For Adults

From Slush-pile to Signing a Contract: How I secured a two-book publishing deal – Part Two

Firstly, apologies for spreading this story over two parts, but it’s a fairly long, and hopefully not too boring, tale. I generally love reading other author’s publication tales, because they are little glimmers of hope in what can sometimes feel like a fairly futile activity. Though, it must be said, publication is not the sole

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Keeping a Writer’s Journal: Thoughts on ‘Everywhere I Look’ by Helen Garner

I am a terrible diary-keeper, a fact which troubles me, mostly because every writing book I’ve ever read suggests the keeping of a diary as being fairly essential to one’s writing process. And I can see the point. If the aim of fiction writing is to capture a sense of emotional truth around made-up events,

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Why There’s Never Been a Better Time to be a Writing Mother: Thoughts on ‘The Golden Child’ and ‘Crazy, Busy, Guilty’

When I think about my life BC (before children) I feel slightly ill. All those idle hours! BC, my weekends consisted of little more than reading the newspaper, doing a little exercise, maybe going for dinner. Yes, it was lovely. But my life outside of work was also extremely unproductive. BC, I could have busted-out

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Meet Vanessa Carnevale, author of ‘The Florentine Bridge’

One of the best things about getting involved in the online writing community is the lovely people you meet – and Vanessa Carnevale is one of the loveliest. What first put Vanessa on my radar was her excellent podcast – Your Creative Life – which is a must-listen for any aspiring writer. Then, earlier this

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Meet Sunni Overend, author of ‘The Dangers of Truffle Hunting’

Well, this is a Book Birdy first! Sunni Overend is the first writer to be featured twice on the blog, which I think is testament to the fascinating nature of her personal writing story and also her fabulous books, which are a really fresh take on contemporary women’s fiction. Sunni first came on my radar

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Who owns the story? Thoughts on ‘Small Great Things’ by Jodi Picoult

If you want to get to the really interesting part of Small Great Things, you need to turn to page 459. That’s not to say the preceding 458 aren’t great. They are. You don’t get to be a globally best selling author without the writing chops and Picoult has them in spades. Small Great Things

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