Off the Page

When you’re writing a story, often the question is what should you and shouldn’t you include? Many of us would love to include everything. But this doesn’t necessarily make for … Continued

Learning Your Craft

Stimulus is important in a writer’s development. You need to be constantly exposed to new information to evolve. Obvious avenues are residencies, workshops, and schooling. Here, you should be flooded … Continued

The Great Novella 2016 Shortlist

Thank you to everybody who entered Busybird’s Great Novella Search 2016. There were so many great entries – so many great novellas and short story collections. Whittling down the entries … Continued

Healthy Body

The Health Conscious Series was the brainchild of Blaise van Hecke, Busybird’s director of publishing, and also popularly known as The Book Chick. The first book in the series, Healthy … Continued

Karma Kinglake Writing Retreat

After driving through winding roads and wondering if you’re going the right way, you see it emerge from the gum trees: Karma Kinglake, a rustic house rebuilt from the ashes … Continued

Troll

The internet is replete with keyboard warriors and trolls who hide behind anonymity to espouse inflammatory opinions, or to attack and deride others, whilst trying to promote themselves as some … Continued

The Value of Workshopping

One of the problems we face when revising is losing our objectivity. The more we work on something, the harder it becomes to see issues. We know our writing. We … Continued