In my last substack Love, Poetry and Time Management I wrote about how I had recently subscribed to the BBC Maestro platform and was enjoying the courses. One of those courses was Writing Love Stories by Jojo Moyes.

Although the course is directed at unpublished writers, there is plenty to offer established authors as well. Jojo is not only a warm and humble personality, but she is also an excellent teacher. But before I say more about the course, let’s talk a little bit about love stories.

I’m often asked if there is a place and time that has particular appeal to me. My answer is always Paris between the wars. After the tragedy of the Great War, the city burst to life and became a hub of creativity in art, fashion, literature, dance and music.

The French Agent is set in France and Australia in 1946. The story in France is about a secret service agent on the trail of a war criminal. The story in Australia is about the country coming to grips with the aftermath of the war, including the return of traumatised servicemen and women and the massive migration into the country of displaced people from Europe.

My mother’s family – White Russians from China – had their lives turned upside down by wars and revolutions. Post-war migration to Australia completely changed the culture of the country. So, while there are many novels written about the tense days of the Second World War, I am particularly interested in what happened in the aftermath.

Previously I’ve written about where I get my ideas from and how I plot my novels, but readers are often curious about what happens after I’ve spent those long months writing the novel. Why does it take a further twelve months from the time I’ve finished my manuscript to the date of publication?

When writers meet each other for the first time, one of the questions we love to ask each other is: ‘Are you a pantser or a plotter?’. Readers are often curious about this too.

I have wanted to ask my publisher, Anna Valdinger at Harpercollins Publishers Australia about her career for some time. Recently, I got to do just that!

I was barely into my third decade when I was published. In one of the interviews I did early in my career for a metropolitan newspaper, my photograph was captioned: ‘Late Bloomer: Belinda Alexandra.’

Love can improve your writing – and just about everything else too!

Have you ever noticed that when you feel the emotions of love, joy, gratitude and appreciation it seems as if your heart is swelling and the world is opening up before you?

At fourteen, Simone Fleurier is wrenched from her home on a Provençal lavender farm and sent to work in Marseilles. Her life there is hard and impoverished, but Simone discovers the music hall and a dream: to one day be a famous dancer and singer.

I’m often approached at book-signings by people who tell me that they dream of being a writer but they don’t know where to start.

Mother’s Day, which is celebrated around the world in May, conjures up images of happy motherhood and femininity – lots of pink; carnations and roses; bathrobes and bath bombs; scented candles and slippers.
It’s a time to remember and honour the woman who brought us into the world.

For those of you who have read my books Wild Lavender, Golden Earrings and The Invitation, you will know that I have a love for Paris and its artists, writers, dancers and entertainers. Fellow Australian author, Natasha Lester, has a similar love for Paris as the home of couture fashion.

This is a question I’m often asked when I give book talks. And I ask it of other writers too! Who can blame us - when we love a book, we are intrigued to know what was it that inspired the writer to create that particular story?

The end of 2020 was something of a whirlwind for me with the publication of The Mystery Woman and The Divine Feline: a chic cat lady’s guide to woman’s best friend, within months of each other.

For those of us who live in Sydney, we are scratching our heads over the arrival of autumn. Did we even have a summer? The hottest time of the year has been more like an in-between season with cooler temperatures and a lot of rain.

Alli Sinclair’s new book, The Codebreakers, is based on real events and tells the little known story of the young Australian women who worked with Central Bureau in Brisbane, in intelligence services, during the Second World War. It was an exciting read and I had some questions for Alli about what inspired her to write the book and also about her writing habits.

For writers, getting feedback on their work is a vital part of improving the quality of their writing. It’s valuable to get an objective opinion on your structure, plot, pacing and characters.

Strong, self-determined female characters are the lifeblood of good commercial fiction. Modern readers quickly tire of a female protagonist who doesn’t have an intelligent thought in her head or who keeps fainting every time a challenge arises.

Quite often I’m asked about my detailed descriptions of my characters’ living spaces. To me, where my character lives says as much about them as their words and actions.