Fatty and the Physicist

Not mine, but some wonderful local authors. Fremantle Press launched six new children's books at the State Library yesterday and it was an awesome event where I got to meet some of our amazing local talent. I caught up with Deb Fitzpatrick again and bought both her Spencer Gray books, which I am looking forward to reading. I loved Deb's workshop last weekend and I am eager to discover her writing style. I also bought a book by Cristy Burne, who did an amazing reading of her book To the Lighthouse, which got everyone engaged and Yasmin Hamid's inaugural book, Swimming on the Lawn, which is about a little girl living in Sudan. Yasmin was particularly lovely to talk to. I also had the pleasure of meeting Kyle Hughes- Odgers, whose illustrative works we came across at the Heartlines Festival the week before. V was particularly fond of his work, so I purchased his book Can a Skeleton have an X-Ray, which has the artwork that was on display in it, and had it signed for V. T...

It started out in a fashion, like a pantomime. I rose early after a great sleep, my back (which is taking it's sweet time to heal) feeling OK. I, therefore, decided (as after all I am meant to be in training) to go for a walk. There was no way on this earth that the dogs were going to let me go on my own. Everywhere I walked, I had one in front of me and one behind stuck to me like glue. After 10 solid minutes of trying to get Harper into her harness, we finally made it out the door. Then began the dance of dogs wrapping themselves around my legs, or zig-zagging from side to side, chasing after people and other dogs...by the time I got home again my back was a mess again. Thank goodness for anti-inflammatories! I downed two of those babies quick smart as I was a free agent that day! The Physicist was on Netball duty shuffling my littlest to her game and I was hitting the road to the Heartlines Festival to spend the afternoon with V. We signed up to attend a couple of worksho...

It began Friday evening doing the shopping when out of nowhere my back decided to spasm suddenly turning me into Igor as my knees buckled and face contorted in pain and my right arm swung around to support my back and stop the twinge... from there it was all downhill. A restless night where no matter which way I turned, my back locked in pain which resulted in sleeping upright on the couch with a heated wheat bag jammed up against my back and a weekend of doing very little.  There was no excuse now. I had to write and write I did. So far I have planned every piece of writing I have done. Mapped it out, written a plot, all the good things I was taught to do in high school English class. And yes, for the most part, it works. I know where the story is headed and I know where it will end, but I never quite get the flow. It's an effort to construct a tale that starts at A and has to marry up with B for the plot to continue. I, therefore decided that I would wing it, or pants it...

They say to be a writer, you just have to write, which is all well and good, but when I feel like writing, everything else is not willing to be placed on hold so that I can. Dinner needs to be cooked, washing needs to be done, and I have to start spending some time with the family or they are going to think I am just the maid and not someone who has an emotional connection to the other humans who dwell in the house. This weekend, though we had an extra day to while away, started rather dramatically with my daughter having a car accident on Friday afternoon (fortunately she was OK but her car will no longer see the light of day), and everything kind of piled on from there. I did manage quite a bit of quality family time, I even exercised every day of the weekend and I managed to deforest the front garden for green waste pick up. I cooked every night and managed to clean the house...but I did not write a single thing! I barely managed to read a couple of chapters of my book. :( I hav...