love and happiness to everyone. Sometimes, just by following the Lord’s Golden Rule can make a difference. But in times of real trouble, ‘love’ is the best stimulus to happiness.

In Tania Hayes’ book, Love Has No Limits, this Australian author shows how love can overcome insurmountable tragedies. Tania was asked to pull the plug on her husband who was on a coma for quite some time. She refused to do so. At 22, with the whole world in front of her, she willed upon herself to be her fiance’s full time carer. She quit her job, had her (then) fiancé Warren released from hospital, took him home with her and began a new role as full time carer of the love of her life. Her love delivered Warren. Karl Stefanovick of Australia’s Today Show (Channel 9) said, “In my 15 years of journalism I have heard many stories of courage and determination, but none have touched me quite like the story of Tania and Warren Hayes. It is truly an inspiration – a testament to the healing power of love.”

Being sick is a dark and lonely place to be. Having someone loving you is a spark of light that brightens the darkest corner. Love generates happiness. The body responds positively to happy feeling. The weakness is overcome. The spirit grows mightier. The revelation of what is more important in life is realized.

One day a friend visiting at home asked me, “What really is happiness?” Definitions are varied and subjective depending on a person’s outlook in life but we agreed to define happiness as the sheer feeling of euphoria, that big leap in our heart that makes us giggle, laugh, dance, jump, sing. It is that stimulus that causes the body to produce the ‘happy hormone’ called Serotonin. It helps us calm down, relieve anxieties and depression thereby boost our immune system.

The magical thing about happiness is: it is free as air. It is a free prescription to give and take. You can be a loving person by just passing it around through a smile, forgiveness and reconciliation, a tap on the shoulder, a letter, a phone call or a visit. Help someone beat depression and loneliness.

Edita Diamante
Secretary and Editor
The Society of Women Writers NSW

By Pam Bayfield

The Inconvenient Child

I have just spent four days in bed with the flu reading the above book and it made being sick worthwhile as I have been on an incredible journey with Sharyn, told so wonderfully by her friend Lindsay. I was along side Sharyn all the way from her unwelcome birth [...]]]> By Pam Bayfield

The Inconvenient Child

I have just spent four days in bed with the flu reading the above book and it made being sick worthwhile as I have been on an incredible journey with Sharyn, told so wonderfully by her friend Lindsay. I was along side Sharyn all the way from her unwelcome birth and shocking treatment from her mother and grandmother, with feelings of being unwanted and hidden behind closed doors all through her childhood. Everything Sharyn did was to gain some recognition and love from her Princess Mummy but each time she was rejected by being put in a nunnery where she was badly abused by one of the nuns. Being a coloured child with an Afro-American father who didn’t know of her existence as she had been born just after the war and he was on an American ship calling in to port in Sydney, her mother was ashamed to call her her child and hid her from the world. I felt every bit of pain that young child endured as she kept running away from the nunnery so she could be with her mother.

Finally having to take Sharyn to live with her, Princess Mummy soon had her sent to Parramatta Girls’ Home as uncontrollable. Her experiences here and later at the Girls’ correctional centre in Hay are hard to believe and when you think it can’t get any worse it does. How any teenage girl could come out of those horrific times and still be sane is a miracle. Still her mother didn’t want to know. All Sharyn wanted all along was her father’s name but each time she asked she was told he was dead. Finally Sharyn can’t take it any more and runs away from her mother’s home to Kings Cross and lives on the streets for a while until she finds work. After an unsuccessful marriage which produces a son she becomes a stripper to support her child.

At this time you begin to wonder if Sharyn will ever find contentment and peace as her life lurches from one disaster to another. Her mother keeps appearing and disappearing throughout this story but everything is all right as long as Sharyn doesn’t ever call her mother. When she finally gets a break to do some singing with a band I heaved a sigh of relief believing this was how she was going to get herself out of poverty and hardship. Indeed Sharyn becomes Sharyn Christal, the night club entertainer who goes onto achieve great success as an entertainer on cruise ships. We share her success and the applause awakes in the reader a feeling of hope that everything will turn out all right.

Without telling too much of her journey to find her American roots we laugh and we cry with Sharyn and feel every emotion with her on her quest to find herself. This is a book that will uplift you but also make you angry at how she was treated. A little coloured girl in a White Australia was difficult to slot her into our way of life in those times. No wonder she rebelled and became difficult to handle.

I would thoroughly recommend this book to all readers who like reading true life stories and I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed. I certainly wasn’t.

