Interview with JT Clay
CSFG member Donna Hanson has interviewed CSFG member JT Clay in the wake of her first novel, A Single Girl’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. Not that we’re a sheltered workshop or anything – it’s part of Donna’s new author spotlight interview series.
The novel is available at Momentum Books and Amazon and you can read a couple of excerpts here.
CSFG Member News (November and the first bit of December 2013)
Congratulations!
To Kaaron Warren, for continuing to win all of the awards in 2013 and picking up an ACT Publishing Award for Through Splintered Walls.
To Zena Shapter, for winning the Glen Miles Short Story Prize with her story “Champions“.
Covers!
Donna Hanson has the cover of (technically) her first romance novel, Bespelled, under the nom de plume Dani Kristoff.
Kaaron has her name on the cover of (and a story inside) Ellen Datlow’s forthcoming anthology, Fearful Symmetries.
Ian McHugh has his name on the cover of (and a story inside) the January 2014 issue of Asimov’s.
Next CSFG news will be at end of January – have safe and happy holidays.
Conflux Writers Day program is now live!
The program for the Conflux Writers Day, a new event ahead of the Aurealis Awards on 5 April 2014, is now live on the Conflux website. The program features CSFG members Kaaron Warren, Ian McHugh, Phill Berrie, Donna Maree Hanson, Chris Andrews and Rob Porteous.
On Step 2
by Ian McHugh (writing at ianmchugh.wordpress.com)
A common question that crops up at writing workshops is “How do you go about getting stories published?” So much so that I’ve started building the short version of the answer into my workshop introductions. The short answer goes like this:
McHugh’s 3-step Guide to Getting Published
1 Write the damn thing.
2 Submit the damn thing.
3 Repeat.
Then I add in a Step 1a – Good.
Step 1a – writing the damn thing good – is the real trick. As Donald Maass says, “Ninety-five percent of a story’s success is in the manuscript.” Put most of your energy into Step 1a. But pulling off a good story isn’t going to get you anywhere if you don’t send the damn thing out into the world for editors to read.
So, how about that? Where do you even start with Step 2?
Approaching the market with your work is daunting. Actually, it’s fucking terrifying when you’re freshly starting out. But having some understanding of how it all works can help get you past that.
Donna Hanson interviewed at Galactic Chat
Helen Stubbs talks to Donna Maree Hanson about her writing career, including publication of her novel Rayessa and the Space Pirates and writing the sequels, and her YA Paranormal Romance, Bespelled. They also talk about the advantages of using a pseudonym and what Donna has enjoyed reading recently, including Untamed by Anna Cowan and A Single Girl’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse by JT Clay.
CSFG Member News (October 2013)
CONGRATULATIONS!
To Shauna O’Meara who did indeed win a second placing in the Writers of the Future contest with the story that was shortlisted last month. Yay, Shauna!
To Jo Clay (writing as J.T. Clay) whose debut novel, A Single Girl’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, has been published by Momentum Books.
To Zena Shapter, whose Northern Beaches Writers’ Group won the Open Category in the Write-a-Book-in-a-Day contest. Also: Splitter! (Seeing as how the CSFG team were one of the runners-up).
Sales and publications
Patty Jansen’s new novel, Ambassador, is out now from Ticonderoga Publications.
Donna Hanson has a release date of 1 Feb 2014 for her paranormal romance, Bespelled (written as Dani Kristoff) from Escape Publishing.
Alan Baxter has a new story, “Not the Worst of Sins” out at Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
Gillian Polack has an article about the writing of Connie Willis in Vector, the journal of the British Science Fiction Association. (Gillian was also part of a Mind Meld at SF Signal).
CSFG Annual General Meeting
Last night, 16 October, CSFG held our annual general meeting. The outgoing committee reported to the members on activities and achievements for the year, including:
- publication of the Next anthology
- publication of Next, Winds of Change and Kaaron Warren’s The Grinding House as e-books
- changing our membership structure to welcome Outer Canberra members
- our first CSFG writers’ retreat
- participation for a second year in the Write-a-Book-in-a-Day contest
- monthly craft, information and professional development sessions at our members’ meetings
- continued operation of the CSFG novel writing group and short story and novel critiquing groups
- attending the Supanova pop culture expo as vendors for the first time
- and Rik kept his pants on at every meeting.
At the AGM, we also elected a new committee, several of whom have continued on from the previous year, in some cases in different roles:
- David Dufty, President
- Mitchell Akhurst, Vice President
- Rob Porteous, Treasurer
- Ian McHugh, Secretary
- Liefe Shallcross, Public Officer
- Kimberley Gaal
- Shauna O’Meara
- Dave Versace
- Phill Berrie
- Rik Lagarto
Our thanks to outgoing committee members Matthew Farrer and Elizabeth Fitzgerald for their contributions over the past several years.
