Adam is away visiting his sick mother this week. The kids and I are here, performing our usual daily tasks – routines so often provide a kind of buffer or safety zone, at least until someone hits peak tiredness and snaps. A thoughtless remark or stinging comeback can let out the positivity in a…
I’ve got a crush on Tim Minchin. I’m a bit shy about admitting my crushes on here anymore, as if some part of me thinks that I ought to have outgrown that kind, or level, of admiration. Luckily that feeling usually gets thrown some serious shade by the ‘Say it and be proud’ side of…
It’s that time of the year again. Writers are getting ready to sit down at their computers to smash out a novel, or as close to a novel as possible, over the 30 days of November. I’ve tried, and failed, NaNoWriMo many times. However, my success rate is better when I relax a bit and experiment…
To explain: The Year of Creative Engagement (#yoce) is an attempt to document my creative journey in 2014. By putting greater stock in accountability and output, while also showing what new work I’m reading or listening to, I hope to have a richer, engaged experience. There’s a few movies to go over so I’ll get started. …
Michael Cunningham is an exquisite writer, one of my favourites, but I’m struggling with The Snow Queen for some reason. Granted, I’ve only just started, but my interest hasn’t quite been captured yet. Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen is a fascinating profile of the Archibald-winning artist, although I finished feeling disappointed….
October is release month for The Mapmaker Chronicles: Race to the End of the World, the first book in The Mapmaker Chronicle series, written by A.L. Tait. The adventure series is terrific for children ages 9+ and is available for purchase at Booktopia and other bookshops around the nation. Allison found the time to answer some…
Perhaps the alternative title of this post should be ‘How I trained for a marathon’. I’m the first to admit I’m hardly the perfect example of what excellence looks like. I only did three runs a week when many other people do four, or even five. However, I got there in the end. A few…
This photo, of the MCG and sky in the first few moments of sunrise, was taken as we made our way to the starting line for the Melbourne Marathon. The weather was mild, the atmosphere relaxed and friendly, and in spite of the challenges that laid ahead I knew it was going to be…
In three days time I’ll be lining up to run the Melbourne Marathon – no doubt full of nerves, excitement and a healthy amount of trepidation! My training after the gastro, and then injury was going really well up until about three weeks ago – I got sick and my body was throwing out some weird…
