Writing
I'm very excited to have had my first Yoga
article
published for the Yoga magazine
The Art Of Healing.
Click here to check
out
From Coma To Yoga.
It Began At The Beginning...
It was C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. (and my fourth grade teacher, Miss Amiet, who read it to the class) that started my love for reading. And my love for reading led to my love of writing. But it was around age fifteen that I read S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, and that was the first book I read that inspired me to want to become a writer.
The
legendary
Ben Elton has this hilarious
thing to say about writers in
This Other Eden:
"If crazies were a little crazy, writers
were dangerous lunatics; embittered
socially dysfunctional grudge-carriers..."
Studying Writing (But Not Actually Doing Any Writing)
My childhood love of reading and my teenage dream of becoming a writer stayed with me through to adulthood. However, I never attempted to get published (except for a Q&A in Dolly Magazine from when I did work experience there in high school and a movie review for UNSW's university paper whilst I was at uni). This was because - although one of my university majors was English Lit (the other was Sociology) - up until my mid-twenties I didn't have the confidence to even try. So I prepared myself the usual way a book nerd does: via study.
Over several years I did correspondence courses through the Australian College of Journalism and gained diplomas in the following: Freelance Journalism, Health And Fitness Writing (now Sports Writing And Photography), Professional Children’s Writing, Creative Writing, and Professional Editing And Proofreading.
Finally, The Confidence To Write
This was all happening while I was teaching and performing Bellydance full time, so while I studied I became brave enough to approach my colleague and mentor, Amera Eid (of Amera's Palace) about writing for her Bellydance magazine, The Palace Magazine (now no longer in print) . Amera was kind enough to give me my first published writing opportunity, and a few years later I was editing her magazine.
Editing The Palace Magazine for several years lifted my
confidence, but it was the acceptance of an article (If You Were A Wolf In The Wild) and a short story (Corina's Hair Goes Wild) from
The
School Magazine that gave me the
impetus to forge ahead with my writing. It was the first time someone who
didn’t know me wanted to publish something I’d written, and it was a real
confidence boost.
For the next several years, I wrote many a children’s article about animals, and the occasional short story and poem. As is the way with writing, most of my stuff got rejected, but many got accepted (although nowhere near enough to make anything that resembled an income). Check out the links below to have a look at the stuff I've had published.
My First Attempt At A Book
Meanwhile, late 2007 to early 2009 was spent writing a book called Little Dog In A Big City. In 2010, I acquired an agent (Sally Bird of Calidris Literary Agency) to represent it but unfortunately all the publishers she sent it to rejected it. (Ah, such is the life of the writer!)
Still, I wasn't going to let all that hard work go to waste, so I created a free online book, Little Dog In A Big City.
My Inner Nerd (Finally) Comes In Handy: Proofreading
Mid-2009 I proofread Animals And Us by Faye Leister which is an activity book for primary kids aged 7 to 12. This wonderful book teaches the values of respect, empathy, integrity, responsibility, care and compassion for animals. To get a taste of it, go to these free Animals And Us activity pages.
The Future, From 2010 Onwards...
My priorities changed from wanting to be published to wanting to use my writing skills to help animals. One way I'm doing this is through articles like these: Animal Thoughts.
IMPORTANT
NOTE:
Teachers and
parents, feel free to print out my
stories, poems or articles
to use in class or at
home. But please point out to the children that
referring
to animals as "it" -
as I did in these
articles - is wrong. Animals should
not be given
the status of a thing ("it") but rather of a living
being ("he" or "she"). I know
better now and
would like kids to learn from my mistake.
Published In
The School Magazine
(Australian Publication):
Bee-hind The Scenes Part 1:
TEXT or
PDF
© Despina
Rosales, 2005
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Orbit, July 2005, Vol. 90, No. 6).
Republished by ProQuest in 2006.
Illustrations by
Kerry Millard.
Bee-hind The Scenes Part 2:
TEXT or
PDF
© Despina Rosales, 2005
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Orbit, August 2005, Vol. 90, No. 7).
Republished by ProQuest in 2006.
Illustrations by
Kerry Millard.
Conversation With A Hippo:
TEXT or
PDF
© Despina Rosales,
2006
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Countdown, June 2006, Vol. 91, No. 5).
Corina’s Hair Goes Wild:
TEXT or
PDF
© Despina Rosales 2004
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Blast Off, February 2004, vol 89, No. 1).
Illustrations by Tom Jellett.
Dogs Anonymous:
TEXT
or
PDF
© Despina Rosales, 2007
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Touchdown, March 2007, Vol. 92, No. 2).
Illustrations by
Kerry Millard.
If You Were A Fox In The Forest:
TEXT
or
PDF
© Despina Rosales,
2006
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Orbit, September 2006, Vol. 91, No. 8).
If
You Were A Wolf In The Wild:
TEXT or
PDF
© Despina Rosales, 2004
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Countdown, Jun 2004, Vol. 89, No. 5).
Illustrations by Noela Young.
Interview With A Gorilla:
TEXT
or
PDF
© Despina Rosales, 2006
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Orbit, September 2006, Vol. 91, No. 8).
