Feel like sharing

Community guidelines

Hi! thanks for joining the Rescue Project.

We’d like to foster a creative and supportive community in this space, so do take the time to read other people’s work and give a thumbs up, a constructive comment or an encouraging word and feel free to ask questions!

Of course inappropriate language or abusive or provocative comments will be deleted and the user removed. The moderator’s assessment on this is final.

We respect indigenous practices, so please let us know if you have any questions about including indigenous names or practices in your contribution.

Commercial material is not accepted.

And have fun!

Terms and Conditions

By contributing my work to the Rescue project I understand and agree that:

This project is part of a practice-based PhD conducted by Gretchen Miller in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, UNSW, exploring the power of personal storytelling in environmental communication.

I am free to withdraw my consent and to discontinue participation at any time without prejudice.

The work will be publicly available to read online and my name will be attached to it.

Copyright remains with the me, the writer.

The contributed work is entirely my own and I am not infringing anyone else’s copyright or other rights.

Light editing for sense/grammar/spelling may occur without consultation.

Major reworking may occur in consultation with myself.

There may be unpaid use of my work by Landcare Australia and/or UNSW for purposes for example of: a podcast, promotion, social media, annual reports, regional radio, books  and other non-commercial formats into the future.

Landcare Australia/UNSW will endeavour to notify me, as the contributor, when intending to use the work as a whole or in extract.

Further publication initiated by myself (in journals, magazines, short story publications, newspapers etc) will acknowledge The Rescue Project, and will not subsume Landcare Australia/UNSW usage rights. Landcare Australia will be  informed.

Tips and Tricks

Do – write about your own special place that you know, and have cared for or ‘rescued’ – a bend in the river, a stretch of beach, a stand of trees, a wombat warren etc OR write about one particular native animal you formed a bond with OR talk about how a particular tree you rescued makes you feel as you look at/touch/approach it.

Do – think about how this act of rescuing has impacted on you.

Don’t – make it a rant or a vent – craft your writing carefully and keep it to your personal experience.

Do – keep to the word limit for each contribution – 500 words maximum. This duration works well for podcast production.

Do – expect minor editing – major editing will be done only with your permission.

Do – share the link to your story once published, on twitter and facebook

Do – upload a photo of your special place/rescued creature/or something relevant for each contribution.

Do – use your own photo or make sure you have permission to use the photo you upload.

Don’t – forget the rules. It is important to read our terms and conditions and community guidelines.

Do – be careful about including photos of people who are under 18. You need to have the permission of their parent or guardian to publish their photo on Landcare Australia.

Do – visit other people’s contributions and make a comment or give them a thumbs up!

If you’d like further tips for writing, read on:

Your writing may come out in a lovely stream of consciousness but if it doesn’t, have a think about some of the following:

Share your humanness, look within and think about the moments you had which were almost timeless but which you won’t forget.

Lure us in! Try not to give everything away in the first sentence. Take the reader on a journey, unfold your story.

Keep your sentences short – that works well for short stories and spoken word – don’t forget your story may become part of a Landcare podcast!

If you get stuck, try reading what you’ve done aloud, it may help you move forward.

If you get stuck again, just leave your work to sit – inspiration may visit you later. And if you revisit your draft a day or two or three after, you’ll find things you can tighten up, and polish.

Share with a friend and ask for their feedback.

And finally, as always, remember, rules were made to be broken!