I’ve just learned that I’ve been selected as the winner of the Beryl Bainbridge First Time Author Award 2021. I feel so incredibly honoured.
My book is on sale now!
You Have to Make Your Own Fun Around Here tells the tale of two precocious girls, Katie and Evelyn, who have grandiose dreams of becoming filmmakers and artists, but an all-consuming rivalry overshadows their friendship.
2019 has been an incredible year during which everything happened at the same time. I sold a book, we sold our house, and we have a gorgeous new baby girl!
It’s natural to desire feedback on your writing. You want to know that you’re on to something. You want to feel validated. But tread carefully, writers.
I’ve been thinking about plot. A lot. Is plot essential? I believe so. Story is plot. Plot is inherent in story. When readers complain about the books they haven’t enjoyed, they will often say, “It just didn’t go anywhere. I got bored.” Readers want to dive in to story. As in life, we want to be enchanted, entertained, and most importantly, to be taken on a journey.
Never again shall I sweat over bibliography formats and citations, or suffer eyestrain that felt like someone was tightening a rope around my forehead. Never again shall I sit on Amazon for hours on end, attempting to source the cheapest reference books, swearing profusely at the cost of postage and packing.
I found these photographs in a bin in an antiques store in Brooklyn, and bought them for about 60c apiece. The bin was crammed with thousands and thousands of photographs just like these. Photographs taken at Christmas, in nightclubs, around the dinner table, and on the first day of school.
I was totally stoked to have my short story The Shadow Sister featured on a recent episode of the NoSleep podcast. This podcast was one of iTunes Top 100 podcasts in 2015 and has a significant listenership.
About this time last year, I was preparing my application for Oxford University to take part in their Masters in Creative Writing. There were many redrafts of my Personal Statement, valiant attempts to track down the appropriate referees, a scrabble to put savings together. I really, really, really wanted it.
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