Karen Collum">Australian Children's Author

Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last week I lamented my inability to start my novel and gave myself the daunting task of JUST WRITE! I’m delighted to say, in spite of me still finding many reasons to procrastinate, it worked. And not only that, it was fun! And energising! And exciting! (And I’ve used too many exclamation marks already…) Keep reading →

Image: Evgeni Dinev, freedigitalphotos.net

I’m just a few weeks into my Year of the Novel course and I’m at the point where I’m ready to start writing. I think. I hope. Maybe. Possibly. On second thoughts, maybe not. I’ve got my story plotted, I’m really excited by my characters and the journey they’re about to go on and I’ve begun to inhabit the mind of my POV character and see the world through his eyes. I’ve done some basic research into athletics – my main character is a sprinter – and I’ve got a handle on the tone and emotional climate of the story. I’m thinking about my story all the time and find myself wandering off into my created world on a regular basis. I’m craving the time and space to write and am making all the right noises about about wanting to start. I’m standing on the precipice of my new, exciting story, but there’s just one problem… I don’t want to start. Keep reading →

I posted a while back about how nervous I was when I sent my manuscript off to my lovely group of beta-readers. It’s the first time I’ve gotten to this stage with a novel and I must say, it was quite scary knowing people were going to be reading and critiquing my work. I wanted them to read it, but I also was terrified that they wouldn’t like it. I’ve now got manuscripts back from two of my beta-readers and I know two more are in the mail. I get to hear feedback in person from four others next week when I meet with my critique group from Year of the Edit. And I have to say after reading responses from two beta-readers, I am blown away with the amount of work these readers have put into my manuscript and also the beautiful words of praise they have sent my way. Sure, there are things that they questioned (and rightly so) but there are also things they loved. Keep reading →

I’m still buzzing from Workshop 2 of my Year of the Edit master class. Last workshop was an emotionally intense experience for me but today was nothing but positive, possibly because I could relax knowing my work had already been critiqued! The day was over before I knew it (I secretly suspect a time thief snuck in and changed all our clocks). I felt like a thirsty sponge, soaking up all the information that our tutor, Kim Wilkins, had to share. Once again, Kim inspired me with her ability to provide me with the skills I need to edit my novel. Any stress I had surrounding my novel is gone, replaced by the confidence that I can do this! I can learn the skills I need to edit my novel and transform it from mediocre to fantastic. Keep reading →

It may sound strange, but up until my first Year of the Edit workshop, I had no idea that the novel I’d written was science fiction. Sure, it revolves around the ethical dilemma (from a Christian perspective) of what might happen in the future if geneticists push the boundaries too far, but all that is over and done with in the first few chapters. The rest of the book deals with the repercussions of crossing those boundaries and focuses heavily on the personal and spiritual journeys or two men. I was somewhat taken aback when the workshop group and my tutor, Kim Wilkins, stated it was clearly science fiction. I almost argued with them! But of course, they are right. This week I discovered another element of my story that is common in science fiction – time travel. The only problem was, the time travel in my novel was entirely unintentional. Keep reading →

Well, a lot can happen in three days (in my life at least!). After a flying start on my planned NaNo novel, Emma Delaney, I was suddenly struck by how disinterested and uninspired my writing was. I’ve had times when I’ve questioned whether my writing was any good or whether I was capturing what I was trying to capture, but this was different. This was a level of ‘don’t care’-itis that both surprised and rattled me. This was the novel I’d spent all of October planning and had thought through in great detail. By Day 2 I had written 7,500 words of Emma Delaney and was still just as uninspired. I decided I had a choice. I could white-knuckle my way through November and reach the word count easily but have not a lot of fun doing it, or I could come up with a Plan B. I chose Plan B. Keep reading →

It’s officially Day 1 of National Novel Writing Month. I was going to get up at 5am to work on my novel but we’ve had some lovely friends stay with us for the weekend and I ended up being up till after midnight. Rather than go to bed and have to set my alarm, I decided to start writing straight away. I’m delighted to report I’ve written 3,000 words and have finished my first scene. They’re pretty average words, (OK, VERY average words) but it’s a first draft and the goal is to get the story out, not write prize-winning prose. And that means I’ve only got 47,000 words to go. It’s looking more achievable by the minute. Check with me in a week and it might be a different story, but for now this NaNoWriMo train has left the station and is chugging along at full speed. Choo choo!

Don’t go! I’m itching to get started on my NaNoWriMo novel, Emma Delaney, but I can’t. Not until November 1. Thankfully, that’s only 10 days or so away. And tonight I finished my planning. I have worked through each and every step in ‘The Snowflake Method’ and I’m all set and ready to go. I’ve found Step 9 to be an interesting one and very valuable for so many reasons. Here’s just a few: Keep reading →

My YA novel, Emma Delaney is coming along beautifully. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be poised and ready to start writing my first draft when NaNoWriMo kicks off on November 1. I’ve been working through The Snowflake Method as my planning tool of choice and tonight I’ve embarked on Step 9: Writing about what I’ll write. Keep reading →

For NaNoWriMo this year I’m going to write a YA novel entitled Emma Delaney. As I’ve mentioned previously, Emma Delaney sprang from a single line that popped into my head at random almost twelve months ago. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what to do with that line during that time and have considered using it in a picture book or in a junior novel. I’m really glad I saved it because I really think as a YA concept it’s going to be awesome. Keep reading →