I'm wondering - does the increasing taste for women's literature, biographies on women (middle-aged or older), chick flicks and Jane Austen mean I have entered the pre-menopause stage of life?

Have any studies been completed on this? I'd really like to know.

Twenty years ago it was all fantasy all the time... well, most of the time. Now, it's like (yawn) read one read them all. Give me a story about a writer from the 40s corresponding with some literary society on some island off the coast of England somewhere, and I'm there!

I've gone from there to Kerouac's "Open Road" and so far, I've got to say, I'm a little bored. I've only read the first few pages though so I'll stick with it and allow time to become involved...

There's a key word - involved - perhaps that's what I'm looking for. Involvement in someone else's life while putting mine on hold for an hour or so. After all, I know all about my life and it's not that exciting. I want to live in Tuscany, France, some island off the coast of England and have exotic people and stories in my life. I want to drink wine and food without getting chubby or diabetic (or drunk), and go for long long walks in the sunrise/sunset through simple country settings.

I'm tired of the suburbs and work and raising teenagers and listening to the washing machine agitate while I write.

I do have some excitement in my life - I'm off to the Melbourne Writers Festival in a few days - booked a nice room in a nice hotel - planning a nice meal with a nice bottle of wine - and at least a day of listening to writers talk and share. I may even take a notebook and pen. I'm going to pretend to be Diane Lane for a day sitting in a Tuscan Square writing about the taste of purple.

Oops, the washing cycle has just finished. I'll just go grab those clothes and throw them in the dryer then I can get another load on before dinner....

Emma by Jane Austen

I actually finished reading this a few weeks ago and though I found the characters a bit pretentious at the beginning by about half way through I became used to their foibles and had settled in to enjoy the story.

Naturally, I liked Mr George Knightley, he being the "hero" of the story and all, and thought it obvious that he was hopelessly in love with Emma. Even better, of course, that he loved her for her bad points as well as her good, and appreciated the growth in her character as she grew older (guided in a way by him as she was). Also, she was allowed to make mistakes and be disagreeable. It drives me crazy to see unhappy agreeable people (in books and life).

I also enjoyed the relationship between Emma and Mr Frank Churchill - a fine understanding of personality and character between these two. I think them both "deep" thinkers in their own way, hiding behind a mask or veneer of Georgian society. This is something perhaps that even Mr Gge. Knightley didn't quite understand and it helped show him in a more realistic rather than idealistic way.

I have a few more JA novels to read before I can pass judgement on whether Emma is her worst or not, but so far, it certainly has my tick of approval.

As I'm still waiting for Northanger Abbey to arrive at the book shop (I've now ordered it twice!), I have discovered the delight in reading Oscar Wilde's plays. I've seen Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Ernest on television, but haven't really read any of Wilde's works before. I started with Mrs Windemeyer's Fan (sorry if I spelled that wrong) and loved it! I also liked A woman of no importance, and of course, loved The Importance of Being Ernest. I've started The Picture of Dorian Gray now and am off to a good start.

Article: Event Marketing

copied from: Coffee at Peace blog

I am experimenting with web marketing for an event. My goal is to increase awareness by having lots of mentions all over the place (ambient advertising, I suppose). I'm not sure if it's working as I'm waiting for hit reports on our website .

So, I thought I'd do a bit of writing to track the process.

Step 1.

Blogging - Creation of the Coffee @ Peace blog. Aim of the blog is just to talk coffee, keeping it friendly and personal, and hopefully generate a little bit of traffic. I've kept it very simple so far - under the radar. I may be a little too far under the radar though and over the next few weeks (which covers the event date - Sunday 12 July, in case your wondering) I'll step it up a little. This isn't a short term project though. I want to build it up over time and so the benefits may not come into realisation until the 2010 Shire Coffee Festival (as long as I can keep the event coordinator sane, yes, there will be one next year).

Step 2.

Twitter. I started a twitter account (coffeeatpeace) in which I was originally going to "tell a story". I found this hard to keep up though and exchanged the story with weekly updates that occasionally included mentions of the coffee festival, more regularly talked coffee and now include marketing. As soon as I mentioned "marketing" my followers list jumped in request numbers. I do not follow back everyone. I pick and choose. I prefer Australian followers, coffee interest followers, and marketing/graphic design followers who aren't trying to push their services or software too much.

It seems to be going okay. Again. though, I'm unsure as yet to the impact and am currently researching measurability.

Step 3.

