Tag: non-fiction

Categories
Uncategorized

Exclusive, Personalised Writing Retreat

Fellow writers, for the first time, I’m offering 2-3 places for you to receive personalised attention on your manuscript and enjoy a three-night writing retreat in the quaint, peaceful town of Cooran on the Sunshine Coast, Qld.

(If this is the first time you’ve been to my site, you can find out about me here.)

Dates: Thursday 23 November to Sunday 26th November, 2023

What: Novels, children’s, memoirs and other non-fiction are all welcome to apply.

Cosy crime in the style of Phryne Fisher, Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder or The Maid is welcome.

“Thank you so, very, much  – it was lovely meeting you and thank you for being so gentle and positive with your feedback. I was incredibly trepidatious, and knowing that there is some merit in my attempt at  long-form… Well I don’t think I can put into words just how much this means to me!”

A Full Manuscript appraisal client

What’s included?

  • A full manuscript appraisal (or up to 100,000 words). You will get your feedback prior to the retreat so that you have time to think about it before you get to retreat.
  • Three nights of accommodation (own room and queen sized bed for each participant), full kitchen facilities and two bathrooms (shared). The property has WiFi, fireplace, ceiling fans, all linen, fridge, microwave, dishwasher, stovetop, coffee and coffee maker.
  • Drinks and grazing platters on the first night of arrival. (Dietary requests are important, valued and lovingly provided.)
  • Airport transfers, if necessary. We can also help you get to the store for food supplies if needed.
  • Coffee… I will make sure there is plenty of coffee! Or tea or hot chocolate depending on your preference. Chocolate… you cannot write without it! I’ll make sure you have it.
  • Time with me for an individual consult/chat/brainstorm about the way forward for your manuscript, group sessions and facilitated writing/group time.
  • Special gifts from me to you.

Your notes have been brilliant, thanks again.
 
I look forward to being in your group and wonderful community.

A first three chapters client

Food

It’s a short drive to shops and cafes in Cooran and Pomona. Cooran has a really cute little general store, which might easily have enough to help you out over the three days, including artisanal bread, gluten free treats, meat, fruit, veg, pasta, Kenilworth cheese and more. If you don’t have a car, let me know and we’ll sort out a bit of shopping for you on the way in.

You’ll also find Hinterland restaurant and bar in Cooran.

Pomona Hotel and Pomona Distilling Co are in Pomona, as well as several cafes and an IGA.

Retreat Structure

Rest assured, you are in control of your time. Everything is optional. If you decide you want to hibernate for three days, that’s fine! Join in, or fly solo. This retreat is yours!

Thursday 23rd November. Travel to Cooran. Check in from 2pm. Settle in with drinks and grazing platters for dinner as we get to know each other and chat books and writing. (Check with me in if you need an airport transfer.)

Friday 24th November. Manuscript focus. Group chat plus individual brainstorming/consult/chats with me about your development plan for your manuscript.

Saturday 25th November. Free time in the morning. Writing sprints and live readings in the afternoon.

Sunday 26th November. Check out by 10am and back to the everyday world. (Check with me in if you need an airport transfer… I’ll do my best to help!)

Your place on retreat includes:

  • your opportunity to send me your whole manuscript (or at least 50% of it), whereupon I will read every single word of it and make loads of scrawly notes along the way (which I will then type up neatly for you)
  • my reading, preparing and reporting time
  • an emailed copy of my notes, feedback and suggestions
  • notes will include reflections on a variety of observations, such as character, story arc, plot, writing style, sub-plots, themes, word lengths, balance of chapters, points of view, tense, contradictions, logic issues, and any potential problems I might spot in regards to sensitive content, global trends or legalities**
  • a mountain of useful information to help you take the next right steps
  • complimentary digital assets and working resources, delivered to your inbox
  • lifetime membership* to my private coaching/mentoring/assessment email list, with exclusive content just for this group
  • FREE access to my e-course on how to find the time to write
  • lifetime invitation* to a quarterly Zoom call for all my students, where you can ask me anything, and also (if you want to) connect with other writers who might be writing similar stories to you. (Writing buddies are the best! You might find a new one here.) 
  • GST, processing fees and printing costs

* “lifetime membership” and “lifetime invitation” means for the duration of the time that I am offering these services… which is hopefully many years
**Please note that a manuscript assessment does not include editing services. Editing is an entirely different process. This means, I do not fix your words, sentences, paragraphs, typos, spelling, punctuation or grammar. (Having said that, it is highly likely I will pull out sections of text to demonstrate how you could improve your writing style and fluency.)

Thank you so much for yesterday and for sending these notes. Your suggestions and line notes are amazing. So much to think about and go through. I am especially impressed since I had the first fifty pages looked at by [an organisation] and your suggestions resonate so much better with me… I have a lot of work to do but am very grateful for your feedback.

First 50 pages client

Who is This For?

This retreat is for a writer who has a completed manuscript (at least a full first draft) and who is seeking feedback and is committed to embarking on another draft of development.

