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Wednesday Wisdom
‘They,’ he said, and his arms swept out to embrace the world, ‘will tell you and encourage you to develop your brain and your five senses. But that’s only the half of it, that’s only being half a human. The other half is to develop the heart and the wits.’ He ticked them off on one gnarled old hand with the end of his pipe. ‘There’s common wit, there’s imagination, there’s fantasy, there’s estimation, and there’s memory.’ Old Woody’s face turned upwards, his spirit danced and was warmed out among the stars whilst his body remained with us and was warmed by the old tin-can brazier. ‘Never let anyone rob you of your right to be complete. The daylight is for the brain and the senses, the darkness is for the heart and the wits – Never, never be afraid. Your brain may fail you one day, but your heart won’t.’
I first read that quote in my early teens, and I thought of it again yesterday when I was telling a friend about the book, Mister God, This is Anna.
I’ve always loved the night-time, and it’s probably no surprise that night is when I write best; the distractions of the day and their demands on the senses are dealt with, and out here in the bush it’s still and peaceful outside, with only the rustlings of the nocturnal animals. My imagination unfurls, and I can more easily find my characters’ hearts and souls. Writing becomes more intuitive, the words flowing, and less a conscious, rational word-by-word process.
So perhaps Old Woody was right – the darkness is for the heart and the wits.
Wednesday Wisdom is a new feature on my blog, in which I’ll share a quote or some wisdom that has shaped my thinking about writing, books, reading, love, or similar.
Although I won’t be posting every day, themes for different weekdays will, I hope, provide writing prompts and ideas for me and therefore make my blog more interesting for readers, and more frequently updated!
Here’s proof…
… proof pages for Dead Heat, that is! This is the final stage in the book preparation – the proof pages of the book, and the very last chance to make any changes:
There wasn’t a lot of time between copy edits going in on the 9th January, and the proof pages arriving, but I did have time to have lunch with my friend Gemma, a local police sergeant who’s given very helpful procedural advice for each of my books:
Today I had lunch with Emily, my National Park ranger friend, who’s also been a fantastic help for Dead Heat – but I didn’t get a photo of her, this time.
Now it’s head down time, concentrating on getting the proof pages done so they can be mailed on Monday morning! The rest of the ‘family’, however, are having a much more relaxing time…
…. except for when they’re watching out for wildlife…
… but they didn’t see these two visitors:
I’ll be back to more regular blogging next week, after those proof pages are on their way back to Sydney!
Revisions
My publisher and the structural editor got back to me quite quickly with revisions on the manuscript, none of which surprise me, so in between marking assignments and teaching, I’ve been working out how to make the necessary changes to the book. Both the backstory and the plot were a bit too complicated, so I need to decide what to cut and what to keep, and then make the changes through the manuscript. Plus smooth out and polish some aspects, and add a couple of scenes.
Easy.
Ahem. Well, nothing I can’t do. Just have to keep butt in chair and do it. I have until November 1st to get the revisions done. I also have to mark another 40 essays, teach three more weeks of uni, and have two trips away between now and then.
I’m taking a slightly unexpected trip to Canberra for a few days, leaving on the (aarrghh!) 6.30am plane tomorrow. Which means getting up at 5 am to leave here by 5.30am to get into town to the airport. We can be thankful that small regional airports don’t require one to be there an hour before the flight. (Have I mentioned that I don’t do mornings very well??)
My Dad in Canberra has been feeling low, and I managed to snaffle some frequent flyer reward flights, so that’s the reason for my trip. I’ll mostly be visiting Dad in the nursing home, and seeing Mum and the rest of the family, but we might manage a visit to Floriade, Canberra’s huge spring celebration with millions of flowers. The other major event on at the weekend, of interest especially to those of us born in the southern part of the country, is the Australian Football League Grand Final. It’s in Melbourne, not Canberra, but for those of you who don’t know AFL, it’s a matter of fact that anyone born within coo-ee of Melbourne is genetically bonded to an AFL team from birth, or at least from a young age.
I followed Collingwood as a kid, because my sister followed Collingwood, and she was bigger than me. I don’t follow any code of football much at all these days, but my Dad does, and although his team isn’t in the Grand Final this year, Collingwood is. So, I imagine we will probably do the Proper Traditional Thing and watch the GF on TV Saturday afternoon, with beer and crisps and peanuts and other munchies.
It will be hard. I mean, watching a couple of dozen very fit young men running up and down a large field, jumping, kicking, tackling. For those who’ve never seen AFL, perhaps I should mention here that AFL uniforms consist of short tight shorts, and close-fitting sleeveless shirts. Here’s a little sample of what I may have to ‘endure’:
LOL- who cares which team wins?
Deadline!
(With apologies to the lyricist of ‘Rawhide’)
Writing, writing, writing,
Though the brain is tiring,
Keep those words a-typing,
Deadline!
Write ‘em down, move ‘em round
Move ‘em round, Write more down
Write more down, move ‘em round
Deadline!
Cut ‘em out, write ‘em in
write ‘em in, cut ‘em out
Cut ‘em out, write ‘em in
Deadline!
Normal broadcasting blogging will resume in a couple of weeks, when this book is done!
Upcoming workshop!
Next Saturday, 4th June, I’ll be running a full-day workshop in Sydney for the NSW Writer’s Centre called Love Writing: An introduction to writing romantic fiction.
There are still some places left in the workshop, so if you’re in or around Sydney and interested, hop over to the NSW Writers Centre and read all about it. You don’t have to be an experienced writer, but if you’ve got a story idea or three hovering in your head, and it’s even a bit romantic, then come along and discover more about what makes a good romantic story work. My workshops are usually fairly informal and interactive, with lots of discussion, laughs, and practical writing, and I promise that I’m not scary!
Upcoming Events
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Jun16Sat
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