Alerts. I have registered with Google Alerts to pick up mentions and although we have sent out a press release we're not getting a lot. That's okay. Small, first time event is not going to make the news in a big way (again, may be next year).

Step 4.

Measurability.


- One way of getting hard data on how people heard about our event is to just ask them. We'll be doing this on the day (Sunday 12 July, btw) with volunteers undertaking surveying.
- I have an order in for hit reports on our website though I am unsure if this will include where people came from to get to our webpage.
- Alerts are activated in order to track web mentions.
- Blog traffic tracking - I follow stats for this blog on MyBlogLog.
- Finally, queries via email and telephone. Again, we simply ask where the caller heard about the event.


It's been an interesting process, at times fascinating, and I'm keen to see what impact any of it has had. I know there are applications out there that I can use to push the event in people's faces, but I'd prefer to avoid that at this stage. I want people to talk about the event and to do it naturally.

And the event?

Shire Coffee Festival

Sunday 12 July, 2009

Peace Park, Sutherland

Sydney, NSW, Australia

For enquiries, leave a comment here, follow me on twitter, email to culture@ssc.nsw.gov.au or visit our webpage for our telephone number.

Jane Austen

I've always loved Price and Prejudice though it's been years since I read it. I blame that on the great BBC series which has replaced the need to reread. Especially as my youngest girl fell in love with the series and over the last 12 months I've watched it many many times. Also the Keira Knightley version which I also love. Matthew McFayden does a brilliant job of Mr. Darcey as does Keira of Elizabeth!

A few weeks ago I decided that I needed to do more than watch P&P on DVD yet again and started reading Sense & Sensibility. It took a while to get into though I'm not sure if that's the seeming bog of characters in the beginning or the fact that I was dead tired. At any rate, get into it I did and I ended up loving it. My favourite characters were the Palmers! I'd love to get a glimpse into their lives. I think those two understand each other very well.

Yesterday, I went to the bookshop to buy Northanger Abbey. Mainly because I can never get it from the library. I came out with Emma . My eldest daughter tells me this is the worst of Austen's novels, but I don't care. It has a wonderful cover. Congratulations, Word Press, it's a great publication. I haven't even read it yet, I'm too busy admiring the cover - just holding it makes me feel good. It's plain black with only Jane Austen and Emma embossed on the front. There's a lovely illustration inside with several introductions and other info inside. I don't care much about that either, I just enjoy the simplicity and feel of the cover!

I'll start reading it this weekend. I'm looking forward to the discovery.

Coffee Festival

Coffee @ Peace

I've been having a great time over the last few months working on the marketing for a coffee festival being held down my way in July. My way is Sutherland (just south of Sydney).

The Shire Coffee Festival or Coffee @ Peace will be on Sunday 12 July so we are daily praying for good winter weather. July is usually a fairly good month here in Sydney. March and April are usually damp, May cold, July and June okay, and August windy. So far so good. The last few weeks have been a mix of cold, wet, and sunny (the usual mixed up mix).

Our progams come back from the printer next week, but I've had a look at the proof and they look great! I believe that I may have done a pretty good job of these given that I have a strict corporate styleguide to adhere to.

We have 8 coffee vendors booked and piles of food stalls. The arts and crafts section is going to be amazing! Our live entertainment consists of The Peter Morgan Band (latin jazz) and a comedy act called Pull Your Head In! I can't wait to see these guys as they are cartoonists who include celebrity characterures as part of theiir act. In between their on-stage performances, they split up to do separate cartooning and magician acts at some of the local cafes. We also have a guitarist "busking" at the cafes.

There's stuff for kids - art making, storytelling and Walkabout Reptiles - and stuff for the culture buffs - Japanese Thin Tea Ceremony and a Turkish Coffee Ceremony.

I wish everyone could come to Sydney to attend this event!

If you are in the area and want more information, just go to the Sutherland Shire Council website and type "shire coffee festival" into the search engine box. Alternatively, click on one of the Coffee @ Peace links I've left lying around, or leave a comment here and I'll get right back to you.

Coffee @ Peace

Yarra Glen heritage railway line and bridges

Before the fires...





Photos taken by Kathy and appear on her Facebook page.

Yarra Valley

I took a trip down to the Yarra Valley in Victoria last weekend (27 Feb - 1 Mar). An early morning flight from Sydney, car hire from Tulla. airport (snazzy baby blue Getz) and an hour drive south-eastish (I've never been great with compass directions. From the airport we took a left, a right and didn't stop until we reached Yarra Glen).

We were expecting fairly hot weather, but found it a little cool until mid-afternoon and then it heated up. By that time, we were already touring the wineries so we didn't really care.

