The Olympic Struggle Should Not Apply to Writers

by Aaron Fulkerson
via Flickr.com

After wondering for some time why I'm such a wet blanket about the Olympics, an answer has emerged. The point of this blog is that I believe my reason applies to writers as well - some of us at least.

The aim of the Games, for individuals and teams, is to make your country proud by proving that you are better than anyone else at what you do. And, as the bard says, 'There's the rub.' I strongly believe that 'be the best' should not be applied as widely as it is. All right, a little competition at school sports days for fun - but look how easily it turns into bitter competition, no less for parents than for pupils, perhaps damaging the child-parent relationship along the way. How much more must it affect athletes and other competitors to fail in their bid, especially after years of planning, outlay and effort have taken over their lives.

Moving on to writing, I have also realised that it is not so important to 'be the best'. Although for many years I have been a published article writer, recently I have taken to fiction, making use of courses, advice books and feedback. At first I naively entered competitions, and heard nothing. Then a little feedback started to arrive, often mainly positive with just a few correctable problems. That's progress, and I'm happy with it. I'm now seeing my fiction published here and there, and that's joyous. Fortunately I don't need to make my living this way, and any type of success adds building blocks to my self esteem and confidence as a writer.

For those who are able to make their living through writing, that's just wonderful. I sense that many are not especially striving to win competitions, but just to write work that large numbers of people are happy to buy and enjoy reading. If an agent puts an author's work in for a competition, fine, and it if does well - brilliant.

In summary, I feel that progress and success lie in building on one's own achievements, grasping opportunities and making the best possible outcome, rather than wanting to conquer everyone else.

So my competition efforts will be limited, although I love to read winning entries. I'm aiming to improve my standards and my publication rate as an end in itself. And that's why I don't rate the Olympics. It's not necessary to be the best.

The Parade, 1940

This poem was inspired by a family photograph of my paternal grandfather, a major in the Middlesex Regiment, escorting the Queen Mother along a line of his soldiers in July 1940.


This first appeared as winner of the poetry section of Southampton Writing Buddies first anniversary anthology, Wordfall, published in 2011.


So here is the photograph .....

© Jacqueline Pye 

..... and here is the poem.

The Parade, 1940

The stout man in khaki has a smile as wide as this,

Strutting, proud, with medals on his chest.

       These are my men.

Elizabeth, charming, greets one in every four.

The man in khaki follows, hands by sides,

       Two steps behind.

Harry Baggins, Ma'am. He lost his hand in Caen.

Thank you, Harry; the King and I salute your bravery.

       An honour, Ma'am.

A camera flashes.

But now the line of men is not quite straight;

He glares at those he sees are out of true.

       They can't stand still.

And so she's reached the end of the parade -

She'll soon forget the details of today.

       They won't forget.


     *            *            *            *            *

That photo, now so old, has hardly faded,

Unlike the line of men with heads held high -

       They've all gone now.

The stout man no longer wears his major's cap;

He dozes in a chair while young girls fuss.

       That's me, he says.

We know, they tell the major, that one's you.

Aren't you real smart, the uniform and all.

       Then he's asleep.

© Jacqueline Pye 2010

Twitter - Thoughts on Following & #FollowFriday

This post is about how I feel towards twitter, so it's a purely personal view. I wonder if readers will agree.

HikingArtist.com

Following You on Twitter 

Twitter was created primarily as a social media site, and much of its content is indeed social. 'Which is nice.' It's fun to read other people's news, views and recommendations, and to reply to some. Like chatting to someone you meet on the bus, in the library, outside school. There may be links to interesting/informative/funny articles or pictures, and recommendations to follow others, and I might check them out and follow if I fancy, widening my range of follows and sometimes going through them to see if there's anyone I might want to unfollow. 

If I unfollow you, though, it's not an insult. It may be that you tweet only about things you'd like me to buy, or you repeat the same tweets over and over again, you tweet every five minutes or you've changed tack and lost my attention. I may come back later.

Similarly, if I don't follow back immediately, it's not an insult. Maybe I don't share your interests (as shown in your list of tweets) or maybe there's a hint of language which I don't like to read. (Being, as I've said before, something of a prude.)

I do like to comment on people's tweets where I feel strongly or especially enjoy them or find them useful. Most of us surely love to think someone's read our tweet and has something to say to us. If someone's unwell, or has a life hiccup, I'll send cybersympathy. If I know the answer to a question, I'll write it. And as for competitions, if the prize is attractive I'll usually have a go. Numbers of entries can be low, even if the setter has a long list of followers.

Following Me on Twitter


I'm inordinately pleased to have new followers, even if you're a business and will quickly unfollow if I don't respond or follow back. I don't get intense about numbers of followers otherwise I guess I'd make more use of hashtags to scoop up more. Perhaps that's a mistake. 


Even more pleasing is if people respond to something I've written. It makes a person feel noticed and appreciated. And if anyone should retweet me, well that's like being given a large bar of Toblerone (but lasts longer).


I've decided to opt out of Fllwrs (who tell you who has recently followed and unfollowed). This is partly because of suspicion that there may be a connection with spam, but also because I don't want especially to know who's unfollowed so I can't be miffed. Bye bye techno geeks, tarpaulin providers, Scottish holiday firms who were on my unfollowed list before.

