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- First drafts: allowing the worm to navigate the soils of your mind
- The boy whose butter I ate: writing from the inside out
- All a writer can ask
- Throwing away material without a sense of failure
- Playful child and iron teacher: the two halves of the writer
- What happens when a character’s skirt gets hitched in her knickers?
- It’s an anxious job, pulling out of the comfort zone
- Write of things you love
- Try to get ahead too fast and you might end up with your trousers round your ankles
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Author Archives: gabrielablandy
It’s an anxious job, pulling out of the comfort zone
I’m in the bedroom, packing – two days until my flight. I’m filling with familiar sensations. As my body is about to be relocated, it grips the life I’ve been living and through this act I see everything close up: … Continue reading
Playful child and iron teacher: the two halves of the writer
I was nine when a new games mistress arrived at my school. She was a grey-haired woman, although she wasn’t old; I could tell because her eyebrows were black. Her bum was boxlike, giving an impression of very little waist. … Continue reading
Posted in Essay, Memoir
Tagged advice, editing, essay, fear, Gabriela, Gabriela Blandy, how to write, Memoir, Writer's block, Writing, writing advice, Writing process
39 Comments
What happens when a character’s skirt gets hitched in her knickers?
Character is arguably the single most important component of the novel…nothing can equal the great tradition of the European novel in the richness, variety and psychological depth of its portrayal of human nature. David Lodge When I was ten, … Continue reading
Posted in Essay, Memoir
Tagged advice, Character, Characterisation, David Lodge, editing, essay, Gabriela, Gabriela Blandy, how to write, Memoir, short story, Writing, writing advice, Writing process
56 Comments
Try to get ahead too fast and you might end up with your trousers round your ankles
When I left drama school, I expected to become a successful actress immediately. I sent my headshot to directors and agents. Every time the phone rang, my heart convulsed, but usually it was my mother, wanting to know about my … Continue reading
Posted in Memoir
Tagged Acting, Autobiography, drama school, Gabriela Blandy, how to write, Memoir, short story, writing advice, Writing process
72 Comments
Throwing away material without a sense of failure
When I finished my Masters in Creative Writing, three agents wanted to meet and talk about my novel. I remember thinking: I’ve made it! Despite being tongue-tied in one interview, turning up a week early for another, and being paranoid … Continue reading
Trying to submerge a plastic bag with an air pocket
I have several recurring dreams. In one of them, I’m at university, faced with having to find a group to move in with for the coming academic year. But I’ve left it too late. Everyone has already made their plans … Continue reading
Posted in Essay, Fiction, Memoir
Tagged Acting, denial, drama school, Gabriela Blandy, how to write, Interpretting dreams, Letting go, Lucid dreaming, Memoir, Osteopathy, Recurring dreams, Resolutions, short story, Tension, Writing
34 Comments
The boy whose butter I ate: writing from the inside out
When I was fifteen, I wanted, with a desperate force, to fall in love. This desire was mirrored over a decade later – though it wasn’t love I was urgently wishing for, but a career as a writer. In the … Continue reading
Posted in Essay, Memoir
Tagged denial, editing, essay, Gabriela Blandy, how to write, Love, Memoir, truth, Writing, writing advice, Writing process
62 Comments
This is the year to land on your feet!
New Year’s Eve 2011, Dan and I are on a bus from Mount Barker to Perth. It’s full. People are already drinking, even though it’s not yet midday. Outside, the sun is vivid, passing through the window with ease, warming … Continue reading
Posted in Memoir
Tagged Australia, Cherry Picker, Fire Engine, Freemantle, Gabriela Blandy, how to write, Humour, Locked out, Luck, Memoir, New Year's Eve, Perth, Travel, Western Australia, Writing
30 Comments
All a writer can ask
The first Christmas I remember, I was four. My dad was working on a project in Malawi to develop coffee production for those with smallholdings. My mother took me and my brother out to Africa for the holidays. (This is … Continue reading
Posted in Essay, Memoir
Tagged Africa, Awards, blogging, Christmas, followers, Gabriela Blandy, Holidays, how to write, Interconnection, Malawi, readers, travelling, winter, Writing
32 Comments
Gabriela Blandy - The sense of a journey 