Category: writing
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December + 2022 in review
Another month has come to a close and so has 2022. For many in Australia 2022 was another extremely hard year in a string of hard years with ongoing floods affecting much of the east coast. If you’ve been reading my monthly recaps you’ll know we’ve been hit hard by repeated illnesses throughout the year…
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Cathryn Free on Writing for Children’s Magazines
Ever since I set my goal for 2023 (breaking into writing for children’s magazine) I’ve been looking for resources and experience from other writers who have achieved this. I was beginning to despair when I stumbled upon Cathryn Free. Cathryn Free is a teacher and writer with numerous publications in magazines for both children and…
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5 types of short story ideas
These are the five types of short story ideas I have experienced over the years… *Calculations are a guestimate based on a gut feeling of what it true. I’d love to know what kind of story ideas you’ve encountered. And if you’d like to know the types of short story drafts I’ve written I’d be…
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November: In which I took a step back and moved forward
At the start of November I decided to go on ‘leave’ from writing until the new year. I did this so I could focus on life and farm admin without being overwhelmed. I’m sure many writers can agree, that whenever you decide to take a break from writing you inevitably get pulled back in. So,…
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October: In which fiction prevailed
This month I’m finding it hard to recall what exactly happening. The last week resulted in my first overnight hospital stay with my two-year-old son who was having trouble breathing. While he’s fully recovered now, that unexpected event has overshadowed most other things. Casting my mind back, I can manage to remember that we had…
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September: In which chaos reigned
In this month in review it’s hard not to look back at all that’s changed in 2022. It’s been two months since we moved from suburbia to my partner’s dairy farm. It’s been three months since I left my job in publishing to better support the farm, cuddle up with my toddler and pursue freelance…
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Organising my Short Story Files
The time has come to *shudder* organise my short story files. I’ve been writing short stories since I was about sixteen. Before I had ever even read an actual short story! Needless to say I have a lot of files. Countless short stories with countless drafts. Not to mention all the half-baked ideas where I…
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Writing on the Train
If you use public transport to get to work each day, chances are you have a chunk of free time in which to write. When I was working full time in Sydney my commute was more than 2 hours each way. When people heard how long my commute was they always assumed it was a…
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Writing Practice, Like Actual Practice
I’m a lazy writer. Sometime in the last year, I don’t when, I decided I didn’t need to work at writing anymore. I had a few publications under my belt, heck, I’d won a competition. My work was good, I was good, everything was good. And so I got complacent. I stopped getting…