So as you know I’ve now got a baby, and it probably won’t surprise you at all to hear that this means finding time to write is trickier than ever. I seem to be getting a few windows of opportunity at the end of the day but these windows seem to be quickly filled with doing the writing that pays the bills (necessary) and feeling extraordinarily tired (unavoidable). But rather than waiting until my little boy has grown up – although that sometimes seems the easiest solution to the “when …

Regular readers may have noticed that I failed to give you a May update on my reading or writing achievements for the month. Yes, April was already a little meager and things just got worse in May, but if you stay tuned for the end of June, I’m hoping to have actually finished a couple of books again. (I have a good excuse, don’t forget).
In the meantime, I’ve actually been getting a little editing and rewriting done. The writing gods really blessed me this year by moving the closing date …

If you happen to have been following my 2010 reading list, you’ll have found it a bit boring recently. After ploughing through a book at least every two days during most of the year, in April my reading came to a bit of a standstill. Which is hardly surprising considering what happened on 2 April. But anyway: my April reading totalled this -

The World Beneathby Cate Kennedy

However, I’m still going to announce The World Beneath as my book of the month, because it really was excellent. If it hadn’t been, …

Yes, you could call this a thinly-disguised excuse for posting a picture of my gorgeous new baby. Ruben is much more handsome than a picture of either of my novels as they currently stand. But in fact, it’s actually true that after his birth, I decided that the process of bringing him into the world was considerably easier than the process of bringing a novel into the world.
Sure, it took us a few years to actually “get” Ruben, and my pregnancy wasn’t easy – especially for my writing, since it …

Well, the deadline has arrived, and I haven’t even procrastinated too much, because I have already submitted my entry for the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award for 2010: the novel now titled Bratislava. Three cheers for me! Interestingly, in the process of my revisions I went through a folder I had labelled “Bratislava novel” and found a most interesting file which seemed to be the very first idea I ever had for the novel, and it went like this:
I’m not quite sure what, but I really want to write a novel …

Snow outside my building in Bratislava
I’ve had a lot of trouble choosing a title for my current work in progress, the one I simply refer to as my Bratislava novel. But I finally have, and I thought I’d share how it came about, although it’s nothing to be particularly proud of and you probably won’t learn any great tips from this story: although you might empathise, perhaps. Here goes:
Choosing a title is both an important and a nonsensical business. As I understand it, publishers change the title of a novel …

Two weeks ago I told you I was on a roll with my Bratislava novel draft; before that I promised to finish this novel to enter it in the Amazon contest soon. Well, it looks like I’m well on track. It’s been finished for a bit now, and I’ve got into the revisions and editing, and although another month or two would be great, I think I can still make it with a pretty decent version of the way I’ve always imagined this novel turning out.
I’ve been meaning to post …

I’ve mused before about whether writing short stories is really something I want to do. I’m not usually especially thrilled by reading them, and the main reason for this is that, well, they’re short. Just as I’m starting to like (or loathe) a character, and get into the story, then it stops. I think I can safely say that at least as my tastes stand at the moment, I’m really a novel reader.
But – there’s always a but – I recently found the information about an interesting novella contest. It’s …

It’s almost a fortnight since I updated you on the progress I’m making with finishing off the writing of  my Bratislava novel, and I’m proud to say I’m still on track to have it fully written and even pretty well revised and edited in time for the ABNA contest. (Obviously, completed edited with heaps of time to spare would be better, but life just isn’t always like that).
One of my students (thanks, Val!) gave me this mug recently, courtesy of our Margaret River Chocolate Factory – in case you can’t …

You can see one of Bratislava’s most prominent sights in this picture: the Novy Most, or “New Bridge”, built, as you might be able to guess by its appearance, by the Soviets during the communist era. They’re also responsible for the monstrous collection of bland apartment buildings across the other side of the river (which is the Danube, by the way). You’re seeing a picture of Bratislava because I’m in the middle of writing what I keep calling my “Bratislava novel”, since an actual title hasn’t made itself known to …