March 3, 2015
This morning, three of the five Alice Campion authors (Denise, Jenny and Jane S) gave our first radio interview on writing THE PAINTED SKY as a group. It was an absolute hoot.
The interviewer (Genevieve Jacobs – ABC Radio Canberra) was just wonderful. Her warmth and professionalism made us relax and really tell a good story about our collaborative process and the fun we had along the way.
It would be just outstanding if our efforts encourage other groups (book clubs, friends, writing groups) to take up the c...
February 28, 2015
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Alice Campion kicked up her heels when she made her debut on Saturday night in a turn-of-the-century ballroom in Newtown.
About 250 people braved sweltering conditions to share refreshments (including home-made sausage rolls, YUM!) and to see the Alices work up a sweat signing more than 200 books that were brought and sold by the Better Read Than Dead bookstore.
The Alices made funny and heartfelt speeches, as did Beverley Cousins from Random House Australia, but the highlight of the night for me was the ‘Wel...
February 26, 2015
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Where do you buy your books? I have some favourite books-and-mortar sellers; love a good second-hand shop and also buy on-line. But when I buy on-line, I give zero thought as to which seller I go with - until now.
Last week, Alice Campion (ie myself, Denise Tart, Jenny Crocker, Jane St Vincent Welch and Madeline Oliver) scored an invitation to her first warehouse party. Luckily it was not in some funky, dark cavern in Newtown with lots of beards (Alice's sons and daughters go to those). Instead, it was in a v...
February 25, 2015
I’ve always thought how nice it must be to get writers’ cramp from signing autographs. Never thought it would actually happen but hey, a girl can dream.
Yet there we were at our favourite Sydney bookshop, Newtown’s fabulously-named Better Read Than Dead on Monday night, signing a mountain of freshly-printed copies of The Painted Sky.
Any true bookworm can tell you how intoxicating that new-book smell is, but it’s SO much better when it’s your own book! As well as Denise, Jane R and me, our two co-authors, Jan...
February 19, 2015
On Monday, Jane and I were catching up on some marketing work when her sister rang, saying only “ABC local radio – they’re talking about you – Now!”
Jane flew to the nearby radio and we both huddled – all ears.
We caught the tail end of a discussion between Annabel Crabb (who was covering on James Valentine’s Afternoon Show) and her guest, an author. I’m sorry to say, I can’t tell you who the author was as we’ve not managed to track down a podcast and we were too busy jumping up and down to hear Annabel thanki...
February 18, 2015
It’s the day our two-page feature in Sunday Life magazine has come out and I am at the beach with my extended family.
‘‘So, sunglasses and a hat? What are you afraid of? The paparazzi or something?’’ my sister quips.
‘‘No,’’ I laugh, ‘‘Just of sunburn – but you can never be too sure.’
Not more than 10 minutes later she kicks me.
‘‘Look! Look!’’
A couple armed with towels and a sunshade have plonked themselves a few metres away from us on the sand. The woman is holding a copy of that very magazine. She opens i...
February 17, 2015
The first day of a weekend trip to the Blue Mountains. Members of our book club, The BookSluts (We'll Read Anything), are here to discuss Crime and Punishment, but it is hard to immerse yourself in snow-bound poverty when the sun is shining and you've just had a huge lunch...
"The good sex scenes are more tricky. No-one wants to put their hand up to write the first one. We all fear the same thing - that our efforts will be greeted with laughter, silence, or, worse still, be mistaken for the bad sex scene!"
February 15, 2015
"It started with some boozy bravado. Five smart, middle-aged women, members of the self-deprecatingly named Book Sluts Club, had put down their copies of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's grand morality tale, Crime and Punishment, and pondered how they could fund a trip to Russia. Write a book, one joked."
January 29, 2015
Our first taste of glamorous publicity came in late January when the five Alice Campion authors were summoned to a fashionably-distressed inner-city warehouse for a photo shoot.
The photo was to accompany a story in Sunday Life magazine, which is part of Sydney’s Sun-Herald newspaper. The only instruction was to wear black and white.
As you can see from these ‘behind the scenes’ shots, the Alices were perched on a variety of chairs looking alternately happy and moody.
At one stage, Denise had to be told not...
January 1, 2015
Here’s our first novel, The Painted Sky, which the three of us wrote with Madeline Oliver and Jane St Vincent Welch under the pseudonym "Alice Campion."
Nina never knew what happened to her father, the celebrated artist Jim Larkin. One minute he was a devoted dad, the next he’d disappeared without trace. Seventeen years later, she’s still haunted by the mystery.
Until a call from outback Wandalla changes everything.
At first, Nina’s inheritance of a waterless property and a farmhouse stuffed with junk seems m...
Welcome to Group Fiction
We are members of a Sydney book club who wrote two novels and had them published internationally.
We are passionate about the idea of groups coming together to write fiction and we want to show you how.
Why is group fiction a good idea? Let us explain ... read more.
