My Writing Process
I’ve been tagged by two writers to join in a blog hop about writing and the writing process: Laurie Steed is a short story writer and Patricia Hackett Prize winning author from Perth, Western Australia. His work has appeared in Best...
Writing With(out) Kids
I haven’t spent much time on my novel since I returned from Varuna. There are many reasons for this—every time I’ve sat down to write, the phone has rung, or there’s been a knock at the door, or a child tapping on the attic door, or...
More Images of Varuna
I’m on the downhill week of my stay at Varuna and I’ll be sad to leave this enchanted place. I’ve been hard at work on my novel. Last week, I met with Carol Major, one of the consultants here, who gave me some wise and valuable suggestions for my...
Images of Varuna
Welcome to Varuna: This is my home for the next two weeks. For anyone who doesn’t know, Varuna is in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. It was the family home of Eric and Eleanor Dark, and since 1989 it has served as a writers’ centre. Writers come to work on...
The Novel: An Update
I haven’t been writing as much for the blog, nor stalking reading and commenting on other blogs. I’ve spent less time on Facebook (a good thing), replying to emails (not so good), and my poor family haven’t seen much of me (definitely bad). I’ve...
Back in the Attic
Well, it was nice to get out of the attic and roam around Tassie for a while: we hauled backpacks through Cradle Mountain National Park, then visited the sights in and around Hobart. My family then left and I spent six days alone in the northeast of Tassie,...
BREAKING NEWS …
From ‘Breaking News’ I interrupt normal blog transmission to share breaking news of the novel’s progress: I have been selected as a 2014 Varuna Residential Fellowship Recipient. What is that? I hear you ask. Well, it’s bed and board and a...
A Snippet from the Novel
An excerpt from my novel, ‘Ida’s Children’. LEN’S CAMERA One night he came out, full as a boot and holding up a cardboard box as if it was a priceless antique. ‘I won! I won!’ he kept saying as he came over. He’d won a raffle and had a choice...
2. Trusting My Voice
I think I’ve learnt to do this. Finally. When I started writing, I was embarrassed to show my ignorance, so I tried to sound literary. I’ll show you: ‘The mountain rose out of the horizon and watched over and nourished the district, like a good mother. She sent...
1. Toss the Plan
Yes, I have a first draft. It’s complete – well, as complete as a first draft can be. It’s printed and sitting on the desk next to me: a pile of A4 paper that looks nothing like a novel. I’ve learnt a lot from writing this draft. Practical things, like how to...