Category: Travel & Research

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Be-Cause I Can

Because I can, I’m lending my voice to a number of good causes and I thought you might be interested to know about them. (If you’re an aspiring writer you might be REALLY interested to know about one in particular!)

Myrtle the Turtle and I have been meandering around the eastern states over the last few years, so I thought it was time we headed west. When an opportunity arose to attend the inaugural West Coast Fiction Festival in November, knowing my involvement would be supporting a good cause (Share The Dignity) it was decided to drive Myrtle the Turtle the 4,452 kilometres to Perth from the NSW east coast.

It’s a big drive, but along the way, while passing all those beautiful WA trucks carting hay bales to drought-stricken farmers in the east, I decided I wanted to do something more to help. So, I joined forces with author mate, Josephine Moon, as well as some publishing industry heavyweights, like Allen & Unwin’s Annette Barlow, to do our bit. We’ll be raising money to buy bales for farmers by auctioning ourselves off! That’s right! Writers with manuscripts will be able to bid for our services, raising money for a good cause in the process. This is an incredible opportunity to have YOUR work get the attention it deserves!

Taking part (and there are even more, I’m told) is: Annette Barlow (Allen & Unwin), Ali Watts (Penguin Random House) and Sophie Green/Sophie Hamley (Hachette), Lousie Allan, Lisa Ireland, Annie Seaton, Jenn J McLeod, Michael Trant, Melinda Tognini, Katie Rowney.

The manuscript assessment/mentoring opportunities will be auctioned off via eBay, starting on 15 October, auctioned in three rounds: Round 1: 15 October; Round 2: 17 October; Round 3: 19 October.

Okay… There’s another mission, of course. I’ve been doing it for a while now.

 You all know how much I enjoy visiting small country towns to talk to local book lovers. Well, my Paddock to Print campaign, which is about encouraging Australian readers to support home-grown storytellers by choosing Australian-made stories, is going gangbusters. Check out all the places I’ve been, so far.

What is the campaign about?

For years we’ve been hearing the manufacturing sector – clothing and food – tell us to buy Australian-made. I thought, why not encourage people to buy or borrow home-grown stories over the imported, big-name author books? It really is as simple as asking your library or books shop for suggestions.  If you enjoy big-name overseas authors, your local librarian or bookseller will be able to recommend a local/Aussie writer whose novels are just as compelling and well-written. So, please help spread the word and buy Australian made fiction. Here I am spreading the book love at Donnybrook, WA.

And here I am on the west coast – finally – in the lovely Margaret River region (for research purposes, of course).

If you’d like to know more about the #BuyABale Fundraiser, check out Josephine Moon’s website.

If you are in Perth, I’d love to see you. Prior to the Perth event in November, readers and aspiring writers will catch me at events in Busselton (Busselton Library, 2pm October 12) and in Kwinana at the Kooliny Arts Centre’s Stories on Stage (7pm, October 31) with the lovely, Monique Mulligan.

 

And somewhere in the middle I’m Writer-in-Residence at the Serenity Press Writers’ Retreat in Capel.

So, it’s all happening in the west. Then, come December, Myrtle and I will be making the trek back home to Coffs Harbour.

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How sunrise and sand will save lives

There was definitely movement at the station when the word was passed around that some of the mob were headed to the beach! These two (around the corner from me in Queensland, where I’m staying for winter) were keen to make the trek to Bondi Beach with me. But they clearly had their work cut out for them eating that paddock flat!

So off I went, following The Herd of Hope — and what an experience!

 

What an honour to have been involved as an Ambassador for The Herd of Hope.

Those who follow me on social media probably got tired of hearing me talk about organ donation in the lead-up, but talking about the issue is what we need to do more of.

More than talk, we need action — action from the government for better regional health services, AND action from YOU, too.

You might THINK you’re a registered donor, but are you really?

NSW no longer includes the organ donation opt-in option on driving licences. Instead, you need to REGISTER YOUR INTENTION HERE. (Maybe readers will leave a comment below about the other states and the organ donation process.)

What I did learn through my involvement is that Australia has the highest success rate in the world when it comes to transplant surgery, but we have the lowest donation rate. That means people are forced to wait, and wait, and wait.

The people I met — both organ recipients and the families of organ donors — were so inspiring and their stories both heartbreaking and triumphant. I will remember March 17, 2018, for the rest of my life. (And until that last breath I plan to speak out and keep doing my bit for rural communities.)

