Perth Words… exploring possibilities.

Stories on Stage 2015 at Koorliny Arts Centre is about to get under way in Perth’s southern suburbs, with writers Susan Midalia and Laurie Steed kicking off a year of book-ish events on March 16. They be discussing the art of writing short stories as well as reading from their own works. I’ve just read Susan’s Feet to the Stars and it’s finely crafted and beautiful reading. Laurie, is someone I’ve come to admire through workshops, in which he shares his knowledge with writers of diverse experience. As someone who is working on her own novel, as well as a number of short stories, I am really looking forward to this event, as much for me as everyone else!

For those who don’t know, Stories on Stage is held five to six times a year. I created the event in 2012, as much from a desire to share my love of books, as one…

I used to think contacting books – the application of a sticky sheet of protective plastic – was a punishment parents put themselves through, but now I realise it’s the school. It’s the system. And I’ve just faced it for the first time. I’ve just had my first wrestle with the giant sticky multi-limbed heartless beast that is contacting schoolbooks and, since it’s possible others didn’t make it out the other side, I’m reporting in.

We were told at the parent information night on Thursday that it’s to make sure labels on the front of the book stay stuck on properly. Heard that yourself, have you? Apparently that’s often how it starts, but don’t be fooled. If it’s the case, why not just stick them on properly in the first place? Why slap a label on in some dodgy way to start with, then require someone else to do something…

Jazz is not a subject that has been explored much in movies. Sure, there’s ‘Round Midnight and Bird, as well as biopics of the likes of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and, of course, Al Jolson. Hollywood, however, tends to prefer the excesses, aggrandizement and pretensions of rock n’ roll musicians over the improvisational brilliance of cats like Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis.

A new movie, however, might restore the balance and make the coolest music in history even cooler.

Miles Ahead, starring and directed by Don Cheadle, focuses on a period in the life of Miles Davis when he was trying to recover stolen tapes, and was in the company of an ambitious Rolling Stone reporter, played by Ewan McGregor.

The movie takes an unorthodox treatment of its subject. “When I met with [Miles’] family…

One of the hardest things about being a creative person/writer/artist etc. is balance. When you work from home sometimes family members don’t know your boundaries. When you love your job sometimes it’s hard to stop working when your desk is always in the other room. Tell me in the comments what the hardest part of the “creative juggling balance” is for you.

Tips for Juggling Your Creative Life

• Give yourself a schedule. I always advise writers to treat writing like a job if they want it to be a career. If you want it to be a hobby (and in that case, an agent might not be right for you at this time) then you can treat it like a hobby. But the only way to get writing done is to do it.
• But remember to define your work day by what feels right–beginnings and endings don’t always start at…

Recently, it seemed as if half the people I knew were skiing in Japan, while I was close to home, in various parts of southeast Queensland. I had little to complain about – it was a mix of short beach holidays and staying at other people’s houses while our floors were re-surfaced, and every place had airconditioning, a pool, etc, etc. I had it good. But was everyone else having it better?

That’s what Facebook told me. Even without meaning to. Even when not one of the people involved meant to.

The lives of my peers were defined by awesome wintry vistas, mad grinning on chairlifts, more mad grinning apres ski. And my life appeared not to be.

Not so long ago on Facebook I saw a post by a writer I admire (talented writer, smart person), who said she’d just had Facebook envy when glancing over her partner’s shoulder…