For those of you who have been hanging out to see how I fared in the next round of the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge following my success in the first heat, I am pleased to announce that my next story, Crossing the Thin Blue Line, just won through the second heat! This time the…
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Ok, so the title might be a bit of an exaggeration, but a short story I wrote recently – No Escape – did just win the first heat of the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge. If you haven’t read any of my work before, this is a good place to start! Click here to read…
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My word of the week is sonder. It’s not even a real word. According to the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, sonder means: The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around…
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Have you met Joseph Herscher and his whimsical machines? I think it’s time the two of you became acquainted. Introducing…The Page Turner: Joseph uses ordinary household objects to create the most innovative, amusing, excessive and unnecessary machines you will ever see. In 2008 he created his first famous kinetic monstrosity—Crème That Egg—a complex, rickety, apartment-spanning…
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If you, like me, love receiving a barrage of writing-related emails, or adding more expert writing advice to your already-can’t-quite-keep-up-with-it-all Facebook/Twitter feed, then have I got a belated Christmas gift for you. Below are five of my favourite online writing resources. Don’t dally – go sign up to their e-newsletters and social media feeds right…
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I just hatched a Pikachu from a 2km egg. The moment has changed my life. Let me explain. My boys and I have been playing Pokemon Go for a few weeks now. We have traveled dozens of kilometres together, caught hundreds of pokemon, battled a few gyms, hatched countless eggs. I even spend my lunch…
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Another article I wrote for the ACT Writers Centre, this time about my experience at the inaugural Canberra Writers Festival over 26-28 August 2016. The 2016 Canberra Writers Festival was my first major writing event. Among all the author interviews, book launches, panel discussions, writing workshops, festival artists, pop-up bookstores, signings, corridor networking, macaron towers,…
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Last night I spent two fabulous hours with author and academic Gillian Polack. Although our time was brief, Gillian quickly demonstrated why she is a renowned authority on the subject of world building. Here are the three lessons that most resonated with me (with my own little comments and extrapolations added): Start with the rocks…
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Wow. Independence Day: Resurgence was certainly something. I’m just not sure what that something was. As a student of writing, I was completely flummoxed by this movie. It wasn’t that the dialogue was horrible (though mostly it was) or that the plot was poor (because it wasn’t, if considered only in the broadest terms), it…
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I was fortunate enough to attend a brief writing class with Jack Heath last night. According to his website, Jack Heath is the author of sixteen action-packed novels for young children. From my own experience I can add that he is also a clear and engaging presenter who is well-versed in his craft. It was…
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