Finding Elara

Show Notes ‘I’ve constructed the life that meets my dreams’   Wrong Bassinet at the Hospital When you have the choice to learn something practical or something you Loe then go for the one that you love. Oscure path leads to Niche Started Australian Fairytale Society in August 2013 She lives and out of the Rut life because of her different jobs. Jo is not scared of hard work Motivation is easy to find when you are inspired and interested Was pleased to learn Storytelling was a profession Don’t need to be original to be a storyteller, you take the scaffolding from something that is already there. To stop overwhelm – pretend to be tough. Guest Bio Jo Henwood is an Accredited Storyteller with Australian Storytellers, accredited Professional Guide with the Institute of Australian Tour Guides, and has been President of the Australian Fairy Tale Society.  She is a museum theatre creative, and workshop leader on literature, history, creative writing, folklore, and storytelling.   As a Tour Guide she leads tours 

Guest Bio Ian Hooper grew up in the coastal town of Larne, Northern Ireland. He joined the Royal Air Force at age eighteen and worked initially as an aircraft technician before being commissioned as an Intelligence Officer. After serving for two decades, he and his Australian wife relocated to the southwest of Western Australia.  In 2014, writing under the pen name of Ian Andrew, his first novel, A Time to Every Purpose, was released to critical acclaim, and in 2018, the first of his ‘Wright and Tran’ crime series, Face Value, won the Publishers Weekly Booklife prize for fiction. In 2024, his poem, Just Enough won the Shore Lines writing for performance prize. He is now the executive director of independent publisher, Leschenault Press and its imprint, The Book Reality Experience, as well as being an author, editor and ghost-writer. In addition, he is the co-founder of the international series of independent author book fairs. A fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, he holds qualifications in man

Guest Bio Ian Hooper grew up in the coastal town of Larne, Northern Ireland. He joined the Royal Air Force at age eighteen and worked initially as an aircraft technician before being commissioned as an Intelligence Officer. After serving for two decades, he and his Australian wife relocated to the southwest of Western Australia. In 2014, writing under the pen name of Ian Andrew, his first novel, A Time to Every Purpose, was released to critical acclaim, and in 2018, the first of his ‘Wright and Tran’ crime series, Face Value, won the Publishers Weekly Booklife prize for fiction. In 2024, his poem, Just Enough won the Shore Lines writing for performance prize. He is now the executive director of independent publisher, Leschenault Press and its imprint, The Book Reality Experience, as well as being an author, editor and ghost-writer. In addition, he is the co-founder of the international series of independent author book fairs. A fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, he holds qualifications in mana

Guest Bio Hey! I’m Kylah, a book editor and author. I’ve been a writer from the moment I could do so, writing music, poems and books. I have no published works yet, but my debut novel is in the works! I’m a cat mum of two and love them with my entire heart and I’m an avid fantasy reader.    Links Contact Kylah Elliott Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/k.s.elliottauthor/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@k.s.elliott   Contact Dianna Website: www.dlnix.com Facebook: (DL Nix) https://www.facebook.com/Faepatriantales Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findingelara/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@findingelarapodcast   Contact the Team Finding Elara Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FindingElara Discord : https://discord.gg/Ap8EWpPn BCP Website: www.bcpcreative.com.au BCP Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bcp.creative/   Things you can enter Starting a treasure chest Give-away this season (By 01/06/2025) Treasure Chest Giveaway: https://www.bushlandcastleproductions.com/treasure-chest Callin

Guest Bio Hey! I’m Kylah, a book editor and author. I’ve been a writer from the moment I could do so, writing music, poems and books. I have no published works yet, but my debut novel is in the works! I’m a cat mum of two and love them with my entire heart and I’m an avid fantasy reader.    Links Contact Kylah Elliott Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/k.s.elliottauthor/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@k.s.elliott   Contact Dianna Website: www.dlnix.com Facebook: (DL Nix) https://www.facebook.com/Faepatriantales Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findingelara/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@findingelarapodcast   Contact the Team Finding Elara Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FindingElara Discord : https://discord.gg/Ap8EWpPn BCP Website: www.bcpcreative.com.au BCP Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bcp.creative/ BCP Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@bcpcreative   Things you can enter Starting a treasure chest Give-away this season (By 01/06/2025) Treasure Chest Giveaway: https://www.bu

Show Summary Guest Bio Allie McCormack is a disabled U.S. military veteran who has transformed her life-long dream of writing into reality. Having lived across the United States and spent memorable years in both Cairo, Egypt as an exchange student and Saudi Arabia working at a hospital in Riyadh, Allie now crafts her stories from the beautiful California wine country she calls home, accompanied by her family and two rescue cats. When not weaving tales of romance and adventure, Allie explores the intersection of art and technology through AI-generated artwork, finding new ways to express her creativity. Her passion for storytelling drives everything she does, bringing to life the countless characters and worlds that populate her imagination. Whether through words or images, Allie believes in creating works that touch hearts and spark joy.   Links Contact Allie McCormack Sign up for my author newsletter: Alliemccormack.com/newsletter/  Website: www.alliemccormack.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllieM

