Pockets of Joy

Cate Ellink has been posting nature photos all year and calling them Pockets of Joy. She began during the bushfires and people seemed to enjoy them. A few asked for a book.

So I put my skills to the test and worked on pulling it all together in a book form.

And now we bring you, our book of 102 nature photos, designed to cheer.

I've more information and the details for how to purchase, on my website:

http://www.catherineevansauthor.com/pockets-of-joy.html

Here's a sample of some of the pages.

Shoalhaven Council Bushfire Mayoral Appeal

Ash along the Shoalhaven River

I live in this Council area and the bushfires have had a huge impact right across this council area on the south coast of NSW. If you'd like to help out financially, there is a Mayoral Appeal:

https://getinvolved.shoalhaven.nsw.gov.au/BushfireRecoveryShoalhaven/news_feed/mayoral-appeal

You can donate via:

Shoalhaven City Council
BSB: 062 585
Account: 10948473
Please quote Reference: Bushfire

Our Mayor, Amanda Finley, has been a tireless figurehead during the last few weeks. She's a woman to be admired.

Bushfires

Much of Australia is horribly impacted by fires. At the moment, I'm safe.

So much of our beautiful country is burning. So many people have lost homes. Some have lost loved ones.

Too much tragedy. My heart aches.

Please be safe.

Wherever you are, please think about our earth, our impact on this earth, and how we may be able to live in future harmony.

New story

I've tripped across a couple of authors who have an anthology idea and they've invited me to join in. I'll have to get my skates on because it has to be written soon - just a short story, but they still take me a while :)

I'm really excited because it's come from way out of left field. A month ago, I didn't know either of these authors. That's how out of left field it is - not on any horizon!

We had a meeting about it this week and we agreed on things. It seemed to just work as easily as when I've worked together with good friends - or maybe I'm just not doing enough work :)

We've got quite a tight deadline so I'll have to shut up and work, not blog but I had to share this news.

I have no story idea, no story, which is how I usually work. A scene in my head that looks something a bit like this photo.

A story of a man, a woman and a horse.

Different to the photo, in my scene the woman comes across a riderless horse, captures him, then heads down to the beach to find an injured (limping? broken arm/collarbone?), soaking wet man who's not happy about his bruised ego and damaged body.

The rest of the story is still to be discovered. That's what's exciting about a new story.

The rewrite of my old story is still happening - I'm taking a refresher break. Once this is done, I have two stories to rewrite/finish (one will be a new Dulili story). And I'm going to try to have those done by mid year.

2019 is my year of working hard with writing. Pushing myself to see what I can achieve.

Wish me luck :)

Release Day!

Happy Release Day to our Aussie Rules playing girls! 

Here's hoping Angie, Cress and Darcy fly high and you love them as much as I do.

Here's the link if you'd like to know more, or buy these: just click for Escape Publishing

Long Game - behind the scenes - Part 2

Long Game (Women of W.A.R. Book 2) comes out on the 20 Feb, which isn't too long away at all.

Cress and Quin come from Grong Grong in the Riverina region of NSW. I wrote a blog post about how I made that choice, which you can read here.

All the Women's AFL teams are in capital cities, so Cress had to move to Sydney to play for the Sirens. Rather than the usual "fish out of water" trope where the city girl moves to the country, Cress is the country girl moving to the city.

I grew up in Sydney but left in my early 20s. I've done a lot of the popular tourist attractions as a country person visiting the city. When I was trying to work out how to show Cress as a 'fish out of water' I thought about showcasing some of the popular tourist attractions.

Bridge Climb sprang to mind. I've done it a few times and it's pretty amazing. When I thought about doing a Bridge Climb, it triggered an idea that Cress could have a love for the Sydney Harbour Bridge itself, and have a thread of that running through the story.

I've been really lucky with choosing days to do the Bridge Climb. I've done 2 day trips, and a night one. All have been magnificent weather, which was lucky! Once was windy, but I'm not sure which time that was (maybe the night one), and it wasn't too frightening at all.

I loved the views of the Bridge and the Harbour. I think it's one of the most magnificent places in the world - and strangely enough, so does Cress!

Here are a few photos of my climbs. I've blurred my companions' photos, so please don't think I went up with strange aliens!

The day climbs gave the stunning views of the Harbour... but the night climb gave the beauty of the city lights. I'm not sure which was my favourite!

Have you done a Bridge Climb?

Long Game - excerpts

Would you like a sneak peek at my new story, Long Game, out 20 Feb 2018?

