The Sydney Writers’ Festival was launched last night at the Sydney Theatre in Walsh Bay, with a captivating opening address by renowned storyteller Daniel Morden.

This year’s festival is Artistic Director Jemma Birrell’s first. Jemma has returned to Sydney after seven years living in Paris and curating the literary program for the famous Shakespeare’s Bookshop on the left bank. If the opening address is any indication of what her first Sydney Writers’ Festival will bring, it promises to be a fascinating and engaging program.

As this year’s slogan, “Have we got a story for you” suggests, the theme for the festival is storytelling. As NSW Minister for the Arts George Souris mentioned in his speech, it celebrates “the beauty and simplicity of a good story”. Jemma hopes to show audiences how “stories light the heat of our lives” and, through a program full of performance, poetry, song, and narrative, wants us all to “celebrate the simplicity of a great tale.”

So who better to open the festival than UK storyteller, Daniel Morden. Since 1989 Daniel has travelled the world, telling the tales of his native Wales as well as traditional fairy tales, riddles, nursery tales and myths. His stories have been collected from all over the world, and last night he told just a few from Wales, Haiti, and Liberia.

A good storyteller combines the skills of the actor, comedian and narrator, and Daniel certainly displayed all of these. His audience was mesmerised by the story of Jimmy, a man who knew no stories and could never remember the ones told to him. It would be impossible for me to recount the story here with the passion, humour and pathos that Daniel did. (You can hear Daniel recite Truth and Story here, and read an excerpt from last night’s address here.)

Daniel spoke passionately (sometimes at break-neck speed) about the power of storytelling. He said stories “give form to the formless, our understanding of life emerges through story.” His own need to tell stories he described as a medical condition rather than a career or vocation. When he finds a story, he tells it and retells it, constantly reshaping it so that every telling is subtly different. In fact, he maintains that there are no new stories, “only old stories in new clothes.”

Daniel was a story-lover long before he became a storyteller. He came to love stories because of the possibilities they offered – why live one life when you can live a thousand? As he explained, stories give us a chance to see the world through different eyes and are “the essence of compassion and the beginning of morality”. How can we ever empathise or imagine another person’s situation if we’ve never heard or read stories?

Undoubtedly, nobody in last night’s audience needed convincing of the power of stories to enhance and enrich our lives. And we surely need no encouragement to “celebrate the mythos”, as many of us will over the next few days at the festival.

You can read the full Sydney Writers’ Festival program here.

Hannah Richell

Hannah Richell is in a unique position as an author. Having worked as a marketer for a number of publishers including Hachette in her native Britain, she is well acquainted with what will sell in the marketplace. Even so, she was nervous about becoming an author herself until a move to Australia in 2005 sparked a desire to write.

She has now written two books, Secrets of the Tides, and her latest The Shadow Year, both of which were came together in between looking after two active children. We asked her where she gets her inspiration from, how she found writing a second novel and her advice for aspiring authors.

a) What did you do before deciding a writer’s life was the one for you? And was writing a part of your life then?
Before I started to write, I worked in publishing and film. I worked my way up from the position of PA to Head of Marketing at a leading London publishing house. I often wrote shoutlines and jacket blurbs but the only other writing I was doing at this time was scribbling in my sporadic diary. When I arrived in Sydney in 2005 I began working for Universal Pictures, marketing their feature film list. Compared to book publishing, I found everything in the film world to be much more tightly controlled – movie campaigns and creatives were dictated to us by the studio. I started to feel very frustrated in the role, which seemed to be far more about hitting budgets and selling units than the art itself, and I wonder now if that’s where the itch to create something of my own first began.

(b) What was it about your son’s birth that inspired you to try your hand at writing the novel that became Secrets of the Tides?
It sounds ridiculous, but it was the first moment in a long while that I felt as though I had ‘time’ on my hands to try. Compared to the relentless and often creatively draining 9-5 of office life, maternity leave provided me with a new and fluid routine. It was very unexpected but I found that when my son napped, I could use a spare hour here or there to write. I’m sure there were other things I was supposed to be doing, but once I’d started writing I couldn’t stop.

Likewise, the arrival of my son helped me with the themes of the novel. Becoming a mum was, for me, a time of great joy and love, but also a time of great vulnerability and fear. I could see how everything I held dear could be stolen in the twist of a moment. I began to see how fragile families could be, and this was my starting point for Secrets of the Tides.

(c) Was it a challenge having to shoehorn your creative outpourings to set, sometimes unpredictable, times?
It wasn’t the ideal way to write a book, I suppose, but on the other hand it did make me knuckle down. The lack of time meant there was no opportunity for procrastination. I grabbed every moment that came my way.

