Are you sitting down? Fleur McDonald’s writing tips

Fleur McDonald is one of Australia’s leading authors of rural fiction and her first novel, Red Dust was the highest selling debut in 2009.

In March 2015 she released her sixth book, Emerald Springs, but it was last year that she caught up with Allison Tait for our top-rating podcast, So you want to be a writer.

During the chat, we asked her to share her top three tips for writers.

1. “All I would say is you need to sit and write. You need to sit your bum down and stay there.”

2. “I think you need to believe in yourself, and it’s very difficult to do that. I think we’re programmed as authors to self-doubt, so that’s something that you probably need to try and fix, and I still haven’t done it, so don’t expect anybody else can, but give it a crack!”

3. “Just try and write – and write every day, because when you don’t you tend to lose that beautiful flow of words that you can have. It’s like anything, like practising an instrument. You sort of have to keep at it, because if you don’t you get rusty.”

Fleur had plenty more to say about rural fiction and getting published – you’ll find the full transcript here.