Storytime

Yep...hard to believe but it has been four years (and two days) of writing stuff each week. And except for some times when travelling and having no access to the internet...I have indeed written something each week. I'm not saying I've written amazing, jaw dropping, world shattering pieces. I've simply put down what I've been doing or thinking...really it's how I try to figure out this 'writing' thing that I do. And hopefully it resonates with a person or two, even if every now and then. I have written on a variety of topics or themes over the years... from books I've read to where do ideas come from....from doing Nanowrimo in 2011 (and yes that novel still sits there, glumly staring at me) to editing...from writing that synopsis to the unreliable narrator...from books for young adults to the winter blues. I have chatted about why libraries are FANTASTIC ---and frankly could talk so much more on this subject. A tad bias perhaps, but let's f...

Recently I decided, in a fit of creative madness, to make a quilt for a special someone. Now I've never had proper instructions on how to make a quilt of any description. When my children were younger I made them each one for their beds...dark green and black for my son....my daughter had a pale one with pastel hearts...and I remember a fishy one at some stage. Back then I was sewing a lot and really just interpreted what I wanted to make. I don't sew very much any more...at all...so this time round it was a huge learning curve. More along the lines of what could go wrong, what does go wrong, and what I thought would only take a few days turned into almost a month's worth of battling threads and materials. There was a result..thankfully. And if you don't look too closely, it's kinda okay. What always intrigues me is that when you do pick some fabrics, cut them into pieces...any size, any shape...then stitch them back together again...is the variety. In...

I must confess to being a slob. Well perhaps slob is too harsh a word...but I do like my comfort. Straight home from work, and the shoes come off, slippers on...old cardy goes on...jewellery comes off. If I'm home for the day I spend the day in my old baggy tracky pants and t-shirt. Some days at work, I dream about coming home to my comfy clothes and my slippers...sad but true. And they are not exciting slippers :( I can dress up, and do, when called for. But basically I'm just too lazy. Unfortunately I'm also that way in my writing. Whatever's easy, what works for me. What I don't have to push for. Looking back over the year (who on earth was the person that put up on Facebook how many weekends till Christmas? when I find you, you are in trouble!) I find time after time, that I opt for the easy option. I don't push myself. Don't step out of that soft and fluffy comfort zone. We all have a comfort zone....sometimes it's that straight pa...

Yep, father's day has been and gone for another year. And I assume a lot of father's received the obligatory socks and jocks...chocolates....power tools and strange BBQ tools....and those cards filled with glitter and smudged handprints. They all scream Father's Day. Some would have been lucky enough to be chauffeured for the day. Taken to wineries and eateries.... surrounded by those that love them. A day spent with family. Some fathers living further afield would have received that phone call...that Happy Father's day....how are you....I love you call. Some dads would have heard nothing. Sad fact. Those dads no longer with us would have been remembered, toasted with a glass or two. And some dads are fantastic. Some dads, not biological dads, but love them like they are my own flesh and blood, be there for them no matter what dads, nurse their ills and spills, growl and discipline when needed, hugs anytime dads..... (very proud of my son for being one o...

On the weekend my lovely sister-in-law Jo had a 40th birthday party. We went back to the eighties...dressed appropriately..and to make it more fun (will use that word wisely) it was held in a roller skating rink. Yep, eighties music, eighties clothes and roller skates. Do you know how long it has been since I've been on roller skates? Long, long time... But I did it. I won't say I was poetry in motion----that I glided and swerved....that it all came back to me. Not a chance. The first few, okay about five laps, I held on to the rails and putt putted my way around. By the end of our session I could...slowly....make my way around the rink without needing the rails or wall to clutch on to. I have bruises...loss of dignity (which I really don't seem to have much of any more- that's what working with children will do to you)...but it was great fun. The eighties were an interesting time- for me personally it was a decade of great change. I got married, mo...