(d) Was writing your second novel, The Shadow Year, as challenging as second novels are reputed to be, or did you avoid the sophomore curse?
It was a huge challenge and for a while I felt daunted by the idea of writing a second novel. It wasn’t so much the thought of external expectation that daunted me, but more the self-doubt that I could write another book to a publisher’s deadline. Having worked in the industry, I knew the negative impact it could have when an author missed their deadline and a title had to be moved in the schedule. I knew it would be to my benefit as a new writer if I could hit my publication slot, but I also wanted to produce the best work possible. For a while, I threw myself wholeheartedly into a story. I got a long way into it before getting tangled up in knots. I was anxious about it. I wasn’t enjoying writing it as much as I had Secrets of the Tides. I knew something was wrong, but I couldn’t figure out what.

Fortunately, at almost the same time, the idea for The Shadow Year came to me, just a scene at first, but it quickly evolved into a more fully formed story. It was a leap of faith to put the first draft I’d labored over to one side but I’m so glad I did. Once I’d settled on the plot and structure, I knuckled down and just wrote. It was like riding a wave. I don’t think I could have got off even if I’d wanted to.

(e) Where do your ideas come from, how do you keep track of them and how many of them make their way into your novels?
I don’t know where the ideas come from. I think both my novels have, in a way, grown from a setting. The Shadow Year, in particular, first came to me as an abandoned cottage beside a lake. It was in thinking about who might have lived there that the story began to form. From there it’s really a leap into the unknown, a matter of remaining open to the characters forming and growing and telling you their story and following the ideas and the plot twists as they happen. When the ideas come – often at the most inopportune times – it’s just a case of jotting them down before they are forgotten again. I have scraps of paper and notebooks and old bills littered with scribbles hidden all over the place. Sometimes, if I’m writing really fast, I just type the ideas into the manuscript, jotting them down in a very rudimentary form on the next blank page so that I can come back to them later.

(f) Have you found your blog instrumental in marketing your book and getting in touch with your readers? Do you use any other social media platforms as part of your “author platform”?
I don’t think my blog has been particularly instrumental in marketing my work to date. My publishers have far greater power there; but I do like to keep it going. For me, it’s almost like keeping a diary; it’s a record of all the interesting things happening at the moment, as well as my intermittent thoughts about writing and books and the things that inspire me along the way. I keep it going more as a landing page for anyone who’s found my work and is interested to find out a little more about me. I also have a Facebook page and a twitter feed.

I find social media a great way of connecting with readers and booksellers and other writers, but it can also be a terrible distraction – and some days, when insecurity strikes, it can make me feel as though the world is conversing around me and I’m just sitting on the sidelines spectating. On days like that I find it’s best to disconnect for a while and go back to what I love best: the writing.

(g) What is a typical writing day for you now like?
At the moment I’m a little distracted with promoting The Shadow Year. In a few weeks, however, I will pull myself away from all of that and throw myself into the new novel. I’ll bundle the kids off to school and childcare, then head down the hill to a writing space I’ve just found not too far from where I live (a quiet room with a garden view and a lockable door!). There, I will just get my head down and get on with it. There’s no other way. If the words don’t come easily then I go for a walk or sit in a café with a book … then try again the next day.

(h) What’s your advice for aspiring writers, especially those looking to get published?
Read a lot. Write a lot. Delete a lot. I think the most important thing (and this is easy for me to say now that I’m published) is not to write to get published. You have to write the story you are itching to tell. You have to write it for the love of writing, not for a market, or an agent, or a publisher, or a hot new trend … because those things are always shifting and moving faster than any writer can keep up with.

The only constant will be your love of the craft and there’s a whole lot of work that must happen from writing that very first sentence to seeing your book on a bookshelf. You can worry about the pitch and the positioning and the agents and the market when you have a manuscript that you believe truly shines.

* We interviewed Hannah Richell at the Sydney Writers’ Festival last year and you can see the interview below.

Peter Baines life changed irrevocably when a stint in Thailand in 2005, following the devastating tsunami of the previous year, led to him to leave the NSW Police force after a 22 year career and establish the charity Hands Across the Water to look after the many orphans left behind by the natural disaster.

Now Peter has put pen to paper and recounted this life-changing journey in the book Hands Across the Water (Macmillan, $34.99) and we asked him, among other things, what it was like channelling these experiences into a book and what he hoped it would achieve.

