Category: Writing

  • A Well-Loved Pet

    Zac followed my partner along the footpath near our home, one afternoon when Mark was walking towards the gym. An Aussie Terrier, starving and weary. These gym sessions were daily events and sacrosanct at the time. This day, instead of continuing on his route, Mark bent down, picked the skinny runt up in his arms…

  • POV: What are my main narrative Choices?

    POV: What are my main narrative Choices?

    An Australian Story Set in the Forties and Fifties POV Choices: Say you are  writing a story set in the forties and fifties. You have a character in mind, a young woman, Enid, who has the world at her feet… “the world is her oyster” … in a way.  She has strengths, assets, weaknesses or…

  • Return to the Source

    Return to the Source

    My Writer’s Voice Linked to A Childhood Spent in the NSW Clarence Valley The following historical photograph of my hometown, with the Clarence River and Susan Island across the water, bring me back to long-forgotten memories of childhood evenings underneath a balmy star-spangled sky in South Grafton next to the water’s edge. I wonder now…

  • Dear WordPress Bloggers

    Dear WordPress Bloggers

    We’re coming into summer here Down Under, while you in the northern hemisphere head towards winter. I have decided, paradoxically, to go into blogging hibernation now, while the outdoors activities in this part of the world, beckon me to join in. At the same time,  I wish to concentrate on finishing two novels that I…

  • Taking Risks in Outer and Inner Journeys

    Taking Risks in Outer and Inner Journeys

    I’ve always been a bit of a risk taker in some ways. [See My Travel Journal: “From Paris to Russia and Back in 1968“].  Different cultures and new landscapes, tasting foreign foods, learning about faraway countries and their languages, have always attracted me. In 1970, on the way back to Australia, I rode on a…

  • Learning to Have Courage and Compassion

    Learning to Have Courage and Compassion

    How do you react to negative feedback? In our family, I was the overly sensitive one. Recently, I was recently rated high in intuition, feeling and perception, in a Myers-Briggs personality test. Fate had paired me off with a mother who had quite a thick hide. Small things upset me, and big things were crushing…

  • Examples of Narrative Voice in Fiction

    Examples of Narrative Voice in Fiction

    Voice is the least understood of all writing craft terms in my experience. I’m still experimenting with developing authentic voices when it comes to creating believable characters in fiction. Establishing a strong narrative point of view requires separating yourself from the narrator, and clearly distinguishing between the writer, narrator and characters. I recently came across…

  • The Bridge at Mostar

    The Bridge at Mostar

    The bridge is pleasing to the eye. It’s perfect in its simplicity. You can only appreciate the grace of its arcs from a distance, or from the pebbly beach down below. Looking up you see a figure standing on the topmost point of the arc. A man is waiting until the amount of money offered…

  • Copenhagen is Amazing!

    Copenhagen is Amazing!

    It’s on the opposite side of the earth from Sydney, the language spoken is very different, and it’s much colder in autumn. But Copenhagen is an amazingly liveable city. We felt surprisingly comfortable there, and were impressed by this city during our brief visit. There were 18,000 doctors visiting the city for a cancer conference,…

  • The Passion of Grandparenting … and of Writing

    The Passion of Grandparenting … and of Writing

    Like for most things, you can only understand the strong emotions grandparents feel  towards their grandchildren once you’ve experienced it. Some live only for their children and grandchildren. I cannot imagine this. I feel so lucky and priviliged to have my twin passions, my family AND my writing. I’ve reconnected recently with people from my…