Author Archives: susan

Last weekend, I went to a friend’s house for a ritual burning. Don’t worry – no humans or animals were harmed. Both of us were in the process of clearing the backlog of documents and paperwork that had been cluttering … Continue reading →

In mid-May, I gave a couple of library talks about my novel “How Bright Are All Things Here”. One was at Woodend, and the other was here in Castlemaine. Here’s an edited version of the talk. A question I’ve been … Continue reading →

First day of winter. I’m here in a north-facing room – in front of the heater! – looking out of the window, and the sun is shining. There are still lots of coloured leaves on the fruit trees in the … Continue reading →

Last week was the 10th anniversary of my mother’s death. The camellia a friend gave me only a few days afterwards is always beginning to bloom by her birthday, and smothered in flowers by now. It’s a beautiful reminder. I … Continue reading →

It’s six months since we visited a kitchen show room in nearby Bendigo to choose our cupboards and bench-tops and knobs. It’s five months since a handyman came to rip out our old kitchen.  It was shortly before Christmas that … Continue reading →

I was talking yesterday to a friend who’s confined to bed in a hospital ward with a few tubes and wires stuck into her to treat a major infection. She’s a serious, intelligent woman who always reads serious and intelligent … Continue reading →

I like my own book, The Truth About Verity Sparks, very much. Is it wrong to say so? It’s just that, since I wrote it myself, I was able to include all the kinds of story elements that I love. … Continue reading →

These are Scarborough Lilies (cyrtanthus elatus, according to my gardening book, originally from Cape Province in South Africa) and each year I am bowled over by how bright and beautiful they are.

I haven’t been a Michael Leunig fan for some years now. I write this in full knowledge that a hit elf from the Michael Leunig Appreciation Society may shortly arrive in a goat-drawn curly wagon attended by ducks. He will … Continue reading →

I’m thinking of another news blackout for myself. I have the weekend papers delivered, so that I can read them over breakfast; sometimes I do the crosswords as well. A nice, cruisy way to start the day. And I have … Continue reading →