Edited work

I edited some previous work, as i always do. Making it better, making it new, and adding a little bit of emotion to help it endure.Looking back on work makes it easier to check out the faults, especially in flow and error. I adjusted a fair bit, cutting words and sentence size a lot. Also I sent out some work to get published.

Library

We went to my favourite place... where we got to touch all the nasty books in the library... yes that is right i hate the library. I like books though as I spend a lot of time in bookstores, as I prefer the scent of a new book and the fact that there are less blemishes and I own it.

Any way we checked out our MIT library, and I found books for two people. Hope they enjoyed them. I could not find a book for myself as there was not much there besides quality literature like Fifty Shades of Gray. I am not intelligent enough for it.

The next day we went to a massive library and listened to some CD's of NZ authors. That was interesting at times, especially Kate De Goldi... which I have read, as I don't know much about the rest of the writers we listened to. Children's Authors are such fun. The Library was real into it. And seemed to have my class mates mesmerized.

Performance

Naked Voices of the Pacific - I think that is what they call themselves. My fellow class mates who are into poetry, performed poems to a small audience (that were public). They all did well, and it was good that there were some singers there to add to the entertainment of the audience. From the practice sessions they had improved ten fold and were doing it off by heart too. Huge wraps for them, and some of them impressed me enough with their confidence, that I think they should go to the lunatic pub.... i mean the thirsty dog and perform in real public... Interesting reactions from the crowd. Too bad the food was nothing special, as I could not remember "Bidvest" in time - which would have made the catering a little classier - but we kept under budget. Let us not forget the star of the show - IKA journal launch. Good to see it going free... let us hope it sells.

Eleanor Catton

I read her novel extract and surprisingly I was into unlike Amber Lune ahaha. I think it comes down to that I love a Picture of Dorian Gray and the character reminded me of that type, plus the style was well formed. I asked and it was all over her smile that this was writing she admired - considering she thought it should have been the anchor of fantasy rather than Tolkein. The way she writes I can relate to as she doesn't draft much but edits as she writes - which is something I do a lot, but I think I am a bit more ruthless and don't save anything. It was also cool to see that she knew Alan Moore - a great writer, who is a graphic novel writer. Anyone who reads comics has my thumbs up as they are extremely underrated by novel reading snobs. And yes like her I agree that they are between film and novel. Some other people should also read graphic novels. lol. peace out

RH Publishing

Jenny from Random House Publishing came in today to talk to us about publishing, and to ask us what we liked to write ourselves. Publishing sounds quite daunting but she tried to make it as positive as possible. Her area of editing is in the area that I am most fond of, the 8-12yr olds. She also does other fiction too. But what was most interesting was the fact that my area was the best selling area. This is good as I want to be a bestseller and make lots of money (hate me, I don't care, because you will be crying when I am wearing Ralph Lauren). She also gave us her card, so straight away with have an instant connection with a publisher. It also depends on the type of writing that you do, whether the she is the right publisher to aim for. It was horrible when she said they only published 6 books for the year, and penguin published less. It was good when she answered my questions about publishing overseas, as I don't think my writing is really that well made for the typical NZ audience - except the children. As I could get published here and also find publishers over there, or agents, or some publishers try and link up overseas. It is also horrible to hear about the statistics overseas of how many Ebooks are bought compared to paper. Paper is good, Ebooks are rather evil. I need to edit some chapters of something and just see how it goes. Barbs also gave me the name of another useful publisher. Plus we got tips on finding the right publishers and agents for ourselves.