Aught or ought?

Have you ever wondered about the difference between ‘aught’ and ‘ought’? ‘Aught’ is actually a synonym for ‘naught’, which means ‘zero’ or ‘nothing’. It can also mean ‘to own or possess’, or ‘to owe someone or something’, or ‘to be obligated to someone’, when used as a verb. When used as an adjective, it means ‘possessed of’. In its archaic form, it meant ‘possession’, as of property or an object.

Although ‘ought’ and ‘aught’ are sometimes interchanged, there are subtle differences in meaning, and ‘ought’ is more commonly used now, though usually in the spoken rather than in the written form.

As a noun, ‘ought’ means ‘duty’ or ‘obligation’.

Otherwise, ‘ought’ is most commonly used as an auxiliary verb, and it can be used to express a number of things:

·         Duty or obligation: Everybody ought to donate to the cause.

·         Justice or morality: The thief ought to be ashamed. The thief ought to be punished.

·         Appropriate behaviour: You ought to visit the sick.

·         Probability: That ought to be your taxi now.

In modern times, ‘aught’ has largely fallen into disuse.

The Life Cycle of a Book – a very cool resource

Twitter is an amazing resource and if you haven’t embraced it yet you may be missing out. I found this really useful tweet by Catherine C. Turner (@OzAlleyCat) 04/12/2011 10:00, which had in turn been posted by @SydneyWriters, who had posted it on behalf of someone else … I think you get the picture. But the great thing is that it gives those who are hoping to be published an insight into what is involved. Check out the videos in the link provided: The life cycle of a book – a very cool resource: http://scbwi.blogspot.com/2011/11/life-cycle-of-book-very-cool-resource.html

Are You Looking for a Cracking Good Read?

Then look no further than Canadian author Rosemary McCracken’s debut novel, Safe Harbor, due to be released in March or April 2012.  Published by Imajin Books, this crime thriller was shortlisted for the 2010 Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Award. Below is an interview with Rosemary taken from the site: http://www.imajinbooks.blogspot.com/  

 

Featured Author: Rosemary McCracken

Today, we introduce you to ROSEMARY McCRACKEN, author of the soon-to-be-published mystery, SAFE HARBOR.

What inspired me to write Safe Harbor?

Safe Harbor will come out soon as a paperback and an ebook. It’s been a long birthing process, and here’s how it came about.

As a journalist, I’ve earned my living by writing, with some time out for editing and teaching. But after years of making sure I had the facts right, I wanted to let my imagination run wild. I wanted to tell stories of my own.

I had two short stories published, then started a novel. A character was murdered in the second chapter, and my writers’ group pointed out that I was writing crime fiction. I was? Yes, I realized I was writing crime fiction, and that’s what I wanted to write.

I needed a central character that could sustain a mystery series. Plot is the backbone of crime fiction, but I believe it really comes down to character. Characters do things for reasons and these reasons form the plot. I wanted my central character to be a woman, a mature woman. I like to read about characters close to my own age, in their 40s, 50s, 60s, and I’m sure other baby boomers do too. And she needed a challenging profession.

I’d recently given up my full-time job at a newspaper and was doing freelance work. Much of it came from trade publications for the financial services industry. My articles involved interviewing financial planners and investment managers. I was impressed by many of them. They were helping clients get their financial houses in order. A light went on in my head. I’d found my central character: Pat Tierney, financial planner, champion of small investors and little guys in general.
Safe Harbor introduces Pat. She’s 47 and single again after her husband’s death four years before. There’s an eligible man on the scene, but she’s not sure she wants to get involved. Or how to get involved. The novel explores some of my favorite themes: romance over age 40, the plight of immigrants and white-collar crime. In 2010, Safe Harbor was a finalist for the Debut Dagger, Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association’s contest for the best unpublished English-language crime novel.

And very soon, Safe Harbor will be available to readers, courtesy of Imajin Books. Just Imajin!

Rosemary McCracken is a Canadian journalist and fiction writer. She hails from Montreal, and now divides her time between Toronto and a stone cottage in Ontario’s Haliburton Highlands. Follow Rosemary on Facebook and Twitter, and check out her website and blog.

 

Lucrative New Writing Prize

A great new literary prize has just been announced by Voiceless, the animal protection unit. Aimed at short form writing, stories should involve animals raised for food or found in the Australian environment.

Some years ago I heard Brian Sherman AM interviewed on ABC radio. During the interview, he mentioned that daughter Ondine had become a vegetarian and had now devoted her life to making people aware of the rights of animals as sentient beings.

