The Queensland Writing Centre kindly asked me to write an article for their WQ (Writing Queensland) magazine. The theme of the issue was ‘endurance’, and I was requested to provide a piece about having positive news in an otherwise challenging year.
I struggled a bit in writing this, not wanting to talk about myself when life has been so difficult for many people here (at the time of writing, Victoria was still in varying levels of lockdown) and of course in many countries overseas where the situation is much worse. At the same time, I wanted to show my appreciation and excitement, and to give other emerging writers hope for their eventual publication.
If you’d like to read what I wrote, the link is below (article on page 4, but lots of other reading you may enjoy, too, including essays by my lovely friend Edwina Shaw and Twitter pal Bianca Millroy).
https://fionahrobertson.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/ad983-wq271.pdf
Fiona Robertson 
Oh how fantastic Fiona! I loved reading about your reaction when you learnt you had won 🙂
Thanks so much 🙂
“My daughter
read the email and
her eyes went as
round as mine.
‘You won?!’
I shook my head.
‘I know! It’s crazy.”
This is so sweet, Fiona, I loved reading this piece. Huge congrats to you! Having my book out in the world was my highlight of the year, even though it was all so different from what I’d imagined it would be.
Thank you Ashley and I can only imagine the weirdness of having a book release in 2020. How To Be Australian is such a fantastic book and I hope lots of people are enjoying it, and that many more will discover it soon! xx
I just love that we’re all in the same issue! This one’s a keeper. Great article honey! xxx
Yes isn’t it good to be together on the pages 🥰 Really enjoyed reading about your experiences collating and editing anthologies, and will refer to those tips in the future if I ever attempt anything similar! xx
YOU WON! YAAAAAAAAY. This is my fave edition of WQ thus far.
You’re such a sweetheart Alyssa! 💗