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Showing posts from October, 2013

MAKING GOOD IMPRESSIONS...

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Recently I've looked at a wedding venue or two (for baby girl)- and even though the date is a little way in the future, finding the right place is very very important. Not only does it have to sum them up as a couple, not too rustic, not too urban, not too city, not too country. It also has to make a great first impression and then a good lasting impression. It's something I endeavour to remember when I send my work out there. Having been on the 'other side', as in on the editorial committee for Page Seventeen  for several years, I know what I 'looked' for when considering pieces. When you read so many entries (in many years, hundreds) they have to stand out. First impressions count.... But that is not enough....it could be an intriguing title, great opening line....something that captures your attention and makes you want more. Should be easy shouldn't it? But I remember so many stories, articles and poems simply dropped. After this initial

WHAT MAKES A WINNER?

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What makes a winning poem? I recently went to the Hut Poetry, the last for the year, and they had a competition for the best two poems. A pair of judges sat and listened, deliberated then gave the decision. Bottles of wine were the prizes. As an audience member it was very interesting to compare what I considered were the best, and what were chosen. It reinforces that selecting a 'winner', in this case two, is so very subjective. It was not an easy job for the judges. There were so much good work on offer. And a huge variety in delivery and genre. There were light hearted narratives- there were reminisces of childhood- well observed poems that described everything from Uluru - to the simplicity of a man and his dog walking a street. In this case the detail was what grabbed the judges attention. These poems were more 'page' oriented works than delivered as spoken word. They forced you to listen...made you appreciate the wrangling of words. Often in spoken wor

KICKING GOALS....

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Goals are these nefarious things that seem such a great idea at the time then turn into dark shadows that loom overhead. Well they do for me (so don't want to review my goals for this year- I'm already feeling a failure, don't want to see it in black and white). However there are people out there that not only make goals, they focus on them and with much hard work (and often blood, sweat and tears) they are achieved in all their glory. My friend Kim is one that not only kicks her goals out of the park, she then sets more. Making them harder. Higher. She is truly inspirational and on Saturday we went to help her celebrate her latest success. One of her goals that she has been working on for several years... MET fitness - her own training studio. Kim attributes achieving this dream to 'the support of some amazing clients, some good luck, more than a bit of self-belief and a lot of damn hard work.' It's the lot of damn hard work that resonates. Kim d

CHILD'S PLAY....

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Last weekend we had the fun of babysitting...although technically they are not babies. We had Miss T - all of nine years and eagerly heading into the adult- like double digits, and Master N- seven years and a mind that works in the most amazing way. We took delivery of our charges and with them telling their father to go now, you must leave, they were with us. Our first venture was to see Tilly, AKA the Wonder Horse. Miss T had visited Tilly before but this was Master N's first visit...and I had forgotten how repetitive we do sound. N stay away from the horse's rear end. Yes they can kick. Yes it will hurt. That is horse poo. Because horses poo wherever they are. Yes that is also horse poo. Yes and so is that. No that is not Tilly's. Because she didn't poo just then. I don't know whose poo that is.  They loved the experience...  and both want horses....especially Miss T. We then made home made pizzas. We went to the supermarket and bought all their favo

PREPARATION.

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Preparation is boring.  Plain and simple...boring. Recently I've been painting walls, and frankly all I wanted to do was whip some colour on those said walls. End of story. Job done. But what quality of job? So of course, we do the prep work...cleaning walls, then other-half skim coated the walls and sanded them down...then came the fun of sweeping them clean of dust...then the undercoat...then finally...and yes finally because all of this prep work took weeks of weekends...finally the painting. But of course there was the first coat, then wait to dry, then the second. Making sure to be very careful, no paint anywhere it shouldn't be, to avoid the skirting boards, window frames and ceilings. Now the walls are painted, and a good job done by all. But it wasn't a quick job. It's a lot like writing. Sometimes you just want to put it down. Want that page filled, that screen to be a row of black letters marching along. But without any preparation, without thi