{"id":10,"date":"2012-04-16T03:08:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T03:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-dev.otago.ac.nz\/hocken\/2012\/04\/16\/advice-from-a-best-selling-author\/"},"modified":"2012-04-16T03:08:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-16T03:08:00","slug":"advice-from-a-best-selling-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/advice-from-a-best-selling-author\/","title":{"rendered":"Advice from a best-selling author"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t wait till the spirit moves. While there are times when inspiration and thought outrace your pen, you\u2019ll never get to the top if you wait on this.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cChoose the magazine you are going to submit to most carefully \u2026 Not a bit of use submitting an article on colour bar or flying saucers to a periodical catering solely for young mothers or fashion trends.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cMake sure of your facts, whatever you are writing \u2026 Don\u2019t even let your characters eat whitebait out of season \u2026 unless it\u2019s tinned.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cNever be set back with rejections. I could have papered a room with mine.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
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MS-3854\/021, from the Charles and Louise Croot papers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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These are some of the tips Essie Summers gave in 1960 to young people interested in free-lance journalism. A copy of her advice, which runs to ten closely-typed pages, is in the papers of Dunedin teacher, broadcaster and writer Charles Croot. Perhaps Croot had invited Summers, a local Presbyterian minister\u2019s wife, to talk to one of his English classes at Kaikorai Valley High School. <\/span><\/div>\n
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Essie Summers was well qualified to give advice to budding writers. She had published poems and stories in magazines, and for six years wrote a popular column in the Timaru Herald<\/i>. She was also well on the way to becoming one of New Zealand\u2019s most popular novelists. By 1960 she had written eight romances, published in England by Mills & Boon. They would eventually publish 52 of her books, which were translated into 17 languages and sold millions of copies. Many of her books were set in Otago and Canterbury, particularly in the high country, and her lyrical descriptions of the landscapes she loved inspired numerous overseas readers to visit New Zealand.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Bachelors Galore<\/i> by Essie Summers, published by Mills and Boon, London in 1958. The Hocken has most of Summers’ novels, which are collectors’ items today<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
As well as giving a wealth of practical advice on formatting, inspiration, subject matter and editing, Summers revealed her own joy in writing: \u201cOne may as well admit that it is a great thrill to see one\u2019s name in print and to know that some editor is so convinced of its merit that he is willing to identify himself with your views or imaginings and to pay cold cash for it.\u201d Summers, who was renowned for her charm and kindness, signed off with some encouragement to her audience: \u201cWishing you all the best and some resultant and desirable little thin envelopes with acceptance slips and cheques.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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Blog post prepared by Ali Clarke, Reference Assistant <\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00a0\u201cDon\u2019t wait till the spirit moves. While there are times when inspiration and thought outrace your pen, you\u2019ll never get to the top if you wait on this.\u201d \u201cChoose the magazine you are going to submit to most carefully \u2026 Not a bit of use submitting an article on colour bar or flying saucers to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14625,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15311,15314,4241,4420],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives-and-manuscripts","category-authors","category-books","category-literature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14625"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.otago.ac.nz\/thehockenblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}