Karen Comer

Collecting Stories

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Book Reviews
    • Adult Fiction
    • Adult Non-Fiction
    • Young Adult Fiction
    • Children’s Fiction
    • Picture Books
  • Writing Resources
    • Writing Resources – Adults
    • Writing Resources – Children
    • Writing Notes
  • Editing and Workshop Services
  • Reading List
    • Reading List 2018
    • Reading List 2017
    • Reading List 2016
    • Reading List 2015
  • Blog
  • Contact

A writing retreat with Eliza Henry Jones

April 23, 2021 by Karen Comer 6 Comments

Eliza Henry Jones is one of my favourite Australian authors – so prolific, so talented! She opened up her flower farm to a bunch of writers last weekend, and I drove away well-fed, with a bunch of beautiful flowers and several exercises to boost my writing. I interviewed her a few years ago about her novel Ache here.

Eliza talked with us about her own writing journey, her four books (two adult fiction, two young adult fiction) and her tips and tricks for developing characters, understanding the difference between plot and structure and persisting when writing becomes challenging.

One of her exercises involved a tour of her farm in the Yarra Valley, with an invitation to collect something that caught our eye – perhaps a flower, a stick, a stone.

After meeting Ferdy the duck and looking at the laden avocado and lemon trees and the sprawling sweet peas, we headed back into the barn to write about our object. My leaf sparked a poem for my current verse novel, set during Autumn and Winter last year.

Our afternoon tea was delicious – muffins, cookies, brownies! – and at the end of the retreat we were invited to gather flowers from the buckets lining the back wall of the barn to create our own bouquet to take home!

I have been to many writing retreats and workshops but I’ve never gone home with flowers before! Nor have I done a writing exercise which involved cliches and a Shetland pony!

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
«
»

Filed Under: Workshops, Writing Tagged With: Eliza Henry Jones

Comments

  1. Pamela says

    April 23, 2021 at 6:59 am

    Sounds relaxing yet you would have been stimulated and inspired. Perfect 🤩

    Reply
    • Karen Comer says

      April 29, 2021 at 6:50 pm

      Thanks, Pam!

      Reply
  2. Terri says

    April 23, 2021 at 8:40 am

    You would have been nourished, body and soul. Hope your writing is progressing well.

    Terri.

    Reply
    • Karen Comer says

      April 29, 2021 at 6:50 pm

      Thank you, Terri!

      Reply
  3. Colleen says

    April 23, 2021 at 8:45 am

    What a great experience, and in the
    Yarra Valley, I can picture the scene, thanks for sharing,🌳🎈

    Reply
    • Karen Comer says

      April 29, 2021 at 6:50 pm

      Thanks, Colleen!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Connect with me

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Recent Posts

  • Ovarian cancer day
  • Immersion into other worlds
  • A publishing contract with Hachette!
  • You don’t have to finish reading a book
  • The Stella longlist 2022

Copyright © 2022 · Karen Comer website by LMB web design

Copyright © 2022 · Blossom Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.