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Unleash Your Inner Author – Join Us for an Inspiring Year of Writing!

Our first meeting of 2025 was a smash hit! With 20 eager writers in attendance, Jenny McLaughlin’s workshop on overcoming writer’s block had everyone buzzing—it was hailed as the best session yet!

The excitement continues at our next meeting, where we’ll dive into Developing Characters—a hands-on workshop designed to bring your characters to life. And that’s just the beginning!

We’ve mapped out a dynamic program to guide you from the first spark of an idea to a fully finished story by year’s end—culminating in an anthology featuring your work. With expert-led sessions, engaging writing challenges, and a supportive community, this is your year to write!

So, grab your notebook, fire up your laptop, and let’s make 2025 the year your story finally gets told. Join us and start writing today!

Bring Your Characters to Life! – A Hands-On Workshop

Struggling to create characters that jump off the page? Join us for an interactive Developing Captivating Characters workshop, where you’ll learn how to craft compelling, multi-dimensional protagonists and villains that keep readers hooked.

What You’ll Learn:

• How to develop unique character personalities, backstories, and motivations
• The secret to making even your villains irresistible
• How to use conflict and flaws to deepen character development
• Techniques to create believable dialogue and authentic relationships

What You’ll End Up With at the End of the Year:

✔ A fully fleshed-out character ready to step into your story
✔ A character-building toolkit with worksheets and prompts
✔ Practical techniques to make your characters feel real and relatable
✔ Feedback from fellow writers to refine your creations

Don’t just write characters—bring them to life! Join us and start building unforgettable characters today.

10am Saturday 8th March 2025 at The Labrador Community Centre 57 Billington Street Labrador.

Please call Leah on 0424 832 951 to book

Workshop Facilitator - Jenny McLaughlin

Ten Years of Writing: A Journey Through Words

A decade ago, with no prior literary experience, Jenny embarked on a simple mission: to document a few family anecdotes for her grandchildren. That humble effort unexpectedly grew into a 370-page self-published book, A Journey Through Six Decades. While the writing process was rewarding, the technical challenges of self-publishing—like mastering margins, sizing, and page numbering—proved even more frustrating to her. 

Over the years, She has written numerous short stories, two of which have earned prizes in writing competitions. There’s also a novella, though it still resides in the proverbial “bottom drawer,” waiting for its moment.

With a background in science rather than writing, Jenny doesn't call herself a “natural” writer. But through trial, error, and persistence, she's picked up valuable tips and skills over the past ten years—ones she is always happy to share with fellow writers on their own creative journeys.

Did you know you can submit any piece of your writing (up to 3,000 words) for review.

You'll receive a personalized report that highlights the strengths of your writing and suggests areas where you can make improvements.

It's easy to get started—just email your work as a digital attachment (word doc or the like) to ian@ianharvey.com.au and request a review. We'll have your feedback ready and sent back to you within 7 days!

We can't wait to read your work and help you on your writing journey!

Workshops for the Rest of the Year

Mastering Point of View, Voice, and Dialogue

Build a solid understanding of how to use point of view, voice, and dialogue to elevate your writing. Engage in practical exercises and leave with tools to continue developing your craft.

Mastering “Show, Don’t Tell” in Writing

Learn how to create vivid, immersive experiences that engage readers emotionally and intellectually by mastering the "show, don't tell" technique.

Crafting Compelling Characters: A Deep Dive into Character Development

Explore techniques to create multi-dimensional, engaging characters. Dive into developing their personalities, backstories, motivations, and arcs to enrich your storytelling.

We Value Your Input!

If you have specific ideas for workshops you'd like to see, please let us know. We're always eager to tailor our programs to your interests and needs.

We can't wait to embark on this creative journey with you next year!

Turn Your Memories into a Memoir – No More Procrastination!

Struggling to stay disciplined with your writing? You’re not alone! If you’ve been meaning to start (or finish) your memoir but keep putting it off, U3A’s “My Memoirs” course could be exactly what you need.

Led by Ian Davenport, this hands-on program meets every second Monday—right at the same location as our monthly meetings. Over 12 months, you’ll make real progress, turning scattered thoughts into a compelling memoir.

No more staring at a blank page—this course keeps you accountable, motivated, and actually writing. By the end of the year, you won’t just have notes and ideas—you’ll have your memoir in hand.

Take the first step toward telling your story. Join “My Memoirs” and start writing today!

See their website for details U3A website - click here

“I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they’re like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day…fifty the day after that…and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions. By then you see them for the weeds they really are, but by then it’s — GASP!! — too late.” -Stephen King

King’s humorous rant against adverbs helped me realize that I not only use adverbs too often, but I often use them in ways that distract from what I’m trying to say.

For example, what sounds more persuasive: “I believe you” or “I totally believe you”?

Someone reading the phrase “I totally believe you” may wonder if we’re being sarcastic. Or they may wonder why we felt the need to imply that standard belief was not enough.

Adverbs aren’t always evil, but we should only use them when they add necessary clarity.

Exciting news!

This year, as we all make great strides in our writing, we plan to celebrate by creating our very own short story anthology featuring your work!

While we haven't yet determined how we'll select the stories to include, we're confident that by the end of the year's workshops, we'll have plenty of high-quality pieces to choose from.

We can't wait to see what amazing stories you'll create!

When and Where?

We meet at 10:00 every second Saturday of the month at The Labrador Community Centre 57 Billington Street Labrador.  Our meeting lasts for about two and a half hours.

We would love to see you there.

Please call Leah on 0424 832 951 to make a booking