Book Review | Hook Your Readers by Tamar Sloan

Tamar Sloan is an Australian psychologist and author who has combined her talents to write this book. In it, she explains the importance of story to the human psyche (which Lisa Cron also addresses in Wired for Story), and discusses the key psychological components that make a book compelling. Sloan starts with the 1944 Heider …

Author Interview with Sally Hewitt

Welcome to the blog, Sally. Let’s start with five quick questions to get to know you:  Long black or flat white? Flat white, and only one a day, otherwise I’m jittery! Kiwis or koalas? Koalas. My first stuffed toy was a koala which is particularly unusual because I am English, growing up in the UK. …

Fiction Friday | Book Review of Her Tycoon Hero by Narelle Atkins

Today I am reviewing Her Tycoon Hero by Narelle Atkins  releasing today Cassie Beaumont believes in second chances Cassie is set on proving she’s no longer a party girl, instead focusing on her career as an event planner. Ryan Mitchell, her dad’s top executive, proves to be a handsome distraction, especially when someone from Cassie’s …

Winter Olympics Dream Comes to Life

Wow. It’s hard to believe this day is nearly here – the release of the very first book I ever wrote! Years before any of my historicals were published, I was watching the closing ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, when I noticed an Aussie female athlete holding hands with a North American male …

January: A blank page filled with potential

  For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning. (Little Gidding) T.E. Eliot New Year is a time when we reflect on the previous year and make resolutions or plans for the next. As a writer, I …

Create Through the Storm

In order to realize the worth of the anchor we need to feel the stress of the storm. Corrie Ten Boom Sometimes we writers want all our ducks lined up in a row–all the papers laid out in neat piles on our desk, all our family members occupied doing something else, the sun shining, and …

Fiction Friday | Book Review | Remind Me Why I’m Here by Kat Colmer

Remind Me Why I’m Here is a fun Australian Young Adult fish out of water story. Maya Sorenson of Chicago, Illinois, thinks she’s headed to Barangaroo in Sydney, Australia, famous for its harbourside views. Instead, she’s headed to a sheep farm in Barangaroo Creek, hours away from the Sydney beaches and cafes. To make things …

Write Like You Mean It

I’ve been learning a lot about myself lately and what I’ve found is that when I write in alignment with my true self, I get scared. If this doesn’t sound familiar you may want to stop reading and go on with your day. If this does sound familiar, then maybe we can try and work …

Book Review | Memphis Grace by Catriona McKeown

Today I’m reviewing Memphis Grace by Queensland YA author Catriona McKeown. About Memphis Grace Graceland was named after the King of Pop’s mansion by her Elvis- obsessed mum. But she’s not rich, not famous and definitely not noticeable. She’s always just been Mikaela’s best friend. That is, until Mikaela leaves school without explanation and Graceland …

Fiction Friday | Liana’s Dance by Rosanne Hawke

Rosanne Hawke is an award-winning Australian author, known for her young adult novels featuring young adults in difficult situations. Liana Bedford is half Australian and half Pakistani, and has spent most of her life in an international boarding school in the north of Pakistan while her parents work in the rural villages. She speaks the …