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October Catch Up

Hello! 

It's been a while, I know. As the year draws near to a close, I'm finding myself grabbing at as many opportunities as I possibly can before the dead month comes. The dead month of course, from a literary perspective, is December. Pro-tip: do not send your queries to agents or publishers in December. 90% of them will not read it because holidays.

Alrighty, so this is what I've been up to (and what you can get busy with too):

Online Study Australia

I've entered a competition for a scholarship with Online Study Australia. You can read my entry on this page. I never had the opportunity to complete my Bachelors in Languages & Literature with Creative Writing as specialisation, which is a pity because I received a distinction during my first and only year studying through UNISA. I would cherish the opportunity to study English and writing again.

Salome Literary Magazine

I have been trying my best to write something to submit for their next issue with the theme being Creation. If your are interested in writing for them, find them here. They pay. You're welcome :-)

Agent Hunter

So, the new Writers' and Artists' Yearbook 2018 is out and hell, it's bloody expensive. Apparently (according to my research), Agent Hunter is just as good a place to hunt for agents. I've applied for a six months trial run in exchange for an honest review of them on my blog. Holding thumbs.

New Music

I like to listen to music when I'm writing. I try avoid listening to anything while editing because it will often lead to unsolicited inspiration which leads to rewriting. My first YA manuscript, Supernova, has suffered tremendously because of this (it's been years). Not to mention the other reason it's been dragging: I failed to have an outline set in place before I started #newwriterproblems. But that's another story for another time. The Killers have a new album out called Wonderful Wonderful and it's simply delicious.

Pan Macmillan South Africa 

Speaking of Supernova, Pan Macmillan South Africa will be accepting unsolicited submissions during 20 - 24 Nov. Check out the post on the PEN SA site here. Pan Macmillan sent me the best rejection of my life for Maps in 2014, the second book (and probably a better novel than Supernova from a literary vs commercial perspective). Maps needs a lot of work still so I'm hoping to submit Supernova this time around.

Poetry

Something happened to me the other night. It's been many years since I've written poetry. I discovered this song and next thing I knew, out popped a poem. I'm not a very happy poet, cheeky at best with a dash of whimsy and a lot of melancholy. I've been happy and content with being married and all for the past six years and unfortunately the only downside of happy is that the poetry dies (normally does during Elysian phases of my life). Anyway, it felt good. Poetry is my first love. Perhaps I'll post some here soon.


That's all folks. Till next time.


PS - Maskew Miller Longman's 2017 Literature Awards should be announcing the finalists within the next couple of weeks. Hold thumbs please!

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