I had a five minute spot last Wednesday at the Society of Women Writers monthly lunch meeting at the State Library of NSW in Sydney. I was given the opportunity to stand up in front of a microphone and speak about my two books. It was a chance to confront my fear of public speaking and tell everyone ‘The Crystal Ballroom’ (Ginninderra Press) had been launched the previous week in Melbourne. I’d only spoken in public twice before, at the two launches. It was a very scary experience. Apparently, most of us fear speaking in front of an audience more than death. So, even though I appeared confident, my hands kept up their shaking for some time after I sat down again. But very pleased with myself for doing it. Those more experienced than me tell me it gets easier every time.
Anyway, the thrust of what I said was that I am transitioning from short story writer to novelist. My debut novel, ‘My Year With Sammy’ (Ginninderra Press) is really a novella and ‘The Crystal Ballroom’ a collection of short stories that I’ve linked together with an “I” narrator and the narrator’s friend, Ingrid. The two women get together over a coffee to talk about the dances they go to, who they see there, and who is sleeping with who, and who’s paying the rent 🙂
It was a device I used to turn a collection of short stories into a novel.
What about you? Have you been able to successfully change the form you write in?
Libby Sommer, Author 
Reblogged this on Write of Passage and commented:
Turn your short stories into a novel!
Thanks for this wonderful tip, Libby!
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Great post and I’d love to do this. As for changing form, I used to write stories and for a long time I didn’t write much at all and then I started writing poems 18 months ago, and found it v satisfying and more suited to my shorter attention span for projects. But recently I haven’t written as much poetry and I’m keen to write stories again but this time for children rather than adults x
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great idea to write stories for children. in Australia the children’s book market is flourishing. like you, i find writing poetry to be very satisfying. good to be able to finish a small project and poetry can be so powerful. good luck on your writing journey. and thanks a lot for the Reblog. much appreciated.
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you are welcome, Ellie. glad you thought the writing tip was wonderful. hope your own writing progresses 🙂
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That’s wonderful, Libby!
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thank you dear Jennie 🙂
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You are welcome! 🙂
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Great thanks
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thank you for your comment, voice from Iran 🙂 glad you liked the post.
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