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Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome
Thank you for reading my very first blog entry. I plan to write about the books I’ve found useful as a writer, the books I just love anyway and how I’m going with the endless struggle with distraction...
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Stealing from Hilary Mantel
(For September, entries will be cross-posted with Southerly, where I am guest blogger.) Recently I had the misfortune to finish reading Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, her second novel imagining...
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The story of that day
(Cross-posted with Southerly.) Just over five years ago, I decided to write a novel about my grandparents. Their names were Fay and Heinz (in the novel they became Hannah and Emil), and like so many...
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Treasures from the past: Belinda Castles on Hannah and Emil
Reblogged from LiteraryMinded: Belinda Castles is the author of Falling Woman and The River Baptists (for which she won the 2006 Australian/Vogel Award). Her latest novel is Hannah and Emil, which...
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A note about the post below
The talented Angela Meyer interviewed me recently for her blog. I liked her questions so I’ve reblogged here. Just so you know, I am alarmed by the size of my photograph as it appears in the reblog,...
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The creative writing racket
Funding writers through postgraduate creative writing qualifications…skews funding in favour of the gutless. Enrolling in a postgraduate writing course is a hedge against failure, costing thousands of...
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What we write about when we write about love
For a blog about procrastination there has not been much mention of it so far, but you will find plenty of evidence against me in the length between posts. I have been meaning to write about Emily...
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Necessary description
Some writers describe gorgeously: a scene, a landscape, a person’s face. They may choose unusual, apt vocabulary and images to paint familiar things afresh. Yet the reader may quickly begin to fidget....
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Not writing but teaching
After several semesters of casual university tutoring, I can safely say that when I am teaching, I am not writing. Technically, I write every day, so when I say ‘writing’, I mean writing fiction. If I...
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This is getting ridiculous
Semester has finished. I’ve sent off my grade spreadsheets. It’s time to do something about my writing impasse. (Let’s not call it a block. That might start a panic.) I’ve had quite a few ideas come...
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Stephen King, life coach
I have heard Helen Garner speak twice and on each occasion she gave a version of the following. Quoting the psychoanalyst Marion Milner, she said: Everything that one thinks one understands has to be...
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The Writing Process Blog Chain
I have been given a little shove to take part in a blog chain about writing processes. Thanks go to shover Kim Kelly, writer of colourful and gripping historical romance and keeper of a fascinating and...
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Manuscript assessments and editorial feedback
Hello Australian writers. A brief note to let you know that I am available for the next little while to give structural and detailed feedback on your fiction or narrative non-fiction manuscript. Once...
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The story of that day
(Cross-posted with Southerly.) Just over five years ago, I decided to write a novel about my grandparents. Their names were Fay and Heinz (in the novel they became Hannah and Emil), and like so many...
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