April 2010

A. S. Byatt, me, and a Gum Wall guest post

April 30, 2010

“…A story – on the surface – of how two little girls during World War Two are evacuated to a large country mansion where, while on a secret walk, they encounter the thing in the forest. What they see gets carried with them, in different ways, for the rest of their lives.” I guest-posted over [...]

Six

April 29, 2010

From this: (Four days old) To this morning: Happy birthday, sweet girl. We love you xx

Wake in Fright and On Passion – thoughts

April 28, 2010

In On Passion, Dorothy Porter briefly discusses her love of snakes. Coincidentally, the day I first read that passage I had been doodling in one of my notebooks and when I doodle – whether in the margins or, naughtily, over my text – snakes usually appear. Fat ones and thin ones. The thin ones are [...]

The goose or the egg? … again

April 27, 2010

Riley has been bored around the house lately. Can’t say I really blame him, I have been a bit preoccupied, but that’s no excuse on my part. I did get a little of a shock last week, though, when he read out a phrase from one of Keira’s reader books from school. How on earth [...]

Top Gear poem mystery solved … I think

April 26, 2010

One of my favourite Top Gear episodes is their road trip across the bottom of Africa. If you’ve also seen it you might recall the scene where, as the three of them watch the moon rise over the Kalahari Desert, there is this exchange: James May: I know a Philip Larkin poem about the moon. [...]

Emerging Writers’ Festival Program 2010 – available now!

April 23, 2010

Last night I went to the EWF program launch party, and now the program has been made available online. As long-time readers will know, the EWF has a special place in my heart and I’m pleased to say that I’ll be there on Sunday 23rd May as part of the Page Parlour at Federation Square (see photos [...]

Kill Your Darlings podcast interview

April 22, 2010

Estelle Tang from Kill Your Darlings recently interviewed me about Miscellaneous Voices and the podcast is up now at the Killings blog. I believe it goes for around twenty minutes. Talking about blogging makes me realise how thin on the ground my own posting has been this week … or, heck, this year even. xxx

3.03pm. Early for the school pickup

April 21, 2010

So we hang out in the car for a little bit.

Some kind of normal returns

April 20, 2010

The school run goes on. This past weekend saw a procession of birthday parties, sleepovers for the kids, interviews (more on that later), and toy library duties. Keira even played her first game of Lacrosse. It might also be her last game, but she gave it a go. That’s right the Andrews family circus rolls along right into [...]