Writing groups really help!

Exciting News! 
I am part of a local writing group in Tasmania. We are a diverse bunch of people of all different ages and backgrounds. Many have not been previously published, but now they can say they have! Our 2021 anthology, Ideas Are Like Rabbits is now available online through bookdepository.

click here to see it and order! 

Ideas Are Like Rabbits from Amazon

Ideas are like rabbits from Barnes and Noble

So, you may ask, why the strange title? It's a quote from Australian writer John Steinbeck, who described the process of writing as collecting rabbits which pop up, sometime at random moments: "Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen."

What's in the anthology?
Lots of short stories and poems from many different writers of all ages! Including some of mine. As an author of children's and young adult books, I have some stories in this collection that have never been published before! Here is a short rundown:

Short stories/picture book texts - 
1. Mr Twigg - about a street where lots of interesting characters live. It's a true story of a real street in England in the 1940s.
2. As a Bird Sees It - a very short story about how it feels to jump out of a plane with a parachute!
3. Crystal - a story about a very unusual girl with Autism.
4. The Secret Box - a little sister falls inside four of the most dangerous fairytales in the world. Her elder sister has to find a way to follow her inside each one and rescue her against giants, witches, wolves and naughty gnomes.

Writing Groups are Fun!
You know what's so great about writing groups? We chat about writing and share information on how to write, how to get published, how to design book covers yourself or through a book designer, how to format your work correctly, how to send to a publisher. We also talk about our own work, helping each other when we get stuck or aren't sure what to do next.

Neverending Stories 
We also write stories together! They are called 'Neverending' stories, in which some of us write a chapter then send it on to the next person, round and round. Eventually we have to decide how to end it. But who knows how long that will take?

order a copy here: Ideas are like Rabbits Amazon

Ideas are like rabbits  Barnes and Noble

How Maori carving taught me something about writing

(c) Dawn Meredith Te Puia workshop, New Zealand

This workshop in New Zealand was stunning. In this room apprentices work for years, perfecting the art of totem carving, learning the styles, symbols, family histories, Maori mythology and respect for their ancient culture.

It's not a job for the fast paced, hyperactive person. It takes care, love, skill and one more thing - Tenacity.

Michael Hauge, one of Hollywood's most successful screenwriters, mentors and novelists says the same of successful writers - 

"Every successful screenwriter or novelist I know possesses one outstanding quality:    Tenacity. The difference between working writers and wannabes isn't talent or age or gender or geography or connections or the industry or the economy or sunspots or anything else writers tell themselves to avoid facing this awful truth: writers write.

They write every day, they started their current book or script as soon as they finished the last one, they think in terms of career and not a single sale, and they look at every unsold story as a necessary step toward improving their craft."

[To read the rest of this article, please click here...]

As I look at these intricate and beautiful designs carved by hand and patience I begin to feel a new sense of spirit,for my own work. Good things take time and persistence.

cheers, Dawn