Who's That Girl? interview with Tina Marie Clark

Strapped into my blog hotseat is a fellow Romance Writer of Australia member. Please welcome, Tina Marie!

 

Name? Tina Marie Clark.

Tina Marie Clark is the coordinator for the CYA Conference, held annually in Brisbane, Australia. She began CYA Conference in 2006 and CYA Conference has grown to be one of the premier events on the Children’s Young Adult Writing and Illustrating calendar, and will be held on 10th & 11th September 2011. 

Where do you live?

Beautiful Bribie Island, Queensland, Australia.

How long have you been a member of our organisation?

RWAustralia Since 2004, RWAmerica only since 2009. 

What genre/s do you write in?

Children’s (published) , YA, Women’s fiction, Series romance. 

What's your current writing project?

Besides coordinating the CYA Conference, I am completing an edit on a women’s fiction. Its one of those books that have taken forever, and gone on a l-o-n-g journey on its way to the end.

I pitched it in Washington in 2009, then after learning so much at that conference I held onto it, didn’t send ‘fulls’ as requested. I felt it needed more work…and I like to believe I was right.

I did RWA 5DI 2010 (Five Days Intensive), and had the wonderful Fiona Brand as my mentor. The edits and rearrangement of the book are almost completed. So it's a tad late for the request that I got back in ‘09 – but hopefully the editors and agents will forgive the delay… 

Basically the story line is: Ashley, an Australian woman, falls in love with a Zimbabwean rancher, and the book is her journey to understanding how the lives of the white Decker family intertwine with the black Ndhlovu family, and their co-dependents on each other. 

Have you entered any writing competitions? Have you found them to be helpful?

I was entering the RWAustralia competitions, and found the feedback very useful and the comments always encouraging.

I did get into the second round of the RWA:Emerald a few years back, which was exciting, but I never made the finals. I entered one or two American competitions, because they were online submissions, and didn’t place or anything there.

From previous competitions comments, I found that this particular book I’m working on doesn’t fit into the typical RWA mold, so it was no use using the competition to gauge how it was coming along as I did when I was writing category books previously. My aim is to get it finished before 5DI in July this year…only a short time left to achieve that one. 

Apple, PC, longhand or other?

Definitely Apple. Mini on the desk, Pro in the laptop case, iphone4 in the hand bag and use of ipad whenever I can ‘steal’ it from hubby and the kids..oh and of course, another ipod in the car just for music and listening to podcasts. 

Name your top 5 authors you like to meet, have lunch with and ask questions of about writing.
Mmm, you didn’t say they had to still be alive so...Dr. Seuss & David Eddings.

Tina (in white) meeting J.D.Robb

The living but unobtainable:  J.K. Rowling.

Those I have met but would love to have more time with to talk to: Nora Roberts, & Janet Evanovich.

I know a wide and varied bunch, but that's my reading style too, any and everything gets read, from comics to epic fantasy series. 

Do you have any routines or things you do to keep motivated when writing?
Routines and I are so not friends. If it wasn’t for my boys having to be at school, we probably wouldn’t have much of a routine at all. But because my life is busy, I have to find  time to write or it doesn’t happen. I have found that the term ‘have lap top will travel’ best fits me as I can work wherever. I sit in the library, at school, at maccas, in the car, anywhere there is room for my laptop and write while I wait for the kids… this ‘free’ time away from my desk is wonderful as I don’t get bogged down in administration items for CYA Conference, its just me and my keyboard.

Keeping motivated, well this book has been a WIP for probably around 8 years now, and I’m still trying to get it right, so I think that I am naturally motivated to finish something that I start. Do I want the book done and dusted? Of course.

Am I still interested in writing the book? No. The writing for me was the fun part, the editing part kills me and takes longer than the writing ever did. But I know I need both done to get a publishable novel.

Actually, I have small ritual that I do when I am writing all over the countryside…I have my themed music on my ipod so I can listen to it and block out the world. But strangely enough, when I work at my desk at home, its often in silence, just me and my story.

I am also motivated to keep writing because of CYA Conference.  I see so many people getting published because of some small way that CYA Conference touched their lives, and I have so many beautiful book babies on my shelf from those people, that its hard not to keep the dream of another book with your name on it on the shelf  alive and well.

Name one hobby you love doing and would be unlikely to ever give up (writing not included).
Gardening. I adore my garden, and growing flowers, propagating plants and spreading the love of it by sharing plants with neighbours. There is something so satisfying about looking out your window, and seeing a beautiful garden, and knowing that you have nurtured those plants from sticks or seeds to the magnificent plants they are now. 

