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Changing Times

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Time to Slow Down

Indie Scriptorium has been presenting blogs every week since June 2022.

Writing posts was a fabulous way for us to explore the art of writing, editing and the entire business of self-publishing. When you consider that our three members have published over 150 posts in three years it’s an impressive body of work.

We have gained nearly a hundred followers from across the world. We have used the blogs to educate ourselves and others. We’ve produced an anthology of blogs on writing and plan another one next year on editing.

Researching and writing blogs requires time and effort. We are all active writers engaged in producing our own non-fiction books, novels and short stories and we are increasingly time poor. There is also a wealth of writing resources on-line, which we frequently cite in our blogs and this sometimes means we are “reinventing the wheel.”

So, it’s time to review the purpose of our group and website and we have decided to slow down a bit.

Rest assured readers, Indie Scriptorium will continue. The large body of work will remain available on our website. We will continue to post blogs as we research and explore new areas of interest, but it won’t be as regular as in the past.

Our website will be revamped and maintained to market our work. We plan to alert you to new publications, events and other interesting issues as they arise. If any of you want to see more regular posts, we would welcome your contributions.

Cheers and Happy Writing

Lee-Anne Marie Kling

Elsie King

Mary McDee

© 2025

Feature Photo: A Family outing © Alison McDonald 2017

Marketing Ideas and Information

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Author Talks

Hello everyone,

I recently had the pleasure of attending an author talk given by Australian rural crime writer, Fleur McDonald. My friend, who is an avid fan of Fleur, booked tickets then invited me along.

I’ve only been to a few author talks at Adelaide Writer’s week but this was a local event at the Hallett Cove Civic Centre and Fleur is a South Australian born writer, so I was happy to attend.

As an emerging author, I also wanted to get some ideas about how to plan an event. You never know I might get invited to talk about my own writing experience some day.

Local author Nina D. Campbell interviewed Fleur. and this worked well. They covered a lot of interesting topics. Much of the talk centred around Fleur’s life as a mother, farmer and aviator. She also touched on her history as a writer, her research, writing processes and delved into a few of her characters. It was a funny and entertaining presentation which was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience, including me.

The organisation of the event was excellent with a comfortable venue, free wine or soft drinks, lots of promotional banners, a local bookstore selling the books and of course book signings. It was a superb night.

For more information about Fleur McDonald visit her web site https://www.fleurmcdonald.com

Also discover Nina D. Campbell – a South Australian crime author https://ninadcampbell.com.au

For an excellent blog about planning an author talk see Tess Woods – Six secrets of giving successful and sought after author talks  https://www.tesswoods.com.au/six-secrets-to-giving-successful-author-talks.html

Cheers Elsie King ©2025

Feature Photo: Elsie with Fleur © Elsie King 2025

100-Word Challenge

/ lmkling / 1 Comment

I have been mulling over what stops us. What makes us stall from reaching our potential? Our potential to write that novel in our heads. Finish that story. Take up the challenge we are given and run with it to the end. Often, it’s the way we see ourselves. Our limitations. When faced with the challenge, our song is, “I can’t. I’m not good enough.” We reinforce our self concept with the chorus, “I failed that (insert challenge) at school.” Or “I was sacked when I did (that particular challenge)”. It got me thinking that when we define ourselves by our limitations, we work ourselves into a corner.

One fun activity that our Writers’ group found useful was the 100-word challenge. This little task helps fire up the creative juices, refine writing skills, and simply work around the limitations we writers put on ourselves.

Below is an example from my collection.

Worked…

…Into a Corner

All afternoon, our backyard echoed with the hum of the cement-mixer, and intermittent scraping. Dad, armed with a trowel, smoothed the cement over an area pegged to become the back patio. Metre by metre, he pasted his way back.

Mum stood on the porch, and with hands on her hips, remarked, ‘And how are you going to get out of this one?’

In an ocean of soft cement, Dad looked around him, lost. ‘Er…um…I’ll work it out.’

Tracks back to the lawn-edge smoothed, Dad stood and admired his DIY job.

Next morning, paw-prints made their way to the rainwater tank.

© L.M. Kling 2019

Feature Photo: Dad Concreting back Patio © M.E. Trudinger circa 1978

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Have a go at the 100-word challenge.

If you like you can drop us a line with your creation.

We’d love to see what you come up with in the comment section.