creative writing
Hello, dear reader! Today is Shortlist Day! So, what’s the big deal about a shortlist? Lordy lord! A shortlist groups together the best. It acknowledges the most accomplished in a huge collection of entries. It’s how we make literary awards (such as the Scribbles Creative Writing Awards), manageable — both for the judges and…
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So dear reader, you might remember I wrote about my Depth Year here and here. (Just wanna know about the new e-course? Scroll to the bottom, sunshine!) To recap, mine has been a Low Buy Depth Year. What does that mean? I committed to going deep with what was important to me and letting…
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In the world of girl and duck, I get this often: Jen, I feel like I’ve known you for years. I always feel like you’re talking to me, personally. This doesn’t happen by accident. When I decided to take girl and duck online, I knew I had a lot to learn. Especially about marketing. I…
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Since our first video in August 2016, Q and Q Friday has had almost 21,000 views. That’s a lot in a niche industry. A lot in a small country like Australia—with crap SEO. Hear me GOOGLE? Get your bloody SEO sorted! Help the little guys get seen! We’ve produced 107 videos (so far) and covered…
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Ever since I started coaching aspiring and established authors and illustrators over at girlandduck.com, I’ve been saying the same thing: This is a personal development bootcamp, honey! Remember when Goldie Hawn joined the US army in Private Benjamin? She thought it would be a lark. Maybe they’d do a little stretching, some ‘jogging’ (remember jogging?),…
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This week at girl and duck, we opened The Scribbles Academy. It’s been super exciting and lots of people have jumped on board. Thank you!!!! I know you’re going to love your Scribbly experience! But how did this all begin? What’s the real story behind girl and duck? I wrote about this a couple of…
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Hello! Oh my Goddess! I was going to knock up a quick, bullet blog to get you up to speed. But. It all got too messy. Too much to say. Too much to consolidate. So. I’m devoting this post to the Scribbles Masterclass because, hey, this is what we do at girl and duck. We…
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Sometimes, weird shit happens when you write books and stories. Actually. Scrub that. Replace sometimes with all the time. When we write stories we tap into our subconscious. But, I believe we also tap into the collective unconscious. In my opinion, the collective unconscious informs and fuels the imagination. I see the imagination as a…
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I texted my friend, today. Why do I get so much pleasure out of cooking corned beef? No reply required. My apologies if you’re vegan or vego. But. Corned beef! I use Stephanie Alexander’s recipe. I love poking the cloves down into the onions. Chopping the carrots, real rough. And the celery. Tossing in the…
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Remember that song by The Waterboys? The Whole of the Moon. ‘You know how it feels to get too high, too far, too soon… Whatevs I’m dickin’ around. Here are three backstory problems as I see them: 1 Too much backstory Are you trying to tell your reader too much, too soon? Are your opening scenes…
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