My Writing

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Every Thursday mid-morning, I head over to my parents for a bit of conversation and coffee. It’s something I look forward to every week because it’s a good

Here are this week’s snap stories of personal learning commencing 31 July. Monday 31 July 2017 My Sydney trip, in truth, exhausted me. It gets really tiring

Here are this week’s snap stories of personal learning commencing 24 July. Monday 24 July 2017 Today I share some snaps on my process for dealing with

An oldie but ever more the case

I’ve joined.

Lazy Wednesday

Jane

Time for a

Irish folk punk – it’s

It’s So Cold

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I don’t know why people say you dream in black and white. I can assure you I dream in full splendorous colour and like I’m watching a film. Last night I

Here’s the latest book review that has been published on my YouTube channel called Life Lessons From Books. I love the writing of Coetzee and I’m collecting

There’s a family of magpies that live in one of the trees in our yard. Every day we see five or six of them ripping into our lawn searching for worms. Andrew

This is a post I finally got around to writing. I’m lying in bed coughing out a lung then painfully swallowing, what feels like tiny razor sharp blades in my

Here’s a book that has just been published on my YouTube channel “Life Lesson From Books”. I read it over a month ago now. ( All my videos are recorded soon

Here’s the latest video book review I uploaded. For any Charles Bukowski favs, you might like John

Late last year, I came up with an idea to start a book club for our golf club and put the idea out there. Here’s Tiger reading this month’s book, The Bell

I have so many books that I’ve run out of book shelves. Books are now stacked in near piles on the floor, desks and coffee tables. Buying more shelves is out

It took some years but I finally caught it. I was holding onto the hope of never getting it but unfortunately, it happened. I’ve had all my boosters, I tried

When we were in Canberra last week, I had an opportunity to visit book stores in the city. Some general and others more specific related to the galleries and

I’m over the bulk of the COVID symptoms although I’m still coughing and have a runny nose. I STILL don’t have a sense of smell or taste and can’t wait to get

It’s never ending isn’t it? Argh. I’ve now cancelled our trip to the Clunes Book Festival which I was looking forward to all year. Two days of book talks,

Evenings at ours means a lot of time spent on the sofa watching television, reading books or listening to music. Tonight as we listened to a CD by Suede, I

On Saturday night, Andrew and I went to a local theatre group to see a performance of this play based on a book called The Lifespan of a Fact. We hadn’t been

I don’t know how many times this year I’ve thought to myself that “ I don’t understand the world we are living in right now.” It’s as the lines are blurred

So I guess now you can say I’m being paid by YouTube for my book reviews. It was a nice surprise to see $100 in my account from people watching my videos.

Many years ago when I was in the corporate world, every team bonding activity involved some kind of personality test. These tests evaluated our preferences

It’s Wednesday morning. Outside, except for a call of a magpie, it’s quiet. I pulled out of playing golf early this morning because I hadn’t slept well last

This year I joined Writers Victoria based out of the Wheelers Centre at the back of the State Library of Victoria. The centre supports writers by providing

Everyone is talking about how one of our biggest news channels this week used generative AI to Photoshop one of our politicians photos. Of course she was a

I’m at this weird age where some friends, family members and acquaintances are still working, close to retirement or just decided to retire early (like

Today was our 18th wedding anniversary and we usually celebrate the day with a dinner somewhere. This year, I decided to instead see an exhibition in town

We travelled to Canberra for a few days for family reasons and while there, I had an opportunity to act as a tourist. I worked there for four years and I

The day was sweltering hot on Tuesday. It was 38 and with strong winds. The worst weather you’d wish to have in a state that still remembers the worst bush

Picture this. It’s near midnight. I’m on the couch nearing the end of Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road about a post apocalyptic world then I hear our garage

I’m excited!!!! I’ve booked myself to do this creative writing workshop at the wonderful home Mulberry Hill, of writer Joan Lindsay (author of Picnic at

It was about time I read this book. We have two copies. The first one is the Oxford Classic which I’m poring over (you have no idea how much I love going

Over the last few days I’ve been pretending it’s 1942 in Melbourne. It was a weird time back then. Singapore and Phillipines had fallen to the Japanese and

2023 was a great year for reading. I read War and Peace as my “Big Book for 2023” and I LOVED IT. I was a bit sad when I finished it because it had been part

A few days ago I reached 3000 subscribers on my YouTube channel. All without using social media to promote it, creating Shorts or using AI for any of it.

How ironic that the most quaintly analog form of research possible, using physical books in a physical library, has been devastated by the hijacking of a

A bowling alley, arcade and mini golf course (putt putt) has recently opened up near where we live. We live near an industrial estate and a lot of the

Goodbye 2023 and hello 2024. I can’t believe how quickly the years go by now. I stopped work in October 2022 and decided not to return to the corporate world

We are expected to have 2 months of rainfall in the next day. We have had so much rain these last few months that it’s crazy. Most of Queensland is under

What’s this crazy trend seeing young women everywhere wearing fake eyelashes? Yesterday, I dropped my car for a service and both attendants who were at the

I have been having a lot of fun writing creatively every day. Most of it is done in a journal called the Writer’s Workbook which I’ve nearly completed. It

I spent a few hours today watching old films. When they’ve been colourised and no doubt sprinkled with some magic AI and there’s something that seems a

As is my usual custom every year, I started on a health kick. We have a wedding to attend in March so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to lose a

