12 Good Things About Homeschooling
I didn’t think I’d be able to homeschool. It seemed too huge a responsibility. What if I taught the wrong facts? What if I omitted a vital part of the curriculum? Plus, I hadn’t quit work to start teaching—I had a novel to write. But when one of our sons became really...
Meme: Books and Writers Q & A
I’ve been tagged by Laurie Steed at The Gum Wall to join in a fun Books and Writers Q & A. I always enjoy a game, so here goes: Book Q&A Rules 1. Post these rules. 2. Post a photo of your favourite book cover. 3. Answer the questions below. 4. Tag a few people...
On Smacking Kids
This post is about something personal and very important to me: the physical punishment of children. On Friday, the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) issued a Media Release with their Position Statement and brochure on the use of Physical Punishment...
Elemental, by Amanda Curtin
Elemental is Amanda Curtin’s second novel and it is a huge work, richly researched and steeped in atmosphere. It takes the reader on a geographical and chronological journey – from the isolated fishing village of Roanhaven on the north-east coast of Scotland at the...
Career Advice: Medicine
Our elder daughter is in Year Twelve, approaching the final half of her last year of school. Consequently, there’s been much discussion about careers and universities around our dinner table. She’s considering Medicine, which is not so strange given both...
Fractured, by Dawn Barker
WARNING: Possible spoiler alert — I’ve tried not to divulge specific detail in this review, but found I couldn’t do it justice without hinting at some of the events. Dr Dawn Barker, who is also a child psychiatrist, has tackled a courageous topic in her debut...
Piano Lessons, by Anna Goldsworthy
I learned piano as a child and gave it up at fourteen, a decision I will regret for the rest of my days. My kids now learn music, all four of them. I’m quite, how should I put it, uncompromising, some say obsessed, about their music. Perhaps it’s because of my...
Whisky Charlie Foxtrot, by Annabel Smith
This is my second book review for the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013. I recently finished Annabel Smith’s second novel, Whisky Charlie Foxtrot (Fremantle Press 2012). It is the story of two boys, identical twins, Charlie and...
How I learnt there were no lions in Tasmania
I had a few weird beliefs as a child. Some of the stranger ones were: that my grandmother was alive at the same time as Jesus; that the place where I lived constituted the whole world; and that there were about a hundred people in the world and I knew most of...
Medical School Memories
I’ve returned from my whirlwind trip to Tasmania and the Alzheimer’s Australia National Conference filled with nostalgia for the state that was my home for the first thirty-three years of my life: its beautiful people, its undulating countryside, and its lush...