Those who have read my stories, or who follow my travels in Myrtle the Turtle, know how much I love small towns and a happy ending. And these ladies will have a happy ending. This mob, who were a little shy at first (probably wishing they’d brought their new-season swimmers with them) will forever be The Herd of Hope and, as such, will live a special life on Undoolya Station (Alice Springs). You can sponsor a cow, too. They are all tagged and ready to have your name/company assigned to them.

There is a lot more to The Herd of Hope than a day on the sand in the sun.

Please take the time to check out The Herd of Hope and maybe see how you, too, can help. (It can be as simple as spreading the word.)

If you can donate, be assured every person in The Herd is a volunteer and every dollar donated goes towards their efforts to achieve the medical services needed in rural Australia. It is a registered charity that takes no wages, no administration or service fees. The money goes where it needs to go.

What now for The Herd?

The event is over, the conversation ongoing, and The Herd of Hope organisation will continue its fund-raising and awareness activities, with donations helping to fund research (at University of South Australia) into counselling services for organ donor families and transplant care nurses in the bush. The Herd of Hope will also support the creation of a network of transplant care nurses for regional organ recipients, who are often hundreds, or even thousands, of kilometres from appropriate care.

While we all shared a minute of silence on the day, let’s not stay silent when it comes to organ donation.

For more, including the cows’ first step onto the sand (video), go to http://www.northqueenslandregister.com.au/story/5297409/donor-families-find-pride-and-comfort-in-herd-of-hope/

 

 

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When is a killer not a killer (a lesson for writers!)

There are faster, easier, more caravan-friendly roads to drive between Coffs Harbour and Victoria. We chose the more scenic coastal route—The Princes Highway, which is less highway and more a bitumen goat track (a drunk goat, in parts).

Our reason?

My family holidayed on the south coast when I was very young (Ulladulla, Kiama, Batemans’ Bay) but we never went as far south as Eden.

We knew the road would be challenging with 25 feet of Myrtle The Turtle in tow, but the town of Eden was a bit of a bucket list town for me. I’m not sure why, although I am certain it was not for any biblical reference: no gardens, naked men, or apples tempted me. The only temptation was the stunning Two Fold Bay and had the temperature not been single digit and the wind gale-force, I might have had a quick dunk, despite tales of killer whales.

Eden did teach this roving writer something about the power of a single word in storytelling and how reader interpretation can change the story—and that’s not a bad lesson for any author.

My lesson.

What I learned is how our words can incorrectly influence our readers and my teacher was those so-called ‘killer whales’.

You see, the Killer Whale did not get their rather unfortunate name from hunting down and snacking on humans, as I’d always assumed. They were, in a way, man’s friend, even when whale oil was a much sought after commodity in the 1800s. Twofold Bay legend of that time tells of the Killer Whale being the first known sea creature to work in ‘partnership’ with people. I recommend you read this more detailed (and short) version by Australian Geographic about the cleverness of these giants of the sea, and how they protected their species from whalers in search of whale oil, by herding the unsuspecting humpbacks (and other species) in to be killed instead. Extract: from the Australian Geographic article:

“Whaling in Eden took off in 1828, but it wasn’t until 1844 that stories of the peculiar behaviour started to emerge. Eyewitnesses talked of orcas prowling the entrance of Twofold Bay for migrating humpback, blue, southern right and minke whales. Using the unique geography of the bay, the waiting orcas would ambush whales that were vastly bigger than themselves – ripping at fins, diving over their blowholes, and forcing them into shallower waters for the whalers to finish off. Once a whale was dead, they’d feast on the lips and tongue, leaving the rest of the carcass for the whalers.”

So, when a killer is not necessarily a killer.

That’s how the killer whale got such a demonised name and reputation. Not by eating people! Over the years, legend and misunderstanding has seen the single word ‘killer’ interpreted in different ways and this is the lesson for writers.

We need to choose and use our words carefully. We need to look at words in context and understand that a single word can have different meanings or be misconstrued.

We need to be as careful with our word choices as we do our commas and apostrophes. Or else when someone says, “Let’s eat Grandma” we are not perceived to be killer grandkids when what we really mean is: “Let’s eat, Grandma.”

Discover more about at the Eden Killer Whale Museum.