A Tale of Two Plates
Precisely four hundred years ago one of two plates began a startling journey around the planet. This morning I find myself in a stairwell at the Rijksmuseum. I intended to write in the library but it’s closed as it is a public holiday. It kind of sucks but at...
The Passing Of Daisy Bates
During the writing of Loreless I did an enormous amount of research, much more then I could ever actually use in the book. I have decided to share some of this information, and at the same time, give you a bit of an insight into the writing process. In the book there...
What Is Synchronised Drowning?
It’s the weekly swimming lesson and I am sitting on a balcony above the pool. I have a birds-eye view of everything. I am watching my daughter flailing through the water and trying to remember what that was like. She looks so uncoordinated. It looks like synchronised...
Coping With Expat Sickness
I can’t relate to my birth country anymore. I feel like a stranger there. Not only that, I don’t feel that I belong there anymore. It must be some form of expat sickness. It’s a strange thing really, being so disjointed. Maybe that’s not the right word. Disowned? Also...
The Library
Here I am again in the library. Not just any library. This one is special. When I first decided to write seriously this was one of my first discoveries. Like a lot of discoveries, you want to keep it to yourself. If too many people know about it then it won’t be a...
Hobby Is A Dirty Word
Yesterday, I had a bit of a moment. My so-called hobby was challenged. Over the past few months I have steadily been building up momentum as an author. I set up a website. I have had my book edited, I have had a cover designed. I have absorbed oceans of tips on...
Writing From An Indigenous Perspective: Part 1
My biggest struggle with writing Loreless has been the question whether I have the right to write from an indigenous perspective. There are many opinions on this subject. The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith One of the authors I researched when I started was Thomas Keneally...
You Are The God Of Your Creative Universe
I went to see author T. C. Boyle speak towards the end of last year. It was the first time I had been to a book launch or an evening with sort of event. I didn’t expect to discover an important lesson in how to control my creative universe. A part of me went...
Hope Rules, OK?
Loreless is about hope. The tantalising thought that change can still happen drove me to write the book. I still hope. I still believe that change will come. The basic idea for the book came to me almost 25 years ago and my feelings have not changed. I continue to...
How To Become A Publishing Expert
There seems to be no end of people online with an opinion on writing. And not only about what the best methods are for putting words on the page, there are also literally thousands giving advice on publishing. I’m no publishing expert but it is clear to me that...
Writing The Message You Need To Deliver
I am on a crusade. I am a divine messenger. I have just discovered this. A few weeks ago I was just writing. Now I am experiencing it as a higher calling. I won’t say that it is truly biblical but the analogies are there. There has been a change in my thinking. I was...
Why There Is A Left And Right Way To Be Creative
As a child I had a learning disability. Somehow it was picked up at a very young age. I have very vague memories of it. I was sent to a specialist as there seemed to be a problem with how I used my brain. I was using both sides of it at will. I would do certain things...
Painting The Problem We All Live With
Yesterday I made a discovery. I came across a very special painting by an American artist who was active in the middle of the twentieth century. Norman Rockwell worked predominately for magazines and illustrated their covers. In order to make a living as an artist he...
The Infancy Of A Novel
Loreless, the novel which I have struggled to complete, began a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Well not exactly, but I was on another part of the planet and it was a great distance from where I am now. It actually bothers me how long it has taken to get to...
Invoking Parkinson’s Law
Mr. Parkinson had it all worked out. Government departments have a peculiar way of working. There is a certain amount of work to be done. It makes no difference if you have a week to do it in or a year. The work will get done in the prescribed amount of time. It will...
Research and Memory
Research takes a lot time. It also involves an enormous amount of reading. Most of it goes in and gets lost somewhere in the recesses of your brain. You can’t absorb everything in detail. Somehow your brain filters out the unimportant stuff and you’re just...
Rainbow Wanderer
Rainbow Wanderer My whole life has been about the journey. I never know exactly where it’s leading, but that is of minor importance to me. I get off on the trip. I get off on going somewhere. Of course, I do have goals, but over time they change. Most of them...
Emerging from a Musical Wilderness
Emerging from a Musical Wilderness We have been in the wilderness. It’s been five years since the last Whittlesea album was released. This means that it has been more than six years since we were in the studio. That’s an incredibly long time between recordings. It...Discover a part of Australia you never imagined existed.
Read Loreless
Do you like stories about witches? Ghosts? Powerful entities? You must meet Anaïs Blue.
