Thanks to the North Australian Arts Festival and Townsville's Festival of Stories, I spent the weekend attending four writing workshops with amazing thriller fiction writer T.M. Clark.

Having recently lost a lot of motivation, myself, and my voice, I attended these workshops with the hope to find these things again. And I'm happy to say, I'm back on track and it's full steam ahead!
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So, this piece is just a little bit about what I learned over the weekend and how I plan to take charge.

I read a lot in June, however, as I moved house and no longer have a treadmill, my reading time did get absorbed by walking out on the streets. But never mind. Health comes first.

I managed to read some great books while tucked away in my new old Queenslander home. My reading this month was quite diverse as I caught up on some of my freebie ebooks, discovered new authors, and absorbed some new releases.

Last week, I attended The Writer's Plan - a workshop provided by the Queensland Writers Centre and presented by CEO Lori-Jay Ellis. Coming off the back of Anna Campbell's Fighting through the Fear of writing at the Rainforest Writing Retreat, it was the second time this month I've been told to get my butt into gear, stop making excuses, and just write.

Well, not really, but essentially that's what I've taken from it all. So here's a little bit about my Writing Plan for the foreseeable future.

I didn't read much in May and I'm not entirely sure why. Reading is difficult for me as I never seem to have the time these days. Nor do I find I have the ability to concentrate enough to really fall into a story. But I did buy a lot of books this month. More than I probably should. And I did read one of the best, insightful books I have ever read, so it was a pretty good month.

This weekend, I attended the Rainforest Writing Retreat at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat in the Gold Coast Hinterland. I was very keen for this retreat as it was full of amazing workshops about ghost stories, writing productivity, and short stories. Not to mention the amazing setting of O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat, abundant with rainforest walks and breathtaking views. This retreat could not have come at a better time either and I really enjoyed my time away from reality to connect with my creativity again.

Read on to learn more about the workshops and my amazing weekend.

April was very busy. Considering I spent a lot of time creating two anthologies for the TWPC, I hardly know how I found the time to read! But I did manage and had the pleasure of indulging in some amazing stories written by some fantastic authors.

March was a big month for reading! Not only was I in the middle of a bunch of books, but there were also some anticipated new releases ... and a few I didn't anticipate and bought anyway, of course ...

This month I spent some time finishing off a few reads on Kindle. I find I enjoy those while I'm out and about or on the treadmill. Then there were the big two new releases - on the same day! - of Natasha Lester's and Matthew Reilly's new books. Plus the new Fiona McCallum and the newly discovered Josephine Moon! Not to mention the $5 book sale I happened across ... and revisted a few times.

Just a little post about what I've been reading in February. After circumstances have prevented me from indulging in books over Christmas and such, I finally managed to find my love for reading again this month and have enjoyed some fantastic stories.

I picked up a few latest releases and found some good reads out of my freebies on Kindle.

And, of course, I'm still seeking out all books with Border Collies in them!

2018 has been my most successful year of my writing career so far. As a board member of the Townsville Writers and Publishers Centre, facilitator of the Popular Fiction Writers Group, and entering many competitions, I have been very busy while also working on my three manuscripts. It has been a very overwhelming year with plenty of ups and downs, but I have learned plenty from competition feedback and writing workshops. Again, I feel like I've grown as an author this year and cannot wait to see what 2019 will bring me.

This blog post will share some of my writing achievements and memorable moments of 2018.

Popular Fiction is going to be bigger and better this year with interesting workshop topics on the last Wednesday evening of every month. Reviewing the most important aspects of novel writing, I've planned eleven workshops that should be applicable to all novel genres and will help improve the quality of my fellow writers work. Take a look below for a preview of Popular Fiction this year, and I hope to see you there!