Please give us an idea of your life prior to establishing Hands Across the Water in 2004?
Prior to the events of 2004, I was working as a Detective Inspector with the Forensic Services Group of the NSW Police. My working life was fairly routine, well routine for that of someone in my job. I would receive phone calls at all hours of the night advising me of the serious and heinous crimes that had been committed and from there I would oversee the forensic response on a state wide level. I was responsible for the deployment of forensic services across the state in response to serious and major crime and managing the welfare of our teams who deployed to these events. Apart from that it was the boring meetings that filled my day, just like everyone else who is in a management role.

Did you have an interest in any form of charity work before your work dealing with the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami or was that period a watershed moment for you?
Prior to 2004 my charity work consisted of working from a food van in Sydney every Tuesday night feeding the homeless who would come and line up to receive their only hot and nourishing meal of the day. I did this for a couple of years and then towards the end of my time there I was attending mainly because of the friendships that I had formed with the other volunteers to be honest. After 2004, I stopped going to the food van as I felt I was doing enough with Hands and that just continued to demand more and more of my time. Even the events of 2004 didn’t provide that “watershed” moment that might appear as was the case. It just seemed the right thing to do and was an easy decision without a lot of forethought.

The real watershed moment came when I attended the opening of the orphanage in 2007. Driving away I thought to myself “well that is great but what now for the kids?” It was this realisation that providing them a home was of use, but in no way did it go close to answering all their questions. That afternoon as I drove away from the orphanage was the closest thing to a watershed moment, when I realised I was committed to the long term future of the kids I had just spent the day with.

Peter Baines

How has being involved in the charity changed your life? What have been the most challenging and rewarding aspects of working to change the life of the children under your care?
I often say that the only thing that resembles my life to what it was pre Boxing Day 2004 is that I have three kids. There is nothing, nothing that remains the same as what it was. After 22 years within the NSW Police I resigned from a career in which I had invested so much. I had completed both science and law studies at University to further my career within the police, I had been promoted often and quickly, yet in 2009, I walked away from all of that. My marriage broke down in between my tours of Thailand in 2005 and there certainly was a point in time when I was lost and at rock bottom. Reflecting, I guess the work I did in setting up Hands become therapeutic for me.

The challenges of the work that I do have changed over time as has the rewards. The challenge in the early days was getting enough people to believe in me and what I was doing. It was easy to be sceptical, it was easy to question my intent when I talked about building a home for the kids. Building the momentum to support the dreams I had for these kids was difficult in those first couple of years. Once the momentum started to build then it become the challenge of seeing kids die when I knew that could be prevented. I would visit the HIV orphanage and when I left I would be kept awake at night knowing that some of the kids I had held in my arms during that visit would not be there next time I returned, they would have passed away.

Now the challenges are around meeting the increasing opportunities and requests for help that come my way. I know that we can’t help everyone, but I find it hard to say no when those asking deserve our help just as much. The rewards for me upon reflection have remained pretty much the same in context. It’s about the experiences we bring to those who are part of Hands, be it the kids whose lives have been irreversibly changed or our supporters who themselves have had life changing experiences.

Was committing the story to paper a challenge or did relating your story come relatively easily?
It was almost embarrassingly easy and come about in a very short period of time. I have sympathy for those who labour away for weeks, months on end to get a book into print. My book was made easy to write as I was just recounting experiences that I had been part of. It didn’t take endless amounts of research, I didn’t need to develop models or theories, I just wrote what I had seen and done. Easy!

What was the actual process of writing the book like? Did you have a set routine? Did you collaborate with others?
After hearing the process many others have gone through, it is almost wrong to admit to my process. I had secured a contract and had six months or thereabouts to write the book. I kept planning on setting aside time to write it, but work and other activities kept getting in the way. It got to early December and I had a deadline of the 31st of that month and there was very little on paper. I had a couple of chapters written which were used to secure the contract but apart from that the stories lived in my head. Come early December I took myself off to my Dad’s place on the far north coast of NSW and set about writing the book.

I arrived with two things, my laptop and instructions for dad. Feed me when I was hungry and leave me alone for the rest of the time. I basically started typing the afternoon I arrived and continued until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. I went to bed around 3am and slept till 8ish and then woke and repeated the process day after day till the book was written. Six days after arriving at Dad’s, I got back into my car and drove back to Sydney with a book written. The only person I collaborated with was the editor. The best thing the editor offered was to continually ask me questions such as “How did you feel when this occurred?” Her questioning took the book from an account to a story with feelings and for that I am very grateful.

Peter Barnes and two of the children who have been given a new lease on life by his charity Hands Across the Water

What do you hope people will take away from reading the book?
The purpose of writing the book was very clear for me and that was to share the story of Hands and what we are doing with an audience I never would have reached otherwise. I am very clear in the knowledge that the more people who know, hear about Hands the more support we will receive and the greater change we can bring about for the kids in Thailand.

