After much fiddling on my end and some (more and more desperate) emails to the Blogger people, I now have Comments!! And no doubt I will receive none. But a few people have emailed me - thank you - so hopefully now all will go smoothly.
A full day of classes yesterday, and we are into the workshopping part of the semester. Five lots in Writing for Children class and two stories in Short Story 2. Everyone is so different - diferent voices and styles, different ideas, and of course, different mistakes. And the challenge is always "how can this be made better? how can this problem be fixed?" There is never a magic answer, only suggestions and ideas, and then it's back to the drawing board for the writer.
I had a long phone conversation with a writer friend on Sunday night, describing the conference and what happened and what I heard. It helped to crystallise a few things I had been thinking about - just like workshopping really! And it reminded me, more than anything, of another weekend I went to several years ago, where two of us writers sat at dinner one night and worked out some very interesting theories on how male writers behave in public (i.e. at conferences where they are "on show") and how female writers behave. By behave I mean how they present themselves to the audience, and to those around them between sessions.
Male writers seem to have personas, and a certain confidence in their abilities and achievements. On the weekend, most of the male writers presented themselves as humorous, breezy and relaxed. And the females were serious, self-deprecating and calm. Except for one young woman who was genuinely hilarious.
So those theories were proved again - and trust me, I am not being sexist. I am merely observing how people present themselves and there are always exceptions. So I won't go on and describe the circles theory of "who you know" !!

I have just been to the Youth Literature conference in Melbourne - Reading Matters. Another excellent conference organised by Agnes Nieuwenhuizen and her trusty band of Mike and Lili. Over 300 people there this time, more than ever, but mostly teachers and librarians. It is not a writing conference, it is a books and reading conference and focuses on new books and writers, how stories are written (which is the bit of interest to me) and ideas and issues.
There was quite a bit of emphasis on issues this time - lots of talk about refugees, how to write fiction that explores issues without being didactic, do books make a difference? The overseas guests were Adeline Yen Mah, Tessa Duder (NZ), Karen Levine (Canada), Malorie Blackman (UK) and David Fickling (UK).
David F was of the most interest to me as he is a publisher and his authors include Phillip Pullman and Mark Haddon. He was very genuine, humorous and gave me, as a writer, hope about the state of publishing. I have problems with the bean counters, the ones who write the contracts, and there were a few editors and publishers in the audience. When he spoke about books with such passion and described how to "capture" an author (kind of like enticing fairies or elves - leaving delicious food out on the lawn and staying very, very quiet), I saw a lot of the editors nodding and smiling. A heartening sight.
There were some very good sessions - for example, one on girls's stories and one on boys' stories which raised some interesting points. Malorie Blackman was very energetic and talked about her writing with great enthusiasm and clarity. Karen Levine did a presentation on her book "Hana's Suitcase" which is about a suitcase which survived the Holocaust and how this Japanese woman tracked down who owned it (a 13 year old girl who died at Auschwitz) and then found the girl's only surviving relative. There were quite a few tears in the audience for that session!
My favourite quote for the weekend was "Outside a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog, it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx.

Tried to work on the novel on the weekend - tried to focus, but nothing was happening. I was in that space where I hated the whole darn thing and wished I'd never written it! Well, not quite, but I think that's why sometimes I find rewriting so hard. There are days of writing like that too. Some days you sing, some days you groan.
I put it away and decided to come back to it in a few days when I feel more positive. In the meantime I have been writing poems, experimenting with a new verse novel idea. As if I don't have enough just-started or unfinished pieces hanging around. This is where I marvel at Jane Yolen, who talks in her journal about working on all sorts of things all the time, going from one to the other.
That raises the eternal question for me - if I was able to write full-time, would I have the discipline to produce? At the moment, I squeeze writing in amongst teaching and other necessities, and I'm pretty determined to find those spaces of time. But if all I had was time, would I use it as well?
On the reading front, I read Louise Rennison's new book over the weekend - "And That's When it Fell Off in my Hand". (I think in the US they have titled it "Away Laughing on a Fast Camel" for some reason.) It is pure fun, had me laughing out loud quite a few times, and thoroughly cheered me up.

