When I was working full bore at an executive level I dreamed about the day I would have an abundance of time. Time to do all the things I wanted to do. I fantasized over how immaculately clean my house would be and the masterpieces I would paint, the music I would play, and most important of all, the writing I would do.
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A little while back, we posted Liz’s 10 tips for overcoming writer’s block (which you can read here and here). Five months and three more lockdowns later, many writers are struggling more than ever to find inspiration for their creative endeavours. Little wonder when our brain space is taken up with anxiety and case numbers, and our worlds are confined to the 5k radius around our homes.
With springtime just around the corner, it feels like we have once again wasted half the year indoors. The seemingly endless cycle of snap-lockdowns and semi-freedom has produced a kind of writer’s block that is not easy to combat. Writers have long lamented not having the time and space to write, but now that we have all the time and space we could ever ask for, we don’t know what to do with it. We need incidental meetings with strangers, people-watching, or deep and meaningful conversations with close friends to spur on our creativity.
So if you’re struggling to put pen to paper, here are some tips to help get you writing again so you can finish that manuscript you started back in lockdown 1.0:
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So you’ve written a book – well done! After hours upon hours of plotting, planning and fighting writer’s block, the hard part is finally over … right? Wrong. Writing a strong proposal and submitting to publishers can be a difficult task if you’ve never done it, and disheartening when you end up with a rejected manuscript. If you’re sitting there wondering why your magnum opus is being ignored, you’ve come to the right place.
Here are 5 common reasons why you may not have had that call-back from the publisher’s office:
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With winter in full swing, we’re all spending more time indoors, ideally cozied up in bed with a good book and a hot beverage. Here are some winter book recommendations to help you through the long cold nights.
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Never judge a book by its cover. It’s the golden rule we’ve all been told over and over again. We’ve heard it repeated all our lives; from parents, teachers, mentors and friends alike. As an idiom asking you not to judge something (and especially someone) by its appearance, it is a fine way to teach compassion, understanding, and the importance of getting to know a person or situation on more than just a surface level. When it comes to actual books though? Maybe we should consider taking the expression less literally. I’m here to tell you why book cover design is so important, and why you should judge a book by its cover.
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If you read our last post on building an author profile, you’re probably aware that you need to build an online profile. As promised, here is part two, how to build your online author profile.
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Before you can get started marketing your book, you need to start thinking about building an author profile. Here’s part one of two blogs outlining where to start – so that when you’re on the road to getting your book published, you already have an author profile ready to go!
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Meet the A-Team, AKA the brains behind Laneway Press 🤓 (Aren’t we a gorgeous, clever looking bunch?).
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When I first approached Laneway Press with my manuscript, I had a baggy thing of 120,000 words and no clue what to do with it. Apart from collecting the various writings and fine-tuning them, I didn’t know how to make them appealing to the general reader.
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The writers festivals circuit looks a little different since Covid-19. It has become the norm to hold events online, even in lockdown free places like Victoria. Last year, we loved being able to escape our lounge rooms and go to writers festivals in faraway towns and cities from the comfort of our homes. But this year, we’re ready to go there in person!
The 2021 writers festivals in Victoria are a mixture of online and in-person events. To make things easier for you, we’ve compiled a list of all the upcoming events running in 2021 to help you organise your calendar.
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