Jonathon Larson’s “Tick Tick Boom” has left me wondering — I assumed the throbbing pain and loud clicking in my shoulder was a simple injury from a fall, but the physio suspects some underlying condition and insists I head straight to the emergency department. First though, I head home. I let my husband know, grab a notebook, reassure the kids…

3 creative side-gigs for you to try too — I’ve been a working writer for over 12 years and the 70/20/10 rule is one I’ve always applied to my time. The 10 part is the most fun. Here’s how it works — I spend the majority of my writing time on work that pays, around 20% on testing out…

“Paying someone to test your spit is a waste of money” — I entered perimenopause a couple of years ago and, as a health writer for magazines, I’ve had the chance to interview some amazing experts. I had questions (I knew my readers did too!) and it’s not always easy to get answers. Recently, I spoke to Dr Linda Dear, a GP…

Are you a generic human? — As much as I resist change, I have to admit there’s no point paying a guy to light the street lamps when electricity can do the job in seconds. I’ve been thinking about those old lamplighters and all the times the workplace has transformed with technological change (and trying not…

Before you make your 2023 writing plans, consider how you’ll grow — For years, I wrote on my own. Plodding along, just me and my local editors. But in 2019, I did something that changed that. But first, my co-editor Ash Jurberg and I wanted to let you know what’s happening with Inspired Writer for 2023 so you can start planning: I’ll…

Editors are more likely to buy timely pieces, and any piece can be made timely. — Sitting in the theatre, I wondered if I’d be spending the next 5-hours with two bored teenagers, complaining or sulking while I sat regretting my life choices. Was it a bad move taking my kids to a 5-hour French opera on the Spanish Inquisition? Thankfully, the director David McVicar had…

How does your writing compare with ChatGPT? — Can we learn to improve before AI does? I gave the new writing AI, ChatGPT, a try today — asking it to write a rom-com for me — and it transported me back to a story I edited with a client years ago. AI has the same beginner writer difficulties…

It’s all about what you can drop — When I was a child, I understood grief because I had an elephant cookie jar on my shelf that was missing a lid. As a 6-year-old, I’d watched my mother drop the lid as she’d packed her belongings to leave. The lid had slipped from her fingers and smashed into…