Podcasts about australian writer

When writer Helen Garner began following her grandson's under-16s football team, she gained a new appreciation for 'the ordinary beauty of human society'.

Pippa spoke to Pip Williams at the Franschhoek Literary Festival about her book, The Bookbinder of Jericho. It is set in the same period and geographic location of Oxford, only this time viewed chiefly through the eyes of a working-class protagonist, a young woman named Peggy who works in the book-bindery section of the press. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Running Wine Mom podcast, host Samantha Cieslinski interviews author Sally Hepworth. They discuss Sally's journey to becoming a bestselling author, her personal life and inspirations, and her latest novel, Darling Girls. Sally shares her experiences as a single mother and her parenting style, as well as her favorite ways to stay active and motivated. They also discuss the challenges of writing sensitive themes and weaving multiple perspectives and timelines in a cohesive story. Sally hopes that readers will be inspired by her books and that her stories will make a positive impact on their lives.TakeawaysSally Hepworth is a bestselling author known for her gripping psychological thrillers.Sally's journey to becoming an author started during her maternity leave, and she dedicated herself to writing while her baby napped.Sally's personal life and deep connections with family influence her storytelling.Sally's latest novel, Darling Girls, explores the bond between foster sisters and the secrets and suspense that surround them.Sally's writing process involves writing in sequential order, from beginning to end, and following her instincts.Sally hopes that her books, including Darling Girls, will inspire readers and make a positive impact on their lives.Get Your Copy of Darling Girls:  Darling GirlsSallyhepworth.comInstagram:  @sallyhepworth

As a child Trent was a quiet observer of the drama of his family and his neighbourhood. He became an award-winning writer (R)

The United States intends to launch further strikes at Iran-backed groups in the Middle East after hitting Tehran-aligned factions in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. We sit down with Democrat kingmaker Jim Clyburn to find out what Biden needs to win. A Beijing court has handed Australian writer Yang Hengjun a suspended death sentence. Plus, Taylor Swift makes Grammy history. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the 9News podcast. A snapshot of the latest stories from the9News team including: Australian writer sentenced to death, PM touts tax changes, and why too much vitamins could do more harm than good.  The biggest news stories in less than 10 minutes delivered three times a day,with reports from the 9News team across Australia and overseas. Subscribenow to make it part of your daily news diet.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robyn Davidson on her adventures high in the Himalayas, her love affair with an Indian prince, and her late in life reckoning with her own story (CW: mentions suicide)

Actor and writer Brendan Cowell with tender and funny tales from his boyhood as a child actor and a budding playwright (R)

Australian Writer, Philosopher, Storyteller, and now Songwriter, Michelle Spencer came on the podcast today to share about her first experiences writing and sharing songs via the Iced Teacup Challenge, and shared wisdom from her work in the death trade, and from living with chronic illness. . Follow Michelle's Arm Chair Rebel stories at https://armchairrebel.substack.com/ . Share you thoughts on this episode in the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Write Songs You Love Facebook Community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ group. . For songwriting prompts, challenges, and good thoughtful fun, check out the Write Songs You Love Newsletter at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://writesongsyoulove.substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/writesongsyoulove/message

Bettina is a Writer and Author with more than 16 years of experience in Public Relations and corporate writing. Originally from Germany, she moved to Australia in 2008. Following her creative calling, she graduated from the International School of Colour and Design in 2011 and self-published Downsize with Style in 2014.  As a freelance writer, she was published in Australian House & Garden, Home Ideas Magazine, Jetstar inflight magazine, and the Retiree Magazine. She started her life-writing journey in 2015 and is a member of Writing NSW, the Australian Writer's Centre, and the Australian Society of Authors. Other courses include an NLP Practitioner Training and energy work. She currently lives in Sydney, has two sons (20 and 17) and loves ballroom dancing, Pilates, meditation, and tea. Her midlife memoir Dare to Dance was published in April 2022 by MBW Publishing Enterprises.   FB Profile: https://www.facebook.com/bettina.deda/ Linkedin Profile: http://au.linkedin.com/in/bettinadeda Instagram: @bettina_deda     Your Host Karen Roberts   At Mintwave Radio Station and the 'Raising Vibrations' podcast network on Podbean, we provide a comprehensive range of services to coaches, consultants, therapists, healers, and experts who want to share their message with a wider audience. Our offerings include a complete podcast production service and an advanced AI-powered sales and marketing system that takes care of lead generation and nurturing for online course sales. We assist our clients in designing, creating, marketing, and selling their courses through various strategies such as educational funnels, podcast funnels, appointment funnels, sales pages, and membership areas. Our "Done 4 you" service encompasses editing podcasts, optimizing sound quality by removing filler words, crafting engaging show notes, producing intros and outros, creating podcast ads and snippets for social media marketing, and helping our clients achieve their first 50,000 downloads. If you're a coach who sells online courses and would like to learn How To Use AI To Build A List And Sell Your Coaching Program Fast......... >> https://karenrobertscoaching.com/ai  ATTN: Coaches, Consultants & Experts STUCK at 5-10k Months, How to Turn Your Podcast into a Sales Machine......... check out this free on demand class “Podcast Profits Unleashed” >>https://karenrobertscoaching.com/podcast-profits

xtal AI Lexman interviews famed Australian writer and director John Clarke. They discuss Clarke's latest film, parallelogram, and the similarities and differences between living in Australia and the US.

'Waanzinnige boomhutverhalen over toen het Stoel-In -Je-Neus-Dag was en en andere WAANZINNIGE gebeurtenissen.' This is the very long and somewhat absurd title of this year's children's book week gift. The book is written by the popular Australian author Andy Griffiths. Last week, the writer toured several Dutch bookstores, where children queued for hours to have their books signed. We called Andy to hear about his experience of the Dutch children's book week.

You may be aware of the prevalence of pornography, the way it's crept into popular media and normalized the objectification of women and girls, but today's guest, writer and activist Caitlin Roper is bringing news from the outer limits of male sexual entitlement. In this episode we explore an emerging threat in the exploitation of women and girls, sex robots and sex abuse dolls. Caitlin notes that life-like sex abuse dolls, including ones modeled after infants, toddlers, and children, have been available for sale on popular platforms like Etsy, Alibaba and Amazon. Apologists will say ‘better these men should do this to a doll than to a real woman or girl,' but for Roper, this logic does not hold up to scrutiny. In her new book Sex Dolls, Robots & Woman Hating, Caitlin says that sex dolls and robots have actually created even more opportunity for exploitation, including the production of sex abuse dolls made to look like specific children and instagram influencers. As the Campaigns Manager of Collective Shout, an organization that combats exploitation of women and girls in media and popular culture, Caitlin discusses her work with teen girls and the skills needed to resist porn culture in everyday life. Buy Caitlin's book Sex Dolls, Robots & Woman Hating: https://amzn.to/3SG0Mkv Follow Caitlin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itscaitlinroper/ Learn more about Collective Shout: https://www.collectiveshout.org/ ➢➢➢ SUPPORT THE PODCAST | https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/whosebodyisit?locale.x=en_US 1:1 COACHING SOVEREIGN WOMEN | https://www.whosebodyisit.com/coaching-for-sovereign-women HYPNOSIS FOR HEALING & RADICAL CHANGE | https://www.whosebodyisit.com/hypnosis SHOP ACTIVIST STICKERS | https://www.whosebodyisit.com/shop INSTAGRAM | https://www.instagram.com/whosebodyisit/

If COVID was a battlefield it would still be warm with the bodies of the unvaccinated. Thankfully the mandates are letting up and both sides of the war stumble back to the new normal. The unvaccinated are the heroes of the last two years as they allowed us all to have a control group in the great experiment and highlight the shortcoming of the Covid vaccines. The unvaccinated carry many battle scars and injuries as they are the people we tried to mentally break, yet no one wants to talk about what we did to them and what they forced “The Science“ to unveil. We knew that the waning immunity of the fully vaccinated had the same risk profile as others within society as the minority of the unvaccinated, yet we marked them for special persecution. You see we said they had not “done the right thing for the greater good” by handing their bodies and medical autonomy over to the State. Many of the so-called health experts and political leaders in Australia admitted the goal was to make life almost unliveable for the unvaccinated, which was multiplied many times by the collective mob, with the fight taken into workplaces, friendships, and family gatherings. Today the hard truth is none of it was justified as we took a quick slide from righteousness to absolute cruelty. We might lay the blame on our leaders and health experts for the push but each individual within society must be held accountable for stepping into the well-laid-out trap. We did this despite knowing full well that principled opposition is priceless when it comes to what goes inside our bodies and we let ourselves be tricked into believing that going into another ineffective lockdown would be the fault of the unvaccinated and not the fault of the toxic policy of ineffective vaccines. We took pleasure in scapegoating the unvaccinated because after months of engineered lockdowns by political leaders blinded by power, having someone to blame and to burn at the stake felt good. We believed we had logic, love, and truth on our side so it was easy to wish death upon the unvaccinated. Those of us who ridiculed and mocked the non-compliant did it because we were embarrassed by their courage and principles and didn't think the unvaccinated would make it through unbroken and we turned the holdouts into punching bags. Lambie, Carr, Chant, Andrews, McGowan, Gunner, and the other cast of hundreds in prominent roles need to be held to account for vilifying the unvaccinated in public and fueling angry social media mobs. The mobs, the mask Nazis, and the vaccine disciples have been embarrassed by “betting against” the unvaccinated because mandates only had the power we gave them. It was not compliance that ended domination by Big Pharma Companies, Bill Gates and his many organizations, and the World Economic Forum… It was THANKS to the people we tried to embarrass, ridicule, mock and tear down. We should all try and find some inner gratitude for the unvaccinated as we took the bait by hating them because their perseverance and courage bought us the time to see we were wrong. So if mandates ever return for COVID or any other disease or virus, hopefully, more of us will be awake and see the rising authoritarianism that has no concern for our well-being and is more about power and control. The War on the Unvaccinated was lost and we should all be very thankful for that. YouTube - https://youtu.be/J9tE65luO0g References - https://elink.io/p/opinion-piece-from-a-vaccinated-australian-writer-9c76455 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jsk/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jsk/support ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

