Happy Anniversary Tulips

Today is an anniversary day - I've lived in the UK for 9 years. It's difficult to believe and it's impossible not to be reflective. This time nine years ago I'd been here for 3 hours and was deliriously happy, jet lagged, shell shocked, sad and excited. The first person I saw when I walked through customs was the man I would eventually marry. It was 6am and I'd been travelling for 24 hours from Sydney - and there he was with a huge bunch of flowers and a big, happy smile.

Back in Sydney my departure had been full of tears. I didn't think I'd be gone so long but life changes, no matter how radical they are, soon settle in to just being your life. It took me about 3 years before I stopped reflecting on a weekly basis about where I lived and how my life had changed so dramatically.

My husband gave me beautiful tulips to mark the occasion and I have them in vases all over the house but this is the special bunch in my study. Today I am going to reflect on how wonderful it is to be loved, how sad it is to be so far away from others that I love and how lucky I am to be enjoying a life full of adventures, lovely relationships and passion.

On Blog leave

Blogging Break is lasting a little longer than I planned. Work is hectic. Back soon and I have a new writing toy to blog about when I return!!!!!! Hopefully I'll have a chance to try it out very soon!!

On Hiatus

Having a little blogging break due to work...work and more work!!!!

Back soon.

Happy Again...

Ah my dark little mood of sat has lifted - hallelujia!!!!
Things making me cheerful today.
The sun is shinning...
We have yummy vegie spring rolls and other asian goodies for dinner...
Working day is over...
I am going to bed early tonight with a good book...
About to write for a sneaky and snatched 45mins...

Ah yes - life is good

Grumpy Today!!!

I feel guilty about being a bit grumpy today - there is no real reason other than a crappy week at work and a few little life hiccups to top it off - but nothing worthy of being a bit grumpy. You know when you have a knot in your stomach? Mine is sitting like a dark shadow that refuses to budge. I tried to be good and went to bed early last night, didn't drink any alcohol and then got up and went to a body combat class at the gym this morning. I snarled, sweated, punched and kicked my way through an hour and really gave it a 100%. Then I had a lovely spontaneous chat to a woman in the dressing room afterward, came home, had a good lunch and lay on the sunroom sofa and read the paper for an hour. So what's going on?

I think it may be writing. I always get a bit grim when writing feels out of control. At the moment my day job is consuming me and I'm resenting that. I feel like the intensity of it has taken me by surprise and I haven't had a chance to get all the little boxes of my life realigned to suit this turn of events. I don't mind my day job as a rule but it has suddenly got more demanding and I've had to go to endless meetings and my writing hermit is feeling a bit out of kilter. I think that's what it is.

I have the urge to spring clean my study but I'm not sure if this is a displacement activity or a genuine attempt to get my 'house' in order and then do a plan of action for the next few weeks. I hate feeling unsettled like this - maybe that's a better term for it. I'm not really grumpy just unsettled. I'll try and write for a bit and then tidy the study. Then I'll have a glass of wine and a piece of choccy as a reward. Feeling better already!

Short Stories

I'm being a glutton about short stories recently and have just received the anthology of the Bridport prize and am part way through the Asham prize one also. A perfect short story is a delightful thing - a bit like eating just one chocolate out of the box and savouring it. I'm writing a couple at the moment and think it was in the mid nineties when I last wrote one. I'd forgotten what a craft it is and am really enjoying the discipline of saying a lot with a few words - well at last that's what I hope I'm doing! I am aiming to be brave enough to enter a few comps this year.

My favourite short story writer of all time is Raymond Carver - his command of brevity is staggering. Every time I reread one of his I am blown away by the beauty of the stories even when the subject is bleak.

Any recommendations on the short story front from fellow readers/writers?

Living on the Coast

It's bliss living on the South Coast at the moment - sun is forever shinning and it's warm. I feel rather smug when talking to Aussie family and friends and they are shivering in front of a heater - well maybe that's a bit of exaggerating. I was up in London y'day and had to take the tube - what an ordeal. Thought I was going to suffocate - it was so lovely to get back on the train and head back down to the coast - I was feeling smug again.

I've rediscovered the short story after years of favouring novels. I'd forgotten how delicious and compact they are when delivered with a skilled eye and wit. Current bedside reads are: Is this what you want? The Asham short story award winners collection, Journeys - Modern Australian short stories and Leading the Dance by Sarah Salway.

Off to consume a short story in the garden in the sun on the lovely south coast!!!!