Vanessa Carnevale: Flowers, memories and second-book syndrome

It’s such a pleasure to welcome Vanessa Carnevale back to the blog. Apart from being one of the loveliest people in the writing world, Vanessa also produces heartfelt novels with a deeply emotional core. In 2017, Vanessa released her first novel The Florentine Bridge and she’s followed it up this year with The Memories that Make

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From Slush-pile to Signing a Contract: How I secured a two-book publishing deal – Part Two

Firstly, apologies for spreading this story over two parts, but it’s a fairly long, and hopefully not too boring, tale. I generally love reading other author’s publication tales, because they are little glimmers of hope in what can sometimes feel like a fairly futile activity. Though, it must be said, publication is not the sole

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Keeping a Writer’s Journal: Thoughts on ‘Everywhere I Look’ by Helen Garner

I am a terrible diary-keeper, a fact which troubles me, mostly because every writing book I’ve ever read suggests the keeping of a diary as being fairly essential to one’s writing process. And I can see the point. If the aim of fiction writing is to capture a sense of emotional truth around made-up events,

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Why There’s Never Been a Better Time to be a Writing Mother: Thoughts on ‘The Golden Child’ and ‘Crazy, Busy, Guilty’

When I think about my life BC (before children) I feel slightly ill. All those idle hours! BC, my weekends consisted of little more than reading the newspaper, doing a little exercise, maybe going for dinner. Yes, it was lovely. But my life outside of work was also extremely unproductive. BC, I could have busted-out

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Meet Vanessa Carnevale, author of ‘The Florentine Bridge’

One of the best things about getting involved in the online writing community is the lovely people you meet – and Vanessa Carnevale is one of the loveliest. What first put Vanessa on my radar was her excellent podcast – Your Creative Life – which is a must-listen for any aspiring writer. Then, earlier this

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Meet Sunni Overend, author of ‘The Dangers of Truffle Hunting’

Well, this is a Book Birdy first! Sunni Overend is the first writer to be featured twice on the blog, which I think is testament to the fascinating nature of her personal writing story and also her fabulous books, which are a really fresh take on contemporary women’s fiction. Sunni first came on my radar

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