MAY 2014 The KSP News E s t a b l i s h e d 1 9 8 5

Upcoming Event

The KSP Follow Your Dreams Festival

All tickets now discounted!!!

Meet marketing guru, motivational speaker

and book publisher

RACHAEL BERMINGHAM

Taking last minute bookings now

Upcoming

Workshops

Booking in advance is essential for all workshops and events.

Please see the KSP website for payment details.

9294 1872 / kspf@iinet.net.au

A STORY FROM

AN ANECDOTE

with Writer-in-Residence

PADDY O’REILLY

Saturday 12 July 1.00-4.00pm

All of us have anecdotes that

we tell or that we hear from

family and friends. However,

they can be the raw material

for great stories. In this

workshop you will take your

anecdotes and tear them up and

put them back together to see if

there is a story inside. There

usually is. If by some strange

chance there isn't, you'll make

one up from what you found.

Participants should come with

an idea of an anecdote.

MEMBER’S CHOICE

WORKSHOP

Saturday 15 November,

1.00pm-4.00pm

Based on your suggestions, we

have compiled the most popular

ideas for workshops. Thanks to

everyone who completed the

survey. Now it is time to vote!!!!

Click here to vote or post your vote

to: 11 Old York Rd, Greenmount

6056 / or email kspf@iinet.net.au

1) Romance Writing

2) Writing Fantasy

3) Building an Author Website

and Social Media Presence

4) Breaking Writer's Block /

Motivation to Write

5) Writing Children's Fiction

Banquet with Butterflies

written by Writer-in-Residence Bronwyn Lovell

It would be impossible for me to overstate what

coming to KSP as the emerging writer-in-residence

this past month has meant to me. I will return to

Melbourne with renewed enthusiasm for my writing

and work doubly hard towards achieving those

writing goals I too often lose sight of in the blur of

everyday busyness.

During my time at KSP, I commenced the

manuscript for my science fiction verse novel Migration, about the first human

settlement on Mars. I am absolutely delighted with the progress I have made

on this project. I arrived here with a vague idea and am leaving with a solid

suite of poems and many more notes and ideas that I can continue to build

upon. Migration has even had its first public reading at the Perth Poetry Club,

a lively weekly gig run by the amazing Elio Novello, who kindly invited me to

come along as a guest. Many people from the audience came up to me

afterwards to say how much they enjoyed hearing my Mars poems. It gives me

such a buzz to take that encouragement home with me. I am incredibly

grateful for the gift of time and space this residency has provided, without

which my shuttle to Mars may never have got off the ground.

Another highlight of my visit here was the literary dinner performance of

Chrysalis, a poetry suite exploring the life cycle of the butterfly. It was a

privilege to bring my butterfly poems to WA and to share some of the more

fascinating aspects of insect biology with such a jolly audience. I don’t think

I’ve ever enjoyed myself so much during a reading! And the food was so good

I even dreamt about it afterwards. I wish I could always sing for my supper in

such a delightful fashion.

Page 2 THE KSP NEWS

COMPETITIONS,

EVENTS &

OPPORTUNITIES

PCWC Advanced Writing

Course - register by 18 June

Details here

OOTA Prose Workshops with

Nandi Chinna & Shane McCauley

Every Friday - details here

ACU Prize for Literature

Closes 7 July 2014

Details here

Val Vallis Poetry Award

Closes 10 July 2014

Details here

WAPI Song Lyric Contest

Closes 13 July 2014

Details here

Henry Handel Richardson

Society Competition

Closes 31 July 2014

Details here

Yarram Writing Competition

Closes 21 July 2014

Details here

Write Sabah July Retreat

Details here

Best Australian Poems 2014

Closes 1 August 2014

Details here

Aesthetica Writing Comp

Closes 31 August 2014

Details here

Anthology of Loss

Call for submissions.

Closes 1 September 2014

Details here

Janice M Bostok Haiku Award

Closes 1 September 2014

Details here

Freefall Writing Retreat

October and November

Details here

Page 3

CONGRATS...

Congratulations to Tracy Farr, a past Writer-in-Residence, on her novel, ‘The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt’, reaching the Miles Franklin long list. The short list includes many of Australia’s literary giants, and it is a credit to Tracy’s literary skill that her work kept them company long enough for them to consider the possibility of a new author taking the prize. ‘The Life and Loves of Lena Gaunt’ is a stunningly poetic book begun during Tracy’s residency at KSP.

