Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

I must be the last person in the world to have started reading The Secret. We bought the book last week and have the video on order. Can't wait. I'm really enjoying the book - not least because it's outlining what I've always believed. It struck me as amusing that its primary author, Rhonda Byrne, is a fellow Australian. She explains in the intro to the The Secret that when the idea came to her, she had to travel to the US to find validation and willing exponents of her cause. I wondered if this meant she couldn't find any positive people in Australia! Having lived here for nearly a decade now (I'm a Brit if you didn't know) I think I can relate to her dilemma. There's a weird attitude that permeates the society over here - and is endorsed and promoted by no less than the government - that success happens to other people, usually in other countries. Australia likes to think of itself as a classless country - where no 'Bruce' is better...

It's an old debate - one that never ceases to divide writers. Should you make a plan before you write - or should you just start and see what happens? An esteemed subscriber recently raised the issue again in the context of 'types' of writers. It seemed to her that genre fiction writers probably needed a plan in order to deal with the complexities of plotting - and cut down on editing in the subsequent drafts. However, she maintained, it was the more 'literary' writers that insisted that planning somehow stifled creativity. And that a good literary writer didn't mind editing for sense and structure after the first draft was down. She asked me which I thought was the best approach. Do Plans Work? It's hard to imagine a business succeeding without a plan - but clearly some do. Even very large businesses - which surely don't intend to go billions into debt, though it seems to happen all too often nowadays. Some would say that many marriages survive without ...

This must be the single most fascinating issue amongst new writers - and non writers. Throughout their careers, authors are consistently asked the same question: Where do you get your ideas from? As though there is some secret locked store-room full of them, hidden away, and that only the best writers are mysteriously given the key. If you're one of those people that has apparent trouble coming up with ideas, let me reassure you right away. You already hold the key to the 'idea store'. Just like any other writer or creative person, the ideas are inside your head - and all you need is an easy way to tap into them. Something I'm just about to give you. You may not be conscious of it now but your subconscious is a swirling mass of ideas just waiting for your attention. The problem for most long term writers is not 'Where do I get ideas?' but 'Which one of the thousands I have am I going to work on next?' The dilemma then becomes 'When am I ever going to...

Are you the kind of person who dwells on the past? We all do it to an extent. Some of us more than others. But have you ever found yourself getting stuck in a groove, replaying a mistake in your mind, over and over, ten, twenty, even thirty years after the fact? You know the old maxim: "You get what you focus on." Has it occurred to you that when you dwell on past mistakes, you're setting up yourself to fail - again? We all make mistakes. That's why there's a delete key on your computer. If everything we did was perfect first time out, our lives would be bland and most likely, unmemorable. Our mistakes, our errors in judgment, our embarrassing interludes, help us grow and learn and become wise. But replaying them in our minds, cringing and wishing they'd worked out differently is a surefire way of ensuring the same kind of result in the future. Don't Make Excuses Have you ever noticed that most people have a hundred reasons why they shouldn't pursue t...

Robyn and I spent nearly a week at a writing seminar recently. It was in the Barossa wine region - just north of Adelaide, SA, a beautiful spot. For a full time writer used to sitting alone for hours working, seminars can be overwhelming. So many writers, so much to see, people you should meet, notes you should be taking - oh and the food and wine you feel compelled to eat and enjoy! Up at seven - gosh, it's a very long time since we had to do that! Most days we're lucky to be up by nine - and the office is just a short shuffle away! But at the seminar they had working breakfasts - a chance to 'network' as the brochure instructed. Who wants to network before your eyes have begun to focus? Robyn's good at this sort of thing, but me? I'm shy at the best of times and so having to look confident, enthusiastic and passionate about my writing is a bit of a stretch - in real life. I mean, I am passionate about writing - very - but having to show that to strangers is li...

The joy of being a writer is that you can spend a lot of time at home, safe in your own little world, trying to create something meaningful and communicate through the best way possible, that is: through words on a page. Many writers choose this career because either a) they're shy or b) they prefer their own company anyway or c) the world seems a crazy mixed up place that doesn't need much of their involvement. I've spent time in the past with large groups of people who deperately need each other's company - and often - to even begin to function. I've known unfortunate souls that cry unceasingly when they have no friends to call on, or live in torment until they can chat with another. It's called being gregarious, apparently. Thankfully, like most writers, I'm not so afflicted. I've always liked my own company - even when I craved fame in my twenties. I used to forsake the local bars in preference to my guitar or my notebook. Many creative people are li...

As a writer, time can be your greatest ally or your most dreaded enemy, depending on how you look at it . The publishing industry works at a snail's pace. As author and screenwriter Richard Curtis once said, 'Most writers can write books faster than publishers can write cheques.' Oh, how true. I get a lot of emails from writers who have urgent problems they want fixing NOW. I myself have to sometimes drop everything to do some research, to find answers to technical issues or just to get some advice. But publishers don't work this way. Ask them a direct question and they behave like my ex. Either they don't answer at all, give you the brush off or make you feel small and grubby for daring to bother them with your pathetic request. It can be very frustrating to have to wait for a reply that may never come - but such is the life of a career writer. Life as Bottom Feeder As a writer, you're the lowest in the foodchain. The most abhored, the most misunderstood, the m...