COURSES AND RESOURCES
See also: What's on
Manuscript assessment service
PressPress has just begun a new manuscript assessment service. Using a diverse panel of assessors, the service is reasonably priced and available for poetry and fiction. Go to PressPress or download the application form and costs as a Word document or as a pdf.
Free script templates
Free templates on the Coherent Visual site. This is what the site says:
Script and screenplay templates available for download
The BBC offers for free some excellent script templates called Script Smart for screenwriters. Templates are included for a screenplay, a TV studio sketch, and a radio sketch (in both United States and U.K. formatting standards). The package with all the templates runs about 400K. Available in both Windows and Macintosh format.
QuickMuse + Poetry generator
QuickMuse is a great idea. Totally fascinating to the practising poet. See Pinsky, Muldoon and others write a poem to a set topic in a limited time in real time...that is with hesitations, corrections, backtracks, additions, as it happens, unfolding before your eyes. I love this.
If QuickMuse doesn't do it for you, this one literally does: Instant Muse Poetry Generator.
Choosing a workshop
There are also workshops of various kinds advertised by all sorts of people...some of whom (believe it or not) have not actually been published or even written much. This seems incredible, but I've come across it more than once. Usually they have done quite a lot of workshops as participants (one even used a writer's workshop exercises to put together a photocopied booklet which she then sold!). Sometimes they might have edited material in the past (which can be fine if they're running workshops on how to edit your work).
You have to assess whether you prefer a practitioner or someone who has it second hand. The rule of thumb: look at the person's experience/qualifications carefully. If you're writing as a hobby, it might not matter much if the person has just borrowed a lot of workshop exercises from someone else, but if you're very serious about your work, you might want to look for someone more professional.
Other courses or resources
Remember: you must make up your own mind about what is good value and what isn't
A
About Poetry - a vast repository of information, links and articles about poetry (obviously)
Australian Poetic Society - poets' resource site. Not a site about poetics as the name suggests. Does have some useful links.
B
Bookdoctor Commercial site offering courses, advice, manuscript assessments etcBuzz Words: Di Bates' newsletter about children's books and writing. Go to: www.enterprisingwords.com
CDE
Culture & Recreation Portal - an Australian Government site which is a portal, as it says, to all manner of cultural material- grants, government organisations, cross media arts etc etc.
F
Famous Poets and Poems - self-explanatory really. A good site.
GHIJKLM
Griffith University A listing of university and other writing courses. Useful for further study prepared by Griffith University. Not quite up to date, but close enough.
NO
NIDA Playwright's Studio. Playwriting workshop course at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney.
P
Poetry About - a vast repository of information, links and articles about poetry (obviously)
Poetry Daily news Interesting news, links.
Poetry Magic - Don't be put off by this title. Actually a good, basic introduction to prosody at beginner and more advanced levels, arranged under categories.
Poetry Pitch - Australia - centred on Melbourne, it "brings to you a broad sweep of quality & radical links" eg poetry, anti-war, social justice sites etc. Put together by Pamela Sidney.
Poetry Resource - an good site for links to poetry-related topics. It is intended for students but not limited by this. I liked this site.
Poewar - writers' resource centre
QRS
QuickMuse live poems unfold
TUVWXYZ
Teenwriting: Advice for young writers - addressed to teenage writers, but very clear and useful for all ages.
And look at:
These are things that I've found - not necessarily recommended - but possibly interesting:
Chris Hamilton-Emery, 101 Ways to Make Poems Sell: The Salt Guide to Getting and Staying Published (Salt Publishing)
or Gary Mex Glazner's How To Make a Living as a Poet (Soft Skull, 2005). (For more on this, go to the poetry.about.com site. While you're there, have a browse around at all the good work that Margery Snyder and Bob Holman are doing.)
Writing on writing: some books to search out
Searching for the Secrety River by Kate Grenville.
The Art of the novel Milan Kundera.
Making Stories Kate Grenville & Sue Woolfe.