Writers Retreat 2025
Writers Retreat returns in 2025!
Unplug and focus on your craft at our Writers Retreat. Set at the beautiful Jubri’s Hideaway, you’ll immerse yourself in engaging workshops and insightful discussions.
This experience is designed for writers of all background, providing you with a supportive environment to connect with fellow authors and find inspiration.
Writing & Rewriting – The Fundamentals with Sarah Armstrong
How well do you know the true fundamentals of the writing craft? Let Sarah introduce you to skills such as freewriting, writing action, and keeping character desire driving your plot. Budding and seasoned writers alike will have a hands on opportunity to try out these tricks of the trade all while getting advice on rewriting tools used by published authors like Sarah. Attendees will get firsthand insight into what its like preparing a manuscript ready for submission to an agent, publisher or competition. Ask questions, see published examples of these fundamentals in action and hear amazing stories from Sarah’s experience getting published in both the Adults and Children’s domains.
Delivered with support from Queensland Writers Centre.
Where and When
Saturday 22 March
Jubri’s Hideaway
63 Chelldan Avenue, Dalby
10am–4pm
Cost:
Adult $120
Ticket includes admission to one full-day session at The Writers Retreat, lunch package and light refreshments.
About Presenter
When I was a child, my family didn’t have a television, so I read a book a day. Our expeditions to the local library were legendary! I remember my mum reading ‘Little Grey Men’ to me, a book first published in 1942 and which features gnomes living on the bank of an English stream. I still remember lying there, listening to her read, with the thrilling feeling of my imagination soaring. I get that same feeling today when I read a great kids’ book.
I went on to become a journalist at ABC Radio – where I won a Walkley Award – and a researcher/producer at ABC TV. That was exciting work – I interviewed lots of interesting people and travelled to places like Timbuktu in the Sahara Desert and a jellyfish lake on the Pacific island of Palau. But I’d always imagined writing a book one day.
So I resigned from the ABC, and moved to a rainforest valley in northern NSW – where it started raining the day I moved in and didn’t stop for four months. My first novel (for adults) unsurprisingly features lots of rain and mud! ‘Salt Rain’ was shortlisted for a few awards including the Miles Franklin Award. I went on to write two more novels, ‘His Other House’ and ‘Promise’.
Once I became a mother and started reading to my daughter, I was reminded how much I love children’s books – the thrill of endless possibility and sense of a vast world out there. ‘Big Magic’ is my first book for young readers and it includes all the things I have always loved reading about: a brave kid, the power of nature, growing up, parallel universes and circus.
These days I live on one acre near the town of Mullumbimby in northern NSW, with my partner Alan and our daughter Amelia. We grow some of our own fruit and vegetables, following the principles of permaculture. We have a dog, Louie – a much-loved, shaggy cavoodle-schnoodle – who likes to lie near me while I write.
About Queensland Writers Centre
Dedicated to the stories of Queensland, The Queensland Writers Centre is a community that champions writers across the state. They help writers at all stages of their writing journey develop skills to improve their craft, engage their readers and build a sustainable career.
Queensland Writers Centre supports the practice, development and recognition of writers and a vibrant culture of writing, reading and creating.
Visiting the Western Downs? Secure your accommodation early as rooms will book quickly!
Visit Experience Western Downs for more.