Storytime

I've been told that I write the same story- dark, sad, full of despair and betrayal- over and over again. Have even been challenged 'can you write a happy-ever-after story?' The answer is yes. My story in 100stories for Queensland is a love story. I wrote a poem for the mother of the groom to read at her son's wedding. I HAVE written stories and poetry with a sense of humour, that engage a smile or even a laugh or chuckle from the audience. But I do admit most of my stories (and poems) have a darker side. This is partly personality (mine) and the fact I am more of an observer than a participant. I find people intriguing, their interactions and the reasons behind why they do things fascinate me. And lets face it, the story of girl meeting boy and living happily ever after is boring. Throw in a few dragons, an evil guy wanting the girl for his own and a step-mother or two (wicked of course)- and we get a bit of interest. And I may write the same 'style'...

A few Saturday's ago I did a day long basic photography course. It was good. I learnt a lot - once I got my head around unfamiliar words and phrases such as aperture, shutter speed, readings and bracketing. More importantly we had a field trip so we could put into practice what we had learnt---hopefully. It was also interesting to see what the others in our group saw when they took their photographs (there were only four of us- nice and intimate group). We were all at the same place - stood alongside each other for most of the session - yet what we focused on was different. Some wanted the buildings, some the reflections in the Yarra - and that is what they concentrated on. It's a lot like writing. One of the writing groups I go to has a topic or 'theme' each meeting. Sometimes a phrase, sometimes only a word, and sometimes it's a style of writing as well as a word -such as " two person dialogue with the word soprano". You would think impossib...

Yes i'm busy relearning the intricacies of technology. (hard for a dinosaur like myself- I still have trouble with my mobile phone and take way too long to figure out which remote is for the DVD player).  I was recently given an iMac for my birthday - a big surprise for a PC girl like me. My first question was how do I turn it on? - quickly followed by and where are the buttons on the mouse? Once these two questions were answered - it became the job of showing no fear in front of it. Bit like facing a large wild animal- appear confident and it will leave you alone. That is the theory and so far it is working. I will confess to deleting a lot of windows when I merely want to go back, and have no idea what most of the icons at the bottom of the screen mean - but it is on my to-do list. Another goal for the year- become master of the machine - show no fear and move forward bravely. As for goals - and I know it's only 2 months in to the year and things may change - bu...