Advice for writers.
What does it take for a short story to win a writing competition? A lot. Not only does a story have to be incredibly well written, but the judge has to connect with it, and it has to be so memorable that they feel unable to turn away and award…
Of all the questions I ask my creative writing clients and students when mentoring and editing, this is the question I ask them the most. It generally has two manifestations, which I thought I’d share as insight into the storytelling process. 1. Studying Other Writers When reading and studying other…
This month, editor extraordinaire of Women’s Ink Magazine Jacqui Brown invited five authors – including me! – to talk about how we name our characters. Kristin Darell, who co-authored Into Tordon with me, was also featured; as was Valerie Pybus, Anne Benjamin and Australia’s climate fiction queen Cat Sparks. Our…
It’s ‘Women’s History Month’! So the gracious Gillian Polack invited me to consider how we’re living through ‘epoch-changing times’ in which ‘all of us are making history’, and I put my mind to thinking how the experiences of the last few years have affected my work-life balance. The results of…
Today I was supposed to be heading to Mosman’s Barry O’Keefe Library for a ceremony celebrating the 2021 Mosman Youth Awards in Literature, for which I judged the short story entries, selected the winners for the Senior Prose section, and wrote a detailed judge’s report. Since Sydney is in complete…
It can be tricky to protect yourself as a creator. The act of creation has enormous worth, as does sharing that creation. Fortunately, here in Australia, writers and other creators are granted automatic copyright and moral rights to protect their creative works, which is great! There’s a blog post over…
Last month I was invited to participate in a brainstorming ‘co-design’ day with my local council to develop a social sustainability strategy – how to be ‘Better Together’ by 2041. It was really fun and thought-provoking, covering topics like feeling safe, included and connected. I was able to share real life…
