I find editing and rewriting a hard stage because it's easy to feel like I'm not getting much done. I could have sworn I barely wrote anything in the last two days, then I made an extract of just the substantially rewritten sections to send to my husband and it was 16 pages long
I'm an author, and I'm asked a lot if I take on freelance editing work. People are surprised when I explain that I'm no more qualified to do that than to set up a dental practice
repost this if an editor has ever saved you from yourself
There's also a noticeable drop on the 13th of every month - if people have a choice in the date, some are opting not to do it on an unlucky day.
It could also be elective surgery numbers in general, but the February 29th being the lowest rank makes me think birthdates.
Most common birthdays. February 29 ranks lowest, followed by Christmas and Boxing Day. There's a bump a week before Christmas - people getting their elective C section and inductions in, and a big jump in the first week of January when hospitals reopen for elective procedures.
For this week's Top Ten Tuesday, I highlight my favourite Australian books from the first half of 2025, including novels from @longlukearnold.bsky.social @ronnisalt.bsky.social @shelleyburr.bsky.social and more.
unseenlibrary.com/2025/07/29/t...
I am going on tour. Maybe I will be near you, and if so maybe you would like to hear me talk about Lane Holland, the weirdest type of murder I've ever heard of and why writing VANISH made me start seeing ghosts on my farm
www.hachette.com.au/news/shelley...
My publisher: Could you promote your book that's out at the end of April a little bit? A smidge?
Me: No, I'm very busy organising the Rotary firewood raffle and helping at the ag expo
Anyway we raised nearly $5000 for community projects and now I can focus on minor things like (checks notes) my job
I'm recording voice notes today for the audiobook narrator on the pronunciation of character names, a process that frequently involves me finding out for the first time too
“Just as parents may struggle to prioritise their children’s privacy and wellbeing when household income is at stake, platforms can’t be relied on to exclude their most profitable creators.”
Isabel Prior on the gap in our child labour laws.
Hey fam, We are on the hunt for some narrators! We need a mature female australian-chinese/australian for a 3k word story & a West coast US young male or NB voice for a 4k LGBTQ+ story - its paid - if interested please send a short audio clip of you narrating something to backstage@escapeartists.net
My final corrected version of VANISH is due today, but there's a brown snake under my writing pod. I can't get to my laptop.
Bundyi Publishing announced today the Bundyi Writing Prize that will be awarded to an outstanding unpublished manuscript of adult fiction by an emerging Aboriginal and/or
Torres Strait Islander writer.
www.simonandschuster.com.au/p/BundyiAUPr...
@austlit.bsky.social @simonschusteranz.bsky.social
Someone posted some second hand books on our local buy sell swap, including mine. I left a comment complimenting one of the other books.
She deleted the post.
Trying to be funny and making people uncomfortable is like my superpower
Amazing! Congratulations
The buck is Sugar, and it's taking all my willpower not to suggest she name the remaining two Honey and Ice Tea
We acquired five extra goats last year, and we can now distinguish them enough for names. The doe has been Latte for a while, and Miss 9 has dubbed a smaller but otherwise identical goat Cawfee*
*In our house we pronounce coffee like Edie Falco in the Sopranos
Screenshot of The Guardian website with the headline: 'Shankari Chandran, Robert Dessaix, Diana Reid and more: Australian books to look forward to in 2025. From enthralling debuts to playful premises and national reckonings, here is a whirlwind tour of what's to come'. There are pictures of Shankari Chandran, Naomi Watt, Kate Grenville and Benjamin Stevenson.
A book cover with the test DESIRE PATHS MEGAN CLEMENT. The cover image is of an Australian suburban park at sunset with a red football stand centre-bottom. The text is connected by a looping line that ends in a Google Maps marker.
Assumedly due to some clerical error, DESIRE PATHS does not feature on this list.
But it can be pre-ordered right here: www.readings.com.au/product/9781...
I seem to have packed for our move like I was trying to stage the house for an inspect em up mystery game. I just opened a drawstring bag that contained an Instax picture of my daughter and her friend in a Noh mask, a velour hood to help you sleep on planes, and a key to a house we sold 4 years ago
Thank you! I'm putting the finishing touches on book three now, it will be out at the end of April
c/o @australia.theguardian.com : "Australian books to look forward to in 2025."
#TheThrillofIt March 2025. #thethrillofit #mandybeaumontwriting #newbook #newbookstagrammer #books #2025 #writer #writerscommunity #book #books #booksbooksbooks #bookstagrammer #australianbooks #crime #crimebook
Recent front-facing portrait of David Lynch, overlaid with the words "fix Your Hearts of Die"
🖤🖤🖤
"Auckland is not just the place where these things happen to have occurred: this is _a story about Auckland_."
We interrupt our summer break to bring you this important piece by Emmy Rakete on Neil Gaiman and the political economy of rape.
Texting friends to see if they're safe from the fires in California, they text back asking if we're safe from the fires in Victoria. Absolutely surreal
The English dialects that don't commonly use the word 'porch' need to come up with their own term for package thieves. I would like to formally propose 'verandah vikings' for Australia
The last fortnight rolling coverage on AustCrimeFiction:
tinyl.io/BoNl
Highlights were reviewing Present Tense, Cutler & The Chilling. Plus some of the new books that arrived - feels like Christmas has arrived early. The list is mouthwatering :)
#CrimeFiction
#Books
#AustCrime
#BookSky 💙📚
Scrolling back through my texts with my publisher and its mostly me providing increasingly bizarre explanations for why I forgot to respond to emails
I wish they were lies, I am just that much of a disaster
I was just told that my horror writing class's enrollment is low enough that it might get canceled 💀
If you or anyone you know is interested in getting to know the genre in a fun and accessible way, please check it out! www.atlasobscura.com/experiences/...
There's nothing like a bit of practical work outside to get those writing knots to come loose