Our guide (my sister, whose birthday we were in town to celebrate) took us for a drive down Steels Creek Road, one of the areas recently affected by bushfire. It was a sobering trip. Several homes and outbuildings were destroyed. Several weren't. Hectares of farmland and bush were gone. We drove as far as the turn-off to Kinglake and no further. Yes, the roads were closed (entry to Kinglake, one of the towns severely beaten by the fires, was and is still restricted), but we didn't want to go further. The road was lined with the blackened husks of eucalypts. It's a morbid sight and one we found waiting behind more than one corner.

The town of Yarra Glen sits in a haze of smoke. Sirens and the roar of truck engines now as common as birdcalls. The black reach of the fires is visible everyone - the hills, the paddocks, the vineyards...

We decided to do our bit to support local business (the tourism trade has dropped somewhat since Black Saturday) and bought several bottles of wine and food for a barbecue (which we took indoors due to a total fire ban). The wine went down very easily!

On the Saturday, we slept in a little arousing ourselves in time to go for a walk along the Yarra Glen railway line. The railway hasn't been used in a few years and the rail bridges are... were considered of heritage value. Photographs certainly show very quaint, very beautiful bridges across green, green paddocks and a gentle river. The paddocks, the railway line and the 100-year old bridges are now a charred, twisted mess.

We walked up an appetite and stopped in town at the Yarra Flats Bakery. The best pies and cakes in the world! Lunch was so yummy! Naturally, all that exercise and food led to nap time, otherwise, how would we be able to visit any more wineries?

So, we rested until about three and then got up to hit the wineries once more. We did Sticks, Yering Station and The Dairy (in reverse order) on the Friday. And i've neglected to mention that The Dairy is wine and cheese-tasting with a cafe area where we shared platters of cheese (the cheese-tasting leaves you wanting more) and some lovely coffee (okay, we ordered our own coffees rather than share but you get the picture).

Back to Saturday... De Bertoli, Sutherland Estate, another winery whose name has slipped my mind (no, I wasn't drunk!) and Hargreaves Brewery. Sutherland Estate has a beautiful tasting area. Very peaceful, harmonious, lovely architecture and great views over the yarra valley. The brewery lost just about everything in the fires. Their tasting bar is in the Yarra Glen township so it is just about all they are left with. That and the good will of the community. Other brewers in the area have loaned them facilities to restart brewing and get back on their feet. I don't drink beer so I left that tasting to Craig (Darling Husband).

With dinner time nearing we raced home to change and then on the road again to The Innocent Bystander at Healesville. Lovely family restaurant that is trendy and still friendly. Food was wonderful and we had lots of fun.

Sunday morning we packed our car and visited the Yarra Glen markets before driving back to the airport. Craig had freshly cooked calamarri for breakfast and I enjoyed freshly baked scones and coffee. Lovely breakfast!

Well, it would have been but I'd managed to catch a yukky tummy bug. I ate. I enjoyed. But I felt really crappy afterward.

It was a miserable drive with lots of stops to the airport, but I made it. Stocked up on Immodium at the airport pharmacy and came home. Ended up taking Monday off work - slept half the day - and felt good again by Tuesday.

It didn't really matter that I picked up that bug though. I had a lovely weekend!

The Low Road

The low Road by Chris Womersley

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
An interesting read wavering between depressing, confronting and " eye-opening". Eye-opening I think not in the actual story but in the way it is told, the words and descriptions used. Skirting close to the edge of description overload at times yet so observant and original that it doesn't matter.



A story around an anti-hero of a type that we want to like, want to see succeed. Futile-seeming hope is intertwined with "well, why not...", the dreams aren't so large afterall that they cannot be accomplished.



A book worth reading, a story to relish and digest.


View all my reviews.

The Great Arch

The Great Arch by Vicki Hastrich

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is about the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, its impact on the city and residents, and the toll it collected from the workmen who brought it to life. The Bridge plays a central role in Sydney culture today, learning a bit about its birth, I think, needs to be included in teaching Australian history. Not just for the benefit to Sydney-siders but to know more about the people and culture from the time of its building.



The story though is not an easy read, especially for someone (like me) who's eyes glaze over when conversation turns to detailed technical specifications. But don't be put off, there is no info-dumping. It is the character's personality, his obsession with the Harbour Bridge, and his desire to educate everybody around him on its feat of magnificence. Looking back over his life, the main character, bed-ridden with a stroke, relives his favourite years. The times when life really meant something and passion ruled his thoughts and actions.



