As in previous years, I’m writing my completion post for the Australian Women Writer’s Challenge, around the middle of the year, even though I will continue to contribute until the year’s end. However, I like to get the formal completion post out of the way, so I can relax!

I signed up, again, for the top-level, Franklin, which involves reading 10 books and reviewing at least 6, and again I’ve exceeded this. In fact, by June 30, I had contributed 18 reviews to the challenge.

Here’s my list in alphabetical order (by woman author), with the links on the titles being to my reviews:

• Jenny Ackland’s The secret son (Novel)
• Charlie Archbold’s Mallee boys (Novel)
• Carmel Bird’s The dead aviatrix: Eight short stories (Short story collection)
• Diana Blackwood’s Chaconne (Novel)
• Claire G. Coleman’s Terra nullius (Novel)
• Jan Wallace Dickinson’s The sweet hills of Florence (Novel)
• Helen Garner’s The last days of chez nous and Two friends (Screenplays)
• Glenda Guest’s A week in the life of Cassandra Aberline (Novel)
• Elizabeth Jolley’s The orchard thieves (Novel)
• Elizabeth Jolley’s “Poppy seed and sesame rings” (Short story)
• Sarah Krasnostein’s The trauma cleaner (Biography)
• Sofie Laguna’s The choke (Novel)
• Eleanor Limprecht’s The passengers (Novel)
• Mirandi Riwoe’s The fish girl (Novel)
• Wendy Scarfe’s The day they shot Edward (Novella)
• M.L. (Mollie) Skinner’s “The hand” (Classic short story)
• Tasma’s (Jessie Couvreur) Uncle Piper of Piper’s Hill (Classic novel)
• Lynette Washington’s Plane Tree Drive (Short story collection)

There’s a significant difference between this year’s completion post and those of recent years – and that’s in the proportion of fiction to nonfiction. Last year, as you may remember from my 2017 Reading Highlights post, I read an unusually large proportion of nonfiction books (47%) and this was also reflected in my AWW Challenge reading. I said I wanted to recalibrate this in 2018 towards more fiction, and so far I’ve been achieving that (in my AWW Challenge reading and overall).

I don’t have specific goals for the rest of the year, except that I’d like to read more indigenous writers (besides Claire G. Coleman), at least one more classic (in addition to Tasma), and more from my TBR pile (besides Helen Garner and Elizabeth Jolley).

My 2018 AWW Challenge wrap-up post will tell the story!