Blogging challenge preparation is under way

Blogging challenge preparation is under way. 

I'm referring to the April A to Z blogging challenge. People all over the world will be blogging each day in April (except most Sundays) with each post covering a letter of the alphabet starting at A and finishing with Z. You can find more information about the challenge here. 

I participated last year and did find it quite onerous posting 26 times in a month. To counter that I have begun preparations earlier this year. I have already written the posts for A, B, C and D and scheduled them to begin on the appropriate days. I have a theme this year - sharing books with children. I will be posting about many of my favourite children's books and ideas for sharing them. Already I have enjoyed reminiscing about old favourites and learning about new ones. I will be finding out lots of information and have already discovered some new favourite websites. It will be exciting to share what I learn. Soon I will be writing the E post about "Hunwick's Egg" by Mem Fox! A great book for sharing at Easter time. What good timing with the 5th of April being just before Easter. 

I realised today that my love of children's literature seems to have also influenced my writing of poetry. Children's books often contain a lot of repetition. More than once I have written a poem with a line (or two) that repeats throughout the poem. A couple of times that has turned out to be a good thing but more often I have gone back and taken out the repetition!

I'm definitely in the A to Z April blogging challenge. I'll have posts at least for the first four days! How about you? Are you interested in joining the challenge? 

 

C is for Caterpillar. Read what I have to say about this book, here on the 3rd of April, 2012. 

This week is Adelaide Writers' Week

This week is Adelaide Writers' Week 

Yay! Adelaide Writers' Week began today. I haven't been yet but have already enjoyed listening to a couple of sessions thanks to the LIVE broadcast through ABC radio. The first 3 days can be listened to via online streaming. You can see the program and details of how to listen here. Today I listened to a great session - "The Art of Biography with Selina Hastings and David Marr". A fascinating discussion about writing biography - what to put in, what to leave out, the use of private letters including letters which the author had asked to be destroyed, what can be written when the person being written about is still alive and how much the writer can be in the story (their values, beliefs etc). Very thought provoking! 

Tomorrow is Kids day. As well as the usual East and West stage there will be lots of activities for children. My children are too old for those type of events now (Brianna is right at the upper end of the age range probably) but I'm looking forward to seeing what goes on. It's the first time there has been a day dedicated to young readers. Plus, you're never too old to enjoy good children's books! 

I would love to go every day but unfortunately I can't. I hope to stay for quite a while tomorrow and then go again on Wednesday. Looking forward to a session about Unhappy Families with Fiona McGregor and Favel Parrett and a session "Dream a little dream: On getting published" amongst others. 

I've been looking forward to this week since the last Writers' Week two years ago. Every time I've been has been very inspiring and has resulted in me finding out about some fabulous books. I'm confident this year will be no different. And more good news - it won't be such a long wait until the next one as it is to be an annual event now! 

Blogging from A to Z challenge - I'm in!

A blogging challenge in which you post every day during April, except Sundays, and structure your posts around the letters from A to Z. It's taken me a while to decide whether to participate or not. It's a big commitment and the number of posts I have written lately has been... Let's just say I haven't posted much of late. Can I write 26 posts in a month? Or more specifically, can I post 26 posts in a month? I have decided to start planning during March and have at least some of my posts pre-written and scheduled.
Last year I participated in the A to Z challenge and enjoyed it. I started off making alphabet cards but found it a bit tiresome part way through and ended up writing about different words.  
This year I have decided on a broad theme - sharing books with children. I love children's books and this gives me a chance to share that as well as learn more. I'll probably narrow that theme down as I continue thinking about it over the next few weeks. For now I'm excited to be thinking about the books I love and the 26 different possibilities. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - February 19th, 2012

A short break from my usual Shadow Shot Sunday programming this week. Until now all of the photos I have taken for Shadow Shot Sunday have been from around my house and yard (both front and back) and have been taken on the day with my Nikon D3100. I will probably return to that format next Sunday. I like imposing some limits on my creativity. Today though it is time for something a little different. These photos were taken last Monday, at the beach, using Hipstamatic on my iphone. I went for a walk at the beach after the school drop off. It was beautiful there and the shadows were stunning! 

