The secrets of Parks and Recreation

I just finished watching the seventh and final season of Parks and Recreation. It is a brilliant show: funny and endearing, playful characterisation. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. This post is about two interesting elements of the show you may not have noticed. They made a drastic change after the first…

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Writing…with kids

My fifth CAPITAL YARNS blog post is up. This time the topic is how to raise children while also trying to find time to write. If you have kids, this should all sound horribly familiar. If you don’t have kids, stop reading now because this may put you off entirely… Original post is here: actwritersblog.com/2016/04/19/writing-with-kids/….

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Capital Yarns – an interview with Sean Costello

My next CAPITAL LETTERS blog entry is an interview with Capital Yarns author Sean Costello. The original post can be found here, or, as usual, you can read it all below!   I was in Harry Hartog’s in Woden the other day when I came across something unusual on the counter. Neatly folded in a…

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Setting your fiction in your hometown

Ever thought about setting your fiction in the place you live? My latest blog post on the ACT Writers Centre website (actwritersblog.com/2016/03/23/setting-your-fiction-in-canberra/) looks into this very issue, weighing up the pros and cons. It is about my hometown – Australia’s capital of Canberra – but most of the concepts apply wherever you live. In case…

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My new gig at the ACT Writers Centre

I’m so excited! Earlier this month I was lucky enough to be selected as a blogger-in-residence at the ACT Writers Centre. For the next three months, I will be blogging on their website (www.actwritersblog.com). What will I be writing about? Writing, of course! Better yet, my first post has just gone live! Check it out…

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Getting in the groove

I have taken some time off work, to write. For six months my family and I will be dribbling by on half a long service leave pay packet, freeing me up to spend some time at the computer, to walk my eldest to and from school each day, and to maybe see a movie with…

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I just attended a writers’ workshop on “other voices”…

Today I attended a workshop facilitated by Writers Victoria. It had been a while. Between full time work and raising two mad-as-baboons little boys, I rarely have time for such classes. I am so glad I attended this one! The topic was “other voices”, covering the fundamentals of creating characters that are believable and speak…

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Why I write

For my first entry on my new website I want to give you an insight into why I write. But before I do that, let me take you back to where it all began.   I’m a dreamer. Not a drifty-eyed, combie-van, hope-for-the-best kind of person, but a dreamer in the most literal way. I…

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