Book is out

Hmmm. long time no blog. But life has been busy, what with holidays and work and other annoyances.

But some big things have been happening. Last year I judged a short story comp for the Stringybark Short Story Award and the top 26 stories have now been compiled into one book. The winning entry Marngrook is also the title of the book.

Judging the competition was an interesting experience and taught me a bit about writing as well. I enjoy experiences that teach me new and interesting things. Especially about things that i love like writing. In this case it also taught me a bit bout Australian History they didn’t teach in school and I wouldn’t have normally known about, like the brownout murders in Melbourne during the war (the murders were the background to a story that I thought was a delight and very well told. That story came second BTW).

The winning entry was the most fascinating in both the way it was written and the history it told and tied both up quiet well. It tells the story of the wind who watched Australia change over the years and in particular how the Indigenous Australian game of Marngrook inspired the Australian Rules Football. Once again something I didn’t know. When I looked it up on Google and in the library I became interested in the history behind the sports.

And that my friends, is what makes a good story in my opinion. Enjoyable to read and inspires you to learn more about the world.

The book can be bought in several ways one of which is directly from the Stringybark bookshop at http://www.stringybarkstories.net/The_Stringybark_Short_Story_Award/Home.html . Their other books are available there as well.

Long weekends are for writing

Sitting in a cafe at Tuross Heads on a rainy days is pretty much perfect writing weather for me.
There is something about rain that makes any shelter, wether open to the elements or not, feel cosy and warm. The sight and sound of rain while you are dry just makes me feel happy I guess. It may be because I spent so much time in the past working in the rain I'm just glad to be out of it.
I have been set a challenge by a friend to write a short story in 12 words or less. No easy task. So far my attempts have been rather morbid so my partner has increased the challenge to include it must be upbeat.
I'm not sure how to be upbeat in 12 words or less.

New blog that anyone can post to (sort of)

I have decided to start a new blog, but this time it is for anyone to submit their writing to. The intention is to post short storiesw, poems, reviews act that have sometthing to do with OZ and eventually (read hopefully if I get enough good submissions) publish it in a zine. Which is something I have been wanting to do for a while.

Below is the first post reported here so that anyone cane get an idea of what it is about. The blog can be found at http://ozshortstories.blogspot.com/.

Welcome to the new blog that I have created for anyone to share their short stories, poems, chapter viewing, book reviews or anything that really relates in any way to writing and storytelling. My intention is to maybe get enough good quality stories together to start publishing a zine on a regular basis.

I know that there are a lot of other sites out there that do the same kind of thing but I thought I’d create one for Australian stories. You don’t particularly have to be Australian but whatever you want to post should, in some way, relate back to Australia. However that is the only genre that applies. Your story could be sci fi, romance, detective, erotic, fantasy, children or even an erotic supernatural romance set in the distance future that involves solving a crime. As long as it has something to do with Australia. In fact I encourage you to submit any type of genre that you care. I like variety.

There are a couple of rules, this first being related to Australia. The second is I am in no way an editor so don’t submit anything until it is ready to be published on site. I will read the story and maybe correct any spelling mistakes that I see but that’s about it. And even then I will contact you prior to making the actual change.

I have friends who do edit and a really good at it, and I will be employing their help when it actually comes to publishing the zine, but until then the editing is up to you. On that note though if I think that the story is bad I may not publish it on the website. But it would have to be really bad for me to do that. And I have read some bad ones.

On that note if I put your submission up on this website it does not automatically mean you will get published in the zine. But there is a good chance.

Thirdly don’t expect payment unless I actually publish your story in a zine. And even then I won’t be paying much unless the zine does really well. I’m doing this for free just so anyone can get their stories out there and published. With the current situation where printed books are going it is getting harder and harder to get short stories published so think of this as a chance to get your work out there.

If you are interested and want to submit a story contact me at Jamie.hodder1@gmail.com. You must include your name (or the name you want credit for your submission to go under), a contact email address, the story, poem, book review or whatever it is you want published on the website. Oh yes and any tags you want your submission to go under. This is a blog after all.

Another 55 word story

He studied the dead body lying on the bed, no longer in pain. Once again, he glanced at the clock with anticipation. It was taking longer than he expected, but he wasn’t in a hurry, not anymore.


He smiled as he felt a cold, bony hand land on his shoulder. It was over at last.

Let the writing begin

So the Stringybark Short Story Competition I’m judging has started with only 60 days to go to enter.

The subject is Australian history, and I must admit that I am looking forward to reading the entries that we will get for this competition. Particularly it will be interesting to see what time periods in Australian history people will write about. There are particularly interesting periods which beg for stories to be told that have so far as I can find be left untouched.

I love history and one of my father’s passions was to read about Australian history, something he passed onto me. While members of our family didn’t do anything of historical note, apparently one of my great, great uncles (my great grandmothers brother) ran with Ben Hall, something Dad said no one spoke of when he was a kid except in private and always with a certain amount of embarrassment, which is interesting because I would think that today most people would be claiming with pride that they were related to some famous bushranger, picturing them with a certain amount of romances while conveniently ignoring such inconvenient facts such as they were generally thieves and killers. I have to admit I am one of those people and read whatever I can about Ben and his gang.

But times change and a country as young as Australia, which hasn’t undergone much in the way of exciting, daring may do events such as civil wars or the regicide of a tyrant need the ideas of rebel for the people, someone who the average person can empathise with in their struggles in life. As a result, people who, if they were alive today the public would be baying for their blood, are considered to be hero’s of a sort.

I guess what I am basically saying is that it is interesting how history has a way of erasing to gory of the past, leaving the romantic and idealised version of people we wouldn’t really want to meet in a dark alley at any time.

But I digress. The Stringybark Short Story Competition is now open. Check it out begin writing your winning entry now. While you are their check out their stunning judges including yours truly.

until next time