The author breaks through reminiscences with less-rosy reports on the growing cost in human life. Fills in gaps with stories of a parish in decay, not through natual attrition but through fast-moving progress.



Stick with this one and you'll experience a slice of life not usually looked at in an area not quite as "famous" as the other side of the bridge though both areas must have been similarly afflicted.



When you've finished, catch the train to Milson's Point, go for a walk around to Lavender Bay and look up at that bloody bridge. I wonder if the bridge-walkers have any inkling of what it is that they're traipsing all over.



I wonder too what the Reverend Ralph Cage would have thought of Luna Park...


View all my reviews.

The Good Mayor

The Good Mayor
by Andrew Nicoll

The Good Mayor by Andrew Nicoll

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Good Mayor was recommended by a friend who wasn't sure quite what to make of it, but was fairly sure she liked it, even maybe loved it. So I took it home and started to read and was about a quarter the way through when I realised that i was hooked, but on what? The story, the characters, the imaginative wordplay, the twist of fantasy with reality, magic with emotion, love with hate...



Half way through the book I wanted to make sweet love and eat a sumptious meal - not in any particular order, possibly at the same time. The descriptions are detailed yet not overdone. The "narrator" humourous and observant yet not intrusive.



Three quarters the way through, names like Dot and Dash and Ampersand made perfect sense, and stregas were clearly the font of all wisdom in the matters of love and sensibility.



By the end of The Good Mayor, I knew I would need to think on this one a few days more before i could chat with my friend about it, and understood that bits of it were going to come floating to the surface to remember, test out and ponder even further.



My recommendation is - Read it. Let the words soak in, taste them, feel them in your mouth then get comfy and let the story wash over you. Trust me on this, I am a strega from a long line of stregas....


View all my reviews.

When I grow up...

This week..,

when I grow up I want to be an event planner/decorator. I actually am an event coordinator already, however, I would like my own event business. The only trouble is,

1. I like doing all the creative stuff not necessarily the boring businessy type stuff. I can do it (the boring businessy stuff, that is), but I've always found that as soon as someone shows any type of flair for this side of business everybody else immediately lets them do it... all of it. Of course, if I'm the boss, I can employ someone to do it for me, or, encourage a business-type person to be co-boss with me. Equal partners means equal committment to my vision. Yes?

2. I want to be a writer at the same time. Working long hours isn't always conducive to writing best sellers. Look at me now - nothing published let alone on the bestseller list.

3. I have no start-up money. This isn't a major problem really. I could start-up at home. I would do my own marketing, design, etc from my corner desk and hire equipment as needed. I wouldn't want to stock my own equipment to start with anyway. Building up stock slowly is better, learning what items are really useful and what aren't will cost me less this way.

4. I would like to have a partner (other than the business type person) who would give creative input and come up with lots of good ideas with me. I have someone in mind. I'm just not sure if she's really into it. She'd be great. Very good at public relations, but... well, I'll wait and see.

Finally, good old point number five...

5. Next week, I might want to do something else entirely.

Sydney Writers Festival

SWF is held every May at one of my favourite spots to be in Sydney - Walsh Bay, under the Harbour Bridge. The same area is home to Sydney Theatre Company, Bangara Dance Group and, I believe though I could be wrong on this one, Sydney Dance Company. Tucked away on the piers are several other theatre companies, dance groups, cafes and million-dollar homes and boats.

But back to the Writers Festival. I've been informed that SWF is the second largest writers festival in the world. Run over several days and always crowded, I'd believe it. This year I decided to take advantage of a very flexible job situation and volunteered for two days as a Runner. Basically, this involved helping out the event coordinator on the day and at the scene with anything that popped up. Barricade erection, queue control, water-girl, usher and ticket collector - I was foot sore and more than a little exhausted by the end of the day. But I had fun, learned a lot and was able to take advantage of my experience in the event industry.

The Writers Festival was an excellent event. I managed to see a few speakers. In particular, Kylie Kwong, who is a "celebrity" chief here in Sydney. Kylie has a couple of tv shows, the most recent being about her experiences travelling to China to discover her heritage. Great speaker, too! I was fascinated and I don't even like to cook!

Seminars, workshops, panels, films, theatre, radio shows - SWF is packed with the things to choose from. That's the hardest part of the whole thing, deciding what to do and making travel arrangements. I probably should mention at this point, that while Walsh Bay is the main venue, SWF is spread far and wide - Katoomba (linked with the fabulous Varuna Writers House), Parramatta in Sydney's west and several other city venues.

