neXtDRAFT 53. Making new friends

Published: Sat, 02/02/19

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 also share my best tips for making money as a professional writer and how to navigate your home office workplace while serving clients from all over the world.

Here in the Philippines I support about 20 kids (and their families) from a rural municipality with food, school supplies and love; it's my way of encouraging them into school and maybe one day out of poverty. You'll read their stories here too. And if you are a stamp collector, you'll be the first to see the newest listings in the STAMPS FOR THE VISAYANS eBay store -- where 100% of the proceeds support the kids here.

neXtDRAFT is delivered to your inbox most Sundays depending of course on the frequent monsoons, powercuts and WIFI outages (which sometimes interfere with my publishing schedule). Sometimes I get a bit overwhelmed but there is usually a neXtDRAFT somewhere in the making.

Again welcome, I'm so glad to have you part of the neXtDRAFT community. Unsubscribe anytime using the link at the bottom of this page.

Melinda J. Irvine

https://melirvine.com.au/

Hello, happy Sunday, and welcome to neXtDRAFT 53.

Making new friends.

This past two weeks we have celebrated the annual Dinagyang Festival of Iloilo City as well as Jerry’s 11th birthday. The city beats tribal drums for weeks in the lead up to this cultural festival and the streets are decorated with the bright primary colours and earth tones of ancient Philippine warriors.

But we let Dinagyang Festival pass us by and spent our time focused instead on Jerry’s birthday: arranging a small gathering last weekend at a local restaurant with a swimming pool and a lovely garden. Moving to the city mid-last year Jerry has been missing his friends back in Estancia, so this party was all about bonding with his classmates and some new friends we met late last year. We loved it.

A few hours before his birthday party, Jerry was practicing thanking his friends for coming to the party. I had absolutely no self-confidence when I was his age (and he's grown up the same) so I take every opportunity to get him using a microphone and speaking in public. Even if it's just this own birthday.

Making new friends requires effort and when you’re a freelance writer it’s so easy to spend your entire life behind the laptop. Another reason why I’ve scaled neXtDRAFT back to fortnightly issues. I hope it is worth the wait.

This week's neXtDRAFT has some of my best tips for quickly improving your writing (which will hopefully inspire you to get writing every day too). There's also a few little poems, and a story about how to access your local library from anywhere in the world. I'm still amazed at what an absolutely cool time it is to be alive. Being able to live and work from anywhere in the world. AMAZING!

Till Sunday week ...

Mel xx

PS: thanks to our party guests who gave Jerry the spinning toys. What a hit they were (and are).

Sincerely,

Melinda J. Irvine

[email protected]

shrieks of excitement
birthday wrappers all torn
spinning toys spin — for hours

In the distance
the drums
continued to beat.

1966 Navigators $1 Matthew Flinders Block of 4 MUH Full Original Gum

Stamp Corner:1966 Navigator Series

'Matthew Flinders'

This week we are featuring again plate blocks from the 1966 Navigator's series -- Matthew Flinders. Captain Flinders was in the news only last week as his remains were uncovered by archaeologists working on the new HS2 rail link in London. The graveyard where he was buried more than 200 years ago is being excavated to make way for the high-speed line between London and Birmingham. More than 40,000 bodies are being exhumed from St James’s cemetery (behind the station) and he was identified from a lead breastplate still attached to his coffin.

Both of these stamp listings are ending today, so if you miss out (or prefer another famous explorer) have a browse through the store and look for your favourite navigator. We have each of the navigators in a range of corner blocks, double plate blocks, gutter blocks, singles and full sets. New listings are being added every week so keep calling back.

Mel (and Uncle Richard).

STAMPS FOR THE VISAYANS

1966 Navigators $1 Matthew Flinders

Double Plate Block of 20 (Pl.3) MUH

PS: Stamps for the Visayans is a project of my Uncle Richard. In 2014 he inherited the family stamp collection which dates back 3 generations. He sells the stamps individually on eBay and sends the proceeds to help me live in the Philippines with Jerry (as well as run small projects for other disadvantaged children). It's incredible how these $5, $10 and $20 stamp sales (plus the odd big one) add up and make our life here possible.

Accessing your local library from anywhere in the world

How wonderful to live in a period of time where you can be anywhere in the world and still use your local library. Even better when you spend 10-11 months of the year abroad with an 11 year old boy who loves stories.

My local library in Australia has an adjunct service that allows you to borrow eBooks and audio books. Here’s Jerry enjoying the children's section on the iPad.

Recovering from a Typhoon

This week marks exactly 5 years since I first arrived in the Philippines as a relief volunteer following Typhoon Yolanda. I found this article on the Al Jazeera website a few days ago and thought my readers might find it interesting.

While this village in Leyte is a long way from Jerry's birthplace of Estancia, more than 200 from his home town were killed in the storm. His house was completely washed away and it completely scattered his family. Read this story and you might understand what compelled me to stay, and keep staying.

I’m a professional writer making my way in the world of business. The WritingBiz section is for anyone wanting to make writing a career (or at the very least make some money writing). Each week I share a few ideas on how to find writing jobs, self-publish your own eBooks, as well as how to setup your writing business and run it profitably.

Ways to quickly improve your writing

None of us emerge from the womb accomplished writers. And just like we had to learn to walk and talk (by falling down and saying gah gah goo goo a lot) good writing takes consistent, daily practice. In this short blog post I’m sharing a couple of simple things that have made me a better writer.

They aren’t earth-shattering, groundbreaking, or even unique — but what makes them effective is the doing. You’ll probably hear these things a thousand times during your writing life, but if you are willing to actually put them into practice … they will quickly improve your writing.

#getwriting #writingbiz

FREELANCE WRITER TIP #15 Find art in the everyday

Finding art in the everyday isn’t about adopting an artistic identity or a medium like … I’m a writer, I’m a poet, I’m a painter, or I’m a dancer. It’s the way you see the sun shining onto a dirty mop, or how it makes a tiny ant look like something else. It’s hanging a funky jacket on a spare nail between a couple of pictures, or remembering the fragrance of a coffee you drank 30 years earlier on the other side of the world.

It’s the exhibition guide to a San Francisco art gallery you find under a heap of nursing text books at a junk shop, or the open door to a cathedral. It’s choral music surging onto a dirty street, the getting out two stops early and walking under trees, it’s the little girl sitting alone on a rickety see-saw waiting for her playmate, it’s rising at 4.30am and spilling out your morning pages, it’s getting quiet and still and listening for the creative voice that exists within everything.

Every day.

Freelance Writing Q&A

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More poems and stuff on the blog

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Back Issues of neXtDRAFT

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

From the vault: Feb 2016

Rebuilding the children's playground

This week 3 years ago (after being a mum for about 2 months) I realised there was nowhere for Jerry to play in Estancia. So I set to work to restore a play area for the kids of Jerry's village barangay. I recruited some of the local dads to repair a damaged pegola, and paid them by buying them some new clothes.

The kids came out to help pick up garbage from the shoreline and I spent the next few weeks travelling back and forth to the city to buy toys, games, stationery, and craft supplies. At that time there was no department store anywhere close to Estancia so Iloilo City was my best option.

It was a lovely time and I'll share some of those memories in upcoming editions of neXtDRAFT.

Every week for about 2 months I ran activities for the children in Gredia Park until I contracted Dengue Fever. It took a while to recover and after than I began holding the activities on the balcony outside the room Jerry and I lived. I must find the photos of Jerry on top of that dinosaur.