Archive for » July, 2010 «

30
Jul 2010

Shearing

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I went out to Burnside today (the Garard’s farm) as they were shearing.  I needed a few pictures for the book trailer and for the website so people can see what I’m talking about when they read my next book.  I found out today that there are three Burnside’s in WA (hence the PIN (for Pingaring) under the farm name on the bale).  If your farm name is one of them, tell us where about in WA you are?

I was hoping to take photo’s of the hero of my book, a blond muscly 28 year old shearer…but alas…he was nowhere to be seen. (Maybe he was off sick!?!) Actually I think he’s left and gone to work on the mines!! Anywhoo I got plenty of other shots and was even in time for Di’s morning smoko!  What a treat!  Sitting on a bale with a cuppa made by my mate Dennis with a range of food fit for a king.   It was nice to get out of the house (and away from the computer) and go visiting.  I didn’t hang around as they had a spare drench gun and were looking for volunteers lol.  This afternoon is set aside for book writing and setting up a few things for the website.  Time to get cracking.

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Category: Only in the country, The Farmer's Life, The Writer's Life  4 Comments
30
Jul 2010

Winner!

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Well it’s time to draw the competition and I’m glad to announce that Jane Barber was our randomly selected winner!  Well done to Jane, whose signed copy and goodies will be on their way to you soon.

Big thanks to all those who entered, and keep an eye out as I will run another competition at a later date.  In a few months (or 6) I should be able to giveaway a copy of the new book.  I look forward to holding that book in my hands!!

Cheers for now,

Fee

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Category: Giveaways  3 Comments
21
Jul 2010

The joy of school holidays

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We have a couple of kids for a sleepover and so we all went up to the rock.  My kids had to show their friends their cubby house in the bush (when we play golf, the babysitter lets them play in the bush.  Good, healthy outside fun!).  Our local golf course weaves through the many rock formations, and it’s a beautiful spot.

We climbed a few rocks to search for tadpoles in the pools of water.  We were out of luck (a bit early for them yet)…thank god as I’ve had my fair share of tadpoles/half frogs in my house!  As we were walking, climbing over fallen trees and crawling through bushes we found some big rabbit holes.  I warned the kids not to get too close in case they did an Alice and fell into Wonderland (I think my humour was wasted on the younger two).  Then we had a picnic and counted caterpillars as we sat on the green fairway.

All in all, it was a beautiful day with the sun shinning and no wind.  I even had a ball.  It really is worth it to take time out to do something special with you kids, as they will remember it forever.  I know I still do when my folks took us to the rock.  Even if it only was for an hour, kids will remember it like it was a whole day.  They need these good memories to take with them into adulthood.  It says I was loved. Ditch the DS on the couch along with whatever other computerised gizmo they have and get outside, ride your bikes, walk along the beach…it’s all good.  Time rushes by fast enough, cherish the time we have with them while they are still young.  Yep, I’ve said my bit now lol!

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Category: Family  Leave a Comment
21
Jul 2010

Fog

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Winter – oh the joys of frosty mornings. On this particular morning I was on my way to my friends house to pick up my kids and the fog was really thick  AND it was 10.30am!!  Yes, the farmers would have been twiddling their fingers waiting for it to lift so they could go spraying.  I know my dad was at home waiting…probably enjoying the warmth before he went out into the cold to play with water.

This picture is of my friends house from their driveway and you can just make out it out.  The camera never seems to pick up just how thick it is.

I nearly ran over the shire crew on my way there.  They had two graders parked up on the road.  They appeared out of nowhere in the fog.  I bet they thought twice about standing on the road to talk in a fog, especially with me behind the wheel!!  As i left near lunch time i could still see areas of fog.  Well at least it wasn’t a frost.  I’m hoping they stay away.  Its been a bad enough start to the year, no one needs their crops wiped out from the frost as well.

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Category: Only in the country, The Farmer's Life  Leave a Comment
19
Jul 2010

Win win win!

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For your chance to win a signed copy of my book, along with some bookmarks, fridge magnets and a Gum Tree Tavern stubby holder just answer the following question to me by email fiona_palmer@bigpond.com

(Those who have read The Family Farm will be familiar with the ‘Tree’ as I wrote about it in the book – now is your chance to have your slice of the Tree, be it in the very important form of a stubby holder and magnet)

The question is – Who was your favourite character in The Family Farm and why?  And for those who haven’t read it yet…just answer why you would like to read it instead.

I will be drawing a winner at random from the emailed entries on Wed 28th July.

Goodluck!

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Category: Giveaways, The Family Farm  Leave a Comment
14
Jul 2010

Tony Parsons

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Being a big fan of rural/outback books, I, like many others, have Tony Parsons’ books in my bookshelves.  The Call of the High Country, Return to the High Country, Valley of the White Gold and Silver in the Sun.  I was talking with friends on facebook about what Tony was up to as we hadn’t heard from him in a while….surely a book must be close?  So I contacted Tony and we had a chat!  Firstly, I let him know I was also an author with Penguin and we had the same publisher and secondly – and most importantly- that I had all his books!!