If COVID was a battlefield it would still be warm with the bodies of the unvaccinated. Thankfully the mandates are letting up and both sides of the war stumble back to the new normal. The unvaccinated are the heroes of the last two years as they allowed us all to have a control group in the great experiment and highlight the shortcoming of the Covid vaccines. The unvaccinated carry many battle scars and injuries as they are the people we tried to mentally break, yet no one wants to talk about what we did to them and what they forced “The Science“ to unveil. We knew that the waning immunity of the fully vaccinated had the same risk profile as others within society as the minority of the unvaccinated, yet we marked them for special persecution. You see we said they had not “done the right thing for the greater good” by handing their bodies and medical autonomy over to the State. Many of the so-called health experts and political leaders in Australia admitted the goal was to make life almost unliveable for the unvaccinated, which was multiplied many times by the collective mob, with the fight taken into workplaces, friendships, and family gatherings. Today the hard truth is none of it was justified as we took a quick slide from righteousness to absolute cruelty. We might lay the blame on our leaders and health experts for the push but each individual within society must be held accountable for stepping into the well-laid-out trap. We did this despite knowing full well that principled opposition is priceless when it comes to what goes inside our bodies and we let ourselves be tricked into believing that going into another ineffective lockdown would be the fault of the unvaccinated and not the fault of the toxic policy of ineffective vaccines. We took pleasure in scapegoating the unvaccinated because after months of engineered lockdowns by political leaders blinded by power, having someone to blame and to burn at the stake felt good. We believed we had logic, love, and truth on our side so it was easy to wish death upon the unvaccinated. Those of us who ridiculed and mocked the non-compliant did it because we were embarrassed by their courage and principles and didn't think the unvaccinated would make it through unbroken and we turned the holdouts into punching bags. Lambie, Carr, Chant, Andrews, McGowan, Gunner, and the other cast of hundreds in prominent roles need to be held to account for vilifying the unvaccinated in public and fueling angry social media mobs. The mobs, the mask Nazis, and the vaccine disciples have been embarrassed by “betting against” the unvaccinated because mandates only had the power we gave them. It was not compliance that ended domination by Big Pharma Companies, Bill Gates and his many organizations, and the World Economic Forum… It was THANKS to the people we tried to embarrass, ridicule, mock and tear down. We should all try and find some inner gratitude for the unvaccinated as we took the bait by hating them because their perseverance and courage bought us the time to see we were wrong. So if mandates ever return for COVID or any other disease or virus, hopefully, more of us will be awake and see the rising authoritarianism that has no concern for our well-being and is more about power and control. The War on the Unvaccinated was lost and we should all be very thankful for that. YouTube - https://youtu.be/J9tE65luO0g References - https://elink.io/p/opinion-piece-from-a-vaccinated-australian-writer-9c76455 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/jsk/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/jsk/support ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Steve Toltz is the author of A Fraction of the Whole, which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Guardian First Book Award and Quicksand, which won the Russell Prize for Humour. Booklist called A Fraction of the Whole ‘a deliriously philosophical novel . . . with uproarious ruminations on freedom, the soul, love, death, and the meaning of life" and in a way that applies to Steve's work as a whole and his new book, Here Goes Nothing. The Irish Times described Here Goes Nothing as, ‘a smart social commentary on our fossil fuel-guzzling, warmongering, information-obsessed, pandemic-riddled world' and as The Scotsman said, he writes with ‘remorseless, brilliantly withering contempt', though this sits alongside a story and characters that are both affecting and strangely moving.Steve's also worked as screenwriter on shows like No Activity and Guilty Party.

Di Morrissey grew up in a tiny village on the water, only accessible by rowboat, with film star Chips Rafferty and poet Dorothea Mackellar as her neighbours. When she was a young woman, a tragedy on the bay altered her life (R)

Di Morrissey grew up in a tiny village on the water, only accessible by rowboat, with film star Chips Rafferty and poet Dorothea Mackellar as her neighbours. When she was a young woman, a tragedy on the bay altered her life (R)

Encore Presentation Rojé Augustin is a native New Yorker who grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Her first novel, The Unraveling of Bebe Jones, won the 2013 National Indie Excellence Award in African American fiction.  She wrote the novel while a stay-at-home-mom in London and Sydney.  In 2013 Rojé's script The Weekly was selected for the Australian Writer's Guild prestigious Pathways Program.  In May 2020 Rojé published her debut poetry collection, Out of No Way, Madam C.J. Walker and A'Lelia Walker, A Poetic Drama, which tells the story of Madam Walker's phenomenal life story.  Rojé continues to work as a screenwriter, journalist, and producer.  She is a dual national currently living in Sydney with her husband and two daughters.  When she's not working or spending time with family and friends, Rojé loves to rollerblade through the park while listening to her favorite tunes.  

Rojé Augustin is a native New Yorker who grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Her first novel, The Unraveling of Bebe Jones, won the 2013 National Indie Excellence Award in African American fiction.  She wrote the novel while a stay-at-home-mom in London and Sydney.  In 2013 Rojé's script The Weekly was selected for the Australian Writer's Guild prestigious Pathways Program.  In May 2020 Rojé published her debut poetry collection, Out of No Way, Madam C.J. Walker and A'Lelia Walker, A Poetic Drama, which tells the story of Madam Walker's phenomenal life story.  Rojé continues to work as a screenwriter, journalist, and producer.  She is a dual national currently living in Sydney with her husband and two daughters.  When she's not working or spending time with family and friends, Rojé loves to rollerblade through the park while listening to her favorite tunes.  

Much-loved broadcaster and writer Wendy was born with a cleft lip and palate, into a struggling family. As a young journalist she saw an anarchic cabaret show which changed the course of her life

Much-loved broadcaster and writer Wendy was born with a cleft lip and palate, into a struggling family. As a young journalist she saw an anarchic cabaret show which changed the course of her life

Actor and writer Brendan Cowell with tender and funny tales from his boyhood as a child actor and a budding playwright

Actor and writer Brendan Cowell with tender and funny tales from his boyhood as a child actor and a budding playwright

Recently, Elizabeth Guy published a book about Russia in 1915. The main characters of "Take Ink And Weep" novel are four Russian poets: Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva and Osip Mandelstam. This is a Russian language content. - Недавно у Элизабет Гай вышла книжка, действие которой происходит в России в 1915 году. Главные герои романа Take Ink And Weep “Достать чернил и плакать” - это четыре русских поэта: Борис Пастернак, Анна Ахматова, Марина Цветаева и Осип Мандельштам.

What does it mean to read like an Australian writer? Insights from writers Belinda Castles, Debra Adelaide and Nicholas Jose. Also, crime writer Will Dean on the dark fairytale woods of Sweden and the Bookshelf that Made Him; and a preview of The Big Weekend of Books

Rae Cairns is a former youth worker who has turned to a life of crime… writing. She is fascinated with how ordinary people manage when faced with extraordinary circumstances, and the lengths everyday characters will go when all they love is put at risk. She writes crime with heart; thriller and suspense novels featuring everyman (and woman) characters. Her first novel, The Good Mother, was shortlisted for Best Debut Crime Fiction in the 2021 NED KELLY awards. It draws on her background as a youth worker mentoring disadvantaged youth, many of them children of the paramilitaries, in Northern Ireland during the final years of ‘The Troubles'. After completion of the first draft Rae's manuscript was championed by novelist, screenwriter and director Mark Lamprell and then accepted into the Australian Writer's Mentoring Program where she worked with award winning novelist Kathryn Heyman. Under Kathryn's astute guidance Rae spent a year honing her craft and re-writing her novel. Henry interviews Rae about her debut book, The Good Mother. This conversation was originally broadcast on 3SER's 97.7FM Casey Radio in August, 2021. It was produced by Rob Kelly.

On 4 August 2020, Theodore Ell was living in Beirut, Lebanon, when an explosion erupted at the local port, killing more than 200 people and injuring thousands more. Ell and his wife, a diplomat, survived, but were badly shaken. Ell turned his experience into the personal essay ‘Façades of Lebanon', which went on to win the 2021 Calibre Essay Prize. The essay was published in the July 2021 edition of the Australian Book Review.

This week Tim dives deep into his read of Garth Nix's The Left Handed Booksellers of London, while Lisa shares her thoughts about Stephen King's The Shining.

On the impact of coronavirus outbreaks on footy in Perth, whether this West Coast Eagles group has squandered its potential, and more.

Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun will go on trial today in China more than two years after he was arrested on espionage charges, which he denies. Foreign Minister Marise Payne says Chinese authorities are yet to provide any explanation or evidence on the charges facing Dr Yang despite repeated requests from Australia.

Welcome to The Eff Your Fears Podcast hosted by comedian, writer, actress, singer, and a resident ray of sunshine, Ashley Monique Menard. This is an inspirational mindset podcast for creatives dealing with anxiety, fear, and their own journey down the yellow brick road of showbiz. It's part "E(ff Your Fears) True Hollywood Stories" with an industry professional interview that teaches you about the business. Everyone has come on the show, from Musicians, Actors, Directors, Voice Over Artists, Influencers, Broadway Stars, and even people from The Voice. In the 51st episode, Ashley talks about her opinions on the HBO MAX Doc Farrow Vs. Allen. She also gives you her pick for affordable headshots in NYC. https://www.queensselftape.com/ Also, we have an extraordinary guest, Australian Actress, Writer & Activist Clara Francesca. The ladies talk about the importance of simulated patient work, social injustice, and how Clara has created her work from 12. She talks about how she found her voice, studied law, and creates art. In this uplifting episode, Clara's energy is infectious. Clara also shares about her work on Theater Company- https://www.xrensemble.com The Movie- www.inorporefilm.com Let us know what you think... What's your favorite part? Have you liked and subscribe? What are you waiting for.... this is a handwritten invitation. Like, subscribe Bebe xoxo. Wanna learn more about Clara? Clara Francesca is both an expert speech coach and an artist. As a speech coach with an impressive client portfolio and thirteen years in the field, Clara specializes in speech-anxiety reduction, fostering people with the confidence to walk into any room and share their ideas, through practical, mindful, and impactful exercises, to champion their authentic voice. Clara's Medico-Legal training at Maurice Blackburn lawyers and over ten years of experience within Medico-Legal University Departments in the United States and Australia equips Clara with a unique insight into Corporate Medico-Legal speech challenges. As an artist, Clara is an "athlete of the heart making art." In 2013 Clara joined Anne Bogart's SITI Company's Inaugural Conservatory in NYC, later working with Chuck Mee on Cubist Productions. Before moving from Australia to the States, Clara developed her career as an award-winning solo-theatre actor, directing at notable stages such as La Mama, Malthouse, and later bookings at The Signature Theater NYC Korea, Japan, UK, and more. Clara has performed in multiple award-winning feature films and has nationally toured bilingual children's musicals. Most notably, her touring solo shows Manifesting Mrs. Marx (presented at The Edinburgh Fringe 2019 and scheduled to reappear in 2020, Best Performance Art SaraSolo Winner, Outstanding Solo Performance & Outstanding Original Script Nominee IT Awards NYC). She has taken it across the globe, inviting audiences to laugh and cry with her as she tells tales of humans with hearts just like yours, the person reading this paragraph. Clara is a co-founder of The Extended Reality Ensemble (XRE). XRE was created to respond to the pandemic, with artists determined to do safe work regardless of lockdowns by pioneering excellence in art, new media storytelling, and creative coding. Clara continues to work as an artist and voice-over actress with Audible Books, Trinacria Theater, Phoenix Theater Ensemble, GF&Co, and household brands like Shiseido. https://www.clarafrancesca.com/featured-in-namm-less-modular-madness-marathon/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CJycvfqnZML/ https://www.clarafrancesca.com/speech-coach/ www.clarafrancesca.com More on Ashley? www.effyourfears.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/effyourfears/support

Fleur McDonald is one of Australia’s leading authors in rural literature and storytelling. Fleur is a prolific writer and to date has published 16 novels, while still living on a working farm. We talk about courageous characters in her novels and find out whether there is a hint of Fleur in any of the rural heroines we read about. We don’t just talk books though. We dive into Fleur cutting her teeth working the land, firstly as a jillaroo, then what it’s like to live in a remote environment and raise a family with children who needed a lot of early health interventions.  We also have an important chat about domestic violence and how it relates to rural living. Duration: 32 minWe talk about:·         Life growing up in rural and isolated Australian landscapes·         Life as a jillaroo and female farmer·         Raising children with special needs          Living  in a rural landscape without running water, electricity and basic amenities·         Anxiety ·         Access to mental health services in rural Australia·         Domestic Violence·         The organisation DV Assist ·         Courageous female characters in Fleur’s novels·         Courage to be kindContact FleurWebsite: https://www.fleurmcdonald.com/Fleur’s novels:  Novels – Fleur McDonaldDV assist: https://dvassist.org.au/  (Rural domestic violence assistance)Social Media HandlesFacebook:@FleurMcDonaldAuthorInstagram: fleurmcdonald Interview: Sana TurnockProduced and edited by: Sana Turnock Audio mastering: Woods Media Lab Copyright-free music credits: Apolllo - Patrick Patrikios  Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/courageunravelled)

Merlinda Bobis is a woman of substance and linguistic prowess - with undeniable eloquence in expressing her art through her written works.

