Creative Places - Hobbiton

This is AMAZING and I intend to save my pennies (cents) and go and see this!

Click here to go to Peter Jacksons facepage. 

Double click on video if you would liked to be moved to the Youtube page.

Click here if you would like to see how you can visit Hobbition in New Zealand.

Creative People -Linda Catchlove

I am looking for an Australian illustrator for my book. I asked all my facebook 'friends' about it and I was told to look at The Style File Illustrators A-Z. Within this amazing group of people I came across Linda Catchlove.

I just adore her work. I have known other people who paint amazing work of botanical but never anyone who has added little touches of fairy's, spiders, butterflies etc.

I would count myself very fortunate if one day I could own an original of this ladies work. Enjoy her website.

Books I Have Read - The Trouble with Wenlocks

I have just finished reading a little book titled 'The Trouble with Wenlocks a Stanley Wells Mystery" written by Joel Stewart.

It is strange little book with a strange story that turns out not to be so small but big, huge even. It is about a small boy named Stanley Wells who imagines everything and anything to the point were reality and imagination get lost.

He meets Dr E. B. Moon who is an unraveller of ravelled things. An untangler of the tangled. With his faithfully dog (I suppose you'd call him and by the way Dr Moon is NOT a person) the three of them try to solve the problem of the Wenlocks that keep eating the Sorrows (little furry creatures) that are hanging over everybodies heads.

Upon meeting Albert Lee, a man who lives on a river boat Stanley finds that his daughter Umiko is missing. She has been kidnapped by the Wenlocks.

The search begins to find Umiko and on the way people are found sitting, standing, laying down like zombies. Wenlocks are everywhere eating up the Sorrows that float over peoples heads and as the Sorrow is taken away the human becomes a zombie.

As the puzzle unfolds Umiko is found creating lots of little Sorrow creatures from her bad memories of her mother dieing of cancer when she was younger. She also created the Wenlocks to eat up the Sorrows to make people feel better. It is not until Stanley points out that we all need our sorrows to make us human that she makes them all go away except for one Sorrow, which she keeps for herself as she is not ready to give it up yet.

I found this story an amazing way of discussing the problem of sorrow, heartache and how people will try to get rid of it in anyway they can so they can feel better but in the end it doesn't work. People need their hate, their sorrow, their sadness to know what love, kindness, happiness is. We are all made up of the experiences we have had in the past and no matter how much we would like to get rid of the pain it is with us until the day we die. We just have to come to terms with it and change it into something positive or else it will eat us up like the Wenlocks.

Creative People - Pip and Pop Display

Well I visited the diplay 'We Miss You Magic Land' being displayed at the Queensland Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art and I must say that for a person like me it was AMAZING!

What I did find interesting beside the obvious creativity and detail to the colour schemes and the overal design of the whole display was the way people interacted with it. Most people wanted to get down on their knees and lean on the edging (which was NOT allowed) so they could look straight at it.
The range of ages of the people were amazing. It was NOT just for children.
I've taken over 80 photos and I'm soo pleased I have.

I loved the twinkling lights. It gave the static display movement and it is something to think about with my own model. The use of space was very good. There were areas of absolute clutter and colour and then of others of just empty space. It made the whole thing better. The more you looked the more you saw. Which is what I am doing with my model. It was also amazing to 'see' what the artist's used to create this amazing display.

I for one LOVED it and strongly recommend that if you can visit the display do so.
If this doesn't inspire people I don't know what would.





This extrodinary piece of artwork is being displayed (free entry) at GOMA - Queensland Art Gallery/ Gallery of Modern Art from 26th November to the 4th March 2012 located at South Brisbane. (See map below)

'Perth-based artist duo Pip & Pop (Nicole Andrijevic and Tanya Schultz) will create an immersive and vibrant environment for children and families to explore in this major Children’s Art Centre installation as part of GOMA’s fifth anniversary celebrations.
Drawing on children’s stories, creation myths, Buddhist cosmologies, video games and folktales, Pip & Pop create large-scale fantasy worlds coloured with a bright, often fluorescent palette, using cake-decorating tools, intricate layers of sugar, glitter, modelling clay and mirrors.
Pathways and peepholes will lead visitors to different worlds: a magical forest filled with strange flowers, vines, mushrooms and animals; a cosmic universe condensed into a darkened room with twinkly stars; and a volcanic lake with crystals, mist and liquid pools are just some of the creations waiting to be discovered.'
Information above supplied by the Qld Art gallery website.

