Fear and Loathing in My Writing (but don’t worry, it’s gone now)

I’m not sure when it happened. I think it was in December, my NaNoWriMo novel complete, my backpack on my shoulders, and my ticket to India in hand. I arrived in Delhi and introduced myself to the man transferring me to my hotel. Yes, I’m Stephanie. Yeah, that’s my booking. Australia. Here’s my passport. Oh, … Continue reading »

Book Review: ‘A Monster Calls’ by Patrick Ness

Book Title: A Monster Calls Author: Patrick Ness Genre: Fantasy / Magic Realism Summary: Conor has recurring nightmares of screaming and darkness, and wakes one night to find the yew tree outside his house has transformed into a monster summoned, it claims, by Conor. The monster visits Conor and tells him three stories in exchange … Continue reading »

Book Review: ‘The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared’ by Jonas Jonasson

Book Title: The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared Author: Jonas Jonasson Genre: Literary Fiction Summary: On the day of his one hundredth birthday, Allan Karlsson decides to climb out of the window of his retirement home and disappear. The misadventures that follow, mostly spiraling from the theft … Continue reading »

Book Review: ‘The Last Wild’ by Piers Torday

  Book Title: The Last Wild Author: Piers Torday Genre: Dystopian Fiction Summary: This is a world where animals no longer exist. Contaminated by the red-eye plague, surviving animals were destroyed from fear of further outbreaks and mutations of the disease. Locked away in a special school, Kester’s only companions are the varmints that have … Continue reading »

There’s a lion dancing in my driveway.

I can see the way he moves, rippling and moving in a blaze of colour, the drums loud and pounding and almost too much for a lazy morning doing laundry and packing a suitcase for a stay-cation twenty minutes away. It’s another year. When in Rome, you visit the Colosseum; when in Asia, you celebrate … Continue reading »

Making a Plan, Losing the Plot, and Reaching The End

I’m a planner. When I travel I organise a detailed itinerary featuring costs and day-by-day breakdowns of my time to maximise sight-seeing opportunities. When I arrive at my destination I am almost immediately swept away by the place, its culture and food and people … My budget becomes apparently endless and all that hard work … Continue reading »

A Letter from the Future

Dear Seventeen-Year-Old-Me, I would like to tell you that everything will be easy, that everything will fall into place and the next ten years will be a breeze – no worries, no challenges, no surprises. It would be nice if life could follow such simple processes; step one, step two, step three … For some … Continue reading »

Weekend Inspiration

“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next … Continue reading »

Gone Wandering

Tomorrow I leave for two weeks in India and for some strange and unusual reason my bag is packed, fridge is empty except for milk and a mooncake (don’t ask), and my bedroom is moderately tidy. Furthermore, there is a novel on my hard drive, a suitcase full of books and gifts (the ones that … Continue reading »