Impromptu Magazine

One of my many designs! Although Mr.
Bubblelover may have to take a hike!

After many months of debate over titles and visions, my fellow writer Victoria Areva
los and I have created a baby (not in the normal sense) and it is Impromptu Magazine. It is similar to the magazine I created with Rosalie Morris and Faith Jabs three years ago called YourVerbatim in which we published two issues before realizing that university was sucking up all our free time. Now that I am a free bird again, I have more time to be creative and time to see projects through.

The Twitter account for Impromptu is already up and running, by yours truly. 47 followers in 4 days is not bad, I must add! Our website will be launched sometime mid October with deadlines and submission criteria announced shortly. https://twitter.com/ImpromptuMag

Our vision is a canvas for writers (emerging and published) to express their creativity and intellect in a safe and welcome environment. For absolutely free. So what is the difference between us and all the other thousands of micro publishers? I don't know yet but it's going to be fun!

Wicked Young Writers Award

London Apollo Victoria Theatre.

August the 7th I found myself waiting in anticipation in the London Apollo Victoria Theatre where the musical Wicked is annually hosted. I must say the decor in there was very sorcerer-like - emerald greens, purple tones, and lots of shadows.

Matt's plastic cup of wine cost £8 (his breakfast) while we observed nearly 100 finalists ages 5-25 and their 3 chosen family members milling about in the lobby waiting to be seated. My family representative besides my lovely other was Sara my respective landlady and housemate. As a former actress, Sara advised me (in case I lost) to still appear gracious and to smile.

Truth be told, it all felt surreal to me and I felt like I had already won by getting an invitation to attend the ceremony.

I'm hiding at the back by the fellow in green (photo credit: Wicked Young Writers Award).

 The cast of Wicked performed a couple pieces, reinforcing my desire to see Wicked itself one day.

The judges Michael Morpurgo did his thing as well as poet, Dean Atta, who interacted with the finalists in a series of fun activities. There were quite a few interesting poems written in the span of three minutes.

The finalists were announced and their stories or poems read by the Wicked cast. The range of literature was quite enthralling, especially when read by professional actors and actresses. Then we all went on stage for our photos. It was wonderful to see so many excited children and teenagers. The winner in my category (age 18-25) was incidentally sitting next to me. We had chatted a bit before the ceremony started. Loved his short story I'll be your Tom if you'll be my Marilyn.

Photo of the winners of each age category with author Michael Morpurgo.

Matt did try to take some photographs but as he hates posed photography I found quite a lot of blurry shots and shots of the ceiling. Here are a couple that did survive his photography deviance.

Notice Michael Morpurgo supervising us on the right.

Click here to read my published short story Wasps in the Wicked Young Writers Award 18-25 Anthology

"How I Keep Going"

Recently I accepted the challenge to submit a 200 word description of "How I Keep Going" (as a writer) to this female run magazine Mslexia (I challenged myself). What I don't have is another 200 words to continue my explanation of how lonely being a writer actually is and how I didn't realize this fact until after I had moved across the gigantic ass Atlantic Ocean over to a new continent (if you consider this island part of something much bigger, that is) where I had no friends, no job prospects but just this gut feeling that I should be here pretending to be some feminine version of Indiana Jones. A year later, I haven't stopped questioning my impulsiveness to pack all my worldly possessions into a backpack and suitcase, give away all the furniture and plants in my Marpole apartment with the sunny balcony and wooden floors (a Vancouver steal for $700 a month), hug my friends (and a boyfriend) goodbye, as I jumped on an airbus to London. But at least I stayed true to my gut feeling. Little has really changed in terms of post-graduation stagnation but  I haven't given up. If this 200 word blurb doesn't get published, maybe I will post it on here. Sometimes I daydream about giving up and learning carpentry so I can build a bear-proof tree-house in my parents British Columbian backyard and do what every other 24 year old writer does - grow weed or  have hipster tea parties until my parents (sick and tired of paying off my staggering student loans and dealing with all the noise I'm creating at age 30) burn down this tree-house and make me take back my old job at Subway to pay for their mortgage. Or I could continue to be a mysterious Sussex recluse?
How do you keep going? Eh? That is the question of the day. Feel free to comment below.

OMG BEST DAY EVER

So maybe I get out of bed every day in the hope that somebody will recognize at least something that is a smidge worthwhile in any of the submissions I have been pumping out since last November. Today's 4:45 wake up paid off. I get home from work to find an email informing my tired brain with words that say "Congratulations finalist" and surprisingly no, I have not won a spam trip to the Caribbean so if you could just please enter your credit card information for insurance purposes. It's a legit email from the Wicked Young Writers Award informing me that I have been selected as a finalist in the 18-25 age group. I was so stunned that it took me a couple of hours to calm the eff down. I am a bit puzzled if I am shortlisted since I was called a finalist - but whatevs. There is an awards ceremony in London in August that I and three guests have been invited to where the winners will receive their prizes from the author and former children's laureate Michael Morpurgo and possibly HRH Duchess of Cornwall who is the patron of this award? No way man, no way. I think my mother is relieved that her 24 hours in labor with me has finally paid off.

Meanwhile I am nearing completion of my screenplay. It is definitely rushed art, but so be it! The deadline is Tuesday.