Congrats also...

to KSP-member Juliet Marillier, whose story 'By Bone-light' won the Best Young Adult Short Fiction category in the prestigious 2014 Aurealis Awards.

Member

Renewals

winner

Maureen Sexton

Maureen has won a

voucher for a standard

$30 KSP workshop

funded by DCA.

Congratulations

Maureen!!!

Banquet with Butterflies (continued)

written by Writer-in-Residence Bronwyn Lovell

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to KSP’s patron Glen Phillips,

chairperson Renee Hammond, coordinator Shannon Coyle, all the committee

members who have welcomed me so warmly, especially Mardi May, Andrew

Levett, Karen Treanor and Tabetha Beggs, and of course the many facilitators

and writers who have kindly allowed me to attend their groups and share in their

wonderful words. Special thanks also to Rose van Son, Melissa O’Shea, Shey

Marque, Anna Wright, Carolyn Wren, Tony Harding, Barbara Gurney, David

Kitson, Eris MacDonald and Chris Oakeley, who are just some of the many

people who went out of their way to make me smile.

What you have here at KSP is very special and I feel blessed to have been

able to share in it for a little while. I’ve made so many lovely friends in this

charming and talented writing community that it’s sad to have to leave, but

luckily for me, I’ve already been invited back! I will return for the KSP

Speculative Fiction Mini-con on 10 August and the WA Poetry Festival 14 to 17

August, then I’ll be performing at Voicebox in Fremantle on 25 August, running

a free workshop at Perth City Library as part of National Poetry Week on 1

September, and reading at a South Perth Library Words with Wine evening.

Please sign up to my mailing list or keep an eye on my website for more

information on these events (www.bronwynlovell.com).

So, until then, sweet-hearted people of KSP—thank you for everything, keep

writing and may your words be heard and better the world!

I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

With much appreciation and warmest wishes, Bronwyn Lovell xx

Saint Rosanne of Malta

written by Tabetha Beggs

When I signed up for Rosanne Dingli’s six week Author’s Course at the KSP Writers’ Centre, my

expectations were simple; to complete the course with a few wise words scribbled into my notebook and a

head full of information to set me on my way into the publishing world (well, once my manuscript is

completed for course!). The reality of what I took away from Rosanne’s lessons was all that, but oh so

much more.

With four novels, numerous short story collections, and a poetry book to boast of, Rosanne is well

qualified to share her experiences and give subjective advice on the merits of self-publishing versus

chasing an elusive publishing contract. She has succeeded in doing both. Rosanne’s course was

strategically targeted to those who have, or are close to finishing, their manuscript, with her key message

being that a marketing strategy for your work is just as important as what you write and should be artfully

weaved into the writing process. Rosanne happily shared her knowledge of the industry and offered some

handy tricks of the trade while supporting her teachings with real life examples.

What I also took from the course was a fascination of the myriad of topics on which the other members

of the class are working on. I look forward to reading some of the finished works as they come to fruition.

What a wonderful eclectic bunch of women, who I hope very much come through the centre’s various

courses and writers’ groups. I have no doubt Rosanne found her pupils equally as interesting as we did

her and know she would be the first to congratulate any one of our successes.

The wonderful Ms Dingli brought more than her expertise in self-publishing, marketing, and branding

to our classes; she also managed to lace our lessons with warmth, laughter, and conversation. She filled

our hearts with her inspiration, enthusiasm, and huge personality. I know I speak on behalf of the whole

class, whether they attended the full course or just part of it – it wasn’t just intellectual property we

gained, but a new friend.

It doesn’t take long after first

meeting Rosanne to know that if her

books are anything like she is as a

person, then you are in for a ride of

contagious energy and cultural

richness. And hidden among the

pages will be a little Maltese lady

collecting yellow crockery sets, a

swarthy young man on an academic

journey, a beautiful starlet changing

the world one feminist act at a time,

and a man named Hugo, who

everyone will fall in love with, one

page at a time.

Page 4 THE KSP NEWS

Page 5

Prior to the Rejection to Acceptance: Revising Poems for Publication workshop,

some of us had met Bronwyn Lovell, the poet. Today we met Bronwyn, the editor

and teacher. This workshop was never going to be ordinary, although the subject is

everyday fare to all writers. We had sent two or three poems to Bronwyn for

critiquing prior to the workshop, so we had expectations.

