Archives by Tag 'Australian Author'
A long time to heal
Long after a cyclone or a natural disaster the devastation still remains. Yasi’s destruction has been all but forgotten except by those who are still rebuilding their lives. The rest of us move on. I spoke to a woman recently who said she lived at Mission Beach. ‘How are you doing?’ I asked, thinking she’d [...]
What Qantas did for Australia
It’s a funny old world. A week ago the average Australian probably didn’t even know what Fair Work Australia was, let alone how it impacted on them. Since Alan Joyce staged his company ‘stop work meeting’, most Australians are now experts on our Industrial Relations laws. Over the last three days I’ve had animated (and [...]
A spammer’s life…
Briefly (and embarrassingly) yesterday I joined the ranks of spammers. When I woke up in the morning it wasn’t on my To Do List. In fact it’s never been on a TD list and hopefully won’t be again. There were important things on my list – mow the grass, do my aircraft manual amendments, pay [...]
Perception is king…
I’ve been immersed in editing Burning Lies for the last two weeks which means skipping the blogsphere to a large extent. I’m surfacing today because of a story my sister sent me. (She’s in France and knows more about what’s going on in Australian newspapers than I do…) The article is in the Sydney Morning [...]
Sunday bike-ride
Locked in another hotel room for the last two nights I’ve been delving into my photos of home. It may sound crazy for a pilot, but I’m really a homebody who loves nothing more than family and friends around me, in a familiar environment. Consequently, my computer has hundreds, maybe thousands, of photos of special [...]
Writing Races?
They say writers need to exercise their writing muscles to keep them strong, so what better way than to sprint for an hour or two! Queensland Writers Centre has an online department called Australian Writer’s Marketplace Online – AWM Online. It’s a wonderful resource for writers covering everything from advice to on-line courses, to forums. [...]
Authors Compare
It was remiss of me not to post a link earlier… Steve from The Australian Literature Review has created a new site called Authors Compare. Ever wondered how other writers see their characters? Do they have favourites? Just how do they balance narrative and dialogue? Is setting allowed to take on a life of its [...]
Is your glass half full?
I love research which backs up my privately held beliefs and here’s one project that does just that. We are, it seems, hard-wired to be optimistic! The story is running on the ABC and BBC. It’s true I am eternally optimistic. I can find the silver lining in the darkest cloud. I can bury my [...]
Poems
Did you write poetry as a teenager? I did. Copious amounts of it. Most of it was thrown out during numerous house moves, but the one below was a little different. I wrote it for a girlfriend when we finished school. She, in turn, had it made into a scroll for my thirtieth birthday. I [...]
Sweet!
It’s nearing the end of the cane cutting season in Cairns and the ground is dusty as summer bears down on us. Yesterday morning, as I rode into Cairns on my pushbike, I could smell the cut cane long before I could see the harvesters at work. The sweet, green scent in the air is [...]