Writing Groups - Fiona McIntosh's MasterClass National Conference 2019

I've been very lucky in my writing journey in finding groups who have been instrumental in keeping me going in writing.


One such group is Fiona McIntosh's Masterclass. I was in the Autumn 2018 class and this past week, I with over 100 delegates attended the inaugural Fiona McIntosh Masterclass National Conference (NatCon), which was open to alumni only.

I'm not going to go into detail of the weekend as Faran Silverton has done a great job blogging about  it.

Michael Robotham gives his keynote.

Fiona McIntosh opens the conference.

What I do want to say is that it was a great mix of catching up with class mates, meeting other alumni, listening to the amazing keynote of Michael Robotham, and getting industry news from publishers, booksellers (great to hear how books get on the shelves) and other authors. We had the opportunity to pitch which I took advantage of (and had a request- yay!).

The energy of the conference was amazing and a great boost. Even when the fibromyalgia was playing havoc, the enthusiasm of the room kept me going. Not surprising with Fiona McIntosh at the helm and the setting O'Leary Walker Wines in the Clare Valley giving inspiration.

There were smiling faces everywhere. I love smiling faces. Smiling faces rock. And while there was some nerves over pitching, there was also encouragement from fellow delegates keeping others grounded.

Overall, everyone had wonderful a few days.


Speaking of nerves, one thing I do have to work on (and you wouldn't know judging by this blog) is approaching publishers and published authors. Part of this is the CFS making me feel slower and part is general nerves. These days authors can't just sit behind the keyboard and not worry about making appearances. So while I'm fine (though nervous) at giving talks, it's the off the cuff stuff that has me stumbling a little.

Idyllic setting

Fiona McIntosh (middle) with successful graduates of her Masterclass,
Adam Cece and Tricia Stringer.

I was lucky enough to share a lovely cottage with my writing buddies from Adelaide who have been keeping me going by attending regular meetings since our Masterclass. Thanks Kate and Amanda.  It would have been lovely to stay longer but real life beckoned.

Cooke Cottage, Clare Valley

Would I go again? The answer is an assuredly "Hell, yeah!"

I'm looking at making realistic plans for the coming few months to keep the momentum going. While I can't go at the pace of NatCon, I can definitely kick things up a pace.

Me (L) with the lovely Mandy Mackay from Dymocks, and fellow
MasterClasser and SARA, Mercedes Whibley (R).

Thanks Fiona, Nathan, and team for a fabulous conference.

Sunday Musing - 2018 so far

So far 2018 has been like the last few years - full of ups and downs. 

It's been busy on the home front with renovations on the go and health flare ups. Balance has been difficult but I am slowly chipping away at it all. The fibromyalgia kicks my butt most days than not, but I try to focus on the thing in front of me. Sometimes that distraction doesn't work, so I usually have some afternoon naps to balance me out or take some time out to watch a TV show or two.

I started off the year wonderfully with new pre-made covers but unfortunately I haven't been able to maintain that work.

courtesy of Pixabay

On the writing front - 

• I submitted The Book That Kept on Going. 
• Completed 3 OWLs (Online courses) via RWAus, though two of them I really didn't participate much. I'm glad I have the information when I need to refer back.
• Writing Mojo online course (with Juliet Madison) - helped start kicking my butt back into thinking about writing consistently.   Unfortunately I only did a few of the units at the time because I had a CFS crash that lasted a while. Next step is for me to have a read through the rest of the units.
• I undertook Fiona McIntosh's Signature MasterClass - and it was amazing. Since I've been chipping away at this for a while, I had heard a lot of information before - but having all the information in one place in such an easy to understand matter-of-fact manner was indeed a boon. It was perfect for the complete newbies in the class.  I met some amazing people and hope to cheer them on to publication success.
• Both the Writing Mojo and MasterClass made me realise that because of my lack of energy, I had been putting pressure on myself to write a clean first drafts. I have never done this, never being my process. Of course, this stifled my creativity. No wonder I couldn't get to my ideas. I have given myself permission to not care and just get the story down. I can always edit. 
• I have about 7,000 words on a new fantasy manuscript. Since this story has been in my head for a long time, I'm giving myself permission to allow it to change. 
• This is not to say the invisible barrier between me and my stories has disappeared. I've struggled to get to writing the last couple of weeks, but I'm taking it as 'time off' that is part of the plan. I have, however, managed to get some words written by hand in a notebook. 
• I've gone to most of the writing meetings so far this year, which going by my one attendance last year is a huge improvement.
• I'm working in the background on of the DarkSide DownUnder's website and writing up the DarkSider News posts. Again, slower than before but one step at a time. 
• Rebranding and self-publishing is on the back-burner for now. 

Swings and roundabouts. Such is life. Such is writing. 

Yia!
~Eleni x