To find out more about this lucrative prize, go to: http://www.voiceless.org.au/About_Us/Breaking_News/Lucrative_new_writing_prize_to_advance_animal_protection.html

News – Festival of Independent Writers and Publishers

With only seven days to go before the Festival of Independent Writers and Publishers, the countdown has begun. To
complete our stellar roundup of authors and speakers, we have the Gold Coast
Bulletin’s ‘Informer’ Michael Jacobson, editor Laurel Cohn, publishers Sylvana
Scannapiego and Paul Higgs, as well as authors Darryl Greer and Kathleen
Stewart. For more info on these and other speakers, please check out: http://www.indieauthorsfestival.com.

Tasmanian-born Michael Jacobson
has been a journalist since 1980 and joined the Gold Coast Bulletin in 1989. He
is the newspaper’s senior feature writer. Michael’s first novel, Windmill Hill,
was published by Hodder in 2002 and was a national best-seller. His second
novel, Always East, was another best-seller and was published in 2004. He is
currently finishing his third novel. Away from writing, Michael loves The Who,
the Sydney Swans and merlot. He loathes flying, Neil Diamond and rugby union.

Laurel Cohn is an editor passionate
about communication and the power of narrative to engage, inspire and
challenge. Since the late 1980s, she has been helping writers develop their
stories and prepare their work for print and, more recently, online
publication. Many of the writers she has worked with have gone on to be
successfully published. She spent five years with one of Australia’s top
literary agents and four years as Consultant Editor to the NSW Writers’ Centre
before turning freelance. She works with individual writers, self-publishers,
trade publishers, businesses and community organisations.

Since 1981, Publishing Solutions and its team of professionals has
created, shaped, designed and produced books, magazines, journals and many
other print and digital communication works. We cover all aspects of publishing
from editing, design and print or electronic through to marketing and
distribution. We are proud of our remarkable track record for creating
successful titles that remain memorable experiences. Our clients are many and
varied: publishers and non-publishers including an extensive number of
corporations and traditional publishing houses. We
have helped hundreds of authors, individual self-publishers, historians,
biographers and academics to achieve their publishing goal.

Initially established to service the pre-press needs of the book publishing industry,
today the company provides a one stop shop to the book publishing market.
Palmer Higgs provides not only book production but also expertise in all forms
of electronic media and has developed skills in web site design, back end
database development, eBook technologies and XML workflows. The combined
experience of the Palmer Higgs team and our network of technology suppliers
ensure that the company is positioned to create and manage content across all
mediums. In conjunction with DNAML and LG Electronics, Palmer Higgs is
producing animated children’s books for the LG SmartTV App Store.

Writing is Darryl Greer’s life. He has written several novels and has had numerous
articles published in national and international law and travel magazines as
well as in ezines. In late 2009 he self-published his novel The Election details of which can be
found on his website www.darrylgreer.com. Promoting his book has been a
surprisingly satisfying experience. Darryl now resides with his wife in the
Gold Coast hinterland. Apart from writing he enjoys keeping fit, travelling,
reading, writing songs, playing guitar and singing, cinema and theatre.

 

Kathleen Stewart owns and runs Authors’ Ally, an editing
service situated on the Gold Coast. She has always been passionate about writing
and has worked as a professional editor since 2004. Many of the books she has
worked on are now selling in bookstores and online and many others are in the
pipeline. She has written a number of full-length manuscripts herself and was
lucky enough to have her first polished work, The Chameleon Factor, shortlisted
for the CWA Debut Dagger Award in the UK in 2010. Her short story book, Over To
You, will be available at the festival.

News – Festival of Independent Writers and Publishers

Only fourteen days to go to the Festival of Independent Writers and Publishers, so we hoped you’ve reserved your place. Here are some of the exciting authors we have lined up for Storytelling and Business and A Very Australian Affair. http://www.indieauthorsfestival.com

Daniel Prokop: Author, script writer, radio host, inventor, parent-educator, keynote speaker, Rites of Passage leader, high school basketball coach and stand-up comedian. Daniel is also a devoted father of two children and a husband and they all live together which is a bit nuclear. Daniel studied little boys in their “natural” corporate environment for 13 years, owned a franchised business in a major shopping centre and employed twelve staff for 9 years and has also worked for a harm prevention charity. Three vastly different sand pits, all linked by similar childish behaviour, some of it Daniel’s.

