by Virginia Lloyd | Nov 3, 2011 | Blog, Improve your writing, Memoir
I am constantly worried that I spend too much time reading online. It can’t be right to switch on the computer first (or second) thing in the morning, or to check email last thing before bed. Conducting a life lived in the two opposing time zones of Sydney and...
by Virginia Lloyd | Oct 31, 2011 | Blog, Improve your writing
Here’s a quick roundup of an odd assortment of opportunities for writers, all on the subject of Australia: Griffith REVIEW is seeking submissions for Edition 36: What Is Australia For? What Is Australia For? will sketch out visionary ideas for the future,...
by Virginia Lloyd | Oct 25, 2011 | Blog, Improve your writing, Publishing
The Guardian recently launched a series of short pieces by writers as diverse as Geoff Dyer and Kate Grenville on how to write fiction. The series, dubbed A Guardian Masterclass, includes Rachel Cusk on point of view, DPC Pierre on dialogue and Kate Mosse on plot....
by Virginia Lloyd | Oct 9, 2011 | Blog, Memoir
I’ve just come across Lindsay Miller’s impassioned essay on the cultural and political power of women’s memoirs in this recent essay in The Atlantic. I have to say I’m impressed at her dedication to reading the sub-genre of memoirs by Iranian...
by Virginia Lloyd | Oct 2, 2011 | Blog, Improve your writing
When you have a literary crush on a writer, going to see him or her at a live event is a fraught undertaking. There’s always the chance that my reader’s fantasy, gleaned over hours of intimate and silent time spent in the author’s company, will be...
by Virginia Lloyd | Sep 28, 2011 | Blog, Improve your writing, Memoir, Young Widow's Book of Home Improvement
I discovered Gail Caldwell’s first book, the memoir A Strong West Wind, in a rare moment of serendipitous book-buying in an old-fashioned bookstore. Reading other people’s memoirs that year while writing my own, I selected A Strong West Wind because I was...