Storytime

I've spent quite a lot of time this last week in the garden. Mostly because it really really needs it (it is so OVERGROWN). As I potted around I made some discoveries. Some plants I'd cut back were happily rejuvenating. Some were flowering. I dug over half the veg patch, adding manure, dug that through. I've put plastic on parts of the other half, (hoping to kill the oxalis that has decided that patch is home). This is one of those actions that will take a little while to deliver the goods. We also cut down the climbing roses on the side of the garage...well he got out the saw and zoom zoom, I merely came along and pruned what remained. Other half then got some wires on the wall so we can hopefully train the roses into some semblance of order. I also weeded and mulched the bed below with a couple of ideas of what I'd like to plant there. This is something that will look pretty average for quite a few months. Hopefully we'll get a bloom o...

Not for me..actually who am I kidding...I have a million and one distractions. But this thought came about after Sunday, when I went to the Reading Matters Conference Public Day with some work pals. We went to two sessions at the State Library. Speculative Fiction with the panel of Jay Kristoff, Rachael Craw and Mariko Tamaki. Contemporary YA with the panel of AS King, Jennifer Niven and Lili Wilkinson. During the first panel, our lovely Miss H asked Jay a great question. He had been talking about going to a local newsagent when he was a boy, reading all the Stephen King novels, and hiding them so he could continue reading the next week. Miss H asked 'how do we get children such as yourself back into libraries' Jay's answer was ' I don't know. I grew up with a television with four channels. I didn't have all the distractions that kids have today.' And he's right. As a kid there was television, radio and that was about it. Perhaps one c...

Winter has well and truly settled in. It's cold.....not even brisk but cold. Can't feel your fingers and dragon's breath cold. It has been very wet with days of rain and you can't help but want to hibernate when the days seem so short and dark. People are dropping with colds and flus and tonsillitis and throats on fire. There are some that love winter....they venture to the snowfields....spend weeks and weekends walking up mountains only to slide down them again. I'm not one of them. I find the grey and drab oppressive. I want nothing more than to snuggle down with a good book, or two or even five...and wait till the sun decides to shine once more. However I can't. So I muddle along. And this year has not been helped by our Italian escapade----going from 36 degrees of sunshine in Rome to a brisk top of eleven here has taken a bit of getting used to. Once down in the wintry woes...I can't help but think that it is half way through the year and w...

Last weekend I went away with my writing group  for a retreat. During these weekends away we tend to write, read, workshop and talk writing. I, being a great procrastinator, also take walks and a lot of photographs. This weekend was no different. I wrote a little, I read a little, workshopped various pieces, took a few walks and even more photographs, edited quite a few poems from earlier this year and I thought. That was my real aim for the weekend, I wanted some serious time thinking exactly where I wanted to head with my writing. I don't want the scattergun approach. To attempt a dozen different styles and genres of writing. I wanted a focus.  I wanted to think whether I should spend my time writing poetry or short stories- whether to focus on young adult novels or adult novels....or perhaps junior fiction. Hence my need for some thinking. However...the more I thought about what I wanted to do, the more confused I got. I love poetry- love the ...

Once a year my writing group, The Lazy River Writers with help from the Victorian Writers Centre , hosts a writing workshop. This year we featured writing for young adults with author Penni Russon. Penni has over 9 novels published and teaches at Melbourne University (not to mention juggling the jobs of wife and mother to three young children). She had a wealth of experience to share, and share she did. It was a great afternoon. Penni offered not only good advice and some great ideas to use as jumping off points for our writing - but she gave us writing exercises. The one that most intrigued me was putting an experience - and for this exercise we used a 'first time' experience - into a haiku. Yes a haiku. There were no words to hide behind, no waffling, it had to be condensed and concise. A very interesting exercise and one I totally recommend. I think what I got most from this workshop was confidence. That yes there are mountains of books out there... -and ...

At work last week a patron came to the desk, frustrated because the catalogue told her the book she was after was on shelf but she couldn't find it. Quick glance at the catalogue and I found the book she was after, in the YA section. No, don't want it, she said. I checked the title and author. This was the book she was after. She refused, saying she wouldn't read a kid's book. Frankly I was surprised. Especially after Stephenie Meyer's success with the Twilight series- that has people from all ages reading her books. ( I remember one elderly lady requesting Twilight saying her grand- daughter recommended the book ). The same happened with the Harry Potter series, some books catalogued in the children's area, the later, darker ones in the young adult area- and how many adults read those?  I really thought that the whole 'young adult is just for kids' attitude was well over. I read a lot (one of the joys of working in a library) - and I don'...

2010 is nearly over. And what a year. I began 2010 reading I am Legend by Richard Matheson (which the movie is loosely based on, the book as usual, is so much better) and I'm ending the year by reading No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (another novel which inspired a movie). In between I have read over 60 novels - some I can recommend such as The Seal Wife - Kathryn Harrison, The Road - Cormac McCarthy , The Notebook- Nicholas Sparks and some YA novels such as The Winds of Heaven - Judith Clarke , The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman and The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins. Others - well some had the kernel of a great idea, some had great writing, some were inspired by a real event that did offer up opportunities- but I felt they didn't make a whole. Working in a library means I see what others are reading, I see what 'best sellers' are coming in - and I must admit a lot of times I am disappointed. But then again that's the fun of the library- you can ...

Sometimes it's easy - ideas flow, words run through your mind, twist and turn into wonderful phrases, stanzas and after time spent in front of the computer a poem / short story/ article/ chapter is created. Other times, the world gets in the way. That's where I am at the moment and it's in these moments that I give myself that kick-start to forward my writing and provide motivation. Firstly - this month is Nanowrimo - for those not in the know this is when - world wide- people are given the challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel in November. I have friends that did it last year and are doing it this year, encouraging me to give it a go. No. I don't need the extra pressure of finding the time (and inclination) to write like that. BUT ....I have given myself the challenge of writing a poem a day for the month of November. I have done this before- a poem a day for a month. I'm not saying each poem will be brilliant, or even good, but at the end of those 30 or...