I always knew I’d one day write novels. But first came poetry and short stories. I wrote about my first ever published poems over here. My first ever short story success was with a story about a tortoise, which won me the school writing competition for prose in Year 11…
I always knew I’d one day write novels. But first came poetry and short stories. My first ever writing successes were with poetry. When I was about 10 years old, my teacher set our class the homework task of writing an original poem. Mine was about owls and hedgehogs. I…
What if you could go back in time and tell the younger-you to be more confident about the paths you were or weren’t choosing in life? The circumstances into which we’re born, and the choices we make to expand or escape those circumstances, inevitably lead us to who we are…
Earlier this week, I appeared at the Mosman Youth Awards in Literature at the amazing Mosman Library, where I spoke to an eager crowd of 150 writers and their supporters. As my 9th year judging the awards, I wanted to share one central piece of advice about writing, applicable to…
Wow, thank you to The Tawny Frogmouth magazine for such a breathtaking interview in this month’s issue, ‘Local writing hero is an inspiration for living a better life’. I feel seen! I have always felt great empathy for those around me, whether it’s my community, writing tribe, friends or family.…
Every day I fail, and love it. I fail to write the amount of words I want to write. I fail to phrase meaning effectively. I fail to establish or maintain character and setting according to my intentions. I fail to edit my own work, being too close to the…
Over the years, I’ve mentored scores of writers on their quests to write or finish writing a book. Recently, I had the privilege of assisting an incredible 10-year-old, Roy Mahajan, on his quest to write a children’s book. His main character Jason dreams of one day becoming a full-time detective,…
