Weekend wonder

21 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, MY BOOKS, THE WRITERS' LIFE, TORN

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achievement, Brisbane, Convict settlement, employees, Hero, horses, Moreton Bay, To Do List

This weekend I did something I can’t remember having done for a very long time. On the train home Friday evening I wrote my To Do List for the weekend. This evening I am about to cross the last item off the list! I’ve even done a couple of things that didn’t make it onto that list.

As is so often the case, I don’t have a whole lot to show for it but I know what I did and that feeling is pretty darn good. So often in this world we work hard and have little or nothing to show for it. It’s not always like that and for my characters in my book it certainly wasn’t the case.

Moving to Moreton Bay in what was New South Wales, Australia in the 1850s was a courageous thing to do. There were few of the facilities and conveniences they had in Ireland in that time and next to none of those we take for granted today.

Brisbane in the Moreton Bay area had been a convict settlement holding some of the worst, hardened criminals. The convict settlement was closed in 1835.

My hero brought with him a number of his horses though not all of them. He had to begin by building houses, stables, outbuildings, yards and everything else he and his employees and horses needed. That kind of hard physical work can be very satisfying. You can look around and see the work of your hands.

You don’t get that same sense of achievement in an office. But that To Do List with those items crossed off looks pretty wonderful to me.

Wednesday with Wheels

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, THE WRITERS' LIFE, TORN

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bikes, cars, paddle wheelers, wheels

Highpoint of the week – I got my car back from the panel-beaters! It’s been away for several weeks so I’ve missed it very much. I have to say I did take for granted having comfortable fast-enough-for-me wheels at my disposal anytime I need them.

It wasn’t always so. Can you imagine living in a world where you either rode a horse, a carriage or Shanks’ Pony. Of course roads were very different too, those which could legitimately actually be called a road. Life was a lot slower by necessity. A trip to town to do get supplies might have taken all day, give or take a shop or two. Those scenes were fun to write, after some solid research, of course.

There are so many uses for the wheel in transport. For those who can’t afford a car there are bicycles of all kinds, custom built jobs, mountain bikes, kids bikes with training wheels right back to the old penny farthing. Wheels have gotten bigger – and smaller. From skateboards up to personal mobility scooters, from paddle wheelers to the landing gear on aeroplanes, then the tiny wheels which take the heavy lifting out of suitcases!

So, where are you wheels? Where-ever you are and whatever you do today, may it be wheely fun!

Monday’s Mood

15 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, MY BOOKS, TORN

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horses on ships, sailing, shipwreck

Monday mornings are notorious and this morning was a doozy! This morning the city was enshrouded in fog. Out in it, the fog became mizzle. Too fine to be called drizzle but more than just a fog, just as I imagine would set the mood for my Irish characters as they left their homeland. Just enough to mask some of the tears one tried to hide.

Travel by sailing ship was a gamble. Of course many sailed the high seas for years without encountering the kind of tragedy which could and did strike the strongest ship with the most experienced crew without warning and with devastating results. Before the Suez and Panama canals were built, the journey was especially hazardous around the “horns”, Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope.

The Roaring Forties and the Freemantle Doctor were and still are almost as hazardous as the Great Australian Bight but still they braved them, as the wrecks found scattered about and those forever lost attest. It took a brave and/or adventurous emigrant, or a desperate one, to embark on such a journey voluntarily. Those shipwrecks might seem great diving spots today but the sorrow and the loss of those aboard and those at home must have been immense. To risk your most valuable horses on such a journey was also a calculated risk, not undertaken lightly which is why it was the last resort for Liam in Torn.

Every horse in Australia came from somewhere else. I thought it would be easy to understand the logistics and find out how it was done. It only sounded easy. I spent months, off and on, searching for answers specific enough for me to feel confident to write those scenes aboard ship and in the hold with Liam’s horses. There were some great stories when I finally found what I was searching for.