Do you think there are more stories left to tell? Are you planning any more books?
One of the hardest things in writing the book was when was the appropriate time to stop. When did you cut the stories off? So from that perspective I have no doubt there is more to tell. Yes I often think about what the next book will be and for me I think it will be about the value of experiences and how we can create so much more engagement in our organisations, social ventures and families by creating shared experiences. Shared experiences is the one thing I obsess about right now and that feels like something I would like to share via the next book.

Bianca Nogrady

Bianca Nogrady, who freely confesses she “is yet to meet a piece of research she doesn’t find fascinating”, is a freelance writer who has contributed to publications and sites as diverse as Scientific American, The Australian, and the ABC’s health, science and environment websites.

She is also the co-author of The Sixth Wave: How To Succeed In A Resource-Limited World with James Bradfield Moody and has just released her latest book, The End, which examines our understanding of death in an effort to demystify one of our society’s last great taboo subjects.

A graduate of the Australian Writers’ Centre, we asked her about where her love of all things scientific came from, how she managed to turn that fascination into a writing career and what prompted her to write a book about the sort of subject most people shun …

When did you first realise you were fascinated by the world and everything in it?
I was born a fully-fledged nerd. As a child, I would fill my pockets with interesting rocks until my seams burst and of course, David Attenborough was, is and always will be, my personal god.

I’m just a curious, nosy type – if I was a cat, I’d have burned through my nine lives long ago. But it’s also just an innate sense of wonder that things work the way they do. I’ve never met a piece of research or a science story that I didn’t have a, “wow, that’s cool” moment over.

At what point did it dawn on you that you could make a career out of your pursuit of knowledge?
I was editor of the student newspaper Woroni at the ANU, working with a wonderful group of crazy shit-stirrers, and I pompously decided to create a column where I would write about science. I assumed everyone else would be equally fascinated – in hindsight, I doubt anyone gave it a second glance – but it made me realise there was a career path that combined science with writing. It was love at first work experience – thanks to Simon Grose at The Canberra Times – and I never looked back.

Has freelancing proven to be the perfect way to make what you love doing a career?
I still can’t believe how lucky I am to not only have combined writing and science in a successful career, but to be doing so from home, in an office that looks out over the beautiful Blue Mountains. Freelancing has been the icing on the cake, enabling me to work for myself, in my own space, to be at home with my husband and kids and best of all, to be able to wear red ugg boots whilst doing so.

What has been the most challenging aspect of being a freelancer?
Saying ‘no’ to work. And those occasional terrifying weeks when I suddenly have no work and I panic that we’re all destined for the poorhouse. It’s either droughts or flooding rains.

What has been the most rewarding aspect of being a freelancer?
I love writing for such a diverse range of publications, from industry publications to international science magazines, and about such a variety of topics, and also working with a range of editors.

Where did the inspiration for The End come from?
I was with my Nan about half an hour before she died. She was unconscious at this stage, and I knew she was very close to death. Afterwards, I had all these questions – questions that I suspect everyone in that situations asks: Could she hear me? Did she know my cousins and I were there? Was she in pain?

So The End partly started as my attempt to find answers to those questions, and to answer the big question, “what is death like?”

But it was also inspired by conversations with two friends, one of whom had nursed her mother until her death from cancer and the other who had been with her grandmother when she died. These friends shared their experiences with me and that sharing was so profound and moving and extraordinary that I began to wonder why we don’t talk about death more.

We talk about and prepare for and write about birth exhaustively. Death is just the other book-end of life, and three-quarters of us will see our death coming from a long way off. So why do we shove our heads in the sand?
I believe that by shutting death away, by not talking about it and by pretending it will never happen, we are missing an amazing opportunity, not just to influence the kind of death we have, but also to share in this fundamental human experience.

What did you seek out to achieve by writing the book?
I think of The End as my attempt to bring death out of the closet. I wanted to shed some light on a dark, fearful, taboo subject. I want to encourage people to talk about it, not just in terms of preparing for it, but to share their experiences and their thoughts and their fears.

Dying and death can enable things to be said and done that might otherwise never happen. One book I read when I was wrestling with my Nan’s illness talked about finding the gift in these experiences we have of death and dying. It took me a long time to find it with Nan’s death but I have now come to appreciate how precious that time was with her towards the end. There was an honesty, a simplicity and purity of communication that we rarely get with people – just being able to sit with someone, hold their hand, and tell them what they mean to you.
Also, confronting our fear of death can help us work out exactly what we’re afraid of, and do something about it. Afraid of ending up in intensive care on a ventilator until you die? Look into advance directives. Afraid of pain and suffering? Learn about the wonderful things palliative care can do. Afraid of things of things left unsaid or not done? Say and do them now, while you can.