Books I Have Read - Pond Magic

I have just finished reading for the second time Pond Magic by Angela Sunde.
Now I have known Angela for three years and I find her nothing but inspirational.
When I first read Pond Magic in its infansay as a manuscript I was amazed at the magic, the cleverness and wonder of the story. Now that it is finished, tidied up and squished down into the number of words that are required to be an Aussie Chomps author it is just great!

As you know everything is beholdent to the viewer (or reader as in this case) and I am a person (if you couldn't tell that likes MAGIC! WONDER! and CLEVERNESS! and that is what I see and read when I read this book.)

By the way the story behind Angela being picked up by Penguin Publishers deserves a story all of its own but I am not here to talk about that.

Here Angela has written a mesmerising tale about the trials and tribulations of a girl - Lily Pond- of 12 living nextdoor to a witch! When Lily starts burping and her feet become webbed and her skin turns green she realises that she is turning into a frog! Something has to be done! I mean to say she nearly eats a fly for crying out loud!

As Lily struggles with this dissaster and the kids at school teasing her another one comes to live with her in the form of an exchange student from France - Rainier le Dauphin. She finds this person who she refers to as Rain Gauge or Rainy (just pick one) irratating beyond dispare. Lily's mother on the other hand is delighted as she is with all things French but wouldn't you know it in the end Lily needs Rainier to save her from ending her days living the back yard pond.

I have found this a delightful story and as I know there is a second story about the adventures of Lily Pond in the winds I, for one, just can't wait.

Below is a list of places that you are able to purchase a copy of Pond Magic. Also if any one would like to have a signed copy then please contact Angela through her web site. Angela Sunde's web site.

A local Gold Coast bookstore;
Network Educational 4/498 Scottsdale Dr, Varsity Lakes, Gold Coast. Network Educational
and
Love That Book bookstore, Southport Park Shopping Centre, Southport Park, Gold Coast. Love That Book Store

Pond Magic can be ordered from any bookstore in Australia and New Zealand.

It can also be ordered from any online store such as: these are all facebook sites. Just click on the continue button there is no need to log in if you are just looking.

Fishpond: Fishpond
Borders online: Borders Online
Mighty Ape online: Mighty Ape
Seek Books online: Seek Books
Booktopia: Booktopia

The book retails for approx $12.99.

Prana Writers Win

We won and we have the awards to prove it!

As mentioned in my previous post Prana Writers won the Write A Book In A Day Competition. We are the National Winner as well as the Eastern States Winner!

This award or should I say awards were given out by the Royal Children's Hospital.
Visit Prana Writers blog for more information. Click Here.

On the 24th November 2011 the group (less two members who were unable to attend) was prented with the awards at the Gold Coast City Creative Juices Networking Event. The members of the team that participated in the project were presented with a certificate and a T-shirt.

Prana members Angela Sunde presentated a power point presentation on the creating of the winning entry (The Coral Sea Monster). She went through the many processes that the group needed to complete in the one day. It was not until the beginning of the day did the members even know what it was they were to write about.

Tom Betts gave a presentation on how the Prana Writers came into being. He explained how a group of sixteen came together three years ago when the Gold Coast Council ran a Write A Kids Book workshop with Louise Cusack. The next year eleven of us decided to apply for a grant and employ Louise again. This year those eleven became known as Prana Writers.

It was a wonderful night and I am soo proud of our group.
Below is an exert from the judges report on The Coral Sea Monster by Prana Writers.

'The Winner of the Open Section this year is the most beautifully illustrated as well as the best written story of the bunch: ‘The Coral Sea Monster’ by Prana Writers. The team was given the challenge to include a podiatrist, a sheep shearer and a sea animal in their work, as well as to employ the setting of a motorway and the theme of love. The result is an amusing and engaging story of a 13 year-old sheep-whisperer, Jack, whose hopes of competing in the shearing event at the Ekka showgrounds are shot through when a truck overturns on the motorway into Brisbane, blocking the traffic in both directions. The truck in question is carrying a sea monster, of course, and Jack and his new found friend, a teen podiatrist (yes, there is such a girl!), set out on a fun-packed adventure to save the sea monster from the clutches of Lionel Measly, the greedy Ocean-World curator who hopes to make a million out of the endangered species. A competition like Book-in-a -Day challenges all of its competitors to take an imaginative leap, to work together against the ticking clock, to produce something extraordinary and new. ‘The Coral Sea Monster’ is a delightful example of the best kind of new work this competition is capable of producing. Congratulations to team members Tom Betts, Rob Brown, Margaret Choinski, Rebecca Fraser, Janis Hanley, Kerry McGuicken, Helen Stubbs, Angela Sunde and Amanda Worlley, as well as to the children at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, to whom this team’s sponsors directed their funds. You are all very worthy winners!'

