I don't remember the first time I heard this phrase. But it's the way I viewed my writing life ever since. When I first began this journey over a decade ago, a representative at the Australian Society of Authors told me how many new releases flooded the market that year. The amount was staggering. It …
Fictionalising my life
Stop fictionalising your life! This was advice a friend's psychologist told him to tell me. Both me and my husband are talked about often during his sessions, and his analyst has read my books to gain a better understanding of his relationship with us. In a recent writer's hashtag, someone wrote: Trying to get my …
The books for my author signing event didn’t show up.
It was the day before GLO (Gay Lit Oz). We decided not to go to the movies so we'd be home for the delivery of the books I needed for the event. It was Friday and by late afternoon, it was clear something was wrong. My publisher ordered these for me the week before, and …
Continue reading "The books for my author signing event didn’t show up."
Writing Tin Men and Scarecrows – Part 3
I've had a break from writing. I'm recovering from surgery and, as I still haven't put the first draft of my current work in progress to bed yet, I keep thinking of new plot twists to make it better. At the moment it is around 3200 words less than my ideal length, and while I've …
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Manuscript Assessments
I've had several assessments done on two books. One was very recently. The others were for my first novel, Drama Queens with Love Scenes, more than ten years ago. This process should be eye opening. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't. With my first book, a woman who was recommended to me provided three assessments …
Writing Tin Men and Scarecrows – Part 1
I'm halfway through the first draft. But I've just changed the text from past tense, third person limited, to present tense, first person multi point of view. While I was reading Holden Sheppard's The Brink, I was taken by how personal his book felt with different characters narrating in the here and now. My gut …
Feedback from my Writers Group
Recently, I searched for a writers group. I wanted one with writers more experienced than me, and I now meet monthly with a group that includes two screenwriters with three decades of experience each, and a published non-fiction author. I submitted the first two chapters of my current WiP for review. I hate anyone reading …
It takes years to write a novel
Ten years ago I attended a workshop at the Sydney Writer’s Festival. The author gave us an insight to the industry, but the most important thing I learnt at this session was the art of letting your manuscript rest between drafts. I mean, really rest. Not a couple of weeks, but at least three months. …
I got a bad review
I got a bad review. To be honest, it's a proper critique. The reviewer was honest about what worked for her and what didn't. And it hit me hard because she is a fan of two of my other books. This review was posted a week later than originally scheduled and in that time I …
Impostor Syndrome
How do you deal with Impostor Syndrome? I asked this as part of a social media chat group I'm part of and one particular answer stayed in my mind. "I've noticed it's triggered more by success than failure. Success makes me frightened that I won't make the mark..." Over the past couple of years more …
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