Australian Writers' Centre- Best Australian Blogs Competition & Many Writing Courses

Having trouble viewing this View in your browser. Home Sydney Melbourne Online Courses Contact Us 28 February 2013 Get Published newsletter Sydney: (02) 9929 0088     TIP: How to use “In terms of” Best Australian Blogs Competition is back! Do we need a new punctuation mark? Plan ahead – Creative Writing Stage 2 WEBPICK: Granta These days, rarely a day goes by when I don’t open the pages of a magazine or newspaper to see the byline of one of our graduates. This week, I was reading Harper’s Bazaar and found a wonderful article by graduate Eden Riley; then I turned to Good Health and found a great article by graduate Jennifer Morton. Then I opened the pages ofMindfood to find a piece by Kelly Exeter. I also know that Micky Stuivenberg has just been published in On the Road, and Lisa Schofield in Women’s Running magazine. These are just the articles I come across. I know there are a lot more out there written by former students who are kicking goals with their writing! All these students are graduates of our course Magazine and Newspaper Writing. I love this course because it’s such a practical foundation for a career (freelancer or full-time) in writing. So many students end up published, many even eventually change careers to become writers. You’ll discover: Ideas – where to get them and which ones work. The industry – understanding the magazine/newsmarket. Styles – all the different types of feature articles. Researching, structuring and actually writing your feature. Interviewing skills – whether it’s a CEO or circus clown, rock star or rocket scientist, learn the questions you need to ask. People power – who to approach to get the best subjects for your stories. Editor expectations of freelance writers. Selling your story – a step-by-step guide to successfully pitching your article or idea to a magazine. and MUCH more!   TIP: In terms of In terms of the English language, there are some phrases you should avoid. And many would argue that ‘in terms of’ is one of those phrases. Oxford Dictionaries defines ‘in terms of’ as ‘with regard to the particular aspect or subject specified:replacing the printers is difficult to justify in terms of cost.’ In other words, it describes a precise relationship between two things, for example: I don’t know what to do in terms of John’s problem. Some writers, however, claim that the term has been so overused, and often in the wrong context, that it is now meaningless. We found one reference online (a style-guide for students at Penn State in the US) that claimed “we often hear it on the news and in bloated speeches, but ‘in terms of’ is really just a wordy and sloppy transition – usually an unoriginal disguise for a simple preposition, such as ‘in’, or a more elegant phrasing, such as ‘in relation to’. Do not use ‘in terms of’ or do so trembling.” And Paul Brians, author of Common Errors in English Usage, suggests the following changes to sentences using “in terms of”: “We have to plan soon what to do in terms of Thanksgiving.” (for) “What are we going to do in terms of paying these bills?” (about) “A little chili powder goes a long way in terms of spicing up any dish.” (toward). “What do you like in terms of movies?” (What kind of movies do you like?) If you do use ‘in terms of’ in your writing, make sure you use it correctly. If you’re not sure try an alternative, like the suggestions above. Best Australian Blogs Competition The Best Australian Blogs Competition is back!The 2013 competition opened for entries at 11am this morning. You can enter here. It takes two minutes. The competition hashtag on Twitter is #bestblogs13. With a judging team of publishing and blogging veterans, special awards for outstanding posts and an optional People’s Choice round, there are heaps of ways to win in 2013. There is over $18,000 worth of writing training, books and cash available to win. We’re delighted to welcome Random House as the 2013 competition sponsor. The Best Australian Blogs Competition is one of Australia’s largest and leading blog competitions. The2012 competition saw 1024 blogs entered, and over 17,000 votes cast in the People’s Choice round. Did you know? The origin of the word “slimming” Now that we are being bombarded with TV commercials for the next season of The Biggest Loser, we thought we’d look at the word “slimming”. The Middle Dutch adjective “slim” meant “distorted” or “awry”, and when the word was applied to people, it meant “crafty: or “sly”. In modern Dutch, “slim” also means “meagre, inferior, small”. And when used in English in the 17th century, a “slim customer” was a “cunning, artful fellow”; and a “slim jest” was a “malicious