I’m feeling invigorated at the moment by a range of different writing activities going on around me.

Last Thursday Tim Pegler and Leanne Hall were guests at the Ballarat Writers reading night. Both spoke fantastically about getting their work published for the first time, the act of writing and spent some time reading from their novels. I’m going to track down Leanne’s novel This is Shyness –  it sounds mysterious, a certainty to lose yourself in it. I was able to purchase Tim’s books and spent last night reading Game as Ned in it’s entirety. I can’t wait to get onto Five Parts Dead, his most recent novel. (I also found out that Tim grew up in the same small town that I did, which has motivated me – if he can write a novel so can I) Both Tim and Leanne are guests at the Ballarat Writers Festival in September.

Speaking of Ballarat Writers, my role as Publicity Officer has been keeping me busy and I’ve been working less and less on my novel. In an attempt to remedy that I have booked into two upcoming workshops.

The first is Chapter 1: Elements of Writing with Cath Crowley and Alison Arnold. I’m slightly nervous about this one because I have the chance to submit the first chapter of my novel prior to the session for feedback. With Cath Crowley nominated for the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards and Alison Arnold working for Text Publishing I want to submit something fantastic.  

The second is So you want to write a novel? with Jill Blee. This is an ongoing workshop over 4 months. I’ve just finished one of Jill’s novels and about to start reading the others. I’m looking forward to this because Jill is a historian as well as a novelist and I hoping that I can pick up some relevant facts for my novel while learning the craft.

(There are still places available for both workshops if you want to join me)