Word Me Up
Posted in Uncategorized on June 24, 2017 by Richard HoltMy recent Word Me Up text incubator at ArtSpace, Realm was a great success…
Off the page goes off the charts
Posted in Uncategorized on March 20, 2017 by Richard HoltI’m in the midst of a big few weeks of off-the-page microlit activities. Over the last fortnight I’ve produced two works for Community Stations at Ringwood Station in Melbourne’s east. The first saw stencilled stories installed in various locations around the station.
The second was a performance writing project in which my alter-ego, Walter Wild (Word Wrangler) sought stories from passing commuters during 90 minute performances each morning for a week. (photo, thanks to Arts in Maroondah).
In a couple of weeks I’ll be heading up to Newcastle for the wonderful Newcastle Writers Festival where there’ll be more public stories in collaboration with Spineless Wonders. I’m looking forward to what should be a bit of a writing reboot in the Hunter Valley.
An idea that grew
Posted in Uncategorized on December 2, 2016 by Richard Holt
Over the last few years more and more of my time has been taken up with text-based projects that cross over into visual art and, more recently, performance. These projects range from video production through to schools programs and public installations. I’ve now brought this part of my writing life together under a single banner; WriteOff. You can find out more at writeoff.co or read about some of what I’ve been doing in the Dec/Jan edition of Victorian Writer.
Wollongong Writers Festival
Posted in NEWS & INFORMATION on November 14, 2016 by Richard Holt
Another local writers festival that’s about to roll out a program of great literary events is the Wollongong Writers Festival. I was delighted to receive advice that my story, The Locked Half Blood, has been shortlisted for the Wollongong Writers Festival Short Story Competition. The winner will be announced at the festival launch on November 25. Whatever the result it’s great to have the affirmation that comes with getting to the penultimate stage of the competition, and to be included in the company of talented writers, any of whom, would, I’m sure, be worthy of the prize. You can find out more about the festival and the competition through the Wollongong Writers Festival website.
‘The Dead Line’ finds a home
Posted in Uncategorized on October 2, 2016 by Richard HoltMy short story, The Dead Line, has just been published in issue eight of the Irish Literary Review, available now on line. There’s some great fiction in the issue. I always feel, when stories are placed in publications, as if they have found a home. Looking at the other pieces in this edition I’m particularly pleased with where this story, which I’ve been refining for a couple of years, has finished up. You can read it through the link above. And, of course, I’d love any feedback so let me know if the story strikes a chord.
Submission opportunities
Posted in OPPORTUNITIES, WRITING TOOLS AND TIPS on September 14, 2016 by Richard Holt
Writers of microfiction have never had it so good for opportunities to get their work ‘out there’. Apart from the many viable self-publishing options there are numerous calls for submissions for both publications and competitions.
Some writers find the inevitable ‘rejection’ (it’s an inaccurate description) of submitting work dis-heartening. But every submission is someone else who will read the writers work. Every submission leaves a smudge on the literary landscape.And every now and then a work will resonate and its author will feel the satisfaction of short-listing, selection or more.
But success is not why writers should submit their work. They should do so because the process will force them to think like a reader and will require them to polish their work so it is the best it can be. And it will legitimise, in a small way, the claim that writers want to make, that writing is ‘what they do’.
The best way to keep track of opportunities is to subscribe to groups and lists. I’d recommend membership of your local Writers Centre, and subscription to Aerogramme Writers’ Studio and Submittable’s Submishmash as great starting points.
The other opportunity, which flash writers don’t always appreciate, is that they write in a format that is ideal for performance. So after shooting off a few stories to prizes and publications I’d recommend checking out spoken word open mic events. Writers who write because they want others to read, or hear, what they have to say, really have no excuse.
National Flash Fiction Day
Posted in NEWS & INFORMATION with tags flash fiction, microfiction, writing on June 22, 2016 by Richard Holt
One of my favourite supporters of flash fiction is UK’s National Flash Fiction Day. This year it’s on again, this coming Saturday, June 25. Each year NFFD publish one of the best Flash anthologies you’re likely to find anywhere, filled with great very-short fiction. I’ve been pleased and privileged to be selected in this year’s collection, A Box of Stars Beneath the Bed. My piece, Ambush, is a loose take on the Kelly story. It’s the third time I’ve had a story published in a NFFD anthology, and as always I’m very much looking forward to receiving my author copy – I know it will be a great read. To find out more, and to order a copy of the book, visit the National Flash Fiction Day blog.
Microlit panel at Newcastle Writers Festival
Posted in NEWS & INFORMATION on April 16, 2016 by Richard HoltSpineless Wonders have posted a summary of the Newcastle panel session held a couple of weeks ago. It’s well worth a look.
Meanwhile… back in Melbourne
Posted in NEWS & INFORMATION on April 2, 2016 by Richard HoltText Me the intetactive exhibition and first component of a new ‘arts incubator’ program opened yesterday at ArtSpace (Realm, Ringwood) and, in spite of a few technical hitches (projectors on the blink), it’s looking pretty good (in my humble opinion).
big story small 