On this week's episode of PRIMAL SCREEN, we chat with award-winning Australian filmmaker, Sonia Bible and discuss her latest film THE WITCH OF KINGS CROSS (2020). Also featured in this episode is a review of Sean Durkin's THE NEST (2020). With presenters Sally Christie, Flick Ford and Paul Anthony Nelson.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/primalscreenshow/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primal_screen_show/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/primal_screen

Welcome to Story Time with Darcie! In every episode, you hear a piece (or two) of my own short fiction. I’m an eclectic writer, so you may be surprised by the genres and situations, but what these stories have in common is their exploration of big ideas. Please join me in welcome Hayley Scanlan as a new voice on the pod! Hayley is no stranger to the stage, having danced and acted since childhood, but this is her first foray into voice acting. Today’s story, A Brief (Fictional) History of Communication (with Fratricide), is quite a departure from my usual (if you can find anything usual about my eclectic stories). In fact, it’s not really a narrative at all. Yes, I recall I said the same thing about Godly Musings over Triple Espresso in a recent episode, but I think you’ll find this one has a completely different feel yet again. I should also mention that the inclusion of Brief in the title is literal. And because the story is so short, I’m adding some bonus content. But we’ll get to that after the story. As also hinted at in the title, today we have Content Warning for Murder and Killing (Fratricide to be precise), though I’m not sure if it really needs a warning as it’s purely metaphoric murder. But, we’ll let Hayley tell us more about that … Yup. Definitely a departure for me. A little testing of some different waters. A Brief (Fictional) History of Communication (with Fratricide) was written for the Australian Writer’s Centre’s December 2019 Furious Fiction Challenge. I write for challenges quite often. The creative prompts push me to think and create outside my box. I can’t remember exactly what the prompts for this story were, but I’ll never forget the challenge that prompted us with emojiis. (I’ll have to look up that story and share it with you sometime.) But, back to the present. I promised you some bonus content! In addition to the challenges, I often (though not recently) as my facebook followers to send me writing prompts. We call it “Inspire Me Sunday” and it even has a jingle! I mention this not only to encourage you to join my facebook group (@DarcieTKelly) to participate in upcoming Inspire Me Sundays (and yes, if you’ve been missing them I do plan to bring them back soon), but also because Finger Paint, our bonus content, was created as a response to Inspire Me Sunday prompts. In early November, 2018, I was given a fantastic image by friend of the pod Pamela (check out her work on facebook at @LightGraph) and a write up about fall leaves and finger painting. That same week, Gen sent me the poem In Flanders Field as a prompt. I combined the two to create this piece, a tribute to Remembrance Day and all who have sacrificed for the safety of all people. Well, that’s it for today’s episode of Story Time With Darcie. Once again, thank you, Hayley, for sharing your talents for this story. I’m excited you’ve joined the Story Time with Darcie family! If you would like to become a voice on Story Time with Darcie, please, reach out! My eclectic stories need a variety of voices, and yours will be a welcome addition! Thank you for listening. To read more of my stories and perhaps inspire my next one, check out my new website: www.darcietkelly.me and join me on facebook @DarcieTKelly. If you’re interested in purchasing a copy of Musings: A Collection of Short Stories, get in touch through the facebook page or email me (email4darciekelly(at)gmail.com). And please, subscribe on your podcatcher of choice for future episodes of Story Time With Darcie. Until next month, stay well, and keep smiling. Direct Link to text version of A

Miles Franklin is a household name thanks to her classic novel, My Brilliant Career, which was published more than a century ago. But she didn't always believe she would be respected as a writer.

The Australian Writer's Guild has just announced it's nominee's for the 53rd Annual AWGIE Awardsthe awards that celebrate the work of writers in screen and stage in Australia.It is all happening on December 8th.Now one of the nominees in the feature category is C.S. McMullen’s debut feature The Other Lamb. Now at Showreel we were lucky enough to talk with C.S. McMullen about writing with some reference to The Other Lamb last year so I thought it would be great to revisit part of the conversation. The other voice you hear is Sean McMullin her father the well known writer of speculative fiction. Here we go.

In this episode we talk to director, screenwriter and actress, Elise McCredie. From Ride Like a Girl to Stateless, Elise's work in the industry has been both influential and outstanding. As well as winning two Australian Writer's Guild Awards, Elise has worked on the AACTA-winning mini-series Sunshine as well as the Emmy-winning ABC series Nowhere Boys. Her first feature film, Strange Fits of Passion, was selected to be showcased at the Cannes Film Festival, and has additionally been nominated for numerous awards. We discuss her early experiences as both a director and actress in the industry, as well as how some of her most recent projects have had a strong emphasis on gender equality behind the camera. Hosted by April Austen and Nick Angus. Music by Jason Markoutsas.

The secret contains wisdom from modern day teachers....Men&women who have used it to achieve health,wealth,and happiness. Read and transform your life.

If you're a new author, I'm hosting a free challenge - 5 Days To Plot Your First Novel. It runs 5-9 October 2020 and will be a lot of fun. If you'd like to take part, go to www.PlotYourNovel.com and sign up :) What's in this episode?Time management is one of those things that all new writers struggle with in the early days. Originally I thought this was because they didn’t have enough time, but I discovered that the problem for some is they have too much time!Which camp do you fall into?Nobody could have predicted the tumultuous pandemic that’s swept the globe this year. It feels like it took us all by surprise and no one had time to prepare. That includes writers.To help you continue with your work in progress, I thought it timely to pull together some information about time management. Each of the blog posts mentioned in today's episode will help you do this. Links mentioned in the episode:9 Time Management Tips For Writers, Joanna PennHow Should Indie Authors Manage Their Time, Debbie Young for Self Publishing AdviceTime Management For Writers, Maggie LindersMaking Time To Write, K M Weiland5 Ways To Write Your Novel, Australian Writer’s CentrePlan Like A Boss, Dani ThomsonAssociated Blog Article:https://emmadhesi.com/blog-post/top-5-time-mangement-blogs-for-authorsSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/emmadhesi)

An Australian writer detained in China for almost two years on unspecified spying accusations has been granted access to a lawyer for the first time.

"Today is difficult to be a human. There is a real distance between as, and it is difficult to say 'I am Bosnian' as well..." - " U današnjem trenutku je teško biti čovjek. Udaljavamo se jedni od drugih, a teško je reći i da si Bosanac..."

The wife of an Australian writer and democracy activist who has been detained in China since January, has been banned from leaving the country and interrogated by authorities. The couple's lawyer says the government needs to intervene more decisively to advocate for Yang Hengjun and now his wife's cases. - འདི་ལོའི་ཕྱི་ཟླ་ ༡ པོ་ནས་རྒྱ་ནག་གཞུང་གིས་བཀག་ཉར་བྱས་པའི་ཨོ་སི་ཏྲེ་ལི་ཡའི་མི་སེར་ཡིན་པ་རྒྱ་རིགས་རྩོམ་པ་པོ་དང་། དམངས་གཙོར་རྒྱབ་སྐྱོར་ལས་འགུལ་བ་ Yang Hengjun ལགས་ཀྱི་བཟའ་ཟླ་རྒྱ་ནག་ནས་ཕྱིར་ཐོན་མི་ཆོག་པའི་བཀག་སྡོམ་བྱས་ནས་རྒྱ་མིའི་ཉེན་རྟོག་པས་ཡུན་རིང་འདྲི་བརྩད་བྱས་ཡོད་པ་དང་། ཁོང་རྣམ་པ་གཉིས་ཀྱི་ཁྲིམས་རྩོད་པས། ཨོ་སི་ཏྲེ་ལི་ཡའི་གཞུང་གི་ངོས་ནས་རྩོམ་པ་པོ་ཡཱང་ལགས་དང་ཁོང་གི་བཟའ་ཟླའི་གནད་དོན་ཐོག་རྒྱ་ནག་གཞུང་ལ་གནོན་ཤུགས་ཆེ་ཙམ་སྤྲད་དགོས་ཞེས་གསུངས་འདུག

Welcome to Trans-Tasman Tales, the free podcast by the Australian High Commission in New Zealand.In today's episode, Australian Consul General & Senior Trade Commissioner sits down with Markus Zusak, one of Australia's most well-known authors. Best known for The Book Thief, Markus and Craig talk about the challenges of writing and those thirteen years working on Bridge of Clay. Markus was in Auckland attending the Auckland Writer's Festival with support from the Australian High Commission in New Zealand. You can watch Markus at the Festival here.Keep up to date with the Australian High Commission in New Zealand by following us on social media: Find us on FacebookFind us on TwitterFind us on LinkedInVisit our website Music by Lee Rosevere

As a child Trent was a quiet observer of the drama of his family and his neighbourhood. He grew up to become an award-winning writer (R)