Is this a thing now? Selling prompts for ChatGPT? Spare me. 😒 There has to be something bizarre when people spend more time refining their questions and

If you want to see what I think of the impact of technology on our lives, then check out this video. Ha! Today I went back to the National Gallery of

Yesterday was a warm humid day in Melbourne and I had planned to play golf in the morning. However, I decided to change it at the last minute and instead,

This paragraph from Charlotte Wood’s new book Stone Yard Devotional. I’ve been a fan of her writing ever since I read The Weekend but this time her book is a

I’ve reached that stage where weekdays and weekends run into each other. “What day is it?” I ask my husband. “Unfortunately not the weekend,” he groans

I’m supposed to be continuing my virtual journey through France and I was ready to go to Nice. However the town strikes me as “too flash, too touristy” and I

Here’s my latest book review. This year, I’ve read 75 books so far with my favourite author finds are Julian Barnes, Anita Brookner, Mieko Kawakami and Yoko

The day before Christmas and I’m spending it outside again lapping every bit of sunshine. I thought I’d enjoy the sunny day because as of tomorrow on

Here’s my latest book review that was just published on YouTube. I think this book is one of the best books I’ve read this

A morning walk around this man-made lake in Canberra that was built in 1987 to trap sediment for the Murrumbidgee River, is a picturesque start to any day.

2023 was a year for the mushrooms. For one, some woman in some regional town outside of Melbourne tried to murder her family by inviting them to lunch and

Our weather in Melbourne has been wet, cold and miserable. As an indication, I’m wearing a scarf and beanie at the moment – unheard of at this time of the

I have never been through weather as turbulent as we are experiencing in Melbourne. While the rest of Australia is burning up with the hottest temperatures

So it seems my little virtual jaunt through Rimes recently to explore the champagne houses, vineyards and underground caves stocked with champagne came in

Last week I created this fun video to talk about whether certain genres of books listed alphabetically, were hot or not, according to me. I was inspired by

Today was our golf club’s 109th Women’s Annual Trophy Presentation and Christmas Lunch. I was looking forward to this event. We were in teams of three and

“Isn’t that a wine?” I mused. 🤔 I had heard of this town but to be honest, didn’t know where it was in France so I checked the map when I was in Annecy and

Today I take to my car (I hired a 1955 Citröen DS – don’t ask about the cost because as it’s a virtual tour – money is no object so I splurged) and decided

Strap on those skis and let’s get ready to hit the slopes…. Well, not exactly. It hadn’t started snowing but as I went further up into the mountains, the

So I’ve left the Champagne region and headed over to Dijon for my next stop. It’s the 19th November and my aim is to also try to get to the Beaune Wine

I decided to head to Rimes today. There’s 6 direct trains every day at a cost of 27 Euros and the trip lasts for an hour and a half. Of course, as it’s a

Photo by Matt Hardy on Pexels.com Today I arrived in Paris. It was a beautiful, sunny day. (My imagination means that every day will be a sunny day). There’s

Over the last couple of days, ten of the women from our golf club decided to play at 13th Beach which has reciprocal rights with our golf course. It’s a

Here’s the latest book review that has just been published on

Here’s the latest video I shared on YouTube about some thoughts of the writing of Annie Ernaux. I pontificate about her style of writing, her openness

Last week on Friday, I played at Heidelberg Golf Club which is north east of Melbourne to represent our gold club, Woodlands, as part of a team of six. I’m

It’s been interesting to be learning French these last few years. It’s now well and truly ingrained into my life. I cannot go a day without listening,

Well I finally turned on the Monetisation switch of my YouTube channel. I had been thinking long and hard about it because part of me was (1) embarrassed but

Just a short video about perusing books in shelves at a book store. I ended up buying Clive James’ interpretation of Dante’s Inferno as a gift for my

Photo by Louis on Pexels.com I haven’t been on an overseas trip since…well 2019, before COVID. Since that time, the only time I’ve been away from home has

Last night I had a dream that I was flying through the air. I love these dreams when they happen. This time, I was above the crystal blue ocean and I could

My husband wanted to help out with the housework and I was surprised. “I’ll help with the vacuuming,” he said. Here I was thinking that he could help me lug

I bought some more second hand books yesterday. Here they

Today I had a bit of an adventure. I had to break a $100 note (yes, I still use cash as back up emergency and as it’s still legal tender even though some

There was a lot of bird shite on our lawn and I looked up to see a couple of Tawny Frogmouths sitting in our tree. I think it was Mother and Baby while the

I’m calling it out that the 2020s can go back into their box. I’m struggling to think of another time that has seen so much fear, anger, arguments, conflict,

Now that I have so much time on my hands, one of the things I love to do on sunny days is sit out in our back garden for the entire day. After a morning

So after a little while (it’s taken over two years of creating short book review content), I get this notification from YouTube that I’ve reached enough to

I’ve been writing in journals since I was 15 and have my entire life and reflections written in thousands of pages over the years. It’s been exactly a year

After being disturbed from doing my book review, (always a danger to do these on weekends when my husband is home), I finally reviewed this

My latest book review has been published. This one was a Book Club Book and the latest by this author. I’ve read a couple of her books n years past but I

A couple of weeks ago, I asked if my golf club could promote an idea I had in their newsletter for the members. It was a book club for our golf club. Our