Chris Whitecross is the creator of the Arrowdynamic® Model of Management Performance™ and the designer of the programs and workshops offered by the company. Since 2003, he has delivered his practical yet powerful message about management and leadership through his Foundations of Leadership Workshop Series. He is sought after as a coach, trainer and experienced speaker at conferences, retreats and forums across Australia. Chris’ background in human resources, international business, financial planning and general management mesh with his tertiary qualifications bringing to each program a unique combination of practical experience and knowledge which he shares with participants.

Ann-Maree O’Neill co-authored and published Reasons 2 Reward which was launched in Las Vegas. After holding senior positions for 20 years with Australia’s well-known Theme Parks: Sea World, Warner Bros. Movie World, Wet n Wild Water World, Paradise Country and Australian Outback Spectacular, she decided to fulfil her dream of creating a range of reward, recognition and motivational products for businesses and schools that have a direct impact on business success through the maximization of employee performance. As an international speaker and in her role as the Human Resources manager at the Southport Sharks, she continues to deliver a strong message that people are our greatest asset.

Julie Boyd is an educator, psychologist, consultant, and author. Following a professional career that took her from a tiny country town to working with international corporations, Julie is now enjoying writing and assisting others to publish their work. Julie is also a political and community activist deeply concerned about the future of our society and world.

Julie Baythorpe has been writing all of her life. For many years, she taught creative writing in classrooms across Queensland and started writing full time when she retired from teaching. She has written and published numerous short stories, poems and journal articles. The Lavender Principal is her first full length novel in the amateur detective murder mystery genre. She is co author of a book of short stories Love, Lies, Laughter and a Few Little Tears. Julie is currently writing her second novel The Silo Deadfall.

Peta-Jo is a newspaper subeditor who shamelessly embraces the side of her that writes fiction. Her book, Wedding Etiquette For Ferals, received the Queensland Art’s Council New Regional Writer Scholarship in 2004 and was awarded a three-week stay at Varuna Writer’s House. Her romance novels tackle the displacement of young people in regional Queensland. The book’s launch got plenty of exposure in Brisbane newspapers, plus on Seven Local News and ABC Radio. Peta is currently writing her second novel, The Crushing Season.

Joan Songaila is a graduate of the N.Z. School of Physiotherapy. She won the first National Women’s water ski championship and wrote the titles for her photographer husband. Her stories were published in the N.Z. Herald’s Saturday magazine. After her husband’s death, she met an Australian-Lithuanian Displaced Person. She decided his would be the best story she had ever written. She spent the next ten years honing his biography, Journey to Paradise, which was published as an e-book in 2000 and later self-published.

Blair’s Book Set to be Bestseller

Canadian author Peggy Blair’s debut novel, The Beggar’s Opera, is due for release soon. Peggy was one of the finalists in the 2010 Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Award and secured a two-book deal with Penguin shortly after attending the awards ceremony in Harrogate, UK. This book is set to be a bestseller, so if you’d like to take advantage of the low pre-order price, check out the Chapters website: http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/home/search/?keywords=peggy%20blair&pageSize=12
You can find out more about Peggy and The Beggar’s Opera at: http://www.penguincelebrations.ca/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780143179979,00.html
Happy reading!

Festival of Independent Writers and Publishers – news

Less than a month now to the inaugural Festival of Independent Writers and Publishers to be held at the Robina Community Centre on the Gold Coast on 29 October 2011. Short story competition entries have closed and we have received entries from all over Australia as well as from overseas. We hope you got your entry in on time. Good luck to all the participants. Your entries are with our three independent judges.
Our exciting line-up for the festival is growing with renowned poets Caroline Glen, Duncan Richardson and Frances Bolton taking part in Poets in Paradise chaired by Angelika Heurich. Be sure not to miss it.
If you’re a history buff or simply enjoy a good yarn, the session Bringing History to Life should be right up your street. See our line-up of authors listed below and check out our website: http://www.indieauthorsfestival.com.
Caroline Glen has published six poetry books, the latest being Fraser Island Dingo. For eight years she co-ordinated the Gold Coast Writers’ Poetry Group. In 2004 she was shortlisted for the Newcastle Prize. In 2005 she attended the first Florida Poetry Festival. In the same year she won a scholarship to a poetry seminar in New York. Her work has been published in Australian and American magazines. Currently, she is poetry editor for Federation of Australian Writers Queensland.

Duncan Richardson has published poetry and prose in magazines and books since 1982, including work for children, here and overseas. He has published three poetry books with a fourth due out this year. He is co-editor for the haiku magazine paperwasp and has edited poetry for Scope and stylus. His verse play “The Grammar of Deception” was produced and broadcast by ABC radio in 2008 and he is currently working on a children’s novel set in World War Two.