Those shipwrecks might seem great diving spots today but the sorrow and the loss of those aboard and those at home must have been immense.

To Moreton Bay

09 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, MY BOOKS, TORN, Uncategorized

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dolphins, dugongs, Moreton Bay, New South Wales, Queensland, ships

Moreton Bay is just at the end of the street where I live so there seemed nowhere better to set my books. Walking along the shores today there’s little resemblance to what was here in and around 1850 but if I close my eyes… no definitely not much is the same apart from the sun the sea and the sand. Hence a writer has to develop a fertile imagination.

The convict colony in closed in 1842, a few years before the Great Famine in Ireland and long before Queensland succeeded from New South Wales in 1859. So Brisbane was the perfect place for Mary, Liam and their friends to come for a new start.

The Port of Brisbane these days sees thousands of ships and every year more cargo inward and outward than those long ago sailors ever dreamed. The terminal a little further up the river now sees huge cruise ships instead of clipper ships. On the bay there are still fishing boats though very different as well. Then there are the jet skis and kite boarders beneath the planes taking off and landing at the international and domestic airports. Even the kites flown most weekends… you get the picture.

Twenty years ago, when I first started coming with my husband to visit his parents in the family home, my mother-in-law and I would walk along the shoreline. Occasionally we would see dolphins out in the water. It’s been years since I saw one. I believe there are still some there along with the turtles and dugongs but nowhere near as many. The huge ships, speed boats and the like have their downside.

Each time period has it’s own positives and negatives. Life was tough back then though much more simple. Visiting the Moreton Bay of the 1850s through my research has given me a different outlook on that water at the end of our street.

Good Friends are Family

07 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, LOVE, THE WRITERS' LIFE, TORN

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caring, contiguous, family, friends, loving

Family and friends. Sometimes they are one and the same. Sometimes your friends become your family and sometimes family become your friends. It doesn’t matter whether they are blood related or not, family and/or friends are necessary for our mental health, in good times and in bad.

What makes a friend as dear to you as family? Simply put, it’s love. Even though they may not live close enough to be with them as often as you would wish, you know they care. They are there for you when you need them most whether in person or on the phone; when you just want to enjoy some relaxation with someone you can ‘let down your hair’ with, be yourself with, you want to be with them – contiguous; when you can make a fool of yourself-or spill the entire contents of your coffee mug-you know it’s okay, you don’t feel as if you’ve ruined your friendship by being a klutz.

But that’s only half of the story, or it should be. There’s an old saying, “to have a friend you have to be a friend”. That means that when your friend needs you, you have no hesitation, you want to be there for them. There’s nowhere else you would rather be but there with them while they work through whatever their pain or problem is. Even if you can’t do a thing to help, you want to be there, sit quietly and listen, make a cup of tea or coffee, or whatever it is they like best to comfort them. You want to do a load of washing, cook a meal, do some chores which will free them up when they need it.

What a lonely world this would be without family and friends. Moving from your home to the other side of the world would be so much harder if you had neither family or friends. In Torn Mary finds new friends along the way, friends who become her family. A friend she expected to be as close to her as family turned out not to be the person she thought she was, well, at least not in Torn. And, those she didn’t expect to like as friends in the beginning became her family.

Today I’m feeling blessed that I have both family and friends whom I love dearly. Family who are friends and friends who are family and I want to thank you all for being there for me recently. I hope I can return the favour though hopefully you won’t need me for quite the same reasons as I needed you recently.

