100 Day Creative Challenge: Day 32 Appointments For Adventure New Year is traditionally a time when we reflect on the previous year and make resolutions or plans for the next. As a writer, I imagine the New Year as a blank page, one to be filled with potential stories, ideas and characters which will form […]
The One Hundred Day Creative Challenge: Day 9 Collaborating With Ideas. Ideas come from all sorts of places. Songs. Conversation. Billboards. Books. Gardens. Pinterest. I’ve driven along in my car with the radio off and something has dropped into my head. The excitement rises. I can’t wait until I can pull over and scribble it […]
‘Bella Donna!’ A man says as he approaches and thrusts his smiling face in front of mine with a quick glance up and down. If this happened in my home city, I’d be worried. If anyone invades your personal space and makes some comment, you’d feel threatened. Here, in Florence, it’s a part of the […]
After months of preparation, last Sunday I did my first TEDx talk— The List. Over the next few days I’ll share some quotes from the talk. I hope you enjoy them. Do you ever feel as if life is more like a spectator sport than a game you’re actively involved in? Do you find yourself […]
Last night I skyped with a friend in India who I met in Oxford at Summer School. In a few weeks, I’ll be meeting up with a group of women I met in Tuscany last year at a writing retreat in San Francsico. Then, in June I’ll be heading back to Florence and Tuscany to […]
If there is one door in the castle you have been told not to go through, you must. Otherwise, you’ll just be rearranging furniture in rooms you’ve already been in. Anne Lamott Dove’s new Choose Beautiful campaign showing women choosing to walk through either a door marked Beautiful or Average encourages us to question how we […]
Last night we had dinner with some Italian friends at their apartment overlooking the Swan River on a beautiful, still autumn evening in Perth. When we arrived the table was set, a carafe of wine breathed on the table and kisses were abundant. Our contribution was our favourite Australian dessert wine, the rest was pure Italian. […]
The Nike catch cry has come to mind over the years and I’ve often advised people to, ‘Just Do It‘. Today I’m telling myself to ‘Just Do It’ in several situations I find myself in. Firstly, the novel I’m writing has been tying me up in knots. First person/third person pint of view? Two complete […]
Today was a mixed day. This morning we left home at 6.30 to take my husband to hospital to have a shoulder operation. Afterwards, my son, his girlfriend and I stopped for breakfast on the way at a great cafe and enjoyed an amazing meal together. Then, I dropped my son and his girlfriend off at the […]
