Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

When I was young I thought the whole point of growing up was to become wise. I guess I thought that's what school was about.  After all, we spend anything from ten to twenty years at the beginning of our lives learning stuff - presumably to help us become better adults, better human beings. One thing that struck me as odd , at the time, was that people didn't seem to get any wiser as they got older.  Quite the opposite.  The older people got, I noted, the more rigid, inflexible and closed they seemed to become. To say this confused me is an understatement. I remember promising myself I wouldn't get that way.  I wouldn't be one of those people who  was sure about everything - had a definitive opinion on all things and couldn't see that nothing could be that concrete. You know people like this. They have a lifetime of experiences that have led them to certain beliefs that may be true for them, yet aren't always part of others'...

Meta-writing: the process and practice of writing about writing. One of my esteemed students wrote me a letter - yes, an actual piece of paper with handwriting on it - recently. She thanked me for one of my courses that she was working through at home.  She said she liked my 'metaphysical' approach to writing because it helped her move out of a block she'd been having. I've never really thought about my instruction being 'metaphysical' to be honest.  It's not meant to be.  A better term might be 'holistic', in that I see writing and the writer as equally in need of guidance and advice. The writer is, to me, inseparable from the writing.  You can't be a good, honest and effective writer if you don't aspire to be a good, honest and effective person.  If that's metaphysical, then so be it! But you don't have to be perfect. In the same way as your writing doesn't have to be perfect.  What's perfectio...

Went to a Society of Authors drinks the other day - met some lovely writers and their partners. It was in the back room of beautiful old colonial building in North Adelaide, replete with wood beams, deep carpets and sweet staff to help the night along. We met a writer who had the dream happen to her. You know the one. You spend a decade or so  trying to write a book, in between work and life, finally getting it done.  You send it out and then it's picked up and published to great acclaim by the first major publisher you submit to... I mentioned to her at this point,  "You know that never happens?" "Yes," she said. "And I feel awfully guilty." "No need," I said. "Writers need proof it can happen. Just to keep us all going!" We met other writers at various stages in their careers. Some unpublished, some having books coming out of their ears. It takes all sorts - and curiously I realized it's next t...

It's been a busy time for us this week. Lots of promotions in lieu of our imminent shutdown. Thanks for all your emails of support and encouragement. News of what's happening to us in January will have to wait until then... We have important stuff going on right now! In case you needed a reference point, the following is a list of the Digital Disposal items that have appeared in the last eight or nine days. Feel free to click on the links you're interested in. December Digital Disposal Day One: Autobiography Writing Day Two: Nuts and Bolts of Writing Day Three: Short Story Writing Day Four: The Art of Story Day Five: Thriller Writing Day Six: Self Editing Day Seven: Writing Success Day Eight: Show Don't Tell Remember that this is the very last time these uniquely helpful resources will be available. After the 31st of December, they will all be gone from the ...

It's always bothered me that if you're seen as a struggling artist, you have no credibility to the world around you.  Friends, family and the state in particular regards you as some kind of pariah. If you leave school and don't immediately get a job you're seen as a waster - what we call a bludger down here in the US of Oz. Okay so there are lots of people who don't want to work these days.  Plus we have a welfare system in most countries that allows us to live without working, at least for a while, just. And while I don't condone sponging off the state, I do support those who want to create books, film and music for no initial reward in the hope of hitting the big time. After all, not wanting to waste 40 to 60 hours a week to make a living is to me a sign of complete rationality.  I'm just surprised there aren't more people out there who don't rage against a system that requires them to work in jobs the...