Putting Pen to Paper: The Writing and Publishing Journey

Putting pen to paper is the flagship publication of the Green Olive Press, an independent publishing company based in Sydney. Caroline Webber, the director, set up the Green Olive Press after being inspired by a group of friends at a dinner party in the UK in 2006.

The Green Olive Press aims to publish a small number of titles each year related to English literature, words and food - preferably a combination of all three.

Caroline Webber, who has a doctorate in eighteenth century English literature from the University of Liverpool, has spent the past two years working for a publishing company, was inspired to write Putting pen to paper after running a series of seminars around New South Wales.

'Sometimes when you go on a journey,' Caroline says, 'you need a map. Putting pen to paper assists writers to create their own map and provides the tools and techniques to help turn aspirations into publications.'

Patti Miller, author of Writing your life and Whatever the gods do, says 'with Putting pen to paper in your hand, you will have a well0informed knowledge of the entire book production process as well as many tips for improving your writing - and improving your chances of being published.'

Putting pen to paper is available from http://www.greenolivepress.com/, priced $22.00 (AUD, including P&P).

Wonderful words

Whilst sitting gazing absentmindedly out of the window, a small robin with cocktail-stick legs hopped onto the garden wall, and started eating the seeds left out for him. His red breast flashed as he jerked up and down, a blaze of colour in the grey wintery landscape. Something in the very movements of the little bird transporte dme back to my childhood, and I started pondering on various subjects that reminded me of bygone days.

My mind filled with thoughts of short, cold winter days, where the garden was littered with leaves and the dark brown skeletons of naked trees against a white backdrop of snow and then gave way to thoughts of tiny green shoots emerging from the cold, hard ground, and then on to long summer days, full of laughter as my sister and I soared high into the summer sky on our garden swings, our feet trying to touch the white lines from jet engines scarring the brilliant blue sky. We laughed and laughed and sang and laughed some more. We played wonderful word games and devised tongue twisters, mimicked people's voices, acted caricatures of each other and various family members, and made up our own language.

One thought led on to another and I found myself back in primary school, learning about homophones. And just for fun, I started creating a list just as I did all those years ago:

• break; brake
• but; butt
• blew; blue
• sea; see
• tow; toe
• to; too; too
• peak; peek

How many can you think of?