Margaret and the Dali

Salvador Dali: Christ of St. John of the Cross

First draft completed. Three thousand, five hundred words. I have no idea if it's any good but it's a start.

We'll see

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to the CAL Scribe Fiction Prize 2011. Your entry is complete: we have processed your $40 entry fee and look forward to reading your work.

Another email will be sent to all entrants when the longlist is announced, which will probably be in December. Please let us know if your contact details change in the meantime.

Best wishes,

Ian See
Editor
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Kaboom

I submitted my manuscript today to the CAL Scribe Fiction Prize 2010.  The first prize if $15,000 (half of which is an advance on the book deal the publisher signs with the winner).  I spent last night and all of today revising the text yet again.  I've no idea if it's a prize-winning novel.  That's for the judges to decide.  I don't even know if it's a publishable story.  But I read it again as I fine-tuned the draft.  It stands up.  It's a decent first work of 91,300 words.  Here's how it now starts:

To tell you the truth I have no idea where a man in my condition should start.  But I know this much.  It’s no surprise to wake up here; no surprise at all.  In fact it’s something of a consolation.  A long time ago I was warned that I would end up here, in a place like this.  I was told that I would come to no good, which is exactly what I’ve come to.  Mind you, there’s a perverse pleasure in having confirmed through experience something my elders and betters foretold would be mine if I did not mend my wasteful ways.  I hate to disappoint people.  So here I am, as predicted.

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My second short story in 6 weeks

I read in the NSW Writers' Centre weekly bulletin that the Adelaide Review has a short story competition that closes next week.  The judges are Brian Castro, J M Coetzee and Gail Jones.  So how much is that beyond the twilight zone?  I started to write this morning and was more or less finished by the end of the day.  The word limit is 2,500.  I just squeezed under it.  The story is called Windows.  I'll let it sit for a couple of days, edit it and submit the final version next week.  Here's how it starts:

Every morning, about three minutes past eight, one of those double-decked, super-sized Airbus jets passes before my eyes for a few seconds.  Climbing from right to left across the bedroom window, it reminds me of the world beyond.  There are people.  One is not alone.  I am not Legend.
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Once Upon A Time

I started writing what might become my second novel, this way:

It’s not always easy to tell where a story truly begins; any story, all stories perhaps, this story for sure. Even as children, when the beginning seems simple enough to detect with “Once upon a time”, we still ask questions: How old is the Princess? Where was Rumplestiltskin born? Why were there forty thieves and does Ali Baba have any sisters as well as a bother, Kassim?

We'll see.
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An idea ... much less than half-formed

wThe Twelve Labours of Hercules (Greek: Δωδεκαθλος, dodekathlos) are a series of archaic episodes connected by a later continuous narrative, concerning a penance carried out by the greatest of the Greek heroes, Heracles, romanised as Hercules. The establishment of a fixed cycle of twelve labours was attributed by the Greeks to an epic poem, now lost, written by Peisander, dated about 600 BC (Burkert).

This may go to New York, New York or into a galaxy far, far away and a long time ago ...

... or nowhere.









(Hercules Fights the Nemean Lion. From a Roman Sarcophagus of the 2nd-3rd Century A.D.)

Encouraging words

"Dear Shaz,

Thank you for the manuscript. I finished it yesterday and have been digesting my reactions.

I would definitely encourage your friend to keep submitting it and keep writing. It has a strong and distinct voice that I found generally enjoyable, entertaining and easy to keep with.

I found many of the observations funny and the events sad/thought provoking/informative.

I can offer other comments but don't want to overstep the bounds as I think you said you were just looking for a broad reaction.

How would you like me to arrange to return it to you, and also, when is our next book group?

Regards,
Heather"

Comings and goings

Susi returned from New Zealand this evening, so that’s brought the day to a happier close than its beginning. She's been asleep for hours, largely because their day started three hours before ours.

After dinner I added 1,400 hundred words to my great unpublished novel. That means there are 43,000 down with about the same number to go and all before Christmas, so that’ll be no great challenge. Still, I succeed in killing my main character. I’m glad that’s out of the way because I feared it might be quite difficult to do. The truth is he’s a much more engaging person dead than alive. That’s why I like him so much. I’m not entirely sure what that says about me.
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