neXtDRAFT 64. Writing energy.

Published: Sun, 10/20/19

Welcome new subscribers. If this is your first neXtDRAFT you'll find poems, stories and pics about my life as an adopted mum (and freelance writer) living between Australia and the Philippines. Each edition I share a few tips for creating a writing business and working as a professional writer serving clients from all over the world.

Here in the Philippines I support about 20 kids from a rural municipality with food, books, uniforms and love -- it's my way of encouraging them to go to school and maybe one day out of poverty. You'll read their stories here too.

neXtDRAFT is delivered to your inbox most Sundays and I hope it will inspire you to get writing and create your own writing practice. Again welcome, I'm so glad to have you part of the neXtDRAFT community.

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Melinda J. Irvine

https://melirvine.com.au/

Welcome back to neXtDRAFT 64.

Writing energy.

It's great to be back writing and I've waited an extra few days to get neXtDRAFT into it's weekly publishing schedule. How are you? I'm actually feeling energised, here at my writing desk with Jerry now on 2 x week's school holiday.

Our girl Rosemarie was laid to rest on the 10th -- to a small gathering of loyal family, friends and neighbours. Her mother Neda was stressing the whole morning about the 'service' -- meaning the 'truck service' to carry all the people to the church (which had been promised for free by the local village officials).

Neda, who has never before asked me for the time, was literally asking me every 5 minutes in the two hours leading up to the funeral for the time. She'd ask me in Ilonggo, then in English. Then grab my wrist to look at the watch herself. Then ask someone else -- maybe to make sure there had been no error in translation.

The little while van purporting to be a hearse had already arrived, and I wondered why nobody was making movement toward Rosemarie's coffin to carry her down the hill. Then I saw her elder brother with a great big crow bar in his hands. The van had a flat tyre.

There was no jack or customised instruments. The crow bar was used to lever up the van onto some bits of wood as the tyre was finally changed. Neda was moving from grief, to stress, to frustration as she agitated about the truck service that still had not arrived. She asked me the time again.

Several phone calls were made only to discover that the truck service had not been written down in the office and nothing had been arranged. I've never ever seen Neda angry until that moment -- and her husband was the first person she had in her sights. I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was terrible -- she was so incredibly upset.

Walking down the hill to follow Rosemarie to the church.

The coffin was manoeuvred down the hill amidst shrieks and gasps at the near-misses. It had poured rain overnight and the makeshift stairs were covered in mud. Those men did an incredible job, because when I walked down myself 15 minutes later, it was so incredibly slippery I nearly fell.

Reaching the bottom of the hill knowing there was no truck service to carry everyone, turned out to be one of those little miracles and moments of grace we've all experienced at the worst of times. They give us the faith to keep going.

I was considering my options of walking in the heat down to the pier to find a tricycle, but there at the bottom of the hill -- in the tricycle we had bought him several months ago -- was Jerry's brother Ryan. My eyes filled up with tears as his grinning face and tiny daughter sitting on the petrol tank greeted us.

Jerry's brother Ryan (Jerry behind) waiting for us outside church to take us to the cemetery.

Ryan lives in a remote Barangay and has no cell phone. We hadn't called him or left any messages, and yet there he was. A little moment of Grace. I loaded Jerry, Rosemarie's younger brothers and sisters, and an aunty in with us. Other tricycles and a ute (multicab) emerged from the ether, and finally everyone was accommodated as the van carrying Rosemarie and her parents pulled away toward the church.

We were incredibly late to the church, so our friend and helper Emelyn (who most of my readers will be familiar with) slipped out the back to tell the priest what had happened. He was very understanding and the service was incredibly loving -- most especially the small choir (provided by the church) who sang from a balcony at the back. The melody of harmonic voice echoing through that great big (mostly empty church) was spoken about at length many hours later, back at the house.

Rosemarie's coffin is bricked in, and she is resting above her older brother who died 3 years ago aged 19.

It's customary in the Philippines to video and photograph the service -- including group shots taken next to the coffin -- so I spent a lot of the service doing just that. Though I'm not sharing the photos here on or on the blog, I'm using the footage to make a memorial album and video for Rosemarie's family.

We'll take it back as a gift for All Saints Day (November 2) -- when we return to Estancia so Jerry can visit his mother's grave at the cemetery. If you've seen the Disney movie Coco, All Saints Day (also known as the day of the dead) in the Philippines is a little bit like that.

Till next week.

Mel (and Jerry) xx

PS: Jerry and I put up our Christmas tree last night. All the trees and decorations have been out in the Philippines for more than a month now, so we are actually quite behind.

Sincerely,

Melinda J. Irvine

[email protected]

This lovely photograph and quote I found in a 2nd-hand National Geographic coffee table book — I cut it up and put it right on the office door next to my desk.

Donations: where does the money go exactly?

If you've ever seen a donation call out on my website or FB, and wondered what I do with the money, this blog will answer all your questions.

After years of requests from family, friends (and radio stations) I've finally updated the website with detailed information about the projects for kids in the Philippines.

#givingback #community

Back at my writing desk

Reading the blog you might see posts and projects and think I’m still the upbeat whirlwind I was in my youth. But truthfully, somewhere along the last few years I fell into a crack and have found it terribly difficult to crawl back out.

It can be difficult to throw yourself into your work (or anything at all) when you don’t feel anything except an overarching sense of purposelessness — and you’re tired all the time.

I’m a professional writer making my way in the world of business. Each week I share a few WritingBiz and freelance tips -- as well as the odd content hack. At the moment I'm busy building an online learning centre and digital download service, and thrilled to tell you that once it rolls out, my sponsored kids will be able to access all the educational content for free.

What equipment do I need to start a Writing Business?

You don’t need a pile of techie stuff or expensive subscriptions to start a freelance writing business. The best advice I can give you is to concentrate your purchases on the things that will support uninterrupted writing, efficient communication, and secure document handling. That’s all you need to get started.

REMEMBER: a large percentage of small business failures are due to insufficient cash flow and unmanaged cash use. Don’t buy stuff you don’t need when you are starting your writing business. Just concentrate on the writing.

#writingcomesfirst #writingbiz

WRITINGBIZ TIP #28 start your writing portfolio with guest posts

Guest posts are a great starter for your writing portfolio. Many large websites and blogs rely on guest posts to grow their content and are always looking for new writers. Get started by googling ‘write for us xxxxx’ (and your niche) or browsing the content of some of your favourite blogs.

Choose something professional looking with credible content -- and make sure they’ve published something in the last 15-30 days. Read their submissions page carefully to find out exactly what type of articles they accept. Also make sure they display an author byline as some websites pass off guest posts as their own writing. Ideally the byline will show the writer’s photograph as well as a short bio and include links to their website and social media.

Remember you are looking for something that’s going to make you look like a professional writer. My first guest post was for an online network of small business owners and I actually received a lot of traffic back to my blog from the article. They had a nice looking author byline that also linked to all my social media.

Websites to avoid:

Spammy looking sites with lots of banner ads
Sites that don’t display an author byline
Sites with no recent posts

Pitching and Submitting

Some websites want you to send a completed article with your submission, others prefer you to pitch them first. For my first few guest articles I contacted websites that requested the article up-front, that way I didn’t have to provide examples of writing to get a start. It’s a great feeling when you get that first ‘yes’ email.

Writing tips, poems and stuff on the blog

For more stories, poems, articles and book reviews follow my Wordpress blog. Please share with your friends too.

Back Issues of neXtDRAFT

https://melirvine.com.au/nextdraft-back-issues

From the vault: October 2018

dark brown
muddened bract
rain leaves the garden