Puffins!
For those of you who were following my previous post about my application for a writer’s residency in Iceland, I’m happy to announce that I was accepted!
I’m going to Iceland in June! Wooooo! Expect a lot of blogging about the awesomeness of Iceland.
P.S I apologize for the abundance of exclamation marks. I’m just a little excited.
Laugarvatn, Iceland Source:gullikstan.is
Recently, I became aware of a writer’s residency available in Iceland, hosted by Gullikstan Center for Creativity.
I’m not sure if I have ever mentioned this, but I am a serious Iceland fanatic. It is a creative wonderland of interesting people and amazing wilderness. They have the highest rate of published authors per capita, publishes more books per capita and also has the Nobel prize winners per capita. They are host to some of the most amazing natural phenomena in the world. For instance, every August, the children of Vestmannaeyjar save confused Pufflings that have become landlocked in town, caring for them before taking the back to the beach and literally throwing them into the ocean, to live another day (and perhaps get eaten as a delicacy. Hey, no shade here!)
That’s not to mention Jolabokaflod or the “Christmas book flood” which is fuelled by the Icelandic tradition of giving the gift of a book and chocolate on Christmas eve and spending the night reading. Needless to say, I think I have found my people!
So when I discovered Gullikstan, I knew I had to apply. It is a perfect opportunity to combine the two things I love the most. The opportunity to just write, without the distractions of work and home. And the chance to visit the country I have longed to visit for nearly a decade.
So, how do you find a writers residency?
The easiest, most efficient way is to go to Res Artis, a directory of artistic residencies across the world. Find one you like, whether it be in your own country or on the otherside of the world.
And then you apply. Because you can never be accepted if you never give it a chance. Okay, so it’s not that easy. You are going to need a few things, depending on which residency you are applying for.
Firstly, a creative CV. I say a creative CV because it is going to be fundamentally different to you normal old CV. No mention of your work at McDonalds or your stint as a checkout chick is needed. What you’ll need is a clean, plain document that lists a little about you, your experience (ie articles you have written, books you have published, competitions you have one), your education (if you have anything relevant to your creative pursuits, like a BA in Arts or a certificate in creative fiction, whatever it may be), details of your online presence and author platform, and perhaps, if it’s relevant, space for other information.
After your CV, you are going to probably have to write an Aim of Stay. Unfortunately a single line that says “To get this goddamn manuscript finished!” isn’t going to cut it, even if at its very core, that is the reason for the residency. Maybe you need a change of perspective? Maybe you book takes place in the host country of your residency? Don’t worry, you’ll think of something.
You may need to send a sample of your work, or even submit an idea for workshops you could hold. Each residency is different, and their acceptance criteria (and the amount you’ll have to pay, or be paid, will differ). But in the end, what do you have to lose?
Wish me luck!
Have any of you been accepted for a residency? Or perhaps been to Iceland?
So, a month ago I came up with an “ingenious” way to get my name as an author into the blogasphere. I’ve always wanted to use the word “blogasphere” in a post, just to show that I am up on all this hip new jargon. That probably makes me sound like my grandmother, but when some kid told me the other day that they didn’t “ship” something, I had no idea what they meant. And that made me feel old. Like really, really old. So watch me drop that modern colloquialisms with unabashed abandon.
OK, lets hop off that tangent, and back to my ingenious way to build an author platform. I’d just discovered serial fiction sites, such as JukePop and Wattpad, even though I’m a little behind the eight ball on this one. Four weeks on, I just wanted to give everyone an update.
Available on Wattpad and JukePop
The major things I wanted to get out of this little social media experiment were:
– To introduce myself to prospective readers of my genre.
– To engage with said readers.
– To direct said readers to my paid work.
– To harness the power of social media.
So has it been a success? Lets crunch the numbers:
Point 1: In regards to introducing myself to prospective readers, I have had 253 unique readers on Wattpad, and 319 on Jukepop. So that is 572 new readers across the board. Whilst that doesn’t seem like much when you put it up against some of the higher ranking books on JukePop and Wattpad, who number well into the hundreds of thousands. But it is at least 500 readers I didn’t have before.
Point 2: I’ve had a few comments here and there, but nothing near the level of immersion that I wanted. This is something that I want to work on. So hey, if you’ve read my stuff, or you like writing, or chocolate, or animals, or just stuff, drop me a line. I’d love to chat 🙂
Point 3: To be frank, this has been an abysmal failure. I’ve only sold one book above my average monthly rate. Hey, there’s still 15 weeks to go, so maybe there’ll be a rush towards the end. A girl can hope.
Point 4: This has been great. I have a few more blog followers, a few more twitter followers, a few more followers on my Instagram, and I’ve been able to network with other authors on all of these platforms. I’m not about to beat Kim Kardashian in a Follower competition (unless I start instagramming me reading with a lot less clothes on), but I’m happy with it’s progress.
Although I won’t be able to truly judge the success of using serial fiction as a launchpad of my Author platform until the end of the experiment (in approximately four more months), all I can say is so far, so good. It hasn’t been a roaring success, and there’s still quite a lot of room for growth, but I shall continue to flail around blindly in the dark until I reach success.
Remember, fake it ’til you make it!
M x
Can being a successful and engaging writer be taught? I intend to find out! This year, my New Years resolution was to take my writing seriously as a career. I made my peace with the fact that I may never be more than a starving artist, but at least I’ll be happy and starving. So, I took the bull by the balls and signed up for two different sorts of writing courses. A diploma in Professional writing and editing, and a 5 week advanced writing course with the Australian Writers Centre. The diploma is two years long and covers a wide range of topics, not just fiction writing. Editing, non fiction writing, copyright issues, all these are topics that are covered in the Diploma. The advanced writing course covers the basics of fiction writing, chatacterization and plot progression, that kind of thing. It was easy to be inspired when the view out the window looked like this! br />
Sydney is actually about 3 hours from Goulburn, where I live. So when in Rome, hit all the bookshops you can! I went to one of my faves, Galaxy book store on York street, opposite the Queen Victoria building. I love Galaxy!
One day my book will grace those hallowed shelves! I’ll keep you up to date on my courses and whether or not I think they are worth the significant outlay of cash. But for the next 5 weeks, I’m going to head to Sydney and live it up, in one of the greatest culinary capital in the world (in my opinion!) Unfortunately, that blows resolution #2 – get bikini body right out of the water. Sigh… The things we sacrifice for art! Until next time! M x
Madeline Young Writes 