Ideas from nowhere

  As you can see my white boards are beginning to fill up with ideas, character descriptions and a few other things. I don’t always use everything that goes up on these boards, and there’s nothing plotted here, only a place to throw ideas and thoughts at. I’ve been troubling over how to start Book…

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Two at a time…

  Last week I wrote about a needing to write two books at at time to make my deadlines. I was getting involved with NaNoWriMo to help do this. Deciding to spend one week on each book, would mean I should get about 25k into each book by the end of November. Best laid plans…

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Naming characters

  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…

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The reality of glyphosate

I watched with annoyance, the ABC’s 4 Corners report on glyphosate and it’s ‘carcinogenic causing’ qualities, then with amusement when the 7.30 report started their series on Australia, how big is too big? According to the 7.30 Report, there is ‘national anxiety’ about the population of Australia; how we’re going to feed and water ourselves,…

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The senselessness of sabotage

  There is a Facebook photo with a picture of a strawberry saying: ‘cut ‘em up, don’t throw ‘em out. Please continue to support Aussie Farmers through berry tough times.’ What a great campaign created through horrible circumstances. I wonder what makes someone or some people want to bring an industry to its knees? What…

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This is how I roll…

The last couple of days have included a few strange ways of getting around the place! Normally I drive a very nice Nissan Patrol Wagon – very comfortable, fuel efficient and very ‘normal’. My friend, however, has a new, fun type car. Can you guess what ‘breed’ it is from this pic? Yesterday was a…

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The start of harvest

Harvest is always looked forward to with a mixture of anticipation and dread – well it is by me anyway. Anticipation because it’s our money making time. We get to see what we’ve achieved over the year, reward for the hard work, so on and so forth. Dread, because it’s dry and hot. Long hours…

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Crimson Dawn: The Edits

Some times there is nothing more I love than editing. After all, the hard work has been done, hasn’t it? The words are on the page and all I have to do is rearrange them, or make them better. Yes? *cough, cough* Perhaps there is a little more to do than that. Some times there…

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Itchy eyes means hay making

It’s time for itchy eyes, ears and throats. Time for burning diesel and driving tractors. Time for all hands on deck. We grow pasture hay, for our animals. In a year like this; as wet as it’s been, the pastures have gone ballistic! We’ve had clover/ryegrass pastures half way between our ankle and knee! Can’t…

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Busy, busy…

The farm is well and truly looking like it’s summer, even though we’re only in mid-October!  Some paddocks have a gold/white tinge across the tops of the plants, indicating it’s done its time. Saturday was a warm 35 degrees, so the crops won’t take long to turn, ripen and harvest will be started before we…

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Pasture Hay in Bales

Fifty bales of hay…

This time of the year is when the craziness starts. The moment we cut the pastures or oats, to make hay, it’s like some gremlin inhabits the farm and makes everyone mad. To get really good quality hay, it’s best if it doesn’t get a rain on it, before it’s in bales. The Boss is…

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Editing and Harvest don’t mix

As the time for the unedited proof copies of Purple Roads to go to the printers, nears, my editing time seems to be shrinking – gasp! Late last week I got the third round of edits back and although there’s still a reasonable amount to do, there is a backlog of farm and housework that…

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