Was it a challenge making a book about a taboo topic like death readable and accessible?
Strangely not, and I have the hundred or so amazing interviewees to thank for that. So many people shared their personal and professional experiences of death; experiences that were often still raw and painful. I was just the weaver, bring all those strands together to create what I hope is a rich, fascinating and informative tapestry.

What do you love most about writing?
That moment when the story crystallises in my brain out of the swirling brew of facts, angles and comments; when I find my lead sentence or paragraph, and suddenly it all falls into place from there and flows out onto the page. Of course, it doesn’t always happen like that – sometimes it’s like herding maddened cats and every word is forced out through gritted teeth.

What do you have planned next, both freelancing and book-wise?
Book-wise, I’m taking a leap into the great unknown of fiction. I’m half-way through a science fiction novel which I’m planning to finish by the end of the year and then start what I’m assuming will be the long, torturous and demoralising journey of trying to find a publisher. Writing fiction is the hardest writing I have ever done – way more challenging than non-fiction – but so much fun, especially when I’ve got a female lead character who gets to say and do all those wicked things I would never get away with.

Freelancing-wise, it’s all burbling along happily, although I’m looking forward to covering some interesting conferences this year and as always, wondering what enthralling studies and scientists are just around the corner.

* You can find out more about Bianca at her site, biancanogrady.com.

Tim Gooding

When did you decide you wanted to be a screen writer & what inspired you?
I was inspired to write for performance listening to country radio. Which probably dates me. My first scripts were written for a small tape recorder.and performed by several cousins. I moved on to write for the stage, completing several produced plays before progressing to screenwriting. The move to the screen was inspired by its different creative possibilities, the wider audience, and the greater possibility of making a living. I still write for all three media. A broad palette is the key to survival in a small market.

Which writers or films have inspired you?
Starting out, I was inspired by Spike Milligan, the Monty Python crew, and Shakespeare. My most inspirational writer today is UK dramatist Jimmy McGovern. And Shakespeare, still.

Shakespeare remains a source of inspiration for Tim.

What’s the best time of day for you to write? Do you have a daily writing routine?
I prefer to work in daylight hours. Every weekday, starting once my son has left for school, finishing when he gets home. And on weekends when the family is otherwise occupied.

What do you love about teaching screenwriting?
I love teaching because of:
(i) the social aspect. Very different to the solitary nature of writing;
(ii) the passing on of craft is important. And socially undervalued, in my opinion.
(iii) more than ever the local screen industry needs fresh writers with fresh ideas and the craft skills to convert ideas into stories.

What appeals to you about writing for screen? Why this over fiction? 
I don’t really prefer screenwriting to literary fiction. Rather I was influenced to write for performance early on and just carried on from there. However I have recently completed my first novel and, publisher willing, intend to write more. Reading (not scripts!) is my favourite occupation..

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?
Best advice: Apply bum to seat.

If you’re an author looking for exciting new mediums in which to distribute your work then this is the opportunity for you. Bloomsbury publishing is launching a digital imprint called Bloomsbury Spark, a publishing platform dedicated to producing an expansive range of fiction eBooks to teen, young adults and new adult readers.

If you have a manuscript between 25,000 and 60,000 words long that targets readers age 14+ then send it to them at the following email address: BloomsburySparkAUS@bloomsbury.com

Genres that will be featured on the new imprint include romance, contemporary, dystopian, paranormal, sci-fi, mystery and thriller.

You can find more information on this opportunity here.

Allison Rushby

Allison Rushby, recently arrived back from a stint living in the UK, is a successful author who has written a number of books including How To Date a Millionaire, Friday Night Cocktails, and the upcoming e-serial The Heiresses.

Active mostly in the genre of Women’s Fiction, she has also written a travel memoir, Keep Calm and Carry Vegemite, for which the skills she gained studying the Australian Writers’ Centre‘s Travel Memoir course would have come in handy, and is currently writing some Young Adult fiction.

With the release of her newest book The Heiresses just around the corner, we thought it would be a great idea to sit down with her and ask her about her craft, what she makes of the new digital publishing age, and the inspiration for her latest book.

(A) While your new book The Heiresses is a physical book released with Macmillan imprint St. Martin’s Press, a previous book, Keep Calm and Carry Vegemite, was published as e-book only with Momentum Books. How did you find the process of going digital for that book?

