Back to Blog

Life writing - why bother?

When it comes to writing about yourself, you may wonder, why am I bothering? Who is going to be interested in my life and what I have to say?You may be surprised.Telling stories about ourselves is almost as old as time itself. We've been doing it since we dwelt in caves. Back then, we drew pictures of our surroundings and activities - drawings of the animals we saw every day, the ones we killed for food, sketchings of our environment including aliens from space (or so some believe - and the...

Want to beat writer's block? My five tips can help.

That anxiety of the blank page or laptop screen ... the feeling of paralysis that creeps into our fingers when we try to tap the keys or pick up a pen ... the building sensations in our gut caused by apprehension, confusion, guilt. We know the feeling.That's WRITER'S BLOCK. Arrgh!We've all had it. Even writers who are prodigious with their output suffer from it now and then. So how do we beat this block, shove it aside so that we can unleash our artistic energy and scribble away in a heat of cre...

Chocolate cake, champagne and a belly dancer: the perfect birthday celebration

July was always a special month in our family because Mom and I both have birthdays.Mom passed away in 2010 and today, 1 July, she would have been 90. My birthday is rolling along in a couple of weeks.The seventh month of the year was always eagerly anticipated by Mom and I because it gave us the opportunity to have a double hoolie, a good old knees-up that only the celebration of two fabulous birthdays at once could bring. Mom would say, 'Let's get the girls over' and that meant gathering ...

I'm reading my old journals ...

Late last year I set myself the task of reading through my old journals. They're in boxes, numerous exercise and writing books stacked away under my desk. There's quite  a few of them, and here's a picture of some. They begin when I was 18, and continue on to the present day. Tucked in amongst the pages are mementos that I saved: old theatre programmes, newspaper clippings, a McDonald's menu (from the first one opened in New Zealand) and a bus ticket from Auckland to Marton, issue...

Little Boy - the blackbird?

I've long been interested in the 'transmigration of souls' concept, where it is thought that the soul can pass from one body to another - either human, animal, or perhaps to an inanimate object.I think my cat Little Boy, who passed away some weeks back, has transmigrated into one of these bloody blackbirds that have plagued me all summer so far.I wrote about these winged friends in an earlier blog. They had a particularly productive spring, reproducing themselves at an impressive rate, so now th...

What are your writing resolutions for 2017?

How are you getting on with your writing resolutions for the New Year?Maybe this is the year  you'll start work on The Great Novel you've been pondering for ages. Or  you'll finish the one you began three years ago.Perhaps you're wanting to make a start with your writing - give it a go. I can help with that. I have two March writing workshops focussing on journal writing and life writing. Would love to see you. I'll have more during the year. As you sit out in ...

It's quiet round here without Little Boy

It's so quiet around here without Little Boy.He was always there in the morning, waiting at the door for his breakfast, scolding me for taking so long to get to it. Throughout the day, he was a constant presence,  talkative, always up for a walk down the stairs with me to the garden. It's hard not to keep seeing his little face peering through the windows, or out from under the benches, or from atop the table out on the deck.Our animals become such a part of our lives, such a fixture, that ...

Time to say goodbye

Little Boy has been poorly the last couple of days so we went off to the vet this morning. The news wasn't good, so I've brought him home for the weekend with some medications to keep him comfortable, so we can say goodbye.A friend often reminds me of the days before Little Boy arrived on the outskirts of my front lawn, looking beaten up and skinny, an obvious stray. She says that I was wanting a cat I could cuddle, because my other cat, Betsy, is a fractious tabby who doesn't like coddling of a...

The trouble with blackbirds

I've spent some time lately sitting out in the garden, resting while recovering from my recent breast cancer diagnosis and surgery.​There's been plenty to look at.The weather has been particularly lovely - warm, sunny, calm days that are encouraging all of us to come outside and enjoy, especially the birds and their new borns.The garden is alive with flapping, chirping, fluffy fledglings trotting about after their parents, shrieking away, mouths agape for worms and other goodies from the soil....

Why I write

The great American writer Flannery O'Connor once said,  “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” I can relate to those words, particularly when I'm writing my journal which has helped me to make sense of the world, and myself, for over 40 years.Writing for me has always been a balm for the soul, an outlet for the imagination, as normal and natural as breathing (whether it be deep or shallow, fast or slow, or yawning), and definitely a way for me t...

When breast cancer comes back

I’d always wondered how I would feel if breast cancer came back.Now I know. It’s  like a hammer blow to the heart.In my previous posting, I'd written about the anniversary of my first diagnosis, and how I usually celebrate that day marking another year of being cancer free. Of course I was unaware that I had another breast cancer then.As usual, I went in for my annual mammogram. It was clear, but my breast physician picked up a very small irregularity on the ultrasound scan which she al...

Pink - the colour of hope

On the 13 of October it'll be the 15th anniversary of my diagnosis of breast cancer.I think it's a good sign that a friend of mine had to remind me of that yesterday."Is it?" I exclaimed, and she asked, "So what are you going to do to celebrate?"For several years after my diagnosis, I always made sure I did something special on my anniversary day, something that I'd always wanted to do, or that I would enjoy. One year I went to Sydney to see La Boheme in the Opera House. Another year I went to t...

Character drives plot ... or plot drives character?

In my writing tips I've talked about writing your life stories and how to make a start but one of the other most common questions I'm asked is 'I want to write a good ripping fictional story and don't know how to begin.'If you're planning to write a story of high-seas adventure, or a dramatic historical novel, or perhaps a murder mystery - then having​ a sense of story line and the characters that will populate and drive it, is pretty much an essential.Crime writer Val McDermid&...