Congratulations of a job well done and may we all go from strength to strength in the coming years.

Creative People - Inga Moore

I have come across a blog called Surface Fragments. Within in it are some amazing pictures and information. One of those is about Inga Moore. She is an english illustrator who is now living in Austrlia and I thought I would show you just a couple of her beautiful pictures here. These are from The Wind in The Willows and The Secret Garden. I highly recommend that you vist this blog and see more of her work. I had hoped to find an offical website of her work but as of yet nothing!




Wouldn't it be wonderful to paint like this!

Creative People - Lisa Lichtenfels

Many many many years ago when I was at the workshop fo Robert McKinnley in Brisbane so was Lisa Lichtenfels. I have collected images of her work for many years and have just stummbled across her site.

Isn't she amazing (below) and to think she is made out of fabric and nylon!
If you would like to know 'how' Lisa creates her art work make sure you go to the 'Techniques' title of her site.

Creative People - Lorell Leham

I love to troll through the web and see what other people are creating. To me the web is like a huge library and I LOVE library's.

Today I have found Lorell Leham I found her because I was looking in Google Images for original fantasy dolls. I came across the art work of Koldo Barroso and therefore came across Lorell.


This is one of her amazing dolls and it is called The Pobble. Isn't it brilliant!
P.S. I have found a lot of her work on her older posts in her blog. As of the time of this post her website was not up and running again.

My theory is that a person needs to see and learn from people who are better than they are. In my case I'm looking for people who are much better in creative dolls and models. I love to see what they have created (I collect their images for reference) I love to learn how they create these creatures and why they have created them. Enjoy.

I have Finished! Well Almost.

I have finished my story, well almost. When one is writing a story, big or small for that mater, there are so many many things that have to done. I am the type of person, I have learnt, who writes one chapter and when I am happy with it then I write another. When I have finished what I thought I wanted to say I sit down and read the whole story from beginning to end. For myself I have found writing to be like any other craft I do. In this instance I shut my eyes and touch type. When I open my eyes what I wanted to say is there on the page, mostly.
        Anyway I found that the story was pretty well what I expected but then thought 'Well hang on a minute. How are my characters going to get across a field when they are only the size of a person's thumb! How are they going to send and receive messages and more importantly I can not just have them go from A to B with nothing exciting happening. Umm ... I wonder what I could do to them?'
        Another thing I found invaluable was a 'time schedual'. Not for my writing but because I have two groups of characters that only meet up at the end of the story. I needed to know where everyone was in relation to everyone else. This was soo important. Upon creating one of these I found I needed another day with one group of my characters and so I had to create a disaster to delay them. Once this was put in place I ended up with a dilemma. I now had delayed them so much that now they had no time to catch up and be in the right place at the right time! Strewth! I'd done it now!
       I then devised a way to solve this problem and, as my story is being read at this very moment by some trusted friends, I'm sure they will tell me if the solution is plausible or not.
       Now that my story is written it is being read by, as I said before, some trusted friends who are authors themselves. I shall also be delivering my story up to a dear friend of mine who is the smartest man I've every known and he will sort out my grammar. Once all of this info comes back I intend to take myself off for a week and go through my story from top to toe and THEN it shall be finished! That is until an editor gets his/her hands on it. It just never ends!
      Now I am turning my attention to a cover letter and the synopsis.
      I can't wait to start my other story. That I am really looking forward to.

WE WON!

                             WE WON!
or should I say the Prana Writers won the National Awards for the Write a Book in a Day competition.
Unfortunately I and two other members were away at the time the other members of the Prana Writers were competing in the competition.