Keep Calm and Carry Vegemite was a bit of a departure for me – a memoir of my family’s year spent living in England, when my previous publishing history was almost entirely fiction. Because of this departure, and because I’d been sharing our journey online while we lived overseas, via Twitter and Facebook and blogging, choosing a digital-only option for the book simply made sense.

Also, it meant that I could easily reach a wider audience. The book would be readily available in many territories with a minimum of fuss. The price ($2.99), was also very appealing. With no platform in the area of non-fiction, I simply couldn’t see people shelling out almost $30 to read my memoir in paperback form. I did have a print offer for the book from another publisher, which was very tempting, but in the end the digital-only option simply made more sense.

(B) What are the pros and cons of print vs digital?
I think there are several pros when it comes to choosing to publish digital-only. First and foremost, there is the price – there’s no denying buying a book for $2.99 is far more appealing than buying the same book for $29.95. And, as I mentioned before, being able to reach several territories immediately (rather than having your rights shopped around overseas and so on) is also beneficial.

Another benefit is the fact that your book has a longer ‘shelf life’ – a much, much longer window of time in which you have the opportunity to sell your book. There are many benefits to opting for print as well, especially in Australia, where many more printed books are still sold compared to digital. And then, of course, there’s the fact that the general public tend not to think your book is ‘real’ unless they can walk into the local bookstore and buy it!

Allison on the day she and her family crashed the village in Oxfordshire where they were shooting Downton Abbey

(C) Do you prefer one over the other?
Actually, no. At this point, I like to evaluate each project I take on and look at what will suit the book, and my career, best. I’m enjoying being a hybrid author!

(D) Any plans to go down the digital only path again?
It’s a definite possibility. Especially now that I’m writing New Adult, which has such a digital focus, with so many self-published and also digital-only bestsellers.

(E) What inspired The Heiresses? Does the novel reflect a particular area of interest for you?
This is extremely embarrassing, but I think the inspiration came from watching a Dr Phil show, years ago. I can’t say too much as it will spoil the plot completely, but I saw a segment that involved a family and their genetic background and asked my husband (a medical specialist) about it all that evening. This led me to wondering how this family’s scenario might have played out if genetic testing was not available to them, which is the case in The Heiresses, set in 1920s London. The 1920s is definitely an area of interest of mine. My favourite author is P.G. Wodehouse. So much so that for Christmas I received the five book The Jeeves Omnibus set because I’d worn my old five book set out! Some other favourites are Stella Gibbons and anything at all Mitford.

(F) What is behind the decision to issue The Heiresses serials as ‘e-serials’?
I’m not exactly sure how the idea originated, but my agent emailed me in August 2010 to tell me that St Martin’s Press was looking for original fiction that could be serialized. When I got the email I happened to be visiting Jane Austen’s house and I’m sure she provided inspiration, because I ran off and furiously started jotting down notes. It was an intriguing proposition and, I also thought, a timely one. Almost everyone I knew had given up on normal TV and was watching series after series, often devouring two or more episodes of a series per night. The Heiresses ended up being contracted from only a short writing sample and a series guide. I wrote it very quickly, in under nine months (altogether, it’s roughly 120,000 words) and had an absolute ball doing so.

Allison trying her hand at cider making at a cider making party in the UK

(G) Are you eager to explore more emerging forms of publishing?
I wouldn’t say no! At the end of the day, it all comes back to story. It’s only the method of delivering that story to the reader that’s different.

(H) What’s a typical writing day look like for you?
I’m either writing or not writing (I’m not a big believer in the ‘you must write every day’ rule). When I’m writing, I’ll usually have a word count, I’d like to achieve – generally somewhere around 1500 words, as I also need time to read over my work from the day before and plan the next day’s writing as well). If I’m not writing, I’ll either be editing, planning or researching a new book or trying to empty out my In box and get through my email. Oh, and I always seem to manage a lot of Twitter and Facebook and Etsy breaks.

(I) What advice would you give aspiring authors looking to get published?
Don’t get hung up on that first manuscript. Finish it. Polish it. And then write the next one. So many writers I see hang on to that first manuscript for far too long (I know I did). And really, really don’t get hung up on worrying about platform. You don’t have to have a website, or a blog, or a huge Twitter following to sell a book. A very simple web presence is good, but that’s all you need and if your manuscript is fantastic enough, you don’t even need that. When it comes to publishing, the only thing you can control is the writing, which is where your attention needs to be focussed.

(J) And finally what’s in the works? Any exciting upcoming projects?
I’ve just finished a contemporary New Adult novel that I’m very excited about. The story revolves around a charismatic modern artist and a young woman who becomes his muse. It’s set in Paris, London and New York.

