Blogs 2010
11th Oct 2010
I had a slight detour to the UK after Nairobi but have been in Northern Territory since April. Not a lot of writing has been done as work was so busy. Now I'm spending a few weeks in New Zealand just relaxing. It's amazing how your creative desire wanes when you're stressed and tired. After nearly two weeks of being home I feel like writing again.I've enrolled in a Bob Mayer workshop. He applies the strategies used by the Green Berets to help writers achieve success. I've also begun judge training. I think it's improtant to give the right advice as much as possible. After all the entrants have spend long hours on their entries and deserve appreciation of their efforts.
21st March 2010
Barry and I are in Nairobi. We did a quick trip to Juba in South Sudan but couldn't get any further south so returned to the Kenyan city. I'm writing down all my thoughts and experiences for the future. We have experienced disappointment with the indigenous NGO we travelled with but have other options of voluntary work. I started a medical romance when I was in Bougainville and I've felt the same emotions coming to South Sudan. But I've coped better this time.My nurse heroine, in this medical romance, suffered culture shock during her first assignment and had to leave the doctor hero. This book starts when she's doing a course in refugee health and he is one of the lecturers. She wants to give voluntary work another go but the hero doesn't think she will be able to do it.
5th March 2010
Arrived in Melbourne today ready to start our journey to Nairobi. Apparently there has been lots of rain here but it wasn't bad when we arrived. While I was in Alice Springs on Friday night, I went into the chatroom to join the Bootcamp 209 members. It will soon be a year since we spent a weekend together on the internet. What an awesome time that was. It's great we can keep in touch but I haven't been able to as much as the others.27th February 2010
I've spent the week packing. First of all Barry and I went to Corella Creek, the community where we lived for several months and packed up there and then to our flat in Tennant Creek. Yesterday we travelled to Alice Springs to drop it off at Pickfords. It's the rainy season here and the road was flooded in one place going down. When we heard the forecast for torrential rain was to continue in our area, we left Alice a day earlier in case the road was closed. As I write this blog it's been raining solidly for about 12 hours so it was a wise decision. Next Friday is when we leave here to start our trip to the Sudan via Nairobi.19th February 2010
A busy week for me. mainly I was studying for a AGV exam (About Giving vaccines) which I needed to do for the Northern Territory. Passed it on Friday and went out for a meal to celebrate. Just finished a great book by Katherine Neville called A calculated Risk. It's about stealing from a bank - very clever and Katherine herself was a Vice President of a bank in America. Very sad to hear the Dick Francis had died. I've read very single one of his books.12th February 2010
I've left New Zealand and arrived back in Alice Springs today. The temperature is 35°C even though the sky is overcast. For my journey reading I took along The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. Fascinating from page one.5th February 2010
Waitangi Day tomorrow. If anyone is visiting New Zealand, the Treaty House at Waitangi is worth a visit. My sister, Vickie, is doing a BA in Maori at our local Eastern Institute of Technology. This is her last year. Barry & I are very proud of her. Besides her there's only one other Pakeha (non-Maori). She's known as Wikitoria which is her Maori name.29th January 2010
The month is nearly over. Doesn't time fly. I leave next month for Australia again. Barry wants to visit the Sudan to see if he can help at a clinic. He's been before with MSF but it will be the first time for me. I wonder how I'm going to cope without aircon...22nd January 2010
Not much happened this week. I'm busy polishing my entries for the RWA Little Gems Contest. I went to see 'Old Dogs' at the cinema. A good laugh.15th January 2010
My 54th birthday. Celebrated with lunch out, otherwise it was a relaxing day.8th January 2010
Took Barry, my husband to Hamilton. He's travelling back to Tennant Creek in NT to start work. My sister & I decided to carry on to Rotorua & Wellington to see the exhibition on Pompeii at Te Papa. It was well worth going to and made me think of the book by Robert Harris called Pompeii. The 3D short film was really well done. It must have been so frightening for those poor people who decided to stay instead of leaving when they had the chance. Have any of you read 'The last Days of Pompeii' by Lord Lytton? I read it many years ago but have recently found a copy.
1st January 2010
Happy New Year! I'm hoping this is going to be a good year for my writing. I hope it is for you too. 18 July 2009
This is the last blog for 2009. It was difficult to post anything as I started to live in Corella Creek, an Aboriginal community. To begin with we were without any communication except for a satellite phone. For 3 months I was busy helping Barry to create a progress report on our 2009 work. I didn't write during that time either.Blog - 18 July 2009
I've not been doing a lot of writing lately. Work has been too busy but hopeflly I'll get a chance now. I heard from Tessa Shapcott who gave me very positive feedback on my MS but said that it wasn't quite what they wanted. She'd be quite happy to read a new partial from me. Great newsBlog - 23 June 2009
I'm in Alice Springs and going to Uluru tomorrow. It's supposed to be a sight not to be missed.On the reading front I'm in the middle of Emma Darcy's "Who Killed Camilla". I've read the other two in the series and really enjoyed them. Amazing that the RWA conference is sold out. Unfortunately I'm not one of the lucky ones but hey - next year. I've only been to the RWNZ conference and it looks great this year as always. Read more here...Blog - 16 June 2009
My writing hasn't been happening recently so this blog is going to be very short.Work has taken up a lot of my time but I'll be on holiday soon with my sister.
Blog - 9 June 2009
I've been away again so my blog is going to be a bit erratic until I get the internetout bush. I've just finished reading Bad Attitude by Sherilyn Kenyon. Her bad guys are good. I can't wait to read more of the same.
Blog - 26 May 2009
Following on from last week, I've finished my 4WD questionnaire and managed to write some more of my sequel to Codename:Kate. Kate had a twin brother, Alex,
and this is about him and his estranged wife, Francesca. He, like Jem, is in the SAS. Fran is in CO19 - the Central Operations Specialist Firearms Command. If you watch UK TV's "The Bill" you often hear them mentioned and see them in action.
Fran's life is in danger and you guessed it - Alex comes to her aid. No more for now but watch this space.
Blog - 19 May 2009
Well, I haven't done much writing this week. At the moment I'm just back from a 4WD course in Alice Springs and the only writing I'll be doing is filling out a nine page post-course knowledge questionnaire. What fun!
And it was.
Driving up and down sand dunes, learning how to change a tyre on a Toyota Troopie and maintain the vehicle. All relevant when you go out bush in the remote Northern Territory. And best of all, folks, it would make a good premise for the start of a short story or book.