Episode 2. I caught up with Australian Writer, Producer and Director Lyndsay Sarah to hear her journey of shooting her first indie feature film and the challenges she faced. Check out Lyndsay's work herehttps://www.lyndsaysarahdoyle.com/projects Transcript for our hard of hearing/deaf listenersGareth:Hey everyone, welcome to Action Cut and Everything In-Between, Episode number 2. Today I'm speaking with, Lyndsay Sarah. She is an Irish-Australian writer, director and filmmaker. After spending 10 years in television, she's decided to make her first feature film.Gareth:Now, her background is similar to mine. She didn't go to film school, she didn't go to university. She's just self-taught. She's shot a number of successful short films. Room of Doors was one and that's on Amazon Prime. And then another short horror called Dirt, which is awesome. You've got to check both those out online. Without further ado, we'll jump right in.Gareth:Okay, Lyndsay, thanks for coming on the show. I really appreciate...Lyndsay Sarah:Oh, thank you.Gareth:... you giving your time today.Lyndsay Sarah:It's very precious, my time. But you're worth it Gareth.Gareth:Oh, thank you. You're just at the end of your feature film, Guilt. Where is it now? Post production?Lyndsay Sarah:We've currently finished the first draft, I'm going to say it's pretty much final edit because everybody seems to be happy with it. I haven't actually looked at all of it yet. But two of our producers have, and they're really happy. We're at the stage now where I'm going to have a little watch of it. If I have any notes or feedback or any kind of adjustments, then we'll all have a chat about that.Lyndsay Sarah:But it's pretty much the end of the edit, the picture lock, and then it will move off into scene mix and then grade. Then we'll score it and all the rest.Gareth:Awesome.Lyndsay Sarah:But it's good. It happened in such, sorry I interrupted. But, it happened in such a short period of time. Like blink and you'll miss it is how it kind of feels. And because this isn't obviously my day job, is not a filmmaker. I wish it was. You work, you go and do your job, you go and do other projects and then you kind of go, "Oh wow, we just made a full feature length movie." I don't feel like I really had the time or the space to soak it all up.Gareth:That's good.Lyndsay Sarah:But that means-Gareth:We'll get into that, I want to hear the story of it and how it all came about, as we go on. But give us a brief overview of Guilt. What's it all about?Lyndsay Sarah:I will. Okay. I'll give you a very brief, brief, brief. Basically the plot it's about a female serial killer who targets child sex offenders. Then she finds out that one of her past victims had actually been falsely accused, and therefore becomes conflicted about what to do with her latest victim.Gareth:Interesting.Lyndsay Sarah:That's it very shortly summed up.Gareth:Okay, nice.Lyndsay Sarah:How the story came to be?Gareth:Yes. I mean, take us back to how do you go from shooting short films like you did? You did some great shoots that I've seen. How do you go from that to deciding I'm going to make a feature?Lyndsay Sarah:Well, I was fortunate enough to meet my Guilt co-director and cinematographer and one of the producers, Karl and Janet who plays the lead role in Guilt. I met them through a mutual friend. I've known them longer than I've known my husband. We met at a pub one night and I didn't really know about them, but our mutual friend had told Karl about me and how I was a filmmaker. I'd made short films.Lyndsay Sarah:We just got to talking and we got to hanging out and then we said we'd work on a short project together. Karl had a couple of projects going, and so I went and helped on his set. Just helping around, just production assistant kind of thing. Then he came and shot one of my short films, that's on Amazon Prime and-Gareth:What's that's called?Lyndsay Sarah:That's called Room of Doors.Gareth:Cool. Check that out.Lyndsay Sarah:Room of Doors. Yes, it's a short reel. It's about four minutes long. It's quite fun. It went through the film festival circuit as well, and had a few screenings around the world. We shot that together and Janet actually played the supporting role in that short film.Lyndsay Sarah:We just kind of, we've been friends for a few years and helped each other out on different projects. Then I think all three of us were at the stage where we're just ready to step up and tackle a feature film. We're all pretty determined and serious about breaking into the industry and continuing to make content.Lyndsay Sarah:It was kind of just that it happened. We talked about it. Actually prior to making Guilt, Karl was going to produce another feature length, and he invited me on board to write the script. I wrote the script, and I think we were into the second draft of it. Then he turned around one day at my place and said, "Oh, but this won't be my first film. This will be after the first film."Lyndsay Sarah:I was like, "Oh, why are we writing this?" Like, "Let's go and come up with the first idea and then go and make that." We threw around some ideas. I already had some scripts kind of half written and going and I thought this might be good. Then we came with some other ideas and then Janet, actually came up with the idea of the character, the lead character in Guilt. That's sort of where it all came from.Gareth:Cool.Lyndsay Sarah:She wanted to play a female... well she's female, so yes, she's going to play a female. She wanted to play a serial killer that targeted paedophiles. And it kind of came out of there.Gareth:How long did the script actually take to write?Lyndsay Sarah:What's unique about the production of Guilt is that, we had this looming deadline because Janet had actually gotten her Green Card to move to America. When they issue the Green Card, they give you a date you have to be in the US. And that's non-negotiable.Lyndsay Sarah:We basically had, I think it was June, July, August, September, four months before she moved to America. It wasn't so much like I had that luxury of really writing the script and developing it. Then we all had the luxury of time to go into pre-production, all that kind of thing. We gave ourselves, actually I think it was five months. We had five months to basically write, go into pre production, shoot, and then Janet could leave anyway. But...Gareth:Rolling from script to shoot day one, how long do you think?Lyndsay Sarah:I wrote the script I think in two months. There was a bit of a gap there at time trying to work out our schedules before we actually went into pre-production. But, I think we had about two months from having a script we are happy with, to then organizing a feature film shoot. Then going into shoot. I think it was about two months. Organizing cast, crew casting, crewing locations, permits, blah, blah, blah, blah.Gareth:Yes, it's massive. I can't believe that you guys pulled it off in such a short amount of time.Lyndsay Sarah:Well, that's when I say blink and you'll miss it. That's how it feels.Gareth:Now that it's all shot on in the can, how does it feel? How's does it feel now watching it back, seeing kind of the final edit?Lyndsay Sarah:Well, I'm yet to see the final edit, but I've gotten to see a bunch of the scenes, the more prominent scenes. Yes, I don't know, I just feel time went so quickly and it's almost like everybody was in panic mode, and I didn't really get to lap it up and savor it. I don't quite have any kind of, I guess, emotional attachment.Lyndsay Sarah:When I do see the scenes I go, "Cool, that's awesome." But it feels like I'm watching another film that I wasn't a part of, if that makes any sense. Just because we didn't have that time to breathe and really savor it. But I mean, it looks cool and it's a really interesting story, and I think people will like it.Gareth:It's funny when I see the behind the scenes pictures of my film, kind of, I don't even remember shooting that, what happened that day. I think you just so into it on the day and so stressed and you're thinking about a million things, you don't have time to just sit back and enjoy it. Do you?Lyndsay Sarah:Well, you go into overdrive, I think. People like to know that you were on my set?Gareth:Yes. We can say that I actually helped out. Couple of days and I'm actually one of the SWAT team, as well for your filming action.Lyndsay Sarah:You took a few days?Gareth:Yes. I took a few days.Lyndsay Sarah:You deserve more credit than a couple of days. You're a big help. But what was I going to say about that is I've lost my train of thought... well, you're in overdrive and I kind of, you put your little hat on and you get to work and you don't really get to... I don't know. I don't remember half of it either.Gareth:Yes, in the moment it feels, but you're not actually...Lyndsay Sarah:In the moment?Gareth:In that moment, yes.Lyndsay Sarah:It's like the whole fight or flight thing. It's like you're just reacting. You're not quite, it's not like this whole. Be present, be in the moment. You're not like, What can I feel? What can I smell? What can I hear? You're not kind of savoring the moment. You just like we've got this whole shit load of stuff that needs to be done, and we need to go and do it. No time to waste.Gareth:That's it. What do you think you've learned then, from shooting your first feature? From what you've said so far, it sounds like time is a big thing. Give yourself probably a bit more time?Lyndsay Sarah:Time is a big thing. Yep. Prep work is a big thing. I'm super organized and so it's quite natural for me to organize something short periods of time and with little time. I think kind of probably in a sick way, I don't want to say get off on it, but I kind of enjoy that buzz. It's a bit of a thrill. The whole like, "Oh my God, we've only got a day to do this." It's like boom, boom, boom, boom. I really enjoy that.Lyndsay Sarah:But I would say that next time, I would want just want more time before having to get onto set. The thing is, when you're on set and you're filming, there's so many things that are out of your control. That's why you got to be super organized.Lyndsay Sarah:The most you can do prior to getting onto set is prepare and organize yourself, so that if anything does go wrong and set you're ready for it. I think what I would want next time around is definitely more time to spend with the script. I mean, we did a good job.Lyndsay Sarah:Myself and Janet developed that script together. We did a good job. I'd go away and I'd write and then I'd pop in a couple of weeks later to her and she'd have a read, then we'd have a chat. I'd go off again and write some more. I just would like more time to breathe in between each process. I think. Not kind of go write up the script, straight into pre-production, straight into shooting, straight into post. I've wanted to be like, "Ooh." You just, there's breathing room in between. Because I think you probably get to enjoy it more, maybe.Gareth:Yes, definitely. All right. What's your plan for distribution once it's all... done, you're happy with it. It's all ready to go? What's your distribution plans?Lyndsay Sarah:A couple of our team, Karl and Janet... did I mention who Karl was?Gareth:Yes, you mentioned in the beginning Karl and Janet.Lyndsay Sarah:Co-director cinematographer. Karl and Janet went off to the American film market, which you went to as well, end of last year. They kind of did their thing, organizing meetings and chatting with people and finding distributors who were interested in what we had. Now we didn't have a finished, polished film, then. This was just sort of like we had put some scenes together and we had some production stills, and the script was provided and all that kind of stuff. They had a ton of meetings and just found a bunch of people who are interested in seeing it when it was finished.Lyndsay Sarah:Now that it's going to be finished probably in a month or so. We then will get back in contact with those interested parties and send them a screener to have a look at. Then basically go from there. If you know people are still interested, then we'll set up some meetings and perhaps we'll fly over to the US, and meet with people in person.Lyndsay Sarah:If nobody's interested, that's fine. Fuck you. No, I'm kidding. We'll probably head back to the American film market this year in November with our finished product and kind of re-introduce it to the market now that it's finished and all polished and looking shiny.Gareth:Very nice. What advice do you think you'd give someone who was thinking about shooting their own feature film?Lyndsay Sarah:Well, first of all I would say shoot some short films. That's your playground. That's basically where you learn what not to do. It's also a great place to make some friends. To network, to meet some people that you could possibly potentially then go and make a feature film with.Lyndsay Sarah:You can stuff up on short films. It's not a huge risk and you're not losing a lot. I know it's still time, it's still energy it's still money. You still want to do it right, but it's not the end of the world if you stuff up.Lyndsay Sarah:Now, my short film, Room of Doors, that's on Amazon. I had actually shot that film six, eight months prior. I had made a terrible mistake with casting and didn't realize at the time until we're on set and all of a sudden this particular human being decided she didn't want to act anymore. She wasn't basically performing the way she did during the audition.Lyndsay Sarah:She basically stuffed me around for about three or four days. We basically went away after shooting as much as we could with her. And I sat in with the edit for about a month before I went, "Yes, this is terrible. I cannot cut around bad acting. I need to do this again." Yes, that set me back a few months of organizing and shooting and using everybody's time. It also set me back a couple of grand, a few grand.Lyndsay Sarah:But, I learnt heaps from doing that. How important it was to actually have the right people. You're not always going to get it right, and sometimes you think you have it right until you get to set. Then you kind of, it's out of your control and it's not like you can go. Okay, everybody go home after an hour.Lyndsay Sarah:It's like you've organized this whole shoot and you've got people and you've got locations, booking permits and you got catering and all the rest of it. And people have given up their time. Sometimes you just got to go with the flow.Lyndsay Sarah:Six, or eight months later, we shot that again and it actually came out much better, and obviously has done very well for itself, which I didn't think would happen had I gone ahead with editing the original. That's a little fun fact there. But once again, it was a short film. There's not much to lose.Lyndsay Sarah:You hear about these big huge budget productions that they make mistakes like that. Like Game of Thrones. The girl who plays the dragon girl Daenerys, they actually had cast somebody else prior to her and shot I think about three or four of her scenes for the first episode of the first season.Lyndsay Sarah:Until somebody from the network or somebody up there went, "This is the wrong choice. We need to recast this role." That's something like Game of Thrones and you see how explosive and expensive that production is. Imagine being that person who chose to cast her and then they had to go recast it. And that's when they get Emilia Clarke and re-shoot all