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Hi there.
I’m Joanne Zara Ellen Morrell, an author, writer and podcaster based in Perth Western Australia, where I was born, but grew up in a little fishing village off the east coast of Edinburgh in Scotland, hence the accent. 😉
As an author, I seek traditional representation for my young adult fiction under the pen name JzeMorrell, as well as independently publishing women’s contemporary fiction under my pseudonym Zara Ellen. I also write and publish short non-fiction books for authors in my Author Linings series as Joanne Morrell.
I love story in all mediums: film, television and of course books. I am a member of various industry organisations and have volunteered my time as the social media coordinator and newsletter editor for certain bodies. As well as founding my local book club, I'm host and creator of The HYBRID Author Podcast, producing weekly episodes interviewing Industry professionals on all aspects which make up a hybrid author career.
After completing a Certificate in Creative Writing and a Diploma in Freelance Journalism, I undertook a Bachelor of Arts majoring in writing and minoring in scriptwriting, editing and publishing.
During my first year at Edith Cowan University, I wrote a fictional short story called Across the Causeway. It was about a child sex slave in Thailand and was elected by Amanda Curtain to win the Talus prize.
It was also during my first year at university, I had my first lessons as an author, collaborating with illustrator Brendan Kalnins (and independently publishing my first junior fiction book. I’m thankful I had these lessons so early on and have had many more since then, and I know in this career, there’s still plenty more to come.
At the end of my studies, I interned at Westerly magazine where I wrote reviews of novels and films for Dircksey online magazine. But I wanted to write books. And that realisation came about by setting up shop as a freelance writer.
I thought I could be a freelance writer on the side as my day job whilst I built my book business and wrote my little heart out. But it was much harder than I thought and being a writer doesn’t mean you can just write in every kind of style of writing there is and be good at it. There’s a skill to each format. And there’s also a whole wide world out there who will use you up and spit you out for buttons. So, I wrote a book about my experiences: both as a working paid freelance writer and as an author who has experienced so many physical and emotional aspects of striving to have a successful author career.
And what does having a successful author career even mean, anyways?
Well, it’s different for everyone. But for the majority of us, it consists of seeing our ideas bound in the form of a book and earning a living from our book business to feed our families and ourselves.
I believe the backbone for having a successful career as any kind of author is to:
Discovering your Process, learning how to Publish Productively and beginning to feel comfortable self-promoting you and your books, as well as fortnightly musings on HYBRID Authorship I don’t share anywhere else. Fill in your details to download!
I’m looking forward to sharing this author adventure with you!
