Dim's Write Stuff

Are you the type who can't thin out vegetable seedlings because you believe if they took the trouble to germinate, they should all be given the chance to grow? LET GO. Does your garden look like an Amazon rainforest because you can't bear to get out the hedge clippers? LET  GO. Do you possess more meaningless, random five-year old art work than you actually have five year olds because you won't throw anything out? LET GO. Do you hang onto ill feelings long after an altercation just in case you need them again for round two? LET GO. As a writer, are you reluctant to edit your own work, because they employ people to do that sort of thing for you anyway don't they, and any self-respecting editor will be able to see how much blood, sweat and tears each word took to produce therefore earning its place in your convoluted story? LET  GO. An oft hackneyed term that is easier said than done. Perhaps, as writers, we have to deal with the id...

Do you have a Harry Potter trapped within you bursting to be free? Do you know someone between the ages of 10 and 19 who find it hard to suppress their written words? Then check out the latest Young Writers' Program for Kids on offer by the Queensland Writers Centre. These workshops are sure to bring out the budding author in you. I'm especially intrigued by the Story Safari and wish I knew the appropriate age-reversing spell which would make me 10 again so I could don my khakis and tag along with Tristan Bancks. Aimee Lindorff Write On! (Age 12 – 17) with Aimée Lindorff Tuesdays (Term 2) Commences 16 April, 4:30 – 5:30pm. Do you love to write? Want to make new friends with similar interests? In this 10-week workshop series with Aimée Lindorff, you’ll learn the secrets of building tension between your heroes and villains though narrative, themes and story structure. Discover the core ingredients of great storytelling, from getting ideas out of your head ...

Once upon a time I wrote a book. It was about kids and magic and Christmas. It was loads of fun to write and even more fun to share with people. I shared my book with kids; little kids, big kids and kids, like me, who still believe in Santa. A few days before Christmas, when the blizzard of excitement from sharing my book with everyone died down, I crept back home to my own family  and quietly wrapped a few presents and baked some Christmas goodies share with them. As I sat through dozens of Christmas movies, sang along badly to carols and paraded the streets every night to ooh and ah at the decorated houses, lit up like...well...Christmas trees, I realised what a brilliant thing my little book about Christmas was part of. Kids jumped with glee when they recognised a familiar line, idea or concept shared by the wider Christmas audience. Christmas is after all, more or less, universal. PS Who Stole Santa's Mail? formed part of the magic, the ...