Archive for the 'General' Category

Writers and discouragement

No Comments »15th May, 2009; Category: General

Writing can be a very discouraging occupation at times. Much of the time actually. I went through a period of many months a few years ago when I had a string of rejections – 30 of them in a row. It almost brought me to the point of quitting.

But like my need to breathe, I need to write.

So I kept on writing and submitting stories, poems and articles. I kept posting on my blogs. Soon the income from my blogs increased and soon I started getting my writing accepted again. I’m pleased I didn’t give up. The most recent 30 submissions have seen 18 acceptances. Now that’s a better acceptance/rejection ratio.

My most recent publication success came this week with the arrival of a complementary copy of a magazine which included a suite of five sonnets I had written. That’s more encouragement, and I really needed that because I’m going through a few tough health issues at present.

Never quit.

Keep on writing.

Good writing.

Follow me on Twitter

No Comments »28th February, 2009; Category: General, Short Stories

A new phenomenon sweeping the internet is Twitter.

Okay – I’ll come clean, I’m new to Twitter and I’m not really sure how effective it will be in relation to my blogging, writing and the way in which I do things. I’ve only been on it a few weeks now, but already I find it great for keeping up with breaking news. The downside of this is that it can be a terrible distraction. During the recent tragic fires in Victoria, however, it was great keeping up to date on happenings.

I joined Twitter at the urging of my son Sim’ so he could keep informed about what I was doing. In return, I can easily keep track of what he is doing. It’s neat.

If you want to follow me on Twitter, you can do so on the sidebar where it says “Follow my Twitters.” That’s really intuitive, isn’t it? That way you will keep up to date with what’s happening around here.

Oh, by the way – I’m also fairly new on Facebook too.

Good writing.

Wild firestorms in Victoria

No Comments »8th February, 2009; Category: General

My condolences to all the people of the Australian state of Victoria who have lost family members or friends in the wild firestorms that have devastated many areas of the state over the last 48 hours.

At the time of writing at least 76 people have died and 700 homes have been destroyed.

You can read more details on my birding blog here.

They’ve taken away my time

1 Comment »5th October, 2008; Category: General

Aaaah – I’ve lost an hour today – and won’t get it back again for nearly six months.

Daylight Saving started across Australia at 2am this morning. I lost an hour of my time and I’ve been looking for it all day. [sigh]

In reality, I actually saw the clock on my computer tick over the jump of an hour – I wasn’t well at the time and couldn’t sleep. What I want to know is: how did my computer know that here in South Australia the government had brought the start three weeks earlier than usual? Is someone messing with my computer without me knowing it?

When I eventually felt a little better and ready to face the day – yes, I did get a few hour’s sleep – I had the usual task of going around changing all the clocks in the house. Ooops -I just remembered that I haven’t done the car clocks yet.

Talking about time on this writing blog is rather timely… er… relevant at present, but I will write about that tomorrow. Meanwhile, I need some extra sleep to make up for the hour lost last night.

Good writing.

Take time to smell the roses…er… or look at the orchids

1 Comment »4th October, 2008; Category: General

Orchid flowers

Life gets too hectic at times.

This year has been particularly busy, especially trying to get all my study assignments done, travelling to and from university (an hour each way three times a week) plus being on a few committees and trying to do some blogging and writing.

So I decided that it is time to smell the roses a bit more. Trouble is – the roses are not quite flowering yet. They have plenty of new growth and flower buds coming butÂ they need a few more days yet before they bloom.

Orchid flowers

So, enter my orchid collection. Is three pots of orchids a collection? Now I can take time out from the busyness of life, writing, study, committees and so on to sit there, cup of tea in hand and just look at the orchids.

Wonderfully soothing.

I just couldn’t help sharing these lovely photos of them with you, so you can relax looking at them too.

Click on the photo to emlarge the image.

Orchid flowers