This retreat is for a writer:

  • who understands that drafting is a process that can go on for many drafts … and that it is absolutely normal (and necessary) to do so.
  • who realises that a book won’t (and shouldn’t) go to print before, likely, at least six rounds of drafting/editing has occurred (through the various levels of structural editing, copy editing and proofreading).
  • who understands that it is normal to sometimes have to delete an entire character (or family) from an early draft, or to have to strip and rewrite 10,000 words, or to go back and build in more subplot or take some out to let the rest breathe.
  • who sees feedback and drafting as the exciting bit because you know it’s bringing your book closer to reaching the outside world (even if it is daunting… that’s what coffee and chocolate are for!).

What: Novels, children’s, memoirs and other non-fiction are all welcome to apply.

Cosy crime in the style of Phryne Fisher, Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder or The Maid is welcome.

Your Investment

$3,300 (all inclusive, from manuscript assessment to farewell at checkout/the airport).

If you and your project sounds like something I believe I can add value to, I will send you a booking sheet ASAP so we can get the ball(point pen) rolling.

Apply for a Place on Retreat

← Back

Thank you for your response. ✨

Want More? Why Not Extend Your Stay

Cooran is part of the Noosa hinterland. You will be perfectly placed to extend your stay on either side of retreat. The famous Eumundi Markets are on Saturdays and Wednesdays. Glorious Main Beach at Noosa Heads is a mere 40-minute drive from Cooran.

Lastly… Please Note these Physical Access Specifics

This is a rural property with uneven terrain surrounding the house. There are 10 steps that lead to the house entry. There is no disabled access in this home. I apologise for, well, the world, really… that everything is not created with disability access requirements in mind, especially since 1 in 5 people in Australia has a disability, and that disability is a normal variation of human beings. I will always try to find ways to work around the world’s shortcomings if possible. I hope this will change for future events.

Categories
Uncategorized

Author Event: Kay Kerr and Josephine Moon, Book Launch

Join me (The Wonderful Thing About Phoenix Rose) and Kay Kerr (Love and Autism) at the delightful Little Book Nook in Palmwoods, 20th April 6pm for drinks, nibbles and book chat. Booking here.

Categories
Uncategorized

More Reasons You Might Need a Manuscript Appraisal

Following on from my last post here are even more reasons you might need a manuscript appraisal.

Oh… I Feel This!

I wrote 10 manuscripts in 12 years before I got a contract. During that
time, I won short story competitions, I wrote freelance, I was shortlisted for
two publishing awards, I had agents request my work and then reject it. I was
scammed by dodgy publishers with dodgy contracts. I was scammed by writing
competitions (that then publish your work and then sell the work back to you).
My spreadsheet of rejections hit 100 (and then I deleted it in disgust). (Oh,
and I had been working full time, part time, casually, in my own business,
running a charity and while pregnant.) I had reached the end of my
tether. It took just one final piece to get me over the line. For you,
that final piece might be a manuscript assessment.

The pain!

Even published authors sometimes need manuscript assessments!
I mentioned above that I once had to ditch 50,000 words of a novel. A novel
that was on contract. With a deadline. I knew ‘something’ wasn’t right. This
was going to be my fourth contracted novel, so it was surprising when I
realised I was absolutely stuck. I paid for a manuscript assessment with
my favourite editor, who I trust, completely. And like a really good editor,
she didn’t tell me what to do. Instead, she asked questions and made astute
observations and in reading her report I knew I had to abandon
that manuscript. (There is a happy ending to this story, which I will share
with you when we begin work together.)

Listen to That Voice

So you just read that bit above where I had to ditch 50,000 words, right? If
I had listened to my inner voice, my gut feeling, just a little bit earlier,
I might not have had to lose so much time, energy, and spinal integrity while
sitting in a chair, working on something that was built on shifting sands.

This is why I’m here to help, with your manuscript, be it fiction, non-fiction, novel or memoir 🙂

You can find the Manuscript Appraisal Booking Page Here.

Jo

Categories
Uncategorized

Buddhism for Meat Eaters… Why I Wrote It

BUDDHISM_FINAL

Free world wide shipping with Book Depository. Click HERE.

In just over a month, my second non-fiction title will be on the shelf (2 July). The dilemmas, struggles and answers included in Buddhism for Meat Eaters were ones that had been brewing for around thirty years. I always wanted to be vegetarian (preferably vegan) but my physical body did not agree. I was left with a constant sense of guilt, shame and grief over this struggle–my spirit was willing but my body wasn’t.

For years I kept a journal, thinking I could wrestle out this conflict on the page, until years later I had to accept that I had no answers. I put the journal away, and carried on with my life, never having found the peace I craved.

Then one day, I was lying awake in the middle of the night. It was a full moon and I often struggle to sleep during that lunar phase. I can’t even remember what I was thinking about specifically, but somewhere between midnight and two am, it was like the decades of struggle finally made sense. All the threads came together, and I’d finally begun to find peace in the last place I expected to uncover it: Buddhism.