The clear, concise guidelines and practical example of revision and editing, are

all going to be helpful rules for our future poetry writing. The delight of the

afternoon was the personal mentoring component and the sharing and discussion of

the feedback amongst ourselves.

Under Bronwyn’s guidance, we stepped back from our poems and saw them for

the living evolving structures they are. Rather like the chrysalis that mutates into the

butterfly of Bronwyn’s book, this revising and editing process is necessary for the

splendid completeness of its maturity.

The guidelines we will take away and sit them by the computer for reference, but the valuable, personal

moments gifted to us by Bronwyn will stay somewhere closer to us; somewhere closer to our poetry.

These days the writing of a book seems like the easy part of the road to the bookshelf,

and standard publishing is unable to cope with the flood of authors seeking their

service. Online publication is an option gathering force, but for those who want to

hold a book in their hands, self-publishing is an attractive alternative.

In her workshop, Tineke Van der Eecken shared her experience of the process in

the publishing of her very successful memoir, Café d’Afrique. Here the actual

printing of the book seemed to be the easier part compared to the marketing necessary

for success. This ‘authorpreneurship’ is expected of authors today in an increasingly

competitive market. For this, the use of social media is a must. For a dinosaur like

myself, tweeting and twittering belong to the birds, and blogging and Facebook are

places in cyberspace I have not yet visited. Tineke revealed the mysteries of the media

and their marketing possibilities, and inspired us to follow her lead.

The days of living in a garret are gone, and today’s authors, self-published books

in hand, are selling not only their work to the world, but selling themselves as writers.

* * *

EXCITING NOTICE! Due to popular demand, Tineke will be returning to KSP later in 2014 to conduct a

workshop on ‘writing memoir’. So it you have an idea on hand, come along and brew it properly with Tineke,

then go home and work on producing 50 pages of text to then take it to the next level in Rachel Robertson’s

two-day Memoir Master Class (18 September, 20 October). Check the website soon for details.

Rejection to Acceptance

written by Mardi May

A Guide to Self-Publishing

written by Mardi May

Patron

Dr Glen Phillips

Public Fund

Chairperson KSP

Treasurer KSP

Clive Aldridge

Denis McLeod

Robert Perks

Literary Advisory Board

Dr Glen Phillips

David Caddy

Prof. Brian Dibble

Kathleen Dzubiel

Mardi May

Dr Melissa O’Shea

Karen Treanor

Dr Amanda Curtin

Juliet Marillier

Management Committee

Chairperson Renee Hammond

Secretary Andrew Levett

Treasurer Robert Perks

Newsletter Ed. Shannon Coyle

Committee Mardi May

Karen Treanor

Shannon Coyle

Guy Salvidge

Andrew Levett

Valerie Everett

Tabetha Beggs

Coordinator

Shannon Coyle

Competitions Secretary

Vacant—please apply

Write-a-Book-in-a-Day

Christopher Oakeley

KATHARINE SUSANNAH

PRICHARD WRITERS’ CENTRE

Regular Writing Groups

Open for Everyone to Join (Per class: $5 members/$10 nonmembers)

Poetry Writing Group (Poets@KSP) 2nd, 4th Mondays 1.00-3.00pm

Writers’ Circle Tuesdays 10.00-12.00pm

Writefree Women’s Writing Group Wednesdays 9.45-11.45am

Young Writers’ Group (8-16s) Thursdays during school term 4.00-6.00pm

Home Schoolers Group (9-16s) Thursdays during school term 10.00-11.30am

Thursday Night Group Thursdays 7.30-9.30pm

Romance Writers Group Fridays 9.30-11.30am

Marathon Writers Group Fridays 12.00-4.00pm

Non-Fiction Writers Monthly 1st Saturday 10.00-12.00pm

Past Tense (Social History) Monthly 2nd Saturday 10.00-12.00pm

Speculative Fiction/Fantasy Monthly 2nd Sunday 10.00-12.00pm

Avon Valley Writers Group Wednesdays 10.00am & Thursdays 7.00pm

NaNoWriMo Support Group Mondays during October and November only,

9.00am - 12.00pm

Katharine’s Place

11 Old York Road

Greenmount

WA 6056

AUSTRALIA

Phone: (08) 9294 1872

Fax: (08) 9294 1872

Email: kspf@iinet.net.au

Web: kspf.iinet.net.au