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Who am I and why am I here?

When one of Inkspired's lovely staff members invited me to blog here, I was both flattered and intimidated. What a wonderful and scary thing to be asked to do! But I've never been shy of taking on a challenge, so here I am, giving this thing a go.


I thought I'd start off by sharing a bit about myself, my writing, my background, and my approach to both writing and giving advice about writing.


My name is Melanie Edmonds. I've been writing since I learned how to put pen to paper. I've been making up stories since I can remember, mostly for me, sometimes to share. Between voracious reading and the constant itch to write, it was inevitable that I'd focus my studies on literature. I've done courses and retreats and a degree in the area as a result.


Of course, putting an English Literature and Creative Writing degree to any practical use is a challenge. My work took me in another direction, and I wound up in technical writing, which I also love. Through my day job, I've developed and honed both my technical writing and my editing skills.


Outside of work, my writing is creative in nature, apart from the blog posts I do about writing. I write primarily in the speculative fiction genres: science fiction, post-apocalyptic, and fantasy being the main ones, with a jaunt into steampunk every now and then (I will defeat that novel one day!).


I started my first web serial in December 2008: the Apocalypse Blog. It ran until the end of 2009, posting every day, and made up one of the craziest, most fun years of my life. It's now available as e-books, should you be interested!


After the Apocalypse Blog ended, I started a new web serial: Starwalker. Five years and four novels' worth of story later, I decided to take a break. I'll get back and start writing that fifth book at some point.


In the meantime, I've got a pile of other projects on my list, in various stages of development. There's always something fun to write!


Aside from my own writing, I'm also active in my local writing community. I organise various writing events, where writers can meet up to discuss writing, or just write. I lead a writing group once a month, the current incarnation of which just hit its eighth birthday. Once a year, I run a day of writing challenges, called the Writers' Asylum because it's nuts.


And every November I am a Municipal Liaison for National Novel Writing Month, running events, sorting out prizes, and sometimes taking a bunch of writers to a tropical island for a weekend, all in the name of writing a novel in a month.


Through many of those events, I talk about writing: about good practices and established guidelines, about experiences, about trends in the marketplace and how public opinions and topics can impact us. My general approach is that the more we understand the tools we can use, the better we can use them, or choose not to. It's all about the impact we are trying to achieve.


Because there is no one way to write. One writer's method is torture to another. One writer's favourite technique may not work for the next. One writer's cause may be irrelevant to others. 


As writers, we strive to improve, to develop, and to craft better stories. What 'better' looks like is up to us. That's why I decided to call this blog 'The Right Write', not 'Write Right', because it's about finding out what's right for you, the stories you want to tell, and things that are important to you.


So I hope that, through this blog, I can aid that development, help you craft better stories, and inspire you to write the stories inside you. 
Oct. 27, 2016, 6:23 a.m. 0 Report Embed Follow story
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