Valerie G Miller

Burying a shoe box, my best friend and I painted and decorated when we were seven, that contained trinkets and a letter to the future. There was a little park up our street, just before the road bent. It contained this beautiful Oak Tree and we buried it underneath. I wonder if that box is still there?

Jane Austen. That she wrote those brilliant stories all by hand, edited them by hand and published them at a time when women as authors were not always accepted. My contemporary inspiration is historical women’s fiction author Natasha Lester.

Absolutely, I come from an Italian family and did not speak English until I was 7 (my parents were migrants to Australia). Mum and I would go to the local library and borrow books. I would look at the pictures and make up stories. When I learnt to read in English, I lived in the library and borrowed books voraciously. I still read today. I always have a novel with me. With ebooks it’s even easier. I’m always reading a novel, a novel in the era I’m writing, short stories and poems—all at the same time. I read in my breaks at school, when I get home at school to switch off from the day and get into my writer’s head and before I go to bed at night. Sunday mornings I get up early to read for hours.

I’m just about to finish my 26th year. Teaching has changed so much. It’s become more about data collection and administration. When I started it was all about instilling curiosity and joy of learning. I now call those early years ’The Golden Years.'

At the moment, as I’m still working full-time as a teacher, my writing career is still being established. However, doing the Master of Letters has helped me in my writing. It gave me the confidence to seek feedback and develop resilience in having my work critiqued. It taught me about the craft of writing. I’ve continued to studying the craft. Do the degree allows me to do this independently. My goal is to develop a unique voice that will inspire future readers.

Coming up with new ideas. Everything in Between already had most of the stories written. Now I’m starting to write new ones. Finding the right idea takes the longest. Also knowing where to place each story in the anthology isn’t easy to do. It takes a lot of trial and error. For Everything in Between it took a few goes until me and my editor felt it was right.

Some of the stories were written during my Master of Letters. I had this need to write stories that represented my Italian Heritage. I feel these stories needed to be let out into the world. Now, I’ve done this, feel I can go and write new and different stories.

Reading and writing shapes us as people. Reading helps us to develop empathy about other people’s lives and experiences. It also allows us to find pieces of ourselves in the stories we read, so we don’t feel alone, or different. Books inspire us and empowers our lives. As a writer I get to experience characters and events in a way that enriches my own life. Being able to read, and write, is such a wonderful thing we can do. It’s a privilege. I cherish this every day.

It’s always about the relationship between the love interests. Always. The ‘meet cute’ has to be dynamic, unique and engagaing.

Yes, diversity in characters and identities is essential, but I feel that as the writer you have to be careful of whose story you’re telling. Stories need to be told by people who lived that experience. For example, I don’t feel that telling a story about Australia’s First Nation people or a muslim refugee is my story to tell. They own those stories. It is their unique voice we need to read. However, I will write in secondary characters who are diverse. I draw from my own experiences of having friends and colleagues who come from diverse backgrounds. However, I would always get a sensitive reader to check it first.

This kind of breaks my heart, but I have to say writing. I feel I have more control and creativity as a writer. Teaching has changed so much, it’s no longer the vocation it used to be. This does break my heart and I do mourn those earlier teaching years. Within the next few years, I will be hanging up by whiteboard pen. I want to leave teaching on a high with happy memories still intact.

I read recently that young adults are starting to turn away from social media, and when they do I feel that more and more will turn to books. My daughter, at 22, and her friends, are certainly an indication of this. New Adult genre will be their stories. I feel there will be a place for them. I also feel that maybe, for older readers, they will allow them to live vicariously through these characters. Returning to their own youth and memories of that time.

I want to fly in a Spitfire.

I’m currently researching my second women’s fiction set in 1942 and 1970 Brisbane and England. It’s a dual historic narrative with three point of view characters—sisters in 1942 and a university lecturer in 1970. They all have their own love stories and challenges as women in their time. The story centres around found letters and the sister’s involvement in the Air Transport Auxiliary, the Battle of Brisbane and WW2. I’m also working on a contemporary/comedy romance series set in the hinterland in south east Queensland. I’m currently working on revising my dissertation novel I completed for my Master of Letters. It was written as a novella but I want to add another point of view and write it as a novel.

I discovered All Author via podcasts and through reading writing craft articles. I must say, it’s been the best platform for my needs. AllAuthor will be an integral part of my book marketing plan. The website is easy to use.