neXtDRAFT 65. Moon Creatures

Published: Wed, 10/30/19

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 on 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 65.

Moon Creatures.

Here it is Wednesday, but I'm determined to get neXtDRAFT back into it's Sunday publishing schedule. So just a quick one today.

Jerry is currently into the second week of his school holidays and I'm here writing blogs for clients (and myself) in the midst of banging, clanging, jackhammering and drilling noise as an additional apartment building is being created directly under ours.

Awful as it is, it's been a great self-check on my headspace because I haven't fallen into a pile of tears, or stomped off in rage to work from the local coffee shop, or marched into the office complex with a written complaint list -- the great news is it hasn't bothered me too much at all.

Though I've been very VERY grateful for my headphones and electronic playlist.

Tomorrow Jerry and I will be heading back to Estancia for All Saints Day (also known as Day of the Dead). We'll be visiting the grave of Jerry's mother and some of our still beloved sponsored kids and now deceased friends. The longer I'm here the more people there are to visit on November 1 each year.

So in between writing jobs I'll be snapping some footage and preparing some blogs to share this cultural experience with my readers. We'll be visiting Nida and her family, as well as our other sponsored kids. We might even have time to turn into real moon creatures and attend the Halloween Party and annual Fiesta of Barangay Botongon where we used to live.

Till Sunday.

Melxx

PS: thanks again for your emails of love and support. My friend and loyal neXtDRAFT reader Sara even shared her own childhood experience of Day of the Dead as a second generation Italian migrant family. Please send mail writing friends, I love it so much.

Sincerely,

Melinda J. Irvine

[email protected]

Here's Jerry with his first ever bed linen -- he's so happy. Until now he's slept under a 140 peso Toy Story blanket from the cheap store. Thanks to those who made this possible, you know who you are.

Moon Creatures

before the moon
creatures on the road
buy bread, barbeque and beer

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.

Essential Qualities of Successful Freelance Writers (Part 1 Writing Skills)

Successful freelance writers bring an attitude for excellence to all areas of their writing — whether its constantly expanding their vocabulary, or perpetually rewriting the marketing copy on their own website — because they know that as their writing skills develop and expand, so do opportunities for new clients, new projects, and new business.

#developyourwriting #betterwriting

WRITINGBIZ TIP #29 keep your writer website updated

We all know that feeling when we arrive at a shopping mall that has been let run down and half the shops are empty. Websites are like that too. Don’t let your website deteriorate by letting it sit around for months or years without an update. People do notice if your last blog post was dated 3 years earlier (oh, and so does Google).

Demonstrate to your clients that your writing skills are relevant in today’s market and you have a handle on contemporary business issues. You might do this by regular blogging or creating a series of white papers (eBooks) that are helpful to clients.

REMEMBER: having a free eBook available for your website visitors to download is a way of providing useful information, AND demonstrating your expertise in putting together a white paper.

You are really only limited by your imagination as your writer website has the scope for unlimited pages, images, videos, and personal stories. You can begin selling your own books and courses — how about a merchandising line? Link to your social media profiles? Or build an email list by publishing your own eZine?

#WritingBiz #writerwebsite

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 2017

Feeling athletic
we scramble down
(jackets off, hats on, sun hot)

to the popular spot.
We rest among
passing long weekenders and

languages we don’t understand.
Rain lands on our shoulders
rain lands on our hats

rain lands on our trail, then
up, up
above the rain.

Above the rain

we sit in cloudless sunshine
and the rain rises

the rain rises
from a little waterfall.
A windy screen of

tiny drops
tiny droplets
from a little waterfall.

October 2017 I was home in Australia after my dad's heart surgery in Sydney. Pictured here with my cousin Maya we couldn't understand how it could be raining on such a clear, warm day. The wind was pushing up spray from a waterfall below us -- up into the valley and then raining it down over our shoulders. Surreal.