Show Summary Guest Bio Allie McCormack is a disabled U.S. military veteran who has transformed her life-long dream of writing into reality. Having lived across the United States and spent memorable years in both Cairo, Egypt as an exchange student and Saudi Arabia working at a hospital in Riyadh, Allie now crafts her stories from the beautiful California wine country she calls home, accompanied by her family and two rescue cats. When not weaving tales of romance and adventure, Allie explores the intersection of art and technology through AI-generated artwork, finding new ways to express her creativity. Her passion for storytelling drives everything she does, bringing to life the countless characters and worlds that populate her imagination. Whether through words or images, Allie believes in creating works that touch hearts and spark joy.   Links Contact Allie McCormack Sign up for my author newsletter: Newsletter Sign-up Website: Allie McCormack's Website Facebook: Allie on FB Twitter: Allie on Twitter  

Show Summary Guest Bio JA Duxbury has been writing since an early age, but only returned to 1998 after a hiatus of about 20 years. During the grey period, she worked full-time in places like records management and customer service. She spent a lot of that time writing procedural manuals, training documents and plans as well as creating Wikipedia type pages for her employer. Wver the last 10 years, she's been writing full-time getting all of her ideas on to paper and realising her dream of publishing books that people can lose themselves in. She has an extensive range of interest but her primary interest is creating words that bring to life the characters and stories she creates.   Links Contact Dianna Discord : https://discord.gg/Ap8EWpPn Website: www.dlnix.com Facebook: (DL Nix) https://www.facebook.com/Faepatriantales Finding Elara Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FindingElara   Contact JA Duxbury Facebook Author Page www.facebook.com/jaduxbury1 Facebook Group J A Duxbury's Weird Words: www.faceboo

Show Summary Guest Bio JA Duxbury has been writing since an early age, but only returned to 1998 after a hiatus of about 20 years. During the grey period, she worked full-time in places like records management and customer service. She spent a lot of that time writing procedural manuals, training documents and plans as well as creating Wikipedia type pages for her employer. Wver the last 10 years, she's been writing full-time getting all of her ideas on to paper and realising her dream of publishing books that people can lose themselves in. She has an extensive range of interest but her primary interest is creating words that bring to life the characters and stories she creates.   Links Contact Dianna Discord : https://discord.gg/Ap8EWpPn Website: www.dlnix.com Facebook: (DL Nix) https://www.facebook.com/Faepatriantales Finding Elara Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FindingElara   Contact JA Duxbury Facebook Author Page www.facebook.com/jaduxbury1 Facebook Group J A Duxbury's Weird Words: www.faceboo

In this interview episode, Dianna and Leisl talk about the inspirations that have captivated and inspired Leisl to start writing her novels. The journey from restauranter to novelist is worth the listen. Orphan Black is the topic of the Buffy night section gaining high praise and a large number of stakes. the comp for one luck listener will be drawn 28-jul-2019 and the link is http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/99cd210810/?  

Dianna takes the chance to talk about what's be happening for the last fortnight. The winner of last fortnights competition is announced. Short and sweet content that and then next weeks guest is announced.

Heidi talks to Dianna about her interest in writing that blossomed while watching her mother write stories growing up. With a complete series under her belt and a the start of a new series recently released Heidi has a unique take on world building. The discussion is relaxed and full of surprising pearls of wisdom. There is a competition running for the first listeners to win a copy of the first book in her second series titled, The Whisperers of Evernow. 

Dianna presents the show in her new solo format with five fun things she's been up to in the last fortnight. This new format is short and to the point. 

In this episode of the Finding Elara Episode Dianna interviews Josh Langley about his writing journey and mindful techniques that have pushed him along the way. With several awards and multiple books under his belt Josh has over ten years experience in the industry to share.

Dianna Co-hosted the Show with her Mum Selva and her Friend and avid listener of the Show Garry for a special Mothers Day special. Still talking about worldbuilding and mindfulness, in a round about way.

The course has simmered down to the character level this week and Dianna asks her favourite questions from the course bringing things to a close. Sue-Ellen Pashley was an amazing person for gifting Dianna the course to go through. It was a thought provoking end and linked together all aspects learned to far.

In this episode of the Finding Elara Podcast Dianna talks To Angela J ford about her worldbuilding, mindfulness techniques and what she thinks makes for a good story. Angela is very passionate about her craft and the interview flies by.In the Buffy Night segment Angela reviews the book Circe, sharing what she thought about the first person account from the goddess of sorcery. The competition link for this show is http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/99cd21087/?

In this episode Dianna talks about her favourite questions to think about when it comes the the middle layer of the worldbuilding cake, reveals the winner of last weeks competition, reviews realm of beasts in the Buffy night segment and announces a new competition including a special key word for anyone who wants to enter.

Meet Donna Marree Hanson as she talks about her fantasy and science fiction career providing worldbuilding and craft tips on what has learned along the way. In the Buffy night section Donna talks about the evolution of lost in space.

Dianna talks about what she had to do in week 2 of the worldbuilding course she had gifted from Sue-Ellen about the foundation layer of the world. The Buffy night segment was a season 1 review of Legacies and the new competition was announced including a secret word you have to listen to the show to find out what it is.