Frosty Friday

05 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, MY BOOKS, TORN

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candles, hard work, live music, wood fires

Well, winter is here! This picture speaks to me and I’ve been thinking more about hearth and home and how it was in times gone by, especially when I’m living in the world of my books. Think where we came from and how different life was for our forebears. There are both pros and cons…

They didn’t have: electricity; phones; television and internet; recorded music; hot and cold running water; washing machines; dryers; dishwashers; espresso machines; food processors; microwaves; electric blankets; refrigerators a vast array of medical specialists with skills and understanding we take for granted, and the list goes on and on…

But they did have: a rooster or two for an alarm clock; home grown fruit and vegetables were a necessity if you wanted them fresh; luxury was home grown fruit in season, a glut of which could be shared or bartered or home preserved for a special treat later in the year and animals around the house were not necessarily just pets but also contributed to the table with fresh eggs and milk and more.

Candles and oil lamps were a way of life, making every evening a romantic setting for dinner. Saving wax or oil meant going to bed early rather than sitting up square eyed watching the idiot box. Unpasteurised milk straight from the cow with cream on top which could be enjoyed as it was or made into churned into butter or made into cheese. Ice was precious and icecream was for the select few.

Think about how many more people had musical instruments and could play them! Instead of personal entertainment, there were singers unafraid of being heard and others who enjoyed playing whatever was available, right down to spoons while those energetic souls danced! People learned and recited poetry for fun and I so miss hearing a whistler. Can’t remember the last time I heard somebody whistle for sheer pleasure. Wish I could whistle.

Those were days when a pair of socks were a welcome gift, clothes were made to be worn out, not discarded when the newness wore off. Housework was really that – hard work washing by hand, if you were lucky you had a mangle to get some of the water out before hanging everything out in the sunshine to dry.

Who else remembers when water was so precious that the bathwater was shared – who went first in your house? Who got the water last, half cold and less than sparkling clean?

Wood burning stoves warmed the whole house summer and winter! When you went away for a time you didn’t have hot water for a couple of days after you came home and started the fire. In winter, everyone gathered around the fire to keep warm, maybe someone reading aloud from the precious printed ages of a well worn book.

10,000 steps a day was easy to do but who bothered trying to count them? Obesity was almost unheard of.

So, who would want to go back? What could you do without? What would you miss?

Where am I Wednesday

27 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, LOVE, MY BOOKS, SHATTERED, THE WRITERS' LIFE, TORN

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family, food, Irish Famine, sailing, ships, shipwreck

As part of the gathering of the clans, I am up in Rockhampton, Central Queensland. People are arriving from everywhere. My great-nephew and his sister are here from New Zealand, sisters and other family arriving from all over.

My trip up was… interesting. I can’t remember how long ago it was when I flew in a propeller driven plane! It felt a little, dare I say, archaic? We really are spoiled in this modern world. So many things we take for granted. Warm clothes, cool air-conditioning, fast jet planes and more food than we could eat or than is good for us! Especially now, food has been arriving for days. I’m with my nephew and his family at the moment and she is saying she hasn’t had to cook in days!

What a different world it is, even in this age, in other parts of the world some not so far away and others not so long ago in history. Excuse me for harping on about the Irish Famine, but that’s the era I’ve been “living in” for the last I-don’t-want-to-say how many years. It hard to imagine a world without electricity for a start! Add to that the transport problems.

At that time in history steam ships were the newest latest whizz bang technology. Sailing ship captains navigated by the stars without the aid of computers and it took months to travel from Ireland to Moreton Bay off and Brisbane. Many didn’t make it that far. Shipwrecks were not uncommon either.

When I was tempted to turf Rosaleen off the “Reliance” in Africa. My critique partner wisely told me I shouldn’t. Rosaleen is, she said, was “such a good bad character”. After nearly being pushed overboard again in the Great Australian Bight, I relented and she survived! She kept trying to take over the story in “Torn” but I’m pleased to report she has settled for being the leading lady in “Shattered”, the follow on book from “Torn”.

Before I go, spare a thought for Liam’s horses on the “Reliance”. Every horse in Australia came at some time from overseas. It wasn’t easy to transport horses and it was not easy to research how they did it! But that’s a story for another time.