Frances Bolton is a poet and philosophy major, who loves to use words as an artist would use a brush – whether it be to untangle mysteries of nature, modern living or of the modern mind. Her work has been referred to as containing a seam of dark humour. She lives in Springbrook, where she not only enjoys her creative expression but also her family. Her work is inspired by her individual slant on life, and philosophies flow from her reaction to the present as deeply as from her past. Her background as a long-term educator and cancer survivor add to her present reality of mother, grandmother and of her involvement in the local community.

Pamela Lamb migrated to Australia in 1969 and, after living in Darwin, settled in Ipswich in 1974. She has three children and two grandchildren and lives happily with her black Labrador, Louie. She works at the University of Queensland managing a research centre on the Ipswich campus. Pamela has been writing for twenty years and has been publishing her own novels since 2002. She sells her books at a local market where she has established a loyal readership who can read a great deal faster than she can write!

In another life, Martin Line (MSc, PhD, Otago) taught microbiology at the University of Tasmania. Now retired, he writes for pleasure. His first self-published book, A Diary With a Difference, is a historical fiction set in the borderland of Wales and England in the 17th century, a time when people believed in witchcraft. It was also a time when preaching the faith of Rome was a heinous crime.
Martin is a member of the Historical Novel Society (UK), Gold Coast Writers and ‘Writers in the Ruff’.

Terry Spring’s articles have appeared in national and local papers. Her first book, ‘Rainbows End ‘, was published in 2003, and a second, ‘Twenty-Two Truly Twisted Tales’, in 2006. Some of the short stories from the second book have won prizes and five have been aired on ABC radio. Yet another became a short movie, which she wrote, produced and submitted to the 2007 Sydney Tropfest. Passionate about history, she has written an ebook offering time-saving tips found when researching family trees. Her latest book, ‘Transported’, was launched at the reunion of the descendants of the book’s subject, Dusty Bob, and is based on a true rags-to-riches story – an English convict lad who landed in Sydney Town, Australia in 1825 shortly after settlement.
Owen Clement comes from a mixed ancestry and has lived on four continents. Born in 1928, he grew up in Kharagpur, a railway town in West Bengal. He and his family left India in 1946 and moved to England in March and then onto Canada in October that same year. He and his wife came to Australia in 1959 and apart from four years in Papua/New Guinea they have lived here ever since. Occupations include tailor, warehouseman, retailer, airline agent, photographer and finally owning a small business before retiring.
His seven grandchildren prompted him to write his memoir.

Nought or Naught?

When should we use ‘naught’ or ‘nought’, and is there
actually a difference? This question came up recently when I posted a story on
a website. Although both words mean zero or nothing, it seems there is a distinction
between the two in British English. ‘Nought’ means zero in the literal sense,
as in ‘When the counting was done, he ended up with nought’. ‘Naught’, on the
other hand, means ‘nothing’ in a more poetic or rhetorical sense, as in ‘All
his efforts came to naught’.  While this distinction is made in British English, in USA English, the spelling ‘naught’
is preferred for both the literal and poetic/rhetorical senses. Both ‘nought’ and ‘naught’ come from Old English words, ‘nowiht’
and ‘nawiht’, respectively, and both words mean ‘nothing’. They are compounds
of ‘no’ (no) and ‘wiht’ (thing). Hope this helps!

News – Festival Of Independent Writers and Publishers

The deadline for the Festival of Independent Writers and
Publishers short story is drawing close so don’t forget to get your entries in
before 30 September.

More news about our featured authors:

A United Nations report that 80% of all chronic diseases are related to diet and lifestyle
led Jane Hanckel to compile a research- and evidence-based book on how
to make healthy choices for our children and the planet. Through her work in
early childhood settings, Jane realised that there was a need for a reliable
resource through which to understand the factors that impact on our children’s
wellbeing.  From her home in NSW, Jane
has created a series of books that call for parents to reconnect with their own
intuition and wisdom to protect their children’s health.

John G Clark is a mechanical engineer and has spent a number of years in various engineering-related
industries. He was also involved with a tourist company carrying young folk
around New Zealand and a Thai restaurant. In his younger days he hitch-hiked
from Melbourne to London. He remains an enthusiastic motorist and an equally
avid motorcyclist, having owned forty or so, none of them terribly fast. His
Tales from Down Under – a collection of Australasian short stories is available
in libraries.

Iris Detenhoff is the author and publisher of the Moontime Diary. She studied general nursing in Munich and
migrated to Australia in 1987. Her strong interest in nature, health, astrology
and anthroposophy has guided her to publishing a yearly almanac as this moon
diary turns out to be.