• Stories & Poetry

    How She Fell

    Hey everybody, Happy Monday! (It’s so easy to say when you’re not working) This is a list poem I wrote earlier this year using an anaphora. An anaphora refers to the repetition of a certain word or phrase at the beginning of successive lines of writing or speech; in this case, I’ve used a phrase (or variation on the phrase) throughout the poem at the start of each stanza. Hope you like this one – let me know! — A. xx   How She Fell She fell in love with him by stages, The way that poetry is written and music played and the way the moon rises, At once…

  • A Writer's Life

    Battling with Writer’s Doubt

    Happy Sunday everybody! Hope everyone has had a great weekend: ours involved a lot of travel and farewells with family and friends before we set sail (figuratively!) for Oklahoma. I’ve recently started following and reading the content on Positive Writer, which is a great source for anyone who wants to get information and encouragement on writing. They’re hosting (and I’m participating in) a writing contest called Writers Crushing Doubt, so I’m going to chat about some of my experiences with ‘Writer’s Doubt’. I firmly believe that any writer who tells you that they’ve never suffered from doubt – about their ideas, their writing style, their creative process, their schedule, their…

  • A Writer's Life

    Upcoming Australian Short Story Competition

    Gooooooooood afternoon everyone and happy Friday! (if you’re in Australia. If you’re in America… I’m sorry.) I was just made aware yesterday of the existence of (yet another) short story competition. If you want to be a writer and you want to improve / want to start getting your name ‘oot and aboot’, then story/poetry/novel competitions are a good idea – even if it may be somewhat soul-destroying at times because it kind of feels like continuous negative reinforcement. For the moment my focus is absorbed by getting my butt into gear and sorting out my submission for ‘The Richell Prize for Emerging Writers 2016’ which is due on the 1st of…

  • Stories & Poetry

    S p a c e s

                                  S  p  a  c  e  s                There’s no in-between space where:                                                                                                   just right                      You’re not too skinny and                      …