Dear Blog Readers,
Please forgive me this self-indulgent post, which is this time a brief report from the book launch of my memoir The Dangerous Bride. In my defence, I am such a slow writer that I promise not …
Author, mentor, writing teacher and speaker
Dear Blog Readers,
Please forgive me this self-indulgent post, which is this time a brief report from the book launch of my memoir The Dangerous Bride. In my defence, I am such a slow writer that I promise not …
Six copies of ‘The Dangerous Bride’ recently arrived in my house. It took me five years to write this memoir and then I waited more than a year for the publication to happen, and here it is – printed. The …
I am writing a novel. I have been writing it for five years. But most of the time I write it in my head. Does this sound familiar? Am I just another wannabe novelist who talks big but will never …
Now that my memoir The Dangerous Bride is finally printed and about to be released in a month, I am at work on my new writing plans. I always need lots of plans to produce a little something. Making plans …
Whenever a writer tells me they have a problem with Act 2 of their novel, I ask them about their antagonist, the character who opposes the protagonist and prevents them from getting what they want. Act 2 forms the bulk …
My husband, a doctor, jokes that whenever his patients say ‘Can I be honest with you?’ he wonders what was the point of their visit in the first place if they didn’t intend to be honest? The same applies to …
I’ve always loved the memoir genre. Most of my writing, be it for theater, film, poetry, song or prose has an autobiographical base. Often my fictional characters serve as vehicles for discussing those aspects of my life that I feel …
This year Melbourne added yet another literary festival to its already busy calendar – the biannual Melbourne Jewish Writers Festival, held at the end of May. For a new festival, its program was surprisingly rich and ambitious, with many Melbourne-based …
My phone rang three weeks ago, and I was informed that I’d been nominated to serve as the next Poet Laureate of Florida, where I live with my wife and son. When I hung up, I turned and glanced, for …
‘What is the most necessary thing for a writer?’ I often ask in my writing classes. ‘A publishing contract,’ an occasional smartass might reply. Mostly, though, I get sound answers: a voice, a good ear for dialogue, a compelling narrative. …