Collaborating Goes On

Yesterday we did our final performance at the launch of Ika. It was nerve wracking, but fun at the same time. Kathryn came along and she enjoyed it. The singing from the performing arts students was really wonderful. I think it worked well to have them involved. Reconnected with Margaret Cammell and Lynn Tito.There was food and a marvellous cake made by Pare. A leaping fish, just like us writers taking a leap into the dark. Thank you Pare. I hope someone got photos. Kathryn got Albert Wendt to sign her copy of Ika along with some of the less famous contributors. Tom signed his first book and joked about practising his signature. He read his poem. I thought it was lovely. A young man with such a mature soul. Jill performed her poem and I thought it was the most polished performance she has given, and complimented her on it.

Rachel and I finally got together today to record her poems. I went to her house and we recorded her on her computer. I have saved them in Garage band and will edit them tomorrow.

Rachel is working on the Graphics side of it. I have sent a rough draft of how I would like my cover to look. I think we will be pleased with the results.

Randomly Interesting

Thank you very much to Jenny Hellen,Deputy Publishing Editor at Random House NZ. She came and spoke to us in class yesterday about the publishing business in New Zealand. She reminded us how tough it was to get published but gave us some really helpful tips about targeting our writing at the right segment of the market, and targeting our submissions at the right publishers. She very generously gave us her email address and said she was happy to give feed back if we sent her a submission. This is a huge thing because she is obviously a very busy person.
Publishing is a business, it is about taking books to"market" and making money. She emphasised what a big publisher like Random House, can do for a writer  in the marketing and publicity department: getting reviews published, getting interviews in the media and just generally creating a buzz. She encouraged us to keep blogging, as it is good practice and can create a ground swell. This works if your blog is been read by anyone other than your class mates and tutor. Both Jenny and Robert emphasised how important it was to be easy to deal with and not a Diva. I do not see myself as a diva, but maybe a bit more like J D Salinger.

Going Going Gone West

Yesterday afternoon we visited Henderson Library to take in their collection of audio files from the Going West Book Festival going back to the start in 1996. This made an interesting change fro sitting in our class. The very nice librarians welcomed us and played some recordings that Robert had requested. We started with an interview with Kate de Goldi just after she had published the 10pm Question. David Larsen was the interviewer. She sounds so warm and friendly with a real interest in understanding young people just before they enter puberty-  the time before "the fall" she refers to it as.
She says she had a very enjoyable childhood herself and she thinks writers of fiction have very good memories, especially those that write for children. She says her sister asks her to "Tell me again about our wonderful childhood".
She has a particular interest in how mental illness of a family member affects everyone in the family. She regards classrooms as a form of family.
Then it was Selina Marsh talking about her mother as the original "fast talking PI". She talked about poems not been fixed on the page, you can change them or grow them depending on your audience. Fast Talking PI is 14 minutes all up, but we got the 3 minute version. Go Selina. She talks about reclaiming the term Afekasi and becoming empowered. She believed in open access.
Micahel King was in discussion with Dorothy Urlich Cloher, talking about her just published biography of Hongi Hika called Hongi Hika: Warrior Chief, recorded in 2004. They discussed that vexed question of writing biography, of getting permission from descendants, how in Maori culture there is a concept of "ownership of ancestors". Her book was scrupulously researched and a riveting read according to Michael King and I have requested a copy from the library because it is such a fascinating period of our history.
Karlo Mila read a poem about the death of the Tongan King, and who had enough mana to douse the fire after his burial. It was a great commentary on colonialism and neo-colonialism. I would like to read it to get the full depth of it.
Finally we got to listen to the late, great Hone Tuwhare. Monologue was wonderful, the lovely Scots accent. I have worked with men that talk just like that. His wonderful warm wit and humour. The a very sensual poem based on the Song of Solomon, so wicked and warm.

Recording Re-ordering

I have recorded my poems for our collaboration on Garage Band on my mac and with Liam's help Ihave managed to make it sound acceptable. It has been quite fun. I am hoping Rachel will enjoy the process too and will have had time to look at what poems she is going to include. I will see her tomorrow after going to Henderson Library to check to their sound archive. I have asked to listen to interview with Kate de Goldi.

Ika (or is that EEEKa?)

Very excited to see the final printed version of our Journal, Ika One. My story is better than I remember it. Like meeting an old friend in print. We are doing our performance again at the launch on the 10th of November. It will be easier this time, but the audience might be bigger. I want to buy enough to give all my family one for Christmas:) Robert says the mightn't be enough. I will send some poems off to Tākahe this weekend when I have time to get sorted. Rachel wasn't in class today and I have sent her an e mail to see how she is getting on with the design for our booklet. Hopefully she will be in touch tomorrow. I want to have a go at recording our poems.

Alexa Johnston and Eleanor Catton Come to Visit This Week

We were very lucky this week to have a visit from New Zealand award winning authors Alexa Johnston and Eleanor Catton,
These two very different writers were both inspirational.

Alexa Johnston wrote her first book, a biography of Sir Edmund Hillary, after a long career as a Art Gallery Curator. She wrote it after curating the 50th anniversary show at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. It is a beautiful work that honours this great man's legacy. There are lovely photos and lots of information going back to his father and family. It gave her the standing with her publisher to get her first book of recipes, Ladies a Plate, which was also a book honouring people of another generation; in this case women and their baking. She took all the photos in the book herself and knew exactly how she wanted it to look. She has since written two more and is working on a fourth. Her advice was to write about what you felt passionate about, and to retain control if it was important to you.

Eleanor Catton is a young woman who has had a lot of success with her first book, The Rehearsal, which she wrote while doing the masters course at Victoria. She came to writing, through her hobby of film making.
She is now working on her second novel The Luminairies. It is set in New Zealand in the 1860s, in the Gold rush It will be published next year. She has done a lot of reading of novels written in this period to get a taste and feel for how stories were put together and told. From the small piece she read to us, it does seem to me as if she has captured that  sound. She writes about 1000 words a day and reads them aloud to her partner every evening. She says this is a great way of judging the text and getting rid of those errors of style that creep in.

Public Works

Thursday wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. Poor Tom got Chicken Pox and couldn't attend. I felt mean telling him his headache was stress and that he should try shoulders rolls to release the muscles.
We all dealt with the stress in our own ways and in front of a small audience of family and friends we did our best. In some cases our best was very good.
Maurice recorded mine and Geraldine's performances. I have been unable to watch mine. Watching is  more embarrassing than actually getting up and doing it. I think I have some "Body Dysmorphia" thing that makes me think I look and sound different to what I do. It is very discomforting being confronted  by incontrovertible proof of what I am really like.
I am disappointed with my choice of poems and may learn a new one for the performance on the 10th if I have time.