A birthday can hardly be complete without a shot of a child’s disembodied-looking hand reaching out to poke the frosting … That child, of course, is Riley.
First posted March 2007 It’s a Sunday afternoon. Both kids are in bed asleep at the same time, meaning mum and dad have a few hours of blessed peace. So what do mum and dad do? Head for bed themselves … for a nap. It’s a blessed luxury, when you can get it. Except when…
Riley has recently, on occasion, hit another child. I feel that by writing that sentence I have hauled myself up to a flagellant’s cross and handed over the whip to anyone inclined to flick it at me. It first began – and I’m a witness – in the spirit of exuberance, of fun. He might be…
…and left me some boxes of books. I wonder what they could be?
100 Best First Lines From Novels, as chosen by the editors of the American Book Review. Strategies for overcoming creative block (a very cool looking site, btw). Some great ideas there. Filling in city holes with Lego. Genius! The funniest example I’ve seen of someone getting out of overdue fines from the video store. Is it…
First she sees sixes in toilet paper… Now there’s an ‘S’ in the newspaper…
I’m pleased to report that Miscellaneous Voices: Australian Blog Writing #1 has been positively reviewed by Bookseller+Publisher magazine. Here is the extract from the (forthcoming) magazine, reproduced with permission. I am relieved to see that my goals for the project have come across clearly and been received well. And while we’re on the subject, I’ve…
I bought these in almost perfect condition, which should have set off alarm bells. The first time I put them on was to walk to a friends house about 2kms away and by the time I got there I was hobbling with blisters galore. I came this close to re-recycling them and wondered if the…
At birth… You were huge; I packed without knowing you were going to be so big. We stuffed you inside the wondersuits… …until I couldn’t stand it, so you stayed in singlets and was wrapped to sleep. Not that you were cold – it was a hot week; a surprising heat as only Melbourne can…
