June 20
Today, we’d like to introduce you to Julia Archer, one of the editors at Stories of Life, who is volunteering her time to give feedback in conjunction with Feedback Month, that is, for the month of June only.
Julia grew up on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, in Singapore and in Canberra. As a young mother she lived in PNG, Darwin and the Adelaide Hills. After becoming empty-nesters, she and her husband moved to Pakistan and worked there for ten years.
Returning to Australia, Julia earned a PhD in Creative Writing from Flinders University, drawing on her Pakistan experience. Nineteen months as a volunteer school tutor in Kazakhstan followed.
Her short stories have been published in Stories of Life, inScribe and other print and online anthologies. In 2023 Julia won the Caleb Award for Unpublished Fiction, for a YA novel set in a future Adelaide. Julia was a supervisor, then an examiner, in the Tabor Creative Writing Masters programme. On her website she posts her short YA and Middle Grade fiction, her YA book reviews and tips for new writers. Julia has belonged to local and online writers’ critique and support groups for many years.
Her Christian faith and involvement in a local church has been integral to Julia’s life since childhood. She hopes those values and world view are expressed in stories that, ultimately, are infused with hope. Her other interests remain travel, photography, beauty in nature and art galleries, and her guitar.
Stories of Life: What are you reading right now?
Julia: Surprised by Grace, by Tullian Tchividjian, and Into the Wild, a YA novel by Hayley Lawrence (Scholastic Australia 2025).
Stories of Life: What are you writing right now?
Julia: I am editing my YA adventure novel, set in a fictional Central Asian country suspiciously like Afghanistan.
Stories of Life: A writing quote that inspires you?
Julia: One among many! “You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.” –Annie Proulx
Stories of Life: If you could have a superpower it would be…
Julia: That’s a tough one! Maybe, squeeze more than is humanly possible into whatever time I have left.
Stories of Life: A fun fact about yourself …
Julia: Scattered around my house are little stones and bits of rock I pocketed and brought home from overseas and around Australia, and yes, I know where each one came from!
Feedback Month is now open and will run from 1 to 30 June. You can upload story drafts here and one of our experienced editors (maybe Julia) will read your story drafts, and give you feedback – what works well, what you could consider changing for more effective storytelling. What you do with that feedback is entirely up to you. We will endeavour to get feedback to you in time for you to make any changes you wish. (Our submission period is 1 April to 31 July.)
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