Drop in to their webhome and look for yourself. There are year around events and news.

If you're planning a trip to Sydney, come in May and take in the Writers Festival (and Walsh Bay). Volunteer if you can and meet some really dedicated people (volunteers, guests, staff and attendees). Did I mention how close it all is to the Sydney Harbour Bridge?

The Ways We Touch

Have compassion for everyone you meet,
even if they don't want it.
What appears bad manners, an ill temper or cynicism
is always a sign of things no ears have heard,
no eyes have seen.
You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets
the bone.

-- Miller Williams

New look. New title.

I feel the new title reflects my writing nature and production. What do you think?

I've just switched to broadband and now that it doesn't take "hours" to do anything on the internet, decided an update on the old blog was past due.

Good news. I do have a couple of pieces in the works that I plan to post shortly. Really!

Some bits on marketing and some pieces on Darwin. I may even throw in a book review or two. I've just finished reading "How to Hepburn" by Karen Karbo.

I'll also be posting some comments on the Sydney Writer's Festival. I volunteered at the festival this year and had a fantastic time!

Until then

Australia Day - January 26

Australian's love a reason for a big party and Australia Day is dedicated to just that.

It's not all party-fun though. January 26th started being celebrated as Australia Day in 1935. The party theme didn't really kick in until 1994. We may be slow but we sure know how to have a good time.

The history of this date is quite important in Australia being the day, in 1788, that Captain Arthur Phillip dropped off the first load of convicts and free settlers at Sydney Cove. That auspicious fleet of ships and cargo is known as the First Fleet and much of modern-Australia culture [or the underbelly of it] stems from those days. Captain Phillip went on to become the first Governor of New South Wales [we became "Australia" under the governorship of Lachlan Macquarie in 1826 though the name had been around since Matthew Flinders coined it way back in 1814].

Matthew Flinders, by the way, was quite the adventurer. He along with his buddy,George Bass,and crewman, William Martin, explored, named and mapped most of the Australian east coast, and a fair bit of the south coast, including Van Dieman's Land [Tasmania]. He later survived shipwreck on the Barrier Reef, a six year imprisonment in France and published the influential book, "A Voyage to Terra Australis".

But I digress. Having been celebrated as Foundation Day by the First Fleet settlers and later as Anniversary Day, in 1936 a Celebrations Council was set up in order to have a really good time for the 150th anniversary in 1938. The parties continued on, each year being bigger and better until 1988 and the 200th anniversary of European settlement in Australia.

1988 was a year full of controversy and the biggest party ever! Indigenous Australians made a concerted push for reconcilliation and land rights that is still being felt today. A Tent Embassy was set up outside the Sydney Royal Botanical Gardens with the aim of creating awareness of indigenous people and issues. Among the indigenous, Australia Day is known as Invasion Day. Recognition of their presence prior to European settlement and rights as prior occupants of the land has resulted in an improved standing, access to resources, official "Sorries", and a constant remnder and awareness that Europeans live on Aboriginal land.

Celebrations that year included a parade of sail from Hobart to Sydney. This event replaced the annual Sydney to Hobart race [Boxing Day 1987] and became an invitational to yachts and tall ships worldwide to participate. On Australia Day itself, the Tall Ships, historic steam ships and thousands of smaller craft paraded the Sydney Harbour. It was a magnificent day!

Since then, Australia Day has grown from a single day celebration to a party lasting several and including at least one weekend. The Big Day Out is a "touring" day-long rock concert featuring local and international performers, and attracting massive crowds. The concert series actually starts in New Zealand then spends a day each in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Every major city holds its own party usually involving music, family events, festivals and eventually, fireworks. Regional areas aren't to be left out either having as much fun with only slightly less the glamour.

Outside of the party theme of the day, civic ceremonies concerning gaining citizenship and naming of Australians of the Year are held around the country. Many events are also dedicated to a charity and major funds are raised through merchandise sales and donation collectors on the day.

Australian's know how to party all right and we pack as much into an event as we can.

Christmas at the Zoo!

For Christmas 2007, a bunch of family members decided that getting together on Christmas Day was not going to be doable without truck loads of stress, so we’d hang out after Christmas. And, instead of doing the usual showing up at someone’s place with some food and an esky full of cold drinks [alcoholic or otherwise], we’d congregate somewhere public where cleaning up meant dumping all empties into the closest garbage bin. It started off as a combined Christmas present for my sister and her family, and my family. A day at the Zoo! I mentioned it to a cousin, she mentioned it to someone else and the next thing we knew, we’d set a date for five related but different families to “de-chill” after the Christmas rush.

