Words by Bec Fleming About ten years ago I helped an older relative set up a DVD player in his house. He knew about the technology, he had seen it used, he had just never had one in his house before. So we set it up, and I put on a John Wayne classic. As … Continue reading
Words by Bec Fleming, ACTWC Blogger in Residence …that first sense of waking up and tasting it, feeling it, and then looking around and your whole environment’s changed—everything’s covered in this layer of red dust—it really was very unpleasant and very frightening, because it was surreal. It had never happened before, I had no idea … Continue reading
Words by Bec Fleming, ACTWC Blogger in Residence It’s December. The season for Christmas parties, summer storms, fairy lights and reflections on another year’s writing. Cliché as it may be, the end of the year makes many of us pause to consider what has or has not been accomplished in our writing lives. Sometimes the … Continue reading
Words by Bec Fleming, ACTWC Blogger in Residence It is a kind of meditative state, spending time in a gallery with a notebook. I spent last Saturday afternoon with the Pulse exhibition at the Canberra Museum and Gallery in a workshop led by the delightful Sarah St Vincent Welch. I say with quite purposefully. When … Continue reading
Words by Bec Fleming, ACTWC Blogger in Residence Four years ago, this week, I found out my PhD thesis had passed examination. My first call was to Mum, the person I always called first with good news or bad. But Mum didn’t answer the phone that day, my sister did. In hospital for tests, Mum … Continue reading
Words by Bec Fleming, ACTWC Blogger in Residence The workshop begins with a simple question, Benjamin Law asks us to name three publications we regularly read. It sounds easy, but I panic, like I’m on some kind of quiz show and about to be declared the weakest link. I don’t read anything my brain convinces … Continue reading
Words by Bec Fleming, ACTWC Blogger in Residence Mythbusters is the kind of show I never intend to watch. I like the show, I just don’t go out of my way to watch it. Yet, while I wouldn’t call myself a fan, I invariably walk past while my husband is watching an episode, sit down … Continue reading
Words by Bec Fleming, Blogger in Residence Pitch session. Two little words holding much promise and terror. Usually held at conferences, pitch sessions are brief meetings sometimes five minutes, sometimes less, with agents and publishers. An opportunity to meet face to face to pitch your story. For me, with a not yet completed manuscript the … Continue reading
Words by ACTWC Blogger in Residence, Bec Fleming So, by now you know I like to tell a story with my blog posts, but I’m going to keep this one a little more direct. Straight from my notebook, with no stories in between, here are some tips on submitting your manuscript, from the agents and … Continue reading
Words by Bec Fleming, ACTWC Blogger in Residence It’s Saturday lunchtime, I’m sitting on the grass at Gorman House in a large circle of people I have only just met but feel a strong connection to. Lapping up the spring sunshine and listening to the lively conversation, I am truly content. I’m deeply absorbed in … Continue reading
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