Monthly Archives: July 2009

PINK Concert – A Review

So last night I braved the rain and ventured to Rod Laver Arena to see Pink's Funhouse Tour.
On the train there, I saw Bridget from Neighbours, ie Eloise Mignon! It was all very exciting and I couldn't stop staring (I love Neighbours!) and I'm kicking myself I didn't notice her sitting across from me until I got up to get my friend, Amanda, who went to the concert with me. I would have said something but I didn't want to embarrass Amanda (who doesn't watch Neighbours).
Apart from the fact we got drenched, it was a very good night. P!nk was utterly amazing.
The costumes, the sets, the lighting (ever since I did lighting at my old theatre company I can appreicate it a lot more!), everything. Purely amazing.
Enjoy some happy snaps I took (I used my entire ...

Unputdownable: Dan Brown’s New—Oh Wait. No Sorry, Simon Kernick’s New Book

You may be surprised to know that Dan Brown didn't write the above book (which is good news for me, since I'd be rolling my eyes and sighing since I don't like Brown). Simon Kernick did, but, you can barely tell as Brown's name is splashed all over the cover, in a clearly poorly executed marketing trip.

I think that's abuse of Brown's name.

The most hilarious thing is that Brown hasn't even endorsed the book. And by endorsed, I mean write a sentence telling people how awesome it is. Such as Meg Cabot saying about Maureen Johnson's Suite Scarlett, "You'll never want to check out of Suite Scarlett!" That quote can be found on Maureen's blog, on the left hand side.

Authors often get other authors to write these for the cover jackets. If you are ...

Profanity! Shi- err I mean Dammit?

I'm a bit put off to be honest. Put off writing the post I was going to write. Because, while on Jennifer Weiner's (and don't tell me you don't know her. In Her Shoes anyone? Yeah. She wrote that.) Facebook page, I came across another blogger who has written about it, and, quite frankly, her post is probably better than whatever I could ever write.

So, in light of that, let's link to her page (and, her post where Jennifer responds to her), Jennifer's website (also her blog), the article outling everything, and a last quote from Jennifer, when her book, Best Friends Forever, made it to number one on the New York Times Best Seller List: "NO FUCKING WAY!"

Basic overview: Jennifer was doing an event at a bookstore who told her not use to profanity (which ...

Do You Have A Right To Write Whatever You Want? Featuring Taylor Swift

Ahhh, Taylor Swift. One of life's little pleasures (her songs I mean!!).

I myself have Taylor Swift and Fearless, and when she toured I went with a friend from high school.

What I wanted to specifically talk about was about the following mock interview she did for her head lining concert:

Hoda Kotb: I heard that when you write songs you include the names of the actual guys you've dated.


Taylor Swift: Yeah, I do.

Hoda Kotb: If you are naming the guys you dated in your songs, why do you think any guys going to want to date you?

Taylor Swift: I guess that in that situation, I just figure if guys don't want me to write bad songs about them they shouldn't do bad things.

Links plus Business Name Registered!

Hello everyone!

Yesterday my registry for my business name came. It's so exciting :D

Also yesterday I had tutoring for my girl in grade three. It was especially awesome as when I got there, her mother was beaming with pride as she said her daughter had something to show me. Turns out that she won an award for her handwriting and spelling - GO TEAM! I'm so proud of her. She was really proud of herself too. Hoorah!

The best news ever: over on Ask Daphne, Kate's done another Live Blog! YAY! For those of you who are not familiar with Ask Daphne and/or Live Blogs, it's basically Kate going through her inbox and writing down her responses to all the manuscripts. For example,

11. ...

News Snippets plus Publishometer!

News Snippets:

-I just found out today at a friend from school's father died. I sent him an email expressing my sympathies, and he wrote back saying that he had read my posts on Before I Die by Jenny Downham, and, from that, talked to his father while he was drifting off, as hearing is the last to go, and they can hear you talk. He thanked me for that. And that's just (a really sad) example of the power of books.

-Also, in other school-related news, a woman from the second year classes recently was signed to Allen & Unwin, after a bidding war between three publishers! Congratulations!

-Head on over to Post-Teen Trauma to see the first few paragraphs of Everything Beautiful: The Screenplay by the very awesome Simmone Howell. So brilliant! Who wants to ...

I have an ABN! HOORAH!

Well, hello everyone!

I've been a busy little bee today.

My ABN came! Hoorah! I've only been waiting months *narrows eyes at the government* but finally I have it.

Next step, I applied to register my business name ($85 later!), registered my domain name and went to the bank to enquire about business bank accounts. I've also signed up for some tax seminars at the tax office, and requested a bunch of reading material about tax and small businesses. I am set to start my life of freelance journalism!

Now, if only I could get enough clients to cover the expenses I've already incurred...

Currently I'm at The State Library, doing, yet again, Melbourne Writers Festival work. It's incredibly frustrating, more than half the information I need is going to cost ($190 and $500). It's ...

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!


Ahhhh, The Brady Bunch. One of the many television classics.

You would all remember Maureen McCormick as Marcia Brady - the perfect, popular eldest daughter of Carol. Pictured at left with middle girl, Jan (Eve Plumb).
But last year she wrote her autobiography, Here's The Story and today, on the way home from work, I finished re-reading it.
And it's fabulous! Gosh I love it. Her writing is so readable and flawless, a real insight to her life. Nothing was censored, including the contraversal admitting that she swapped sex for cocaine at one point. Yep, everything's on show.
And that's what makes it an amazing read. I really urge you to read it! You won't be let down.
Of course, there's the Brady behind-the-scenes. The making out within the cast, all the fights.

There's nothing really ...

Word Count

Ahhh the dreaded word count.... Unlike JK Rowling, if us aspiring authors hand in a one million word novel to a publishing house, they will laugh at us, and then tell us to get out.

So, how many words?

Thankfully, Jessica over at BookEnds has broached this very subject.

So, everybody - Word Counts!

First and foremost, what length should your book be? My answer is when in doubt think 80,000 words, give or take. I don’t think that you can ever go wrong with 80,000 words whether you’re writing mystery, romance, fantasy, literary fiction, or nonfiction. Okay, sure, it’s never going to work for children’s books or poetry, but since I don’t rep those it doesn’t matter (to me anyway). In fact, I think 80,000 words even works for YA. Sure, with some of ...

FREELANCE JOURNALIST INTERVIEW: BEN ELTHAM

FREELANCE JOURNALIST INTERVIEW: BEN ELTHAM
I met Ben Eltham at The Emerging Writers' Festival when he hosted an Umbrella event through Express Media on Pitching. He was fantastic - lively, interesting and had a wealth of knowledge he was willingly to share with us. And one of the best things was at the end when he passed around his email and encouraged us to email him.
You can read his work on Crikey, Artlink, Mess+Noise and The Courier-Mail. His page on New Matilda is certainly impressive!

He is a Melbourne-based writer who is the former editor of UQ student newspaper Semper Floreat. Ben is also a former Queensland Young Writer of the Year.

He recently answered the following questions for Literary Life.


1. What's the best thing about working freelance?

Definitely the ...