Hello!

Welcome to my blog and thanks for clicking About me!

After a long and ongoing career as a public servant (Iworkfornsw!) a wise person suggested to me that, for the sake of those who know me and/or love me, I should attempt some kind of return to sanity by re-engaging in something I love doing. (Wait, I know what you’re thinking and no, there was no incident preceding this advice.) And so…here I am: writing! And OMG how much has changed since I last seriously devoted myself to this!

About the time I turned in my last English essay for the HSC, my Dad had come home with a big black brick and said, ‘hey! come check out my mobile phone!’ (which incidentally could only be used in the car I think). Sir Tom Berners-Lee was still four years off turning the world on its axis with the internet and even Mark Zuckerberg was all of three years old.

And the Berlin Wall-(there was a wall? In Berlin?). Never mind.

Of course we’re all familiar with how social media, the internet, blogs and email work, as these days there are only virtual rocks to hide under.

Anyway-so how does all of this affect today’s writer? The writing is still formulated in much the same way, but how it is produced, communicated, distributed and shared with our fellow writing-lovers has changed and it is still changing. So last year I enrolled in a Certificate IV course to get on with the act of engaging with my long-lost love (best move ever, it’s led to being enrolled in Uni. At my age! I know, right?). And this course is devoted to writing in a technological world. (Move over a little bit, Madonna.) You’re taught to seek out and engage with fellow-writers and bloggers of all types, across all social media platforms and writers’ forums and you also have to set up your own blog.

Why? Because blogs are a great way to establish your ‘online presence’. Just ask Rosie Waterland. She got her first book deal on the strength of her 200K+ social media following-she blogged about The Bachelor. No, I’m not kidding, heard it from her own mouth!

I am loathe to disappoint you, but I don’t watch The Bachelor. Neither am I a foodie, social media expert, I don’t receive accidental emails from the Brotherhood of Vampires inviting me to join and we’ve already established I’m not a writing professional (not YET, ok?). These are all the things I won’t talk about, not much. But what I would like to do with my blog is share with you some of the tips and advice that I’ve tried so far and amaze you with hilarious recounts of my experiences.

There will also be guest appearances from Scott (partner), Dave (older son and fitness fanatic), Mike (younger son and Traveller of India), Buddy (thinks he’s people but he’s a dog), Roxy (can’t believe Buddy doesn’t know he’s a dog) and Coco (maniacal cat). Also featuring, to everyone’s delight, will be episodes from the office of your humble public servant,

Yours