My writing week 3 (40)

Hi all,

I really enjoyed the Divine magazine introduction/training day on Friday. I went down to Melbourne on Thursday night and stayed in the same hotel in which the training day was being held. There were twelve other writers, some with obvious disabilities, others it was hard to tell, and like me, they weren't shouting about it. I spoke to about half of the group during the day - I'm not great at small talk, so I am not one to cruise a room.

Two of the writers from last year's inaugural intake came along to tell us about their experiences. One named Graeme writes science fiction too.

I learnt that we would be paid for any of the articles we sent in with our applications that were put on the magazine's website. Two of mine were: one on how ebooks will make reading easier for people with a disability and the other on looking after my father who had dementia. It feels like found money so I will spend some of it on a present for myself, perhaps I will finally go over to the darkside and buy a Kindle. We are also told that we could submit more than one article a month.

There is a second training day this week on Tuesday for about ten other writers.

Along with a 60 page Writer's Guide, we got some snazzy looking business cards, complete with braille notations and a free memory stick. I also got free accommodation for the night before and after. I know two of the other writers came from regional areas, Traralgon (not far from Heyfield and Newry in East Gippsland where I lived as a child) and the other from Geelong.

When I arrived in Melbourne on Thursday I noticed a lot of police on the streets (must be a state election coming up), but on Saturday morning they were all gone and there were a few beggars about. Not that I think police should be running around hassling those who are desperate.

On Wednesday I attempted to write a blog post on three marketing panels I saw at Aussiecon, but accidentally deleted the 1000 words or so I had written and then a thunderstorm came along, so I packed up for the day. The rewritten post should be up on Thursday this week.

I watched the first two episodes of Caprica and it looks like it could become a science fiction classic. It centres around the creator (played by Eric Stoltz) of the cylons that destroyed most of humanity in Battlestar Galactica.

This week will be bit of a catch up week and one of preparing myself for writing at Divine by doing such things as reading the Writer's Guide. I also hope to make a bit more time to write the novella I am still working on.

Graham.

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