Illustrations by Tohby Riddle.
In The Ocean Deep:
TEXT
or
PDF
© Despina Rosales,
2007
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Orbit, May 2007, No. 92, No. 4).
Lord Of The Wings:
TEXT
or
PDF
© Despina Rosales,
2007
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Orbit, March 2007, Vol. 92, No. 2).
Republished by ProQuest in 2006.
Names And Faces:
TEXT
or
PDF
© Despina Rosales, 2007
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Blast Off, April 2007, Vol. 92, No. 3).
Illustrations by
Kerry Millard.
Polar Bear:
TEXT
(not yet published, so no PDF available)
© Despina Rosales,
2007
Bought by
The
School Magazine, January 2007
(not yet published).
Squid:
TEXT
(not yet published, so no PDF available)
© Despina Rosales,
2006
Bought by
The
School Magazine, June 2006
(not yet published).
The Hermit Crab, The Octopus And The Anemone:
TEXT
(not yet published, so no PDF available)
© Despina Rosales,
2007
Bought by
The
School Magazine, May 2007
(not yet published).
Unbeatable Cat: The Cheetah:
TEXT
or
PDF
(PDF not available yet)
© Despina Rosales,
2006
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Blast Off, Feb 2006, vol. 91, No. 1).
Unscramble These Clucky Phrases:
TEXT
or
PDF
© Despina Rosales, 2004
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Orbit, March 2007, Vol. 92, No. 2).
Illustrations
by Gaye Chapman.
Published In
School Journal
(New Zealand Publication):
Tigers On The Prowl:
TEXT or
PDF
© Despina Rosales,
2006
First published in
School Journal
(Part 3, Number 2, 2006).
Published By
Pearson
(Australian Publication):
High Society:
TEXT
or
PDF
© Despina Rosales,
2007
First published by
Pearson
in Explore, 2007.
Republished By Proquest
(US E-Publication):
Bee-hind The Scenes Part 1:
TEXT or
PDF
© Despina Rosales,
2005
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Orbit, July 2005, Vol. 90, No. 6).
Republished by ProQuest in 2006.
Illustrations by
Kerry Millard.
Bee-hind The Scenes Part 2:
TEXT or
PDF
© Despina Rosales, 2005
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Orbit, August 2005, Vol. 90, No. 7).
Republished by ProQuest in 2006.
Illustrations by
Kerry Millard.
Lord Of The Wings:
TEXT
or
PDF
© Despina Rosales,
2007
First published in
The
School Magazine
(Orbit, March 2007, Vol. 92, No. 2).
Republished by ProQuest in 2006.
I love reading what successful
writers
have to say about the craft of writing.
Here is some of their wisdom:
Writing
Quotes
On the laptop, hard at
work (really, I am!)
Have a look at my free online book,
Little Dog In A Big City. Anyone who is lucky enough
to have a doggie in their family will benefit from the information on this
site. All the info is tried and tested by me personally and also
vet-approved.
This is the cover of the
book Animals
And Us (by Faye Leister) which I proofread.
This activity book is a great resource for teachers and parents of
primary-school aged children. Click
here download
FREE
Animals And Us activity pages.
Steven King offers
sound advice
to
aspiring writers in his book
On Writing:
"If you want to be a
writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a
lot."
"The more...you read and write, the more you'll
find your paragraphs forming
on their own."
"If you don't have time to read, you don't have
the time (or the tools) to
write. Simple as that."
Dogs Anonymous was
first published in
The
School Magazine
(Touchdown, March 2007, Vol. 92, No. 2) and the
illustrations are by
Kerry Millard.
Dog-lovers, check out the entire play by clicking:
TEXT
or
PDF.
Here's interesting
thought to ponder, again
from
Steven King's book
On Writing:
"If you intend to
write as truthfully as
you can, your days as a member of
polite society are
numbered."
Above is the first page of
Conversation With A Hippo
(first published in
The
School Magazine,
Countdown, June 2006, Vol. 91, No. 5).
Have a look at the full article by clicking here:
TEXT or
PDF.
More
from
Steven King's book
On Writing:
"...stopping a piece of work just
because it's
hard, either emotionally or
imaginatively, is a bad idea. Sometimes
you have
to go on when you don't feel
like it, and sometimes you're doing good
work
when
if feels like all you're managing
is to shovel sh*t
from a sitting
position."
The front cover of
the mag where If
You Were A Wolf In The Wild was first published. The beautiful
illustration is by Noela Young. Have a look at the article by clicking on
one of these two links:
TEXT or
PDF.
Here is
Gerald Warner
Brace's view on writing:
"The writer is one who writes...
[he/she] withdraws to some quiet
corner
...and applies [him/herself] to [his/her]
blank paper. Two hours a day
are needed;
three hours are better; four are heroic."
Names And Faces
- first published in
The
School Magazine
(Blast Off, April 2007, Vol. 92, No. 3) - was
illustrated by
Kerry Millard.
Click here for the full article: TEXT or
PDF.
"There are three rules
for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." - attributed
to
W. Somerset Maugham
(playwright, novelist and short story writer)