Wednesday 11 March 2015

new website - www.lucybowler.com.au

Hi there!

I'm delighted to announce my new website - a place for all things writing, including my blog (which I've imported from Blogger).

If you're lovely enough to feature me on your blogroll, could I please ask you to update the link as below - a huge thank you!

Please come and visit and let me know how it all goes - I would be delighted to receive some feedback!

http://lucybowler.com.au/

how a smartphone can change your writing life...

Reading my work, podcasts, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and more...
When the call button on my old phone started wobbling like a loose tooth, it was time for some drastic action. I found a (cheap) smartphone and over the past month I've been discovering all the things I had missed in my pre-Android days. I'd worried about enormous phone bills, but I've disabled mobile roaming and just hook into the wifi when I'm at home or near another connection - problem solved!

Here's how the smartphone works for me and improves my writing life at the same time!

Reading my work
I can email myself a copy of my manuscript, download it and read it on the go. Great for when I'm out-and-about. Another bonus is that Scrivener (writing software I bought last year) can export to an .epub file and it's just like reading a published version of an ebook!

Podcasts
I can now download Podcasts directly on to Stitcher Radio and use the 'Listen Later' feature to download them. I must thank the Australian Writers' Centre for this discovery as I needed an app to download 'So you want to be a writer'. Until I bought the new phone, I thought I could only find it on iTunes and used to transfer it to an iPod. Now it's all in one place on my phone.

My writing podcast list has grown since this amazing new discovery and now includes:

* So you want to be a writer - AWC, hosted by Allison Tait and Valerie Khoo

* The Creative Penn - Joanna Penn

* The sell more books show - Jim Kukral and Bryan Cohen

* Writers on writing - Barbara deMarco-Barrett

* The Writing Biz - Laura Williams

Instagram
Even though I've used Instagram for a while, before now I bluetoothed pictures from my computer to my tablet and uploaded them from there. Now I can take photos on my phone and upload them when I'm near a wifi connection.  Win, win!

Twitter
App installed, can access any time I'm near the afore mentioned wifi - easy! Again, something else I'm more likely to do now it's right there on the phone.

Pinterest
Now I can browse something on my phone and pin it from there - I'm using this program a lot more since I've installed the app. It was always an afterthought before now. Particularly good as I'm looking into book cover design...

And more
Emails, text messages, diary, notes and alarm clock all in one place. While I keep a back-up diary, the alarm clock feature is fantastic and I have reminders going off at various times of the day - school pick-up, finish work (I do tend to forget!), whatever. It's also great to set a timer for an uninterrupted writing session - no need to stop and check to see how much time is left, the alarm does it for me.

Do you have a smartphone? Have you discovered the ways it can help further your interests?!

Thursday 5 March 2015

the writer's edition - march 2015

Writers' events are the theme of the moment!
Lunch with Paddy O'Reilly, a Writers Victoria (WV) meet-up and Kirsty Murray's novel writing masterclass are the highlights on my writing calendar. The first two events are being held in conjunction with the Shepparton Festival, a relatively short drive for me (in country terms!) and a chance to do something in my own backyard, so to speak. I'm particularly looking forward to the WV meet-up and unearthing some like-minded literary souls.

The local theme continues in April, with Kirsty Murray's workshop in Albury - again, not too far for me to travel. A weekend immersion into the world of the novel sounds just the thing and I can't wait! Plot design, structure and pacing are just some of the topics to be covered. The workshop also provides the chance for some group feedback on a few pages of each other's writing, which I always find invaluable.

Tuesdays have become the day for me, dedicated to all things writing. My second manuscript has progressed (40,500 words) and I've spent some time getting that first chapter right in order to set the tone for the rest of the work. I have been using Scrivener which I just love and it's made the process so much easier - details in a later post, but let's just say, I highly recommend it for writers.

How are things in your creative life? 

How do you make time for it amongst your other responsibilities? 

Do you manage to fit in a workshop or two during the year?

Friday 20 February 2015

celebrating creativity: live music

Wow, wow and wow!
On Sunday Joe and I had the pleasure of seeing The April Maze live and I'm hooked! They weren't a band I'd heard of before, but I'd been doing some research for work and found the details of their gig online. It turned into so much more than a simple afternoon out listening to good music - it became a celebration of creativity...

