Creating great characters in fiction, flourishing in menopause, dealing with imposter syndrome.
Compelling characters. Imposter Syndrome. Make a Million in Menopause.
Dressing your Characters. Why Clothes Matter!
How you dress your characters makes a huge difference to your story-world.
How I Became a Kidlit Author, and How I Can Support Your Kidlit Dreams, too
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 …
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Why I don’t mentor people
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 …
Stop Looking at Me, Oprah! Or, Why Settings Are So Important to Your Stories
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"
A Little Rant About Kidlit Imposters…
Years ago, when I was working in kidlit publishing, we used to receive enormous bundles of unsolicited manuscripts in the mail. Bloody truckloads. Hard copy. You with me? So many manuscripts that I had a large cardboard box (the kind that nicely holds 15 bottles of wine...) full of potential children's books, sitting at my …
The Secret Language of Rejection
We had an amazing thread going in the Duck Pond, last week. We were talking about ‘quiet’ books. You know the type. Gentle, nuanced, often deep. The kind of books that leave a mark, make you think. Perhaps even make you clever… Manuscripts (whether adult fiction or kidlit) often get rejected on the grounds …
Why Did My Story Get Rejected?
It's the big question, isn't it? The big, sad, sorry question. Sigh. I have of late been working on the sales page for the Scribbles Academy. If you run an online biz you'll know that writing a decent sales page is a massive job. If you don't run an online biz let me tell you …
Invitation to a LIVE call. Plus, Scribbles Academy update and inside our latest photoshoot
Super quick post because ALL THE PLATFORMS, right?? I'll be LIVE in the Duck Pond, our private Facebook group, tomorrow. That's: Friday, July 3, 11.15am AEST. The Scribbles Academy opens later this month (July) for its ONLY intake for 2020 and I want to talk about that! I'll also be chatting about my own creative …
A cool way to look at your goals…
If you've been following me for any length of time, you'll know I LOVE Leonie Dawson's, My Shining Year Life and Business Goals Workbooks. I've been buying them for five or six years, now. I'm almost superstitious about them. Apart from the fun and colour and massive inspiration bombs I get from them, I …