As the NSW school term begins, and we look down the barrel of potentially weeks and weeks of trying to keep kids engaged with and on top of their school work, I know that many parents are tearing their hair out. With two high school-aged boys, I'm lucky that the...
In the latest addition to the Writing For Kids series, Claire Saxby looks at setting stories in the past. Claire's latest novel Haywire is set in 1939 in the NSW town of Hay. It's about 14-year-old Tom, whose family runs the local bakery, and Max Gruber, nearly 14,...
Is it your dream to write for kids? Are you imagining a picture book, novel or chapter book with your name on it? Are you finding it difficult to 'break in'? Then let me ask you one more question: have you considered writing nonfiction for kids? One of the things that...
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of reading Kate Simpson's new picture book, Anzac Girl: The War Diaries Of Alice Ross-King. And if you follow any of my social media platforms, you'll know it was a real pleasure – I shared it everywhere! It's a very beautiful book,...
Last year, I wrote my first-ever funny story for publication in Total Quack Up Again, an anthology of funny stories in support of Dymock's Children's Charities. Regular readers might remember this post about the experience. One of the editors of the anthology was...
About 200 episodes of So You Want To Be A Writer podcast ago, I created this lovely little round-up of insightful interviews with Australian children's and YA authors. I have decided that it's high time for an update*. If you're hoping to be a published children's or...
In case you missed it, the latest round of #writeabookwithal is over and I have finished the first draft of my latest manuscript. It is, brace yourselves, the 15th first draft fiction manuscript that I have written. Fifteenth. Four were written before my first...
Last week I found myself compiling a list of books about writing for a young writer I know. She's 15, enthusiastic, stymied by the parameters of writing for school assignments, hungry for information, encouragement and advice. I tried to give her book suggestions that...
After a lot of hard work from a lot of people, my online creative writing course for kids is now open for bookings through the Australian Writers' Centre! So much goes into creating a course like this, from developing the course content, to creating each module, to...
