Storytime

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...

Must admit to a bit of bias...I think libraries are great places. All those books, free to take home. Row after row of them, all lined up in easy to navigate order. What more could a person want? And libraries today have changed dramatically since the days of the frowning spinsterish badly-dressed older woman telling everyone to shhhhhhhhhh! Today they are a vital part of the community....in some cases they become the hub of the community. Whether you use a library to borrow books, CD's or DVD's (cheaper than the video store), to do research, use a computer or game station, a quiet place to study or even to sit down and catch up with the paper...it's all good. And if you thought working in a library only meant dealing out books, here are some of the things I've done over the past few years * Read blurbs to the visually impaired to help them decide which ones they would like * Found the local pound *Using the Melways to find not only local addresses - but how ...

Is one of my writing goals for the year. One of only six - but a good one I thought. What does it mean? It means that when I go away, for a weekend, for a holiday, no matter where - to soak up the experiences - really see the place that I'm in- the people - the buildings, the atmosphere - to take notes for later use. I have done this before. My first overseas trip became quite a few poems and a short story (which went on to win a prize). Our trip to the Flinders Ranges a few years ago became more poetry and another short story (yet to find a home) I even use other people's experiences. Last year I wrote about my husband's 'boy's only adventure' to India - and sold the article :) It's been too easy to take for granted the places I go, people I've met. This weekend we spent  two days showing a Dutch IT student as much of Tasmania as we could before he goes back home ... We walked Hobart's Constitution Dock and  Salamanca Place, climbed the stair...

Always curious - this is my thought of the week...where do you write? What is your writing space? Do you have your own space, perhaps an office just for you? Or do you share a space with 3 children, a guinea pig and a fish that edits over your shoulder? Or are one of those that write (happily) in a coffee shop or cafe, away from the procrastinations found at home. Those dust bunnies that sing out, the washing that NEEDS to be done....NOW. This is where I write . (Perhaps I should have tidied up?) This is a nook in our bedroom. So not the ideal place to write, behind the chair is our chest of drawers, beside that my art/craft supplies (even messier than my desk :) The window to the left looks out to the bank behind the house and onto the backyard (if you can imagine even MORE messier than previously talked about) which in one way is good as I don't get distracted - until the birds come in. When the silver eyes and finches flit from tree fern to ivy...I'm lost. To the righ...

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY! I've been wondering what makes us Australian? And what makes Australian writers? I'm boringly Australian - I was born here, my parents were born here, their parents were born here and I think 99% of THEIR parents were born here. If you look back far enough we have the perennial bloodstock of English, Irish and Scottish- add a touch of Spanish and for some reason Nova Scotia (I think someone was 'sent' there) - and that's me. Australian. But what makes an Australian writer? If we write about lamingtons and Vegemite- does that mean we qualify? If we write about harsh rugged landscape, heat and drought? But the majority of us live in the suburbs, surrounded by coffee shops and small boutiques - within walking distance to public transport and shopping centres. So if we write about the suburbs, about inner city high rises and racial violence, if we write about the small domesticities of every day life, the struggling concept of family and of rel...

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'...

I have my Nan's china cabinet in the lounge. It's nothing fancy but it houses bits and pieces, odds and ends, bits and bobs. Nothing in the cabinet is worth anything, but it (like the cabinet)  is full of memories .  There are the Babushka dolls Steve bought back from Russia- the glass candle holders painted with Christmas decorations we bought back from the Christmas market in Cologne - the plastic Eiffel Tower that the man in the grubby coat beside the Seine was selling ( 5 for 2 Euros )  -  the tiny Delft plate from Amsterdam. Little trinkets that instantly remind us of a great time and place. But there are others... The first is a doll's tea set. Very tiny, very delicate. It was my mother's and I never knew she had it until it was given to me, years after her death. I also have some of her cup and saucers, none match, but they were her 'special' ones, the ones brought out only for visitors.  There is also the teddy bear. Frankly I don't remember hi...