Pam Bayfield

President of The Society of Women Writers NSW

Felicity Pulman, Author

When my first novel was published (Ghost Boy in 1995) I was naïve enough to believe that once the manuscript left my hands, all responsibility for getting it ‘out there’ rested with the publisher.  Not so! It’s been a long, hard learning curve to understand just what a publisher expects from an [...]]]>

Felicity Pulman, Author

When my first novel was published (Ghost Boy in 1995) I was naïve enough to believe that once the manuscript left my hands, all responsibility for getting it ‘out there’ rested with the publisher.  Not so! It’s been a long, hard learning curve to understand just what a publisher expects from an author and I thought I’d share my journey with you in this, the first blog on our new site, in the hope that some or all of what I’ve learned may prove helpful to you on your own writing journey.

Author talks were my first hurdle. After a series of excruciatingly embarrassing fluff-ups, I realised I needed help and so enrolled in a Toastmasters Course.  It was brilliant in that it helped me overcome my terror of speaking in public, and also taught me how to craft a speech so that it is of interest to the target audience  (eg I’ve spoken at such diverse locations as schools, libraries, universities, writers’ festivals, specialist organisations like the Plantagenet Society, Partners in Crime, the SWW, book clubs, etc)

It’s always helpful to be able to illustrate your talk.  With Ghost Boy, I started with b/w and colour transparencies of maps, old documents, photographs, a family tree etc which I showed on an overhead projector as I talked about researching and writing the novel.  I recently discovered that this is now an almost obsolete technology and I’m going to have to convert it to a powerpoint display.  Fortunately, I now know how to do this after attending a short course put on by Manly Community College (and if I, a dedicated Luddite, can do it, so can anyone.  I was so bad that, after our first session, the teacher asked me if I’d ever used a computer before!)  You can scan and use anything that’s relevant into your pp display. For the Janna Mysteries I have maps, photographs of sites I’ve visited, reproductions of old documents and portrayals of historical figures, etc.  Ditto for the Shalott trilogy, but I’ve also added copies of some of the beautiful paintings of scenes and characters from Arthurian legend (eg the ‘Lady of Shalott’, Guinevere, Morgan le Fay) that have inspired artists through the centuries.

I have also been known to dress up in ‘medieval garb’ when doing a talk (and I love taking on the persona of my characters.)  Other authors might use artefacts or toys as a gimmick – eg Hazel Edwards (There’s a Hippopotamus on our Roof eating Cake) travels around with a stuffed hippo. Geraldine Brooks (Year of Wonders) has a black rubber rat.

Promotional business cards and/or book marks with contact details are a must. If you can make them stand out from the ordinary with a logo or, even better, a copy of your latest book jacket, so much the better. These can be home-made by techno-whizzes, or designed at home and printed/cut by professional printers (like Officeworks).  This is what I used to do, but one of our members, Margaret Zanardo, who is an experienced graphic designer, has designed fantastic new bookmarks for both Ghost Boy and the Janna Mysteries.  These are great to hand around at book fairs, school visits, etc.  (If you’re interested, Margaret’s phone no. is 9970 6628.)

I’ve also written articles based on researching / writing my novels for publication for various specialist magazines or on-line, including Viewpoint, Good Reading, NSW School Magazine and Writing4success – another way to help publicise your books.

If you haven’t already got one, you should think about setting up a website. Originally I paid a web designer but the site was free (geocities).  A word of warning: if you write for children or teenagers, you should know that free sites like geocities are blocked from school computers because of the (often inappropriate) advertising on the site.  I’ve now paid a professional webmaster to design and manage my own (paid) website: www.felicitypulman.com.au    While this is expensive initially, I now only pay for updates and changes plus an annual charge for the site, and it’s paid off in terms of hits from school students and teachers wanting information on my books and/or to make bookings for talks or workshops, plus enquiries from overseas. This is your showcase to the world, and it’s important to get it right in terms of information, contact details, etc.

For the website, and for general publicity purposes, it helps to have some photographs (of the author, book covers, location where the book is set) and also a favourite photograph or two to send out for publicity purposes. The photos my husband took of me were all so awful (blame the sitter not the photographer) that I then organised for a professional make-up + sitting with a photographer.  Tips:  wear white or a colour, NOT patterned fabrics.  I was given a CD of the pix which I’ve put on our computer and it’s easy to zap off a photo in an email – even if they’re now looking a little out of date!

Attached to my website is my blog, so I can keep in touch with fans who write in about my books, and I can ‘advertise’ where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing, and invite people to come along to talks, workshops, book launches, or whatever.  It’s a very useful tool for updating information.

