Thinking Out Loud: On Assessing Kids
At the end of each year, I pack away my kids’ school work into boxes. It takes me hours to sift through, mainly because there’s so much that catches my eye and I can’t help but read it. I’m always...
Midweek Moment #58: Everlastings Everywhere
Everlastings seem to be everywhere at the moment, including a forest of them on a verge just down the street from our house. They cover the whole verge, and have turned a boring streetscape into a floral feast for the eyes. The other day, I tied the dogs up to a...
Monique Mulligan: On Self-Doubt and Perfectionism
I’m excited to welcome my good friend, Monique Mulligan, into the attic today. Many of you already know Monique from our Midweek Moments, and you’ve seen her wonderful photography. Today you get to see another side of her as...
Some Thoughts on Death and Dying
There’s been a bit of an existential theme happening with my kids lately, and they’ve wanted to talk about death and dying and the universe. My older son wrote a poem about a child’s funeral. He came up and read it to me and,...
Midweek Moment #56 and #57—A 2-for-1 Special!
Life swept Monique and I up in a whirlwind last week so we weren’t able to share a Midweek Moment. My excuses are two book launches, a trip down south, and kid commitments. I’m also trying to make inroads into Novel #2 and preparing my website for an...
Robyn Mundy: Being a Travelling Writer
I have a special guest in the attic today, all the way from Norway where she’s just returned from a voyage to the Arctic: Robyn Mundy. Robyn is the author of the novels Wildlight and The Nature of Ice, and is co-author of the...
Emily Paull: Being a Writer in Your Twenties
This week, Emily Paull joins me in the attic. Emily is a writer, a blogger and a bookseller. In 2014, she was Young Writer in Residence at the KSP Writers Centre in the Perth Hills. Her work has appeared in Trove, METIOR, [Re]Sisters and Shibboleth and other stories,...
Midweek Moment #55: Golden Sunsets
At the lake where I walk, about halfway around the path there’s gap in the fence. If I nip through, there’s a dirt track that takes me past the line of Moreton Bay figs, out through the rushes, and into a marshy area that juts out into the lake. I need my...
Karen Cades: Getting Back in the (Writing) Saddle
I’m thrilled to greet my first international guest in the attic, my American friend, Karen Cades. We first ‘met’ in an online writing class back in 2010 and have kept in contact ever since—one of the upsides of social media. Karen started...
Midweek Moment #54—Rain and Shine
Monique and I have chosen shots that indicate the recent weather patterns. It can’t make up its mind—rain to sunshine to rain again. It’s glorious one day—blue sky and warm enough for short sleeves—and the next it’s wild and wet again and we need our winter...