* If you’d like to find out more about Allison, you can visit her website AllisonRushby.com.

The Australian Writers’ Centre today announced Sneh Roy, Sydney-based food blogger, as national Winner of the annual Best Australian Blogs Competition.

Roy’s blog, Cook Republic, scored the highest out of five category winners. These winners were also announced today. The category winners are:

• Lifestyle/Hobby (408 entries): Cook Republic by Sneh Roy, NSW

• Commentary (119 entries): AusVotes2013, edited Paula Matthewson, ACT

• Personal/Parenting (350 entries): Reservoir Dad by Clint Greagen, VIC

• Words and Writing (161 entries): Read in a Single Sitting by Stephanie Campisi, VIC

 • Business (84 entries): ABN herBusiness edited by Suzi Dafnis, NSW

 The People’s Choice Round winner is Chris Lang, blogger at Home I Own with 1,468 votes, VIC. The public cast over 16,350 votes in this round.

The five category winners were selected from 25 finalists. 1,122 blogs entered this year’s competition. They were in the running to win over $18,000 worth of prizes. These include writing courses, books and a cash prize. This year’s sponsor is publishing company Random House Australia.

Competition coordinator Rose Powell says: “The judges found that it was a very hard job to pick the 2013 winner because of the quality of the entries. With 1,122 blogs to compete with, it’s the unique voices that really stand out. We launched this competition to celebrate Australian blogging, and were richly rewarded this year.

“From Clint Greagan’s gregarious reflections on fatherhood to Paula Matthewson’s careful consideration and explanations of federal policies, the winners are tackling important topics. Stephanie Campisi writes witty reflections on books and Suzi Dafnis provides insightful advice for businesswomen. Each of the winners has their own vision for their blog. Sneh Roy’s blog is a celebration of food, learning and discovery. We’re thrilled to call them all winners.”

Roy is a food styler and photographer. She began blogging in 2005.

“When I started blogging, it was a journal. I found that it was a wonderful two-way medium to facilitate the sharing of personal stories/recipes and having people interact and communicate back,” says Roy, who also earns money through advertising on her blog. “Nearly eight years later, it has evolved and become a way of life. It has become my legacy.”

Powell says: “Sneh Roy’s blog is an outstanding example of the professionalism in the Australian blogosphere. It’s a beautiful and user-friendly blog full of stories and recipes.”

Prizes and Judges
Roy wins $1000 cash, $1500 worth of courses at the Australian Writers’ Centre, $500 worth of books from Random House, and a mentoring session with Random House editor Brandon Van Over. The category winners and the People’s Choice winner receive $1000 worth of courses at the Australian Writers’ Centre and $250 worth of books from Random House.

The category judges are: blogger and political commentator Greg Jericho (Commentary); veteran publisher Marina Go (Lifestyle); Random House managing editor Brandon Van Over (Words and writing); Columnist and author Kerri Sackville (Personal); and business commentator and coach Robert Gerrish (Business).

Special Award and Outstanding Posts
The competition also announced a series of special awards for smaller blogs, rewarding outstanding posts. Each will receive $400 worth of courses at the Australian Writers’ Centre. The winners were:

Outstanding New Blog: Hello May, edited by Sophie Lord for her gorgeous new wedding blog

Outstanding Advocacy Post: Livonne Larkins at livonne.com, for her powerful post on domestic violence and how this played a part in the passing of her little girl.

Outstanding Humorous Post: Ben Pobjie for his hilarious post announcing he’s running for Prime Minister:

Outstanding Use of Photography: Christina Soong-Kroeger for her beautiful travel and food photography.

* Congratulations to all the winners!

The State Library of NSW has announced the five books shortlisted in Australia’s largest award for business writing.

The following titles have been shortlisted for the 2012 Ashurst Business Literature Prize:

Catherine Fox – 7 Myths about Women and Work, NewSouth Publishing

Peter Hartcher – The Sweet Spot: How Australia Made Its Own Luck – And Could Now Throw It All Away, Black Inc.

Debi Marshall – The House of Hancock: The Rise and Rise of Gina Rinehart, Random House Australia

Ron Sandland and Graham Thompson – Icon in Crisis: The Reinvention of CSIRO, NewSouth Publishing

Paul Cleary – Mine-field: The Dark Side of Australia’s Resource Rush, Black Inc.

The shortlist was selected by an external independent judging panel: Alan Cameron AO, Adjunct Professor Richard Fisher AM and Narelle Hooper.