joke”. Of course, now the most common use of the word “slim” is the one derived from “meagre, inferior, small”. So in your quest to be slim, just remember that if you stay true to the origins of the word, you might actually end up looking “distorted”! (Source: English Down the Ages) ONLINE COURSE: Creative Writing Stage 1 Boost your creativity and get those ideas for a story out of your head and onto the page. Our five-week ONLINE Course: Creative Write Stage 1 will show you how to write a compelling story. You’ll learn all about character, voice and structure, and discover new ways to kick-start your imagination, in an interactive and encouraging online classroom. Five week online course starting the week beginning Monday 4 March 2013 Time: Whenever it suits you Cost: $395 Professional Business Writing Making the best first impression means ensuring all your company’s written communication is top notch. If you’re working on proposals, reports or tenders, but aren’t sure you’re getting your message across, join us for our one-day Professional Business Writing seminar. We’ll show you how to create powerful and persuasive documents every time. Thursday 14 March 2013 Time: 9am – 5pm Cost: $450 Writing About Food Want to learn how to turn your passion for food into a paid freelance writing career? Join us for this two-day course with food and travel writer Carli Ratcliff. She’ll show you how to write riveting food reviews and the ingredients and methods you need to write great recipes. You’ll also discover how to communicate the ‘flavour wheel’ to your audience and where and how to get your work published. Weekend course starting Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 March 2013 Time: 10 pm – 4pm Cost: $395 Do we need a new punctuation mark? Over use of the exclamation mark has long been a problem in English, but it seems with the advent of social media, text messaging and email, the situation has really gotten out of control. As Rob Walker at Design Observer noted, “the function of the exclamation mark has changed: It no longer connotes remarkable enthusiasm; it just signals a sort of general friendliness and baseline cheer, the equivalent of saying “Howyadoin?” in a chipper voice.” So what’s the solution to our chronic enthusiasm for the exclamation mark? A new punctuation mark, of course, something that conveys “roughly half the level of exclaiming” of an exclamation mark – an ElRey mark. You can read the full post here. TIP: When should you use an ampersand? We’re often asked when it’s ok to use an ampersand. If you’re not sure what this is, it’s the symbol for and: “&”. Yes the “squiggle for the word and” as we’ve heard it referred to. The short answer is: almost never. It’s acceptable to use it when it’s part of a name like: * sass & bide (clothing label) * Johnson & Johnson (health company) While you may see the ampersand used in SMS or Twitter messages and on signs (in order to save space), it should generally not be used to replace the word “and” in everyday letters, websites, books and so on. Plan ahead – Creative Writing Stage 2 Enhance and extend your fiction writing with our next Creative Writing Stage 2 course. This is the perfect course for anyone who has completed any of our creative writing courses – including Writing Books for Children and Young Adults, Thriller Writing and How to Write a Chick-Lit Novel. Designed to help you continue your writing momentum and help you develop your short story or novel, Creative Writing Stage 2 is a chance for you to get practical feedback on your work. You’ll learn more about characters, voice and structure and fine-tune your writing. This course is also the perfect preparation course forIntroduction to Novel Writing with Pamela Freeman. This week on Writing Bar There’s lots happening on Writing Bar this week. First, we take a trip to Vietnam! Our Writing About Food in Vietnam tour is proving very popular so we thought we’d tell you a little more about this tantalising trip. Read all about it here. For anyone interested in the inner workings of a large literary mag, you can read about John Freeman’s chat with literary editor, Stephen Romei. John is the editor of the prestigious Granta magazine and he was recently in Australia to talk about his role and his new book, How to Read a Novelist. Read about it here. Finally, some very exciting news from one our presenters. Patti Miller, who teaches our Life Writing course and also leads tours to Paris and Bali, was long-listed in the inaugural Stella Prize. Patti has been long-listed for her memoir, The Mind of a Thief. Read all about the prize and Patti’s book here. Sydney meetup – Only a few spots left so book now! We’re holding our next informal networking