edwina shaw

In the Dark of Night

/ Edwina Shaw / 4 Comments
In the Dark of Night by Edwina Shaw

In the Dark of Night by Edwina Shaw

I’m excited to announce the release of my new book for young readers, In the Dark of Night. A chapter book for readers aged 8 and up, it’s part of Raven Books UK new series, Breakouts.

 Here’s the link to a super spooky trailer they’ve made for it 🙂 https://youtu.be/7KeiX17YTiM

” ‘Are you an angel?’

This time the stick swung quickly towards the negative, as far to the right as it could go.

‘Oh no,’ said Sam under his breath. ‘This is … ’

‘Are you a devil?’ Nina asked.

The stick began to quiver, shifting slowly to the left.”

When Nina and Sam hold a séance in their local cemetery, they stir up more than they bargained for  – the ghost of a fourteen-year-old girl and a whole lot of trouble.

Can Nina solve the puzzle of the girl’s death in time to save her, and them all?

In the Dark of Night is part of a nationwide library promotion, Summer Reading Club. You can find out more about it here.

It was great fun to write, I hope it’s as much fun to read 🙂 Let me know what you think, I’d love to hear from you.

To PhD or not to PhD

/ Edwina Shaw / 6 Comments

olivier-hamlet

To PhD or not to PhD, that is the question faced by many Australian writers as they realise that trying to write and make a living at the same time is a challenge.

To write a large work you need a substantial amount of time and brain space devoted to that project. Working and running a household, especially one with children in it, makes finding that time nigh on impossible. In order to support writing habits, authors need both time and money to pay for it. Grants for writers are few, and highly sought after. Royalties and advances aren’t what they used to be. Most Australian writers aren’t making a living wage from all sources, and the income from their life’s great passion, their “calling”, would make a teenager laugh.

But it’s really not that funny.

Writers and writing are valuable. As important to the world as butchers and bankers and lawyers. We are the story-tellers, the record keepers, the mirrors to our world, reflecting and enlarging upon what it is to live a human experience.

So we are faced with the age old dilemma – to PhD or not to PhD. Why? Because a PhD scholarship provides a steady stream of tax free income for three years. YES! A PhD in creative writing means you get paid to write your book, plus the required exegesis. Unfortunately this academic essay has many writers I know still quivering in post-traumatic shock. But, at this point in my writing career, it seems a small price to pay for the luxury of that princely below-minimum wage income for all those years.

Which is why I’ve applied to QUT to do a Doctorate in Creative Writing next year. I’ve found wonderful supervisors who have been generous and kind in their support of my project. That’s another big tick on the “To PhD” side of the ledger, the support and mentoring, the chance to reach out a few feelers to other writers, connect with like minds and get some valuable advice and guidance along the way.

My application is in. I’ve decided to PhD, now it’s up to the Writing Gods to grant me a scholarship … or not. Cross fingers. Say prayers.

And you? Would you PhD or not?