Escape Publishing have been sharing parts of my story this week. You can read them here.

And if you'd like to sample Game On, by Nicola Marsh, you can find them posted the week before mine, here.

Amy Andrews' Fair Game, is here!

I'm proud and excited to be a part of this series. To see it popping up places makes me smile. People have gotten behind these books with a sporty heroine, and that brings me much joy. Thank you :)

Long Game - behind the scenes - Part 1

Long Game, my next book, comes out 20 February 2018, which seems a long time away but with Christmas in the middle, it will no doubt go quickly. Until then, I thought I'd tell you a bit of the 'behind the scenes' story.

Country Towns and Sport
I moved to Wagga Wagga after I finished uni, in my 20s. Wagga Wagga was the home of many many great sporting people, including Peter Sterling who was my favourite Rugby League player.

Back then, Wagga Wagga was like a big country town (I reckon it's like a city now!) and I was thrilled to be moving to such a sporty place. And sport was everywhere; I wasn't disappointed. It was a bit of an eye-opener because even though Wagga is in NSW, Aussie Rules was very popular. As popular as Rugby and Rugby League. And this was a new experience for me. I'd grown up where Rugby League was most popular. Rugby next, followed by Aussie Rules and Soccer.

I'd watched AFL in Sydney, live and on TV, so that wasn't new. It was the popularity that surprised me. Wagga Wagga itself had a couple of teams, surrounding towns and localities had teams. And the passionate supporters of these teams were as parochial as any supporters of first grade in Sydney.

When some towns' teams became short of numbers as the town/locality shrank in size, groupings happened and two or more towns would band together to field the team. I loved this. One of my favourite amalgamated team names was Ganmain Grong Grong Matong (GGGM). These three towns were along the way when driving between Narrandera and Coolamon, a lovely trip I often did.

When I was asked to write Long Game, I knew I wanted to write about a country girl moving to the city to play. I began thinking about where she might have come from...and GGGM popped right into my head. But rather than use all three towns, I decided that Grong Grong would have their own team. If you'd like some info on Grong Grong, try this website.

Cress would grow up in Grong Grong, just out of town on a farm. She'd be full of country exuberance for sport. She wouldn't care how far she had to travel to play a game, she'd be there. She'd juggle work, life and play around sport. She'd be good, really good. So I gave her a bunch of brothers who'd make her tough. She'd compete with her older brothers in the paddocks at home, where she'd learn her skills and learn to be tough.

Sport is such an important part of the fabric of many country towns. I wanted to show this in the story. So Cress spends most of the time in Sydney, but she comes home to Grong Grong, where she can fit back into farming and town life, without the trappings of Sydney superstardom.

Country towns seem to level everyone. If you grew up somewhere, when you go back, you're just that kid no matter how big you make it in the wider world. It's the down-to-earth quality I love about the country.

So, that's some of background behind Long Game. If you read it, I hope you'll enjoy it.

PS. If you're from Grong Grong and I got anything wrong - a million apologies. I tried my best to remember things.

Ache

Last year I read In The Quiet by Eliza Henry Jones and blogged about it here, because it took my breath away.

Over the last two weeks, I've read Ache, her latest release. Usually I devour books, but this was not to be devoured. It was to be sampled in small delicious bits so I could appreciate its power and beauty.

It's sat on my To Be Read pile for a long time, quietly whispering to me but I wasn't feeling well enough to delve into it. In the Quiet had hit me hard, and I was expecting this to do the same. I needed to be well enough to be opened up (exposed, torn apart; I don't think there's a word that describes this event) by literature. The blurb was heartbreaking enough - grief and recovery after bushfire.

It was everything that In The Quiet was, and more. Powerful. Heart breaking. Touching. Devastating. Renewing. Human. Real. Gritty. Poignant. Masterful.

It's a story told in broken pieces, which suits Annie who is broken herself. Traumatic events have made her question everything in her life. Her closest relationships are tested. Her daughter is traumatised by their shared experience, yet neither can articulate their horror. The grief is raw with the child, Pip, and contained by Annie. The story pieces Annie together with the most gorgeous writing, in bite sized pieces.

The setting, in the mountains, was once beautiful but is now blackened. The descriptions of the landscape are beautiful and powerful, with the landscape regenerating slowly, as the humans heal.

There are some harrowing events, deftly handled with descriptions that leave you aching but also give you hope.

I don't think I have words for this book.

