June, July, August 2009

Writer’s Quote of the Month

Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
~ Ernest Hemingway, b 21 July

~~~~

Contents

1. News
2. Guest Speaker 
3. Amanda Patterson: On Writing
4. Courses & workshops
5. How to Become a Subscriber
6. Book Reviews
7. Author Interviews
8. Soul Signs - Gemini & Cancer 
9. Competitions
10. Students Write
11. Classified

 ~~~~~

1. News 

Congratulations to Writers Write graduates, A!ta Mare & Maggie Fikkert

Hi Amanda,
I have just signed a contract with RSG to do an afternoon story for them consisting of 40 episodes!
I am thoroughly delighted. I have also done my first submission to M&B in the UK. Your courses have definitely given structure to my creativity and I can’t wait to do more.
Regards
A!ta Mare 

Dear Amanda
My book, Jade and the Serpent’s Circle, will be launched on the 1st of August at Maropeng! The kids will love it. Big ones too ;-) I completed the Writers Write course and have completed a manuscript for young adults (Fantasy Fiction). Just wanted to say thank you for a GREAT course as it started me on this path of subconscious discovery and fantasy.
All the best
Maggie Fikkert

 Amanda Patterson

The Writers Write Course includes lectures and modules on:

1. Story Ideas & Plotting
2. Viewpoint & Genre
3. Setting & Description
4. Scenes/Beginnings, Middles and Ends
5. Dialogue
6. Characters
7. Pacing/Rewriting & Research
8. Manuscript Preparation & Advice on Publishing

Please see dates below.

Johannesburg 
August
15th (Four consecutive Saturday mornings) from 09:00 – 13:00
17th – 21st (Five consecutive mornings) from 09:00 -12:00

Where: 10 Bompas Street, Dunkeld West

Cape Town
July
27th – 31st from 09:00 – 13:00 daily
August
22nd from 09:00 – 13:00 for four consecutive Saturday mornings

Where: The Ambassador Hotel, Bantry Bay, Cape Town

Durban
August
31st- 4th from 09:00 – 12:00 daily

Where: St Anne’s, Berea, Durban 

Mail info@writerswrite.co.za for more details.

  ~~~~~

Spud - Learning to Fly

South African fiction publishing records broken!

2 000 copies of Spud - Learning to Fly were sold at the launch - outselling it’s nearest rivals, Harry Potter (900) and Long Walk to Freedom (800)

Learning to fly - John van de Ruit was Amanda's guest speaker in June

 ~~~~~

  The Write Away Conference, 23 May 2009

The workshops and competitions were open to all high school learners and adults. There were stimulating workshops and fun writing competitions.

Delegates could explore their writing talent, meet some of South Africa’s best writers, entrepreneurial journalists and inventive writing coaches.

Thank you to Gillian Leggat, St Andrews teacher, and ex Writers Write graduate, for organising the conference.

Read on ...

 ~~~~~

Entrepreneur features Amanda Patterson

 ~~~~~

Competition Results

You know you're a real writer when. . .

This was one of our most popular competitions ever. Which proves how many 'real' writers read this newsletter.

 ~~~~~

2. Guest Speakers & Functions

Romance Writers, Readers & Winners Write

Date: 22 July 2009
Time: 18:00 - 20:00
Venue: 10 Bompas Road, Dunkeld West
Cost: R150, 00

RSVP: info@writerswrite.co.za

 ~~~~~

3. Amanda Patterson: On Writing 

Amanda Patterson's quotations on writing

There’s no such thing as Writer’s Block. The problem you have is laziness.
I’m not looking for the great South African novel. I’m looking for a good read.
If you can’t explain your plot in 30 seconds, I don’t want to read your novel.
The reason most South African novels only reach sales of 2000 copies is because they are dire.
Do not wait for inspiration. It’s never on time.
You can have your book or you can have your excuses. You can’t have both.

For more click here: Quotations

~~~~~

4. Coming up in Writing 

1. Creative Writing Courses

2. Business Writing Courses 

Captions - The Strategic Press Release

The Write Report - Writing proposals & reports

Facing the Internet - The New PR Plan

Welcome To the Electronic Age

“The first contact you have with a potential client is written. Make sure that you do it well,” says Amanda Patterson, CEO of Writers Write.

Let’s begin at the beginning. Emails are often the backbone of any business. Brilliant emails can give your business the competitive edge.

Let’s face it. The business world has changed.

Go back twenty or thirty years. Picture it. A cigar-puffing CEO summons his prim secretary into his corner office. He dictates a memo or letter. With dazzling proficiency in shorthand, she takes it all down; neatly types sit up on her IBM Selectric, making carbon copies with real carbon paper for all the relevant parties.
The arrival of the Internet, email, cell phones, PDA’s - and all their nifty technological cousins - means we are now all required to be communicators. We’re not only required to communicate efficiently – we’re required to communicate fast.

Read on

 ~~~~~

Split infinitives - do you even know what that is?!? 

