My Week—Errands and Exams
1. I’ll skim over the progress of my novel, because it’s going slowly and there’s not much to report. However, I do have plans to devote myself to it this weekend … 2. I have two doctor friends...
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....
Humps and Troughs
I thought I’d squeeze a blog post in before the end of the financial year—so here’s an update: The Novel: Unfortunately, I don’t have much to report on this front, except that I’m stuck. So stuck, I’m considering seeking help. When I...
Storyboarding and More …
I know I said I was taking a break from blogging, but I thought I’d give you an update on what I’ve been up to over the past week. The Novel As you know from my last blog post, I’m rewriting Ida’s Children....
A Break from Blogging
This is a quick post to let you know I’ll be taking a break from blogging in order to concentrate on my novel. The thing is, an agent has kindly sent me some feedback. By ‘kindly’, I mean ‘bluntly’, and...
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...
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...
Final Draft 2.0 and Carving Out Time to Write
It’s been school holidays for the past couple of weeks, and up until the last couple of days, the weather has been cold, wet and gloomy—and perfect for writing! I took the opportunity to immerse myself in an unscheduled home writing retreat, during...
TAG Hungerford Award—Post Script
Last Thursday, after an agonising three-and-a-half month wait, the winner of the 2014 City of Fremantle-TAG Hungerford Award was announced at Fremantle Arts Centre. The winner was ‘Troppo’, by Madelaine Dickie, which will be...
The Sun Sets on the Holidays
Tonight, the school holidays draw to a close. No more long days in our bathers. No more serene afternoons with a book. No more evening walks and swims under a reddening sky. It’s back to the daily grind of uniforms and books, and lunches and bags, and music...