those scenes all over again.Lyndsay Sarah:Now that's a big risk, not a short film. Not stuffing up on a short film. Go make a short film before you make a feature film, unless you've got money to blow.Gareth:That's it. Time management.Lyndsay Sarah:Yes.Gareth:Shoot a lot of short films, get the right people on board. I suppose that goes for crew as well. Doesn't it?Lyndsay Sarah:Prove us wrong.Gareth:Short films is a great way to see who you're going to bond with on set, because you spend so much time with these people, and a lot of the time with yours, I'm with mine. Where we've had to stay overnight as well in the location. You need to be able to have breakfast, lunch, dinner with all these people. You're spending a hell of a lot of time with them. You've got to make sure that you're jelling with everyone who's on your set.Lyndsay Sarah:Absolutely. Especially, when it's a short film, you're not very well known. There may not be money involved. It may be unpaid. Kind of, you can test people to see how much they're willing to give of their time and their energy to you when there's no money involved and there's no status involved.Lyndsay Sarah:If somebody goes, "Oh, sorry, if it was paid, I'd do it." You go, "Well, fuck you. When I do have money I wouldn't be hiring you." All those little things that you can learn along the way as well.Lyndsay Sarah:I was going to say something else about the short film. Well, if somebody has made short films and then they want to make feature, I'm hoping by the time they decide to go and make that feature, they've actually created strong bonds and connections through doing the short films.Lyndsay Sarah:Making a feature film is pretty much the same as making a short film times 20. If you've gotten it down part doing a short and you're confident and you're ready to go, it's the same thing. You've got to have a good script. Good actors, good crew. Be organized. Not hard a hustle, and take on multiple jobs yourself. Don't kind of go, "Well, I'm the director. That is it."Lyndsay Sarah:Learn to cook if you have to. Go do the location scouting, if you have to. Be your own first aid, whatever. Take on multiple jobs because you can't, especially if it's an indie project and you'd never done it before, and you don't have much money, you can't be hiring or even depending on other people all the time.Lyndsay Sarah:Especially, for a short film, if somebody says, "Yes, I'll come help for two days and I'll work for free, and I'll be a production assistant, that's different from a feature film and asking someone to give up three or four weeks of their life for free. People go to work. People got to live.Gareth:Yes. That's awesome.Lyndsay Sarah:I think that, that would be it. Just be super organized. Show a bit of humility, I think as well. You're never too good for a job. Just do all the jobs. Do them well. Lead by example. Create a comfortable, and safe and creative environment. I guess create what you would want to walk into. If you had been asked to come help on a feature film, just create that kind of environment.Gareth:Yes, absolutely.Lyndsay Sarah:I think that's it.Gareth:What about in terms of the actual script itself? What would you say to people to try and avoid. That's made life difficult with the actual shoot because a lot of indie features are going to be low budget. What's been some of the biggest problems to face, kind of with that side of things?Lyndsay Sarah:Well, I'm very much into performance and story based stories. Don't create some kind of CGI monster or alien or a spaceship or multiple car crash into a helicopter. Restrain yourself when it comes to what you go out and shoot. Because, if you can't make it look $1 million, I think it will affect how your film looks overall. And the production quality of your film.Lyndsay Sarah:We've all seen those bad low budget films with some kind of reptile that's not a real reptile, and they haven't had the budget to get the best in the industry. But in saying that, I mean if it's your dream to do like your first indie feature being about the Reptile Man, then just go make it happen for yourself.Lyndsay Sarah:I don't know, that's kind of stuff I'd avoid. I'm very much into performance based. You want to get yourself some good actors who aren't afraid to let loose and look a bit ugly. I know that all actors are self-conscious but not self-conscious where that's going to affect their performance.Lyndsay Sarah:Get a good story first. As long as it's a good story, I think that a lot of that low budget elements are forgivable. If you don't really have something interesting and unique that people haven't seen or heard before, I think it'd be very hard to stand out in the crowd of millions of other low budget indie films that are out there.Gareth:Yes, sure. When you're writing, do you come up against these things where you think, "Okay, now she's going to jump in a helicopter and fly away." And then you're like, "Oh no, hang on."Lyndsay Sarah:Well, the thing with me is I'm a writer first before I'm a filmmaker. The reason I got into actually making films was because I was told once, the best way to have your writing considered and taken seriously in the industry is to have had it produced. Which sounds a bit like a catch 22, how can I get it produced if it hasn't been produced? Does that make sense? You know what I'm saying?Gareth:Yes.Lyndsay Sarah:I decided to go write stuff and produce it myself. My writing always comes before my filmmaking. I'm never short on ideas, but what I then think is doable, I can pick out of all these different script ideas that I've come up with. I might be writing something that's like an action adventure, and it's happens around different parts of the world and there are big action explosion scenes.Lyndsay Sarah:I wouldn't stop myself just because I couldn't at this point in time make that film. I just keep writing it because I could then option it to Hollywood, and say will you buy this script? Then I would go and focus my filmmaking efforts on something that's a lot more achievable with the means that I have right now.Lyndsay Sarah:That's one of the pluses to being a writer-director-producer. Is that I can kind of decide what... I can still write, but it doesn't necessarily have to be for myself. See, because I've always been told, if you're writing something, never to think about the final destination of the script. Just write. Whatever comes out just right and let that sort of the story be told.Lyndsay Sarah:Develop the script and never mind what will happen to it at the end. Never mind about the business. Don't even think about the industry when you're writing the script. If somebody is a writer and filmmaker, or they've got something that they want to make, always put the script in the story first. Then the rest comes later.Lyndsay Sarah:If you finish it and you go right, "Well, that's not achievable with my means at all." Because of the explosions into five helicopters, then think of something else and write that instead. But, you should never avoid writing just because you don't want to hear that.Lyndsay Sarah:You don't want to say, "Oh, well, it's not going to be made. I can't make that. I just won't bother." That's why a lot of people don't get off their ass and go and make films, because they think it's too hard or it's not achievable. But it is, it just takes time. You just got to be patient. I don't think I gave any advice in that. Did I?Gareth:No. That was great. That was awesome. Yes.Lyndsay Sarah:All right.Gareth:Very good.Lyndsay Sarah:I was like, I don't think I've helped anybody.Gareth:No, that was very good. Listen, what's next for you now?Lyndsay Sarah:Me personally?Gareth:Yes. On your film making journey-Lyndsay Sarah:On my journey.Gareth:Guilt's going to be going into it's distribution and post production stage and all that. Kind of aside from that, are you working on anything else?Lyndsay Sarah:I am.Gareth:What's your future plans?Lyndsay Sarah:I'm always working on something. Like I mentioned before, I'm a writer, so I'm always writing. I'm also a aspiring author. I'm not just film related, I also want to write books. I'm always kind of dabbling in some novel ideas aimed at young adults. I was a big fan of The Hunger Games.Lyndsay Sarah:I'm sort of in that kind of sphere where I'd be trying to get young adults to get off Instagram, and read more books and use their imagination, and sort of, I love that kind of adventure. Sci-Fi fantasy genre in books. That's one of my things. I do a lot of writing and sometimes I'll be writing a script one day and then later on that night I'll start writing a chapter in a novel.Lyndsay Sarah:There's pros and cons to that as well. I might mention with having too many ideas, you need a lot of discipline to focus on one. Lots of writing. I hooked up with a... what would I call them? They're a theater type group in Sydney, and they asked me to write a theater production for them.Lyndsay Sarah:I've done a couple of, sorry, I'm about to burp. Cut. I've done a couple of... we're on to the third draft. Now with that it's going to be a musical. It's really cool. They've got aerial artists, and fire twirling and back-flipping and all this crazy kind of stuff. It's kind of like a Romeo and Juliet story.Lyndsay Sarah:It's based on this very ancient Persian poem about these two lovers who aren't allowed to be together, and it's got a sad ending. They also want to make it sort of comedic, as well. A bit of comic relief in there. I've been working on that, the past couple of months. We've just put it on hold for now, but I'll get back into that, soon-ish.Lyndsay Sarah:I probably will go into production with something next year, but I haven't decided which story yet. We've got a few scripts going at the moment that potentially could be my next one. I'm not kind of rushing into it, I've learned. I don't want to rush. I just really want to get the scripts into a really good place where, other people would be interested in coming on board and putting in some money.Lyndsay Sarah:I think, I'm going to spend this year... I mean, we're halfway through the year already. I think the rest of the year, which is a good enough time just to spend on really honing these story ideas and getting them to a good place. And then, I'll probably choose one that I think speaks the loudest to me and then start looking at going into production with that next year. If not, I'll sell it to someone else.Gareth:Nice. That's awesome. Now, I suppose you're going to be enjoying kind of the journey that Guilt takes now and watching how that-Lyndsay Sarah:I think so.Gareth:Travels and turns out.Lyndsay Sarah:Well, like I said, with the whole savoring the moment thing, because it feels like it all just happens so quickly and there was no savoring. I feel like, now with it going off into the world, and who knows what will become of it. But hopefully there will be that period where I get to then, sink into the moment and really enjoy it. Hopefully it gets some good reception, and I can enjoy that as well.Lyndsay Sarah:Take your time people. I feel I'm meditating talking about this, but it's so important to enjoy it. I think that's one of the main things I learned from doing it as well. I mean, you are on set with us. We had some pretty funny days where we're all just cracking up laughing and I remember, I just have double over with tears coming down my eyes.Lyndsay Sarah:I was just laughing so much. But apart from those hilarious moments, there was a lot of stress and I'm a very high stress person. But I think coming out of that I learned that... did I really enjoy the process? I enjoyed days on set and hanging out with the cast and crew. But the whole process, did I enjoy it fully to what I could have. I'd have to say, no.Lyndsay Sarah:I kind of forgot most of it, or was such in overthinking mode, that I didn't get to be present with it. That's definitely a big lesson I've learned. I want to enjoy my career. I don't want it to be, because it's such a hard industry. I'm going to walk from that now for a while. But anyway, sorry, you're stuck with me, so listen to me.Lyndsay Sarah:I think it's such a hard industry to break into, and there's so much competition and people can feel very alienated and they're all alone. And it's so big and it's so overwhelming and they'll never make it and they'll never be anybody.Lyndsay Sarah:It's a shame because it's so much fun making films and being on set and having a finished product and being like, yes, and feeling really proud of yourself. I want to enjoy my career because, if I'm not enjoying pursuing my career, then I'm not enjoying my life, am I? Because I want that to be my life.Lyndsay Sarah:I don't want to have this miserable high stressed life and existence and then look back in 50 years and be like, "Uh." I just remember being really stressed because I was so desperate to make it. There was no enjoyment. That's one of my big things, take home messages. Enjoy, it's supposed to be fun because it's creative. What other industry do you get to just make up stories and then play with each other on set, and have a lot of fun. No other industry exists like ours. There we go. I am the Dalai Lama.Gareth:Well, that's awesome. Look, if people want to find out more about you and get more wise wisdom, how can they find you and check out your work?Lyndsay Sarah:Sure. Well, I do have a website, but there's not that much about me. I think you're better off looking on Instagram for me. You can find me... I changed my Instagram handle. You can find me @ Ms, M-S. Lindsay, L-Y-N-D-S-A-Y. S. Sarah. S-A-R-A-H. That's me on Instagram.Lyndsay Sarah:I post lots of film stuff, but also just stupid stuff that I'm doing. And for Guilt, if people want to follow the progress of the film, they can find Guilt at guilt.feature.film.Gareth:They you go.Lyndsay Sarah:I'm running that little page. I mean, the more people who pop on and follow, obviously the better. But, I'll just keep posting pics from certain behind the scenes and it's progress.Gareth:Awesome.Lyndsay Sarah:Yep.Gareth:Well, listen. Thank you so much for today. I really appreciate you giving so much time.Lyndsay Sarah:Thank you.Gareth:It's been awesome to hear your story and best of luck with Guilt in a calm way to see how it goes being on set and stuff. I've seen a lot of the rushes and some of the scenes that are being put together. And it just looks awesome so far, I can't wait to-Lyndsay Sarah:Yay.Gareth:To see how its journey turns out and hopefully we'll get to catch you up in AFM this year because I'm thinking to go in as well.Lyndsay Sarah:Oh, look I saw when I go, and I'm so sad that I missed that last year. Actually it was such a shame that I missed out last year. I wanted to cry. I might have cried actually, that I did, but anyway, don't tell anyone. Oops.Lyndsay Sarah:Yes, it'll be great to go back and with a finished film and actually be like, "Right, this is everything now." You don't have to guess about what happens. You don't have to sort of, you're not too sure how we're going to cut it or finalize it. Or, what music choices we're going to make. This is it, this is how it looks. Please love us and buy it.Gareth:Perfect.Lyndsay Sarah:Thanks.Gareth:All right, Lyndsay. Well, thank you.Lyndsay Sarah:You're very welcome.Gareth:And everyone, thanks for listening and make sure you check out the links that Lyndsay mentioned earlier. And yes, let's all support indie film.Lyndsay Sarah:Yo hoo.

