Mark the Days

I spend most New Year’s days reflecting on the past year and all the highs and lows. I begin to plan for the year ahead, marking significant days–birthdays, anniversaries, upcoming events, work commitments holidays, travel–the knowns. I also plan for adventure, but to be honest, with 2020 and 2021 and some of 2022 being so …

Adding Front and Back Matter to Give Our Readers More

When we create a novel for our readers to enjoy, we might start with the first sentence of chapter one, but we shouldn’t consider it finished when we type “The End” after the last sentence of the story. It’s time to write the front and back matter to give our readers more. We can add …

Narrated by the Author: Five questions to ask yourself before you record your own audiobook

Audiobooks are big business. According to some they are ‘the new reading’. Whether or not they are going to take over from traditional written books remains to be seen. But the trajectory of growth is undeniable, with the Audio Publishers Association recently revealing double digit growth in audiobook sales for the tenth year running. Some …

Writers Life | Ferreting the Facts – Approaching Strangers

Does your writing require you to interview people? Or to be interviewed?People you know or people you don’t know?Do you enjoy it, feel intimidated by it …or what? As a fairly timid person, I was initially quite daunted by the idea of sitting down with someone I barely knew – or had never previously met …

Help! Where should I spend my time at my stage in the writing journey?

Writing and publishing books is a huge learning curve. It’s not helped by the multitude of voices telling us what we need to do: from writing more books, to advertising, to building your newsletter subscribers, to … many more things. Sometimes we want to curl up in a ball and forget the whole thing. The …

Writers Life | Where Do Stories Come From?

St Cuthbert from Durham Cathedral Ever wondered where stories come from? Durham Cathedral My first visit to Durham Cathedral was an overwhelming experience. High atop a rocky plateau that is one of the most ancient places of worship in England, the early Norman cathedral rises at one side of the green, with William the Conqueror’s …

Writers Life | My Research Trip to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

The second week of July,  2019, I had the pleasure of flying north to Churchill, Manitoba, where I set my debut novel Northern Deception. Churchill is a small town on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly 68 miles from the Manitoba-Nunavut border. It sits on the edge of the boreal forest as the land …

We Don’t Create In Isolation

There is something mysterious about the art of creating. The project you embark on goes from a wisp of a thought that’s been sitting in the deep caverns of your mind, to a tangible idea which takes shape and forms into something so other people can touch, taste, see, hear, read and admire. It’s quite …

Author Interview | Introducing Josephine-Anne Griffiths

It’s time for another author interview here at Australasian Christian Writers. Today we’re chatting life, location, and writing with the lovely Josephine-Anne Griffiths. Fast Five Long black or flat white? Usually a flat white, however, I do occasionally enjoy a mug of cappuccino, half-strength with a dash of caramel. Kiwis or Koalas? As cute as …