On-line interviews and book-chats on the net are another way to publicise your work.  I take part in an on-line conference every year. I log on and am hooked up to various schools and can then answer students’ questions about my work.  Skype is another way to go – check out the Skype an Author network (to make ‘virtual visits’) on http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com   (I have to confess that Skype is still a mystery to me.)

I’m currently navigating Facebook – another great way to reach out into the world and to potential readers.  I have my own page and am now trying to set up a fan page for The Janna Mysteries (being a Luddite, this is all VERY challenging!)  I tend to think that only twits ‘twitter’ but I suspect this is something else I need to master in the fullness of time!

The first thing you’ll notice, when you read the submission guidelines for the various publishers, is that some of them also request a ‘marketing plan’ along with the mss.  Getting an endorsement is always a good start.  Friends of mine who write for children have had endorsements from eg military establishments (for historical novels about war), or the Burns Unit at the Children’s Hospital (Butterflies) and Life Education Centre (I am Jack) by Susanne Gervay.

Show willing to get out there and talk about your book at every opportunity.  Find a ‘hook’ and start with local libraries, newspapers and radio stations for some free publicity.  Think about the school curriculum. If your book slots into it in some way (even if it’s for adults) you could approach schools about doing a free author talk with book sales.  For example, my Janna Mysteries fits into ‘medieval studies’ and also the HSC crime-writing strand.  The Shalott trilogy taps into ‘myths and legends’.  Ghost Boy taps into Australian history: immigration, the early treatment of disease and the class-based structure of society. (Of course, the special ‘Ghost Boy tour’ up at the Quarantine Station is a real bonus in terms of keeping that book alive.)

Also think about specialist clubs and societies who might be interested to hear you talk about ‘the special hook’ in your work: Probus, RSL, gardening, crime, cooking, psychic or whatever.  For example, my Janna Mysteries are set at the time of the Empress Matilda who, with Geoffrey of Anjou, founded the Plantagenet dynasty.  I’ve spoken to members of the Plantagenet Society and also have an invitation to speak to the Richard III society (Richard being the much-maligned and last of the Plantagenet line.)

Publishers are becoming increasingly reluctant to fund/organise book launches, but there’s no reason why you can’t do this for yourself if you’re prepared to spend $$ on a venue, food and drink – how much you spend is up to you.  It’s a good idea, if you can, to tie your book launch in with something else that’s already on and writing-related – eg one of the writers’ festivals at the Writers Centre, or one of our own meetings.  Giveaways are appreciated – maybe bookmarks or lollybags (if you’re a children’s writer.)  When launching Rosemary for Remembrance I gave away little pots of rosemary, and it was a very happy occasion.  Often a publisher will help in terms of printing invitations and mailouts to contacts, printing posters for display, or bookmarks etc.  You can also print up your own posters and ask libraries, shops or anywhere you think is appropriate if they’ll display them.

It’s up to publishers to send advance copies of your novels out for review, but you should also think about your own contacts who might be prepared to read and review your book for special interest magazines etc.

A friend of mine, Sophie Masson, is now making her own book trailers – a short video (1-3 mins) to go on youtube which links to her website.  Check it out: (http://www.youtube.com/sophievmasson). You can pay someone to make it for you if the whole idea freaks you out (as it does me – so I’m still investigating this whole new approach to book promos.)

A recent leap into the Brave New World of technology that I’ve come across is ‘the Amanda Project’ (Harper Collins) to be released in October.  This is the story of a 15 y.o. who disappears, told through an 8-book series plus an interactive website. Through the website, readers can help in the search for Amanda and each title in the series will include contributions from visitors to the website. Check out http://www.theamandaproject.com/tellmemore   (I don’t think I’ll be attempting that sort of writing just yet but it’s an interesting insight into possible future directions of books and the role of the author –  a whole new topic that our members might like to discuss on this blog.)

One final point:  writing is hard and it’s lonely. It’s invaluable being able to belong to an organisation like the Society of Women Writers, with the chance to meet like-minded people and exchange news and views and at the same time learn heaps from our workshop presenters and guest speakers. I really appreciate being a member.

Thanks for taking the time to read all this and I hope you’ve found it helpful. Thank you also to the committee for giving me the honour of being our first blogger!

Note to viewers: Comments and replies to articles that come from a business website  will be spammed and therefore will not be posted. We appreciate your beautiful comments but this is a non-profit women writer’s site and we do not encourage links to any business sites.