Toastmasters, Heart Surgery, Moving

In an earlier post in Feb 2013, I promised to share some interesting facts that not everyone knows about me. The idea came from a course that I attended at The Big Smoke Writing Factory (www.bigsmokewritingfactory.com ) led by Vanessa O’Loughlin. I shall tell you about 3 facts that I thought of when I finally sat down to do this exercise. More shall follow in another post I promise.

Fact #1

I hold a CC from Toastmasters International (www.toastmasters.org ). CC stands for Competent Communicator; it is achieved after completing a programme that involves giving 10 public speeches at Toastmasters meetings. I was a member of the Fáilte club in Charleville for many years. I have represented my club in competitions in different areas and I must say I enjoyed it. Being able to speak in public with confidence is a great asset for any writer. Reading your work out at workshops or in groups is not a big deal when you have experience in public speaking. This is where Toastmasters International is excellent. I have started an advanced course as in Toastmasters there are many challenges for members to set themselves. Go join your nearest club now, you won’t regret it.

Fact #2

Since leaving my parent’s home when I was 18 yrs old (and then marrying my hubby), I have moved home 4 times. That is a lot of packing and unpacking. It is true that moving house is stressful plus we did this with 4 young children thrown into the mix! I’m a bit of a collector so each time I moved there was more and more stuff to take with me. I even had boxes marked ‘new attic’ and that’s exactly where they went, from my old attic to the new one. Would I move again? One should never say never.

Fact#3

I had open-heart surgery on May 30th in 2008, I was in my forties. There is so much to say about this that I really don’t know where to begin. I have had viral meningitis when I was 19 yrs old and I had shoulder surgery since my heart op too. When I was 7/8 yrs old, I tried to jump over a roll of linoleum, my Dad was going to lay on our kitchen floor, while wearing roller-skates that I received for my birthday 2 days before. I ended up dislocating my right shoulder and also managed to turn my arm backwards. I was wearing a sling for a long, long time. I’ve fallen out of trees, anything that ends in ‘itis’ I’ve had, health has been varied to say the least.

More facts to post at a later date.

 

Submitting for Publication

Last Saturday, I attended a course about submitting for publishing at the Big Smoke Writing Factory www.bigsmokewritingfactory.com  It was led by Vanessa O’Loughlin www.writing.ie and it was really informative. I thought I had perfected my cover/query letter but I was totally surprised by what I needed to add to mine. Do not start with a question! Address it to the correct person, if you dont know , make a phone call or google the agency/publisher. get the essence of the novel in your letter. It is not meant to be too formal, some of your personality should show through.

A synopsis is difficult to write but worth practicing and keep to a max of two pages, no more. Remember it is what the story is, an overview of your book. Also one shoud be able to write a 50 word and a 100 word biography.

When sending in the first 3 chapters, it is important that your story starts where the action is. So therefore it needs a hook, a hook that draws in an agent, publisher and importantly the reader.

On leaving we were asked to consider ten interesting things about ourselves and write these down. We all smiled and smirked thinking what would be so interesting about us everyday mortals? Yet once home I sat and thought about it. So I made my list and surprised myself with what I came up with. So far I’m on number 5. Now I shall link them to my writing and fill you in on how it works in the next blog posts that I shall put up.

So watch this blog for how my interesting life list will inspire my writing.