“Whatever may be their use in civilized societies, mirrors are essential to all violent and heroic action.”
Virginia Woolf; A Room of One’s Own
Walking With McCubbin and Me
This is the beach at the end of my street where I walk the dog each morning. It is a mid-winter day in Melbourne, Australia, a freakishly beautiful day that probably says something about climate change. For the moment, let's not go there. Come walking with...
Mindfulness For Writers & Triathletes
This week at my Pilates class, I met Nathan Shearer, pictured above, and discovered that writers and world class triathletes have much in common. In fact, as writers embarked on a long project, we are triathletes! Nathan is about to compete in the 2016 Hawaii...
Playing With Words
What should we do when we don't want to write? When the desire has died and the very thought of playing with words becomes a chore? Should we take a break? Or push on regardless? One day this week, I lay on my bed for a whole afternoon and lost myself in Jim Crace's...
Introducing My Idol, Maira Kalman
Perhaps you've met Maira before? Perhaps she's your idol too? Delicious thought! If she is, we are soul mates because Maira is a rare and special treat. Where shall I begin? Maira is a New York artist, author, illustrator, writer, designer, photo-essayist,...
Get Real, Write Real, Find a Publisher
A few years ago, I was part of a panel discussing how best to find a publisher. One writer on the panel was self-published, another wrote non-fiction, another wrote for young adults, a fourth wrote popular fiction. Each stressed the obstacles to getting published....
Keating’s Girlfriend
When we first met Prue, my sister pulled me into the kitchen to pass judgement, as we did with all of Andrew’s girlfriends. ‘This one’ll end up taking to drink or finding religion,’ Janey said. Prue’s claim to fame was that before she met our brother, she’d been Paul...
Postcards from Paradise
I've left The Loved Ones at home for ten days in Paradise with a friend. We're staying at a resort spa in Thailand, one of those Luxury Escape offers that come at a ridiculous price because it's the off-season and could well be hot and horrible and raining all day....
Dying To Write
Cory Taylor died recently after a long fight with cancer. She left behind a remarkable book that was written in the space of a few weeks when her illness became untreatable. ‘Dying: A Memoir’ is a moving account of what dying taught her about life. It made me realise...
Pauline & The Orchid Queen
What a mess! Brexit, Trump and now us. And after almost twenty years in the political wilderness, Pauline is back promoting a lot of fear-mongering nonsense. Truly, I shouldn't give her air to breathe and I apologise in advance for doing so, but like so many people...
Writing Tips from a Child
What can a child possibly teach adults about writing? A lot, I discovered on a dismal winter's day when my grandson was four years of age. We had exhausted Lego, painting, play dough, gingerbread men and turning the couch cushions into a fort. ‘Why don’t we write a...