Gilgamesh by Joan London
I’ve just finished ‘Gilgamesh’ by Joan London. This novel was shortlisted for the 2002 Miles Franklin Award and longlisted for the Orange Prize and the Dublin Impac. It’s also been published in Europe, the UK, and the USA. The title of the book...
My Writing Process
I’ve been tagged by two writers to join in a blog hop about writing and the writing process: Laurie Steed is a short story writer and Patricia Hackett Prize winning author from Perth, Western Australia. His work has appeared in Best...
The People Smuggler, by Robin de Crespigny
“People smugglers are the vilest form of human life. They trade on the tragedy of others and that’s why they should rot in jail and in my own view, rot in hell.” Kevin Rudd, 2009. Robin de Crespigny gives us a truer picture of this industry in...
Finally Made It …
I finally made it to Melbourne this weekend, just a little later than planned … Friday started with a trip to the hairdresser for pre-flight coif and colour. Given the fact that this was the first time I’d coloured my hair, I was a little...
Writing With(out) Kids
I haven’t spent much time on my novel since I returned from Varuna. There are many reasons for this—every time I’ve sat down to write, the phone has rung, or there’s been a knock at the door, or a child tapping on the attic door, or...
Foal’s Bread by Gillian Mears
Foal’s Bread by Gillian Mears was published 2011. It won the 2012 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction, the 2012 Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction, and was short-listed for the 2012 Miles Franklin Award. This is the summary...
My Journey to Writing
If someone had asked me a decade ago what I would be doing in ten years’ time, writing a novel would not have been on the list, nor on the horizon. It wasn’t even on the planet. I’d always thought of myself as Maths/Science orientated as I...
Why Getting A New Dog Is Better Than Having Another Baby
As readers of this blog would already know, our eldest child moved out of home a few months ago leaving me feeling bereft and with empty arms. I wasn’t quite ready to move on to the next phase of our lives—the one where the children leave. I asked my...
More Images of Varuna
I’m on the downhill week of my stay at Varuna and I’ll be sad to leave this enchanted place. I’ve been hard at work on my novel. Last week, I met with Carol Major, one of the consultants here, who gave me some wise and valuable suggestions for my...
Images of Varuna
Welcome to Varuna: This is my home for the next two weeks. For anyone who doesn’t know, Varuna is in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. It was the family home of Eric and Eleanor Dark, and since 1989 it has served as a writers’ centre. Writers come to work on...