Immense beauty...where was my camera?

Immense beauty...where was my camera?


Sometimes it can feel scary to really look. When you actually do look though and get over the bump of initial dizziness, the fear eases and you notice the raw beauty in the immenseness before you. 

Well, almost. I didn't quite get to that point. A few days ago I went to the beach with Alysha. She was keen to go for a walk and climb over some rocks. I was keen for the walk part. Go me - following that intention to walk more! I wasn't so keen on the climbing over rocks part but I gave it a go. Well, I'm not as used to climbing over rocks as I was once. I was feeling a little dizzy and it was hard to look down. I made it from the beach to the path at the top. We walked along the path for a while and then Alysha thought it would be a good idea to sit on the rocks and look out at the sea. "No way" was my first thought (along with the worry of her sitting out there). I sneaked a little look and recognised the immense beauty. I thought that perhaps it would be nice to sit there for a while. I struggled to get there though and after scraping my toe on the rock gave up, along with lots of (over) complaining about my slightly bleeding toe. The view was quite breathtaking and I started to wish I had my camera. Actually my iphone. I have been taking lots of photos lately and posting them on instagram. I am particularly fond of Hipstamatic and trying out different lens and film combinations and recently discovered a great community (Hipstaroll) where you can share shots each week using certain film/lens combinations. Fun! 
That time though I'm glad I didn't have my phone/camera because sometimes it gets in the way of just enjoying the view. Sorry I can't share it with you. 


Here's a different Hipstamatic shot of the beach though - from yesterday. The beach makes a great subject for taking photos and I am enjoying it much more as a result. I never considered myself a beach person but perhaps that is changing. I've even been swimming a few times lately. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - February 12th, 2012

Lots of great shadows here today. I am particularly fond of the one on the front door which I notice fairly often. Usually it is gone by the time I get the camera ready. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - February 5th, 2012

Taking some tiny steps back into my blogging life after a short break for various reasons. Here's a couple of photos for Shadow Shot Sunday. 

When I got back from a recent short holiday I found the cucumber plants that had been planted from seed and were growing well had not survived the bout of hot weather while we were away. This is one of a few seedlings I got from Bunnings to replace them. Maybe next year I can grow some from seed...

And here's a shot of our cat, Chester. It's really hard to get a good photo of him as he is either running away or getting too close to the camera so I was pleased to get this one, complete with shadow. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - January 8th, 2012

Shadows on bricks for Shadow Shot Sunday this week. I am posting this very belatedly. I had the photos all ready to upload on Sunday and then the computer wasn't reading the memory card. Grrrr.... I just got it to work so here they are. Shadows on the back wall of the house this week. 

Time to rest - writing can wait

Time to rest - writing can wait 

Unexpectedly, I find myself alone on this Saturday night. Yay! Both of my daughters are at sleepovers. When I found out I would get some time to myself my first thoughts were along the lines of 'I can get stuck into all the writing I plan to do'. I have quite a few plans swirling around in my head at the moment. "The week of inward looking" had some fantastic prompts which I have written quite a lot in response to and would love to polish up and post here. There's a creative non-fiction competition I discovered recently and would love to enter. I also discovered "A year with myself" this week and there are fantastic prompts there too. So many plans! I do grab time to write quite often but thought a solid block without interruption would be great. But then I got home and I'm really tired. It's been a long time since I have been alone in the house. So I changed my plans and am going to relax and get a good nights sleep. Maybe I will find some time to write in the morning? Just not tonight. (Except maybe a few scribbled words in my journal...) 

Oh, and one more thing before I go and sit on the couch for a while. I attended the online launch for Patti Digh's new website 37days yesterday. A fabulous way to spend 75 minutes! I'll tell you more about it later! In the meantime, I highly recommend taking a look at the website! www.37days.com 

...and when I've finished resting I'll tell you about how I have decided to participate in The Sketchbook Challenge and how it's going. 

Happy Six Word Saturday everyone! 

Shadow Shot Sunday - January 1st, 2012

It's super hot here today - 41 degrees celsius HOT - and it seems tomorrow will be the same. The heat is accompanied by a blazing sun which has meant lots of great shadows today. I braved the heat for a few minutes to capture these -