tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31447501860632050262024-11-09T02:32:27.669+11:00Around The Deep EndAround The Deep End is a collection of ramblings, cartoons and short stories spawned from geek with a pen.Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-9330851115525480492020-08-20T19:37:00.000+10:002021-02-19T10:04:10.268+11:00If you drink, then edit, your a bloody idiot.Continuing with the theme of editing drafts, I bring you this slogan. Yes, clearly there's been some trial and error going on, and I'm learning stupendously along the way.
I figured other budding Aussie writers might get a laugh out of this, but if you're outside Australia the context might be lost. It's a spoof of an iconic Australian ad for TAC. The original text is "If you drink, then Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-89340859372002974372019-10-17T00:46:00.000+11:002021-02-19T10:06:44.318+11:00PerspectiveToday I saw a woman sitting on the beach with her face glued to a magazine. The pages had pictures of other women having fun at other beaches...Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-56498959329160006802019-09-12T00:04:00.001+10:002021-02-19T09:54:36.387+11:00The Write on Wednesday Spark - The Nature of PlaceThis week's writing exercise from InkPaperPen:
Write about a particular natural geography, a natural place or space close to your heart. Tell us about the weather, the landform , the creatures who live there, what the place means to you and why. You can write prose fiction, poetry, non-fiction and/or a photographic narrative. You might mix the landscape with a personal story. Wherever the Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-38990821557292225512019-03-04T15:07:00.000+11:002021-02-19T11:47:46.191+11:00Which way is up?Do you meditate? I do. Well, on and off for a while now. Usually in bursts, interjected with the opposite - substantial periods of a mentally distracted lifestyle. In fact, you could call it a stuffstyle - too much analyzing stuff, pondering stuff, stressing about stuff, and wondering what will be the stuff I do with my life.
I generally experience my consciousness as an acceptable bracket Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-70731732903728398772018-10-09T20:45:00.000+11:002021-02-19T10:27:12.290+11:00Shortcuts...I never noticed the irony of this shortcut’s name until I spent a good ten minutes fixated on it. It’s called Shortcut to Writing, which links to, self-evidently, my writing folder. This tiny yellow rectangle of pixels has become the virtual keeper of all my dreams, and storage to my half-baked short stories, novel first draft, novella, other novel outlines, play scripts, character sketches, the Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-86658508085405996652018-07-02T17:29:00.000+10:002021-02-19T10:28:08.418+11:00Art must...Art must prevail.
Otherwise there would be no means
for the critics to express their creativity.Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-4631923576650993042018-03-17T16:43:00.000+11:002021-02-19T11:53:51.861+11:00Aussies. We're all fined, thanks.I used to work in in Carlton, Melbourne. Some days I drove to work, and I would park outside my office in one of the many metered spots stitching the sides of the roads in the business district. The parking was metered for one to two hours, and the patrolling inspectors were, and still are, numerous. It was here, during my years in Carlton, marching to the beat of a grey gadget on a grey stick Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-63016539896316315602013-05-16T12:16:00.000+10:002013-05-16T12:16:01.669+10:00Neon Festival of Independent Theatre kicks off at the MTCWhat a fabulous opportunity to see some inspiring and provocative independent theatre works in Melbourne. The MTC is hosting five productions for the NEON Festival, plus free NEON Extra events, conversations, workshops and more.
The first production, Menagerie, starts tonight and runs until the 26 May 2013. Tickets for the shows are highly accessible at $25 each, and you can see all Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-33971815159261169712013-02-01T11:27:00.001+11:002013-02-01T11:31:13.701+11:00Getting Wild with the Wheeler Centre, Gala 2013!On Feb 9th, The Wheeler Centre are beginning their year with a Gala night dedicated to Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak. This treasured tale is celebrating its 50th birthday this year, and out of the murky shadows will come poets, dramatists, essayists, fiction writers, journalists and lyricists to perform and weave words from their inner monsters, drawing on the inspiration the Wild Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-20384705745212083382013-01-27T15:40:00.001+11:002013-01-31T22:28:39.749+11:00Spotlight On: Dionne Lister, self-published author.
Author
Dionne Lister is receiving fabulous reviews for her debut book, Shadows of The Realm. Her following of
keen readers is growing strong! I hear she's already tapping away at the next
instalment in her series, The Circle of Talia, and plans for the next iteration of
her much-admired cover art is also under way.
Shadows
of The Realm is a highly entertaining epic fantasy andMelinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-11157647025110952262012-10-17T22:35:00.001+11:002019-03-20T22:36:01.909+11:00Twitter's 'Whom' To Follow?I've stumbled upon a worthy Chrome extension that will have grammar nerds short-circuiting with tears of joy. It's called 'Whom to follow for Twitter' and was created by self-described pedantic, Tom. The extension changes the name of Twitter's Who To Follow feature to...Whom to Follow. I've installed the extension, and here's a screenie:
For the Chrome version, visit here,Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-56420542553861794722012-05-09T14:46:00.000+10:002013-02-06T17:51:22.639+11:00Fool's Gold.A dear friend recently created some art for someone else's project. The brief for the art was nothing more than to emulate a style to provide the relevant atmosphere. But when I saw what she'd done, my fingers curled and I shook them to the sky.
"No!" I yelled. "They're too good! Hang on to them!"
I mean, they were really great pieces! My friend had nailed the style so well, and she'd Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-59107020893005944492012-02-29T01:40:00.006+11:002012-04-21T10:14:26.930+10:00Write on Wednesday - Small Expectations
From Ink Paper Pen...
This week's writing prompt is:
Imagine yourself as tiny as your thumb.Where would you live? What would you do?
...and here's what I imagine would happen to me!
Small Expectations
Nobody else notices.
