Friday, 24 June 2011

Tousle Me Gently Dog.

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 Milly the Cavoodle pads into the family room. I reach down to pat her.
'Milly feels soft.'
'Hmmm,' agrees husband. 'Soft and tousled.'
Dog snuffles to daughter and leaps onto her lap. 'Milly actually smells good. What did you wash her with?'
Husband/father shrugs and offers a 'durrr' face. 'Shampoo.'
'Thought we were out of dog shampoo,' says daughter.
Husband wiggles eyebrows.
In the shower this morning, I reached for the shampoo. The Tousle Me Gently bottle is empty. Apparently it works on dog's too!




Wednesday, 22 June 2011

A Break From Editing

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I took a break from editing today and visited Inverleigh Primary School. What a gorgeous group of kids. Bright, enthusiastic, funny and a complete delight to work with. We worked on ideas, how to develop an idea into a story and how to make the starts sparkle. Thank you to the staff and students for the opportunity.
As always, there were lots of laughs. I showed the younger students an overseas edition of My Gran's Different and asked them to guess where it was published. One child suggested the country could be South Snot. Close - but no cigar...the answer I was looking for was South Korea.  Made us all laugh though!
Now it's back to editing - we're still playing around with titles. Stayed tuned!

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Dalai Llama

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Two dear friends and I trundled off on Saturday to listen to His Holiness, the Dalai Lama speak at the Melbourne Convention Centre. It is  his last public speaking tour, making the event even more special.
Apart from his message - love, compassion, and truth - his impassioned speech about the importance of teachers and teaching, not just in schools, but in all areas of life, struck a real chord with me.I've spent the last couple of days, between editing, thinking about people who have shared their skill and knowledge with me and taught me so much. School teachers (Mrs Phillips, Miss Woodburn, Mr Samuel) lecturers (Frank Nolan)  family (Bruce, Court, Papa, Gran, Annie, Jan) and friends (Doobs, Kath, Kaye, KT, Corinne, Mab, AK, Glenn, Greg) So many generous people who have shared so much with me. So much to be grateful for.

Friday, 10 June 2011

Of walks, edits and the Dalai Lama.....

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Yesterday was a full but rewarding day - an inspiring and productive editorial meeting and lunch with dear friends. If only I could have squeezed in one more coffee...
Today I'm back at the computer, editing. I love editing - this for me, is is where the story blossoms. But before I put red pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, I like to let the discussions and new ideas 'compost' as KT calls it.
A long walk, even when it's grey and icy, allows the pieces of our meeting to drift around my head and take shape, so that by the time I sit to edit, my brain is buzzing - in a good way. There's nothing like the combination of activity and gorgeous scenery to inspire. And there is always something new to see.
More inspiration tomorrow. I'm very excited to be going to hear the Dalai Lama speak in Melbourne - more travel, but more time with terrific people. I'm one lucky soul.

Wednesday, 8 June 2011

When the muse strikes...

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Sunday I decided to make yo yo biscuits for my neighbours. Best batter consistency I've made, I swear. These were going to be sensational!

While I was kneading, rolling, and flattening, the muse struck, as it does, and my current work-in-progress called. I slipped the tray into the oven and bolted to the office.
Twenty minutes later, my daughter wandered out of her cave, sniffed, and said, 'What are you cooking?'

 On the up side, a friend who has chooks visited Monday.