It's grief at its rawest. It's Australia at its harshest. It's literature at its finest.

It tears you, makes you ache, at the same time as it fills you with hope.

It beautifully demonstrates that everyone grieves in their own way, over their own losses, and none of those are easy to define or describe or articulate.

It also shows that time heals, but not everyone heals in the same way.

Ache gave me a beautiful ache inside. Thanks for another incredible read, Eliza Henry Jones.

New Book, Gorgeous Cover

It is with great pleasure that I share my new book, Long Game, with you today.

It is one of three books in a series of stories about Women of W.A.R. (Women's Aussie Rules).

Long Game is Cress and Quin's story. And this is the blurb:

Does she dare pursue all her dreams?

Everyone in Grong Grong knows Cress Kennedy’s childhood dream is to play Aussie Rules Football, so when the Sydney Sirens sign her in the new Women’s Aussie Rules competition, she heads to the big city to pursue her dream. But no one in Grong Grong knows of Cress’s other dreams: the ones that revolve entirely around Quin Fitzpatrick.

Quin Fitzpatrick left Grong Grong as an eighteen-year-old to play Aussie Rules in Sydney, but after eight years the shine has gone from the lifestyle. When his best friend’s little sister follows in his country-to-city footsteps, he promises to look after her. She can stay with him and he’ll protect her as best he can. Besides, Watercress is the little sister he never had.

But Cress is all grown up now and playing Women’s Aussie Rules, and it’s about time that Quin sees her as a woman too...

Does that sound tempting?

And there are two others as well!

I love these three stories. 

I love that we've written about women playing professional sport. 

You can find out more about these books here:

Escape Publishing

Amy Andrews

Nicola Marsh

And if you'd like to pre-order, you can go to your favourite e-tailer:

iBooks

Booktopia

Amazon AU

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Google Play

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

Nook

A New Story

Please don't die of shock, but I have a new story coming soon!!

All the details are still under lock and key...but I've written it and now I'm editing it...so that means it's almost real :)

But I'm still learning my writing process and it's a little frustrating to me. This is sort of what I do:

• I have some general waffly idea
• Characters appear
• I do some blue sky work in my brain, throwing up and discarding ideas, mostly about the story or backstory
• I begin to write and the characters start taking shape and telling me their story (I know that sounds weird)
• I keep writing, and doubting, and thinking, and writing
• I get to a point when I'm sure it's awful and I might send it to a few writer mates. Sometimes I'll know what's wrong, sometimes I need someone to tell me, sometimes discussing will shine lights
• Then I go back and start fixing the mess I made until it's something I'm happy to submit (this is the part I hate the most because I'm so unsure of what I'm doing in this bit - am I making it better or worse!?)
• Then edits come back and I like this part where I get to polish with someone's helpful prodding and expertise. Sometimes I have no recollection of some of the scenes or events, and that's a bit scary.

But that's kind of how I work.

And with this new story, I messed up the hero. I knew he was wrong, but not how he was wrong. So I sent him out to my mates and we worked out how he was wrong.

I submitted.

Edits come back - the hero is fine but the heroine is messed up! LOL! But she's nowhere near as messed up as the hero was initially - she's much more easily fixed.

And so I'm fixing. And relearning the story and the characters, and falling in love with their world all over again.

I can't wait to share more with you. Soon I hope!


Cath xox

Reflections

A couple of weeks ago, I was out on the river doing a spot of fishing with Dad and it was glorious - sunshine, not a breath of breeze, and fish biting. This is Coolangatta Mountain highlighted by the sun's rays and reflected in the glass-like river. Magical day.

Childhood Memories Part 1

I've been reflecting on memories from childhood. I think this might take a few posts, so here's part 1.

Da cleaning blackfish, Woy Woy ~1983

My clearest childhood memories are of holidaying, and fishing, with my grandfather. And also our own holidays, each May, where Dad and I fished. Yet these aren't strong memories for my sister. I began to wonder why.

My grandparents used to rent a holiday cottage at Woy Woy, on NSW central coast, for 6 weeks in February-March each year. Relatives were allocated time slots for holidaying with them. We had a weekend slot. Nanna was one of 7 or 8 kids; and Da one of 5 or 6 (can't quite remember but it is written down!). Their brothers/sisters were invited (and with kids if they lived with them). Dad and his brother and sister had slots. A few very good friends also had invitations. I'm not sure that Nanna and Da spent any time alone on their holidays. It was always like this.