I jumped up and grabbed by laptop and wrote out a page, then sent it to my agent. This! I wrote. This is what I want to write about! For the record, I don’t actually recommend you send your agent/publisher wild ramblings at two o’clock in the morning as a way of pitching an idea, but in this case, it worked. Haylee said she loved it, asked me to write out some sample chapters, began pitching it before I’d finished writing it, and I was blown away to find that it sold so quickly. Clearly, my struggles with eating meat were not unique to me. There was a market for this book. Certainly, by the number of you who have left me comments saying things like This book was written for me or I need this so much or I can’t wait to read this, I am absolutely not alone in this quandary.

Ultimately, this book is one of hope, of healing and making peace with your body, mind, plate and world. If you are drawn to it, I hope it brings you as much encouragement as it did me.

Jo x

p.s. I love this cover so much. It was designed by Lisa White, who also designed the cover for my first novel, The Tea Chest. I think Lisa truly gets my vibe.

Categories
Uncategorized

Josephine Moon’s Top Non-fiction Reads of 2018

I often think I don’t read enough, but when I look back over my list of books I’ve dived into over the past 12 months, I see that not only do I read more than I think, but that I read quite a few non-fiction books each year too.

Here is my Top 5 non-fiction titles I devoured this year (in no particular order).

 

  1. Sophie’s Patch, by Sophie Thomson. This I’m more than just a gardening book, it is an inspiring, life-affirming guide to love, passion and health. Total joy.
  2. Any Ordinary Day, by Leigh Sales. How do we cope with tragedy? Leigh Sales has the answer, having compiled extensive research into how our brains and bodies respond after the worst day of our lives. It sounds heavy, but it’s written with such a lightness of touch to be both moving and inspiring at the same time.
  3. How to Give up Plastic, by Will McCallum. As a species, humanity is facing one of its biggest environmental disasters: plastic pollution. We can’t afford to turn away. The time to face up to this and remedy the situation is right now, and this book shows you how to do it, room by room in your house.
  4. Buddhism for Break-ups, by Meshel Laurie. Relationship breakdowns happen across all areas of life–love, friendships, families and workplaces. But breaking up ‘well’ takes commitment and effort and that’s what Meshel Laurie sets out to show us in this book. If you’re not going through a break-up (I wasn’t), it’s still great reading to be prepared when the next one comes your way, as it inevitably will.
  5. The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle. I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to read this book. Eckhart Tolle is one of the most influential thought-leaders on the planet and for good reason. His wisdom is profound and resonates long after you’ve closed the book.

 

I hope you find some inspiration in this list for your next great non-fiction read.

Jo

Categories
Uncategorized

Check out Sue Williams and Father Bob

It’s so lovely when authors help each other and this week I was once again gifted with some wisdom from of Australia’s prolific, talented and best-selling authors.

The scary thing about getting your first big publishing break(s) is that you’ve finally managed to scramble your way up into another level of achievement, only to have to kind of start from the bottom again as you attempt to write like, you know, a professional.

fatherbob_lrgI am very grateful to author, Sue Williams (latest book, Father Bob: The Larrikin Priest), for taking time out from her terrifying deadline this week to talk to me about the processes and quandaries of non-fiction writing and to share a bit of coaching as I work through my first major non-fiction book, to be published by Penguin in 2015.

My non-fiction book is about horses. And as a huge animal lover, I hope to write lots of animal-themed books over my career. But I have to get this one right first! So it was really reassuring to be able to quiz Sue one-on-one to check in with her and myself to make sure I was on the right track.

Please visit Sue at her website and check out her extensive collection of bestselling Australian books. Father Bob is sitting beside my bed right now waiting for me to get through the pile and I’m really looking forward to it 🙂

Categories
Uncategorized

Books as Prescription Medicine

This is precisely why I write books: to make people feel good.

Books like (legal) brownies for all!
Books like (legal) brownies for all!

I love this story.  From May this year, ‘Books on Prescription’ will begin in the UK, with doctors able to ‘prescribe’ a book to assist a patient and improve their mood. The books include both non-fiction and fiction, as well as poetry. It’s also hoped the scheme could help the struggling libraries. Win-win. How wonderful!

In the first couple of months after my baby was born, life was pretty insane in our house. Something I missed the most was reading and it was only when I began to learn how to get the reading time back into my life that I started to feel normal again. I always read before going to sleep, something that’s a very powerful mood producing activity for me. I literally feel stressed if I don’t have a good book nearby to delve into.

But it has to be the right kind of book. For me, there’s no point in reading something angst-ridden, violent, negative, sarcastic or miserable in order to feel better. Uplifting, comforting, engaging and fun–that’s what I want to read and that’s what I want to write.

My contemporary fiction novel, The Tea Chest, about three Australian women thrust together in a bid to sell tea to the English, will be out in 2014. And if you’re looking for something to make you feel good (a book that reads like a chocolate brownie tastes) then it might just be the book for you.

Read a book to feel better. Hooray!