Tina & Cimarron

And lastly, finish these statements...
The actor I would most like to see play one of my heroes is... Morgan Freeman.
My favourite childhood toy was...  my horse Cimarron.
The worst thing about writing is... it takes so much time to serve your apprenticeship before seeing results.
Two things I would pack if I were going to an isolated holiday destination... my hubby and my laptop, in that order!
Three goals I've set myself for this year... 1. Finish this edit by July’s 5DI. 2. Finish another category book 3. Make more time for writing.


You can find Tina on her website, her CYA Conference website, her personal Facebook page and Facebook - CYA Conference page.

TOPIC: Feeding Your Talent

Ever hit a bare, desolate patch in your life where your creativity seems to have dried up? And the longer you worry about it, the more pressure you put on yourself to spark it, the longer the effect seems to last?

I’ve been through this sort of experience more than a few times. These last couple of times though, I’ve taken closer notice of what’s helped rejuvenate me.

Reading for pleasure – it’s like a super strength bag of fertilizer. This is the biggest pick me up I know that refills my creative well. Relaxing with a good book pulls me away from the desolate desert of worry. The energy, the ideas, the emotions that come with reading another author’s work feeds me and stimulates my mind, de-stressing me while rejuvenating me.

Watching movies – just another version of reading for pleasure.

Writing something every day – even if it’s not the next WIP it keeps the working parts ticking over, the eye in, the skills from getting rusty. It temporarily satisfies the drive to be doing “something” in the writing arena.

What fills your creative well when the levels fall low?

The Passions You Pursue

Pursuing two careers is a constant juggling act. My day job is teaching and I fit writing in around that (often in the early hours of the morning or late nights in school holidays). But in my future I'd very much like those roles to switch.

Here in Australia it's term 4 - the last in the school year before our annual Christmas/Summer holidays. Ask any teacher and they'll tell you term 4 is notoriously busy. Children's report cards to write, annual school report to complete, program assessments, testing and assessment of the class, preparation for the end of year presentation night, swimming school with students, filling out record cards for student files, farewell dinners for departing students (primary & secondary), professional development courses to attend, normal classroom programming and preparation of lessons, Kindergarten orientation programs, Christmas craft...the list keeps getting added to every year.

For me, the avalanche of administrative paperwork and events really hotted up this week (much like the weather). There are only so many hours in the day and I find (regrettably and frustratingly) that my writing routine suffers this time of year as I juggle to complete everything before the end of term.

Not much I can do about it - that's a part of leading a dual life as a teacher and writer. I squeeze in what writing I can (sometimes it's only 30mins), counting down the days until break-up. I savour/relish/anticipate the chance to spend full days at the keyboard, totally focused on my other passion, completing the next WIP, editing and polishing, burying myself in another world with characters sometimes as real as those outside the four walls of my house.

This year it's going to be a really special countdown. I'm taking a whole year off from teaching in 2010. Yep. 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days off.

How is this possible? It's called the Deferred Teachers Salary Scheme - you sign up and for four years you put away some of your pay to live off in the 5th year of the scheme. You can use the year as a sabbatical or to travel, work in a job outside the public education system, anything you want.

For a whole year I'm concentrating on my other passion, my other life. Writing. Pursuing and developing my other career. Becoming a published author.

Roll on 2010.

Can you feel how excited I am?

When Life Gets in the Way...

As much as we’d all like to follow our passion - writing - there are times when circumstances just thwart every attempt to scrimp a half hour or throw our routines out of whack.
I work full time as a teacher, so for me writing time is scrimped from the early morning hours - I get up at 4.30am and (after breakfast) I write until 7.30am then drive to work. It’s quiet at this time - no phone calls, no visitors, very few interruptions - and I’m fresh so it’s a routine I’ve adopted for almost two years now. After the teaching day I spend the evening hours editing what I’ve written for the day (if I’m not doing volunteer work or attending some meeting). I think about what I’m going to write tomorrow. More often than not, it’s bed time when I do this and it’s the last thing I remember doing before I fall asleep.
But what happens if a crisis in the family occurs or the pressures of a volunteer activity outside the home interrupts or the demands of work require your undivided attention and it sucks every bit of time out of the day/morning/night you planned to write?
What do you do?
Panic - you could, but what does it achieve except make you feel worse?
Worry - hmm, yeah, but again, all that does is make you feel guilty about not being able to write and ends in the same result, feeling bad.
Fume - OK, who hasn’t felt angry about your precious time being interrupted? Vent but move on to something more practical.
Bend like a reed in the river? Be flexible, enduring, with the strength to let life flow over and around you but once the flood has passed, straighten and keep going. Nice image. A lot healthier than the other reactions.
Life’s circumstances will always pry you away from your passion. Whenever you have a day, a week, a month where the rising waters of life submerge or dilute your passion for writing...remember...
Flex, lean, bow.
Be the reed.
Next week will be better.