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Author, Maggie Christensen writes a letter to her 25 y.o self

Dear Maggie,

It’s 1970, you are twenty-five and about to set off on the adventure of a lifetime. You’ve been teaching primary school for three years, your friends are all married – you’ve already been a bridesmaid three times – and you’ve grown up on stories of the mad Australian side of the family visiting during the war. You have family in Melbourne, but being independent, you’ve decided to go to Sydney where you know no one.

You’re not sure what you’ll find there, but have read lots of Lucy Walker books and it’s only for two years, so it can’t be too bad. You’ve seen the ad with a half-naked man in gown and mortarboard inviting you to ‘Come and Teach in the Sun’. Right now, you may not be living the beach lifestyle you imagined when you stepped on the plane, but it’s waiting for you. You just need to be patient.

What you don’t know is that, initially you’ll feel you’re on permanent holiday, the sky will look like a picture postcard and you won’t be at all homesick. Don’t be too disappointed when you hate teaching in state schools, which you’ve discovered are very different from those in Scotland. Things will improve and at the end of two years, you won’t be ready to go home.

In a few years the government will declare university study free and with the encouragement of the headmistress in the private school you now teach in, you’ll complete the degree you dropped out of in Scotland. You’ll enjoy study so much you’ll continue to further study and eventually gain a PH D. but that comes later.

Your study will lead you to the achievement of your long-held goal to improve teacher education and this will take you to country New South Wales, first to Goulburn, then to Wagga Wagga. It’s there that, at the ripe old age of 37 when, after several disastrous relationships and having almost given up hope of finding your soulmate, you’ll meet the gentle giant of a man who will become your husband and you’ll become stepmother to three teenagers.

Remember to never give up on your dreams, and it’s never too late to try something new. The positive attitude you inherited from your mother will always stand you in good stead, and when you’re facing redundancy in your sixties, you’ll decide to fulfil your childhood dream of writing fiction.

Signed,

Your seventy-one year-old self.
Maggie Wallace House eventedited Madeline House Cover MEDIUM WEBABOUT THE AUTHOR: Maggie lives on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast with her husband of over 30 years and, when not writing or reading, loves to walk along the beach in the early morning and have coffee by the Noosa River. She writes contemporary women’s fiction celebrating mature women and the heroes worthy of them. You can find out more about Maggie at:

http://maggiechristensenauthor.com/

Connect with Maggie of Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maggiechristensenauthor/

Madeline House is Maggie’s fifth book and the third in her Oregon Coast Series:
Buy link: myBook.to/MadelineHouse

If you’ve read this far … lucky you! Maggie is giving a copy of Madeline House away, so before you go, leave a comment. NOW CLOSED

[Tweet “What advice does @MaggieChriste33 give her 16 y.o self? #LetterToMyself https://www.jennjmcleod.com/blog/a-letter-to-myself-author-list”]

Wanting to honour the lost art of letter writing through this blog series, I also opened my fourth novel with a character writing a letter. And not just any letter. It’s a story — perhaps the most important he’ll ever tell.

The Other Side of the SeasonReady for a sea change

Life is simple on top of the mountain for David, Matthew and Tilly until the winter of 1979 when tragedy strikes, starting a chain reaction that will ruin lives for years to come. Those who can, escape the Greenhill banana plantation on the outskirts of Coffs Harbour. One stays—trapped for the next thirty years on the mountain and haunted by memories and lost dreams. That is until the arrival of a curious young woman, named Sidney, whose love of family shows everyone the truth can heal, what’s wrong can be righted, the lost can be found, and . . . there’s another side to every story.

BUY now from Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, or

Booktopia

 

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A Pearl of an Idea

pearlMeet Pearl…

No, not that pearl!

 

Pearl is actually the daughter of an oyster farmer in my latest novel, The Other Side of The Season.

Pearl is an example of what we call in the business – a secondary character. This means she was created to support the lead characters, providing them with, among other things, a way to express themselves, to help foreshadow events, or to provide background while still moving the narrative forward. Sometimes, however, a secondary character can go rogue.

Another example of a secondary character is Alice, in Season of Shadow and Light. I created her after I’d finished the initial draft, actually re-writing the manuscript to add Alice as a “nanna/babysitter” to six-year-old Matilda, thus freeing up Paige, the mother, to get on with the story without readers saying: “But where’s the kid”.

Like Alice, Pearl has found her way into the hearts of readers. One reason might be because I let her hook up with Jake, and Jake is, well, I’m told he’s just adorable. But Pearl is pretty special, too, because she’s a little different. And I did that on purpose.

