Joanne Speirs goes from student to successful romance author

Joanne Speirs turned to writing to help her through some mentally and emotionally tough times. A friend urged her to “just write it all down” and so Joanne dove into poetry and recollections, using words to help her process her emotions. Next, she turned to blogging and started taking courses at the Australian Writers’ Centre, including Romance Writing, and worked on her first novel.

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How Alli Parker’s tweet resulted in her book deal

Alli was worried that she hadn’t written prose for over a decade, having been focused on screenplays. She decided to follow the novel writing path at the Australian Writers’ Centre, starting with Creative Writing Stage 1, then moving on to Novel Writing Essentials and capping it off with Write Your Novel.

“I wanted guidance, I wanted to learn and grow and be better so I could hone my craft and write a beautiful book to do justice to the story of my grandparents. The AWC had a range of courses, it was accessible and didn’t cost a fortune. I figured it was a good place to start.”

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Jo Dabrowski gets three book deals as a children’s author

“I’m great at imagining things! I should also say that I’ve imagined winning an Oscar, but I’m yet to imagine what category it would be in,” Jo told us. “The part I struggle with is believing I’m a published author. I still feel like someone has made a mistake somewhere and I’m about to be found out.”

But it is definitely not a mistake! Since completing Writing Picture Books at the Australian Writers’ Centre, Jo has published two picture books, which she also illustrated, and her middle grade novel Get Your Act Together, Doris Kozlowski, is out now with Affirm Press.

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Q&A: Is it anchors ‘away’ or ‘aweigh’?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, anchor management.. Q: Hi AWC,

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An author’s guide: Pitch yourself to a podcast

I love podcasts. I love creating them (as co-host of the Your Kid’s Next Read podcast) and I love appearing on them as an author. Podcasting feels more intimate than radio and allows for longer form discussions of your book, your writing process and the world in general. The other thing

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COMP CLOSED: ‘The Fraud’ by Zadie Smith

Based on real historic events, this week’s giveaway will make you question who and what can be relied on. We have three copies of The Fraud by Zadie Smith to give away. Here’s the blurb: ​​It is 1873. Mrs Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeeper – and cousin by marriage

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Joanne Speirs goes from student to successful romance author

Joanne Speirs turned to writing to help her through some mentally and emotionally tough times. A friend urged her to “just write it all down” and so Joanne dove into poetry and recollections, using words to help her process her emotions. Next, she turned to blogging and started taking courses at the Australian Writers’ Centre, including Romance Writing, and worked on her first novel.

Read More »

5 short stories to read right now to make you a better writer

Short stories are the perfect reading solution for our time-poor era. With an average word count of 2000-7000 words, a short story encapsulates everything readers love about storytelling – compelling characters, conflict, setting, theme and plot – in a compact form that packs a wallop. This means that, for writers,

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Q&A: The origin of the term ‘barber’

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we’re cutting remarks.. Q: Hi

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How Alli Parker’s tweet resulted in her book deal

Alli was worried that she hadn’t written prose for over a decade, having been focused on screenplays. She decided to follow the novel writing path at the Australian Writers’ Centre, starting with Creative Writing Stage 1, then moving on to Novel Writing Essentials and capping it off with Write Your Novel.

“I wanted guidance, I wanted to learn and grow and be better so I could hone my craft and write a beautiful book to do justice to the story of my grandparents. The AWC had a range of courses, it was accessible and didn’t cost a fortune. I figured it was a good place to start.”

Read More »

Furious Fiction: August 2023 Story Showcase

Welcome to the August Furious Fiction story showcase – a monthly ‘storytelling shop window’ of our community’s creativity and the opportunity to have YOUR OWN story featured or acknowledged. And this month, we dined out on the following criteria: Each story had to take place in a RESTAURANT. Each story

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Q&A: Why is it called a ‘grapefruit’?

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, we have grape expectations.. Q:

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Jo Dabrowski gets three book deals as a children’s author

“I’m great at imagining things! I should also say that I’ve imagined winning an Oscar, but I’m yet to imagine what category it would be in,” Jo told us. “The part I struggle with is believing I’m a published author. I still feel like someone has made a mistake somewhere and I’m about to be found out.”

But it is definitely not a mistake! Since completing Writing Picture Books at the Australian Writers’ Centre, Jo has published two picture books, which she also illustrated, and her middle grade novel Get Your Act Together, Doris Kozlowski, is out now with Affirm Press.

Read More »

COMP CLOSED: ‘Bad Summer People’ by Emma Rosenblum

Dreaming of summer holidays? This week’s giveaway will take you away on an island – but beware, not everyone is who you think they are. We have three copies of Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum to give away. Here’s the blurb: The families on the island have been vacationing

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