Australian Women Writer’s Challenge 2018 Sign-up Post

 2018 will be my second year participating in the Australian Women Writer’s Challenge. Last year, I aimed for the Miles level – to read six and review four. This year, I decided to create my own challenge, and aim for fifteen – I have at least that on a pile next to my desk, and I am sure many review books will come through that I can include.

The levels to choose from are:

• Stella:read 4 – if reviewing, review at least 3
• Miles:read 6 – if reviewing, review at least 4
• Franklin:read 10 – if reviewing, review at least 6
• Create your own challenge: nominate your own goal e.g. “Classics Challenge”.

Last year, I made a list of titles to tackle. I missed out on a few, (more about this in my wrap up post), so this year I’m not going to say what I will or won’t read, only to definitely state that review books for 2018 will be added, and I will read whatever else I can read to add to the list and reviews. Instead of committing myself to specific books, other than to read more of the Phryne Fisher series, I shall read what comes to hand each day, or week throughout 2018.

With many books obtained this year that have been written by Australian women that I intended to read this year but never got there, I will aim to read as many of these as possible within my custom challenge of fifteen.

The challenge began seven years ago. Each year participants aim to bring more attention to female writers in Australia, past and present, from diverse backgrounds as much as possible, and I do where I can find something. My main stipulation is that the book has to be in a genre I enjoy and have a compelling plot – which makes it more fun and engaging. I am hoping to read some of the books I had planned to include in 2017 but never got around to.

Authors I will definitely look to include will be: Sulari Gentill, Kate Forsyth, Lynette Noni, and Jessica Townsend. Keeping a keen eye on publicity catalogues and bookstores, I am hoping to write about other aspects of Australian literature too as a side project for myself.

With any luck, I will go beyond the fifteen books I have pledged, and will attempt to post more updates than I did this year so you can track my progress. If you haven’t already, think about signing up if you want to participate, and join the Facebook group where members are always on hand with suggestions, and their reviews to help you reach your goals.