Last year my co-writer and I won a professionally designed website in a competition at Kids' Book Review. It's wonderful when you win anything at all let alone something so useful and timely. Erica and I recently completed the first novel, 'Daughter', in what will be a three book series. We're currently beginning work on the second book in the series, 'Music Maker', so winning a pro website is wonderful timing. However....there is a lot of work involved, even for us!   We have to provide photos,

I'm thrilled to reveal the cover of the upcoming anthology, "Eve's Requiem: Tales of Women, Mystery, and Horror". A story of mine, The Stars of the Garden, is included in this anthology and it will be my first ever story IN PRINT! I've had a few pieces published in online journals but being old-school, I'm excited about having a publication I can hold in my hands.Stars of the Gardenis one of my favourite storiesas well, featuring a garden, a sweet old woman and lots of blood and bone. Enjoy a

Wow, I have been really slack with blogging lately. A combination of dissertation writing for uni, report writing for work and story writing for 'Story-A-Day-In-May' (SADIM) has been kicking me to the curb. SADIM is just what it sounds like: "StoryADay.org is home to an annual Extreme Writing Challenge: Write a story every day in May." So far I've done okayish, for my first attempt. A bit like Nanowrimo last year, although I haven't been 100% successful, I've certainly written more than I would

Wow, I have been really slack with blogging lately. A combination of dissertation writing for uni, report writing for work and story writing for 'Story-A-Day-In-May' (SADIM) has been kicking me to the curb.   SADIM is just what it sounds like:   "StoryADay.org is home to an annual Extreme Writing Challenge: Write a story every day in May."   So far I've done okayish, for my first attempt. A bit like Nanowrimo last year, although I haven't been 100% successful, I've certainly written more than I

I'm excited to participate in my first blog hop with a range of very talented writers and friends, beginning with the wonderful Alexis A. Hunter. We're in a scribophile group together and I'm constantly astounded by the scope of both her imagination and her talent. She has one freaky brain and I recommend hunting (ha) down her stories and reading every last one. Alexis A. Hunter revels in the endless possibilities of speculative fiction. Short stories are her true passion, despite a few curious

I'm excited to participate in my first blog hop with a range of very talented writers and friends, beginning with the wonderful Alexis A. Hunter. We're in a scribophile group together and I'm constantly astounded by the scope of both her imagination and her talent. She has one freaky brain and I recommend hunting (ha) down her stories and reading every last one.   Alexis A. Hunter revels in the endless possibilities of speculative fiction. Short stories are her true passion, despite a few

This picture says it all this week. I feel like I graduated from this course already. With an A+.

This picture says it all this week. I feel like I graduated from this course already. With an A+.

Life for the last year or so has been busy; I work, I study, I write and I try to have a 'life' away from all these things with friends and family. At times it's exhilarating and I feel like I'm doing something worthwhile and essential for the future of the planet, at other times I have to drag myself out of bed and I question if it makes any difference at all. When I occasionally ask myself why I'm juggling working as a sustainability teacher and doing a Masters in the same field, it just takes

 Life for the last year or so has been busy; I work, I study, I write and I try to have a 'life' away from all these things with friends and family. At times it's exhilarating and I feel like I'm doing something worthwhile and essential for the future of the planet, at other times I have to drag myself out of bed and I question if it makes any difference at all.   When I occasionally ask myself why I'm juggling working as a sustainability teacher and doing a Masters in the same field, it just

Yesterday, I spent the morning at a teacher's rally, striking in response to the government's cuts changes to education. In my classes, I've been discussing the West Australia shark cull, the pros and cons of killing sharks that cruise the waters close to swimming beaches along the west coast. Both of these situations have given rise to some fascinating conversations, debates and insights from friends, colleagues and students. This hasled to memusing on the topic of morals and messages in

Even though I’m still working on the first draft of my MG novel, being a visual person I wanted to create a cover for the book. I pictured this cover printed out, pinned on the motivational board above my desk, urging me on (along with pots of Earl Grey) to get this draft written. To that end, I decided to forgo my usual play around with photoshop actually invest in a cover. That’s right, I mean pay somebody to do it for me. Being unwilling (and unable) to invest too much cash I wandered across

