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...
If you've listened to the So You Want To Be A Writer podcast recently, you'll know two things about me: video is not my happy place, and I've recently created a new creative writing course for kids for the Australian Writers Centre. These two things came together in a...
To celebrate entering my 10th year of author blogging - which makes me pretty much a centenarian in blog years - I thought I'd rustle up my top three tips specifically for author bloggers. Author blog tip #1: Work out why you're blogging It took me about five...
There's nothing quite like the experience of having your first novel appear on bookshop shelves. And nothing quite like the learning curve involved in getting the book there in the first place. Today, I'm pleased to welcome debut author Louise Allan to my blog, to...
When I asked Australian children's author Tim Harris to write me a post for kids who love to write, there was no question of the topic: remarkable characters. Tim's latest book, Mr Bambuckle's Remarkables, features a fabulous cast of characters and there's no doubt...
When I asked my friend Allison Rushby, author of many novels for children, YA and adults, to come up with a post full of writing tips for kids, I had to laugh when she sent me one with this headline: Writing for kids: stay weird, stay different But when I read...
The number one question that kids ask me when I do school talks, more popular even than how much I earn or what colour my toothbrush is (true story, I get asked this!), is this one: Where do you get your ideas? When I tell them that ideas are all around us and that...
I'm over at The Creative Penn today, with a guest post about what writing for kids has taught me about writing. Joanna Penn is a New York Times bestselling author and one of the most influential voices in indie publishing today – and one of the most generous writers...
