Helping authors to make their stories shine … Editing Services for fiction and memoir
In 2025, Mirror World Publishing released Against All Odds, an anthology featuring seven short stories about love against the odds. My story, The Value of a Sapphire, is one of them. Check out this interview I did with Mirror World Publishing talking about my inspiration for the story and more. The original blog is no longer available. Continue reading Interview about my short story, The Value of a Sapphire
Two days before I was due to send my next manuscript to Wings, they announced they are closing down.
I went into a tailspin. It took me so long to reach this point of being a published author, and I’d just landed on a snake in Snakes and Ladders and been sent right back to the start. Continue reading A dead end … not The End
When I first started writing The Godfather of Dance, I made each chapter title a ballroom or Latin American dance type: samba, waltz, pasodoble, etc. As the number of chapters grew, I ran out of dances, so I switched to song titles, which gave me more freedom. Continue reading Writing a Mystery: Chapter Titles/Playlist The Godfather of Dance
In the first part of this blog series, Writing a Mystery: Introducing Jade Riley, I introduced the protagonist for The Godfather of Dance. A journalist by trade, Jade hails from Melbourne and has a past tinged with the tragedy of her best friend’s death. Today, I share how I am developing the Jade Riley Mystery Series, and how I envision future books. Of course, this will almost certainly change along the way due to factors beyond my control or my evolving creative preferences. Continue reading Writing a Mystery: Crafting a Series
I recently had the honour of chatting with Lisa Hope Tilstra on the Make Life Less Difficult podcast. To quote her purpose, “This podcast explores what it means to make life less difficult for each other and for ourselves. We share stories of struggles and successes because we believe sharing our stories eases the difficulty of life.” This really spoke to me because as an editor and writing coach, my role is all about helping people tell their stories. I tried to articulate for Lisa how I help authors and subsequently wrote this post to capture those ideas.
When a client approaches me for help with their book, I need to understand their motivation and goals. The why, what and how of their story:
Why do they want to tell the story?
What do they want to say?
How might they say it?
This may sound obvious, but it’s easy to dive into what is already on the page without considering these parameters. If I’m working with authors who are clear about their goals, I don’t spend much time on this, but for new authors who are feeling their way, a more extensive discussion may be useful. Continue reading The Why, What and How of Storytelling
Jade is an everyday hero. In the first book, she’s a rookie journalist with more ambition than experience, more passion than finesse. She’s Australian, from my hometown, Melbourne, but she’s living in The Woodlands, Texas, a satellite suburb of Houston, where she works for a local newspaper. By no coincidence, this is where I lived with my family for five years. She’s also passionate about ballroom and Latin dance. Continue reading Writing a Mystery: Introducing Jade Riley
While in Texas, I decided to do some research for my next novel, in which (spoiler alert) my protagonist may have to fire a gun. I needed to know how shooting feels, sounds, looks, and smells. Continue reading Five Learnings from Firing a Shotgun
My publisher (it’s such a thrill to be able to type those words) for The Godfather of Dance, Wings ePress, is in the US, so I needed to update my novel from Australian English to US English. The differences were even greater than I’d realised (realized). I’ve noted these changes to help other authors and to show the differences to my non-US friends, so they don’t think I’ve published a book full of errors! Continue reading How to convert from Australian English to US English
I am thrilled to announce that I’ve signed a publishing deal with Wings ePress for my novel, The Godfather of Dance. As my long-term readers know, this has been a lengthy process. To celebrate, here’s a fun post about responses from publisher to submissions. Continue reading The Enormous Difference Between BUT and AND
Donna, a teacher, has just published her debut novel, All that is Sacred, about lifelong friends who have drifted apart. The story explores the secrets that divided the group and the love that draws them back together. Join me with Donna as we discuss the fluctuations of relationships over a lifetime, her publishing journey and more. Continue reading Donna Carbone on the evolving nature of friendship
Brightside Story Studio 