Greetings from Australia

teacherwelden · Dec 1, 2012

Arghhhh....I feel like a student in my classroom just been asked to introduce myself and all I really want to do is hide under the desk. So here goes;

My name is Tanya Welden and I am a 36 year old English teacher from OZ.

I only started writing seriously about 2 years ago. At the time I was working full time and mother to two young children. Of course I ran out of steam and shelved writing after about 6 months. I had hoped to spend time writing again during my third pregnancy but due to complications with my health this never happened....then of course my third child was born and other things became more important. My baby is now 14 months old and I once again have sleep....hooray! I am back writing and loving it. I have no intention of returning to work for a long while (yes, I have an amazing husband) and I really want to see what I can come up with in the next year.

I write adolescent fiction (I teach middle school so this seemed a logical start for me). I have two projects currently on the go, both novels. I am aiming for around 50,000 words for each. I read all kinds of books but I seem to be writing stories exploring the experiences of youth in Australia.

Hopefully this forum will inspire me and perhaps I might find other writers going through the similar challenges as they navigate this crazy (but exciting) road.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings
TW

L. Y. · Dec 1, 2012

Hello.

to the Water Cooler!

Beatlemaniac · Dec 1, 2012

Hello! Funny how the little ones take up all your time (trust me, I know).

Tepelus · Dec 1, 2012

Hello, and welcome!

F.L.N · Dec 1, 2012

Tanya,

(Love that name!) Welcome to AW! This is a great site. You can get lots of positive support.

Good luck with your efforts.

rwm4768 · Dec 1, 2012

Welcome.

Nickie · Dec 2, 2012

Hello there Tanya, and welcome to the Cooler.

Racey · Dec 2, 2012

Welcome! Fellow Aussie here too :welcome:

The forum is full of great tips, info, and most importantly.. Awesome writers. Have fun

Booker · Dec 2, 2012

Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi

Welcome to AW . Glad the sleepless nights are over.

Whats up with youth in OZ

fredXgeorge · Dec 2, 2012

Welcome! Always good to have more Aussies here

teacherwelden · Dec 2, 2012

Thank you for making me feel so welcome!

Thanks for your lovely words of encouragement and support.

Booker Boo...in answer to your question, it seems that most of the Aussie teenagers are falling out of love with vampires and werewolves....I guess it had to happen eventually. At least the ones I teach are asking for stories with some real gutsy issues with characters that they can relate to. When I started reading my manuscript to my students I was surprised that the boys liked it. I have included a few male characters, both into soccer and cars to a lesser extent....perhaps this is what they like. Cyber bullying also seems to be a hot issue atm as is depression and suicide....all three can easily go hand in hand.

I might be limiting myself somewhat, since Australia is a pretty tiny market, but I am writing specific for Australian kids in the Aussie landscape...somehow if it gets published I doubt it will go to the internationa l market. Then again I think many of the issues facing Australian kids are pretty universal.

Manon · Dec 2, 2012

Hi and nice to meet you, Tanya! Good luck with picking back up writing! ^^ I see you write adolescent fiction. Then maybe it would be good for you to check out Aussie Jay Kristoff - jaykristoff.com, he recently published Stormdancer, a YA. He published it in the US! The sky's the limit really... If I only could publish in The Netherlands I'd be screwed as I hate to write in Dutch, lol.

regdog · Dec 2, 2012

Take some time and read the Newbie Guide and the Stickies found
at the top of Forum pages. They are your best guide to learning about
Absolute Write.

We have lots of brilliant FAQs check them out.

Members who want to start a thread in Share Your Work to have work critiqued need
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August Talok · Dec 2, 2012

Greetings and Salutations!

Myrealana · Dec 2, 2012

'Allo!

KellyAssauer · Dec 2, 2012

Hi Tanya!

Welcome to AW!

Don't forget to read about AW basics in the Newbie Guide!

Questions about this software can be found in the FAQ's menu in the handy blue bar at the 'top' of this page.

This common acronym list helps identify our mystifying abbreviations.

Before you ask that Newbie question!!
See if Katiemac has the answer here.

Check out: Sara's 10 Basic Writing Tips.

If you're looking for critiques please read the 50 Post rule.

Questions about posting writing to the Share Your Work (SYW) area
and explained here. This link covers the most common problems found in the Share Your Work *Worth reading no matter how long you have been here!*

AW is a community built on the foundations of respecting your fellow writer and helping each other, it's the basic building blocks of how and why AW works.

Welcome to our community! =)

-kelly-

thehairymob · Dec 2, 2012

Griffin Hayes · Dec 2, 2012

Welcome!

drzimo · Dec 2, 2012

Welcome Mate!

heichan · Dec 2, 2012

Hello from a W.A. aussie. I think it's great that you're writing for an Australian audience and I hope you can find more time for your writing.

teacherwelden · Dec 2, 2012

heichan said:
Hello from a W.A. aussie. I think it's great that you're writing for an Australian audience and I hope you can find more time for your writing.

Thanks....I am fitting it around nappies and cleaning and washing and cooking....it works much better than teaching which left me emotionally too drained to write. I can plan my writing while doing these mundane tasks. It does help that the muppet sleeps for me 2.5 hours during the day and is in bed by 6:30!!!!

BabySealWriter · Dec 2, 2012

Welcome

Booker · Dec 3, 2012

teacherwelden said:
Thanks for your lovely words of encouragement and support.

Booker Boo...in answer to your question, it seems that most of the Aussie teenagers are falling out of love with vampires and werewolves....I guess it had to happen eventually. At least the ones I teach are asking for stories with some real gutsy issues with characters that they can relate to. When I started reading my manuscript to my students I was surprised that the boys liked it. I have included a few male characters, both into soccer and cars to a lesser extent....perhaps this is what they like. Cyber bullying also seems to be a hot issue atm as is depression and suicide....all three can easily go hand in hand.

I might be limiting myself somewhat, since Australia is a pretty tiny market, but I am writing specific for Australian kids in the Aussie landscape...somehow if it gets published I doubt it will go to the internationa l market. Then again I think many of the issues facing Australian kids are pretty universal.

The young adult literature in Australia is only tenish years old. I briefly had a look at what's fed to them and some of it is appalling. Andy Griffiths and his fart jokes (gone too far?) plus his The Bad Book was banned with it's content full of parents encouraging their children to violent and life threatening events. Scary stuff.

The controversy flared last month after a newspaper journalist found Ottley's book -- which contains swearing, an image suggestive of suicide, a possible murder and cruelty to animals -- incorrectly shelved in the children's section of a Borders store in Brisbane.

The Vampires and Werewolves gotta give a way to 'dirty realism' of everyday life which is I reckon popular among young people in Down Under or at least what they are being stuffed with.

hannahward07 · Dec 3, 2012

Hiya, and

to the Cooler!

captain_ryan · Dec 3, 2012

Hey there!

As a fellow teacher and new father (again), I feel your struggle. I had to take a bit of a break for a while myself.

But, I'm so glad you're aboard with us. If you ever have any questions or need anything, just let me or one of the regular honyocks know.

-R.

Greetings from Australia

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