Tuesday, November 10, 2009

On Being A Consistent Writer, Exams and Life Changes

Ja, I know I've been very quiet, somewhat erratic when it comes to talking about my writing life. I've posted before that I wished I was a more consistent writer, who delivers good writing on call, everyday. I definitely don't feel like one.

Even though I felt like I was stumbling along, I have been somewhat productive in the past couple of weeks. Have increased the number of posts on the OneLove web site to an average of four per day, and am initiating more discussions on the Facebook page. I'm also launching a monthly electronic newsletter for the project - the first issue goes out early December.

Kwanda has slowed down a little - the TV series is now down to final week for the last team. Next week viewers will be asked to vote for the team that they feel performed the best - that is, a team that met their goals, navigated their challenges wisely, raised more money and had greater social impact in their community. Voting will be done by SMS. If you're not sure which team to vote for, check out the episode summaries on the Kwanda web site. Or you can check out the discussions on the Facebook pages.

Creative Writing News

The Read SA social network on Facebook is going very well too. We now have about 568 members (at the time of blogging). We are also publishing profiles of South African authors, along with details of their books, on the READ SA micro site. To date, I have published profiles of:

  • Megan Voisey-Braig, author of Till We Can Keep An Animal (Winner of the European Union literary award 2007/2008)
  • Zukisa Wanner, author of The Madams (2006), Behind Every Successful Man (2008) and the upcoming (Men Of the South).
Also look out for profiles of Louis Greenberg, author of The Beggars' Signwriter (2006) and Richard de Nooy, author of Six Fang Marks and a Tetanus Shot. These two profiles are going live this week on the Read SA micro site. Bookmark the site and check them out later; you might discover a new to you writer, or fall in love with a book.

Life news

On the life front, Baby is in the middle of her Grade 5 exams, finishing on Friday. I'm more stressed about it than she is. She says she printed out her notes, studied them, researched where she needed to, and did the mock tests. She's confident she'll do well. But I can't help but worry. Not because I fear she'll fail, but because she's her own worst critic and if her end of year marks don't meet her expectations[winning the academic merit], or even one of her subjects is out of par, she won't take it well at all. So I try to prevent the situation from arising by making sure she's well prepared.

I know she needs to learn some balance, see the big picture and enjoy her accomplishments and not just things she needs to improve. It's something I've been trying to teach her since she was in pre-school. And something I don't talk about much with other mothers, because many of them complain that they have to push their kids to study, do well academically, and I just want mine to be better socialised and understand that the key to life is learning from your failures/mistakes.

Anyhoo, there is a big, somewhat traumatic life change coming on in my life. I initiated it, prepared for it since May this year. But that does not necessarily mean that emotionally, I welcome it wholeheartedly. Sorry for being cryptic - I'll explain at the end of November, when this change has happened.

4 comments:

po said...

I think Baby sounds like most parent's dream child, totally self motivated! But yes, the hard workers do tend to forget to have fun somettimes.

BeckyJoie said...

My! You are also a busy lady. You are pretty consistent in your writing of blogs. I know writers with several lines of published novels who write less consistently on their blogs. Each person is different and if you are being productive in some type of writing, then don't sweat it. I'm not always consistent with my blogs but I am on writing work that I have contracted to do. Whatever you do, you seem to be successful at it. You're an encouragment to me. I enjoy reading your blog. Keep it up.

Tamara said...

All the best for the big change - whatever it is.

And thanks for still finding time to post in between all the busyness.

Damaria Senne said...

thanks for your good wishes, ladies.

Copyright Notice

With the exception of entries specifically credited to individual authors, the content on this blog is copyrighted by Damaria Senne and may not be reprinted without permission.