Creative writing and getting published

I was really happy to get some feedback on our Creative Writing course at the Sydney Writers' Centre. The course finished earlier this week and already participants have described it as "wonderful" and that Camilla Nelson is a "terrific lecturer".

I think Camilla is a fabulous presenter too - which is why I hand-picked her to teach at the Sydney Writers' Centre.

One participant also said they found most enjoyable: "The techniques given for starting a piece; how to write dialogue; learning about the pitfalls; but most enjoyable was listening to other people's work."

Critiquing - and being critiqued!
Interestingly, some participants indicated that this can sometimes be confronting. It's true, but you can also learn so much from other people's writing. Critiquing - and allowing your work to be critiqued - may sound daunting. But it's such a valuable part of the creative writing process.

Many years ago, I used to shy away from it - thinking it wasn't necessary to show other people my work. But when I finally had the confidence to do it, I only wished I had started the critiquing process earlier. I got so much out of it and it really improved my writing.

How can creative writers get published
Often, as creative writers, it's hard to get published. After all, scoring a book deal or getting a publisher interested in your short stories is a little harder than getting an article published in a magazine or newspaper. Magazines and newspapers are constantly requiring content, but there is a finite number of books on shelves.

So a great start is to target literary magazines/journals that cater specifically to emerging writers. Going Down Swinging is a literary journal that is now open for submissions for its next issue.

Submissions for the issue that will be launched November/December 2006 are open and will close on 30 June 2006. So get writing! www.goingdownswinging.org.au