Words in Winter Residency Details

Times have been confirmed for the residency - hooray!

You can check out my times on the Appearances page, or here:

-Friday 8 June, 10am onwards
-Tuesday 12 June, 10am onwards

We are encouraged to turn up as often as we can, so I'll be there much more than just above: but you can be sure if you come during those times I'll be there!

How will we be reading in the future? Step into Future Bookshop at NGV Studio to find out!

Part art installation, part library and part interactive playground, Future Bookshop is a space for lovers of the written word. Bring a laptop, bring a smartphone, or just bring yourself and experience the ways we will be reading, writing, publishing and engaging with texts in the coming years.

Explore, ponder, read, write and imagine the future of books ...

Etiquette of Asking Questions at an Event

While at an event, there is possibly nothing as painful as having people ask stupid/irrelevant/a million questions.

Now, I know I'm not the only person this bothers as when I sit with like-minded friends we roll our eyes and sigh when people ask, yet again, those questions.

Questions you should never, ever ask authors/writers at an event:

How do I get published? Do you need an agent or should you go direct to publishers? What are your books about? Where do your ideas come from? How did you get published? I've just got a quick couple of questions... How do you send stuff to agents/publishers? Can you read my book? It's really good! Can I have your publisher's email address?

And so it goes. There are approximately 29485454892 more questions in this category that I haven't covered.

Here's why people like me don't appreciate those questions:

With the recent development of this thing called ...

EWF Town Hall Conference + Women of Letters

Town Hall Conference.

Number of proper meals eaten in the last two days: none.

Number of new friends made: too many to count.

Number of fantastic, informative, amazing sessions gone to: all of them.

Number of times I was told off for Tweeting in sessions: once.

But let's not dwell on the silly woman who told me off for Tweeting.

(I like how this came after the first session yesterday morning where nearly all the panellists agreed you have to be nice to everyone you meet as you never know who they are. Now I'm not saying I'm a *somebody* as I'm very clearly a *nobody* but I am a nobody with a Twitter account and it took approximately one minute for floods of Tweets to come in, supporting me and my Tweeting the festival (even one from EWF themselves saying they support Tweeting during events). ...

Emerging Writers’ Festival Town Hall Conference: Seven Enviable Lines

I thought the first panel of the Town Hall conference deserved a post of its own; the five festival ambassadors giving seven pieces of advice they wishes they had at the beginning of their careers.

All were interesting, engaging, funny in their own ways and above all else, had stellar advice.

My best bud Emily Maguire went first (I feel I can say that, given last night :P) and her seven tips were:

Make friends with writers A good editor is a gift People will confuse you with your characters – don’t take it personally Ignore critics Only write what you’re passionate about Writing full time may seem like The Dream but it might not take you a better writer: it may make you worse There is no one truth path

Christy Dena

There will be people that won’t get you and what you do, and that’s okay Mentoring people won’t necessarily make ...

The Emerging Writers’ Festival: Artists Party

We came, we saw, we talked, we drank and ate free food - as all good writers do.   Tonight was the Artists Party at the Emerging Writers' Festival, and the day started with promise: you know, torrential downpours, freezing gushes of wind, car windows so foggy you can barely see out of them and then you yell at get angry at ghost cars behind you who DON'T PUT THEIR DAMN LIGHTS ON and you can't see them and almost crash into them.   Yeah, the day was fun.   But the night was even better!   I prayed and prayed to the Rain Gods that it wouldn't rain as a) I didn't want to get my pretty dress or jacket wet and b) it's about a ten minute walk from where I parked my car (god bless free car parking, thank you father!) and that's a long ...

On Being A Workaholic

I read this fantastic article on Sarah Wilson's website yesterday.

It was about leaving work at 5.30pm and, you know, actually having a life.

Sarah starts by saying that Facebook's CFO Sheryl Sandberg Leaves Work at 5:30pm.

Which, one would think, is unheard of, especially given her role. And this current climate of being workaholics.

Sarah writes,

Why shouldn’t we work less hours? Evidence suggests we work smarter when our parameters are narrowed. The French have mandated reduced working hours. They like it. Four-day work weeks…I can vouch for them (I still take Thursdays off and get just as much done in a week).   I made the bold move of stepping away from the clock-in-clock-out system a while back and now set my own hours. It took me ages to get used to this idea and I still feel odd finishing at 6pm, when all my ...

Win: Whisper & Fated by Alyson Noël

Thanks to Pan Macmillan, I have not one but two Alyson Noël books to give away!

Hooray!

Whisper:

The fourth book in the moving and uplifting Riley Bloom series, exploring one girl's adventures in the afterlife – from the bestselling author of The Immortals.

Riley Bloom died, aged twelve, in a car crash with her parents and her beloved dog Buttercup. Her sister Ever survived – but that's another story. Riley must let go of Ever and all the things that tied her to life – and discover what she's meant to be in the afterlife. Riley is a soul catcher. That means helping the unhappy lost souls who stick around in the human realm to move on – and find their own place, over the bridge, in the great hereafter. With her spirit guide, Bodhi, and Buttercup by her side, Riley embarks on ...

Guest Post: Carole Wilkinson on Writing Dragons – Plus Win a copy of the latest Dragonkeeper Book!

Great to be a guest here at Literary Life. Thanks for hosting me, Megan. Today I am going to answer the question...

Why Write about Dragons?

I don't know. Why do some people play football? Why do others make patchwork quilts? It's what I like. They are beautiful to behold, and they have powers such as shape-shifting and humans have been telling stories about them for thousands of years. I haven't always been obsessed with dragons. It is a love that came to me as an adult when I wrote my first dragon story.

My First Dragon

I have to confess that my first dragon story wasn't my original idea. I stole it from my husband. It was a bedtime tale he had made up to tell our daughter [author Lili Wilkinson]. I developed the idea into a movie script and that first dragon ...

No more ‘Orange’ Prize for Fiction + Bookish Links + Bookish Night Out – All Welcome!

... and the Orange Prize for Fiction is no more.

The organisers of the Orange Prize for Fiction have announced that this year’s prize will be the last to be sponsored by the mobile telecommunications   brand Orange.

After a successful partnership of 17 years, during which time the Orange prize   has boosted the status of female novelists worldwide, Orange has decided   that in 2013 it will focus its sponsorship activities on film in the UK.

You can read the full article here.

This come as another blow to the industry after the Queensland government cut funding for the QLD Premier's Literary Awards - which have now been re-started by key industry folk as simply the Queensland Literary Awards.

In other bookish links:

As always, check out Read In A Single Sitting's links Don't burn out if you're self-employed on Yes and Yes Best Australian Book Design, 2012 on The ...

The Wrap: Sydney Writers’ Festival

I've been home for just under 24 hours, and it's all I can do to not jump on a plane and get right back there.

(Melbourne's seven degree temp may or may not be a factor in wanting this.)

I thought I might wrap up the festival, general comments and the such.

Over all: amazing. I could not have asked for a better festival.

You can check out all my photos here, on my Fan Page. As I'm not sure if that direct link will work, just check The Fan Page here!

The festival app was AMAZING and I was on it almost hourly. So easy to mark favourites, browse sessions and authors, find venue information. So easy to use. Just perfect. Melbourne Writers' Festival, take note! Bad: lots of sessions were free - which is good - but that meant lining up over an hour ...