As I travelled north authors copies of Storm were making their way to writers all over Australia and across oceans to writers in Ireland, Scotland and Canada and gifts of recognition were on their way to Finland, the Philippines and India.
The evening sky in Brisbane has a luminous glow as the city comes to life at night. During the day vibrant green, purples and red foliage adorned the city and ibis wandered the streets
School Award – Victoria Point State School Queensland
On Monday I visited Victoria Point State School for a day that was all about creative writing.
In the morning I ran a Light and Shadow writing workshop with students from years five and six to inspire a new batch of young writers. In the afternoon we were invited to assembly to award certificates of recognition to returning year 7 students who submitted memorable stories to the Minds Shine Bright Seasons Storm writing competition in year 6. The students returned to Victoria Point State School with their parents to receive their certificates. It was a memorable day.
Peggy Mechil made me feel really welcome during my stay at Victoria Point. Teachers like Peggy are an inspiration to budding writers. Often young writers need some encouragement from teachers to build their confidence and develop their craft. Entering writing competitions can be a fun and rewarding way to get started.
Storm Launch at Brisbane Square Library
On Tuesday the Brisbane launch of Storm was held at the Brisbane Square Library where we were joined by the local U3A writing group. Top ten writer, Patricia Fitzgerald read her piece Storm in a Teacup and Meredith Downes read Battery Life, set in the not too distant future. We were also joined by the winner of the CONFIDENCE 2022 flash fiction category Poppy Brazier who read two pieces from Confidence 2022, her piece, Flying Free set on Stradbroke Island about the arrogance and risk taking of youth and Welsh playwright Kevin Dyer’s engaging COVID poem, Dahlia’s which was joint winner of the poetry category.
Several of the U3A writers also read and entertained us with some wonderful stories and poems. Other Queensland writers who were unable to attend on the day include Mocco Wollert and C Sullivan.
Both Confidence Minds Shine Bright Anthology 2022 and Storm Minds Shine Bright Seasons 1 2023 have been accepted into the State Library of Queensland’s collections.
I look forward to returning to Queensland in the future and making more connections across the arts.
Next year we will travel to NSW, ACT and Tasmania to continue promoting Storm and Confidence anthologies
CONFIDENCE 2023 update
 The focus for November is firmly on judging Confidence 2023. Each entry needs to be given due consideration given the time and effort each writer has put in. Thanks to all the writers and poets who submitted entries.
We expect to be in contact with all entrants by the end of December. Winners will be announced at an online event in February and our second Confidence anthology Confidence 2 will be launched in March. We have been quietly doing some work on a cover for CONFIDENCE 2 and we are looking forward to the big reveal.
Light and Shadow writing competition
Calling all writers! Our Seasons writing competition with the theme Light and Shadow is open for entries until 31 March 2024. You can enter on our home page.
If you are based in Victoria we are holding Light and Shadow themed creative writing workshops in Watsonia at the end of November and in South Gippsland at the end of February so come along if you are in the area.
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We don’t want donations we want you to buy an anthology We have two Minds Shine Bright series CONFIDENCE which explores the theme of confidence over time and SEASONS, which features themes like Storm and Light and Shadow from the external environment. Collect each set! Discover new writers and lose yourself in stories and poems.
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