July 2026
Melissa J Scott
Many thanks to our guest speaker Melissa J Scott at the July event. Her 30 years in her business, she has morphed from a stary-eyed Graphic Designer, into a Website Designer/Developer, to Social Media Manager, to Blogger and Video Producer, to Speaker, Webinar Presenter, to Marketing Coach, Online Course Creator, Podcaster and avid Content Creator.
Melissa shared the ins and outs or the reasons why to create a personal brand. Inculding, why personal branding is for all writers. She shared how to promote yourself without feeling fake, pushy, or self-conscious. How to communicate and what makes your voice and work distinctive. The role or your values, story and the deeper'why'.
How to build familarity and trust before asking someone to buy your book. How to work through inposter syndrome and the fear of being seen. She also spoke on simple ways to become more visible, both online and in person.
June 2026
Book Launch Panel and
Cathryn deVries
Our June event featured a panel or authors who presented their newly launched books while Vijay Fitzgerald posed questions about their inspirations, characters and storyline. Member and visitors felt inspired by the panellists' answers, their stories and challenges in creating their work.
After a networking break Cathryn deVries took the audience through the formulae that a character is required to go through to make a compelling book. Each book, chapter, and paragraph should consist of a statis, disruption, attempts to return to statis, a tipping point, choice, action and finally a new statis. A well written character as outlined by Cathryn, should have a goal and what they would give up or avoid to reach that goal.
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During the workshop Cathryn gave the participants a piece of her work where they were to identify points of crisis, the protagonists, antagonists, tipping points, the protagonists goal, as well as other crucial parts of a well-structured chapter and book.
May 2026
Lesley Synge
Our May event featured poet and author Lesley Synge, who took us on a journey to find our poetic voice. She began by showing how she documented her travels using haiku – a traditional Japanese form of three unrhymed lines – demonstrating how concise language can capture vivid moments with clarity and emotional depth.
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Lesley then led us through the Gold Coast hinterland, illustrating how a poetic voice shifts with place, becoming more relaxed, reflective and connected to nature.
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During the workshop, she invited participants to write poems in three different voices and to experiment with anchoring a poem in a specific place. These exercises encouraged writers to explore emotion, perspective and freedom of expression, inspiring the group to approach poetry in new and unexpected ways.
April 2026
Jack Roney
At our April event, Jack Roney, now retired after 33 years as a police officer and detective, shared how factual events and real‑life experiences sparked ideas for his historical mystery and crime fiction novels. Drawing on decades of frontline work, he spoke about the genre often called ‘faction’ – fiction based on fact – and how weaving truth into story can create authenticity, tension and emotional depth.
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Jack also discussed how entering writing competitions helped him get noticed and eventually led to his first traditional publishing deal. He encouraged writers not to fear their early work, noting that cringing at old pages is actually a positive sign: it means you can recognise your growth.
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He spoke openly about the questions he asked himself once his books were published: What is my niche or expertise? What is my point of difference? How can I market myself as a brand? This part of his talk focused on what authors can do after publication to build visibility and momentum. His advice was practical and encouraging – be proactive, build relationships, think outside the box, put yourself out there and, as he says, ‘just have a crack’. These small, consistent actions helped him overcome imposter syndrome and eventually led to opportunities such as speaking at libraries and community events.
March 2026
Stephen Hipkiss
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Our March event featured Stephen Hipkiss from Hipkiss Publishing House, who guided us through the common pitfalls of launching a book and how to avoid them. He shared practical advice on everything from defining your genre and designing a strong cover to planning your launch, building momentum through marketing and engaging your writing community.
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Stephen covered the full spectrum of launch preparation – timing, budget, venue choice, pre‑orders, social media, and what you’ll offer on the day – and emphasised the importance of finishing and refining your manuscript through editing, beta readers, ARC readers and a final pass before publishing. He also highlighted how a book cover sets the theme, encouraging authors to study covers in their genre, seek professional advice and gather feedback from readers, friends and online communities. His guidance on genre clarity and what makes a launch stand out gave members plenty to think about.
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In the second half of the event, three GCWA authors – Bev Jones, Mary Groves and Damian Hussey – were introduced and interviewed by Vijay Fitzgerald. Her thoughtful questions encouraged each writer to share their creative journey, offering tips and insights that were both relatable and valuable to our community. Each author also read an excerpt from their book, showcasing their work and giving members a chance to hear their stories come alive. It was a wonderful new platform for GCWA authors to step into the limelight and celebrate their achievements.
February 2026
Jodie Lane
At Saturday's meeting Jodie Lane presented: Finished your manuscript and not sure where to go next?
It was great to see involvement from the audience on the outstanding narrative she presented about self-publishing.
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Jodie shared about how her travels all over the world influenced the location of her stories and how historic events helped shape the plots.
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She is currently a member of the Brisbane Book Authors and the Queensland Writers Centre. You can contact her about Author Talks for libraries and schools.
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Connect with Jodie at:
January 2026
Lauren Hackney
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It was wonderful to see so many dedicated writers turn up to our meeting last Saturday. Lauren Hackney took us on a deep dive into the domain of self-publishing. One of the stand-out points was the importance of promoting yourself and your work in a way that is intentional, but stays true to who you are as an author, and not comparing to others' methods and results.
Lauren also led us through a few etiquette guidelines when networking with publishers, including suitable timeframes for follow up and appropriate ways to approach them.
Thank you, Lauren for offering your time on Saturday. We all learned a lot from your presentations!
November 2025
Edwina Shaw and Gabrielle Davis
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What a great turnout for our last meeting of the year.
