Alyssa Mackay | Writer

This year, many impressive Australian writers, both published and unpublished, have been blogging about their writing experience and offering advice and support for others in the writing community.

Here is a list of my favourite blog posts from Australian writers this year – from tips on how to start your story, to staying motivated, through to the experience of having your manuscript assessed and getting published – there’s something for every writer, no matter what stage you’re at!

How to Welcome the Reader into the Story: Beware Backstory by Natasha Lester

Natasha’s post was particularly valuable to me because the first chapter of my manuscript was laden with backstory. Natasha uses examples from her novel A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald to demonstrate how you can ‘drip feed’ the backstory into your novel.

Natasha’s next novel, Her Mother’s Secret is available for pre-order now.

How to get the words written: 10 tips for writers by Allison Tait

Allison’s informative blog has a special section for writers and one of her most popular posts from 2016 are these ten tips on how to make time to write, and how to make the most of the time you’ve made. My favourite is to stop editing and get the first draft down.

There’s also a link to her new online course, Make Time to Write.

Six Ways to Stay on Track with Your Story by Elizabeth Foster

Some great tips from Elizabeth, who is working on her second novel, on what to do when you find yourself getting a bit lost writing your story, such as keeping the ultimate goal at the back of your mind, studying what other writers do well and my favourite – imagining your work as a film or a play.

Elizabeth’s debut novel Esme’s Wish will be published by Odyssey Books in September 2017.

Networking: A Different Approach by Samantha House

Samantha’s blog is always open and honest and this thoughtful post is about asking for help as a writer if you have a shy, introverted personality. This is a common plight of many writers and Samantha addresses this by talking about connecting with other writers on social media, helping one another and building a supportive community.

My Top Ten NaNoWriMo Survival Tips by Marie McLean

Marie’s highly entertaining post is about how to cope during NaNoWriMo, however her hilarious survival tips apply to writers at any time of the year when they are trying to meet a deadline. It’s also an excellent example of how to write an informative and funny blog post.

The Aspiring Writer: Manuscript Assessment by Jodi Gibson

Jodi provides a wealth of fantastic advice in her ‘Aspiring Writer’ series and this post is one of my favourites. Jodi had her manuscript professionally assessed and she discusses step by step exactly what it means to have your manuscript assessed, the benefits of having one done and when to do it.

Submitting your manuscript: tips from the team at Hachette Australia by Sarah Fiddelaers

Sarah’s blog posts are always beautifully written and this one is no different. Sarah attended an event called ‘Inside the Publishing House’ at Hachette Australia headquarters in Sydney and has kindly shared everything she learnt from the publishers about how to give your submission the best chance of standing out.

From Writer to Author … by Kali Napier

I am looking forward to reading Kali’s debut novel, which will be published in February 2018 with Hachette Australia. In this post, she shares five lessons from her journey to becoming a published author, including always having another project in the pipeline, setting achievable goals, building your author platform, taking a leap of faith and keep writing.

These are just a few of the writer blogs I enjoy reading on a regular basis. I can’t wait to see what everyone gets up to in 2017. Happy Writing!