I have been looking at a few other blogs recently - it's fascinating to see all the different styles and approaches. One was writing and poetry news items only (quite boring but useful), another was aimed at teen readers.
I have been reading Jane Yolen's online journal for several months now. She is so down-to-earth and talks about what she is working on, as well as rejections and acceptances of manuscripts and news from home. She likes readers to email her with comments and I've been quite excited to see that recently she has used a couple of my emails. I did enjoy her story of the fat and gaunt cows. Go to www.janeyolen.com and click on the journal link.
The early part of the week is always about teaching for me. Workshopping in most classes is either underway or about to start. It can be a tedious exercise if students don't contribute or understand what they can get out of it. I know that at the moment it's feeding back into my own writing by showing me how to more easily cut out what is not necessary, and also to acknowledge my gut feelings about a section. The tendency is to ignore that feeling - to think, Oh it'll be OK as it is.
On the weekend I had a three page section that had a lot of necessary explanation in it. That's what I told myself at first. Then I had to acknowledge that those pages were long and wordy, and find a way to trim them back.
What is hardest to workshop is the great story that is well written, but something just isn't working in it. We had one of those the other day, and it took a while before I could hone in on what it was. Basically it was the movement back and forth in time - too slow and explanatory. Everything in the story could easily take place in the "now" of the story. I'm looking forward to seeing what the student does with it, as it is potentially a very good story.

Yesterday we had a forum for children's writers which went well. Lisa Riley from Penguin spoke (or should I say, she answered my prepared questions and then lots of audience questions) and of course everyone asked about the series (Nibbles, Bites and Chomps). She was very generous with her information and advice.
Meredith Costain was the guest writer. Her experience and range of books is amazing. Lots of non-fiction, which I wish I could write, or at least feel more committed about writing, and beginner readers that really interest me. They are a real challenge - making something substantial out of so few words.
The Q&A session was interesting - a bit unfocused, I thought, which was possibly my fault, but I'm not sure how we could have done it differently. It seemed to get sidetracked a lot. However, in the evaluations people gave good suggestions on what they'd like next time. Many requests for business pointers, how to make the business side run more smoothly and how to deal with tax etc.
I have been working on the middle grade novel, cutting mostly, and so far have got rid of about 9 pages. It's great to be able to finally stand back from the story a bit and see what isn't necessary, what is slowing it down. I had one whole scene and when I looked at it again, I thought - why is that there? So out it went.
Trimming and cutting - with big editor's scissors, not writer's clinging - will continue!
Despite trying twice and also emailing Blogger people for help, the Comments function still does not work here. But you can email me at kidsbooks@optusnet.com.au

At last, after what seems like months (but is only probably 10 days), I have some writing time. Never mind that I have assignments to mark - they can wait until the weekend. Today is free for writing! (And here I am blogging!)
I have tried to add the "Add comments" action to this blog to see if I get any responses, but as I had to cut and paste some HTML, who knows if it will work.
In my Novel 2 class on Wednesday, we finished our last discussion on "House of Sand and Fog". Have been reading large chunks of it week by week and discussing (with set questions from me) as we go along. It has been fascinating to hear the heated discussions over the characters, who they feel the most sympathy for and how the voices and characters work for them.
I chose the book because of the dual point of view and the depth of characterisation, and although most students felt it was a dark book with little hope, it sure got them talking! I don't know if Dubus has published another one since, but I must check.
I received a contract back this week - for a beginner reader - and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had accepted all of my amendments. Even the one where I limited them to 3 years on unused rights. Then I got an email to say the publisher has been bought out by someone else, so who knows what will happen. The editor says the series is still going ahead. Hmmm.
I think I am ready to tackle the rewrite of my middle grade novel. It needs a new beginning and probably 25% cut from the first 70 pages. That'll be a challenge!

