Is Blogging Worth It?
Blogging is a big commitment. I've done it for three-and-a-half years now, and there have been times I’ve been tempted to let it lapse. When it's felt like too much of a burden, another deadline, a time-sucker. I’m not a quick writer, and I can’t...
An Early Xmas Gift to Myself: Time to Write
For the past few months, I've only been able to snatch brief spells of writing time due to Year Twelve exams, school camps, graduations, speech days, and general running about for the end of the school year. There was...
When Good Enough Isn’t
I've just returned from a holiday to Tasmania, my birth state. I went back for my cousin's 21st birthday, and tacked a couple of days on at the beginning for writing. I stayed in a cottage at Branxholm, a rural town in the northeast of Tasmania. I've stayed...
More On Writing a Novel: Feedback
In my last blog post, I talked about some of the lessons I've learned while writing a novel. Besides learning how to write, I've also learnt a fair bit about editing, having revised my novel countless times now. There's a lot more involved in editing a novel than I'd...
10 Things I’ve Learned About Writing a Novel—An Incomplete List
My novel began life as a short story about a young girl in the 1960s, but it has grown into a family saga beginning in the 1920s and ending in the present day. In writing it, I sometimes feel as if I've bitten off more than I...
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 Australian...
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 someone off sick...
My Journey to Writing
If someone had asked me a decade ago what I would be doing in ten years' time, writing a novel would not have been on the list, nor on the horizon. It wasn't even on the planet. I'd always thought of myself as Maths/Science orientated as I found those...
Why I Walk
Every day I walk—it's become something I have to do. It keeps me sane, as well as fit. The dog enjoys it, too. I need to exercise outdoors—I’ve never been a fan of gyms. One year, I bought a gym membership for $440 and used it eight times. At only $55 per visit, that...
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 the...
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 use...
Coming Out
Okay, I've decided it's about time I came out and told everyone that I write. There, I've said it. I'll even say it again: I write. That must make me a writer, although I feel fraudulent saying that. It feels strange, embarrassing even. Like...
