A squint seems like a funny name for a window. Apart from describing a medical condition, we use it now, mostly to suggest someone looking with their eyes partly shut, often against the sun; it’s a very common Australian characteristic. When I don’t have my glasses to read, I instinctively squint, and for some reason, … Continue reading squinting from the past
Launching
It has been a bit over five years since it all started in earnest: me sitting down each day to write, discovering characters, gradually shaping a story. I knew the thirteenth-century context, and I knew my starting point was an anchoress — a woman choosing to be enclosed in a stone cell, helped in … Continue reading Launching
the open heart
One of my favourite poems is ee cummings’ may my heart always be open to little may my heart always be open to little birds who are the secrets of living whatever they sing is better than to know and if men should not hear them men are old may my mind stroll about hungry … Continue reading the open heart
The cell: real and imagined
He closed the heavy wooden door behind him. Five of us were now shut in this small room about ten paces from end to end, and even fewer across. It was late afternoon in early spring; some sun came through the leadlight windows and candles were burning, but we were glad to have the lights … Continue reading The cell: real and imagined
sneak preview
The picture isn’t quite finished yet, and this is only the unedited review copy … but it’s so exciting to have it, finally, as something I can hold in my hand. I never thought the day would come! This is the Fourth Estate, Australian edition. And I’m waiting on a fast plane to bring me … Continue reading sneak preview
There and back again
We share our four acres with a menagerie of creatures. There are the usual suspects: three dogs, three alpacas and four chooks, but a piece of land in the country means that we always have unexpected visitors, many of them just passing through, some that take up residence. Sometimes they interrupt a day. The dogs … Continue reading There and back again
