Year: 2015

Poetry, Poetry, and More Poetry

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

Poem on Canvas For some reason, and not that I’m complaining, my life has had rather a lot more poetry in it than usual. I’ve recently finished reading two poetry books (By the Roadside, by S. J. McConnell; and Lords of the Hill, by Amos Greig) and am about to start a third (The Night is Darkening Around Me, by Emily Brontë).

In addition to that, I’m off out to the Belfast Heat of the All Ireland Poetry Slam later tonight (not competing myself, this time). And on Monday, I’m planning to attend a local recital of poetry as part of the FSNI Competition series of events (but, again, going just to listen. Not competing in this, this year).

One thing I am competing in, however, is the Third Annual Bangor Poetry Competition. As such, I’ll have an illustrated art canvas with my poem on it (pictured), on display and available to buy at the Blackberry Path Art Studios. The launch event for this (which I will, of course, also be attending) is on Thursday, September 10th. To anyone in the local area, it looks set to be a great evening. Wine, poetry, art, and live music, all for free! More info here.

P.S. Did you see the poem I posted on this blog, just last week?

No Guarantees (Poem)

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

On this, the second anniversary of the death of Seamus Heaney, I thought I’d share a poem I’d written, inspired by one he’d written. This is called No Guarantees, Inspired by Elegy for the Stillborn Child.

 

Some things we take for granted

Like having a long, healthy life

Some things we assume, we’ll naturally receive

When the allotted time scrolls around

Like jobs, relationships, kids

Some things we consider

Even more guaranteed than that

Like birth, death, and taxes

Or the fact that death will always follow birth

But sometimes even facts fail us.

Book Launch Wrap Up

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

Book Launch Cake My book launch for Four Season Summer went ahead as planned at the end of last month, and I’d very much call it a success. The venue (Scooby Brew Cafe, Bangor) was filled to capacity, there was cake, readings, and signings. It was even in the local newspaper (County Down Spectator, Bangor Edition, Page 60).

Below is a video of the readings I did – two from Four Season Summer, and a poem from my first book, Still Dreaming. I stumbled a bit over reading the first section, because there were children present, and I was trying to censor/tone down some bits on the fly. But you get the general idea.

Fan Fiction Milestones

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

On this day two years ago – July 28th, 2013 – I wrote and posted my first ever piece of fan fiction. Since then, fanfic has become a big part of my life, both as a writer and as a reader. It’s my release for when my novel isn’t going the way I want, or when life isn’t going the way I want, and I find it generally good writing practice as well. So, I thought I’d share some statistics in celebration of the anniversary. Fanfic Award Plaque

Basic Stats:

  • Over 5,000 Profile Views | Fanfiction.net
  • Received over 1,300 Reviews
  • 77 Followers | Fanfiction.net
  • On the Favorite Author List of 60 Members | Fanfiction.net
  • On the Favorite Author List of 43 Members | Elysian Fields
  • My Most Popular Story – ‘After the End’ – has over 80,000 Views

I have written:

  • Over 200,000 words of Fanfiction for Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series.
  • Over 3,000 words of Fanfic for other fandoms (Harry Potter, Crow, Serenity, Ten Things I Hate About You, and Once Upon a Time).
  • Over 500 Reviews, Totaling over 21,000 words | Elysian Fields
  • Over 100 Reviews | Fanfiction.net
  • 6 Challenges | Elysian Fields

Continue reading →

Life as a Full-Time Writer

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

I thought some people might be interested to hear about what a full-time writer/author does all day, so I thought I’d share a little insight into my work.

It must be pointed out, however, that the following just applies to me, and that other writers can and will have different schedules. What I love about writing is the flexibility it has, and I’m really interested to find out about what other authors get up to (if you are an author and you’re reading this, please leave a comment to compare and contrast your experience).

But enough pre-amble, here are the basics: I work full time (which is to say, a minimum of thirty hours a week), I work from home (translation: my bed), and I write in a number of areas (fiction, non-fiction, fan fiction, poetry, etc.) and my daily tasks often don’t involve writing at all.

That last point might surprise you the most but, you see, I am currently my own agent, editor, publisher, and social media manager and this leads me to doing a range of tasks that a lot of other writers will never think about let alone encounter.

In this past month I have… Continue reading →

Writing as a Business

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

Laptop and PrinterWhen I decided to go full time self-employed, I completed the Exploring Enterprise Program run by Prince’s Trust, and following that I attended various business seminars and meetings. A lot of the things talked about at these events applied to me, but a lot didn’t, as well.

Setting myself up as a freelance writer has not followed the standard business model (if there even is such a thing) and because of that there’s a lot I’ve had to find out for myself, by simply going out there and doing it.

Many mentors I’ve come across did not have advice directly applicable to my field, and there’s a wealth of guidance all over the internet to do with the actual writing process (not all good, mind you), but I found very little information to do with the background work to having your writing as a business, and even less about the balance between that background work and the actual writing. In light of that, I’m filling that ‘gap in the market’ and writing this post about it.

Being a writer, or artist, photographer, or designer, is different from running a warehouse, or a restaurant. You’re not only emotionally attached to your work but, in a very real sense, you are your work, and that complicates things.

Often I find that what’s best for my writing career in the long run is not what’s best for me business wise, and I have to find a way to reconcile those two things.

Continue reading →

Upon a Flight to Vegas

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

This evening at Belfast Writer’s Group we rolled a dice, which decided story prompts for us to run with. So, the fates decided we were to write a coming of age tale that included an invisibility device, set on a plane, with a main character who an alcoholic carpenter, and another character who was an unsuccessful salesman. The following is what I came up with, in the space of a half-hour:

Alex was a carpenter from Minnesota, on his way to Vegas to celebrate his most recent divorce. With him was his best friend, Jack, an unsuccessful salesperson of no fixed address. Together they would conquer the world, or get drunk trying.

“I’m telling you,” Jack insisted, as he leaned over the sleeping lady sat in between him and Alex, to yell in Alex’s ear, “It makes you invisible. Amazing technology! You should invest before it goes big.”

Alex gave a dismissive wave of his hand, consequently knocking both of his drinks over the lady in the middle seat. She didn’t stir.

“Now look what you made me do!” he slurred, before pressing the button for the hostess, then looking up and down the aisle. “Where is she? What are we paying her for? People here need drinks!”

“Alex, no. Alex, listen, you have to hear this. Invisibility, it’s the future!” Continue reading →

Thoughts on Kindle Worlds

Posted on by Ellie Rose McKee

As I said in a previous post, I write a fair bit of fan fiction. I also said I had no intentions of publishing it for profit, mainly because doing so wasn’t really an option. The copyright issues are unclear to say the least, and making money off fanfic is not why I write it. That said, I recently was reading about Kindle Worlds, and it changes things, slightly.

Now, Kindle Worlds has existed for about two years, and apparently there was a big uproar about it in the fanfic community in general, and on Tumblr in particular, when it was first announced. Don’t ask me why I’ve never heard about it before, because I’m as baffled as you.

For those who, like me, don’t know what it is, basically Amazon have a branch of the Kindle store specifically dedicated to paid, legal fan fiction. The catch is they only have permission to do this within certain “worlds” (i.e. fictional universes, or fandoms). Oh, and you also need a bank account in the US.

Continue reading →