Perth Words… exploring possibilities.

Platform.

Platform.

Platform.

It’s all anyone in publishing wants to talk about! Writers are feeling this top down pressure to check all the boxes publishers and agents are looking for. Including platform. But we’re talking about platform for a reason. (Need a platform primer? Try Jane Friedman’s here.)

Let’s be clear: non fiction authors understand that platform is non-negotiable; it’s a must. However, fiction authors don’t require one–but we won’t be sad if you have one. Now that we’re all on the same page. Let’s breakdown the secrets to platform that you probably haven’t discovered how to leverage. Ready?

The secret to a meaningful platform is engagement. It doesn’t matter how many tweets you send or pins you post. If there is no engagement on the other side you’re wasting your time speaking into a black hole.  You don’t always need to go searching for more, more, more. Try…

It’s 4pm on Sunday afternoon, August 16th,  here in Ireland and I’ve just been reclining after a lovely walk around Tramore Beach.

I always have a pile of books to hand and my choice today for a relaxing read was this particular favourite:

While reading is a solitary activity, my mind often wanders to what books other people are reading as I’m reading mine. So this is the question I put to you, dear friends.

How fortunate we are to be able to read ~ in terms of both being literate and having the necessary eyesight!

The particular page I’ve been reading is 325 and this  gem:

Love after Love

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who…

Issue # 8 of Burning Bush 2 is now available online. Guest edited by Joseph Horgan, this issue includes poems and reviews from a diverse selection of Irish and international contributors.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted in the 3, 3 and 3 series, which features creative people talking about the things they love. I’m delighted to break that drought by introducing Tony Durant, who I first met in the late 1970s when he came to Perth from the UK to produce an album for ‘suburban boy’ rocker Dave Warner—and ended up staying. Ric, my husband, recorded and mixed that album, Correct Weight, and we have been friends with Tony and his wife, Pauline, ever since.

Tony had a fascinating career in London before arriving in Australia. He describes how he abandoned the expectations that his upper middle-class family had for their privately educated boy, and instead plunged into the psychedelic London music scene of the late 1960s. His art psych bank Louise played alongside Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd. ‘They went on to greatness. We missed it…

Are you finding the ending of your picture book story to be a little ho-hum? Or, is everything wrapped up a little too neat and tidy? One of the strongest ways to end a picture book is to surprise a reader. Kids love a surprise ending (and adults do, too). When a book takes you where you didn’t expect to go, that makes the trip all the more exciting and fun. When done well, an unpredictable twist can turn a good book into a classic and is often what makes repeated re-readings a pleasure. In subsequent readings, the reader enjoys being in the know and re-reading a book when you know what’s coming can be enjoyable in its own right too. I’ve always been a big fan of plot twists in books and movies of any genre for as long as I can remember. When I wrote my latest picture…

A couple of days ago a girl called Maddie contacted me because she’s writing a research project on the topic of whether female characters in books are perceived more negatively than male characters. She wanted an author’s opinion and had a few questions for me, questions which I thought were really interesting to think about and answer, which is why I’ve decided to dedicate a whole blog post to this topic.

A lot of what she asked me isn’t something I’ve ever deliberately thought about before, but it’s interesting because I’ve had so many people contact me to say how much they love the fact that my main character, Alex, is so strong but also realistically flawed. It’s almost like there’s a craving in readers to experience ‘girl power’ like never before, but with characters they can also relate to.

Because of this, my publishers have been jumping on the #LikeAGirl hashtag…