Chair of the judging panel, Alan Cameron, commented:

“The diversity and complexity of business in Australia was reflected both in the entries received, and in the short list; from studies of organisational issues in large government enterprises, to profiles of leading business identities, women in the workplace, the resources sector and how the economy is coping in difficult and changing circumstances.

“Choosing the shortlist was difficult, and picking the winner is our next challenge.”

The winner will be announced at a special presentation dinner on Thursday 6 June 2013. 

(Source: State Library of New South Wales media release)

Kylie Ladd is a novelist and freelance writer. Her essays and articles have appeared in The Age, Griffith Review, O magazine, Kill Your Darlings, The Hoopla, MamaMia, Reader’s Digest and Good Weekend, among others.

Kylie’s first novel, After The Fall, was published in Australia, the US and Turkey, while her second, Last Summer, was highly commended in the 2011 Federation of Australian Writers Christina Stead Award for fiction.

Her previous books are Naked: Confessions of Adultery and Infidelity and Living with Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias. Kylie’s third novel, Into My Arms, will be released in mid-2013.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer and what inspired you?
I adore words and books, and like most writers I know, I’ve wanted to write for longer than I can remember. I honestly believe that you grow up knowing you’re a writer rather than choosing to become one. That said, it’s still a big step to go from writing journals or stories or illicit poetry to actually trying to produce something that you’re willing to show others, and maybe even try and get published.

For me the kick start came via The Age, my hometown newspaper, when I noticed one day in my twenties that they were requesting contributions for a new column called “First person singular”. I read the one that was being run that day, thought “I could do that”, banged out 1000 words, sent it in and had it accepted within a few hours. I know now that that never happens, and I’ve had more than my fair share of rejections since, but I’m so grateful for that beautiful aberration. It got me hooked on writing to be read, on wanting to see my own story out there, my name in print. I haven’t stopped since.

Which writers or books have inspired you?
F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby was a watershed book in my life… I first read it in year 11, when I was 16, and was lucky enough to have an absolutely brilliant English teacher who really opened the book up for me. It’s such a slight story in many ways, both in terms of length and in central premise (boy meets girl boy loses girl, boy seeks to win girl back again), but she showed me how Fitzgerald had managed to get so much in there- plot, characters, colour, movement; an entire era, a whole world. The Great Gatsby remains both my comfort read and my inspiration… not a word is wasted, and every sentence has been polished until it shines.

What’s the best time of day for you to write? Do you have a daily writing routine?
The best time of day for me to write is anytime that my children aren’t home, so by default usually while they’re at school! I work two or three days a week as a neuropsychologist, and write for the others… my only routine is to sit down, muck around on Twitter and Facebook for a while, get up and hang out washing or empty the dishwasher, come back and answer emails, return to Twitter, panic when I realise what the time is, move myself into the kitchen where there’s no internet access and then finally madly try and write 1000 words before the bell rings and I have to go to pick up. Luckily, the school’s in the next street

What do you love about teaching writing?
The enthusiasm of my students, and the excitement or dawning comprehension I can see on their faces when something clicks. I also love it when I set them an exercise and then everyone reads out what they’ve produced to the class and we all workshop it together. Those are fabulous sessions- firstly because I’m so often impressed by what they produce, but also to see the interaction between the class, the way they help and support each other and suggest ideas or refinements. I’ve never been part of a writing group, but I always wish I was after those classes.

How do you switch between writing fiction and writing essays and articles? And what keeps bringing you back to fiction?
I’m going to answer the second part of that question first by saying that the thing I love about fiction is its freedom. Writing a novel can be daunting in terms of the time it needs, the length and breadth of the project, but that vastness also gives you the scope to stretch out, to play around with words and themes and characters, to go where I like, follow down any lead I fancy. Once I have an idea for a novel that I know is a keeper I feel an enormous sense of security and satisfaction, because I know we’re going to be together for a while, and I look forward to us really getting to know each other. I’m not sure if that sounds ridiculous, but I guess what keeps bringing me back to fiction is my love of scope, of range, of the attempt to try and paint a picture of your whole street, suburb, state, world rather than just your room. Essays and articles are rewarding in their own way, but more and more they feel to me personally like being locked in the one room. Also, I can’t just make stuff up!

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?
Not so much been given as read. This is from “That Crafty Feeling”, a wonderful essay on writing by Zadie Smith that I recommend to all my students… “It’s such a confidence trick, writing a novel. The main person you have to trick is yourself.” It’s true. I think pretty much all writers go through stages of hating their work, and particularly their first drafts, but you have to try and believe to keep going. No-one else is going to do the work for you, and no-one else can write what you can.