Free Writing Tips and Expert Advice

BY RINA BESTER My life was a mess: children grown up, husband retired. In the background, an unnerving prodding from my unfulfilled dreams begged me to

BY TRI NGUYEN I am a gardener. Well, I am not a gardener by trade per se, but a gardener by style. That is the

BY ALANA BETH DAVIES Plot was always my downfall, my weak spot, my Achilles heel – you get the picture. Description, I was okay with:

BY KRISTINE LACO Sheena wasn’t a writer, but she gave the best writing advice. She was my instructor at a cognitive behavioural therapy group. ‘What

BY GEETHA RANGANATHAN Sitting at the city library in Parramatta, I asked myself what drove me to write. As the clouds passed by, I realized

BY SHAYNA LEWIS My music career ended at age 15. I’d just finished my second year of high school. As a music student, I’d been

BY FATEMEH EBRAHIMI If, like me, you’re a woman in a traditional family and society, whether you’re working or not, you must do the housework.

BY TONY OSWICK When I was growing up, I wanted to be just like Great Uncle Ferdy. My mum was his only living relative and,

BY TOM BENTLEY When I first started sending article queries out in the eighties, callow youth that I was, I sent them to all the

BY RUSSELL MICKLER The best writing tip I ever received was not to write. It began with an essay, a critique of Chaucer’s ‘The Miller’s

By KIM PATTON Because my stories keep my heart pounding at night with the possibility of it all, when I can’t get words on paper,

BY SARAH KELLEHER For me, writing used to move in cycles. First is the inspired phase. I’d put my laptop by my favourite window, wear

BY ROBERT B. ROBESON If I’d wanted an easy life, I could have taken up quantum physics, brain surgery or attempted to open a McDonald’s

BY SIOBHAN MURPHY Writing. It’s hard. Everyone who writes has been told this more times than the word count of The Lord of the Rings.

Spiegel im Spiegel BY PETRA HILGERS If you’ve ever read H C Anderson’s fairytale Die Schneekönigin – which I played endlessly on our record player

BY KRISTIN HOYT My numb, icy fingers grasp the frozen metal handle. Whoosh! A burst of warmth wraps around me like a familiar hug as

BY AMELIA RAY Don’t ask me where but once I read that Keith Richards reportedly has a unique songwriting approach. Supposedly, he writes down every

By Taryn Hochstrasser During my last year of high school, I wrote an essay picked from one of the given topics. I don’t really remember

By Helen Aitchison Our lives are riddled with self-doubt. Some more than others. We worry, analyse and focus on the negative. ‘I can’t do it!’