Bestselling Australian author
What do you dream about? What is your worst nightmare? My good friend and sometimes co-conspirator Alison May has a new book out – Midsummer Dreams. To celebrate, she’s holding a world-wide multi-mega-blog post on the subject of dreams. Midsummer Dreams is a romantic comedy – but that isn’t keeping nightmares from sneaking into the…
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams – W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) It’s a phrase quoted to me many years ago by a teacher – and I have never forgotten it. The imagery is beautiful. The words are musical. The sentiment profound. It’s wonderful. It’s poetry at its very best. I write very very bad poetry.…
It sounds like a rock concert tour doesn’t it – but I’m referring to all the fun I’ve been having on the book tour. This isn’t a tour that involves planes and hotel rooms – I see them all the time on the day job. This is a blog tour – and, to tell you…
It had to happen one day. Regular readers of this blog know I am a bit of a history buff and spend as much time as I can climbing over ruined castles, old abbeys, stone age forts and the like wherever I find them. I have always said I am not a big fan of…
I like to shop. That’s no great secret. I’m pretty good at it too (even if I do say so myself). And I love to shop in unusual places. I’ve just returned from Dubai – where shopping appears to be the national sport, not to mention the favourite tourist activity. My hotel was attached to…
It’s such a joy to go back to a favourite book and rediscover it. I did that recently with The Thorn Birds. Re-reading a long-time favourite after many years can be disappointing. Sometimes the book is not as we remember it. But in this case, it was exactly as I remembered it. The writing was…
It will come as no surprise to regular visitors to this blog, but for those who don’t know – I am a knitter. I enjoy it so much, I made the heroine of my latest novel a knitter so she could share my hobby. I find knitting relaxing. It helps with the RSI after all…
I was in a fashion scrum this week – struggling in a crowd to get my hands on the latest designs… not, not shoes. T-shirts. Specifically a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert T-shirt. The guy in front of me, successful in getting an XX-Large of his chosen design, said to me .. ‘I have the T-shirt for…
I love writing retreats – it’s just fabulous to be able to focus entirely on my writing and ignore all the cares of the world. Of course, the companionship of other writers and the advice of tutors helps too. Then there is a lovely location and good food – even perhaps a glass of wine.…
I like holes in the ground. The bigger the better! Whether it’s a cave or a mine, I like going underground, even more so when there’s a sense of history attached. My most recent underground adventure was at the National Mining Museum in Wales – otherwise known as Big Pit – where I was guilty…