As an award-winning author who balances writing with a career in law, Steph Vizard (OM 2007) has mastered the art of working with whatever time she has available. “My advice to aspiring writers is not to get overwhelmed by trying to find the perfect time to write,” she says. “You can build a lot of momentum by just sitting down regularly, for a short time, every day.”
The path to the first novel
Having won the sought-after HarperCollins Banjo Award for her first book, The Love Contract, in 2022, Steph traces her path to publication back to a key moment in her pre-teen years.
“I can remember exactly when I fell in love with writing,” Steph says. “I’d borrowed one of my mum’s books – a book that might have been referred to at the time as ‘chick lit’. It opened my eyes to the fact that it’s possible to spend 600 pages writing about a woman’s life, and to do it in a funny, clever way. From that point on, I was hooked.”
With a Bachelor of Arts in literature from the University of Oxford and experience working at Hardie Grant’s London office, Steph enrolled in a three-month novel writing course to hone her craft. “Two nights a week we would meet and workshop each other’s writing and on another we would hear from an established author,” she explains. “It
was at that point I realised how much there was to learn about what makes a good book.”
The Love Contract came together after Steph completed a second writing course during her first period of maternity leave. “I had a creative burn to tell a particular story,” she explains. “The Love Contract looks at themes of single parenthood and community support. It’s the story of a woman determined to do everything on her own who eventually realises how difficult that is.”
“I don’t think it was until I had my daughter that I became truly committed to writing my first novel,” Steph adds. “I started thinking about what I wanted to show her, and I realised I wanted my daughter to know it was possible to follow a creative passion and see it through.”
Links between careers
Steph’s qualifications also include a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Melbourne. Steph says that while her legal work as a solicitor doesn’t involve the same creativity with language as writing fiction, there is a strong overlap between her professions.
“I love that there are no limits with fiction, but at the same time, many of the same principles of good writing apply to both writing a novel and putting together legal advice,” she explains. “So much of being a lawyer is about communicating well. If you can communicate your ideas succinctly, you’re much more likely to succeed.”
Steph says her time at Grimwade House is a part of her present beyond the many close friends from that time still in her life today. “I learned to have a go at things,” she explains. “Even if I wasn’t great at what I was doing, there was that culture of taking every opportunity to try something new and I think I have taken that with me throughout my life.”
Steph Vizard’s top five tips for aspiring authors
- Story comes first. Everything else follows from a great story.
- Write whenever you can. Don’t wait for the perfect time.
- Find ways to keep learning your craft. This will keep you motivated.
- Seek out a community who will support you and give you honest feedback.
- Find a genre you love and embrace it.