The holiday house I remember had a wharf out the front (it was probably a pre-requisite for their booking) and many hours were spent on that wharf fishing. When I reached the age of 13, I was allowed to go out in the boat black fishing (proper name of the fish is Luderick but I didn't know that for many years) with Da and Dad. That age could not come quickly enough even if Dad took us out fishing sometimes. Fishing with Dad was all well and good, but it wasn't black fishing with Da.

Da died when I was 23, so I only had 10 years of fishing with him. At most 2 days/year, so 20 days. I don't remember each trip in detail. I remember a few instances. It's more the whole feeling those days inspired that is my memory.

Those weekends were filled with fishing, and fishing-related activities. I can see myself siting next to Da on the divan on the corridor into the place. He has his legs wide apart, huge arthritic knees prominent, and he's bending over to the green weed that's on a hessian bag between his feet that are encased in his scuffed old slip ons. He's sorting the green weed into good stuff for bait, and bad stuff for burley. He's explaining to me what he's doing, or grouching at me for asking too many damn questions. My head is filled with that fresh, briny smell of the weed, and a scent that is my grandfather's.

Then we check the rods. Check the gear. I'm his shadow, peppering him with questions even as he growls at me. He gives me jobs to do, and I feel so important (and now I realise, he was probably giving me something to do so he had a break from me!). I built impressive sandcastles so he could mix in his 'bad' weed to make burley. They had to be just the right size, and then flattened on top. It took me years to master the art to his specifications and damn, did I feel proud when he praised my sandcastle. (Now I know you just mix sand with weed, there's no magic in the sandcastle specifications!). I'd then take his precious little trowel and fill a 'sugar bag' with the burley that he'd mixed through my sandcastle. I don't think he ever allowed me to mix it - or maybe when I was an adult once! I had to get ever skerrick of weed - heaven help me if I left any behind.

He growled. He grouched. He yelled. He argued. I was always striving to do what he needed. I was always pretty sure of his love - even if he was incredibly grouchy, and sometimes scary!

I remember when quite young, getting up early and sliding into bed with Nanna and Da. My sisters and I loved that intimacy (is that the right word?) It was when Nanna protected us from Da's teeth that sat in a glass beside his bed and could jump out and bite us at any moment! Little did we know that Nanna's teeth were also in a glass nearby but hidden, and she didn't drop them off her gums and clack them in her mouth like Da did, terrifying us!

We always ate fish when we arrived. Fresh fish that Da had caught. A special fish for my sister who didn't like black fish and only ate bream. Nanna kept her fillet aside. It wasn't until I was well into my teens that I asked how Da always caught a bream for my sister when he only ever fished for black fish - I was sworn to secrecy!

Those weekends were filled with love and contentment. They nurtured me. I knew they were special. I treasured them. Yet, they occurred 23 times, at most. That's only 46 days. Many of those I'd not remember. I'm almost 50 years old now, and those memories are so very clear, yet those weekends haven't happened in 26 years. It seems crazy to have such strong memories about something that occurred so long ago and happened so infrequently.

Yet,  they were times when I could be myself. I could be outdoors, mix with the men, learn practical things that seemed important to survival, dress how I was most comfortable. I had space, freedom, and time to sit and think, or talk and question. They were days I cherish.

What are your strongest childhood memories?

Blueberry Ash

I have a Blueberry Ash laden at the moment and it's attracting so many Currawongs. Pigeons often nest in the tree, but at fruiting time no one seems to get a look in except the Currawongs. They're loud, they squabble, and they make me smile with their odd warbles of happiness.

In The Quiet

Have you ever read a book that grabs hold of you and touches something deep inside? In The Quiet by Eliza Henry Jones has done that for me this week.

It reminds me a little of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, another book that grabbed me by the throat. Both have a dead person looking back on their loved ones after death, but In The Quiet has an adult, Cate, a wife and mother, as the narrator.

Cate's belonged to a small-farm family in a rural Victorian town. She bred horses; her husband, Bass, dreams of breeding cattle.

They have three children - twin boys who are 16, Rafferty and Cameron, and a daughter 14, Jessa.

It's poignant, reflective, quiet, rural, beautiful, and heart-breaking. There are so many gorgeous sentences. So many beautifully depicted scenes. So much love for family, friends, country life, horses, chooks, dogs, cattle.

