I had a terrific time at the The Hindu Lit for Life festival in Chennai. My workshop on world building (of the fictional variety) was a lot of fun with an engaged group of 20-plus people. I even got a mention in The Hindu paper about it. There was a typo...
I’ve been in London for the past two weeks. In this newsletter I’m reporting back from the rather grand-sounding Youpreneur Summit where I spent two intense days with 347 entrepreneurs from all industries. I heard about the conference when listening to The Creative Penn podcast with...
Answer: I wish this was straight forward but it’s not. The most important thing about indie publishing is to think about the overall strategy for your book promotion. This should focus on understanding your audience and getting people to find your book. The more specific...
Last week my mum gave her first talk at the Thame Arts and Literature Festival in the UK. People laughed at her jokes, asked interesting questions and she sold 10 copies of her memoir A Baboon in the Bedroom. At 79 years old she’s finding...
Often your story idea may dictate your choice of genre. This is why whenever I teach creative writing, I cover the different genres in the first class so students get a sense of where their idea will fit into the literary landscape. As part of this,...
I stopped this Chinese tourist the other day at Bondi to take a photo of his t-shirt. He and his girlfriend thought it hilarious, proudly telling me the t-shirt was made in China. 'Other people have laughed. You're the first to take photo,' he said. It...