You know that horrible sinking feeling when you go to a place in a carpark, thinking your car is going to be there and it’s not? It’s a damn horrible feeling huh? Actually, no you probably don’t because I’m sure you’re much more sensible than I am and have never lost a car. I…
I’ve never been one to conform. I always push the boundaries of whatever I do, whether it was rebelling against the constraints of society as I grew up, or rallying against being told what to do (yes, I was a HORRIBLE teenager!) or writing. And I guess it shows in the way I really wanted…
Well it’s November and November can be an important month in writer-world. November means NaNoWriMo. What does that mean, you might ask? Well, it means National Novel Writing Month. And today, I’ve just formatted my new file to start book 20, so I can join in. During NaNoWriMo, you’re supposed to write about 50,000…
I’m often asked what it takes to write a book. Having finished my 19th novel about twelve hours ago, I reflected on the question, whilst sitting on the patio with a wine, screaming: ‘thank god that’s done!’ So, I compiled a list. A workable laptop. Not one that dies with only copy of your…
I’m really excited that my 15th novel is coming out in early November. I know I say this often, but, if you’d told me 11 years ago that I would write one novel, let alone 15, I’m not sure I would have ever believed you! Anyway, there’s going to be a pre-release launch of The…
Guess what? On Monday, my fourteenth novel went to print. Who would have thought that eleven years after Red Dust was published, that I’d still be tapping at the key boards and playing with my imaginary friends? Red Dirt Country is the third book in the Dave Burrows series – not that you have to…
You told me you’d like to read a bit of STARTING FROM NOW… Here’s the prologue and first chapter. Starting_Prologue Starting_ChapterOne If you decide yo’d like to buy a copy, then head here to do so! Buy STARTING FROM NOW. Blurb: A suspenseful novel of rural life and real country issues from our genuine Voice…
STARTING FROM NOW doesn’t hit the shelves until October 5, but you’ve got the opportunity to get your hands on a copy, a month early! I’ve had a heap of emails from people wanting to get a signed copy of STARTING FROM NOW. Some for themselves and others are wanting Christmas presents (who organises Christmas…
I love music and I think this image is such a good reflection of how I feel when I listen to it – all emotions and thoughts and love and hate and fear all mixed up into one loud bar of stirring sound. It doesn’t matter what sort it is; country, piano, rap, popular. If…
I’ve always said I can write anywhere. With a deadline looming (as they always seem to!) and having to take our exchange student back to Perth to fly home to Italy, I’ve proved again, I can do just that. On Thursday we left to do a ‘last tour’ of the south west, so Gabri got…
Today, Where the River Runs, goes to print. This book feels like it’s been a mammoth effort – I was supposed to have it finished a long time before I actually handed the manuscript in… There was a reason! On the 29th of December I was leaning down to pull up a fence so…
Meet Jack. He’s the new addition to the McDonald household. He’s a gorgeous, energetic, five year old Kelpie from Woonwooring Kelpies at Cunderdin. Why, might you ask, does someone who lives in town and writes books for a living, need a Kelpie? And that would be good question because Kelpies need space to run around…
Don’t these clouds look like fire works gone wrong? Actually I can’t say that, because in all the fireworks I’ve seen, I wouldn’t have a clue if they’d gone wrong or not! Anyhow, when I looked up at these, that was the first thing I thought of. I was staying with a friend, on a…
CALLING ALL WRITERS! So now I’m not farming full time, I need to put all of my efforts into writing. I sat down with a friend to map out my next twelve months and we came up with an idea to run a Writer’s Workshop. The Making of your Manuscript workshop is a limited…
It’s been a while now, since Emerald Springs came out. Three months in fact! Like I said in a previous post, it was pretty hard to write – there was lots going on. One of the things that kept me focussed was that I had huge tour in front of me. We were…
the roads in the Mid north of SA It’s funny where life takes you. Often you have know idea what is around the corner, or if you do, it’s completely different to what you thought was going to be there. I saw a quote on Facebook yesterday and it went something like: ‘Life didn’t go…
I though things were supposed to happen in threes? Well just recently they feel like they’re happening in tens. Or even twenties! Okay, that’s an exaggeration, thank goodness. My point is, every time I turn around something bad is happening to someone I love, someone I know, someone I used to know. People are…
Well, gotta say it’s not every day that I turn 40. I’ve said before that approaching this big birthday, I wasn’t at all worried. I was grateful to be able to celebrate it because plenty of people I know haven’t had that privilege. That was until my sister rang this morning and said: ‘Just think…
In a couple of weeks I’ll have a phone call from mum telling me the story of the day I was born. I get it every year… Does your mum do (or has she done) that? It goes something like this: ‘The creeks were up, as your Nana drove me across to Booleroo to…
Every so often things go slightly crazy around here. I’ve written a few blogs about when it happens. One is here and another one, here. They always seem to involve snakes, frogs, chooks, kids and the Jack Russell. Today was one of moments. Teenagers seem to like their music up loud. We have a new car…
Every so often an opportunity arrives, that you just can’t pass up, no matter the circumstances. Harvest and Hay making are extremely important in farming world. Hay means there is food for the stock during the dry times and harvest is the money making part of the year. This year, canola harvest and hay making…