Question of the day: If you could pick one place in the world to have a writing retreat where would it be? I’m torn when it comes to this question because three settings instantly leap to mind: 1. A beach hut on an isolated, wind swept peninsula. My desk sits before a giant picture window which looks out across the white sands to the sea. The sound of gulls wafts in through my window. 2. An isolated mountain cabin, snowed in. There’s a huge fireplace and I sit before it with a small folding

Yesterday, I spent the morning at a teacher's rally, striking in response to the government's cuts & changes to education. In my classes, I've been discussing the West Australia shark cull, the pros and cons of killing sharks that cruise the waters close to swimming beaches along the west coast.   Both of these situations have given rise to some fascinating conversations, debates and insights from friends, colleagues and students.   This has led to me musing on the topic of morals and messages

Even though I’m still working on the first draft of my MG novel, being a visual person I wanted to create a cover for the book. I pictured this cover printed out, pinned on the motivational board above my desk, urging me on (along with pots of Earl Grey) to get this draft written.   To that end, I decided to forgo my usual play around with photoshop & actually invest in a cover. That’s right, I mean pay somebody to do it for me. Being unwilling (and unable) to invest too much cash I wandered

Question of the day:   If you could pick one place in the world to have a writing retreat where would it be?   I’m torn when it comes to this question because three settings instantly leap to mind:   1. A beach hut on an isolated, wind swept peninsula. My desk sits before a giant picture window which looks out across the white sands to the sea. The sound of gulls wafts in through my window.   2. An isolated mountain cabin, snowed in. There’s a huge fireplace and I sit before it with a small

I have been overwhelmed this last week to have three of my stories published on-line. Two of them were even bought - with REAL money! Not Monopoly money, I checked. The links are on my writing page or you can follow these ones: Pina Coladas(free to read) The Great Garden Heist(not free to read but check out that cover!) Studying Shakespeare(free to read) It’s exciting that anyone ever wants to read anything I write. It’s exciting that they would want to publish it on their site to share with

The theme of my life lately has been ‘BEES’. It all started when somebody on Scribophile posted a link to a writing comp. Essentially on the Unfettered site there are ten beautiful images from featured artist, Terry Whidborne, and you choose one to use as a prompt/muse/inspiration to write a story. One of the pictures features a girl suspended between two bees. It leapt out at me and I had my theme. Check all the images out here: http://the7thworld.com/unfettered/ Lately I’ve been discussing

I have been overwhelmed this last week to have three of my stories published on-line. Two of them were even bought - with REAL money! Not Monopoly money, I checked.   The links are on my writing page or you can follow these ones:   Pina Coladas (free to read)   The Great Garden Heist (not free to read but check out that cover!)   Studying Shakespeare (free to read)   It’s exciting that anyone ever wants to read anything I write. It’s exciting that they would want to publish it on their site to

The theme of my life lately has been ‘BEES’.   It all started when somebody on Scribophile posted a link to a writing comp. Essentially on the Unfettered site there are ten beautiful images from featured artist, Terry Whidborne, and you choose one to use as a prompt/muse/inspiration to write a story. One of the pictures features a girl suspended between two bees. It leapt out at me and I had my theme.   Check all the images out here: http://the7thworld.com/unfettered/   Lately I’ve been

My short story, ‘Studying Shakespeare’, has been bought and published by Silver Pen/Youth Imagination Magazine. http://www.youthimagination.org/index.php/publish/current-issue/issue-10-feb-2014/item/77-studying-shakespeare-by-b-lee-draper I’m pretty excited about this as it’s the first story I’ve been paid for. Plus it gets its own accompanying picture on the site. … Continue reading →

The theme of my life lately has been ‘BEES’. It all started when somebody on Scribophile posted a link to a writing comp. Essentially on the Unfettered site there are ten beautiful images from featured artist, Terry Whidborne, and you … Continue reading →

Recently, a friend of mine joined The Classics Club, and it piqued my interest. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the classics – memories of being forced to wade through dry, boring texts at school war with memories of passionate readings of Treasure Island and The Three Musketeers. Deciding I needed a new challenge … Continue reading »