Crazy Houses of Canberra

My family and I are looking to buy a new house. It was a hard slog the first time we did it nearly a decade ago, so I thought there was a good chance we were facing another long, monotonous, dispiriting experience. In many ways I was right. In one surprising way I was very,…

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The Spam I Get

This website gets a lot of spam. Most it is in Russian or is trying to update me on the latest developments in erectile disfunction management, but sometimes those spam-bots are just downright friendly. For example: ‘You are a very intelligent person!’ – Abet Spzoo Thanks, Abet Spzoo. The internet can be a quiet and…

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Readying the Dead

The winners of the 2017 NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge have just been announced, and I am pleased to announce I am one of them! Sort of. My final story landed me an ‘honourable mention’, sufficient for a handful of minor prizes, but just outside the cash. I’m totally excited about the outcome and proud…

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Second Round Success!

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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No Escape – My Award-Winning Short Story

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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Sonder

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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A Belated Christmas Present – Five Fave Writing Resources

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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Pikachu just changed my life

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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My highlights: taking inspiration from the 2016 Canberra Writers Festival

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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World Building with Gillian Polack

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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