It's made up of little moments, vignettes, that Cate, sees or remembers. I read some reviews where readers found that disjointed and hated it, but for me, it was the beauty of the book. The snippets of life that make a whole. Good bits. Bad bits. Happy bits. Sad bits. My memories never come back whole, they come in snippets and snapshots - and that why I found this so beautiful.

Grief is a theme I keep coming back to - trying to make sense of it, to understand those deep swirling emotions. This book has touched me deeply. I can't really leave the house today for my hugely swollen eyes - and yet for much of the book I didn't cry. For much of the book I smiled and nodded. I hugged a pillow. I stopped reading to remember something myself.

It's a beautiful story. A gorgeous book.

It's one I'd love to have written.

Kinchega National Park Flood Tree

 

This is the flood marker tree at Kinchega National Park.

I thought it was appropriate as there seems to be an awful lot of rain around at the moment. The east coast of Australia is being battered by an East Coast Low dropping heaps of rain and blowing a gale. But inland areas seem to also be getting some rain - friends in Condobolin have had around 100 mm. Some areas of inland Queensland have also had some rain.

Wherever you are, I hope you're keeping safe.

Mungo

This is a shot of the Walls of China at Lake Mungo National Park. The image doesn't do the place justice. It was breath-taking and awe inspiring. Beautiful and majestic. It gave me all the feels.

Cuteness

Less than a day old - Shetland x Mini foal

Foxy puppies

Spruce

Before summer, all the pine cones are pink and tight

As summer warms them up, sap oozes

When they dry out, seeds fall out in almost papery sheets

I've been admiring the pine cones on my spruce tree (well, I think it's a spruce!)

Thursday Thoughts - my character development

When I started writing The Healing Season I didn't have a lot of ideas about the story or the characters - that's usually how I start, so I wasn't worried.

Jennie, Lisa and I had come up with our town and we'd decided to have a newcomer for each story. I immediately decided my local would be the woman, and she'd be a farmer. Jennie and Lisa both had their female characters as the newcomers - which suited me, I like being different.

And that's where the story started. I have to write to find my story and my characters, so I began here.

My mind churns over questions and ideas. It's sort of planning without actually planning! And this must happen before I start a story, although I'm often not conscious of it, but it continues as I write.

The questions I asked were things like - as a farmer, how does my female character work? If she's young, how could she own/manage a farm? That seemed a little too difficult to explain, plus I have another story with a young male farmer, so it was a bit too similar. Scrap that plan. What else could Alicia do that kept her with agricultural knowledge and a local?

An agronomist. In the local produce store.

But the town was small, how does it have a produce store? Maybe she could have a franchise and work as part of a larger network. Maybe she's always dreamed to do this...yet something's making it difficult for her. Maybe her folks don't want this life for her...but that seemed kind of odd...but not if she was emotionally battered in some way and they were trying to 'do what was best for her'.

Alicia and her grief was born.

For my newcomer, he had to somehow understand Alicia's grief. He had to be a deep enough character to see her, feel her pain and loss, yet never try to take that away from her. He had to be a friend, not a romantic interest. Why? I don't really know. That's just how my mind worked, and how I saw her accepting another man in her life.

I wanted him to come to town looking for roots but scared about the decision he was making. He had to want to stay...but also be reluctant to give the town his all. He had to hold something back, so that Alicia could draw something from him as she began to open up.

The lead male and female in a romance have to have personality traits that complement and/or antagonise each other. As a reader, to keep your interest in the romance, there has to be a push-pull effect between the couple. You can't read and just 'know' that they're going to be together - you have to question 'how' they're ever going to get together.

I'm hopeless at doing opposites who antagonise each other - I just don't understand that attraction and so I struggle to write it. I like sameness, but that can be quite boring because they do gel together so well. So my question became - what same values could these two have, which would also keep them apart?

Grief and the aloofness that grief can bring seemed to be the way to keep Alicia and Lachlan apart, yet trying to be together. Their friendship could be a slow burn towards love, catching them almost unawares.

As I wrote, Lachlan had all this depth and a scary past that kept coming out ever so slowly. He'd been badly hurt and poorly treated...but how on earth had he changed? He changed because he wanted to. He knew he had to break the cycle. He had to get away from his past. He had to make a decision to be the best person he could be and start fresh.

And Alicia and Lachlan developed.

I don't sit down and plan this first. It happens as I write. As I find the story and discover the characters, the words appear. It's an amazing thing, my mind. And just a bit scary :)

If you're a writer - how do you develop characters?

If you're a reader - what sort of character(s) do you enjoy reading about most?