It’s that time of year, in Australia at least, when the summer holidays are drawing to close. It’s also the time to make juicy New Year resolutions (more on that next week). I certainly have a few. One is to keep up with my blog…...
As we all know the publishing industry is changing fast. A couple of weeks ago Anthony Horowitz wrote a provocative piece asking ‘Do We Still Need Publishers’ in The Guardian. He mentioned a couple of newbies that are muscling in. Apple has launched its own publishing arm—iBooks...
Recently two people asked me the same question. ‘I want to write a book, but should I bother and do a blog instead? Or do both?’ I thought it was a subject worth unpacking. In those situations, I always ask: How much time do you have...
It’s taken a while for me to get close to my Kindle. Nine months in fact. (Hopeless I know.) But now we’re good friends. Many people I meet are still shocked I have crossed to the dark side of e-books. So I thought I’d share...
When scriptwriters are trying to squeeze the most juice out of a dramatic situation, they call it squeezing the lemon. The aim is to get the most emotion possible out of a scene. It could be the most fear, comedy or suspense. Whatever you are trying...
I’ve written about finding your voice before but this week I want to investigate it further. Voice is one of those hard-to-pin-down terms that writers and readers and critics bandy about. We’re always told to find our own voice. Make it distinctive. Make it unique. But...
I’ve written briefly about the writing program Scrivener before. Designed by the Cornwall-based software company, Literature and Latte, it is specificially for long writing projects. Once only available for Mac, it now works with Windows. Doubtless, it has made the practical side of writing my current...
This week I went with my husband to watch the Transit of Venus from the Sydney Observatory. I bought tickets on a whim a few months ago when I was reading about how unique the transit is and its astronomical and astrological significance. A quick...
Travel writing is often seen as a soft option. Yet it’s actually surprisingly difficult to do well. Especially in travel memoir, rather than straight travel journalism. But both require the weaving together of different strands. Some of the strands include, but aren’t limited to, the following: Description The...
I only made it to one panel at the Sydney Writer’s Festival, with English writer, Geoff Dyer, and American composer Joshua Cody, whose debut memoir sic chronicles his frenetic journey through cancer. I’ve blogged about Geoff Dyer before, particularly about his latest novel, Jeff in Venice,...