Clare Valley writers festival 2013
Rural scene, Clare Valley, South Australia
Clare Valley Writers’ week: bringing readers and writers together.
November 25th – December 1st 2013.
In recent days I have written about several other writers ‘festivals here in South Australia. Late in the year there is another one scheduled to be held in the Clare Valley in the mid-north of South Australia. This was my home town until we moved to Murray Bridge some 30 years ago. My daughter now lives in Clare, just around the corner from where she lived as a young girl.
This is the inaugural writers’ festival in the Clare area. It has much to offer and a great deal of potential. Here is another example of reading, writing, fine food and wine coming together to celebrate not only our finest writers – the line up of speakers is impressive – but also our great food and wine heritage.
I plan to be there. I may even enter several of the writing competitions which are now open.
For further information click here.
For the curious and discerning reader you can read some of my writing on this site: just go to the contents section on the sidebar.
Rural scene, Clare Valley, South Australia
Some thoughts about writing, retirement and travel
8 Comments »22nd May, 2013; Category: The Writer's Life
Autumn leaves in Bright, Victoria
I haven’t had much time recently to add more posts here on this site. If you’ve missed me, my apologies.
Like many “retired” people I find that life can get very hectic when one is cut loose from the demands and discipline of fronting up to a job on a daily basis. I seem to be everyone’s target for calling on to do extra things. I guess I was also far more disciplined in my working years, and only took on those activities I knew I could handle – most of the time.
There is also the matter of advancing years. I find that physical tasks often take far more time to complete these days. Strange phenomenon that one. In retirement I also find many more interesting things to distract me, where I was far more focussed when I was working.
I have managed to clear the decks somewhat in the coming months, so I can hopefully devote far more time to my writing for the rest of the year, including this site and my other sites as well. That’s the plan anyway; I hope it pans out as planned.
I see only one major obstacle: our desire to travel.
My wife and I recently enjoyed our first long caravan holiday in many years. We were delighted to visit Mt Beauty and Bright in the Victorian high country. The amazing display of autumn leaves left us wanting to stay much longer. Then we spent a few days bush camping in the Barmah Forest near Echuca. We started to question our lifestyle. We concluded that we could – like many retirees – become accustomed to being itinerants, moving around and exploring the wonders of this beautiful country of ours.
Autumn leaves in Mt Beauty, Victoria
Mt Beauty, Victoria
This really annoys me
WARNING: This post is not much about writing. I felt the need to vent a little online. I don’t do it very often.
Most of the time I am very calm and don’t let minor things upset, but every now and then something gets up my nose.
Briefly.
Then I try to let it slide; life’s too short to let a minor irritation get the better of me.
For many years now I’ve had a watch which had a stopwatch facility. Whenever I am writing, or doing research linked to my writing, I have used this facility. At the end of each day I record on a chart how many hours I’ve spent on my writing that day, as well as how many blog posts I’ve written and a word count for the day. These figures are kept as a tally on this chart so I can see if I’m reaching my writing goals. It’s a way of keeping me accountable to myself. Works for me.
Just over two years ago I bought a new watch. The old one had seen many years of faithful, reliable service, save for an occasional new battery. The jewellery shop I usually go to no longer stocked the watch, and batteries were no longer available. Time for an upgrade after many years, I thought. The new watch was good, albeit a little bulky/clunky in appearance, but I coped.
A few weeks ago the battery failed. Suddenly – right in mid-sentence. So I went to have it replaced – not a problem. It was a few weeks out of warranty, but that wasn’t what upset me. A few days later the rubber/plastic strap threatened to break at any moment. Oh no. Having just spent money on a battery, I wasn’t keen to fork out more for a strap. It would have almost been cheaper to have bought a new watch. So I did.
The old watch is still very functional; I just can’t wear it, so it sits on my writing desk still performing nicely in timing my writing patterns. I am determined to get my money’s worth out of that battery.
The throw away society mentality really gets up my nose. Built in obsolescence has always pushed my button.
And I won’t even start on about having to replace a perfectly good – but very old – mobile phone this last week. SIGH.
Good writing.
Writing prompt – what’s behind the window?
No Comments »3rd February, 2013; Category: Fiction, Short Fiction, Short Stories, Short Story Starters, The Writer's Life, Writing prompts
Windows in the Kasbah des Oudaias, Rabat, Morocco
On our visit to the Rabat, the capital of Morocco, my attention was grabbed by this intriguing, yet, beautiful, set of windows in the Kasbah des Oudaias.
The writer in me started wondering: what’s behind the windows?
Who lives here? What are the stories of the people living here?
If the windows could tell, what stories would they weave.
This quaint, simple scene is evocative of the mysterious, magical Morocco we experienced throughout our tour.
Could this be the setting for a poem?
A short story?
A murder mystery – or a tearful romance?
Good writing.