Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change has famously stated that “most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply”. “When we listen with the intent to understand others, rather than with the intent to reply,” Covey […]
These creative prompts are designed to gently ease our way back into writing (or any other art form) as we step into a new year. They can be used whether you wish to reflect on your own life, that of an ancestor or that of a fictional character. Use them as short warm-up exercises, integrate […]
I recently returned from a trip to visit my son in Melbourne and my mum in Tasmania. While in Melbourne, I spent time in the suburb where my son is currently living, and which is also where my great-grandmother was born. What I didn’t know until Mum and I dug a little deeper was […]
In putting together a set of Christmas-themed prompts, I acknowledge that not everybody celebrates this festive season, for a range of reasons. While I have attempted to acknowledge this in some prompts, please feel free to adapt them further, or simply choose the ones that are helpful as you develop the characters in your […]
If you haven’t heard of NaNoWriMo, then it stands for National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write 50,000 words of a novel in during the month of November. If that seems insane, then you can set your own goal. I’ve only ever attempted it once, and even then it was a pretty half-hearted […]
I was recently asked by a young writer for tips for character development, so this blog post is for her (you know who you are 🙂 ). When you meet someone, how do you get to know them? How do you learn whether you have anything in common, whether they are going to be a […]