‘The Welfare of My Enemy’

Has anyone read Anthony Lawrence’s latest book of poems, ‘The Welfare of My Enemy’? Well you should,...more

Boo Hoo

Well, it has been a busy week following the excitement of FOOAP. I love amateur theatre and the Festival of One Act Plays is always great fun. I would audition for parts but live too far away to go in for rehearsals. I have overcome that problem by writing plays instead.

The sad news for the week is that my play was not selected for Chennei Short and Sweet Festival. Boo hoo for me. So…I wrote another one. Well, two actually, but I’m turning one into a longer One-act piece. I have about 20 minutes worth at the moment. I need 20 – 45 minutes, so I would like to add at least 10 minutes (which is the length of a Short and Sweet). Sigh! I can do this. I have never done it before, but I can do this.

I have given my novel Ruth In Pieces to two beta readers. I have heard nothing. Nothing. NOthing. I try hard not to be precious about my writing but what if it sucks!?!

I will not panic…yet.

I have started a follow-up novel. I’m told that publishers like you to have a second one in the same genre ready to go. I don’t even know where the first one came from. What do I have to do with madness (well, alright, I give you that one) and murder? I am a pacifist. I don’t even like horror (except Edgar Allan Poe). Who knew I had all this evil in my psyche? I’m scared…and what about my other novels?

Yes, I have two others in first draft stage. They sit there in the corner plotting my demise. Their pages flutter and whisper, “Come to us. Come to us.” I ignore them, of course. I know they will pull me into another world and I won’t be able to escape. It would be heaven to stop resisting and just let it happen, but I must get this second round of murders finished.

Which is why I must leave you now…ciao for now.

A Short Story

A Short Story. One of my favourites by Dale Furse.

The Race for the Chinese Zodiac

The Race for the Chinese Zodiac. by my friend Gabrielle Wang. She is the most awesome Children’s writer in Australia.

FOOAP

Good morning! I am off to the Festival of One Act Plays here in Townsville this afternooon. I will attend all sessions, I think. I love amateur theatre. I used to do quite a bit of community acting but live too far away for rehearsals now. I guess that is why I did okay writing the 10 minute play.

The POTheads (Playwrights of Townsville) are meeting at the Civic Theatre for a celebratory drink before curtains up. Come and join us. Alex Broun the guy who we did the workshop with, remember? Is going to be the judge. It will be interesting to hear his comments.

Hope you are doing something equally interesting and enjoyable. Cheers, Rosa.

Brisbane too

Have just heard that my play has also been shortlisted for the Brisbane Short and Sweet Festival. Whoo hoo!

But what does being short listed really mean?

In this case it means that of approx. 450 plays submitted mine was one of 44 short-listed (Chennai – one of 50). The plays now go out to the producers of the festivals and of those short-lists about half are selected to be played. So, a nervous wait now to see if I make the next cut.

The plays remain in the running for a further 10 festivals and, hopefully, I will have further exciting announcements to make. Wish me luck… Rosa

Short Listed!

I am so excited for my short play “Everybody Loves Me” to be short-listed for the Channai Short and Sweet Festival. Yes, that’s right I wrote a play. this is how it happened…In April I attended a work shop by Alex Broun, along with his other talents, a short play guru. With a fabulous group of budding playwrights, none of us had written a play before, I listened to his words of wisdom. Amongst other really valuable stuff we learned the importance of -Dialogue, Situation, Character, Dramatic Tension, Theatricality, and Surprise. We  did the writing exercises, had a few laughs and on the Sat. night went home and wrote our own little play. It is amazing how much dialogue it takes to get through ten minutes. Now, now, enough of that, I’m only talkative sometimes.The next day we were given the opportunity to direct a walking reading i.e. the actors acted the play and walked through it while reading from the scripts.

Here, I must thank the actors from Townsville Little Theatre, Outback Players and Props Youth Theatre, who were so generous with their time and worked so hard with us to produce our plays for showing on Sunday afternoon.

Anyhow, our plays went on and after each Alex spoke to its strong and weak points. Everyone did really well and we were all encourage to enter the Short and Sweet Festivals comp. So, of course, I entered. Each entry has a chance to be chosen at 12 different Short and Sweet venues around the world. Channai is the first of the 12.

I have fallen in love with this media. I find it very satisfying for the many me’s – writer, actor, bossy boots, etc. I have now written 5 short plays and entered 4 of them for consideration.

It has been great fun. Thank you Alex for sharing your knowledge. See what a good teacher you are!?!

Wasn’t that a long post? I am definitely going to try to blog more often. See you next time. Rosa

Oh, forgot!

I have changed the poem on the Welcome page and added a youtube of Ken Babstock, winner of The Griffin Poetry Award, speaking his poem ‘Compatibilist’. Love it.

First Prize Surprise

Well, I haven’t done much with this blog lately but I now have something to skite about. I won First Prize in the Harvey Bay Arts Council Queensland Day Short Story Writing competition. What a mouthful! I am so happy and thrilled that someone outside my know group of friends and family considers my work prize worthy..not that I don’t appreciate all the support and encouragement you have all given me, but this is a different kind of validation. You can read the story here. Hope you enjoy it. If you feel you have read it before, that is because I cannabilised a longer version to fit the required word count.

Thank you to the Harvey Bay Arts Council and the Judges. ‘Bye for now.