Alan Levine

Follow Friday

#ff is interesting. I try to use it at least every other Friday. As everyone knows, it's a way of passing on to followers some people who are good to follow for whatever reason. Still, it seems to have turned into just a way of expressing appreciation and it's good to get a mention. What's funny is, if someone does a #ff to as many people as will fit in the tweet, some of those will retweet the whole list, making it seem that they are appreciating them. If you see what I mean. My #ff lists have gone in some interesting directions and this is certainly not a complaint!

Writing Courses - What I Hope to Find

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The very first writing course I followed was a correspondence type many years ago. The subject was non-fiction, and the promise was a full refund if the fee was not recouped by sales during the course. There was a good deal of positive feedback latterly, and the tutor seemed confident that I'd be published, but there was no success with magazines at the time. Gathering and returning all the course materials as demanded, I received a refund - but I kept writing. Should I have felt guilty about the refund, given that I covered the fee in sales fairly soon afterwards?

By David Blackwell 

The most recent course has been for short story writing for more literary and competition type work, with the aim of ending up with a story of publishable standard. Again, I completed all the assignments and received a good deal of useful feedback, although the main piece of work is not quite up to standard as yet. It's a 'work in progress'.




Reviewing the outcome and range of emotions during the course, I've compiled a list of ten things which I  would hope for in a writing course.


 1  In the blurb, a clear statement of the aims for achievement by the end.


 2  Again in the blurb, a comment about the optimum level of prior experience. Is it suitable 
          for beginners, for example, or writers just starting to be successful, or those already 
          well on their way?


 3  Unambiguous info about the expected length of the course, and any restrictions on the
          time allowed.


 4  Statement about what feedback the student can expect during the course, e.g.  from tutor 
          and other students, and whether each student will be asked to give feedback to others.

by Frankie Kangas

 5  Advice on how to give considered and constructive feedback. (Says
          she after a bit of a battering - though in the latest course this advice 
          was certainly given clearly.)


 6  Opportunities to study successful work and pieces which are considered 
          great writing.


 7  Ongoing feedback which picks up problems and gives pointers towards addressing them.
          Personally, I feel that occasional specifics are very helpful, e.g. when an issue with
          dialogue is flagged up, an example of what would be better (even if just one line).


 8  At the end of the course, a summary of how far the tutor feels the student has progressed
          (not "Don't give up the day job" though.)


 9  Suggestions for further study, individualised for the student if time/fee permits.


10 Finally, if there is work of reasonable standard, suggestions as to where it might be
          submitted when polished, so the student can research those opportunities.


Thanks for reading this. I'd be very interested to hear whether anyone who's currently on a course, or who has recently completed one, agrees with these points or has any to add.
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My Suite 101 Articles for Students and Teachers

There are just over 60 of my articles on Suite 101, and topics are varied. Here are links to a few which offer suggestions for older students and for teachers. I hope there'll be something there which is useful for you.


For Students

Essay titles: compare, discuss, assess - what the key terms mean

Students of high ability: manage in class and get best grades   


Very bright students: keep your friends and still get good grades

Gain maximum benefit from every lecture, to help improve grades 
             


For Teachers


Children who can't concentrate: teacher tips for how to help

Improving students' listening skills - some tips for teachers 


Reading with comprehension: ensuring children absorb text content


Young students, poor concentration: structure for a class programme

Reluctant readers: tips for parents and teachers to encourage them


The rest of the articles on my site include lots of vegetarian recipes, some parenting suggestions, biography (Adam Faith, Carrington, Gertler), the Vulcan bomber, and much else besides.
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Course, Week 5 - nearly there

Some more excellent advice in the week's course notes, all taken to heart. Two very pleasing critiques received from fellow students, with one describing my half-finished work as 'monumentally creepy' - just what I was aiming for, fortunately! Submission this week was the finished story - not necessarily in its final form but showing how it all works out, and I did that, surprising myself with incorporating a death - and I've never used 'creepy' or death in a story before. So something is changing.
         Another task was to produce a shorter story from scratch in one go, which I have done. No idea where the story came from, apart from a memorable (for all the wrong reasons) moment in my mid-teens involving a spider. The story just, as they say, told itself. 
         Now both of these stories need some going over. I have emailed them to our gas fitter! He is a keen reader, especially creepy, and asked if he could see them.
         The final week will involve critiquing by and for each student - I expect everyone, like me, is bracing themselves. This is a good course, stirring up the waters and producing surprising results.

Short Story Writing Course - week four

All exercises duly completed, including providing feedback on two anonymous part-stories. One was difficult to visualise because the characters' physical positions in relation to one another were not clear. I could visualise the characters themselves, though, and there was a great twist at the end of the plot summary which I didn't see coming. The other posed a mystery from the start which hadn't been revealed in the text so far but which set me trying to guess; well written and the secondary character easy to visualise but the main character still mysterious. Don't yet know if we get to see the finished works.

A short story to be listened to online - very strange and dramatic, marked changes of pace - slow, then building to fast, and then dream-like slow pace allowing something frightful to be followed with dispassionate interest. Looking at characterisation, and how dialogue illustrates it, in this module, getting to know my characters more deeply and realising I haven't done this sufficiently in the past.

Definitely feel that I'm stepping back and looking at the short story in a completely different light, as well as realising the need for something a lot more intense than before. But beginning to think I could do this.