About

Jodie is a Melbourne-based writer and author who spent her childhood ripping off The Baby-Sitters Club books and being an R.L. Stine wannabe. These days she considers herself to be a multi-genre writer, focusing mostly on children's picture books, contemporary women's fiction, YA, and her Substack newsletter filled with personal musings on everything from secondary infertility and IVF to writerly updates and recommendations.

Jodie works as a casual teacher in both primary and secondary settings, but her dream job is to be a writer who works with schools and corporations to deliver workshops, training sessions and author talks. Her passions not only include writing, but also how creative writing can improve mental health and your career, how we can build our passions into our work, and how we need to make things happen for ourselves. 

She is one of the few Melbournians who will choose hot chocolate over coffee, she loves bright lipstick, and she longs for the day the Melbourne Demons win another premiership!

• Diploma in Professional Writing and Editing - Holmesglen TAFE 
• Certificate IV in Training and Assessment - Holmesglen TAFE 
• Write a Novel Change Your Life with Tempany Deckert 
• Freelance Writing for Print and Online - Writers Victoria
• Short Story - Writers Victoria 
• Blogging and Writing Secrets - UDEMY 
• Powerful Speaking - UDEMY 
• Creative Writing: how to write a novel - UDEMY 
• NANOWRIMO 2021 (40k words) 
• Group Mentorship with author Lisa Ireland  
• Writing Children's Picture Books - Julia Donaldson, BBC Maestro 
• Bachelor of Education K-12, English major  - University of New England 
• Presenting to Kids - Australian Writer's Centre 
• Writing Picture Books - Australian Writer's Centre 
• Author Branding - Holly Craig's Write Club

Awards 

Winner of the first year award for excellence in novel writing at Holmesglen TAFE.

• Author talk: Jodie will share insights on her reading and writing background and why/how she eventually started her Bold Author, Budding Artists series and YouTube channel. Jodie shares her main message which is to go out there and make things happen for yourself, proving how she has done this in the past and continues to do so today. For Grades 4-6.
• Q&A: Ask Jodie all your burning questions about being an author, her reading and writing habits, self-publishing, having a YouTube channel, how her ideas form etc. 
• Sparking Ideas and Creating Characters: A workshop that offers quick and easy strategies for sparking story ideas and developing a main character. For Grades 3-6.
• The Basics of Picture Book Writing: In this workshop, learn about some of the elements that go into creating a picture book. For Grades 3-6
• Tailored workshops: Jodie can tailor workshops to suit your school. They can include common traits of a picture book, such as rhyme, alliteration, repetition, and onomatopoeia. 
• Book readings and book clubs: Readings and activities for younger audiences and weekly or monthly book club sessions for all-age students, where we discuss books and reading, but also where individual creation is celebrated by sharing drawings or writing. 
• Corporate workshop: The Benefits of Creative Writing includes types of creative writing, the benefits on wellbeing and career as well as writing activities. Perfect for companies who have a strong focus on employee health and who offer wellness opportunities for their staff.
• Teacher PDs: Jodie can train your teachers to create a picture book in Canva and upload to KDP Amazon for school projects or fundraisers.