Always great fun to hang with other writers and illustrators AND ALL THOSE KIDS! The YABBA folk do amazing work connecting us with our lovely readers, not to mention a fun afternoon. Huge thanks to Camberwell Girls Grammar School for hosting us.
Hanging with Michael Wagner at the signing tables.
https://www.facebook.com/meredithcostain/posts/10157843342769680
This is not a drill. I’m running one last workshop for 2019 at the Abbotsford Convent, November 23 and 24. Creative Writing Stage 1 is an intensive, FUN, weekend dedicated to showing you the foundations of how to turn an idea into a story.
Details here:
https://www.writerscentre.com.au/courses/creative-writing-stage-1/
Would love to see you there.
So I turn my back for a few minutes and what happens? Some random bot slides in and turns my website into an illegal pharmacy.
Not cool, Random Bot. Not cool.
Anyway, hopefully this post will find you well and less confused, and you’ll return to my site again with more confidence that it will actually BE my site.
The latest news in my world is that I’m nearing the end of this draft of my latest YA novel, and am cramming as much footy into my small, overwrought brain as it can handle.
In other words, the usual.
I’ve been writing some non-fiction for adults lately, including this piece for The Saturday Paper, and an essay in a new anthology published by Pan MacMillan, called #MeToo: Stories from the Australian Movement.
Here’s one I prepared earlier:
I’ll also be attending the launch at Readings, Carlton on May 7. You should come too.
I have a bunch of workshops looming —
There’s this – “Show Don’t Tell” workshop at Caroline Springs Library, May 18 from 12 noon to 3pm.
This – Australian Writers Centre Creative Writing Weekend Workshop
And this…
But before all these, I’ll be appearing at the Clunes Booktown Festival for the first time, talking YA, footy and girls with a bunch of people I deeply admire. More info here: https://issuu.com/clunesbooktown/docs/booktown2019_program_lowres
Other than that, I’ve got a new gig teaching Sports Media, which is both challenging and exciting, but also taking up much time, so hopefully I’ll be able to get back here more often to check in.
But in the meantime, shoot me a DM or tweet me: @nichmelbourne or say hi at Facebook: Nicole Hayes (author). Occasionally you might find me on Insta too.
Hope all is well with you, and talk soon.
N xx
Just back from a lovely trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, with a brief couple of days in our old stomping ground, Oahu, too, and suffering all kinds of jet lag. Feels like the world has moved on and I’m still on holiday.
Here’s me pretending to write while staring at the Pacific Ocean:
However, according to all reports, it’s 2019, which means I’m a year older, as are you (spoiler alert), and it also means I’ll be doing more things near you than I did last year.
Which is good, right? Right?
First up, on January 17 in The Wheeler Centre, Melbourne, I’ll be running a workshop at Writers Victoria on the idea of ‘Show Don’t Tell’. It’s a line you hear a lot as a writer, but is it always right? What does it mean, anyway?
I’ll answer all these questions and more, as well as offering strategies for how to write dynamic scenes, and applying the power of specificity. Exercises, drills, and some learning. What more could you want?
For a brief intro into what I mean, I wrote about it here:
https://writersvictoria.org.au/writing-life/on-writing/the-more-you-write-the-better-you-get
To book the workshop, go here:
https://writersvictoria.org.au/writing-life/on-writing/the-more-you-write-the-better-you-get
On February 9 to 10, I’ll be running a weekend workshop with the lovely folk at Australian Writers Centre, in the gorgeous, inspiring Abbotsford Convent in inner Melbourne. This is an intensive introductory course into Creative Writing, and the perfect way to kickstart your writing for 2019.
Details here:
But wait! There’s more…
There are Many Things happening in 2019 for me — lots of exciting publishing news to announce, plus other opportunities — but will save that for when I’m allowed to go public. (And when my body clock has returned to the Southern Hemisphere.)
Hope 2019 is outstanding for you all, and I look forward to hearing from you via Twitter or Facebook – or even Insta – whenever you feel the inexplicable urge.
Talk soon!
Nicole
I’m doing a bunch of workshops and festivals in Melbourne and Geelong in the coming months. Here are the pending ones:
Saturday, November 17: Holding Our Ground – Word 4 Word Literary Festival — Geelong Library and Heritage Centre: 4pm to 5pm
Sunday, November 18: Moving Your Story Forward — [un]titled Literary Festival – Malvern Library: 10.15am to 12.45pm.
Sunday, November 18: Panel: Listen Up! Podcasts and Podcasting — [un]titled Literary Festival –Toorak/South Yarra Library, South Yarra: 2pm to 3pm.
Saturday & Sunday, December 1-2: AWC Introduction to Creative Writing Weekend Workshop — Abbotsford Convent, Abbotsford: 10am to 4pm.
Follow links to book and I hope to see you there!
