Bio & Links

About me:
I am a 25 year old student/writer living in Cairns, Australia. I am studying my second year of a bachelor of psychology at JCU and I am a proactive writer—interested in horror, fantasy and sci fi.

Useful links for writers:

Duotrope:
Duotrope is a website most useful for writers who are interested in short stories and poetry. It lists all the magazines, e-zines and publishers who are looking for different types of work, along with a word count and genre. Just type in the specs of what you’ve written and see who wants to buy it!

AgentQuery:
Agent query is a list of all the literary agents in the USA, along with the genres they are interested in and their contact details. The single most useful site for novelists seeking agents online.

Holly Lisle:
Holly Lisle is a fantasy author who has made it her hobby (and now business) to help other writers improve their skills. She has a bunch of fantastic free tutorials and she also runs classes and has newsletters with great writing advice.

Crit Partner Match:
Crit Partner Match is a website for writers who are writing or have finished writing a project and who are looking for feedback. It is like a dating website for writing critiques! Lovely, friendly community and quality feedback from the participants. Highly recommended if you are at that stage.

Writing Forums:
Writing Forums is an active writing community for professional and hobbyist writers alike. It is friendly, informative and quite large—a good place to hang out, if you’re just beginning your writing journey or are already published.

Best books for writers:

On Writing – Stephen King
Get it here!
Part autobiography and part instruction manual, the first half of On Writing details some of the more extraordinary experiences in Stephen King’s life that shaped the way he writes today. The second half is a manual on good writing skills, which I believe is a must have for all writers—published or not.

Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published – Sheree Bykofsky & Jennifer Basye Sander
Get it here!
A top to toe of the process of getting published, from sending out query letters (and who to send them to!), signing and contract and what to do when the contract is over. If you aren’t already working in the publishing industry, you’ll probably need this book to survive. Or even just to know where to start.

70 Solutions to common writing mistakes – Bob Mayer
Get it here!
This book really covers the basic and really obvious mistakes that writers should avoid, like telling instead of showing and writing themselves into their novels. You don’t want to be ‘that writer’ who makes these mistakes, so it’s a good idea to memorize this book. Or at least keep it in your top desk drawer.

Career Novelist – Donald Maass
Get it here!
Donald Maass is a brilliant literary agent who has made his career out of making careers. Unfortunately not everyone can have Donald Maass as their agent, so he’s written this book for the rest of us, explaining what he thinks a successful writing career is and how to go about obtaining one.