event on Tuesday 5 March – and you’re invited! This is your chance to get together with fellow graduates and the wider community of the Australian Writers’ Centre, hear from a great presenter, and hopefully leave just that little bit more inspired to achieve your writing dreams. Date: Tuesday 5 March 2013 Time: 6.30 pm – 8.00 pm Where: The Kirribilli Club, Milsons Point (right next door to us) Who: Journalist and magazine/newspaper editor, Cindy MacDonald, who will share her insights on how to stand out from the crowd as a feature writer, tips on what you MUST include in your stories, the biggest mistakes that new freelancers make and much more. Tickets cost $10 each to cover venue costs. Any excess funds will be donated to the Doggie Rescue charity. Numbers are strictly limited! You can buy your tickets here. Can’t wait to see you there! WEBPICK: Granta Forgive us if we seem a little obsessed with Grantathis week, but it was so interesting to hear from the editor himself that we thought we should definitely bring their website to your attention. While you need to subscribe to Granta to receive their 4 issues a year, you can read plenty of their ‘new writing’ on the website. There’s plenty here to keep you going – essays and memoir, interviews, podcasts and poetry. You can also browse the Granta bookshop and check out back issues of the magazine. Go on, you know you want to. Check it out here. “For your born writer, nothing is so healing as the realization that he has come upon the right word.” Words of wisdom from – Catherine Drinker Bowen Upcoming courses Online Course: Writing Books for Children and Young Adults with Judith Ridge/ Nicola Robinson When: Week beginning Monday 4 March 2013 for five weeks Time: Whenever suits you Cost: $395 Online Course: Travel Writing with Sue White When: Week beginning Monday 4 March 2013 for five weeks Time: Whenever suits you Cost: $395 Online Course: Magazine and Newspaper Writing Stage 1 with Sue White/Allison Tait When: Week beginning Monday 4 March 2013 for five weeks Time: Whenever suits you Cost: $395 Online Course: Creative Writing Stage 1 with Cathie Tasker/Pamela Freeman When: Week beginning Monday 4 March 2013 for five weeks Time: Whenever suits you Cost: $395 Online Course: Creative Writing Stage 2 with Cathie Tasker/Pamela Freeman When: Week beginning Monday 4 March 2013 for five weeks Time: Whenever suits you Cost: $395 Online Course: Magazine and Newspaper Writing Stage 1 with Sue White/Allison Tait When: Week beginning Monday 11 March 2013 for five weeks Time: Whenever suits you Cost: $395 Online Course: Creative Writing Stage 1 with Cathie Tasker/Pamela Freeman When: Week beginning Monday 18 March 2013 for five weeks Time: Whenever suits you Cost: $395 Online Course: Writing Books for Children and Young Adults with Judith Ridge/Nicola Robinson When: Week beginning Monday 18 March 2013 for five weeks Time: Whenever suits you Cost: $395 Course: Magazine and Newspaper Writing Stage 1 with Sue White When: Every Tuesday starting Tuesday 5 March 2013 for five weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $395 Seminar: Introduction to Travel Writing with Geoff Bartlett When: Wednesday 6 March 2013 (two-hour evening seminar) Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $85 Seminar: Blogging for Beginners with Jen Bishop – FULL When: Monday 11 March 2013 (two-hour evening seminar) Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $85 Seminar: How to Get Your Book Published with Geoff Bartlett When: Wednesday 13 March 2013 (two-hour evening seminar) Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $85 Seminar: Professional Business Writing with Sue White When: Thursday 14 March 2013 (one-day seminar) Time: 9.00 am – 5.00 pm Cost: $450 Seminar: Editing Essentials with Deb Doyle When: Friday 15 March 2013 (one-day seminar) Time: 9.00 am – 5.00 pm Cost: $450 Weekend course: Writing about Food with Carli Ratcliff When: Saturday 16 March and Sunday 17 March 2013 (2 consecutive days) Time: 10.00 am – 4.00 pm Cost: $395 Course: Writing About Interiors, Style and Design with Nigel Bartlett When: Monday 18 March and 25 March 2013 (2 evening classes) Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $175 Seminar: Business Writing Essentials with Tony Spencer-Smith When: Wednesday 20 March 2013 (one-day seminar) Time: 9.30 am – 4.30 pm Cost: $395 Seminar: Writing for the web with Grant Doyle When: Thursday 21 March 2013 (one-day seminar) Time: 9.00 am – 4.00 pm Cost: $450 Daytime seminar: Blogging for Beginners with Jen Bishop When: Wednesday 22 March 2013 (two-hour daytime seminar) Time: 10.00 am – 12.00 noon Cost: $85 Weekend course: Creative Writing Stage 1 with Pamela Freeman When: Saturday 23 March and