We brought our own supplies. We paid our own way. We showed up in our own good time.

And we had a lovely day.

One of Sydney’s main tourist attractions is the Taronga Zoo, but it’s not the only zoo in town. Aside from the new establishment at Darling Harbour, which I’ve yet to visit, and the great aquariums [one at Darling Harbour and one at Manly], there is also Symbio Zoo at Helensburg.
Approximately an hour’s drive south of the city [and half that from where I live], Symbio’s really is a wonderful place to spend the day. If you want somewhere to take the whole family, see some animals, have fun and not break the already exhausted budget, Symbio Zoo is the place to go. Smaller than Taronga Zoo, yes. Fewer exotic animals? Also a yes. A good range of Australian animals? A big yes! And easy to view with areas that allow visual access and almost touching access [if you really want to be stupid]. Plus they have shows and feeding sessions throughout the day - all similar to Taronga, just on a smaller scale.

But the animals here aren’t the only attraction. Symbio also has spacious and shady picnic areas dotted around the landscape. You can set up under a tree next to the dingo enclosure, close to the wandering wild birds in the wetland area or by the pool.

The zoo opens at 9.30am, so my bit of the family arrived at 9.35 in order to claim some good space. I opted for the dingoes. They were yawning, well-fed puppies and there was a big fence between them and my preferred picnic table. The rest of our growing group opted for the pool. Seeing the practicality of that option [kids + hot day = need to get wet], I acquiesced. We claimed two tables by the pool under a massive shade tree and then trotted off to mingle with the animals.

The stand-out part of the whole day as far as I was concerned was being able to pat the dingo pups who were taken for a walk by their minder to visit with the visitors and watching another minder head off to the covered amphitheatre, koala on hip, for the cuddly koala show.
The kids loved the free-range kangaroo enclosure where everybody gets to walk around the cage and hand-feed the little beasties. There were joeys in and out of their mothers’ pouches. Grey roos, red roos and possibly a few wallabies [Really, apart from size, they all look the same to me. Reds are big. Greys are middlin’ and wallabies are usually smallish].

The lone camel was amusing as it alternately pooped, ate its poop and then started again. As was the lost joey taking a rest on the shady side of the Bald Eagle cage that ignored everybody except those offering tidbits of the zoo’s kangaroo feed mix. It looked like a bag of dried grass to me, but obviously there was something special about the mix as all the kangaroos loved it. The lyrebird is an interesting, if rather camera-shy character. It displayed its magnificent tail non-stop and as soon as anyone came near with a camera, turned around to display its back end as well. I, naturally, took a snap of that and was granted a few seconds to get a shot of the prettier side too. There’s a bird who knows how to manipulate the paparazzi!

I got some great pics with lots of close ups. The cassowary shown is one of my favourites. These birds are dangerous, but when my daughter told this one to be still so I could get a photo it froze as if in shock at being ordered around. As soon as I get around to it, I’ll upload them to my Flickr account. I’m pretty sure I opened up an account a few months ago...

In the meantime, check out the zoo’s website and plan a visit soon. Go early. It did get crowded. And if it’s a hot day, grab those tables by the pool – perfect spot to eat, drink, watch the kids swimming and share Christmas horror stories!

Very mild super powers not quite up to scratch...

MS Word 2007

When I bought my new computer a few months ago, it came with Vista. My old software didn’t like the change so, of course, I needed to upgrade my MS suite to the latest version. Grrrr! It’s not that I don’t like change. Really, I love learning new stuff, but MS Word 2007 has got me by the short and... well, let’s just say that it has not been fun.

I’ll grant that I am slowly learning where the programmers/designers (whoever comes up with the torture techniques) have hidden everything, but it has never been so difficult (or so torturous) before. I will absolutely not cede that I’ve reached an age where lots of things get just that little bit harder. I am, and always have been, a dab hand at getting things to work and ferreting out the different language and usage of software packages. I consider it one of my “very mild super powers”


Let me show you a few examples.

1. The menu bars are completely different from anything I’ve used before. Even the customising dialogue boxes have me scratching my head. I don’t see the point of the change and several buttons I always used in previous versions are either no longer available or are in clever disguise.

2. I have to go looking for formatting buttons that are supposed to be Quick Access but in reality are slow access. First I need to figure out which section our formatting tool is now categorised under, then sort through the selection on offer. I’ll find it eventually, and it’s a given that also eventually I’ll get faster at locating my preferred formatting options, but in the meantime, sooo painful!

