Harriet Carter is a journalism student and freelance writer from Melbourne. We sat down with her post National Young Writers’ Month, to discuss her work and goals.

How old are you?

19

What state or territory do you live in?
Victoria

What kind of writing do you do?
I mostly write about music so that’s usually album reviews, live concert reviews, interviews and features on artists. However, recently I have been branching out into features on music technology and women’s issues.

What are you currently reading?
A book called ‘Tuesdays With Morrie’, it’s a really beautiful memoir that’s taught me a lot about life and death.

How did you begin writing?
When I was in year 9 we completed a media topic in English where we were able to create our own magazine with whatever content we wanted. I filled it with articles about music and from then on I aimed to study journalism. After year 12 I took a gap year and travelled, but I also started to create my own brand. I started a blog and built a portfolio of articles so when I eventually wanted to apply to write for other music sites I had work to show them. I then started writing for Take A Shot, adamNOTeve and The AU Review whilst at uni studying journalism. I have also written for RMIT’s student magazine Catalyst.

How do you remain motivated?
By keeping my goals in mind and being able to take praise on board. It’s easy to be over-critical of your work, and when someone genuinely tells you they enjoyed your article sometimes it’s hard to believe!

Where do you find inspiration for your work?
I find inspiration from my passions. If I love an artist’s music I find it easy to write about them and produce an interesting article. Similarly with social issues, if I’m passionate about a subject or a cause the words flow out.

Do you think where you live in Australia has influenced your writing?

Living in Melbourne I have been able to pick up and devour magazines like Beat and mX (R.I.P). In my hometown of Warrandyte we also have a great local paper called The Warrandyte Diary that I have been reading since I was young. In terms of my own writing, Melbourne has a really strong music scene and this has definitely been influential.

What is the best and worst piece of advice you’ve been given as a writer?
I went to a writing workshop run by Catherine Deveny, and one of her many gems was ‘don’t talk about doing it, just do it’. For so long I told people I wanted to be a music writer, but I wasn’t actually writing. You’ve got to bite the bullet and start, it’s only up from there.

What piece of published writing are you most proud of? Why?
For a combination of reasons the article I’m most proud of is called ‘The Period Fallacy’ and it was published in RMIT’s student magazine, Catalyst. It was my first article ever published in a physical magazine (if we’re not including my year 9 masterpiece) and to see people reading it in real life was surreal. It is also about a subject I’m passionate about; dissolving the stigma around menstruation.

http://rmitcatalyst.com/the-period-fallacy/

Where can we find out more about you?
My twitter is https://twitter.com/harriet_ewc
Instagram is @harrrcar
Blog is http://www.stratusblog.wordpress.com
Articles for the AU review http://www.theaureview.com/users/harriet-carter