He was happy to chat with me and I was amazed to find out he would be turning 80 in a few months!!  So of course, being a fan, I asked him what he was working on.  Tony has just finished a 700 page book called “The Kelpie” his biggest dog book yet.  It is his forth Kelpie book and is published with Penguin, due for release in September this year.  For those who didn’t know Tony is a bit of a legend in regards to the Kelpie dog. He established “Karrawarra” one of the top breeding kelpie studs in Australia.  He was also awarded the Order of Australia Medal in 1992 for his contribution to the propagation of the Australian kelpie sheepdog.  I have a kelpie also and love her to bits, she’s so clever.

He has since passed on his stud of Kelpie dogs so they will continue on.  (I also found out from Tony that a bloke not far from me in Wagin has his Kelpies, so I will be checking them out next time I’m at the Woolorama!)

Tony is very proud of his book “The Kelpie”.  He said it is full of great colour photos, has a vet section as well as little stories about the working Kelpie.  All his other kelpie books are out of print and can fetch a penny or two on ebay.

As for another novel, Tony has written one which is currently with Penguin and he’s hoping to hear from them soon. Not bad for a bloke who’s nearing 80!  I asked him what he likes to read and he said Hemingway, and a few others but he doesn’t read while he writes in case it alters his writing.

Well that was about it for my chat with the great Tony Parsons (although we may have strayed on dogs for a while and chatting about our publishing house!).

We will have to keep an eye out for his fifth book!

Big thanks to Tony who gave me his time, all the way from QLD to WA.  Cheers mate.

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Category: The Writer's Life, Writing  8 Comments
13
Jul 2010

Guest: Amanda Hampson

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I feel very lucky to have Amanda Hampson guest blog for my website…my very first guest too. Huge thanks!  Amanda has been writing professionally for more than 20 years she has had numerous articles and two non-fiction books published along with two novels published by Penguin… and we share the same publisher too.  I only found this out by reading the acknowledgements in one of her books ‘Two for the Road’.  I love reading the acknowledgements, as it’s an insight into the author. Amanda also wrote ‘The Olive Sisters’ which is on my TBR pile.  She is doing some exciting work with this book and I can’t wait to sink my eyes into it.

You can subscribe to her newsletter at The Write Workshops. I hope you enjoy her blog as much as I did…the whole option for a movie part is very interesting and something I guess some authors only dream about.  (That’s me…dreaming.)

Warm welcome to Amanda…

I’ve had an interesting journey since my first novel ‘The Olive Sisters’ was published in 2004, it was an immediate hit and every couple of weeks I’d get a letter from Penguin to say they were reprinting – that was fun. I ploughed into my next novel ‘Two for the Road’ and found it a way more enjoyable experience simply because I had more confidence that readers were enjoying my work.

While that was underway I was contacted by a movie producer from the US who wanted to take an option on ‘The Olive Sisters’ and, to cut an extremely long story short, I have ended up writing the screenplay adaptation. The whole process has taken three years and I’m now doing the 15th rewrite! The Hollywood screenplay has to meet a very specific formula and it has taken me all this time (including going to LA to do a screenwriting course) to educate myself in this particular genre.

When people hear my story they invariably say how exciting it must be. The idea is exciting but the reality is really very hard work. Plus screenplay is a director’s medium and the process is collaborative so you don’t have the autonomy you have in a novel. To put my new-found skills to good use I have also written another screenplay called ‘Last Days of the Empire Hotel’ which is set in a boarding-house in London in 1966. My next project will be to write the novel of this story – can’t wait to start.

You might be imagining that, having had that level of success, I can lounge about connecting with my creative side. Not so – I’m a single parent with two teens and all the same pressures you have; time and money! I make my living through freelance corporate writing and running writing workshops and work all hours to make ends meet. The key to my productivity is habit and routine.

Routine is the creative person’s best friend – without it you’ll always be frustrated that so many relatively worthless things eat up your  time. My routine involves dropping my son at the bus at 7am and then driving to  ’my office’ and writing for an hour or two – as much as I can manage. Everyday I get to do something I love and gradually, it moves forward.

Did I mention my office is my car? But check out the view.

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Category: Books, Guest Blogs, The Writer's Life  3 Comments
06
Jul 2010

The Alarm

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Here’s a good one for the mums.

The Alarm

The alarm goes off as it does every morning,

You climb out of bed, stretching and yawning,

This is an alarm you can not ignore,

If you did they’d break down the bedroom door.

By the time you get there they’ve started fighting,

You pull up the blind to let some light in,

You help them dress and you brush their hair,

Then the every day treasure hunt to find the footwear.

You march them to the table and start cooking toast,

Then they start fighting over whose got the most,

When breakfast’s over you clean up the mess,

And wonder how on earth you cope with the stress.

By 10am they’ve eaten all the cake,

So once again you’ll have to bake,

You put on the kettle and go out to check,

There’s nothing that they are about to wreck.

You’ve just sat down when they come in,

Looking for a drink and the biscuit tin,

Someone starts crying, he fell off the swing,

The other one swears she didn’t do a thing.

You enter their room to make the beds,

And there’s your best book torn to shreds,

One bed’s full of toys, the other one sand,

Oh for a maid, wouldn’t it be grand.

Then as the sun goes down, you run them a bath,

They have their tea and they’re in bed at last,

The quiet in the house almost hurts your ears,

Hubby’s not home, he’s out having a few beers.

You leave tea in the oven and go for a shower,

And 9 o’clock, you’ve wilted like a flower,

But as you watch them grow up day by day,

You know you wouldn’t have it any other way.

By Lorna Madson.

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Category: Poetry  3 Comments