A Writer's Life
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Writerly Wednesday… with Me!
I feel so honoured to have my wonderful friend Carrie Houghton interviewing me today for Writerly Wednesday! Carrie asked me about this AGES ago and it’s taken me a million years to get it uploaded… but today you have the chance to watch me get interviewed. So, without further ado, let me hand over to Carrie! I’ve read so many of your wonderful Writerly Wednesday interviews, and I am so excited to turn the tables on you today! <Turns on a too-bright overhead light for dramatic effect.> 1. Before we dive into the writing questions, I’d like to talk travel. You are one of the most well traveled people I…
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Writerly Wednesday with Hema Natarajan!
Drum roll pleeeeease foorrrrrrr… Hema Natarajan! Hema, welcome to AZ Pascoe and thank you for joining us here today to talk all about yourself and your writing! It’s been a while everyone, but if you enjoyed learning about Meagan Noel Hart, MM Schreier or any of our other brilliant guest writers, then you’re in for a treat. 1. To start with, we’d love to know a little bit more about you as a person. Where are you from and what are your passions? Thanks for having me on your lovely blog, Ana! I grew up in India, moved to London for a bit, then to the US for long stretch…
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Writerly Wednesday with Meagan Noel Hart!
Well, it’s been a few weeks, but please give a massive, warm welcome to Meagan Noel Hart for Writerly Wednesday! And thank you so much for joining us here on AZ Pascoe today. Like many other featured writers on this blog (such as Claudia Wair, Carrie Houghton, and MM Schreier, just to name a few) Meagan Noel Hart is a writer friend of mine from an online writing group. 1. I love knowing a little bit more about the wide range of backgrounds and lifestyles different writers come from. Please give us a bit of insight into the person behind Meagan Noel Hart the writer. Where are you from? What…
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Writerly Wednesday with MM Schreier
Please give a warm welcome to the inestimable MM Schreier! MM has published a wide range of short stories in various journals and anthologies and their work consistently knocks my socks off… Plus we have a shared passion for fantasy, especially Celtic mythology! 1. But before we get started, please give us as much background as you’d like into who MM Schreier is. What do you fill your days with, what fills you with joy and what are some of your other interests? I’m kind of a contradiction in that aside from writing—which requires lots of time behind the screen—I also love being outdoors. I’m incredibly lucky to live in…
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Writing Every Day: 1 Year On
Writing every day: is it necessary? Is it useful? Some people swear by it: ‘writers must write every day, in order to succeed’. Others disdain it: ‘what a load of codswallop’. (And isn’t that just a great word?) Some people roll their eyes and tell you it’s all just another useless debate about how to become the next JK Rowling or Stephen King… something that’s fairly unlikely to happen, for most of us. (Why waste our time trying to be the next whoever, when we can be the first us?) Where do I sit? Well, to start with, I have one firm writerly belief: all writing is good writing. Even…
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My 2019 Sydney Writers’ Festival: A Wrap Up!
2019 was my first Sydney Writers’ Festival! Well, actually… it was my first writers’ festival, period. Which of course made it even more of a super interesting and exciting time that it would already have been. If you read my post recently about writing organisations, you’ll know that I’m on the hunt for connection with other writers, in any form… And while I don’t really feel that I achieved that at the 2019 SWF, I did learn a lot. And I still have hopes of one day finding the ‘right fit’ semi-local writers’ group! Of course, I had huge plans for going to everything under the sun. But with 5…
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Writerly Wednesday with Cayce Osborne!
Today on Writerly Wednesday, we’re celebrating Cayce Osborne! Ahh, truly, there are few things better than a chance to learn about how writers think and grow a writing community. So buckle in and let’s get to know the amazing Cayce Osborne! 1. Thank you so much for joining us on AZ Pascoe today! Cayce, we’re so looking forward to hearing all about your writing and reading habits. Before we get lost in those wonderful worlds, please give us a bit of background about you. Where are you from? What do you do for work, and what are some of your interests (outside of writing, of course!)? I’m from Madison, Wisconsin,…
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Writerly Wednesday with J. Lynne Moore!
Today is another amazing chance to feature a writing friend of mine on AZ Pascoe: the incredible J. Lynne Moore! So, welcome all and sundry, back to our next edition of Writerly Wednesday. Like Claudia & Jennifer Worrell, J. Lynne Moore is an online writing compatriot; we’re all in the same incredible online writing group… And we’re all featured in that group’s 2018 anthology! 1. Hello and welcome! Before we get started, we’d love to know a little bit about you—the person behind the writer. Where are you from, what do you do for work, and what are some of your interests (outside of writing, of course!)? Hello and thanks…
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Dialogue Tags: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
Dialogue tags: we can’t really have a story without them… but are we using them well? I don’t mean our grammar or punctuation (though this post has some great pointers for that), but rather how we integrate tags in a way that’s smooth, skilful, and doesn’t disrupt the reader. This is, like most things (read: anything) to do with writing, an area in which, surprise surprise, lots of people have opinions. And, of course, it raises a lot of questions. I’ll start with the usual disclaimer: as with a great many other aspects of writing, there’s not strictly a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to do most things. (Except using apostrophes…
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Creative Rejection: The Hows, The Whys, The Way Through
One of the greatest battles for any creative—regardless of their medium—is dealing with the rejection inherent in creativity. There are some fields where you can be definitively right or wrong: no matter what, the knee bone really is connected to the shin bone, after all. But creative output and creative value is highly subjective (and I even feel like that’s an understatement). I wish I could tell you that you’re never going to be rejected… But in all likelihood, you will. After all, as The Writing Cooperative notes: ‘For Writers, Rejection is a Way of Life.’ And that’s okay. When Rejection Happens Creative rejection isn’t a given… if you never…