English author Joanne Harris on her fourth Chocolat book, Australian writer Jackie French on how she writes for children, teens and adults, and Vicki Laveau-Harvie, the 2019 Stella prize winner for her memoir The Erratics.

Yassmin Abdel-Magied takes a dives in to YA fiction, US bestseller author Karen Joy Fowler on the benefits of writers' retreats and Australian writer Mark Brandi on his new novel, The Rip.

Award winning British crime writer Lynda La Plante on Widow's Revenge, The Bikes of Wrath documentary about retracing the Joad's trip across America in The Grapes of Wrath, and Australian writer Debra Adelaide's collection of short stories Zebra.

Monique McDonnell is an Australian author who writes fun, flirty contemporary women's fiction including chick lit and romance. After many attempts writing books that made her miserable, she decided to write books with happy endings and have been loving the journey ever since.  Her debut novel, Mr Right and Other Mongrels, was released in May 2012 and Hearts Afire was released in October of the same year. And she's on a roll because to date, Monique has 22 books to her name.  Monique lives on Sydney's Northern Beaches with her husband and daughter which probably explains why the beach features in so many of her novels and why people describe them as excellent beach reads. You can find Monique at her website, Amazon page, and Facebook. 

And we’re back! For our season two premiere, playwright, actor and screenwriter Michelle Law joins us to chat about her recent trip to Hollywood, her earliest forays into writing, and the joys and challenges of creating the award-winning web series Homecoming Queens. Michelle Law is a freelance writer based in Sydney, Australia. She writes for print, film and television, and theatre. As a screenwriter, she has received an Australian Writer’s Guild AWGIE award for her interactive media work, and had her films screened on the ABC and at film festivals locally and abroad. She has also been a recipient of the Queensland Premier's Young Publishers and Writers Award. Her debut play Single Asian Female was staged in Brisbane and Sydney to sold out audiences. Homecoming Queens, the web series she co-created, co-wrote and stars in premiered on SBS On Demand this year – the first online series commissioned by SBS. She is currently working on the feature film adaptation of Alice Pung's young adult novel Laurinda.

This week we chat with Valerie Khoo. Valerie is a well-known Australian author, founder and National Director of the Australian Writer's Centre, journalist, keynote speaker and host of not one but two podcasts (So you want to be a writer, with Allison Tate and So you want to be a photographer, with Gina Milica). Tune in to learn: When Valerie began to consider writing a viable career choice What let her to create the Australian Writer's Centre Valerie's advice on dealing with failure Valerie's big tips to new (and seasoned) copywriters Share the pod love! If you like what you're hearing on Hot Copy, the best way to support the show is to take just a few seconds to leave a rating and / or comment over on iTunes or Stitcher. Thanks! Find Valerie at: Valerie Khoo's website Australian Writer's Centre Valerie on Facebook Valerie on Google Plus Valerie on LinkedIn Valerie on Twitter Valerie on Facebook Valerie on Instagram

Penny Webb is a freelance writer and editor. She writes features, profile pieces and travel articles for a number of publications and edits the Hills and Hawkesbury Independent Magazines. She also runs a travel podcast called The Suburban Gypsy which is all about inspiring people to experience the world through travel, regardless of their life circumstances. Her work has been published in peekaboo magazine, Out and About With Kids and Child Magazines. She won an international award at the Parenting Media Association Awards in Baltimore, USA in March 2015 where her writing was described as 'Journalism with a smile". This year she travelled to the Cook Islands, Tasmania, Fiji and China. Next year Iceland and Italy are on the cards! I enjoyed a fascinating conversation with Penny about her career path. Penny started her career in hotel management and hospitality working at major international hotels. Her career journey took her Scotland, Spain, Barbados … the list of countries is endless … and she not only worked in hotels but she also spent a few years working on the fabulous cruise liner, the QE2. She found that she loves the sea; the freedom and the feeling of really being alive even during wild hurricanes at sea with the adrenaline rush of being in the elements. Throughout her travels she developed a great deal of resilience and self-reliance and her experiences lend themselves perfectly to travel writing. This is her passion. She gained great insight into how to be a successful writer through the Australian Writer’s Centre in Sydney and now is enjoying sharing valuable travel tips and insights through The Suburban Gypsy Podcast. Penny’s dream is to inspire everyone to embrace the moment for travel – not to put off your dreams with the thoughts, “When I reach this stage in life, then I’ll …” “If that happens, then I’ll …” Seize the day! Find Penny at www.pennywebb.com.au and www.suburbangypsypodcast.com

In this episode Valerie Khoo from the Australian Writer's Centre talks about power stories, sharing tips on how you can create and share your stories to achieve greater business success.

This episode is a follow up from last weeks, and was also at the AACTA Meet the Makers event where Michael and Peter Spierig talk about writing Predestination with the Australian Writer’s Guild board member Shayne Armstrong. Thanks to AACTA and the AWG for letting us post this.

How history can help to shape policy making? Rana Mitter is joined by The History Manifesto's co-author, David Armitage, Chris Skidmore MP and historian, and Lucy Delap, Director of Cambridge University and Kings College London's History and Policy Unit. And one of Australia's most prominent novelists Peter Carey is back with a new book ‘Amnesia'. He talks to Philip Dodd.

