I love being a writer. It is all I have ever wanted to do, but doing it for a living and balancing it among other work and life priorities can be downright hard. Whenever I do need a boost, inspiration, motivation or writing tips I turn to a few key books – here are what I think are the top …
Creativity has many definitions but when it comes to writing it often refers to the innovative use of the imagination or original ideas to create something. Whenever we write we’re creating something, but our level of innovation may feel like another matter. Some days we feel the muse with us, but on other days, weeks and months even, we remain in …
I love reading novels, the more fantastical the better. There’s nothing like becoming completely immersed in another world and its characters. As a writer though, I know this isn’t as easy to achieve as it sounds. Key to drawing readers into a novel is its structure. How do you create a good novel structure? To come up with a good …
Passion is what drives many of us to undertake the Herculean task of writing a novel. However, even the most passionate writers suffer from lack of the motivation from time to time. Motivation is important no matter what you do. In order to stay motivated, writers need to have techniques and tools to help them finish their novel. Tips for …
I’m a writer. I’ve been writing for a living for more years than I care to remember. At risk of sounding up myself, I aint too shabby when it comes to putting a few words together. I can be pretty damn persuasive as well, when I want to be. There’s one caveat though. I may be the cat’s meow (at …
‘My writing has just stalled completely. I haven’t written anything for weeks.’ I was sitting with a lovely writer, on our lunch break from a writing workshop, listening to how she didn’t know what to write next, so she’d stopped writing. She was devastated, because she was so attached to the story and its characters, but the ‘muse’ had left …
Every writer has heard at some stage the phrase “show don’t tell”. At first I was a little puzzled by what exactly this meant. As a former journalist I was used to writing straight news stories where you needed to ‘tell’ without your own embellishments or clues. Over time though, I’ve found it a little easier. Here are some great …
This week a friend of mine told me his novel will be finished by the end of the year. He has a full-time job and three kids, but he has been super disciplined and through sheer determination and hard work…he will have finished. I’m really proud of him but…it just reminded me how terribly far I have to go. I …
It’s taken nearly 40 years but I’ve finally figured out what I am. When I say ‘what’ I mean how to define what I do and love. I’m a Creator. Everything I have done and got so much joy of during my life is about creating. Creating words, content, stories, strategies, food, businesses, ideas, events, dinner parties…it’s everything I …
“I have homework.” My son greeted me outside his classroom yesterday. No “Hello mum”, just “I have homework”. Sounds about right? Well, yes and no. My son is four-years-old. He started school this week – a very big milestone for our household. The prospect of trying to get Master Four to sit still for more than a nanosecond and focus …