December 7, 2014
Welcome to Six Degrees of Separation, where authors Emma Chapman and Annabel Smith provide the name of a book and invite us to link it to six other books in any way we choose. This month’s chain begins with The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flannagan, which won the Man Booker prize this year. […]
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November 23, 2014
Last week, I retreated to Denmark, a town in Western Australia’s Great Southern region, with the hope of making progress on my current writing project. While I was there, the local bookshop hosted a wine and cheese night for visiting authors, Deb Fitzpatrick and Brooke Davis. We were enthralled and entertained as they spoke about books, writing and the […]
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November 10, 2014
You’ve probably heard the theory about ‘six degrees of separation’, the idea that we can find a connection to anybody else in the world in six steps or less. Now, writers Annabel Smith and Emma Chapman have created a literary version, where they provide a book title, and then link that to to six other books in any way it suits them. Since I’ve been […]
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October 31, 2014
The fragility of life was slammed home last month when a fellow HeartKid family lost their three-year-old son, Xander, suddenly and unexpectedly. His parents, Craig and Sarah Nicholls, held a moving memorial service beside a lake. At their request, family and friends wore bright colours. The sun shone, birds sung and children blew bubbles. The day was a celebration of having […]
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October 24, 2014
One Lovely Award
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I was recently nominated for the One Lovely Blog Award. I confess that I hesitated about being involved. It once again felt a little like an online version of the chain letters I received as a child and in which I refused to participate (apologies to any school friends who were completely devastated when they didn’t receive […]
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October 12, 2014
Recently a friend posted a Facebook challenge that requires nominees to list 10 books that have stayed with them in some way. I normally avoid the challenges doing the rounds of social media. They somehow remind me of the chain letters I used to receive during my childhood. And the introvert in me particularly resists those requiring video evidence. But […]
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September 24, 2014
What’s your story? Have you started writing it yet? Maybe you suspect you have a story inside you, but don’t know where to start. Or you’re having doubts about whether it’s even worth telling. Perhaps you’ve attempted a draft, but now find yourself wondering if what you’ve written is any good. Wherever you are on […]
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September 11, 2014
The Other September 11
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Today is September 11, or 9/11 as it is often known. Many of us still recall hearing, with shock and disbelief, that planes had flown into the World Trade Centre on this day in 2001. Every year the media ensures we remember. For the families of those killed, how can they forget? But there is another […]
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