Valerie Khoo Valerie Khoo is National Director of the Australian Writers’ Centre, the country’s leading centre for writing courses. With campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Online, the centre has helped more than 17,000 students to get published, change careers, or write with confidence. Valerie is also an adviser and investor in start-ups. Her blog has consistently been named as one of the Top 20 Business Blogs in Australia. Highlights of our conversation: Identifying your passion and turning it into a business success The process, development and delivery of online courses on the Open Learning platform Breaking in and setting up the CRM Infusions soft Online tools Valerie Khoo uses in her business The benefits of learning to write for a business person Transcript Heather:        Hello, today I‘m speaking with Valerie Khoo, the National Director of the Australian Writer’s Centre. Hello Valerie, welcome to our show today. Valerie :         It’s great to be here Heather. Heather:        Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today. Really appreciate it, I’m really excited about talking with you today and I know from listening to you speak in so many other capacities that our listeners will really appreciate what you have to share with them today. Valerie:          Well I hope I can share a few insights that people can learn from. Heather:        Sensational, that’s exactly what we want to hear. So Valerie you run the Australian Writer’s Centre which is something that I’ve sort of been involved in on the side. You’ve currently got campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and online and you’ve helped more than 17,000 students which is amazing. Can you give us an outline how your business operates and sort of what sort of courses it offers? Valerie:          Sure. As you mentioned we are the Australian Writer’s Centre. We actually just started off in Sydney but then we grew over time. Our first foray into another state was the centre in Melbourne that’s going really well. And then earlier this year we opened in Perth. We have another one in the wings I’ve just been checking out venues for that but that’s yet to be announced. Heather:        Anywhere close to me? Valerie:          It’s not official yet, I can’t say anything. You’ll have to stay tuned. Heather:        I hope it is. Valerie:          But we also have a very, very active and large online campus so to speak. About 40-45% of our students study online from all over Australia and the world. What we do is we offer writing courses and they are designed to help people; adults improve their writing, or get published, or change careers or write with just more confidence. So they are in all different genres of writing and the beauty about our course is they’re pretty short. So you can just do a tester, you can do five weeks, or you can do a weekend course that sort of thing. The good thing is if you decide that you like it you can build on it. You can do the next course, and you can do the next course and they’re all relatively short so that it’s all in manageable bite size chunks. We find that, as with most people these days’ time is a scarce commodity so we want to make sure that it’s something that people can do and commit to. Heather:        That’s interesting; I hadn’t realised they were around as being short courses that you have like this first course, then second course. You’re completely right. People get overwhelmed if it’s too much involved. I know that while they are short courses I’ve done two of them now. They’re packed with lots of insight and information. Valerie:          Yeah that’s one thing I’m really committed to because I’m a course junkie from way back and I’ve done many, many courses. I’m never without doing a course and one of the things I don’t’ like about some courses is when they treat you like a dummy or treat you like an idiot. They think you’re not capable of learning more and I do believe people are capable of learning more. I do believe that people want to learn more and have a thirst of that knowledge.             So I make sure that we do have a lot of information and really interesting things in our courses. Heather:        Absolutely, that’s sensational. I completely agree with that. People are really into content specific courses these days and it probably leads to a whole other conversation of whether people need to go out and do further education. Whether they should just tailor their life around content specific short courses like the ones you offer.   Why did you actually start your business? Valerie:          Well I started it because I was at a period in my life when I was thinking to myself I really want to do something different and I really want to make a difference in people’s lives. But I also needed to eat and pay the mortgage. I thought to myself well what am I passionate about? And as clichéd as this may sound it is the honest to God truth, what I love doing, what gets me excited is when I help people realise their potential. Or help people realize the steps that they can take to get what they really want in life or achieve what they really want as a goal. So I know that sounds little bit ra-ra. Heather:        No it doesn’t, I’ve seen you in action so I’m not going to disagree with that because I know that you do that and I know that you’re very good actually pinpointing people. I’m not speaking about myself but I’ve seen you in action pinpointing people and just extracting what bringing the cream to the top and saying go for it. Valerie:          I just love doing it and I love to see them go on that journey and nothing makes me happier. I thought well okay could I do? I didn’t want to be a life coach really or didn’t want to be a business coach. But I did have the technical skill; I was very experienced with writing, success as a writer. I thought well while I may not be able to help somebody climb Mount Everest because I would have no idea or win at Master Chef because you know I can’t cook. I could certainly help them with their writing goals.             That’s where it started. What’s interesting though is even though that’s where it started and I thought okay I can help people achieve their writing dreams because I can teach them that technical skill and I can provide courses that can equip them with the right skills, it actually spilled over a lot. Because even though it starts off as writing, some people discover writing and it actually changes their life because they can suddenly have a lifestyle that they wanted, or they can actually can earn more money than they thought than they would as a stay at home mom perhaps.             They get more confidence in doing something that they’ve always wanted to do. It’s just been the most rewarding experience so that’s where it started, me kind of trying to marry my passion with the technical skill if you know what I mean. Heather:        How long did it take you to formulate your passion? Valerie:          I think my passion has been with me for a long time. I kind of even remember I think I’ve just always felt this way because even my friends will tell you that I’m slightly annoying in that I’m the one when you catch up for drinks, or dinner or whatever I’m the one that says, “Of course you can do it.” Just do this, do this, do this- you know what I mean.             So I’m a little bit of a- they probably think I’m a little bit of a nagger even though I think I’m a cheer squad. So it’s something that I’ve always done for as long as I can remember. But it took me just a little while to articulate it and figure it out when I was thinking what I wanted to do for my business or my career. Heather:        It’s interesting that isn’t it? When you actually need to do it to monetise it, it’s like what’s my passion? It can take people a second to think about it. Valerie:          Yeah, I didn’t really know. I didn’t sort of identify it until I thought well what really fuels me and I sat down and made myself think about that and I realized that’s what I do to all my friends is what I love because I care about them and I want to see them succeed. It expanded from there. Heather:        Excellent. So can I ask you, what platform are the business online courses built on? Valerie:          Lots of different parts. Heather:        I grammatically phrased that really badly. Valerie:          We understood you so that’s okay. Lots of different ones but the main one that the online course specifically is built on is an application called Open Learning which is a fantastic company in Sydney. I’m fortunate enough to also be one of their advisors because I really believe in their product.             Basically it’s an online learning platform so like a learning management system which is designed to obviously deliver online courses but design for the students to have a great user experience that is similar to sort of Facebook. In the sense because so many people are used to that these days so then you can reply to each other, you can like each other’s comments, you can dip into different areas. Just like in Facebook you dip into different pages, or groups, or whatever. Yeah it’s called Open Learning. Heather:        Okay, thank you for sharing that with us. How long does it take you to go through the development of a course? Sort of what process do you go through? Valerie:          You mean from scratch? Heather:        I guess so, from the formulation or conception of a course. Valerie:          Forever. Heather:        Forever, okay. Valerie:          It takes a really long time to be honest. Because typically we start our courses in a classroom setting, in real life, in most cases. Because that is where you figure out what works and what doesn’t, you know what I mean. You get immediate reactions to certain things and you can see all the pennies drop, or you can see blank faces.             Typically we start off in a classroom experience and once we know that we’ve nailed it, and then we know that we can turn this into an online course. And that takes way more time than you think; it’s a lot of work. Heather:        I think it takes a long time in that I’ve tried to develop my own and it’s like, it’s life sapping. Wow. Valerie:          It takes a really long time because you need to make sure that every I is dotted and every T is crossed because you just never know when someone’s listening. They could be listening on the bus, or in front of the computer, or doing the laundry or whatever in the car. You’ve got to make sure that the information is conveyed not in a lecture style but almost in a conversational story telling style so that it’s easily absorbed and remembered.             It takes quite a while to change information into something that’s digestible like that because unlike a classroom course you can see people’s reactions on their faces. They can ask you a question immediately and you can fill in that particular gap. You have to think of every gap at first before you do an online course so that all those gaps are already filled and that any possible question is answered.             Of course people may still have their own other questions and certainly in our course they have the opportunity to ask them but in the first instance you need to make sure that as much as possible is covered. And so it’s not only the creation and the structure, and the design of the course, it’s then also the creation of the actual course materials. The MP3s, the handouts, the online delivery all that kind of stuff. So yeah a long time. Heather:        It’s interesting to hear you say that because you didn’t have a teacher’s background did you? Valerie:          But I lectured at Sydney University at both within the faculty of Economics but also I did for years I was a teacher at the Centre for Continuing Education at Sydney University. Heather:        That gives you an understanding of the course development from a teacher’s perspective. Because I always kind of wondered whether you had teachers in there just guiding on that structure of things rather than coming along as the expert and applying it. Valerie:          I had that background for oh gosh, I was lecture at Sydney Uni more than 20 years ago. Heather:        So what’s the most popular course that you offer these days? Valerie:          I would say that creative writing is currently very popular. They all go in peaks and troughs of course depending on what’s fashionable at the time. Creative writing is very popular and is a perennially popular one because it is a great first step for people who think they might be interested in writing. They’re not sure but they love reading or they kind of, in the back of their mind think that they love to write a novel one day. They just love telling stories.             That’s a good one because then people get a taste for what it’s like in a slightly more structured environment so then they kind of see yeah that structure actually helps my writing. And I might be taking the next step. Heather:        It’s interesting seeing people because I’m in one of your community groups and seeing people, how they kind of need to be prodded along by people. My goal posts and settings, and people are encouraged and motivated by other people pushing them along or other people doing what they’re doing. That is interesting. Valerie:          Definitely, it’s inspiring to see. Heather:        It’s very inspiring. The Writer’s Centre has had so much success which has been so impressive for what you’ve done. I understand you use a product called Infusionsoft, do you still use that product? Valerie:          I do. Heather:        Okay, so Infusionsoft for those who are listening is a sales and marketing automation software for small business that combines CRM, email marketing and ecommerce. That was a pre-prepared question because I thought I’ll go on the website and make sure I get everything that it does.             Can you give listeners a bit of an insight about this Infusionsoft product and how you’re using it, and what it’s done for your business? Valerie:          So basically as you mentioned Infusionsoft is a cloud based application that uses a combination of a CRM but also has an email marketing function. It has kind of like ten bazillion features of which I’m using maybe five, not quite.             We are using quite a few of the features but there are many more that suit different types of industries and businesses which just wouldn’t be relevant for my particular business. So we have only been using that since around January 2014. I had actually explored it a few years ago and when I was exploring similar applications to decide which one to use and I decided against it at the time.             I wasn’t impressed with it at the time to be honest. But over the last sort of year or prior to moving to it, quite a few people who I respect said that they had started using it and that they were finding it good. I thought it was time to give it a second look and so I did a lot of research again and decided to give it a second look. And I ended up deciding to give it a second go.             It’s worked out well so far, I’m glad we made the decision to move to it. We were on a different application before that and so what it does is that it powers back end if you know what I mean. That means the back end when you book into a course, or so in terms of communication to students and perspective students that’s done by Infusionsoft.             In some cases you may fill in some web forms and that’s done by Infusionsoft. The delivery of the courses is not done by Infusionsoft as I mentioned that’s done through Open Learning. But essentially it powers our back end. The booking system, and the communication system, and the database system. Heather:        No, it sounds very impressive. It seems to sound like you have to set up a huge number of email templates. People have told me about it sort of responsive to everyone’s reaction to different ways to the way that they react and what they’re interested in. Valerie:          You can make it really complex where you have a bazillion email templates because you may have really complex sort of decision trees. If someone clicks on this then they get this email, if they do not click on this than they get this email. If they do not click on this after five days then they get an email.             