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Edwina Shaw took us through a meditative exercise to help us get to know a character better.
We were suprised to find the character revealed aspects of themselves we had not yet considered or were the opposite of what was expected.
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Gabrielle Davis shared her expertise in social media, how to harness it effectively to build a strong, authentic following.
She provided practical tips on how to increase online visibility, strengthening your brand presence, and making your content work smarter for you.
This was an invaluable opportunity to learn proven strategies for our attendees who are trying to grow their reach and engaging their audience with confidence.
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We look forward to welcoming everyone back on 17th January with an exciting calendar of events for 2026.
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October 2025
Renae Black and Rochelle Agius
What an educational meeting we had this month.
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Rochelle Agius took us through a great writing exercise using character and plot points to move our character from one scene to an entirely new one. Rochelle's wealth of knowledge and training took us through these steps and it was great that we could work in groups and see other writers' characters and how the plot points drove them to different scenarios.
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Renae Black with her social work experience explained the realities of trauma and how these experiences can shape characters and well as story lines.
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Write & Sip
September 2025
Natalie Forbes & Sandra Mayer
Traditionally published Children's Picture Book author Natalie Forbes, author of Saturday, Sunday, Busy Day, Fun Day, with Sandra Mayer self-published author of 21 titles, went through the ins and out of writing a children's picture book. Touching on, character, voice, setting, what appeals to children in language and layout. Lots of resources were shared with attendees as well as examples of writing in rhyme or prose.
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The authors discussed similarities and differences between being traditionally published and self-publishing with all the successes and pitfalls of both.
September 2025
Brian Falkner
Thank you to our members who energetically participated in our AGM on Saturday. We were encouraged by your support towards the endorsement of our new committee for this term. Congratulations and welcome to the new committee! We can’t wait to see where the next 12 months leads us.
Following the AGM, our guest speaker, Brian Falkner, had us on the edge of our seats with his vibrant, humorous presentation of creating suspense in our writing. Brian taught us some engaging suspense techniques to keep our readers glued to the page. He had fantastic examples from his own and others’ writing that left us all inspired to implement these techniques into our own work.
We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting on Saturday, 18th October.
August 2025
Vijay Fitzgerald
Vijay Fitzgerald is a multi-genre writer and story coach who helps others transform raw experience into powerful narrative. She holds a Master’s in Creative Writing (Ireland), won the 2019 Screencraft Cinematic Short Story Award, and ranks in the top 10% of short-thriller writers on Coverfly’s Red List.
Under her pen name Lakshmi Vee, she writes romance and romantasy. Her debut novels, The Perfect Plan and Like Fire, I Rise are set for release in 2025 and 2026. Vijay designs immersive, interactive workshops and journaling retreats that equip writers with both insight and practical tools to tell their stories with confidence.
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Vijay presented a wonderful workshop titled : Word by Word: A Writing Immersion for Voice, Character & Scene
This immersive, hands-on workshop is for any writer. Whether you're halfway through a manuscript, returning after a break, or starting with a blank page, this session will help you explore the beating heart of the story: voice, character, and conflict.
Through guided writing exercises (and, depending on the group, some optional partner or small group activities) you’ll work on your own stories or start new ones, moving them forward.
Come with a pen, a notebook, and a story inside you, waiting to be heard. No experience
necessary. Just a willingness to try.
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Word After Word.
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By Vijay Fitzgerald
I was so annoyed with myself. That voice inside my head kept looping: I should know better. I should do better. I should…
I hate ‘shoulds’.
So I began to question everything: my approach, my ability, my vision.
Fueled by a tornado of emotions, I flipped through handwritten notes, playlists, quotes. I even pulled out my pristine project plan for the novel. It was so shiny it could’ve been hung in a museum. The best project plan ever! The project manager in me was smug, and smiling. The writer in me? Quietly giggling, because nothing was going to plan.
And then, I spotted it: a beautiful Christmas present from a friend. Encased in a wooden frame, smooth, cursive writing in gold pen, on cream paper against vintage pink floral. A powerful reminder:
“A word, after a word, after a word is power.”
— Margaret Atwood
Not just a quote. A key.
I realised I was wrestling the whole novel into shape like some wild beast. And there is a place for it, but moving from draft one to draft two perhaps wasn’t it. I sat down. I breathed. Then I asked the universe for answers (because that’s where a logical person places power, right?).
I asked myself one simple question: What is this story about?
Well, the universe didn't give an answer. It gave me three better questions:
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Who has the most to lose?
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Who should tell the story?
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And how should she tell it?
The clarity didn’t come with a revelation but something that we all know as writers. The truth of every story is that they are born from tension. From stakes. From perspective. They come alive not when we force them, but when we drop inside them.
So I started again. Not from the beginning but from the very spot of the second draft lens, armed with basics: Voice. Character. Scene.
My ego won’t let me deny that I’m a planner, and a damn good one. I had a beat-by-beat outline, scene-by-scene for the arc of my story. But I realised that in preserving the plot, I wasn’t paying attention to the story that wanted to be told or the evolution that naturally happens when we rewrite. I learnt that for me to keep the story alive, I need to make the plan more of a fluid tool, and not a checklist. At least not this time. The plan will have its moment to shine, just not yet.
I had been on a mission to finish, to publish, to be productive, but I forgot that writing is an act of listening. Listening to our characters. To ourselves. To the voice that’s been waiting patiently behind the noise. And when we stop fighting the direction the story wants to take, and just start listening, word after word, we end up with pages of the story that actually wants to be told.
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