Sunday, April 3, 2011

Ready, Set...

All of a sudden it's April, and five months have passed since I decided I wanted to be a writer.  That's about 150 days and a whole heap of hours.

And in that time I have done a whoooole lot of nothing.

Published the Great Australian Novel?  Not quite.

Published an article in a national magazine?  Nup.

Published anything? Na uh.

On the positive side I did win the short story competition and today I received news that four of my 'Beyond the Nappy Bag' stories have been accepted for a book to be published in the US entitled, funnily enough, 'Beyond the Diaper Bag*'.  I don't get paid for these as the book is raising money for charity, but it is still very exciting.

So my question to the writers out there - how do I get started?  How do I stop all my endless prep and research and get started? How do I stop diddling around entering competitions which are great fun and good experience, but don't pay for a ream of paper, let alone pay any bills. 

Do I put all the names of the magazines on a dart board and throw wildly to see who I should approach first?  Sometimes it seems the world is too big and there are too many options.

I am excellent at background research, undertaking further study, buying all the right text books.  Today I even bought some very cool, very writer-appropriate book ends.

I can blog until the cows come home, and have immersed myself in interviews for my university assignment.  I just can't seem to get started on writing that might help pay the bills.

Has anyone got any good advice or suggestions?  I'd really love to hear your stories how you got started.

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* Thanks Jo for suggesting this contest

2 comments:

  1. Hi Shannon, come and be project manager for BIG kids (we pay in artwork and experience for now!!). We need you(before you become a world famous writer!) email me at bigkidsmagazine@gmail.com pronto!

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  2. getting published in an actual book is fabulous news shannon!! its a way to get your name out there and who knows where it could lead! dont be so hard on yourself - i get the feeling this paid writing gig is a long hard road...good luck!!!!

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