Storytime

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to take a teen version of a book chat (the usual co-ordinator/ founder was away). At first I admit to being worried...what do we talk about....what if they just sit there and say nothing....what if we have no connection? I was told not to worry, supply food and talk...they'll talk back. So of course I supplied food.... which they devoured in minutes. I had come semi- prepared. I had a trolley of new books - I had some books listed in the Inky Awards  - and at the last minute I grabbed a pile of books that I had read over the year. I read a lot of Young Adult, mostly because I like it and there are some really good books out there.  My semi preparation paid off. The talk began with the usual 'you're not J'...and I do the usual 'Yes, I'm not J I'm Vicki and I'm taking the group today.' I asked their names, and what kind of stuff they liked to read. It was a small group but they were readers. Eclectic re...

We do a lot of visits at the library. Youth services mean we talk to mum's with new babies, we talk to toddlers and their families, we talk to kinder's and child care's...then it's schools, primary and secondary. Our aim is to get children loving books and reading, and hopefully they'll love them when they are an adult. Recently I had a Prep visit. We did the usual talk about what is at the library....showing them that we not only have books, chapter books and information books, but audio books and graphic novels, we have kits (audio book and book all in one) and magazines, CD's and DVD's, computers and catalogues, CD-ROM's, Garfield comics and Begin to Reads. There was a lot of appreciative oohs and ahhs.  Especially when we walked all the way to the non-fiction area and discovered the dinosaurs.  You can never go wrong with a dinosaur. We then searched the catalogue- found where the information books on dogs and horses were - not too far away ...

Last weekend we celebrated Dad's 80th birthday. We wrangled and invited, asked and bribed---and all four children were there. The first time in years. Lots of years. And all grandchildren were present as well. This was about all that went to plan. The idea was to have a lovely sunny day, so we could loll on the large deck and the children could run riot in the gardens. That was the idea. The deck was unable to be used - due to constant rain and the cold. So we went to Plan B (everyone needs a plan B)- everyone inside. Except for George- he was dressed warmly though. This of course involved a bit of Plan C as well - due to the fact that our road was closed, the guy on the STOP sign had to move cones so family and co could actually arrive....and then of course there was the power. Well lack of power. Yes they were working on the power lines so for most of the day we were in the darkish ( a few candles were lit). Thankfully my other half was working on his gourmet...

Just came back from a long weekend with my writing group- and once again it was a relaxing, nurturing, that much needed push in the right direction. Once again we found ourselves at the beach. As usual I went for walks (although this time no koalas were found - I had to make do with the odd wallaby or two, or four), took photos, talked and dreamed. There were great ocean views and stunning sunsets. We ventured further--- found some friendly faces some wonderful trees. And we wrote, we pondered, we discussed and debated. We workshopped and wrangled synopsis, edited and queried the joys of social media and which was right for us. I edited a whole manuscript while away---mind you it was hard work as the photo here clearly shows. I came home reluctant to face the real world. I wanted to stay and write, and think writerly thoughts. Be with people who know that talking about a book in process is like talking about family. But I also came back with a stronger focus...