creative writing | creative life
We have a new bakery in our little town, dear reader. It's actually the old bakery rejigged. They have revamped and stoked-up the ancient wood-fired oven and they're making posh bread and fancy biscuits. And they have a hole in the wall where they serve totally ACE coffee. And it's all VERY exciting. Yesterday when …
Continue reading "Australian House and Garden. Keeping it Real."
My thoughts for today, such as they are. What can I bring my readers that's a bit different? What can I say that might lift their spirits or make them feel less alone? Let's begin with words I've currently banned from this blog: Unprecedented Extraordinary Challenging With my hand on the Macquarie Dictionary, I swear …
I'm a devotee of Morning Pages, dear reader. I encourage all my friends and course participants to take up the practice. Three pages of foolscap, free fall, stream of consciousness writing every morning before ANYTHING ELSE. Every day. I light a candle, sit down and write. Usually before dawn. To say it's cathartic is an …
You might recall, dear reader, that I am having a Depth Year. A Depth Year can be many things. For me, 2019 is a Low Buy Depth Year. The aim is to bring as few new and shiny things into my life and to go deep with and appreciate all that I already have. In …
Continue reading "Depth Year update: Here’s what I spent on myself this month"
My Depth Year is about noticing the everyday and acknowledging what goes on. This afternoon in the space of ten minutes, I saved a lizard from drowning in my watering can, buried a dead bird in the fairy garden and planted a row of black hollyhocks at the foot of a fallen mulberry tree. So …
My Spiritual Journey. A bit convoluted for a blog post. So. Before I go too far back, say, right back to when I was eight and used to sit in church admiring a photo of Jesus on the wall at the end of the pew (yes, I thought it was a photo—an assumption that rested …
Continue reading "Part Two. My Year in Review: My Spiritual Journey"
Hello pop tart! I've never done one of these review blog posts. But I LOVE reading 'em! So, this year, I'm giving it a whirl. To be honest, I'm wondering where to go with it all. How far, how wide, how deep? It's like plotting a novel. I need groupings. Headings. Chapters. Maybe even a …
Continue reading "Part One. My Year in Review: The Tree Change."
Elsie, our dear little cottage, is inching closer to winning her beauty sash. But not without a few tears. Mainly mine. The question remains, will Elsie greet Christmas with a New Look or will we just have to embrace her, shabby chic, and all? Pictorial progress report: I had no idea how much sash …
Continue reading "Cottage news! The continuing saga of Elsie’s makeover…"
In the last Q and Q Friday video, we talked about writing picture books via the illustrations. In other words, an alternative way to write a PB is to start with the pictures. Lots of creators, especially illustrators, work this way. Pictures first. Words second. Sweeeeet. So. That's what I'm doing here. I'm pulling some …
Continue reading "Book news, cottage news, garden news. All the news."