Send us a text

A working title. A family legend. A blank page that won’t wait. I’m kicking off a new novel inspired by my grandfather, a boy abandoned around 1902 and placed in the Australian foster system, whose life bent toward resilience despite a brutal start. The goal isn’t to glorify pain—it’s to explore how a kid with little power learned to build a future, and what those early fractures can teach us about courage, love, and the stories families tell to survive.

I open up the creative plan: how I’ll navigate clashing family memories—my mother’s fierce admiration alongside my aunts’ harder-edged recollections—and turn them into layered, credible fiction. We get into the ethics of writing from inherited stories, the difference between factual certainty and emotional truth, and where to draw the line between homage and hagiography. I also share practical craft choices, from outlining in Scrivener to drafting notes on Kindle Scribe, and how those tools help me track timelines, manage point-of-view, and keep the world consistent with early twentieth-century Australia.

Research sits at the heart of this project. I’m mapping the foster care landscape of the era, the work children did, the schools they did or didn’t attend, and the social stigma that followed state wards. You’ll hear how I plan to weave archival detail into scenes without turning the book into a history lecture, using sensory anchors—dust roads, kerosene light, corrugated tin—to keep the prose human and grounded. Along the way, I make space for listeners to shape the journey with their questions: Which scenes feel essential? Where should the story begin? What truths matter most when facts are scarce?

If stories of endurance, family history, and thoughtful historical fiction speak to you, come walk beside me as this book takes shape. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend who loves craft and research, and leave a review with the one question you’d ask my grandfather if you could. Your notes might light the next chapter.

Podcast on working with the Kindle Scribe and the Scrivener App:

https://youtu.be/CzPW2FNNVuA

#Australia #FosterCare #FosterCareawareness #FosterCareHistory #Grandfatherstory #PTSD #CPTSD #FosterCareAbuse #historicalanecdotes