A year goes so quickly...

It's been a year since the worst natural disaster to hit Victoria. A lot has changed. The emergency services have realised the warnings were too little too late. New early warning systems have been put in place, but we'll only know how good they are if the worst were to happen...again, and I hope that it never does.

I was worried about friends and family on that weekend. So many fires on so many fronts and even my suburb and the next got their own small dose of the madness. It's important to remember that built up residential areas are still at risk. We Aussies love our bush, and many suburbs keep as much of it as they can. I hope we never become complacent and that tougher penalties - which should include jail time - will be enough to deter the would-be firebugs.

Last year I wrote a poem in response to that harrowing time. I thought I might share it here...

February 2009

the nightly news
has become a morbid fascination
and you’ve never listened
so much to 774 AM
and each night
the nightmare deepens
and the daily papers
show the faces
of the dead
and the living
keep on breathing — thankful
for breath
and survival seems
more and more
a carnival trick
or divine intervention
and you wish
you could be there to help
knowing
it’ll get worse
before it gets better
and that nothing you do
could ever be enough
so as night falls
you switch off your
radio, turn off your
TV and settle down to sleep
in your comfortable bed
inside your house — thankful
it’s not you

What a blast!

As some of you know (especially those who came along - thankyou!) My book - Reflections - was launched by Toni Jordan on Saturday December 12th at the Cranbourne Library. The launch has become a bit of a blur for me but the photos that my good friend Tony Tulloch took jolt the memory sufficiently for me to tell you that it was a great success. So many wonderful people came along to support me and I am forever thankful for that.

Both John Irving and Toni Jordan said wonderful things about me and about my writing, and when the dust had settled later that afternoon and I realised I'd signed 51 copies that day, I was further over the moon than that fabled cow!

Since that day I have sold another 15 copies of my book and the interest in it doesn't seem to be waning. I'm hoping for a review or two in the new year (fingers crossed) but for now I'll leave you with the jacket blurb by the lovely Angela Meyer...Thanks Ange!

To blog or not to blog...what was the question?

Ok, so I haven't been blogging much and I want to change that come the new year. The only problem with that is...how much do I really have to say? Most of the time I think my life is mega boring and not worthy of a blog post, the other part I'm usually so busy pulling rabbits out of hats (not really, but the metaphor kinda works for my writing sometimes) that I don't have time to blog. I guess I could set a blogging goal for the new year and make it an overall part of my writing goals for twenty-ten...well...we'll see...

Ready for lift off in 10, 9, 8...

My book launch approaches at a rate of knots! I am nervous and excited. It's a little hard organising a launch from 2000 miles away but I'm doing it anyway...

My short story collection, Reflections, will be launched by novelist Toni Jordan (Addition - TEXT) at the Cranbourne Library 11am Sat 12th Dec.

For those who can't make it - the collection is available for sale on the Ginninderra website (www.ginninderrapress.com.au).

That's all for now :)

These are the moments I live for...

Today I had one of those moments that, as a writer, I live for...

You know, those brief yet vivid glimpses into the future, the discovery of new characters, of new directions for your story to go in; those moments when the writing comes easily, where you feel more like you're channeling the words than making any conscious effort to think them, where it's all flow and you wonder why it can't always be like this, and wish that you didn't have to stop soon and pick your kid up from school; those moments when your characters become real, and you are simply recording the overheard conversations between them, when you feel more like a fly on the wall, observing, than a writer, creating...

...you know the ones.

It's finally going to happen...

So I've checked with my publisher and he says the proof of my short story collection Reflections is on the way. He told me I could probably look at launching in November, but due to other commitments that month I'm tentatively planning for the 12th of December.

I will blog more about it and send out invites when I have everything booked and confirmed.

I think I might just have to get excited all over again!

Delving into History

As you may or may not know, I am currently working on a piece of historical fiction...a novel, no less...

In May I was lucky enough to win the Herb Thomas Memorial Trust Award and received a nice juicy cheque to spend on developing my writing career. Thanks to that money I have been able to afford a range of workshops and seminars at the Victorian Writers Centre, as well as a few choice events at both the Emerging Writers Festival and the Melbourne Writers Festival, which has just been and gone.

I thought it was about time I blogged about the two events I attended - a masterclass with John Boyne (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas), and a seminar/lecture with Alexander Waugh (Fathers and Sons) and Glen David Gold (Sunnyside).

