neXtDRAFT 49. A bright new year

Published: Sat, 12/29/18

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 49.

A BRIGHT NEW YEAR.

This quick neXtDRAFT is to send you all my love and wishes for 2019 to be a happy and most wonderful new year. Fill it with love, prosperity, energy, joy, and fulfilment.

Looking forward to having neXtDRAFT out each Sunday of 2019.

Till then.

Mel xx

Sincerely,

Melinda J. Irvine

[email protected]

The electrical wires that connect each of our homes, offices, buildings and tribes strangely disconnect us more and more. Even from ourselves.

In 2019 I'm found mostly outside, with my feet on the earth, my eyes open, and my ears listening to you.

1982 Whales 24c 35c 55c 60c Set of 4 in Marginal Blocks of 4 CTO Brisbane FDI

1972 Rehabilitation 12c 18c 24c Complete Set of 3 MUH

Stamp Corner: 1972 rehabilitation set

For the last neXtDRAFT of 2018 I wanted to share a set of stamps I've been intending to feature all year. Being already 50 years old I remember the Rehabilitation Set in circulation as well as contained in our family stamp albums. I also remember a little boy who lived half-way down Palmer Street in my home town who wore those leg braces for a while.

I was never sure why but I can still picture him hobbling out of the house with his mum when my father would pick up one of his brothers to go to Sunday School. I remember seeing him in primary school a few years later with no braces.

The stamps were released at the same time as the World Conference on Rehabilitation (held in Sydney in 1972) and the three stamps in the set feature real people -- photographed by Barbara Ardizzone. Stamps as follows:

12c - Worker in Wheelchair
18c - Occupational therapist Helen Coleborne from the Mt Wilga Rehabilitation Centre in Sydney teaching a patient named Bruce Silk how to use an artificial arm
24c - Eight year old Norman Sheather of Coonamble, NSW playing basketball in a Toronto Splint.

These are my favourite stamps in our collection and are in mint condition. A bargain at only 99c.

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.

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.

Book Review: Faunaverse Tasmania

‘Faunaverse Tasmania‘ is a book of 26 fun and funky poems about the unique wildlife and flora of Australia’s island state (Tasmania). It doesn’t matter whether you are a kid or all grown up, you’ll delight in Alex and Jane Dudley’s stunning wildlife photography and giggle at their grimacing puns. You might just learn something too.

Because Faunaverse Tasmania brings to life some of endangered species that are native to Tasmania and found nowhere else in the world. You’ll meet the gorgeous eastern quoll, learn a little bit about wombat poo, and chase a ‘turbo chook’ (otherwise known as the Tasmanian native hen) across the isolated island. You’ll meet some other kooky creatures too like — Milena the Marchfly (a native blood-sucking fly who’s attracted a pile of haters), Jasmine the Jack Jumper (a venomous jumping ant), and Velvet the Velvet Worm (a ravenous hunting worm that looks like a tiny plushy toy).

And if I sound a bit biased, well that's because I am. Alex and Jane are my friends (and also part of the neXtDRAFT community). They've actively helped Jerry and I here in the Philippines and been a tremendous supporter of my own writing. I hope you will show them some love too, add Faunverse to your holiday reading list.

#amreading #faunaverse

WRITER TIP # 11 Read, Read, Read

Writers and readers have the perfect symbiotic relationship, one simply cannot exist without the other. So my professional writer tip this week is to GET READNG to GET WRITING.

Reading fills you with ideas for stories, connects you with the reading community, teaches you how to construct a sentence and write dialogue, PLUS it's loads of fun.

Here's a few suggestions for your holiday reading list:

Read books about writing. Learn about the craft of writing by reading writing guides written by other professional writers. A few famous examples include Stephen King - On Writing. Natalie Goldman - Writing Down the Bones. Aspects of the Novel - E.M. Forster. Ogilvy on Advertising - David Ogilvy.
Read books by the authors currently leading your genre. Examples: James Patterson - thrillers. Lian Moriarty - domestic noir. Malorie Blackman - young readers. Copywriters should be reading catalogue text and dazzled by marketing copy.
Read books by the classic authors in your genre: Examples: Agatha Christie - mystery and crime fiction, Jane Austin - domestic noir, Douglas Adams - comedy/satire. Ted Hughes - poetry. Copywriters read some of the classic direct mail campaigns: 'They Laughed When I Sat Down At the Piano But When I Started to Play!' by John Caples (1926).
Read books by a range of authors in your genre. See what's popular in your genre and get a feel for what you like and don't like. How how about reading every book in your genre that received more than 10,000 votes in the Goodreads Choice Awards (fantasy, historical fiction, memoir etc).
Read the hard stuff. Challenge yourself to read literary fiction and some award winning contemporary novels. Read something outside your genre that you've never read before.

More poems and stuff on the blog

For more stories, poems, articles and reviews follow my Wordpress blog. More than 700 posts and 1,000s of photos. Tell your friends too.

Back Issues of neXtDRAFT

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

From the vault: Dec 2017

Phoebus
stretched his hands
unto each tiny stem and floret

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