LORENA
OTES
Author
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Mum. Reader. Dancer. Feline enthusiast
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My memoir Solo Mum by Choice is out February 2026
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Sometimes masquerades as Lorena Lollylegs
About Me
I'm a long-time scribbler, fledgling professional writer and debut author. I mean, even just putting the word author on here is a pinch-me moment. Ouch, that hurt! It's real!!!
My memoir, Solo Mum By Choice is out in February 2026! It placed runner-up in the Hawkeye Publishing Manuscript Development Prize 2024, which I entered primarily for the feedback. But then it made the longlist, the shortlist, and then, by golly, not only was it a finalist, it came second! So chuffed.
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Aside from writing, I am a classical and contemporary dance teacher, a huge Bonnie Tyler fan (she pops up in all of my manuscripts somewhere), an avid reader, Madonna fan (her 90s phase), a motorbike enthusiast, and proud solo mum by choice to my fabulous, dinosaur-loving five-year-old daughter.
My award-winning
debut memoir
Solo Mum by Choice
is out February 2026 through Hawkeye Publishing
If you love tales of persistence and determination peppered with heart and humour, then Solo Mum by Choice is for you.
It's been ten years in the making. A labour of love that tells of the creation of the love of my life – my daughter.
I cant wait for you to read it!
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"This book will change lives." Hawkeye Prize Judges​
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"I laughed, I cried, and – like Lorena – I never stopped hoping she’d get the ending she deserved." Holly Brunnbauer, author, What Did I Miss?
​"Lorena's voice is fresh, vulnerable, and quietly fierce." Camille Booker, author, The Woman In The Waves
Lollylegs Unleashed
Um. Why the Lollylegs thing?
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Please welcome Lollylegs, my alter-ego, into the mix. She will help unleash my crazy side and entertain you with antics of humour, life, motherhood, and literary chit-chat. I have a monthly newsletter that explains it all. You can join in the fun by hitting the subscribe button on the following page.
Articles
I love writing articles, and have had my work published in Feels Blind Literary, The Brussels Review (out soon), Mamamia Online, and Bounty Parents.
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I have a secret obsession with writing humour articles. Thankfully others find them funny too, and they have appeared in Witcraft Magazine, Defenestration Literary Humour Magazine, and Little Old Lady Comedy. There are more on the way.
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I am also a bit of a flash-fiction-writing tragic. My stories have longlisted in the Australian Writers’ Centre’s Furious Fiction competition, the Not Quite Write Prize, The Letter Review, and miraculously, I received Highly Commended in the Writers Victoria’s Best of Times Short Story Competition 2024. The certificate is still on my fridge!
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Please click the button below to find links to my published work.
Bonus Goodies
Subscribers will have exclusive access to a previously unpublished cackling tale I've written about the time I met Madonna. Yes, THE Madonna.
What did I say to her? Or did I just crumple into a blubbering mess and die on the spot?
Click onto my subscribe button to find out in my first newsletter (that will drop on June 26th 2025), and join the conversation.
Contact Me
Further Questions? I'm all ears:
or via my author page at
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