Purple Roads

Blurb for Purple Roads (cover to follow soon!) Purple Roads will be available in April 2012. When Anna and Matt finally buy their dream farm, their struggles aren’t quite over. First it’s patchy rain and poor crops, then Matt has an accident … and even when the heavens finally open all might yet be lost.…

READ MORE

Scary noises…

I guess to write a book you need some sort of imagination. Imagination is something I have and have had since I was very little. I was encouraged to have imagination – my Nana Parnell would tell me stories – stories that came from her head, without pictures or books. I had to guess what…

READ MORE

Guest blog: Bush Babe of Oz

I’m really pleased to have Bush Babe from Oz blogging with me today. She’s a Rainbow. She’s an awesome gal, photographer, worker and mum. We met through the Australia (or rather world)-shrinking device of Twitter; I was drawn to her beautiful photography and she was drawn by my… Well actually I’m not sure. I don’t…

READ MORE

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…

READ MORE

The thunder rolls and the rain falls

  It hasn’t really rained when we wanted it to – well, not in the amounts we would like to have seen this year. The dams around the district have been drying to a puddle, and most farmers that have stock are worried about how they will water them. Us included. It’s amazing how a…

READ MORE

Hay, bales of hay!

Making hay is one of the fun things about the farm … unless you get hay fever, like I do!   For the last few weeks I’ve been sneezing my head off and will continue to do so until harvest has finished.     Rye grass, grain dust, normal dust and ‘fines’ (minuscule particles of…

READ MORE

A rude awakening

Yesterday was busy to say the least. But then again, it seems that’s the norm in my world and has been for many years! We’ve got over one thousand prime lambs ready to leave this morning and tomorrow. We’re also (still) shearing and the hay is nearly ready to be cut – time for me…

READ MORE

Stop and smell the (canola) flowers

      I’m not sure why it’s heart wrenching, incomprehensible tragedies that make us stop and look at our lives – I don’t understand why we can’t see what we have until something happens. Why have I enjoyed the hugs I’ve had from my children more this week than others? Why couldn’t I appreciate…

READ MORE

Fencing

If there is one thing I don’t enjoy on the farm, it’s pulling down old fences. It’s hard, and by the time I had finished on Wednesday, the palms of my hands had tiny punctures wounds all over them from the barbed wire. Gloves you say? Well if I’d had warning that was the job…

READ MORE

A normal Saturday…

It’s been a busy Saturday on ‘McDonald’s Farm’, (we skip the old bit, coz we’re not there yet!) First up was the weekly crop check. It’s not only humans that like going on crop checks. The canines of love it too. They must love the feel of the leaves in their faces or something, because…

READ MORE

Crop checks

There’s nothing more exciting for a farm kid than going on a crop inspection with dad, (more commonly known as The Boss). They get to roll in thigh-high grass, run through it with the dogs and peer into long leaves of barley/wheat/oats to see what’s hiding at the very bottom. Of course any information that…

READ MORE

The awesome Maggie MacKellar

  Maggie MacKellar has been to hell and back in the last few years. The loss of a husband, while pregnant, then the death of a mother, would be enough to send most of us to the wall. Not Maggie. In fact she is not only my Guest author today, she’s also my Guest for…

READ MORE

Interview: Tony Park

I was so lucky to meet Tony while in Perth recently. We discovered a mutual love of Michael Connelly’s writing and talked the craft of writing. It was so exciting to listen to what Tony had to say. Fleur: Welcome to the amazing author Tony Park. Tony has published over eight fiction novels plus a…

READ MORE

Favourite views

These are my favourite views of our farm. It seems to say everything about it – natural (all the bush that has been left as stock shelters), fertile (that dark green is a lovely, healthy looking barley crop), undulating. Then the man made things – good fences and a great road that also acts as…

READ MORE

My old Rexy

I went to sit with my first ‘child’ today. Although he’s a bit dottery on his paws now, and old and grey around the muzzle with weepy eyes, underneath he’s still my old Rex. He was born one cold blustery winter night under the combine in our machinery shed. Coincidentally it was on my dad’s…

READ MORE

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…

READ MORE