Ready, set, write – Writing races on tonight!

I write slower than Christy Brown with his left foot, so if you want to be on a sure-fire winner, join me for Writing Races tonight (Wednesday 9 May, 7.50 pm AEST) Just click on this link – Write with YA author Christine Bongers tonight! and follow the links. The beagle and I will be [...]

Flippin’ busy

Lately I’ve been feeling like a one-armed woman in a phone booth with a swarm of bees. Too many things coming at me at once. Talks, deadlines, workshops, Mum in hospital, hubba hubby overseas (on a Brokeback Mountain-biking week, no less  – better bring back some fish!), a crescendo of kids’ sporting commitments, an unfinished [...]

First day back tomorrow

It used to be my hat I couldn’t find…my pencil case….my school shoes. Now it’s my USB stick…my wireless mouse …my silver birkenstocks. It’s my first day back at school tomorrow and the usual last-minute flap is fluttering feathers around the house. I’m almost packed. Almost organised. At least I don’t have to worry about [...]

Everything you always wanted to know about writing YA but were afraid to ask

When I wrote my first novel I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I had a head full of dreams and a driving need to capture evocative moments on paper. I wrote scene after scene, but had no idea how to string them together into a meaningful work of fiction. When I finally [...]

Confessions of a dog owner

Boo me now – but I have never been a dog person. I know they’re cute, they’re loyal and they love unconditionally. But they also stink, they’re needy, they have fleas. They have some seriously distasteful licking and eating habits, and lordy lordy, don’t get me started on their by-products. The very thought of picking [...]

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 14,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many [...]

It’s supposed to be hard

‘If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.‘ Jimmy Dugan in A league of their own Confession time. I am not one of those writers who can spew out tens of thousands of words with gattling gun intensity. The mere thought of writing 50,000 words in a month [...]

Days like this

I have man flu. My usual nocturnal purr has become an alarming rafter-rattling snore that has destroyed my vocal chords. I cough, I splutter, I spend a day in bed reading Melina Marchetta’s mesmerisingly brilliant Froi of the Exiles. I graduate from no voice to man voice. Telemarketers ask if my wife’s home. I need [...]

A page a day is a novel a year

In recent weeks the work-in-progress has gone from tetchy to down-right flinty-eyed. Now the silent treatment has given way to full-blown tirades whenever I’m within spitting distance of the keyboard. So you’re back, are you? Think you can just dump me, then pick up where we left off? After you’ve been running around with that [...]

Still counting

There have been a few changes over the past seventeen years. Someone (not him) has gained a few kilos. Someone (not me) has lost a bit of hair. He still goes on his surf trips. Because old surfers never die, they just stand up and paddle. I still don’t understand why people wonder at me [...]