Recently I gave a reading from Nothing Sacred, a work of historical fiction set in late Republican Rome, in Canberra, at the once-residence of historian Manning Clark whose A History of Australia is regarded as the best-known general history of …
Events
The Myth, or Reality, of Writer’s Block
Ten years ago I was awarded my first writing residency in Australia. At that time I was living at a crazy pace, juggling several jobs, studying for my MA and trying to write a novel. Oh, and I had a …
WRITING AS PLAY: a guest post by Perle Besserman
Question: What did William Shakespeare, Friedrich Schiller, and Karl Marx have in common?
Answer: They all regarded play as the most exalted of human activities.
Two of these men were among the greatest poets England and Germany ever produced, and …
Re-connecting to writer’s voice in the cyberspace
In the autumn of 2008 I was approaching the fifth anniversary of my writer’s block. During those years I never stopped writing and sometimes even produced publishable works. However, writing had become much harder than it used to be and …
Being a writer & an earner: an oxymoron? A Guest Post from Naomi Stekelenburg
“I don’t look poor, so everyone believes I’m wealthy,” my grandmother said to me one day. And it was true. She wore beautiful fabrics and her hair was always set. Chic, I think, would be a word you’d use to …
What I’ve been doing writing-wise lately
Six months after giving birth to my second child, blogging now feels just as exhilarating and subversive as sneaking out of the house after 6pm with a small handbag that contains no nappies. Ah, the extravagant (guilty) pleasures of early …
Showing-and-hiding Emotions in Memoir: A Guest Post from Josianne Behmoiras
Some memoirs are written from the bottom of a heart that has been burdened with an unresolved story. Such was my memoir, Dora B (reprinted with a new title, My Mother Was a Bag Lady), in which I wrote …
On Writers and Cafes
When internationally renowned Israeli novelist Aharon Appelfeld was barely nine years old, he escaped a Nazi concentration camp in Romania, surviving by moving from one hiding place to another for the next three years. As an adult, still haunted by …
The Secrets of Travel Memoir Writing: A Guest Post from Walter Mason
Travel has always inspired writing, and the two share a symbiotic relationship. There is something about being away from home which inspires a mania for recording events and impressions. Perhaps it’s the knowledge that this is, in all likelihood, a …
The Writer’s Guide to Giving Unhelpful Feedback
For years I’ve been participating in, and facilitating, writing workshops. I’ve been doing this as a member of writers’ groups, a student and a teacher of writing. These experiences serve as the basis for this guide, which I hope will …