Category: Writing
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The Nib Awards 2017
Every year around this time, some lucky members of Waverley Library, and other interested parties, are invited to a special breakfast for The Nib Awards. The award, in its 16th year, recognises excellence in literary research, skill in creative writing, and relevance of literary works for the community. Being a member of the Friends of…
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The Phoenix Years
THE NIB AWARD The Waverley Library Award for Literature, established in 2002, is entitled ‘the Nib’. Organised and financed by Waverley Council, it is managed by Waverley Library, with the support of a committee, and a number of community establishments, including Friends of Waverley Library, Gertrude & Alice Bookshop, and local RSL Clubs. The Nib…
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Publishing Streams in Australia
A Seminar I Attended In July I attended an excellent seminar held at the Australian Society of Authors (ASA) in Ultimo, Sydney, titled “Pitch Perfect”. The convenor, Emily Booth, an editor from Melbourne company, Text Publishing, led the workshop on how to pitch our manuscript to agents and publishers. One of the most helpful pieces…
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Spring Gardens Down Under
Typical of Australian art is an appreciation of contrasting styles. At Everglades Gardens, it’s mainly European flowers and trees, but at some places in nature, and in botanic gardens, such as at Mount Tomah, you can find stunning native plants, in particular, the waratah, floral symbol for the state of New South Wales. I first…
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POV and Head Hopping
Point-of-View in the 19th Century In his fictional work, A Million Windows (Giramondo 2014) Gerald Murnane writes: “At one extreme is the boldness and directness of the nineteenth-century writer of fiction who informs the reader, as though possessing an unchallenged right to do so, that this or that character is contented or disconnected or weighed…
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Serendipity at the 2017 Sydney Writers’ Festival
Way back then, at Armidale Teachers’ College, Liz was reminiscent of one of those Botticelli angels, but without the curls. She looked a lot like Miranda from Picnic at Hanging Rock. Able to attract the attentions of the college Adonis at the time, ideal partner for an Aphrodite, she did so without vanity, without affectation.…
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Changes in Narrative Voices Over Time
Traditional Versus Modern Voices Why have I chosen the following photo from my place of birth, Grafton, taken in 1924, as an introduction to this post? For several reasons: I like it very much, firstly because of its classical and historical attributes, as well as for the varied expressions and actions of the subjects in…
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Travel to Croatia
A highlight of 2016 was travel with my husband to the cooler climes of Croatia and Bosnia Herzogovina for a week in their autumn (October), followed by another week in the freezing weaher (for us) of Budapest and Copenhagen. My husband was in Croatia to lead the 3rd International Symposium on Stuttering, held at the…
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The Path Taken
While writing this post about my chosen path of Creative Writing, I thought about a delicious path I’d discovered and followed in Cavtat, Croatia; it brought to mind the poem by the American poet, Robert Frost, which starts with the lines: The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I…
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A Change of Blog Title
The Craft of Writing Please note that I have recently changed the description of my blog to “The Craft of Writing”, which correlates with the main goal of my website. I thank my kindly blogging expert, Gina for this suggestion. I admit that I am no expert when it comes to technology, and I shall…