Here it is ready for the baptismal font a baby in the making for two whole captivating years of undying devotion and mind-numbing frustration. Of chasing crumbs of knowledge through wooded glens and falling down rabbit holes in search of shimmering nuggets to fill empty space and startle the defiant blinking cursor. Now the pages [...]
The duality of human nature lies at the heart of my new novel, Stone Country. What sets us apart from our friends and family? Why do we make certain choices during a lifetime? Ones that can just as easily mean our triumph or our downfall. Decisions that can affect not only oneself but also that [...]
F. Scott Fitzgerald the author of The Great Gatsby coined the phrase the ‘Jazz Age’ and was known as the Great American Dreamer. If you haven't read the novel you may well have seen the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio. The Great Gatsby is the story of a mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his unrealistic obsession [...]
You would imagine that with eight novels behind me I would slide into the writing of number nine with ease. Practice, an understanding of the fundamentals and an itching to get to know new characters should be enough to spur me on but this book has come slowly. Now nearly 80,000 words on and not [...]
I thought the two-leggeds were going to have some sort of fit with the length this dry spell was going on for. But then it actually rained. You would have thought it was Christmas. There was a lot of talking loudly and sitting watching the rain fall and a bottle of fizzy stuff was popped. [...]
About Novel Writing Retreats Australia, by Steve Rossiter Thank you to Nicole for having me here on her site. Some of you may know me, or at least know of me, as the person behind The Australian Literature Review (www.auslit.net), Writing Novels in Australia (www.writingnovelsinaustralia.com), Writing Historical Novels (www.writinghistoricalnovels.com) and Writing Teen Novels (www.writingteennovels.com). [...]
If you are a writer, or attempting to become one or simply interested in honing your skills, a writing course can be a great help. For one they make us concentrate on the task at hand, discipline is a writer's best friend, secondly they can open our eyes to not only the technicalities of the [...]
Like most children I grew up with fairy tales, glistening narratives of maidens and princes, kindly god-mothers, evil step-sisters, nasty witches and trails of breadcrumbs. The versions that my mother shared with me were however, of the twentieth century kind. I doubt I would have received such enjoyment should I have been told the originals. The Grimm [...]
Peopled by many of the legends of the Australian outback, this is the extraordinary true story of how one ordinary woman grew up to champion Australia's outback heritage. Jane Grieve was born and raised on a farm on the Darling Downs in Queensland. From the outset she was determined that her life was not going to [...]
I love January... well, I should clarify that statement. I love January minus heatwaves and drought conditions, I usually love January minus floods (although after three years of January flooding I should be use to that too!) and windstorms thanks to ex-tropical cyclones. January is 'brain rest' time for me when I can stop creating [...]
