Have a read of my poem, ‘My Friend Is Swiping & Scrolling’ first published in Quadrant Magazine. I wrote the poem during the pandemic and it is included in my debut poetry collection, ‘The Cellist, a Bellydancer & Other Distractions‘ (Ginninderra Press). I hope you enjoy it. My Friend Is Swiping & Scrolling: My friend in the dark hour before dawn. My friend with the ragged stomach who had a bad night. In a different hemisphere he is turning on the bedside light, rolling out of bed, pouring a cap of antacid at the kitchen bench. My friend who hasn’t left his neighbourhood all year ..read more

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Have a read of my poem, ‘Regrets’ first published in Quadrant Magazine. ‘Regrets’ is one of the poems in my recently published second poetry collection, ‘Flat White, One Sugar’ (Gininnderra Press). I hope you enjoy it. Regrets: Driving through the streets of the city on a Sunday, we’re talking about our crazy mistakes, the men we separated from, the ex-husbands who remarried and married again, those we shouldn’t have let go. ‘Yes, it’s hard having no-one to turn to,’ you say, reversing into a “no stopping” space. The signpost doesn’t mention Sundays. You turn the ignition off and cover your f ..read more

‘My attention span had gone out on me; I no longer had the patience to try to write novels. … I know it has much to do now with why I write poems and short stories. Get in, get out. Don’t linger. Go on.’ ‘Every great or even every very good writer makes the world over according to his own specifications.’ ‘It is his world and no other. This is one of the things that distinguishes one writer from another. Not talent.’ ‘Isak Dinesan said that she wrote a little every day, without hope and without despair.’ ‘”Fundamental accuracy of statement is the ONE sole morality of writing,” Ezra Pound ..read more

Have a read of my poem, ‘Hostilities’ first published in Quadrant Magazine. I wrote the poem during the pandemic. It is one of the pieces in my debut poetry collection, ‘The Cellist, a Bellydancer & Other Distractions‘ (Ginninderra Press). I hope you enjoy it. Hostilities: I worry about the ones who disbelieve in science, the ones on social media with no qualifications but a good command of gobbledygook, and the one who said she’d had enough of wimps like me. Scientists observe and calculate, study the risks, wave us across as we wait by the side of the road, even though the science of pa ..read more

If you are a writer, rejections aren’t just inevitable, they are a way of life — no matter who you are. Unfortunately, dealing with rejection is part of becoming successful as a published author.   It’s really hard to handle rejection, to keep a lid on crippling self-doubt and to keep going. We can easily play down just how hard it is to write through fear.  Fear is made much louder and much larger by rejection. Rejection feels like a kick in the gut. We have shared our writing and shared are deepest thoughts and so it hurts like hell when we are told it is not good enough ..read more

Have a read of my prose poem, ‘When the New Boyfriend Nearly Died’ first published in Quadrant Magazine. The poem is included in my second poetry collection titled ‘Flat White, One Sugar‘, released this month by Ginninderra Press. Hope you enjoy it. When the New Boyfriend Nearly Died: In the hospital’s public toilet, your face pleads back at you, white and worried. Far as you know, your new boyfriend had a heart attack while bouncing between your child-bearing hips. Too much of a strain. It’s not your fault. When he was admitted to Emergency you didn’t know if you’d ever see him again. After ..read more

Do you plot your stories, or fly by the seat of your pants? Plot means the story line.  When people talk about plotting, they mostly mean how to set up the situation, where to put the turning points, and what the characters will be doing in the end.  What happens. Some fiction writers write organically, not knowing where the story they are writing is going.  These writers say it would be boring to know what’s going to happen next and they lose their enthusiasm to tell the story because they know the outcome already.  They prefer throwing themselves over the edge and into t ..read more

My New Book – Out Soon ‘Flat White, One Sugar’: 51 new poems by me, 21 illustrations by my granddaughter, Natasha Sommer,  a graduate of the National Art School. Cover drawing by Natasha – out soon ..read more

Have a read of my poem ‘White Ibis’, first published in Quadrant Magazine. ‘White Ibis’ is one of the poems in my debut poetry collection ‘The Cellist, A Bellydancer & Other Distractions‘ (Ginninderra Press). I hope you enjoy it. White Ibis: We wish that nature could stay put in their home, far away … not urban tip turkeys, bin chickens – not like us, scrounging for a living in cities, but stay where they thrive, feeding in swamps, lagoons, floodplains & grasslands their black downward-curved bills digging for crayfish and mussels. The farmers’ friend, featherless black heads flocking ..read more