3. New commands. I don’t recall seeing commands such as “Learn from document...” in previous versions of MS Word – and I’ve crawled all through the commands lists on many occasions – and I’m not sure why I would want to “Insert Spike” into my work... I found these searching for my old formatting favourites among a few dozen other choices I’ve never heard of. Has Word suddenly become complicated or have these been lurking in the underbelly of the Word formatting world this whole time?

At any rate, I know that I’ll set up Word just the way I like it and when I'm forced into upgrading to the next version I'll be grumbling about how I've only just come to terms with this one. I admit right now that writing this article has helped immensely. I’ve now found a lot of my favourites. Perhaps it’s a comment on time or the lack of it and patience (and lack of it) rather than on change, inevitability and growing old. I just want to write stuff. I don’t want the hassle of figuring out anew how to format everything.

I’ve yet to attempt the latest versions of MS Powerpoint and Excel. One day when I’ve got an hour or two to spare (hah!) I’ll take a look at what they’ve become. For now, I’ll just muddle through with MS Word 2007.

book review: The Anasazi Series

Anasazi Series

by Kathleen O’Neal Gear and Michael Gear

The Visitant The Summoning God Bonewalker

I did the silliest of things with this series of books. Somewhere inside my fading brain I told myself that these three books were not a series but just happened to be set in similar times. I was half way between book three before I realised that there was obviously something to be read before embarking on this one. Do not take this as a statement on the quality of the stories. Do take this as my ability to be amazingly thick and completely stubborn. Having made that realisation, I then finished book three and went on to book two... have I mention thick-headedness yet?
Now that I have finished all three books [and have read the last book twice] I feel qualified to offer up my opinion to anyone interested in hearing it – one of my favourite things to do.
I loved all three books! Yes, there were a few things that stuck out, but I was prepared to lay them aside in favour of a good storyline and great characters. I do this a lot. For instance, I will watch anything that Brad Pitt’s in whether the movie is good or not [though Troy was hard to stomach at times, but hey, Brad took his shirt off so I was there!]. This probably doesn’t say a lot for me so I’ll get back to the Anasazi series.
I desperately want to go back to New Mexico now and I lay the blame for my increased wanderlust directly at the authors’ feet. The descriptions of past and present New Mexico are real, earthy, and mysterious. The archaeological scenes were interesting and did not go into info-dump land and the relationships – between characters, people and location, modern and past were all in-depth and very well-crafted. The unravelling complexity of the situations were mirrored and connected in such fine detail that they carry the reader through from start to finish. Minor characters have sufficient depth to carry their own weight in the story and the protagonists are sufficiently evil and twisted, and given enough thought that they do not come across as being entirely evil. After all, what appears as evil to one culture may be wisdom to another.
Storylines are also connected from one book to another with the occurrences in book one being the “backstory” for the final conflict in book three. Romantic tension between main characters comes to a satisfactory and not clichéd ending.
So, the things that stuck out – the characters from the past sounded too modern at times. I’m willing to believe that people from ancient times knew more about many things than modern humans often give them credit for. In most cases, with this story, the language allows for modern-seeming medical processes, assumptions and responses. Occasionally, however, it doesn’t and these instances, I at least, find jarring. But the story was too good to let those moments stop me from reading – don’t let them stop you either.
You can find out all about Kathleen and Michael Gear at their website and I encourage you to read their biographies and browse through their list of books. I’m sure that these two authors are as interesting as any characters they’ve dreamed up.

book review: The Historian

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

I picked up this novel in a sale and put it aside to read during a recent break from the real world. Waiting the few weeks between point-of-sale and point-of-reading was nearly painful, but worth the torture. I sat up in bed the first night of my retreat from life and dived right in. Not having read the back-cover blurb since the book store, I’d forgotten what the story was about and by the time I turned the lights off was thinking perhaps I should read it during daylight hours. If you’re at all squeamish about scary stories [like I am, in particular when there are no traffic sounds, it’s pitch black outside except for silver-misted trees, it’s breezy and branches are scratching on the window] you might want to take that into consideration. If not, have at it!

The first couple of chapters of The Historian were a little heavy going and at times confusing. I put this down to the fact that the narrator was a historian telling us a story about other historians and a lot of historic research. Don’t panic. This is all necessary and, just as it was worth the wait to read, it is also worth the effort to get through the necessary backstory. Especially as all the stories intertwine to make a great adventure and produce a gripping end.

