Singing for my Friends

Good day to you all.  It’s been some time since I wrote to you.  This note is to let you all know that I am moving from Shelfstealers publications and seeking another publisher.  Therefore, I will no longer be using this site.   If you would like to send me an email at kayelinden@gmail.com I will add you to the list for my new updated future blog.  Just write “add me” in the subject line.  I am also still in your hearts through my website at www.kayelinden.com   Happy tales to you until we meet again….

Best from Kaye

wallaby with baby

Most of you know by now that I am from Australia and write Australian tales.  The fifty tale collection based on the whacky character of “Ma” is now in the publication process.  In honor of the old poets from the 1800′s,  I occasionally post a bush ballad here.  These poems reflect the life of the bush pioneers in the 1800′s and early 1900′s in Australia.

Wallaby Stew

Poor Dad he got a five year stretch as everybody knows,

And now he lives in Boggo Road with broad arrows on his clothes.

He branded old Brown’s clean-skins and never left a tail;

So I’ll relate the family’s fate since Father went to jail.

So, stir the wallaby stew! Make soup of the kangaroo tail!

I tell you things is pretty crook since Father went to jail.

Our sheep all died a month ago, not rot but blooming fluke;

The cow was boozed last Christmas Day by elder brother Luke;

I sold the buggy on my own, the place is up for sale,

That won’t be all that has been junked when Dad gets out of Jail!

Our Bess got shook upon some bloke who’s gone we don’t know where;

He used to act around the sheds, but he ain’t acted square.

And Mother’s got a shearer-cove forever on her tail;

The family will have grown a bit when Dad gets out of jail!

They let Dad out before his time to give us a surprise.

He looked around at all of us and gently blessed our eyes;

He shook hands with the shearer-cove, and said that things seemed stale

Then left him there to shepherd us, and battled back to jail.

*** *** ***

It’s like reading a different version of English, wouldn’t you say?

Lots lost in translation.   Wallaby Stew?   I guess it refers to a mess of bits and pieces.  When I grew up in Australia, we ate kangaroo tail soup.

Prompt for today:

Wallaby, stew, cut, stones, sticks

Look for “Fifty Tales from Ma’s Watering-hole” sometime in 2013.

Reminder: short story workshop at Santa Fe on December 3 rd

Beginning novel workshops coming up in January at Santa Fe

While reading some information on proper manuscript format on the Whidbey Island Writers alumni site, I came across the following website, and a few comments from instructor Bruce Holland Rogers, master of short fiction.

http://www.shunn.net/format/story.html

Question:  Which font should I use?

“Courier, because it is not proportionally spaced, is easier to edit than Times Roman or any other font that is meant for setting finished work.

Experienced production editors can also estimate the cast-off, or how much space the work will take up in the magazine, by looking at the pages of Courier-formatted text. A manuscript in another font is harder for them to estimate.

Yes, a lot of editing and layout is done on screens now, but many publications still use paper for manuscripts. Any manuscript you submit on paper should be printed out in Courier.

If you’re submitting to a publication that reviews the work electronically, then, sure, go ahead and use Times Roman if you want.

What the double-spaced Courier says, though, even to a publication that reviews electronic submissions, is that you are either an established professional or are a new writer who has learned what the established pros do. The standard format is like dressing your manuscript in a suit for its job interview. Some variations are like pairing a brown belt with black shoes — they may be noticed, but won’t hurt. But the farther you stray from standard format, the more likely it is that you are sending your manuscript to its job interview in a Hawaiian shirt and no pants. If your format is odd enough, the editors will know from long experience that the manuscript is probably not going to be worth their time, so they’ll start reading it in a bad frame of mind, looking for the slightest indication that the piece is as bad as they expect.”   Bruce Holland Rogers

Check out Bruce’s site:  http://www.shortshortshort.com/