Sunday 24 March 2013 (2 consecutive days) Time: 10.00 am – 4.00 pm Cost: $395 Seminar: Self-publishing – How to do it with Geoff Bartlett When: Monday 25 March 2013 (two-hour evening seminar) Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $85 Course: Creative Writing Stage 1 with James Roy When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 27 March 2013 for five weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $395 Course: Creative Writing Stage 2 with Jeni Mawter When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 27 March 2013 for five weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $395 Seminar: Grammar and Punctuation Essentials with Deb Doyle When: Thursday 28 March 2013 (one-day seminar) Time: 9.00 am – 5.00 pm Cost: $450 Seminar: How to Create and Sell Your eBook with Anna Maguire When: Thursday 28 March 2013 (two-hour evening seminar) Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $85 Seminar: Build Your Profile Using Twitter with Kerri Sackville When: Tuesday 2 April 2013 (two-hour evening seminar) Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $85 Course: Life Writing with Patti Miller When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 4 April 2013 for six weeks Time: 10.00 am – 12.00 noon Cost: $450 Weekend Course: Write a Chick-Lit Novel with Lisa Heidke When: Saturday 6 April and Sunday 7 April 2013 (2 consecutive days) Time: 10.00 am – 4.00 pm Cost: $395 Seminar: From Blog to Book with Kerri Sackville When: Monday 8 April 2013 (two-hour morning seminar) Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $85 Course: Travel Writing with Sue White When: Every Monday starting Monday 8 April 2013 for five weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $395 Seminar: Blogging for Beginners with Jen Bishop When: Tuesday 9 April 2013 (two-hour evening seminar) Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $85 Course: Writing Picture Books with Cathie Tasker When: Every Tuesday starting Tuesday 9 April 2013 for five weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30pm Cost: $395 Seminar: Successful Freelancing with Gayle Bryant When: Tuesday 16 April 2013 (two-hour evening seminar) Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $85 Course: Travel Memoir with Claire Scobie When: Every Tuesday starting Tuesday 23 April 2013 for five weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $395 Course: Magazine and Newspaper Writing Stage 2 with Valerie Khoo When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 1 May 2013 for five weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $395 Course: Screenwriting Stage 1 with Tim Gooding When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 1 May 2013 for five weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $395 Course: Introduction to Novel Writing with Pamela Freeman When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 9 May 2013 for six weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $495 Course: Plotting and Planning with Kate Forsyth When: Every Monday starting Monday 13 May 2013 for two weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $175 Seminar: PR and Media Releases that Get Results with Catriona Pollard When: Thursday 23 May 2013 (one-day seminar) Time: 9.00 am – 5.00 pm Cost: $495 Course: Writing Books for Children and Young Adults with Judith Ridge When: Every Wednesday starting Wednesday 5 June 2013 for five weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $395 Course: Screenwriting Stage 2 with Tim Gooding When: Every Tuesday starting Tuesday 11 June 2013 for five weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $395 Weekend course: Life Writing with Patti Miller When: Saturday 29 June and Sunday 30 June 2013 (2 consecutive days) Time: 10.00 am – 4.00 pm Cost: $450 Program: Write Your Novel with Pamela Freeman When: Every Monday starting Monday 1 July 2013 for six months Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $2150 Course: Thriller Writing with L.A. Larkin When: Every Thursday starting Thursday 18 July 2013 for five weeks Time: 6.30 – 8.30 pm Cost: $395 Thanks for signing up to this newsletter. Wishing you much writing success, About Valerie: Valerie Khoo is a journalist, author of six books and founder of the Australian Writers’ Centre. Valerie writes regularly for smh.com.au, theage.com.au,brisbanetimes.com.au, watoday.com.au, canberratimes.com.au andbusinessday.com.au. The Australian Writers’ Centre runs a range of popular writing courses in Sydney, Melbourne and online. She is author of Power Stories: The 8 Stories You MUST Tell to Build an Epic Business (Wiley).       Australian Writers’ Centre Suite 3, 55 Lavender Street Milsons Point NSW 2061 www.WritersCentre.com.au