I learnt a lot about history, researching facts and legends, and about Dracula, and was drawn right into a world where Dracula just might be, not only real, but still living. Yes, I know that there was an historic Dracula – Vlad the Impaler – but The Historian brought him right out of history and into the 21st century. I was scared, but riveted and, in a similar way after reading The Da Vinci Code, wanted to rush out and scour old bookstores, libraries, archives and museums.

I was also fascinated by Ms. Kostova’s description of regions and countries that I have rarely thought about, let alone visited, and I must say a heartfelt thanks for dragging me off to the combined nether regions of Europe and history.

Elizabeth Kostova is a wonderful storyteller and I was ready to believe most of what she showed me in The Historian. Being the cynic deep down inside though, I did find it hard to come to terms with such a young girl travelling the world in search of her father. I suspect it’s the “mother of teenagers” in me. Vlad was fully believable. That also could be the whole mother thing coming out.

I recommend obtaining a copy of The Historian, finding yourself a nice cosy corner and indulge in a few hours of adventurous historical fiction... no matter what time of day or night you prefer.

old beginnings and new research

I was going to title this post New Beginnings, but really, my current project is not new at all but a continuation of an old project.

With one novel just starting the rounds of publishers, I'm working on getting my next more finished than what it was. That is, it sat "finished" at 30,000 words. Not enough, but I couldn't think what else to do with it. Giving it a break of a year [or so] and having talked to the Creative Director at Varuna House, I've decided to get it back out, dive into some more research and get it really finished. I'm also thinking that I need a better title but that will come later.

So, the one doing the rounds is set in New Mexico/Colorado with forays into other areas [such as Ancient Mesopotamia... naturally] and is very much an adventure story with a hero-type, sidekicks and, of course, a quest that will save the world. There's also some magic thrown in, a murder or two and a good dose of hurt/comfort.

The novel I'm working on now is set only in New Mexico [what can I say, I really like New Mexico] but in two different timezones. Time/story 1 is around the time of the Desert Archaic or BasketMaker peoples and time/story 2 is in the late 1870s. Both stories deal with monsters of their time and the defeat of the monsters. There is a connection between the two stories, of course, but not a direct one.

I find that digging deep with research [which translates as lots and lots of reading - my favourite activity] helps me with a few aspects of writing. The first is that it puts me in the mood to write generally and specifically, and gives me new ideas and paths to consider. My reading is as widespread as I can make it from internet articles, museum & information centre pages [see my article on location research], blogposts and books [non-fiction and fiction]. I also listen to music and look at pictures. Doing these last two help with movement [of story and characters] and description. For instance, if I show a character is feeling the deep resonance of drums from inside out, I draw that from listening to drums myself and putting into words what I feel when I do.

Active research [such as listening/dancing to music] is an important tool for the writer and includes contacting other people for more information including direct experiences as well as detailed knowledge. Not everyone a writer contacts is going to be an "expert" in a specific field - that is, university professors etc. Of equal importance are the ordinary people with similar interests who like to talk about what they know, think and feel. A writer can learn a lot from casual conversation whether it be real life, via e-mail or through blog commenting and discussion boards.

I also try and find some short courses/seminars to attend that cover the area I'm researching. Not only are these a good source for professional information but the other people attending are great for the all-important casual conversation. I usually spend the "lecture" time scribbling down notes from the instructor as well as ideas and details I want to remember for my stories. I try to follow a similar pattern when I go to museums and art galleries and, as there's no instructor to listen to, ask questions of the curator or attendents.

Right now, I'm trying to find somewhere that I can experience Native American drumming live. That's not easy in Sydney, Australia but I'm sure I heard of someone running workshops in this area a few years ago. I'm also combing blogs and other websites looking for tidbits on BasketMaker culture [if you've got any you want to share, don't be shy and let me know]. My favourite blog to visit at the moment is Mark Hinton's Chaco Canyon site. He has some really great images of Chaco and other areas plus maps and an interesting [and easy to read] travelogue of his trips.

A great place to go for pictures is the Wild West Art Gallery right here in Sydney. It's great because it's only 10 minutes down the road from where I live and they have quite a good collection of prints including Bana, Terpning, Doolittle & McCarthy and books from Civil War topics to Native American, Cowboys & Trappers as well as beautiful art books. Drop in to their website - they import from America so whatever they have you can certainly obtain the same in the States.

My next novel is set a little closer to home so maybe I'll post my own "travelogue" of research and pictures... just as soon as I drag myself away from New Mexico that is.

[image: Chaco Canyon 2005]