Read a lot. Read everything. Read deeply (take notes, analyse what you’re reading: how does that author produce that effect? What is the structure of the piece? Why do you care about the characters?) The more you read and think about other people’s writing, the more you learn about writing.
Angela Meyer
Angela is an award-winning writer and editor. Her debut novel, A Superior Spectre (Ventura/Saraband), was shortlisted for an Aurealis Award, the MUD Literary Prize, an Australian Book Industry Award, the Readings Prize for New Australian Writing and a Saltire Literary Society Award (Scotland). She is also the author of a novella, Joan Smokes, which won the inaugural Mslexia Novella Award (UK), and a book of flash fiction, Captives. Her work has been widely published in magazines, journals and newspapers, including Island, The Big Issue, Best Australian Stories and Kill Your Darlings. She has worked in bookstores, as a book reviewer, in a whisky bar, as a commissioning editor and publisher, a teacher of writing and publishing, and a freelance editor and consultant. She grew up in Northern NSW and lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Find out more about Angela here.
Author Insight
Why do you write? I don’t know how not to write. It’s love and it’s compulsion. It’s a part of who I am and a way that I filter the world and my experiences within it. It’s also a way I connect and communicate with others.
What would you be doing if you weren’t a writer? I’m lucky that being a writer has folded in with other paths: being an editor, a teacher; working with other writers. In some alternate life I may be a scientist; I would love to better understand the world as its components, at the quantum level.
What was your toughest obstacle to becoming published? Firstly, not being good enough and not being ready – that was the first couple of manuscripts. With the books that have been published, the main obstacle was that I cross genres. I don’t write in a way that fits into a neat (marketing) box, and that’s natural to me and that’s okay, but it does limit the number of mainstream publishers that will consider your work.
How involved have you been in the development of your book? Did you have input into the cover? Yes, I was lucky to have some input. I gave initial ideas and then was guided by the publisher and designer, of course! But I love Josh Durham’s work and am pleased he’s done the cover of both my novels. They’re quite the pair. For Moon Sugar, dark, psychedelic, Marlene Dietrich emerging from lichen – it’s perfect.
What’s the best aspect of your writing life? The richness that writing brings to life, and the time I actually get to put words down (only a few hours a week at the moment). I also enjoy being part of the Australian writing community and getting to interact with other writers.
—the worst? Not getting enough time (or general head space) to write!
What would you do differently if you were starting out now as a writer? Not much. I’m a ‘no regrets’ kind of person in general. You learn from everything you do and experience, good or bad. And there are no wasted words, when you’re learning to write, when you’re practising.
What do you wish you’d been told before you set out to become an author? I’m sure people did tell me about working in the arts and living in a city and how expensive and difficult it would be at times, but I’ve always been independent and will follow my nose. It might have taken a bit longer to feel somewhat financially secure and I understand I’ll always work (and soon, parent) around my writing, but that’s just the way it is.
What’s the best advice you were ever given? To always try to understand things from another person’s point of view. That was a strong lesson in my childhood. It’s life advice but writing also stems from it – from empathy towards and curiosity about others (and about your own psyche and how it’s been shaped by perceiving and interacting with the world and with others).
How important is social media to you as an author? I’ve used social media since I began publishing my writing and it was a huge part of my early success (as a blogger!). Now, I see it as a way to be in touch with peers and colleagues, learn about their publications, and chat about writing, personal stuff, the industry and the world at large. Anyone who uses social media just to advertise is using it badly. There has to be a balance. Sometimes I spend a week off it and no one would notice. Many writers never use it. You have to only use it if it works for you, if you enjoy it and find it fairly natural.
Do you experience ‘writer’s block’ and if so, how do you overcome it? I would have said no until this year! The first trimester of pregnancy, I was capable of just doing my work and sustaining the life inside me. That was about it…! I needed to eat and sleep. I had elaborate fantasies about my next meal. I did have a bit of a personality crisis as it was the first time I remembered not having the desire to write, or even read much. And writing and reading is who I am. Even through a major grief, and through the lockdowns, I did not lose the desire and ability to write. But the second trimester came and I felt completely myself again. Sometimes these big life shifts and accompanying hormones or mental states – you have to take a breath and understand it’s likely not permanent. You have to take care of yourself, be in touch with yourself on a different level, and be present and patient.
How do you deal with rejection? I might feel sad for a couple of days, talk to a few friends and my partner about it, and then I never reopen the email. I try to move on, keep writing, keep submitting. Sometimes I retire a piece if I realise it’s being rejected because it’s not ready after all, or not good enough.
In three words, how would you describe your writing? Intimate, visual, emotive.
If you had the chance to spend an hour with any writer of your choice, living or dead, who would it be and what would you most like them to tell you about living a writing life? Franz Kafka. Not necessarily to tell me what he knows about writing (we can read that in his diaries and make interpretations from his work) but just to be in his presence for an hour, preferably in his serene phase with Dora Diamant. It would be such a privilege.
Book Byte
Mila can’t shake her grief for the life she thought she’d have. She’s broke, childless, and single. But her developing relationship with Josh, a ‘sugar baby’, opens her eyes to new possibilities. Then Josh goes missing on a trip to Europe – a presumed suicide. Mila, and Josh’s best friend Kyle, are devastated, yet they suspect something is amiss. Together, they feel compelled to trace Josh’s steps across Budapest, Prague and Berlin, seeking clues in his last posts online. Yet is there one mysterious factor Mila hasn’t considered? Is running toward danger the only way for Mila to meet her true capacity? Or will it mean yet more loss?
This genre-defying stunner asks how we might make the most of our power in the face of fear, loss, and the unknown. It celebrates our ability, despite great challenges, to be intimate with others and with the world.
Buy the book here.
In Their Own Write 