Birthday boy

This is a photo of my oldest son, Anthony, and my daughter, Leah, at her wedding to Lincoln Tedman, with me in the centre. It was taken in April 2005. It was the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to, and the bride and groom are a lovely couple.

This week heralded two birthdays. An old friend turned 60 on Monday 23rd March and the 34th birthday of my oldest son, who lives nearby. The family took him to lunch to celebrate his special day although it had to wait until Saturday as we are all too busy during the week days. Queensland is a long way from Wagga Wagga, but we enjoyed guests from there this past week. Ken was here to judge the cows at the Toowoomba show. It's all quiet in the house now they are gone, one son is working and one is at a 21st tonight. I have just these two at home now as my daughter is married and my oldest boy is living at a nearby suburb with his two dogs.

This is my time to write.

My first post

This is my very first entry to a blog and I'm doing this so I can introduce the world to my writing. About ten years ago I had a moving experience that led me to start writing my first book. The 80,217 word novel won a literary award locally which ultimately led me to think I might be able to write seriously.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have enjoyed putting pen to paper. It began when I wrote to my grandmother who lived in Sydney (I lived in the country NSW town of young) and continued with short stories while I was in high school at another country town (Wagga Wagga). I have kept some of those short stories for over thirty years now as I find them very hard to throw away.

I finished my novel in 2008 and have set it aside now to snooze for a few months before I attack it with a final and thorough edit before sending it to an agent. In the meantime, I have completed two short stories (2,500 words) for the Jane Austen competition in the UK and a 3,000 word story for the Bristol writing competion. I also completed a story (3,000 words) for the Commonwealth writing competition. All are due mid-2009. I had not considered another novel at this time but I will write my second novel one day when I am not quite so busy.

I live near Brisbane, Australia at Wellington Point. It's a pretty suburb overlooking Moreton Bay and Stradbroke Island. I am 59 years old and work as a TAFE lecturer in the Business Faculty. My children are all grown up now - I have four, the youngest of whom is eighteen years old and at university. They have their own blogs, so they informed me, when I announced that I was about to create a blog for myself. It seems everyone has a blog and I may be the last person on this planet to start one. Oh well.