Tiah Beautement's Blog, page 144

A slog

This latest round of editing has been like walking uphill on a boggy path with muddy clay clinging to your boots. The more tedious it became the more I became annoyed. Here I was sitting with the cutest print out of my draft you've ever seen. I had a list of useful and thought provoking comments; while cheery green marks pointing out the errors of my ways and - gah! Wasn't good. How could this be? There were learning experiences. I even found it humorous when it took me ten minutes to figure ...

New Contrast 150 on Scribd

New Contrast issue 150, which features my story '3am' (and many other lovely works), is now available on Scribd.

Wednesday Round Up

A) Circumnavigated the tears of schedule conflict B) Went to shops with Plans A & B for dinner. Shop wasn't selling either that day. Made plan C mid-shop... nope, not selling that. Plan D? YES! I could buy the ingredients for Plan D. C) Quick pop into Woolies since Pick n Pay is no longer selling apples (maybe it's just on Wednesdays) and came out with free flowers. Again. They must sense when my life is not going well. Bless. D) Showed up for daughter's school party. After a solid month of a...

Grandparents' Day

Thing 1 came home from school last week to present me with an invitation for his grandparents. "It's Grandparents' Day next week," he tells me. I look, and yes it is. On a Wednesday morning. Who the heck came up with this? Now my son is far from the only child with grandparents abroad. But say we were living in America, do you really think they'd be able to come? Aside from the fact that many grandparents still work (mine do), modern families are spreading out. So while yes, I've taken it to ...

The Angina Monologues

Did you ever watch the TV show ER? Medical dramas with romance, drama and the bizarre? The Angina Monologues by Rosamund Kendal takes the medical drama beyond Chicago and into rural South Africa. I listened to author speak at the CTBF and was struck by how similar her stories of the medical world echoed our family friend, also a young SA doctor. So I purchased the book, hoping for an entertaining, engaging read that was well written; yet, a tale grounded in the reality of today's issues. And ...

Teen censorship

While the SA media and government battle over the censorship debate, school has started its new year in the grand ol' USofA. This leads to a few going What on earth our are teens reading? I admire the positive thinking which displays total confidence that teens are indeed reading. Of course, since teens are reading, the general public now takes keen interest to make sure books in school libraries are given a full examination. The latest book under fire is Speak. The reasons given for the outc...

Editing & BBCC

I picked up my ms from a reader on Thursday. She printed out into the cutest little mini-book and then used this cheerful green to point out the errors of my ways. Relaxing a bit since my previous comment on this issue. Gained a bit of perspective after talking to my dad, my writing bff, reading a comment by another writer* and the current reader. Thus my current motto is: the story is what it is, write it as best you can, get as much polish on it by capatalising on the array of readers / edi...

Alexandra Sokoloff

A writing bff of mine sent me some links to Alexandra Sokoloff's blog. I thought I would post the two links here due to the number of question I get about writing. I have other info on the side bar, but different advice works for different peeps. (That is the problem with writing, other than a few rules like: Never submit your first draft to agent / publisher - there are not that many rules.) Here is the link to her first post on the series 'How to Write a Novel'. If you like it, there is mor...

Lacking fighting spirt

Karate has been a very strange experience thus far. I began in the mistaken belief that you spend your first few months (year?) learning technique. The idea that you have no business trying to do anything "clever" until you've mastered a few basics. Monday night I got put in the ring twice. I didn't know what to do. The person hasn't attacked me. In fact, she seemed like a rather nice person. I'm not angry. Who just walks up to somebody and kicks? A toddler? Even so, I did throw out one kick ...

Meghan O'Rourke, I love you

BookSA has an on going thread on Franzen. You'd be proud, I've actually kept my yap shut for once. But in the comments there is a link to Meghan O'Rouke. She says so much of what is often hard to articulate. Here is a good example: In many circumstances, we also simply assume men are more talented: Before the advent of blind auditions, fewer than 5 percent of the players in major American symphonies were women. But after blind auditions began to be held, the percentage of female players soare...