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...
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...
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...
Theresa Smith: The Bend in My Writing Road
I have a very special guest today, one well known to almost every female writer in this country through her work as Historical Fiction Editor with the Australian Women Writers Challenge. You couldn’t find a bigger advocate or a more generous supporter of...
Sasha Wasley: We Need to Talk About Writer Jealousy
Today’s post by Sasha Wasley really resonated with me, as I’m sure it will with other writers. I’ve certainly felt the sting of jealousy and found it hard not to compare myself to other writers, wishing for their writing talent or success. In...
How to Write a Book Part #5: Seeking Feedback
It’s no news to any writer that seeking feedback on your work is one of the hardest things about this writing business. Yet, if we want to be published, at some stage we must put our words, stories and characters out there to be scrutinised by others. It’s as...
How to Write a Book #4: Learning the Craft
In a previous post for this series, I wrote about how hard it was to wear ‘L’ plates again after deciding to become a writer in my early forties. Today, I’m going to talk about how I actually learnt the craft of writing. At the time I started writing,...
Fiona Robertson: Beginning Again
Every week I say I’m honoured to share the post for the attic and you’re probably sick of reading that phrase. However, each week I am honoured to share the guest post, as well as humbled and a little thrilled that someone has written such a moving...
Tess Woods: What Makes a Real Writer?
Today I welcome Tess Woods into the attic. I’m so proud to share this essay because Tess is a dear friend of mine. It’s written in her inimitable style and with her trademark length (she’s never short for a word 😉 ). You won’t regret taking the...
How To Write a Book #2: Take Your Writing Seriously
Continuing with my series on ‘How to Write a Book’, this week I thought I’d write on another aspect I found particularly difficult to put into practice: Taking my writing seriously. I’m never comfortable giving advice—I prefer to write about my...