But we haven’t actually gone to that level of complexity. As is its simpler than that. At this stage, however there is potential for you to create really complex journeys if you want to. Heather:        Yeah absolutely. One of the things that’s always impressed me about you is I know how thorough you are about researching something. You’re actually using something I know a huge amount of researchers got into that product. Valerie:          Yes. Heather:        And it does seem to be that more businesses in Australia are exploring that product and seeing good results. As with anything it needs to be properly implemented so I’m sure that took you a bit of time and there are a few experts out there who do the implementation. Because you did a course didn’t you or something like that, or training sessions with them. Valerie:          I think I was really lucky in the sense that typically what I found, I’ve meet many Infusionsoft users now and typically what I have found is that a huge number of them like almost all of them who aren’t Infusionsoft consultants. Almost all of the non-consultants, just like normal businesses say yeah I had it for six months or a year and I only did one campaign. Then I finally decided to get into it and oh my God it blew my mind and I realized I could have been saving so much time over the last year.             So people seem to get it because they realize it’s a good idea but they seem to step very slowly into it because it can seem kind of overwhelming and daunting. However we were in this unique situation where we decided it’s going to start in January. And our quietest time of year is the period between Christmas and New Year. Heather:        Really that’s surprising. Valerie:          For obvious reasons you know. Everyone’s just on holidays in Christmas and New Year. Heather:        And not being creative. Valerie:          They start on January 1 their New Year’s resolutions but Christmas and New Year they’re busy eating, drinking. We had no choice but to create the entire business of Infusionsoft between Christmas and New Year. Heather:        Of course no choice whatsoever, yes. Valerie:          I had no Christmas break. Every working hour I was creating Infusionsoft campaigns. I was kind of lucky in the sense that I went bang straight into it, very in depth and therefore got to learn it very quickly. I didn’t do that stepped approach so I got to understand what its capabilities in a very short concentrated space of time.             Yeah it was an interesting period. Heather:        It’s interesting to hear you like you’re a national director of a big organisation with numerous employees and you actually say I went in, I got into the detail, I know how to do it. So it’s always one of those things I like I always wonder in business, I get very into the detail. I’m like maybe I should be pulling back from the detail. It’s interesting to hear you say that you really got into the detail of it. Valerie:          Probably that’s because I have a curiosity. Heather:        Yeah. Valerie:          Probably because I just am a little bit geeky and I kind of want to know stuff. Once I know a certain level and once I know I have the staff member who knows way more than me about this, I step back and I let it go.             But you know it was new to every staff member at that time so we were all starting at ground zero. We all had to learn it. Heather:        They all like spending their Christmas with you, hulking down on working with Infusionsoft. Valerie:          Not quite.  We didn’t to make the Christmas and New Year but as soon as one or I think two January we were straight into it. But you were referring to a course I didn’t actually go to a course. I went to a conference run by Infusionsoft in Phoenix, Arizona which interestingly wasn’t all about the platform itself.             Only about 30% of the sessions were platform specific, the rest was about marketing and growing a business. Heather:        Interesting, that’s interesting that they do that. Cool.             Okay I’m sure some of our listeners will find that product interesting if they’re not already using it. Go off and explore that.             In your business you’ve mentioned that you have a tendency to be a bit geeky and curious. What other online tools do you use in your business that you think your listeners might benefit from? Valerie:          Cloud File storage changed my life. So it’s really normal now but I’ve been using it for years and years. The fact that I can be on any device in any city, well any of my devices. Because I spend a lot of time in between Sydney and Melbourne and here I have an office in Sydney but I have a home in Sydney. And then I have an office in Melbourne and a home in Melbourne.             There’s already four places that I got devices that I spend time to work. I needed from years ago I wanted something to liberate me from the desk, from the single computer and so the first thing I discovered which I still love is SugarSync which is cloud file syncing application.             Of course similar things can be done with Google Drive, and Dropbox, and Cubby and I use all of them actually for different reasons. For me I love SugarSync the best. But because they all have slightly different limitations and parameters, Sugar Sync it doesn’t do everything. It doesn’t work with a server whereas Cubby works with a server and Google Drive works with server.             Dropbox is a little bit annoying because you have to put everything in the Dropbox. So yeah. I think that cloud file sharing services just liberates you so that you can actually work from anywhere with internet. Heather:        Absolutely, they are amazing. Amazing tools.             When you have SugarSync can you just go and like search and it will just pull up the document you’re searching for? Valerie:          You have it locally on your computer that’s the bit that I love as well. Even if you do it and you change it locally on your Macbook, on your laptop it will sync to the cloud and this cloud will then sync to every other device where it’s also stored locally.             You can just base it in the cloud if you want but I like having my files locally on whatever I’m working on. Heather:        Yeah absolutely. I think it’s also quicker if you do that. Just push it to the cloud but if you’re using it, if you can pull it back down and work on it, and then push it back up into the cloud. Valerie:          Definitely. Heather:        I think it all comes down to sometimes the speed of the internet connection. I know sometimes we see you frustrated by your internet connection in certain areas of Australia. Valerie:          Yes. Heather:        So having that versatility is beneficial. Do you use cloud accounting? Valerie:          That’s definitely been a game changer to have cloud accounting. I remember the days when I just had to go to this particular computer in the office. I could only use that computer because that’s where the accounting license was on. Therefore I had to drive in at specific times to do it whereas with cloud accounting you can do it anywhere, from wherever you want and it’s so easy to transfer the files, or to look it up from a whole other country. I love that.             The other one it’s not about business but I love it to pieces which is sort of cloud based is two things the Foxtel TV guide, I love it to pieces because I can be in Las Vegas and go oh my god I got to tape The Good Wife or whatever. I can be in my hotel room in Las Vegas because I’ve got two Foxtel boxes. I can choose which room even to tape it. Heather:        Really. So you set it up and you can set it up to record and you come home and you’ve got all your recording sitting there. Valerie;          I love the Foxtel app. Heather:        Well that’s cool and is it like on your iPhone? Valerie:          Your iPhone or your iPad. You can be having a conversation with somebody. Oh have you seen that documentary about whatever and you can search for it on the Foxtel app. And when you find it you can just tape it and choose to tape it in my bedroom, or in lounge room. Heather:        Excellent. That’s a great share, I’m sure people can record some business shows on their using that as well.             Many of our listeners probably come from a business background so what course does the Australian Writer’s Centre offer that you recommend to a business person interested in writing? Valerie:          it depends on what they want to write. But typically most business owners I find are keen to do a couple of things. Potentially write a blog in order to build their profile but also to write for the industry publications, or even consumer publications to build their profile.             One course that I think is useful is the course Magazine and Newspaper writing because even if you don’t necessarily want to write for a newspaper, what it teaches you is a great structure for any article that can translate to a blog post but is ideal for writing articles for magazines. That’s a great way to build your profile when you have a column or a regular article placement in your industry magazine.             One of the things it also teaches you is when you understand how journalists want to write the magazine article and if you’re on the other side of the fence like you’re being interviewed you can also help them with the kind of content that’s going to make the magazine article sound good if you know what I mean. Heather:        Absolutely. That’s actually been an interesting phenomena that I’ve been realising lately in that I did one of those courses and got a lot of blog posts out there and they don’t take a long time to write it but then you see a journalist looking for a source to talk about X, Y, Zed and you know what the key things are to tell them, to entice them to use you. And then you’re like well I didn’t have to write the article, I got an article in Sydney Morning Herald and I’m quoted as the expert and it took maybe ten minutes work. Valerie:          That’s right. Heather:        You do learn that structure from these are the key thing that I should be highlighting and this is a way to phrase a sentence, etcetera. Whereas sometimes you speak to people and they don’t get to that point quickly. Valerie:          Yeah exactly right. Heather:        That’s really good. Now one of the questions I wanted to ask of you was, you had been involved with a lot of podcasts and I know you currently, what’s the name of it. You’re doing a writer’s podcast with Alison. Valerie:          Yeah it’s called So You Want to be a Writer and it’s with Alison Tate. Heather:        Yes, and it was recently featured on the best new podcasts or new featured podcasts on iTunes is that correct. Valerie:          Yeah new and noteworthy. Heather:        New and noteworthy podcast that’s very good. So what suggestions do you have for me since starting up a new podcast. Valerie:          Do something that you’re passionate about. Clearly your passion is about various concepts to do with cloud, and productivity that can be enhanced as a result of cloud which I think is a wonderful niche. I think cloud is a game changer. People often think cloud and they just think cloud accounting but there are so many applications that are really useful in the cloud.             I probably use even another 20 but they’re such a normal part of my life I don’t even think, I’m going to use the cloud you know what I mean. Heather:        I think that’s right. People turn to me and go, well how do you manage to get so much done? It’s like well I just sort of activate this, and I activate that and it’s all done. But yeah it does make life easier, it’s quite funny. I did a productivity session in a meeting business group the other day and the outcome of the productivity session was sharing calendars with your children to get them to do the work as well.             But yeah it was kind of interesting how you do adopt a lot of them without even thinking about it. Valerie:          Yeah absolutely. Heather:        So you’ve told us the future for Australian Writer’s Centre, you’re perhaps looking at having another location here in Australia. IS there anything else in the future for the Australian Writers Centre? Valerie:          Well we definitely will be transforming more of our business writing courses online. Because we find that there’s a real need for people to access that information wherever they are. They can’t necessarily take a day off work to come to a cause, a business writing course, because these are typically one day courses during the day in a week. And also if we can transform them into online courses which are modularised, people can do two hours each and they might be able to do two hours on Wednesday, or two hours on Friday.             They didn’t have to do it in a whole chunk of time. That’s definitely one of the next things on our agenda. Quite a few people have asked for various courses to be transformed online and we’re definitely looking into that. As I mentioned it’s a very long and involved process. We just need to decide in which order we’re going to deliver them. Heather:        Yeah absolutely. So Valerie one last question for you. What advice would you have for your 17 year old self? Valerie:          Oh my goodness what a good question. Okay that’s quite a hard one. My 17 year old self, I would say- that’s a really tough one.             I would say that if it was specifically to me I would say that, see I was very lucky in that even at 17 I truly believed that anything was possible. But what I didn’t know was that sometimes in life things, circumstances, people will disappoint you. Will let you down.             That’s okay. Don’t let it in the way of you or don’t let it get you down even if they let you down. Just accept that that’s part of life. It may not have been personal, or anything like that. It’s just going to happen throughout life. But don’t even sort of try and view it as a letdown just kind of go okay, and move on. Don’t take it to heart.             I don’t want to end on a negative thing though. Heather:        Because I asked that question because I have a 17 year old child myself and so I’m asking that question of everyone sort of thinking that he’s going out into the world. It’s kind of what does he need to know or how is he going to quickly get to where he needs to get to. I know you’re a CPA, would you have still gone down that route? Valerie:          What do you mean would I have still gone down- Heather:        Because you went and did accounting initially didn’t you? Valerie:          Yeah, no I still would have taken the route that I’ve taken now. Because I always fundamentally believed in doing what you love. I just happen to love writing more. I would have definitely gone down this path anyway because it was just what was going to be nagging at me. Like I would have always felt that thing inside me, that itch that I had to scratch and I knew I had to go down this path in a sense.             But if I had to I would just have sort of changed it around a bit. If I had to give advice to your 17 year old son as opposed to my 17 year old self I would probably say A, anything truly is possible if you put your mind to it. B, just wanting it isn’t enough though. You need to work out the steps you need to take to get there. It’s not going to be handed to you on a platter but it is in your reach and once you work out the steps you need to take to get there, you just need to take them.             It’s as simple as that and once you take them if you’re serious about it, you will get whatever it is that you want in life. Heather:        Absolutely. On that very positive note thank you so much Valerie for sharing your time with listeners today. I know that you’ve always been such an inspiration to me and I’ve benefitted so much from the number of courses that I have done through the Australia Writer’s Centre.             I look forward to more success from you and with the Australian Writers Centre growing and taking over the world, improving English one course at a time. Thank you very much. Valerie:          It’s been my pleasure. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed talking to you Heather. Heather:        Sensational. Mentions ·         Infusionsoft : http://www.infusionsoft.com   @Infusionsoft ·         SugarSync https://www.sugarsync.com  @sugarsync ·         Foxtel TV guide ·         Google Drive https://drive.google.com   ·         Dropbox https://db.tt/PxaW85E  @Dropbox ·         Cubby https://www.cubby.com  @Cubby ·         Cloud File https://shellycloud.com/documentation/cloudfile  @ShellyCloud ·         Open Learning https://www.openlearning.com  @openlrning ·         Facebook https://www.facebook.com  @FaceBook Contact Valerie Khoo Australian Writers’ Centre http://www.writerscentre.com.au https://twitter.com/ValerieKhoo https://twitter.com/WritersCentreAU Contact Heather Smith http://www.heathersmithsmallbusiness.com/ https://twitter.com/HeatherSmithAU/ https://www.facebook.com/HeatherSmithAU   http://www.linkedin.com/in/heathersmithau