Adelaide has really turned it on. The heat! And the fun.

It’s 36 most days but so dry compared to the humidity of Brisbane.

So we kept the pace up at Writers Week.

I found the session on the relationship authors have with their editors very enlightening.

I really enjoyed the authors panel on the relationship with their editor. Madison Godfrey. A young poet, Anjum Hasan, a novelist, poet, shirt story writer and editor & author of the well received History’s Angel. Another got my list! The third was author Kate Grenville a favourite author of mine.

Each author spoke about how an editor is essential. They all said editors start with a little massaging! To soften the impact of the toughness needed to give a good edit.

Following this there was a panel discussion on publishing. Three agents spoke about the world if agents and punblushinv house. Miranda France, Vanessa Radnidge and Jeanne Ryckmans. As expected there was a line up of people, most of whom had written books and were dealing advice on how to get published.

I couldn’t help but think of my Instagram friend Shelley Dark. A funny woman with a keen eye for photography, and a passion for writing. Shelley has been working on a book for sometime now and it’s finished. But where is the publisher? Perhaps some of the hints I picked up at this session might help….

1. Put your manuscript in a draw for at least a year. 2. Don’t give up. 3. Get an agent. 4. Don’t send to an agent and a publisher at the same time. 5. Don’t get an editor to edit before an agent has seen it. 6. Don’t use AI to help write your book.

The session with Mark Brandi, Una Mannion and Lucy Treloar was good. It was on Genre: do rules apply. They discussed their books and the area of genre they were sometimes assigned by their publisher. As murder mystery thriller are all good sellers that tag is often put on covers. Even though the book is not about that! Misleading. They all said their readers were often disappointed the books weren’t thrillers or mysteries!

I listened to Anjali Joseph with Claire Nichols from the ABC book show. She’s a new author for me but I think I’ll read her book Keeping in Touch set in Assam in India.

A few favourite sessions were with Pip Williams author of The Bookbinders of Jericho. She is entertaining and interesting all at once.

Kate Grenville has written another book about a family member. This time her Grandmother. Dolly Maunder. It’s now on my list.

And the always entertaining William McInnes had us laughing hard. He’s an entertainer and his books are always a delight to read.

There were many more authors, commentators & journalists on ( Lisa Miller & Leigh Sales were entertaining ) a few I missed one or two not so great but it’s all terrific.

It’s the best Writers Week in Australia. In my opinion!