Kate Murdoch: From Painting to Writing—Change and the Creative Path
I'm so pleased to introduce you to Kate Murdoch, the author of Stone Circle, a historical fantasy novel set in Renaissance Italy. As you'll read in this essay, writing wasn't Kate's first artistic pursuit. Prior to becoming an author, Kate had exhibited widely as a...
AN ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT MY MOTHER
I've tried to avoid doing this, hoping that by ignoring my mother's attempts to intimidate and harass, she would stop. But it's reached the point where I feel I must warn people about her. I also want to stand up for myself: Nothing I've written about my mother...
Social Media For Writers
A couple of weeks ago, I asked you to send me your questions about social media. I received quite a few, too many to answer all in one post, so I chose the questions that seemed to have the broadest appeal. As you'll see, my answers are lengthy as I've tried to write...
Novel #2: An Update.
Alternatively titled: How a Pantser Became a Plotter* I'm being a bit naughty today and playing hookey from my work-in-progress. I've worked pretty solidly on it for three weeks, and I'm a bit tired, so I've decided to write other things instead today. Which is...
Lauren Chater: Survival Lessons—How Writing Changed My Life
Riding the ups and downs of the lead-up to publication can be rather nerve-wracking and is much easier if done with a friend, so as authors whose début novels came out within a couple of months of each other, Lauren Chater and I have become friends over the past...
How I Got An Agent
A few weeks ago, Lauren Keegan invited me to be part of her monthly blog series, How I Got An Agent. You might remember Lauren from this amazingly honest and moving post she wrote for Writers in the Attic last year. She wrote about rejection,...
Launch of ‘The Sisters’ Song’
I know it feels like months since The Sisters' Song was officially launched by Natasha Lester, but I've been rather busy and haven't had a chance to put the photos together and make a video. However, my diary was actually clear today, so it's done. And for those who...
Writers in the Attic: Michelle Johnston
I'm happy to say that Writers in the Attic is back for 2018! To ease the pressure on myself a little, I've decided it will be more of an occasional series, but I promise it will be just as interesting and varied! My dear writing friend, Michelle Johnston, is kicking...
Publication: The First Four Weeks
Now that school has returned, I'm looking forward to getting back into some semblance of routine. It's been utter chaos in the attic since my book was released: I haven't known which day of the week it is, I've forgotten to eat, I don't know what's in the fridge or...
Louise Allan: Music, Always
This is #65 in the series for Writers in the Attic and the final post for 2017. This series has been the most successful I've ever started on this blog, in terms of duration and readership. Each post has had well over 300 views and some over 2,000! It’s been an...
Milly Schmidt: On Stapling Your Rejections to Your Chest (and wading into battle)
My last guest in the attic for this year is Milly Schmidt. I've become an avid follower of Milly's blog since I first came across it earlier this year. I hasten to add that I'm one of more than 5,000 followers—we all love her down-to-earth, honest posts, and they're...
Stephanie Parkyn: On Building Heart (and finding writing wisdom in unlikely places)
Today's writer in the attic, Stephanie Parkyn, and I have much in common: we're both debut authors, we're both published by Allen and Unwin (or soon-to-be), and we've both lived in Launceston,Tasmania—I grew up there, and Steph now lives there. Steph writes...
Shahina Braganza: Converting Chaos Into Order
Most of the guests who visit the attic are people I've met relatively recently, but today's guest and I first met many years ago in Hobart, Tasmania, when she was still a schoolgirl thinking of studying medicine and I was a much younger mum and doctor. We lost contact...
Kali Napier: Getting Personal
My guest author this week is Kali Napier. I can't remember exactly when Kali's path and mine first crossed, but over the past six months or so we've become friends as our books are being released within a month of each other. There's nothing like sharing the pathway...
How to Write a Book Part #6: How to Write a Book (Again)
My guest in the attic today is one of the most generous writers around, always happy to share her experience and knowledge—her blog posts, articles and podcasts certainly helped me as a fledgling writer. She's also one of the busiest people in Australia, and somehow...
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- SMASH WRITING AT MATTIE’S – 11/3/2020
- SMASH WRITING AT MATTIE’S – 11/17/2020
- SMASH WRITING AT MATTIE’S – 12/1/2020