Leigh Hay

Enjoy reading editing and writing hints for
authors, short stories, blogs posts and poetry

Burnishing the Soul – poetry collection

Burnishing the Soul - my new collection of poetry - is now in print!!! With spectacularly beautiful graphic design by Bee Williamson, this latest collection of poetry and images has been a pleasure to put together. Why title the book Burnishing the Soul?  Because burnishing my soul...

The Best Australian Writing for 2024

Who said evolutionary genetics and poetry couldn’t meet in the middle? Professor Jenny Graves and I as co-writers of the libretto for the choral oratorio Origins – Of the Universe, of Life, of Species, of Humanity have been rewarded with the libretto being included in The...

Origins – of the universe, of life, of species, of humanity

As a freelance writer, there are some projects that really inspire. A year ago I was invited to co-write a libretto for a new oratorio, based on evolution – from the big bang to the ascent of man. Evolutionary Geneticist Professor Jenny Graves was offering...

Writing for Children

I’ve often thought I’d be a wealthy woman if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard the comment,  “writing a book for kids has to be a piece of cake…you only need minimal text and pictures.”  The minimal text and pictures bit makes...

A writing style like no other

We all have our own unique style of writing for preferred genres. For some of us it’s crime thrillers or romance novels and for others it’s science fiction or stories for kids. For me it’s poetry. Whatever the style, I have great regard for the creative...

Finding your poetic voice

As a poet, a question I’m often asked is “when did you discover you could write poetry?” When I was at school, all I could write was pretty hopeless humorous rhyme so maybe the discovery was all those years ago. I remember thinking I had a...

Planting a literary forest

Are you having trouble launching into writing? Having trouble working up the confidence to put pen to paper or let your fingers glide across the laptop keyboard? Many people write daily to Facebook or Twitter. The three-line comment is de riguer for today’s social media. Easy...

Cosmo flies into Christmas

Cosmo flies into Christmas is now available!!  The little Christmas beetle has finally hatched. It’s Christmas Eve in Australia. Cosmo, a small brown Christmas beetle, hatches in Mrs Bunnyfluff’s garden. He flies through a back door and lands slap bang in Mrs Bunnyfluff’s house. WOW!! Food....

Boxes are comfortable

I am a great fan of Australian cartoonist Judy Horacek. For me, her cartoons hit the spot every time. This month, she is featuring ‘ideas’ – thoughts, inspirations, some innovative and agile experiences and some failures. One of her cartoons features a girl inside a...