For the hyper-critical,
to boldly go where no man has gone before
is the most famous split infinitive in the world, and should be
to go boldly. . .

It’s good to be aware, though, that inserting one or more words between “to” and a verb is not, strictly speaking, an error. It is often more expressive than moving the intervening words elsewhere. However, so many people are offended by split infinitives that it’s better to avoid them except when the alternative sounds strained and awkward.

Taken from our workshop, You, the editor. . .

For more information mail info@writerswrite.co.za

 ~~~~~

5. Reviews

Our reviewers rate books from 1 – 5

1 - For use as a doorstop only
2 - Keep for publishers’ & booksellers’ strikes
3 - A great holiday read
4 - You’ll remember this with enthusiasm a month later
5 – Unforgettable

A fork in the road by André Brink (Harvill Secker) R 290, 00 ISBN: 978-1-846-55244-1

‘Fear? Yes, there was fear. It surfaced mainly in small, real – and often preposterous – pockets of experience.’
André Brink describes his life with all its flavours, touches, experiences, sounds, smells, loves, angers and sadness. Although the long sentences made me dizzy, the perfectly categorized words of discovery, tragedy and tumult, brought shivers to my spine and made me read the book, not from cover to cover, but with pleasure and satisfaction.
André Brink, the author of sixteen novels in English, shows us his life is just as interesting as many of his characters in his awarded and shortlisted books. A Fork in the Road starts with the conventional wisdom that every choice one makes eliminates others. With words from Yogi Berra, Barack Obama, artist William Kentridge and writer Monique Zerder-Chardovoire, he strengthens his idea about choices in life.
A new road may split from the main road, but possibility to return to that road is always present. ‘And whenever there’s a fork in the road: take it.’

Reviewer: Ingrid Verhagen
3/5

Grief's Bounty by Sandy Goulding (Women’s Words) ISBN: 9780620431606 R165.00

“For weeks, the sexual being in me has dominated. Thoughts of the dark, young Anil constantly flit through my mind: his smile, his voice, his touch. I carry his voice in my head like a favourite song.”
For Sophie, the narrator, the deaths of her father and beloved brother, is a wake-up call to examine her own life more closely. Exploring the intense link between grief and passion works well as a theme in this South African author’s first novel as it shows death as a catalyst for sexual reawakening.
A divorced Jo’burg career woman, with two grown daughters, Sophie finds herself drawn to a younger married man. The growing attraction between Sophie and Anil causes conflict with her children, colleagues and best friend.
Despite the warnings of those closest to her, she becomes sexually obsessed and emotionally dependant on him. Sophie has started a journey from which she cannot turn back, with some hard-earned lessons along the way.
As a portrait of a mature woman’s quest to reclaim her identity and sexuality, Grief’s Bounty is raw, erotic and brave. A poignant debut.

Reviewer: Anthony Ehlers
Rating: 3/5

Reviews of the first two Spud books...

More reviews

~~~~~

6. Interviews 

 Shaun Tomson

 Gail Schimmel

 John van de Ruit

  ~~~~~

7. Soul Signs

On Writing (& Other Stuff) for

Gemini

A medium Vodka dry Martini - with a slice of lemon peel. Shaken and not stirred. ~ Ian Fleming , b 28 May

Cancer

Genius is more often found in a cracked pot than in a whole one. ~ E. B. White, b 11 July

~~~~~

8. The Write Co Competitions for Subscribers

Enter our new competition - A hero in a romance novel should never. . .

 Mr Darcy

Writers Write recently hosted a fun dinner for budding romance novelists. Here’s what some of the Writers Write students came up with as absolute no-no’s for the romantic lead in a modern romance novel.

A hero in a romance novel should never:

Own less than two houses
Fly economy class
Collect stamps
Own a second hand car - unless it’s a classic vintage!
Live with his mother - unless it’s a castle in a fictitious kingdom!
Own Celine Dion CDs
Order his own flowers for the heroine - there’s a secretary for that!
Own a badly painted portrait of himself.
Smoke - unless it’s a cigar
Jump on talk show hosts’ sofas!

Send us your list of 10 things a hero in a romance novel should never do. You could win a case of Leopard’s Leap Wines.

Send your entries to amanda@writerswrite.co.za

More no-no's

Sign up for the exciting two-day Heart of Africa workshop and find out what a romantic hero should be!

~~~~~

Monthly Poetry Competition

Theme for July: Just walk away

To enter: Send entries to amanda@writerswrite.co.za  

  ~~~~~

Past Winners

Winner for All the things I didn't do in 2008 is Jill Marais

Winner for My Funny Valentine is Lucie Spannenberg
Winner for The Other Side of The Story is Greg du Toit

Winner for Black & Blue is

Winner for My mother never is

Winner for Electric Dreams is
 

~~~~~

9. Students Write in Johannesburg & Cape Town

  ~~~~~