I was a backpacking 21-year-old when I got off a ferry from southern Spain to the port city of Tangier in Morocco with four Australian friends. Once on land, we had to run the gauntlet of what we called, simply, …
Wind of Change
The wind is changing and I’m not even talking about the elections. This particular wind is breezing through my blog, which is now eight years old.
For eight years I’ve kept the same hybrid format, publishing my eclectic musings about …
Using Research Creatively: A Guest Post by Patti Miller
I was boarding the plane in Paris on my way home from the annual memoir-writing workshop, when I had a sudden jolt of recognition. That magnificent head of swinging auburn hair several metres ahead could only belong to my ex-friend …
Discovering the Heart of My Memoir: A Guest Post by Carol Major
I was separated from three of my children, the first at the end of the 1960s when I was seventeen. A familiar story in those years. Unmarried mothers were often hidden away, and babies adopted shortly after birth. An agreement …
From a Blog to a Book
For some years I’d entertained a shy little dream to write a book loosely based on this blog you’re reading right now. At the same time, the oh-so-familiar refrain of ‘who are you to advise others on writing?’ kept playing …
Finding my way into an illness narrative: A Guest Post by Jacinta Dietrich
In 2017, my boyfriend was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. We had been dating for roughly two years but were still to reach many of our dating milestones – meeting one another’s family and friends, travelling together, living together and plenty …