This week on The Word Count, we leaned into life’s big moments — the ones that pull us away from the page and remind us that writing doesn’t always get to be the priority.

With less than a month to Fiona’s daughter’s wedding, she’s fully in her Mother of the Bride era 👰💐 (yes, with the t-shirt to prove it!). 

Jo opened up about the heartbreaking loss of her beautiful Frankie 🐾, and Jacq talks about what's next for her book as she navigates the publication journey.

We talked honestly about how we manage (or don’t manage!) our writing during times when life needs our attention — and why giving ourselves grace matters just as much as hitting our word counts.

💛 If you’re balancing big life changes alongside your writing, this one’s for you.

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Follow 3 Australian writers step-by-step as they write toward publication:

• Jo Dixon - bestselling author of The House Of Now & Then & A Shadow At The Door
• Fiona Taylor - host of the Reading By Candlelight pod, writing her first novel
• Jacq Ellem - host of internationally award-winning podcast Tales From Three Corners

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭-𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭-𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘥𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯! 𝘌𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘪𝘯, 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘺-𝘵𝘰-𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘴 (𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 30 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘴) 💛