Detective Dave Burrows country has a special pull on me. I guess that's why I shifted Dave to his little town called Barker. With Dave and his wife, Kim, living there, I got to hang out in the Flinders Ranges every year, even if I hadn't got back there to physically visit.

It was lockdown and lockout. The WA government had told me I couldn’t visit my parents in South Australia because the borders were remaining shut for the foreseeable future. I would normally head to their place in the Flinders Ranges for a break.

A new rose for a new year. Gorgeous, isn't it? I'm not sure what rose this is - I think it might be Peace, which, if so, is the perfect rose for me coming into 2022. What about you?

Last week, I wrote about needing to write two books at a time to make my deadlines. I was getting involved with NaNoWriMo to help do this.

I wonder if you've ever heard of a little town called Orroroo? It's at the base of the Flinders Ranges, a tiny blip of a gorgeous town, the main street an eclectic mix of old and new and on the main drag between Perth and Sydney.

Tuesday is the D-Day. Deception Creek Publication day.

Ugh. I'm nervous. I always get nervous when a book comes out - you'd think it would get easier, but it doesn't. I have a need for you readers to like my characters, like my story and basically like everything about the book!

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!

Have you ever wondered what happens the morning after a novel gets finished?

Screenshot of a laptop that has words on it, the end of a manuscript says THE END.

I watched with annoyance the ABC’s 4 Corners report on glyphosate and its ‘carcinogenic causing’ qualities, then with amusement when the 7.30 report started its series on Australia: how big is too big?

Having been a farmer for twenty years, I can tell you what the reality of drought is: it’s dry, dusty paddocks, with little or no grass. It’s dams that have nothing but mud in the bottom; sheep or cattle getting stuck as they search for water.

I've been thinking about re-inventing my blog for some time, and now that time is right here. I used to love writing blogs - they would get my fingers all warmed up for writing during the day, and I LOVED sharing photos and little stories of my farming life with you all.

Esperance received a fair bit of rain on Thursday. Rain is one of my all-time favourite parts of Mother Nature. I grew up in the mid-north of SA, where it wasn’t a common occurrence, and as a farmer, I know there are good times for rain and others not so great.

Have you ever read the book The Secret Garden? I fell in love with that book: the mystery and wildness of the garden, the secrets within such a grand old house and of course the unexplained cries in the middle of the night.

Don't these clouds look like fireworks 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.