Not even me at first.
I mean, that's a huge serviette holder, I tell myself. HUGE.
It's one of those things, those mundane objects, so mundane that it's been chosen by aMelinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-73892460715717130532012-02-08T16:53:00.006+11:002012-02-16T23:51:25.831+11:00Write on Wednesday - Possessing BeautyWhat a wonderful writing prompt we have this week, from InkPaperPen:
Write about a collection. Write about something you or someone you know, collects. Think about the "why" behind the collection - why is it important to collect this particular thing? How does it make the person feel to add another piece to their collection? Is the group of objects there to be seen, to be studied or simply Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-92057948157821469952011-11-15T20:49:00.004+11:002011-11-15T23:37:07.355+11:00Write on Wednesdays 24 - choose your own exercise.Due to my crazy schedule, I've opted for the short and very sweet one-liner exercise!
Write On Wednesdays Exercise - A Great One Liner... This week you need to come up with one good line to describe a part of your day. It can be 'real life' or fiction. But it must tell us 'who did what'. It has to be an amazing line, like a tiny little paper plane that must travel a big distance (figuratively Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-13618639428292008252011-11-09T22:04:00.004+11:002011-11-24T16:25:01.174+11:00Write on Wednesdays, Exercise 23We are learning to make fire.
Aron shook his head. It's not fixed, his eyes repeated to me yet again. It was a look that was beginning to define him, here on this moon.
As I stared out the window into the black soup of space, my mind became an instant reflection of it. I shook myself to think clearly.
The atmosphere control has nothing wrong with it - according to the computer's voice as it Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-19433967242742443422011-10-28T22:52:00.003+11:002012-03-01T01:17:48.396+11:00Write on Wednesdays, exercise 20 - 'I thought I saw...'Write On Wednesdays Exercise 20 - Write the words " I thought I saw" at the top of your page. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Write the first words that come into your head after the prompt. Don't take you pen off the page (or fingers off the keyboard). Stop only when the buzzer rings! Do this exercise over and over if you wish. Write beyond 5 minutes if you like, you can link it up as an extra post.Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-17793158266919665392011-09-07T06:06:00.007+10:002012-03-01T00:20:18.396+11:00A Great One Liner... Write On WednesdayThis week's exercise over at Ink Paper Pen is to come up with a single sentence that packs some punch by describing a part of someone's day and telling a story [fiction or non-fiction]. *EDIT: Seeing as it's a quick exercise but a very helpful one, I've added a couple more.
I gripped the metal handle of the factory door and my knuckes instantly froze to it, just as I imagined my Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-90952010713629869572011-08-13T14:21:00.037+10:002012-03-01T13:46:42.123+11:00Max and his Incredible Underwater AdventuresMax wasn't here, in the grocery store, to steal the apple. He picked up a fine, glossy red one; good enough for Snow White, good enough for him. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out the other apple, the one his mum bought only minutes ago before he dropped it on the ground outside. If only it had just rolled across the asphalt, and not down into the cold stew of fallen leaves and the wrappers Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-60611444459271251532011-08-01T12:10:00.001+10:002011-08-03T22:55:12.089+10:00The Probability of a Trojan Hippo.The following is my submission to [Fiction] Friday Challenge #218 at Write Anything.
Inspired by the image they provide, it's a fun exercise purely in creative flow. Oh dear - no editing allowed. :)
Somebody chopped it up. Right in front of my eyes. I reach, but my knock on wood just rings in and out of my ears. Someone carved up time and space, and the probability of them Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-89307580874240191532011-07-30T22:38:00.008+10:002012-03-01T13:52:07.884+11:00Saturday night musings... "The Future You".Imagine there is such thing as reincarnation. Imagine that whatever the limit is of your human consciousness now, is the level of consciousness that will define you in your next life. Those issues that remain undealt with, will be burdened onto the future child. Any dormant abilities, unfulfilled potential and repressed self-awareness will be theirs. You would have to live it all again,Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-9612177202175929382011-07-29T18:02:00.022+10:002011-08-13T13:31:27.368+10:00Flash Fiction beta readers needed [only 500 words]. :)Hi all, I totally understand if you're busy, but if anyone could read my flash fiction story and give me feedback that would be great! Feel free to beat me with sticks via the comment box if you see anything glaring. But please - only paddle-pop sticks - they're tiny and constructive. :/
I'd especially like to hear if the story and themes make sense considering the 500 word limit. I've removed Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-64414669624197889942011-07-29T15:48:00.001+10:002011-07-29T16:05:16.909+10:00Blogbyte: Inverted InterventionInverted intervention: when a single person sits down with a group of friends or family and tells them how dysfunctional they all are.Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-74014875901110123142011-07-24T23:02:00.010+10:002012-03-01T01:09:11.162+11:00Two Bulbous Forms, Still Life.Two bulbous forms with gently drooped lips adorn a table for two, right next to yours in your favourite cafe. The forms are closely matched in design and colour, aesthetically one taller, the other squatter. This still-life is indeed perfectly still. Unshaken by a knock of the table. Unaffected by the sensuous human experience playing out around them - of tantalising tastes squishing onto forks Melinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3144750186063205026.post-28422461809885137692011-07-09T23:54:00.004+10:002011-07-12T23:53:04.129+10:00Our first Write Night!Well what a wonderful night we had at the Beehive on thursday, our first Write Night for a small handful [like, a three fingered ET hand] of writers here along the surf coast. http://write-night.blogspot.com/
Our first exercise was to write a poem inspired by Kirstin's eminently saucy teapot called The Queen of Hearts. We had only five minutes to do this, which was quite a challenge forMelinda Chapmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11391417659960697968noreply@blogger.com0