Pearl is a person born with albinism. Some of you might be more familiar with the word ‘albino’ but as I leanred when researching this character there are misconceptions and lots of misrepresentation in certain media about his inherited condition. I wanted to do my bit towards correcting this. It’s said the pen is mightier than the sword and I believe authors have the opportunity to make a difference in the world. Literature can start conversations and lead change. Through their stories, authors provide people with a safe place to explore social differences that they might not otherwise understand or encounter. With all four of my novels I’ve been inclusive, using fiction to normalise that which society may see or label otherwise. I do this by including characters with differences — although not focusing on the ‘different’ or applying a label to it. Acceptance comes from understanding. If things like sexual orientation, illness, race, language, physical traits/conditions and psychological issues are included into everyday fiction maybe they will one day become ‘the norm’.

Dr Shari Parker - TOSOTSYou might have noticed I thanked Dr Shari Parker in my acknowledgements. If you Google the name, or go to the Albinism Fellowship of Australia website, you’ll learn a lot more about living with albinism and the importance of ending the myths created in some books and films that depict people with albinism as evil villains or supernatural freaks. I am very appreciative of Shari’s assistance.

Dr Shari Parker: “Albinism is an inherited condition where the body produces less than normal amounts of melanin – a substance that gives skin, hair and eyes colour. About one in 17,000 Australians is born with albinism and about one in 75 carries an albinism gene. If a carrier mates with another, they have a one-in-four chance of a baby with it.”
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/albinos-think-its-time-the-world-played-fair-20111007-1ldvk.html#ixzz4CxDT37C9
Follow us: @theage on Twitter | theageAustralia on Facebook

SOSAL B format
Alice steals the story
SOSAL final
Pearl steals the story

 

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Author, Kathryn White, writes a letter to her 18 y.o self

Dear Kathryn,

I know that things are pretty rough right now. 1999 has been a tough year for you. One of your closest friends passed away, your grandmother remarried against your mother’s wishes and then Grandma broke her hip and had a stroke all on the same day. (The day before your eighteenth birthday, no less.) You’ve had some trouble at school—and you’ve caused plenty of it in return—and now some of your friendships are beyond repair. On top of this, you’ve just completed year twelve, your biggest and most important year of schooling, and you are awaiting your final results.

I’m not surprised that you are feeling a little emotional right now.

I would also like to tell you something, and I think you need to hear it.

You are good enough.

You have always been good enough.

It does not matter that some people do not like you. It will not matter if you do not get perfect scores in all of you exams. Those things don’t matter. When you get older, you’re going to look back at that time in your life, and you’ll think differently about it. You’ll think about all the strange and wonderful people that you met, every Tuesday afternoon when you volunteered at the local soup kitchen. You’ll think about school, and you’ll think about little things like how Mr Carlson always kept a copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance on his desk and you’ll think about big things like the time that the Prime Minister visited your school. You’ll think about how you went to the Royal Adelaide Show with Flamy, and how you both walked along Hindley Street after dark without your parents knowing (and how you didn’t get killed.) You’ll think about the closing ceremony that your school had for the West Campus and how out of three hundred kids, you were chosen to lead years eleven and twelve in a special parade. You’ll think about all the good times you shared with Mel and that will help you cope with the fact that she’s gone.

Mum and Grandma will patch things up. The story will have an unexpected twist, and one day, when you get home from uni, Dad will be waiting at the bus stop just so he can tell you all about it.

Love, your 35 yo self

PS. You were right about the Y2K bug being a load of nonsense.

PPS. Stop listening to that bloody Savage Garden CD. It really isn’t that great. And take all those celebrity posters down and put something inspirational on the wall instead.

beingabigailthumb booksign13About the author:

Kathryn White was born in 1981 and grew up on the south coast of Adelaide. A passionate writer, she was first published at age 17 and later graduated from Flinders University with a BA (Hons.) Kathryn has independently published a variety of novels and is happiest when she is using her writing to explore new concepts, dysfunctional relationships and to view life from the perspective of people who do not quite fit in with their world in one way or another.

Kathryn also runs a book blog titled Kathryn’s Inbox, which is updated daily. http://kathrynwhiteauthor.blogspot.com.au and connect on Facebook

 Thanks for playing, Kathryn. I love that letter. (And Savage Garden was okay!!)

Speaking of letters…

Wanting to honour the lost art of letter writing through this blog series, I also opened my fourth novel with a character writing a letter. And not just any letter. It’s a story — perhaps the most important he’ll ever tell.

The Other Side of the SeasonReady for a sea change

Life is simple on top of the mountain for David, Matthew and Tilly until the winter of 1979 when tragedy strikes, starting a chain reaction that will ruin lives for years to come. Those who can, escape the Greenhill banana plantation on the outskirts of Coffs Harbour. One stays—trapped for the next thirty years on the mountain and haunted by memories and lost dreams. That is until the arrival of a curious young woman, named Sidney, whose love of family shows everyone the truth can heal, what’s wrong can be righted, the lost can be found, and . . . there’s another side to every story.

BUY now from Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, or

Booktopia