Lynne and grandson Tailyn Pieters, 3 days old Some things in life never leave us. Our mother’s love for one. It is sealed within the...

Hey, I’m excited! As a writer, what can ChatGPT do for me? At our Helensvale Writers Group meeting in April, we participated in an...

Paradise Point, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia ‘Hope springs eternal!’ So said Alexander Pope in his 1734 poem ‘An Essay on Man.’ What...

'Dancers Tying Shoes,' Edgar Degas, 1883 It's not unusual to come across writers who paint and painters who write. I have close friends...

I took it for granted my father loved me. In my family we didn’t run around every day saying, “I love you.” He showed his love in the...

How many hundreds of practice dives did it take this champion diver to reach his peak level of performance? I can imagine him feeling...

In this article, I will discuss how self-publishing can be a productive route into securing a traditional publishing deal....

We write for many and various reasons. Often we have something inside us which is burning to be released. Some writers are natural...

In recent weeks, I attended an excellent workshop on self-editing for writers presented by a senior editor with a wealth of experience...

The more I edit, the more I realise a fundamental truth about editing. Most of the time, an author engages a professional editor only...

It crept up on me, I turned another page, and it leapt off the page. Every single one of the characters in the novel I am reading is sad....

At present I am reading an excellent book about self-editing for writers which contains many practical tips, techniques and examples...

How does one walk across an active minefield? Most people don’t rush across it hoping by some lucky chance to make it across with their...

At what age does our creativity end? This is one of those impossible ‘How long is a piece of string’ questions. It is not possible to...

In Part 1 of this article, we looked at some of the psychological and physiological reasons why we become 'stuck,” unable to move forward...

I feel sure that you have fallen in love once, twice, perhaps many times. Falling in love is a deliciously giddy experience. You feel...

Something knocks us a little sideways. Perhaps it is a series of things. You didn’t make the long list for the short story competition....

Unfortunately there are sharks circulating in the waters of the publishing industry. They thrive in the online world and their websites...

Ideas for writing. Where do they come from? The short answer is "everywhere." The primary place is they come out of conscious and...