It's not often we see live music anymore - we have three kids and live in the country where not a lot of opportunities present themselves. But count back ten years ago and we were living in Ireland with live music everywhere, country living or not. Dingle - our local town - had all kinds of music and we loved a night out in the pub with live entertainment.

So the best thing about the gig - apart from just being there and the music of course - was hearing the creative process behind the songs, from the all-night songwriting sessions to the background of the lyrics themselves. It was an afternoon spent celebrating creativity and I loved it. Of course we had to buy a CD and it's been playing almost non-stop in the car - check out their latest here.

I'm a firm believer that you can't create in isolation - nothing beats the inspiration found in a trip to the gallery, on the pages of a magazine and in the backstory of a fabulous band. In the spirit of this, we've decided to make the most of opportunities found locally, even if it's only for a small window of time like we had on Sunday (just over an hour without the kids, then Joe had to bring them back to the venue - thankfully child friendly - and they joined us for the end. It wasn't as 'relaxing' to have them there, but enjoyable all the same!).

How do you nurture your creative spirit and celebrate that found in others?

PS This is not sponsored at all, I just wanted to share with you one of our Australian musical gems!

Tuesday 17 February 2015

recent reads: jane smiley's some luck

Some Luck made me feel as though Jane Smiley had taken me by the hand and said, 'Come, let me tell you a story.' The first part of a trilogy (with the second, Early Warning, due out later this year), this novel spans from 1920 to the 1950s. As the family at its pivot - Walter and Rosanna Langdon - bring their children up on their farm in Iowa, we see the world from each of their viewpoints, right down to the earliest sights for their children. Each chapter spans a year with the narrative moving forward as each character ages and grows, adventures and - for the Langdon children - start families of their own.

I just loved this book - from the actual physical thing itself with its rough-cut pages and stunning cover, to the gently written words inside. Part of what drew me so completely in, I think, is that my own family have strong rural roots going back generations and it's interesting to see someone else's point of view of what leads to urbanisation and a detachment from the land in some, whilst in others the pull towards farm life remains so strong. 

I think A Thousand Acres and Barn Blind are the only books of Jane Smiley's that I've read, but with Some Luck I'm hooked. I can't wait to see what happens in the next instalment (which goes from 1953-1986) and I'm delighted it's not going to be too long before it's released. A must read, Some Luck is a doorway in to many lives and a journey into the American heartland. Enjoy!

Monday 9 February 2015

recent reads: victoria hislop's the sunrise

Victoria Hislop's The Sunrise was the perfect full-stop to a busy week. No responsibilities other than regular family life meant I could do a job then read and repeat the process all day - bliss! And wasn't I lucky, because this novel was a real page-turner. Set on the island of Cyprus during the early 1970s, the resort of Famagusta is the place to be for the jet-set. The first part of the book revolves around The Sunrise, a luxury hotel like no other - 500 rooms and each of the full every night. That is, until a military coup sends both tourists and 40,000 residents of the town running for their lives.

The Sunrise was recommended by my sister, Kate. We mainly like the same books, but sometimes there's a distinct gap. Initially thought this novel fell into that category, but it just goes to show that it's worth reading the first chapter of a book to make sure. I didn't get far in before I was hooked and knocked it over in a day, desperate to find out what happened next. What's even better, is that Victoria Hislop has a number of previously published works and I'm heading off now to track them down!

Have you read The Sunrise? And have you almost missed out on a great read, just because first impressions weren't the best?


PS Cover image via here.

Friday 6 February 2015

a year of australian writing - alice pung's laurinda

Life inside an exclusive girls' school is revealed by scholarship winner Lucy Lam. 
Laurinda, Alice Pung's first novel, comes after the success of her previously published memoirs Unpolished Gem and Her Father's Daughter. This is a fabulous read with a remarkably strong voice - John Marsden couldn't have put it better than his cover statement "Alice Pung totally nails it with Laurinda." I've been to both co-ed and single sex schooling and this novel could have sprung from either place - the intricacies of the social hierarchy are stripped apart under Lucy's observant eye and we are the fortunate observers into this important stage of her life.

I'm going to call it early and say that Laurinda will be one of my favourite reads in 2015 - a rash statement to make at this stage of the year, but it is amazing!

Have you read Laurinda? Did it make the grade and send you back to your own school days?

PS I'm joining in with Pip's A Year of Australian Writing.

PPS Cover image via here.