‘Would you like a digestif? Limoncello? It’s on the house.’ The waiter, dressed impossibly tight, black jeans, white-tight t-shirt, thick leather belt, ankles bare above leather loafers, hipster beard, sculpted hair—you get the picture—tilts his head and we shrug a why not? ‘ Si. Grazie. We would love limoncello.’ I sighed. How perfect. The sky […]
The Music of Life: Writing in Italy The pop of a cork from a Prosecco bottle. Soft, murmuring Italian voices. Cucina. Mangiare. Si Grazie. Bene. Words, food, sharing, friendship in a bookshop café in Florence. My friend and I sit and write. An iced café, served in an Italian wine glass, invites us to sip […]
Elizabeth Gilbert began Big Magic with a question: Q: What is creativity? A: The relationship between a human being and the mysteries of inspiration. Every chapter is an attempt to articulate the mysterious process that occurs in me, and you, every day. Every day my relationship with creativity develops in ways that astound […]
Have you ever walked into a room and felt naked? Have you ever shown anyone something you created and cringed? Have you ever felt like running away and hiding in shame? Being a creative person means being vulnerable enough to enter the room and be naked (creatively) without shame. Elizabeth Gilbert tells us that fierce […]
We all have a story promise in us. Something sown deep within that seeks to be released. Perhaps some of you have that lump in your throat, that heart race, that visceral response in your body that tells you it’s time to make a promise. It may be time to give yourself permission to honour […]
It was 9am on the 26th of February 2010. I sat down at the kitchen table with a coffee and my notebook. I had an idea—an idea that I wanted to write a novel. I’d met a character in my early morning dreamtime. I pictured her. I heard her voice. I imagined what would happen […]
Well, here we are at one hundred days!* The journey I set out on is not the journey I anticipated, but isn’t that life? There are no wrong turnings. Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk. Guy Gavriel Kay Elizabeth Gilbert said, ‘There is no interruption. Life is in session.’ By this […]
When I began this quest to complete a one hundred day creative challenge I wasn’t sure I’d get to this point. In the beginning it was an idea sparked by Hillsong’s Cass Langton and I decided to run with it. When you start something it’s like a mustard seed. You sow something small and it grows […]
One Hundred Day Creative Challenge Day 98: Wide-Open Spaces She looked at me with eyes that hadn’t seen a decent night’s sleep in months. Her hair, tied back in a scrunchy, revealed regrowth that pre-kids she wouldn’t have put up with. But, now she was a mum and priorities had changed. ‘I wish I […]
