Fleur McDonald is one of Australia’s leading rural literature authors, with her books becoming best sellers almost as quickly as they hit the shelves. Having sold over 500,000 copies of her books, she has solidified her position as one of the country’s favourite storytellers.

Home is where the heart is

I’ve written before about the depth of my South Australian roots. They are especially entrenched on the station that has been in my family since the 1800s. It’s hard to describe how much the landscape is burned into my soul: the old ruins, the creeks that criss-cross the land, the ‘casha’ or Acacia trees that…

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Guest Blog: Louise Burke

Journalism fascinates me. That’s why Louise is here! She’s answered a few of my questions. I guess being a journo you love words? What’s your favourite word and have you used it in your stories? When people ask me what my favourite word is I always think of the discussion in indie classic Donnie Darko…

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Winners!

This month the guest judge was the lovely and talented Sara Foster! And congratulations to …  *drum roll* Bron for the Readers section and Juliet for the writers section! Expect an email soon! ~ Fleur’s Webmistress

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Purple Roads, finished!

Today I’m feeling wonderful, free and light! I finally put the last full stop on Purple Roads, which may not be big news to you guys, but I can tell you that writing this book hasn’t been easy. Writing any book isn’t easy. It requires ‘bum glue’, dedication, passion and most importantly time. It’s the…

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I love my dictionary…

So I love words. I guess that isn’t surprising since I use them to craft my stories. The English language is incredible. How awesome it is to be able to tell someone in three words that they’re beautiful, or express how proud you are of your children’s achievements. I love the way some words sound…

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Mummy’s Wish

I first heard about Mummy’s Wish via Twitter and thought it was a wonderful initiative.  Read more about them here, follow them on Twitter @mummysWishInc or on Facebook. I am in awe of these two women who had turned a terrible time in their life into something so positive. That’s why today, they are my…

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A shining star

Today I’ll be heading to the beach as I’ve done on this day for the past two years. You see, today it’s two years since my friend Ned died and Ned loved the beach. Her death was expected. She’d been suffering from breast cancer for a while and was told just before Christmas there was…

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Once upon a time there was…

Once upon a time there was a vibrant homestead set deep in a gully. The backdrop to this beautiful setting was rolling hills, green pastures, grazing sheep  and kangaroos, and a bubbling little stream. In days past, these buildings would have echoed with the shouts of shearers as their blades snipped across the sheep’s back,…

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How do you read?

Reading has always been my escape. It’s not often I walk out the front door without a book, just in case I get caught behind a mob of slow moving sheep or I’ve got a spare five minutes waiting for a truck. I can read most places – in a busy cafe, noisy sheep yards…

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Rain! Where for art thou, rain?

We’ve had our opening rains – 30mm over about five or six days. Awesome. You just can’t be unhappy with that. Now I’m going to be a farmer and complain! We need some more. The canola crop is in, we’ve got over 2,000 lambs marked (with another 6,000 to go that I’m not thinking about…

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Bookshelves part 2

My last blog about Bookshelves was a huge hit. Obviously it resonated with a lot of you guys out there and so it should – it’s a really important subject! Here’s some more authors and friends that take their bookshelves as seriously as I do! Helene Young: Order my book shelves? That would take time…

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Bookshelves

To me, bookshelves are a massive talking point when you go to someone’s home. It’s where I gravitate to, after I’ve kissed the hostess hello and collected my glass of wine. The rest of them can go and do what they want, but I head to the bookshelves! The way they are arranged are intensely…

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Guest blog: Steve Rossiter AusLit

Thanks to Fleur for inviting me to write a guest blog for her site. For the benefit of anyone who doesn’t know me, I started The Australian Literature Review website (www.auslit.net), which went online in June last year, and have been it’s Editor since then. (The official 1st birthday is coming up on June 14th.)…

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Nearly there… I think!

I’m on the countdown to having to have Purple Roads finished. I think there is seven weeks until Allen and Unwin are expecting it. While I was in Perth I managed to edit most of the manuscript, but there is still a bit of tidying up to do, plus a few thousand more words to…

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Guest Blog: Kerri Sackville

Kerri has taken the world of Twitter and publishing, by storm. Her hugely successful book ‘When my husband does the dishes‘ has made women and men alike, laugh and cry, from the moment they open they cover. A guest appearance on Sunrise (that you can see here) and Kerri is one of the best known…

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Guest blog: Jo Hart

Poor Jo! She’s been waiting for me to put this blog up for nearly two weeks and I’ve been rather slack! Jo has her short story in Australian Literature: A Snapshot in 10 Short Stories and that was how we hooked up, as mine is in there too. Here she talks about her story, daily…

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