Local author and past student, Amy Doak, visits Coolock

On Monday 17 August, we were fortunate to have local author and past student Amy Doak visit the Coolock Library.

Amy presented to a select group of students across Years 7, 8 and 9. She spoke about her journey to being published and her sources of inspiration. Her presentation was engaging, inspiring and thought-provoking, especially for budding authors in the audience.

Thoughts from Year 9s: 

‘Really interesting and informative, made me want to get back into writing!’ - Alice Bibby

‘I enjoyed the workshop because it showed what goes into writing a book and what we can do to write a novel. How we could plan the plot with the Who and How.’ - Sachleen Ladher

‘I learnt so much and can’t wait to read the series!’ - Hadley Green

Review by Xavier Rykers, Year 8:

On Monday 17 August, I got the incredible chance to meet Amy Doak. Amy is the author of the young adult mystery series ‘Eleanor Jones', and her standalone YA novel, ‘What have they done to Liza McLean?’. It was an amazing experience to hear about the process of writing a novel, and we were even given some tips and tricks for writing our own YA novel and becoming future writers. Overall, it was so unimaginably great to meet one of my personal favourite authors and get an insight into how she writes her books. On behalf of everyone who went, thank you to Amy and CMCB for this incredible opportunity.

Review by Philipa (Pip) Sibly Year 8:

On 17 August, Amy Doak, author of 'Eleanor Jones is Not a Murderer', (also a former CMCB student), visited Catherine McAuley College Bendigo and gave students from each year level a talk about writing. She shared her experiences as an author and the struggles of writing a novel. She taught us that everyone writes differently, how important it is to find your voice when writing, and how everyone has a different thought process when writing. She also told us about her upcoming book, which is only just being looked at by publishers. It was a wholesome experience and highly inspiring.