Bestselling Australian author
On Sunday, I visited a craft fair – with some truly beautiful things for sale – but strangely enough, I didn’t feel inspired (nor did I buy anything) until I left the huge modern conference centre and wandered up the road to a flea market. Not just any flea market – this was the Hells…
My greatest fear is not the dark, or enclosed places or even spiders. It’s being trapped somewhere with nothing to read. It happened to me once. On a delayed flight, I finished the book I was reading half way into a four hour journey. I started prowling the aisles, looking for any newspapers or magazines…
Last weekend, we hired a car and headed up the Hudson Valley looking for some of that autumn foliage for which this part of the world is justifiably famous. It was pretty spectacular. We also found a wonderful story about how one clever man beat prohibition… and I’m not talking about Al Capone.
My first US writers’ conference this past weekend was quite something. The New Jersey Romance Writers conference is one of the biggest of the RWA chapter conferences – somewhere around 300 writers took over a hotel and conference centre for a weekend devoted to writing, reading and romance.
With the weather still good, we set out to walk from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the Brooklyn Bridge – and back via the Manhattan Bridge. Both bridges are spectacular… On the Brooklyn, pedestrians have a raised walkway – looking down on the cars (as it should be). That’s if you can take your eyes…
I’ve been looking back at my photos of Ellis Island – and the faces that stared out at me from the walls. What courage those people had! They were journeying into the unknown place grasping the hope of a better life. And for most, there was no chance of coming back.
As a modern-day visitor to the US, it seemed only fitting that I should visit Ellis Island – which was the gateway to a new life for so many migrants. 12 million of them in fact. The first thing that struck me … the island is tiny. It seems far too small to hold such an…
There’s something about cities with a harbour – we are always drawn to the water. New York’s harbour has a couple of things worth visiting – first and foremost of course is that statue. You approach via ferry. The ferry takes a swing around the island and docks on the far side – almost as…
So – time to play tourist. I set out, map in hand, to find the New York Public Library. The library has dozens of branches around the five boroughs, but its heart is in the Schwarzman Building on 5th Avenue.
So – here I am in New York City: The Big Apple, The City That Never Sleeps. Wow! I’ve only been here a day and a half and my head is spinning a bit.