Last week I tried out the Book Crossing website - it's where you "release" books into the wild - as in, you leave a book somewhere like a tram or train or park seat, along with a sticker or book plate to explain what Book Crossing is. Whoever picks up the book is asked to log in to the site, using the code number you have put in the book, and say what they are going to do with it - where they leave it after they have read it. It's like the "pass the parcel" game we used to play at parties as kids. Except everyone who finds the book gets a free reading experience, they get to participate in logging in and tracking the book, and they get to release it again.
It's a lot of fun. I released a copy of "Farm Kid" because it is a kid's book that has just been shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Awards and no one seems to know about it. Like many poetry books, it languishes behind fiction and I wanted to try new ways of getting it out to readers. We shall see where it goes!
I have done no writing for 5 days - have been at a beach resort helping 2 friends to celebrate 50th birthdays. Came home and started a poem, but also have been rethinking my middle grade novel and playing with possibilities on how to cut the first half of the book back by 25% and get the pace moving more.
I have also been reading Elizabeth George's new novel and loving it. Nearly 600 pages and I only have about 20 pages to go. It is so fabulous to be deep into a great book, and enjoying it so much that you don't want it to end. I want to take some of her descriptions of places and use them in my classes for exercises and examples.
Ten stars to EG!

After having it on my shelf for about 2 years, I finally got around to reading "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen, and thought it was terrific. As a writer, to have a whole book of mostly just one character doing stuff to survive sounds like such a hard sell - how not to be boring! But the boy is so well written, and I was almost disappointed when he was rescued. He learned so much, and made lots of mistakes, and each challenge got bigger and bigger - great example of raising the stakes.
I also read a new book from the library "The Boy Who Spoke Dog" by Clay Morgan. It was quite different, and had two points of view - the shipwrecked boy and the dog, Moxie. To read chapters from the dog's POV was so interesting. I thought he captured dog thoughts really well. Sad ending.
Writing has come to a halt, not for lack of time but lack of impetus right now. After finishing the first draft of the fantasy novel (which isn't due to the publisher for 3 months yet so plenty of time for rewriting and polishing), I feel at a loose end, not yet able to fully focus back on the historical novel. Am fiddling with other stuff in the meantime - a picture book and a historical story.
Spent nearly the whole class yesterday (Writing for Children class) going on and on about characterisation, character needs, what drives the story etc. I could see some of them start to glaze over. But now we have covered it in depth and I am happy that the class is finally taking shape after so many breaks.
Every week I want them all to have read the books I've read so we can talk about them and of course they rarely have! If I ever ran a book club, I'd have everyone reading a book a day!!

Writing can be so up and down. One day you're writing at a mile a minute, feeling like the best, most prolific, inspired writer in the world. The next day you can sit down and feel like your brain is made of mud.
I keep remembering the quote I read - Real writers write even when they don't want to. That usually keeps me at the desk!
Publishing is even more up and down. One day you can be over the moon because you've had a book accepted. A week later you can be tearing your hair out because the contract is terrible and you have to grit your teeth and negotiate somehow. And then your book comes out and gets a bad review.
It always comes back to the writing, I guess. If you don't love the process, the creation, the high from having written something that just might be OK - if you only are waiting for fame and recognition and maybe money - maybe you should try something else.
That's what I tell myself on the downer days, anyway.
And I also tell myself - being a writer is about perseverance and craft and always trying to do better.
BTW, am reading the 3rd Travelling Pants novel (Ann Brashares) and loving it - more than the first two. She really gets the emotional stuff with her characters working so well.

Have just finished reading "How I Live Now" by Meg Rosoff. A fascinating book - a good read that kept me turning the pages and wondering "how much worse can things get" and of course they get much worse! So also a great book for a writer to read. The voice is unusual (look at all those really long, run-on sentences that are still punctuated correctly so you can easily follow them), and the constant raising of stakes is also great to think about as a writer. So often we are too kind to our characters and so nothing much happens. In a discussion list I'm on, they talked about the US edition of the book which has a page with a large black "hole" on it - I didn't get that in my edition. Pity. I was curious to see where it was in the story.
Also interesting that the girl in the story has anorexia, and how it is talked about (well, it's not really!).
I have been slogging away, day after day (including Easter) on the first draft of the fantasy novel, and yesterday I finished it. Then of course last night I lay in bed and thought about all the things I should have tied up at the end and didn't, so the first job is to go back and rewrite the ending. One of my faults I have to work on - don't rush the ending. Sometimes it's such a relief to finally make it that I pull the finish line towards me instead of keeping up that great pace towards it.
Oh well, what is rewriting for?
I also started a new YA novel last night - a story I have been thinking about on and off for months. It may go nowhere, but I have a beginning, so we shall see.