I woke to the news that Steven Moffat is leaving Doctor Who after this year. Hmm, I want to say. Hmmm. I will miss the complexity of his plots and his use of time. It is, after all, a program featuring time travel. I will miss some of the humour too and energy and the pathos … Continue reading Doctor Who: Moffat and Chibnall, looking back
writing
Writing Workshop Review: Taming the Beast
It's been an out of the ordinary couple of days for me. On Friday I attended the Summer School Wheeler Centre writer's workshop Taming the Beast with Sonia Orchard, while this afternoon featured another instalment of me at the dentist. Turns out both had things in common: bit of probing, and fixes for things. How to clarify … Continue reading Writing Workshop Review: Taming the Beast
Writing year steps up into new a gear
The thing about resolutions for the new year is they're generally forgotten by mid January. It's why, traditionally, I never used to bother. You can't break a promise you don't make. But lo, I've reached mid January and I'm about to tick one of my resolutions off the list. I'm heading to a writing workshop. It's … Continue reading Writing year steps up into new a gear
Exhibition Review: feeling the disturbance
If Andy Warhol and Ai Weiwei's NGV exhibition is a little 'art anyone could do' (from cat pics to soup cans) then Lurid Beauty, an exhibition of Australian Surrealism, is art anyone can feel. Unlike Warhol and Ai Weiwei, little of it is repetitive, except for the feelings the works inspire. The works are weird, visceral, … Continue reading Exhibition Review: feeling the disturbance
Writing Resolutions 2016
My writing resolutions kinda worked for 2015, so what the hey, the below will do for this next 12 months. Given that writing just involves me, but publication involves a myriad of other factors and people, I can only work on what I can personally control. And I can only control me. Well I say control. … Continue reading Writing Resolutions 2016
2015 Writing Resolution Review
Thought it was timely to revisit my resolutions from the end of last year, as I swelter in the squelchy humidity of a mid December Melbourne. This is before I even attempt to make new resolutions. It's too hot for that. So, the first one: I will have moved heaven and earth to get my … Continue reading 2015 Writing Resolution Review
Final down low on NaNoWriMo
It's done. It's over. I proved I could do it. This ridiculous deadline artificially cultivated online is complete, and for my part I can say I am an official National November Novel Writing Month winner. O frabjous day! Callooh etc. I would have celebrated earlier, except it's too all much. Difficult, un-fun at times, a bit … Continue reading Final down low on NaNoWriMo
Hashtag Inspo NaNoWriMo
Life events, friends, experiences, reading, other entertainment, it all informs creative writing some how. Sometimes it is directly, sometimes it is more round about. In one short story I tried so hard to avoid depicting a life experience peculiar to me that it resonated quite closely with the experience of a friend. Oops. Thus, even … Continue reading Hashtag Inspo NaNoWriMo
Doctor Who: Eye Spy
I wonder if writer Mark Gatiss has a thing about sleep, what with this episode Sleep No More, but also Night Terrors with monsters in the dark and things that haunt us. And also, both have frames. Night Terrors had a cupboard containing the terror inside a flat, while Sleep No More has a story-teller … Continue reading Doctor Who: Eye Spy
The Man From Snowy River does not come from Detroit
In response to Southerly: While I haven't written about a suburb in Sydney, I do commend this article from Southerly's blog. Specificity in writing is crucial. Part of the reason I set my fictions in certain real or historical places is because I'm somehow exploring what they mean to me. And if they mean something to me, … Continue reading The Man From Snowy River does not come from Detroit
Writing Bec 