A few weeks ago I attended the Sydney Writers' Festival All-day YA. Last year I attended Boundless: a festival of diverse writers in Bankstown. Needless to say, my TBR list blew out of all reasonable proportions and I've been playing catch up ever since. Here is a round up of some of the OzYA I've… Continue reading Reading OzYA
Natasha Lester is one of the most generous authors in Australia. Her blog is inspiring and informative. It is this generosity, and a love of her travel updates on Facebook as she researches her novels, that inspired me to pick up Her Mother's Secret - as much as the beautiful cover and intriguing blurb! I… Continue reading Natasha Lester: Her Mother’s Secret and A Kiss From Mr Fitzgerald
Haddon hall is gorgeous and full of real and cinematic history. There is no rope or prescribed route. Minimal crowds. You meander your way through as you please. An oakpanelled room had an open fire and a musician playing twice during the day. A classical guitarist strummed to our visit, but I think they change… Continue reading Haddon Hall: for Jane Eyre and Princess Bride fans
If you're a Pride and Prejudice fan (guilty! Though Persuasion is my favourite Austen) then you'll likely be familiar with this question. Which makes for a better Pemberley? Luckily you don't have to answer it because you can visit both in person like my husband and I did. Or watch either as Pemberley. In the… Continue reading Chatsworth house or Lyme park?
Like Celaena Sardothien in Sarah J Maas' Throne of Glass series. Like Alanna or Keladry of Tamora Pierce's many novels set in Tortall. Like in Girls of the Wild's, the Korean manhwa webtoon series written by Hun and illustrated by Zhena (Kim Hye-jin). Like Sailor-moon. Like Mulan. Like Boudicca. Like Diana of the Hunt. Like… Continue reading I want to fight like a girl
A few months back, I read Catherine Gaskin's A Falcon for a Queen. It must have set a spark. When I saw the Cotswold's Falconry Centre on Google maps, I kept clicking through till I found a Flying Start for Two and signed my husband and I up. He's an adventurous sort and an easy… Continue reading Falconry – A day in the Cotswolds
Highly recommended. Find it here. When I finished this book, I wrapped my arms around my husband and cried a little. While I was reading it, I would often set it aside and curl myself up on his lap for a hug. A third of the way through, I had to set it aside for… Continue reading The Paper House by Anna Spargo-Ryan
I made it! My first comic con and literature convention. It was awesome! I loved it 🙂 My friend has a Back To The Future poster that was signed by almost all the stars. Tom Wilson who plays Biff was there and completed the set, except for Crispin Glover, who he reckons he is unlikely… Continue reading London Film and Comic Con and YALC
The Australian Writers' Centre Newsletter is one of the few I receive that I regularly read. They don't send it too often. The format is predictable and the quality is high. I almost always get a giggle out of it. It has fun quizzes. It tells me stuff I want to know. It also takes submissions… Continue reading Where I Write
What is in a good opening line? Is it worth agonising over weeks on end? Is it the first thing you write or the last? What makes you keep reading the second line, the third and so on? Can you fail the first line, but have a great first page, or first chapter? So many… Continue reading Opening Lines
