The Creative Life Podcast: Episode Thirty-One Today’s guest is Annabel Smith. She is the author of the digital interactive novel The Ark, US bestseller Whisky Charlie Foxtrot, and A New Map of the Universe, which was shortlisted for the WA Premier’s Book Awards. She was an inaugural Australia Council Creative Australia Fellow and holds a…
The Creative Life Podcast: Episode Thirty This episode’s guest is Kate Mildenhall. Her debut novel, Skylarking, is based on the true story of Kate and Harriet, best friends growing up on a remote Australian cape in the 1880s, and the tragic event that befalls them. Skylarking was named in Readings bookstore’s Top Ten Fiction Books of 2016…
This month is about finishing off books. I needed a few psychological ‘wins’ and moving titles from my Goodreads ‘currently reading’ to ‘read’ list usually provides a nice mood boost. (Tell me I’m not alone here.) This required my having to re-borrow these Twin Peaks titles (twice!) from the library, but I got there in…
The combination of school holidays and beginning to write a new book (excite!) has made me a little disoriented. In fact, I had a jolt of surprise when I took a look at the date – how are we almost halfway through July? How will All The Things get done? So to distract myself from…
This isn’t going to be my usual Living List goal after-the-fact recall. They are usually quite long because the experiences typically are, and there’s only so much I can write about a two-hour movie. What I will say is we were a little concerned it was going to happen at all as we drove towards the…
The Creative Life Podcast: Episode Twenty-Nine Patreon is an ongoing crowdfunding platform. It helps fans and supporters support their creative favourites while offering those artists a stable and user-friendly platform on which to facilitate this model of earning money while engaging with a fan base. A lot of artists are doing very well on it and there…
No, don’t worry. June isn’t almost over already. I know this post usually comes out at the end of the month, but I’ve moved it forward for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I have a lot of books on my pile at the moment and it’s helpful to stop and reflect on…
Photo, left to right: Speculate Director Joel Martin, Alison Goodman, Trudi Canavan, Jay Kristoff, Earl Livings I love a good literary festival. Without a doubt, they’ve helped me as a writer, especially in my early years. As I wrote in Trust the Process, “I quickly discovered how valuable festivals are for learning, socialising, networking and…
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo is a verse novel about a Harlem high school student, Xiomara, who is struggling with her faith, the Church and her mother – all while beginning to navigate the waters of first love. As one who’s struggled with my own issues with being brought up within Catholicism, I recognised…