My writing day

I wish I could say that my writing day is as interesting as that of famous romance novelist  Barbara Cartland.She wrote over 700 romance novels lying on a sofa for several hours a day, telling her stories out loud to a secretary who sat with her, took down words in shorthand and then typed up the day's dictation.  My writing day isn't nearly as glam. I don't have a sofa that would be comfortable to lie on for any length of time, nor can I afford a secretary or cajole one of my fri...

You're never too old to make friends

I've been working on my memoir about my mother, Betty Jane, using my journal entries from the last year or so of her life as the basic structure of the book. Writing about Mom brings her back so powerfully that some days I'm almost positive she's standing behind me, reading over my shoulder, pointing out my grammar and spelling mistakes, as she always did when I asked her to read my work. ​Dad was Mom's primary caregiver and to give him a respite break, Mom would spend a week or so, from ...

A message from Mom via Maya Angelou

My Mom, Betty Jane, was my best friend, my confidante, life coach and so much more.When the going got tough, I could sit down with her, let it all hang out over coffee or a good gin and tonic and some jazz on the stereo, and she would inevitably offer advice that was subtle, yet spot on. I miss her every day.Lately I feel as if I've lost my way a bit. We do from time to time. The way forward isn't too clear, and I cannot back track, so I'm dithering on the sidewalk, tired of doing the same thing...

Swimming in Puget Sound - Super 8 proves I did

Back in the day, you just couldn't beat the old Super 8 home movies. Dad was a great fan, taking the small, wind-up movie camera everywhere - including the deck of our home in Seattle, (Washington USA) to film the sunset...... so some home movies were more interesting than others.The movie camera went with us to Disneyland in 1962, thus  proving I was there. The grainy footage showed me about to lose my lunch whilst being flung about in the Flying Teacups, and rumbling down the Matterhorn.A...

On the subject of home

The subject of 'home', and all that means, is a great writing prompt and one that I often use in my life writing workshops.Home is not only a physical location, but it's a house, parents, family, friends, growing up, life experiences (good and bad) ... there's so much there.This week I helped a good friend move from the house she'd lived in for over 40 years. It was a special day because I'd helped her move in, all those years ago - almost to the day.After the house was empty of furniture and po...

A car called Chickadee

The first car I owned was a Datsun 510 called Chickadee, very much like the one in the photo here.I was 22 or so, had not long been in the USA and didn't know much about cars over there so was fortunate to have a friend who sourced Chickadee for me as a good, reliable, first vehicle.And it was by golly. We weathered some Seattle winters together, a grunty pair of snow tyres on the rear, ploughing our way up and down the hills and out south to where I was living.Then came our great journey. Chick...

You're never too old ...

This week we launched the facebook page for our band Stone Pony.To great fanfare, let me say. We've invited all of our friends to 'like' us and I hope you will visit and 'like' us too.This is the picture that features on our page. We were all wearing our seriously cool faces. Left to right is Ants (bass player), Jason (guitar), Jo (lead vocalist) me, and Reon (guitar). Our wonderful photographer, Megan Moss, took a bunch of photos of us a few weeks back. She had us do all sorts of pose...

What's your writing process?

"I am a completely horizontal author. I can't think unless I'm lying down, either in bed or stretched on a couch, and with a cigarette and coffee handy. I’ve got to be puffing and sipping. As the afternoon wears on, I shift from coffee to mint tea to sherry to martinis."No, that's not me.That was how Truman Capote (pictured) wrote such well-known books as Breakfast at Tiffany's and In Cold Blood. Some days though I can see myself following his writing process - th...

Take Time to Paws

Little Boy is a creative cat indeed and he's just finished the final draft of his latest thriller book, Take Time to Paws. He's now having a well deserved rest and a few beers after all of his hard work.I've been proof reading it for him and I reckon it's pretty good.It has all the elements for a ripper of a story: good strong plot, engaging characters, appropriate setting (this one takes place on the French Riviera. Although LB has not been there, he is a great armchair traveler - it'...

So many talented writers ...

What a privilege it is to meet with fellow writers.I am in a very privileged position because I can do this at my workshops, and it is exciting and interesting to be in the same room with so much talent.I held another Writing Your Life Workshop last Saturday here at Whangaparaoa and met 19 wonderful writers, all keen to get going on their journal writing and life stories.Over the course of the day, we talked about the benefits of keeping a daily journal, and how this practice can build...

Making time to write

In my June newsletter (if you'd like to receive my monthly news CatScratch, please sign up here) I set my readers a challenge.Make a writing schedule for the week and stick to it.I challenged them to do it for a whole month and see how they got on.Now of course I wouldn't ask anyone to do something I wouldn't try myself, so here's how I did with my first week. I decided to schedule work on my next book, a memoir about my Mom who passed away in 2010, on Monday and Wednesday for one hour, fro...

Little Boy is poorly today

Poor Little Boy cat is feeling a bit crook. He's been throwing up his food - charming - and of course the urge comes upon him when he's sitting inside on the carpet. Fortunately the carpet is mostly the same colour so one might scarcely notice ... indeed, until one steps in it, as one did this morning whilst stumbling about in the winter dawn, barefoot. Very nice.It's rather concerning as L Boy is never sick like that. We've been to the vet and he now has some special Science Diet food, and naus...