Both of these events were exciting for me. Just to break away from the monotony of my daily life as a mother and to escape my four walls and interact with other adults, specifically writers, is a treat.

John filled our day with readings from a wide array of historic novels, which proved somewhat difficult seeing as the titles and authors names were missing from many of the pages we had stapled together (there was a large amount of rustling). He also made us write and read what we had written aloud. No one missed out, we all had our turn in the spotlight or under it.

It's all in the details. That's one of the things I took away from this intensive day, along with the email address of a lady I'd like to stay in touch with (she's writing about her great-grandmother's immigration experience). It's the details that will bring to life any character in any time and any place. Specifics. Novelists should never generalise. Ever.

As for the other two writers, well I have to tell you that Alexander is a true and natural comedian. What surprising fun he was! He believes we should all, as writers, sit down and write 3000 words about each of our parents (more if we can - he certainly did). He says we'll be surprised at how little we actually know about them.

Glen's most helpful advice, at least to me, was that research needs an emotional context, that key emotions unlock scenes. He said that good (great) historical fiction needs three things - research, imagination and emotional continuity. Not all facts are interesting, he said, but the facts aren't what's important, it's whether they are interesting to the reader. It's how you dress it up.

Productivity Slump

How on earth do I keep the writing momentum up when I have to stop all the time, often for days at a time, sometimes for over a week? I thought I had this whole thing figured out but life keeps getting in the way.

Family life, though there are now only three of us here, seems to be getting more complex as the days go by. We are all so busy! The man's business is in it's pre-spring-busy-period, looking after Jay is becoming more and more time-consuming as he gets older, yeah - it should be the other way around but tell that to an 11 year old with autism and see how far it gets you!

Now I know why I was in two minds about this job. Oh (hell yes) I love it, but the time I'm off work goes so damn quickly and then it's time to go to work again. I know I'm just being a big sook, and that many ppl work full-time, have families and still manage to write novels...just wish one of them would tell me where I'm going wrong...

Someone? Anyone?

Ghostly Poetry at Old Melbourne Gaol

I was pleased to be one of the many at Nathan Curnow's "Ghost Poetry Project" launch last night. Growing up in country Victoria, a good 2 hr bustrip from the big smoke, I'd never had the pleasure (unsure the word truly fits the context but it will do) of visiting the Old Melbourne Gaol. Needless to say my first visit, at night, was indeed memorable.

After Kevin Brophy officially launched the book, Nathan asked for the lights to be turned off. I took my partner's hand at this point and moved closer to him. Happily, not all the lights were dimmed, but hearing Nathan's voice moving in the dark above us as he performed some of the poetry from his book, was slightly unsettling, as was the cold of murderer's row.

The Ghost Poetry Project is the culmination of a year spent travelling to some of the most haunted locations in Australia (& off our coast). Nathan spent sleepless nights at the Old Adelaide Gaol, Junee's Monte Christo, and Port Arthur to name but three of the ten haunted sites represented, in poetry, in this volume, published by Puncher & Wattman Poetry.

"Take Heart & Courage", and buy yourself a copy today.

Library Sales & Space Restrictions

Today I went to my local library book sale...you know, just to look...

I spent over an hour in a room filled with books and people, funnily enough one of the only circumstances under which I can cope with a crowd. I switch off you see. Concentrate only on the hunt, for the perfect find, the bargain, the book I've always wanted to read but haven't. Some people might find this amusing, given I work in that very same library, but borrowing isn't the same as owning is it?

With my own books, I can decide on the perfect time to read any one of them. There they are lined up on my shelves at home (in a rough genre/type order), biding their time, patiently waiting for me to pick them up, open their covers and start reading.

When I announced my morning plans, my partner gave his usual response... "More books! Where on earth will we put them?" We have three 3' by 5'8" bookshelves in the downstairs office/study and I have a smaller shelf upstairs for my writing reference books. Jayden has his own 3' by 4' shelf in his room... They are all full, but as any lover of books will attest, there is always room for more.

My partner was out when I arrived home with two green shopping bags full of treasures. Jayden and I have hidden them away (in plain sight), reorganising & rearranging shelves to fit them in as inconspicuously as possible.

I think we did a good job... I guess we'll find out...

I can't help it! I LOVE books!!