Hi everyone,
I have only just joined and although I had 5 years as a newspaper jounalist many years ago, most of my career was as a construction rigger. I have taken early retirement because of a back injury and hope this site will help me get back into writing.
My problem is I am not great at finding my way around web sites, as like many people in their late 50s I didn't get involved in computers early enough because I was sure they would be a 10 minute fad........Ok I got that just a little wrong!
What I have kept up during my hiatus is writing many humourous short stories about my childhood on an outback Australian farm.(aprox 1000 - 5000 words) I am wondering how I would post a couple to see if there is any interest in reading them. What section etc etc.
Appreciate any help at all.
Cheers
Davo
Australian newby needs help
Moderators: Celeste Stewart, Ed, Constant
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jadedragon
- Posts: 699
- Joined: Sun Dec 06, 2009 3:00 am
- Location: in Cyberspace
- Contact:
Re: Australian newby needs help
Welcome 
First person accounts are not permitted here - they just don't sell. Here are some ideas I wrote up to a similar question.
First person accounts are not permitted here - they just don't sell. Here are some ideas I wrote up to a similar question.Re: Thats bad luck
Well, just my luck. Apart from making a great bread and butter custard short stories are my specialty. Thought I would post one of my yarns just for the forum readers amusement as a farewell gesture. Can't believe first person accounts are actually banned. Wow! How strange? O'h well back to the google search engine.
Mum and the Snake (a true story)
In farming communities across Australia there has always been a huge ratio of men to women and even more so in the middle of last century. So how did a young farmer meet a prospective bride in those difficult days?
My family were third generation farmers in the outback of Australia and a simple system prevailed. The farmer’s son left the farm for a year or two, sewed a few wild oats, found a nice city girl and brought the poor lady back to the farm.
I managed the first couple of stages but got stuck on the ‘sewing the wild oats’ part and never returned.
My Dad on the other hand followed the script to the letter. In 1946 he travelled to Sydney and a couple of years later brought his unsuspecting bride back to the farm.
When they met my Mum-to-be was a legal secretary in downtown Sydney and her hobby was singing where she specialised in opera. Mum never stood a chance with the slow talking country lad who slightly exaggerated the benefits of living in a dust bowl on the outskirts of the desert.
Once on the farm you could say Mum took to it ‘like a duck to water’ but that would be untrue. In fact there wasn’t much about her life of dust, flies, mouse plagues, 120 degree heat and the old farm shack that didn’t bring recurring nightmares.
However all could have been forgiven if it weren’t for the vicious brown snakes.
Along with the flies, crows and mice they were one of the rare creatures that actually thrived in the outback.
In the old farmhouse my parents ran an ancient telephone exchange which had only two subscribers. One hot summer’s day Mum was talking on the phone when a brown snake wriggled its way up through a hole in the open fireplace.
In no time it was slithering across the floor with Mum in pursuit wielding the axe. It was Mum’s first meeting with a deadly brown and panic stricken she just chopped!, and chopped!, and chopped!!!. By the time it had stopped wriggling she had cut it into numerous six inch pieces, and the lino on the kitchen floor was never the same.
When Dad returned home Mum had her bags packed for the city. However he managed to convince her that she had killed the leader of the snakes and the others would be frightened away. She fell for his story once again and miraculously managed to stay for another 30 years and raised seven strapping children.
‘Good one Mum!’ and if there was ever a Nobel Prize for ‘standing by your man’ ……you’re a shoe in!
Mum and the Snake (a true story)
In farming communities across Australia there has always been a huge ratio of men to women and even more so in the middle of last century. So how did a young farmer meet a prospective bride in those difficult days?
My family were third generation farmers in the outback of Australia and a simple system prevailed. The farmer’s son left the farm for a year or two, sewed a few wild oats, found a nice city girl and brought the poor lady back to the farm.
I managed the first couple of stages but got stuck on the ‘sewing the wild oats’ part and never returned.
My Dad on the other hand followed the script to the letter. In 1946 he travelled to Sydney and a couple of years later brought his unsuspecting bride back to the farm.
When they met my Mum-to-be was a legal secretary in downtown Sydney and her hobby was singing where she specialised in opera. Mum never stood a chance with the slow talking country lad who slightly exaggerated the benefits of living in a dust bowl on the outskirts of the desert.
Once on the farm you could say Mum took to it ‘like a duck to water’ but that would be untrue. In fact there wasn’t much about her life of dust, flies, mouse plagues, 120 degree heat and the old farm shack that didn’t bring recurring nightmares.
However all could have been forgiven if it weren’t for the vicious brown snakes.
Along with the flies, crows and mice they were one of the rare creatures that actually thrived in the outback.
In the old farmhouse my parents ran an ancient telephone exchange which had only two subscribers. One hot summer’s day Mum was talking on the phone when a brown snake wriggled its way up through a hole in the open fireplace.
In no time it was slithering across the floor with Mum in pursuit wielding the axe. It was Mum’s first meeting with a deadly brown and panic stricken she just chopped!, and chopped!, and chopped!!!. By the time it had stopped wriggling she had cut it into numerous six inch pieces, and the lino on the kitchen floor was never the same.
When Dad returned home Mum had her bags packed for the city. However he managed to convince her that she had killed the leader of the snakes and the others would be frightened away. She fell for his story once again and miraculously managed to stay for another 30 years and raised seven strapping children.
‘Good one Mum!’ and if there was ever a Nobel Prize for ‘standing by your man’ ……you’re a shoe in!
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nichewriter
- Posts: 365
- Joined: Sat Mar 07, 2009 7:38 pm
- Location: California
Re: Thats bad luck
It isn't strange at all. CC has specific content it wants to market to buyers. That's just the way it is with writing outlets and publications. It used to be that first person POV articles (and even poetry) were accepted but they just don't sell. However, if a buyer posts a public request for first person POV articles, that's the only exception to the no first person POV rule. If you're simply submitting them to the general pool, then first person POV articles will be rejected.tiki66 wrote:Can't believe first person accounts are actually banned. Wow! How strange?