Did you ever wonder where Hallowe’en came from, or why we have a celebration about ghosts and ghouls? A long time ago, I used to write freelance articles and short stories for a children's magazine series that has since faded from view. They were actual, physical magazines, and, for whatever reason, they went the way of so many physical, actual, hold-in-your hands magazines. Sad, because it was a great source of story and information, beautifully presented by some talented ed

I'm a great believer in the odd bout of procrastination. the empty page: symbol of writer's procrastination everywhere I do, in fact, believe it is the brain's way of telling you that you need to leave it to get on with stewing over something while you do something else, and I often find that after a bit of good old fashioned procrastination, things become clearer, and I can approach the task at hand with renewed vigour. ​​ Of course, if I let it go on too long, I can lose th

Pitching to a room full of people can be an exhilarating experience

I am the weaver, continued... ...last time I put fingers to the keyboard to write a post for my blog, it was all about the coming year, and how my mantra is to be the weaver of my own fabric – to take the threads and create the pattern in my life that I want, rather than allowing others to do that for me. Aside: and I might add that it is a tricky plan to follow – a ‘couple of hours’ putting together some classroom resources this past weekend, turned into a full 11 hours, but

...this is a story of the good, the bad and the ugly! The good bit is the best. It is the bit where I have Explored. Dreamed. Discovered. It is the bit where I have had two books published and sent out into the big wide world, and (biting my nails) they’ve done okay. I’m proud of my little books, and dead chuffed by my growing fan base of amazing readers (young and young at heart), and I’m looking forward to the next book in the Trouble series hitting the shelves early next y

Hmm. So-o-o-o not keeping up with my self imposed once-a-month (reduced from once-a-fortnight last year) commitment to write something for my blog! And it’s not that I don’t want to write something, it’s not that I haven’t got anything to say, it’s not that I don’t want to talk to you... it’s just that there seem to be so many competing priorities at the moment. I get it. We are all busy. Busy is, in fact, the current addiction. Some of us even validate ourselves by how busy

Back to School Life after my last post on the Write Life means that my focus has been on making sure everything is going smoothly in the classroom. Oh, and on report writing – not my favourite kind of writing, especially when I find myself staring at the tick boxes and arguing with myself as to which box the tick belongs in (for most students this is really clear, you have the evidence, you have the vision, for others the water is murky for one reason or another). Luckily for

Last month, I wrote about my book launch back in February for Trouble at Home, a little tale about Georgia and how she set out to solve the mystery of the missing family home, find her baby brother Godfrey, who is only almost-three, and vanquish a dragon. Time has a habit on flying on by without me as I get distracted by life, and the next thing I know... well, time has flown. Writing sort of happens for me in between being a Mum, a Wife, a Teacher, and a Housekeeper (albeit

I’m assuming that by the time you have sorted out all that planning (see Step 4...), you will already be quite conversant with your characters. If you are like me, they will be pretty much like real people, probably already interfering with the planning process as they put their two bob’s worth in. Or twenty cents’ worth, if you are post decimalisation, or, allowing for inflation, possibly twenty dollar’s worth (if you are reading in a country other than Australia, feel free

… or apologies. It would seem to be many weeks since I tapped out a post for my blog (so much for my great plan to write something for it once a fortnight!), although I have been busy on my website. Apart from changing the look (and I’m not totally sold on it yet, although I do love the photo), you’ve possibly noticed that I have added a sign up form, so that I can start sending out newsletters (I’m thinking monthly) and keep my readers up to date with what is happening. The

Planning is one of those vexed questions that some experts on writing can become quite passionate about, even resorting to saying unkind things about writers who do it differently to them. I’ve read quite a lot about planning, however, and I’ve come to the conclusion that EVERYONE plans (or, possibly, doesn’t plan – but I’ll come to that in a moment) differently. At the two extremes are writers who plan their story to the nth degree with everything that is going to happen nea

Believe it or not, getting words on the page can be daunting for anyone, even seasoned writers and best sellers. Having a firm idea for your story is only the start. Sitting down every day and knowing what you want to write is both a habit and a skill, and some days it will seem easier than others. The first thing to realise is that you have to commit to forming a writing habit. There are different ways to approach this. Word Count Some writers have a word count that they str

Most people who want to write a novel probably already have a good idea about what they want to write about. It’s the idea that fuels the desire, and keeps you up at night (or, if you are like me, wakes you up early in the morning, kind of like the family pet, helpfully licking your face to let you know the sun is about to come up). I understand, however, that it is a source of mystery for many. And perhaps some of them would like to write a novel if only they could work out

When I ambitiously started this little project, apart from ruthlessly choosing to split an infinitive or two in the quest for conversational style, not to mention other grammatical anomalies, I had visions of a neat, linear group of posts that would follow one from the other and provide a guiding light for others who, like me, are on the never ending quest for knowledge. Ha. Ha. And then I started thinking. Learning to write is not a sequential process. It is an amorphous who

So, how do you write a novel? This is a question that is asked by a lot of people I meet (online and in real life - or perhaps that should be online and in person, as online is real life for a lot of us introverted types). It’s a great question, and one I’d like to answer, although they weren’t necessarily asking me at the time. I do, however, feel qualified to profess that I know enough to offer some advice in this area, and will regale you with my knowledge in what I hope w

It was quarter to nine on Friday morning, and I had a delicious feeling creeping up on me. Quite unexpected. Mmmm. Why? Because it was the first Friday that I was officially not being a teacher one day a week. And it felt good. I had got up early as usual and started doing some revisions on one of my books that are in the process of being published by Omnibus, and I would be going back to that later, but first I had a boy to get moving and some school shoes to buy, ready for

This is me at the moment... it's school holidays, but I've got most of the planning out of the way for next term after something of a marathon effort over the last few weeks of term, and the first week of the hols. There are still one or two things I should probably get done, but I'm comfortable we're all set for a good start... so, time to write? I can hardly believe it. I sit in front of the computer... bliss... ...and check facebook. I've a couple of friends who are travel

Imagine yourself here, wandering along this old track above the creek. The breeze is chill, but the sun is warm. Under your feet, old, dry leaves and twigs crackle and crunch with every step, birds are flittering around you, swooping and diving to catch the insects your movement disturbs, and you can hear the gentle babble of the creek as it wends its way down the the gully. It is your time, just you on this quiet track through the bush, with no need to rush or be anywhere

Ideas? Go to any writer's FAQ page and there will be a question something along the lines of “Where do you get your ideas?” I've been to quite a few writing conferences, too (at least, more than I can count on my fingers, which is about as good as it gets for me and maths), and, at some stage in the Q & A process, someone will ask the same question. Usually whilst hovering their pen over a blank page. It is an eternal question, and one of immense interest to writers and non-

One of the things I really loved about Conflux Writers' Day was that they knew where to put the apostrophe, which is a great start. I don't know what it is about apostrophes, and, I will admit, I am not perfect myself, but I do like to see them in the right place. I'd been looking forward to this, the inaugural Conflux Writers' Day, since I first saw it advertised months ago. I jumped straight in to purchase my ticket and wrote it in on my calendar and in my diary so I wouldn