The Gathering of the Clans

26 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, LOVE, MY BOOKS, THE WRITERS' LIFE, TORN

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empathy, families, friends, funerals, gratitude, loved ones, sympathy, weddings

Weddings and funerals, times at which we all gather together to celebrate either the beginning of a new family or the life of a loved one who has passed away. There is such comfort to be had in the company of loved ones and the good wishes of friends, fellow writers and work colleagues. I am blessed with good friends and a large loving family. Everybody has been very supportive and kind after the recent passing of my uncle and my nephew.

Not everyone is so blessed. In the time of the Great Famine, the period in which I have lived for a couple of years while researching and writing my books. Back then there were so many in the same situation. We in our comfortable homes and lifestyles can sympathise but can we really appreciate the suffering of people elsewhere who do not have the good fortune to live in such affluence?

Going back in history can teach us many lessons should we wish to learn. How many of us have had to sell the clothes off our back for food to eat? Then to have a severe winter in which those clothes made the difference between living and dying of exposure. How many of us have had to go without so our husband, wife or children could have food to eat? How many of us have lost every one of our family members and had to go on alone?

Sympathy and empathy are each valuable qualities for each of us to develop. More valuable still is a smile and a helping hand to those in need. When we think our problems are overwhelming, there is always somebody worse off and we usually don’t have to look far.

Thank you for all your kind thoughts and expressions of sympathy and empathy. I shall treasure them in the coming days.

Moody Monday

25 Monday May 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, LOVE, MY BOOKS, THE WRITERS' LIFE, TORN

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family, friends, funeral, keening, mourning, remembering

Every day is a new day, a new chance to find happiness. I need to keep telling myself that. Today, I choose my mood to be grateful for what I have, thankful for the love offered to me and hopeful for the future.

Yes, I know. I’m more than a couple of degrees less cheerful than last Moody Monday. But, I have been blessed to know the love of so many family and friends, the kindness of even strangers in a time of loss, and I’ve much to look forward to.

Funerals are times of such heightened and mixed emotions and moods. Sober. Sombre. Sad. Bittersweet. I both dread and look forward to gathering together with those who also knew and loved my nephew, sometime soon.

Writing the funeral in Torn was heart wrenching. There are so many ways of mourning. There’s ‘keening’, the sound of a heart breaking. One dictionary describes it as “a wailing lament for the dead“. How quickly we can, at least publicly, move past keening, to talking about happier times is as individual as every human being.

Today I want to look forward as much as back. As the little ones grow up and become adults, I can remind them of those lost. Where their memories are vague and fading, I can honour those gone by telling stories about them, keeping their memories alive in my heart.

Sunday Sorrow

24 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Zoetic Words in LIFE, LOVE, MY BOOKS, THE WRITERS' LIFE, TORN

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death, despair, Lillian Darcy, loss, sorrow

When someone you love is gone suddenly, with or without the chance to say goodbye, it takes some time to come to terms with the loss. I’ve tried every day since my last post to find words and failed. Over the last month I’ve had to deal with the loss of two men. Each was very special to me in his own way. One was the loving father I wished I’d had and the other lost only two days ago was the son I never had.

From the depths of despair comes a deeper understanding of how my characters feel, act, and react when they face the tragedy and sorrow I put them through as a writer. Early in my writing career I attended a conference where Lillian Darcy spoke about the value of life experience to a writer’s work and how her success came despite her youth at the time. Wishing I didn’t have quite so much first hand experience is futile.

The understanding of what it’s like to “walk a mile in my shoes” deepens a writer’s characters on the page. I know that as a reader and I hope my readers see it in “Torn”. I trust that Mary and Liam’s feelings on being torn from their homeland and their loved ones, mirrors in some small way my own heart, ripped open by sorrow and loss.

I only hope I can mirror their fortitude and resilience in going after what they want their lives to be in the future, finding happiness after sorrow.

Is it any wonder that writers speak about their books as their children? So much of your own self bleeds into those words on the page.