After spending the week in Madrid working, which came after the writers’ retreat in southern Spain in the first two weeks of June this year, I met up with an old friend I hadn’t seen in 15 years. We’d decided to meet up in Madrid and then travel by bus to make a visit to […]
Writing Groups in Madrid
25th July 2019 by Leave a Comment
Spain Series: III Come join me while I fill you in on the three different writing groups in Madrid I participated in during my week-long stay there after the fortnight’s writers’ retreat in southern Spain. I spent the week doing clients’ work, and attending three different writers’ groups. Writing Groups in Madrid. Group 1: Write […]
A Day in the Life of a Writer in Spain
17th July 2019 by Leave a Comment
Spain Series: II I figure after a two-week writers’ retreat in southern Spain, I can talk about a day in the life of a writer in Spain! After the fortnight in the Alpujarra region, I spent a week in Madrid to catch up on work and attend some writers’ groups (watch out for this in […]
Writers Retreat in Spain
6th July 2019 by Leave a Comment
Spain Series: I Up until 2019, I’d been to a spiritual retreat in England long, long ago, a meditation retreat in the hinterland of the Gold Coast in Queensland a few years back and a yoga retreat in Bali in 2015. Considering writing has been an important part of my life for much of it, […]
The 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami: A Personal Perspective
5th May 2019 by Leave a Comment
Gold Coast Author Sandra Sweeney tells her story of loss, resilience and survival Book Review The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami took the lives of more than a quarter of a million people within a matter of hours. Peter Beattie, who wrote the Foreword to Sandra Sweeney’s book ‘Ripples from the Wave: After the 2004 Tsunami’ […]
Book Review on Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Only Have One
11th April 2019 by Leave a Comment
This book review on Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Only Have One, by French author Raphaelle Giordano (I seem to have had a bit of a focus on French authors recently!) is an interesting mix between novel and self-help book. According to the book description, it reached best-seller status in France, stayed […]
Questions to ask Book Editors
29th March 2019 by Leave a Comment
Are you new to writing and/or to the publishing world? Publishing options for your book Are you seeking an objective viewpoint about your publishing options? It is – sorry to say but a fact nonetheless – extremely challenging (but not impossible) for a mainstream publisher to take on a first-time author. One of the alternatives […]
The French Art of Not Giving a F*ck
21st March 2019 by 2 Comments
Book review When does a book sell more copies because of its title rather than its cover? When it’s called “The French Art of Not Giving a F*ck”! Fabrice Midal, the author, is a philosopher and ‘one of the world’s leading teachers of meditation’. So it may come as a surprise that a practitioner of […]
Working With a Genuine Business in Publishing Services
5th March 2019 by Leave a Comment
I’m a real person. Not a robot. Or a telemarketing company. I live and work in Australia. When you contact my business, I’m the one who replies. I email you. Or Skype you. Or phone you. We can even meet in person. When you work with me, you’re working with a genuine business in publishing […]
Book Review of The Empyrean Quest
21st February 2019 by Leave a Comment
Debut Queensland author Don Horsfall has done himself proud with his first novel. The Empyrean Quest is part story and part mystical personal development journey. The self-help aspect of the book, however, does not detract from the story. I recently read another self-help fiction book, Your Second Life Begins When You Realize You Only Have […]