At the September meeting Sarah Evans spoke about how she writes across genres, which means she is not classified into one type. Sarah is an interesting speaker who responds with humour and insight to questions asked by members regarding her writing and her lifestyle in Bridgetown. At first the family were living in a shack with no running water or electricity and with very young children to look after.
Sarah has been writing since she was at primary school and had jobs when she left school as a journalist on a variety of newspapers.
A family move to Bridgetown meant that Sarah came out of journalism and into romance writing. She is a member of Romance Writers of Australia. She often writes two versions of a story, one for the Australian and one for the UK market, in which the spelling, seasons and language are different. She says that it is important to study the market and see what publishers are looking for and who the audience is. Sarah also has an agent in the UK which she finds helpful. This year she has been to romance writers’ conferences in both Perth and in the UK. She also writes crime, short stories, novellas and poetry and humour is an important part of her writing. Frequently Sarah is working on several things at the same time. Several of our members wondered how she fits her reading and writing in with helping her husband run a twenty acre property while home schooling four children who also write or paint.
Sarah gave credit to a supportive husband who has taken over doing all the shopping. She also admits to not having much sleep and finds the middle of the night a good time to work through her ideas. With 184 books by her bed there is always something to read.
The writing groups Sarah belongs to are important as she could otherwise be isolated in the country.
Sarah’s message is to keep trying and never throw anything away nor give up on what you do as someone, somewhere will eventually like it.
