creative writing | creative life
Have you seen The Shining? Holy hotel in the snow. It’s feckin’ scary, right? When Shelley Duvall discovers what her husband has really been writing, over and over and over for the past however long, what he’s really been bashing out on that typewriter for WEEKS, we (the audience) know without a doubt that the …
Creating great characters in fiction, flourishing in menopause, dealing with imposter syndrome.
Three common mistakes picture book authors make. How to write a picture book.
How you dress your characters makes a huge difference to your story-world.
So, I’ve been around the sun more than a few times and during those years I've learned many life lessons. Some have been tough, some have been welcome, some have been, well, erm, okay, I'll admit I took longer than 'normal' to integrate some lessons (I'm looking at you, Divorce). And while life is not …
Early in the 1980s when I was working as a nurse, I decided to write a children’s book.The first story I wrote was about a rat. A rat that lived inside a muddy riverbank, wore a suit and —worked in the stock market (go figure). I think it was some kind of Wind in the Willows rip-off.I …
Continue reading "How I Became a Kidlit Author, and How I Can Support Your Kidlit Dreams, too"
I want to talk about the voices in my head. One is kind, loving, soothing. One is optimistic, eager, confident. One is understanding, empathetic, wise. One is bitter and angry, always finding fault— with me and with anyone who crosses my path. One is mean spirited and full of envy. One is full of woe …
Continue reading "There’s a new voice in my head. Do you know her?"
A writing coach recently asked me why I don't mentor people one-on-one. Okay. So in the past five years, thousands of authors and illustrators have come through girl&duck. Whether they've joined the Scribbles Academy, hung out in the Duck Pond, completed one of my online 'capsule courses', read my blog or simply watched my videos …
Several years ago a stranger approached me (via email). She wanted to meet for coffee. She wanted to talk to me about creativity and writing and the world of children’s literature and…creativity. When you're an author you often get requests like this. And by-and-large my fallback is no. I mean, can you imagine what it’s …
This time last year, (it was winter, I remember it well ), I went down to Melbourne for the weekend. I was catching up with family, having dinner with my publisher, doing a spot of shopping. All the nice things. Instead of staying in a hotel, I decided I try an air bnb, city stay, …
Continue reading "Stop Looking at Me, Oprah! Or, Why Settings Are So Important to Your Stories"