Writing Archives | Page 2 of 12 | Michelle Scott Tucker

Literary Grants: how to win them

You’ve volunteered to be a member of a grant assessment panel. The submissions have all been sent through, and you’re looking at the vast pile of proposals in horror. There are so many, and the pot of money you can distribute is so small. So you pour yourself a cuppa, and settle in to read and take notes. And all the while, as you look through each proposal, you’re sorting them out in your mind (or, better, on a spreadsheet). In this first read-through, though, you’re probably just skim-reading, and [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2021-07-02T19:29:58+10:00June 15th, 2021|Writing|8 Comments

Podcasts: my bookish faves

Full confession: I've fallen in love with podcasts. And I think it's going to be a lasting relationship. For the uninitiated, a podcast is like your favourite radio program, only there are usually multiple episodes and you can play it whenever you like. In fact most popular radio programs also are available in podcast form. Like Netflix, except for your ears. I use an app on my phone, called Pocketcasts, to listen. At first I listened only in the car, usually on the long commute to and from work. Then [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2021-05-14T22:35:52+10:00May 14th, 2021|Writing|3 Comments

Rewild Your Words – join me in a new writing workshop

Most writing happens at the desk, but sometimes we find the heartbeat in our work when we are moving in the world—especially the natural world. Immersion in natural places can oxygenate our thinking, switch on our senses, enliven our creativity and ignite our imagination. Join Ilka Tampke and me for a one-day workshop where we will learn how to bring the natural world to life on the page and hear the stories it wants us to tell. The day will begin in a private room at the historic Mt Macedon [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2021-03-12T21:43:09+11:00March 12th, 2021|Writing|0 Comments

So I’ve had some interesting news…

I've been working on my next book, now, for over a year. For most of that time I wasn't entirely sure if it would go ahead. But I knew there was a terrific story there, and I knew it was an important one, and I knew that the time was right to be telling it. I just wasn't sure whether there was a publisher out there who might agree. Reader, there was. MEDIA RELEASE PANTERA PRESS ACQUIRES DEBUT MEMOIR BY AARON FA’AOSO IN SIX FIGURE DEAL Pantera Press has bought [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2021-05-14T19:58:19+10:00February 22nd, 2021|Aaron Fa'Aoso, Writing|2 Comments

Shortlisted! Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship

In exciting news, I've been shortlisted for the 2021 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship, worth $15,000. The shortlisting is for a project I've been quietly working on for a while - I'm (ghost) writing a memoir for Aaron Fa’Aoso, Torres Strait Islander actor, film and television writer, director and producer. You can read more about my newest project here. And stay tuned, there is even more exciting news to come! The Hazel Rowley Literary Fellowship was established by the family and friends of Hazel Rowley, one of the world’s leading biographers, to [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2021-01-14T11:24:19+11:00January 14th, 2021|Aaron Fa'Aoso, Work in Progress, Writing|4 Comments

Talking about crime on the ABC

Had a little chat on ABC radio the other day, about books. No, you didn't hear it because I was on - live to air - from 4:30 to 5:00am. The loveliest people are listening then, and they ring in, to chat. I'd love to get a regular guest gig (even if it IS at 4:30 am!) so feel free to let the ABC know how much you love love love to hear my dulcet tones... oh, and my insightful, bookish commentary. Listen to me rabbiting on here. Tell the [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2020-12-29T14:31:04+11:00December 29th, 2020|Writing|0 Comments

What I read in 2020 – Part 1, the non-fiction episode

2020 has been, for me, a year of comfort reading. Lots of books were tossed aside by page 6 or 7, if they couldn't hold my interest. And for a while there, during the deepest part of the COVID-19 lockdown, it seemed like very little could hold my interest. Miles Franklin prize-winners: tossed. New York Times best-sellers: tossed. Quirky little books highly recommended by friends: tossed. In the end, it was commercial mass-market fiction that saw me through and I'll share my thoughts about my fiction reads in another post, [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2020-12-01T14:47:54+11:00December 1st, 2020|Book Review, Writing|17 Comments

Writing Q&A: What were they thinking?

Every now and then, people ask me questions about how to write. I like the questions, but whether my answers are useful or not remains a moot point. Recently, I keep getting asked about thinking. Specifically, how can anyone write about a historic figure's mindset, if there's no primary source material to say what they were feeling or thinking on any given day or hour? How much can a writer of non-fiction inject into the story? In my view, there's a few different ways to tackle the problem. But first [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2020-06-29T19:43:10+10:00June 29th, 2020|Writing|4 Comments

Mary Macarthur’s Hunter Valley Home

The home of one of Elizabeth Macarthur's daughters looks set to be relocated - to make way for coal mining. According to this online article, The 1820s Ravensworth Homestead in the Hunter Valley, among the first agricultural properties in the area, is now in the way of a proposed expansion of the Glendell coal mine, which wants to extract an additional 140 million tonnes of coal from the site. As a result, operator mining giant Glencore has offered to pay an estimated $20 million to fund a local plan to [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2020-05-28T19:01:30+10:00May 28th, 2020|Colonial History, Elizabeth Macarthur, Writing|1 Comment

Come to my seminar!

Sometimes the most compelling non-fiction stories are about other people. Whether you’re writing biography, interested in ghost writing, drawing together your family or local history, or even thinking about feature interviews – if you want to tell someone else’s story then learn how to illuminate your subject with writing that is engaging, ethical and insightful. On Sunday 14 June 2020, I'll be delivering an online workshop for Writers Victoria. We'll talk, we'll laugh and best of all, afterwards I'll provide personal feedback about a short excerpt of your writing. This [...]

Michelle Scott Tucker2020-05-15T15:22:22+10:00May 15th, 2020|Writing|0 Comments