It is amazing, on the one hand, that our group has pulled off something so brilliant and distressing on the other that I was unable to be there to be part of it. I was on a two week trip up to the Gulf of Carpentaria. I enjoyed myself immensely and I was able to complete an awful lot of writting on my story but still ...

http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/wJW1Tgd1N2rlVWNln-mh_Yj8iNrauNayehWz1aUXEht-aZYejvnvZf5nISdr5wDV_i5InDahMzfiJw4WBNFsXwFUYuJgqFmt6w/Write%20a%20Book%20in%20a%20Day%202011/Prana%20Media%20Release.5.pdf

I have included the link for the press release of our groups success. Before the group knew of their success they had decided to re-edit the story The Coral Sea Monster with a view of self publishing it and donating some of the profits to the Royal Children's Hospital as a matter of course. Now that the group has won, that will definitely be happening.
The three of us that were unable to be involved in creating this fine story have been asked to review the story once it has been polished up by the eight members who came up with the story in the first place.

It is an amazing accomplishment by the members of the group and I congratulated them all on their achievement.

Write A Book In A Day Competiton

I thought I would share with you something rather special. I am involved with a writting group called Prana Writers. The group entered a competion called 'Write A Book In A Day'. The idea of the national competiton was to raise money for a hospital. We chose the Royal Children's Hospital. We raised $940.00. Our book is called The Coral Sea Monster.

Anyway the good news is that Prana Writers has been shortlisted to win. If we win (which we will find out today - the 3rd November) the book will be printed and half the profits will go to the hospital. I think that goes for two years (but don't quote me on that.)

I will keep you posted.

Brisbane Writers Festival

I was VERY fortunate to be given a free ticket to attend the Brisbane Writers Festival. I attended the talk on 'Publishing in the young adult & children's market.'
There were five speakers.
Farrin Jacobs - International Editorial Director, Harper Collins Children's Books, New York,
Emily Rodda - Five time winner of the Children's Book Council of Australia of the Year Award.
Tristan Bancks - One of Australia's most popular and successful writers for young people.
Kristina Schulz - Children's Publisher for UQP.
Gaby Naher - Literary Agent. (Sophie Hamley was suppose to be the guest but had to pull out due to sickness).

The whole experience was well worth traveling from the Gold Coast to the Brisbane Art Gallery. I learnt some new things. After three years of learning as much as I can it is amazing that there are still 'things' to learn.

A couple of weeks ago I had asked the universe a question and that question was 'How do I protect my rights?'

A week later I received (out of the blue) a free ticket to the Brisbane Writers Festival and I knew I would get my answer. I thought I would get it from Farrin Jacobs but it proved not to be. I received it from Emily Rodda.

The answer was to NEVER give up my copyright. It MUST be stated in ANY contract you are to sign that 'you (the author) are the sole owner of the copyright of the work you have produced.' Those words will not appear in that exact way but that is what it means. Your contract MUST say that you have the copyright of your work.

Gold Coast Show 2011

The Gold Coast Show 2011
I was given a generous space to display my models. It was the first time that I been placed in this position and I am going to see if I can have it for next year. If I do get to stay there I am going to look at displaying my models differently. I have always wanted a painted back drop and with a display stand this size that idea would work.

Every year I try to bring different models but in saying that there are two that everyone likes to see. The first is the kitchen of Pebble Cottage (the model sitting under the picture of the Black Hawk Faairy) and the second is Archibald's General Store (the model sitting to the far left of the picture.)

I'm going to be displaying my miniature gourd models at the Gold Coast Show this weekend. At Parklands on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of September.
I shall be introuducing a new line that I hope people will want to purchase.

Basic Gourd Houses



Above is a photo of just two of the 15 or more houses I shall be bringing along. For the six years I have been displaying my big modles at the show people have always admired them and wanted to know where they could buy gourds from. The answer to that is either Toowoomba or Maitland NSW. There are not many people who could be bothered to track them down soo I thought, or rather I should say my partner Garry thought, I should make them like this (above) and then all people have to do is decorated them. Wholla!

When I have the time I while include some photos of past shows but I'm off to finish the houses as there is soo much to do before the show. See you there.

Writting & Illustration Workshop

Yesterday I went to a Writting and Illustration Workshop put on by Angela Sundae, author of Pond Magic.
It was amazing. I now know why I write novels. Illustrating a book is complicated, difficult, amazing and any other words you could think of. There is soo much involved when you get down to the nitty gritty of it.
Luckily you can be either an anuthor or an illustrator or both. I think I'll stick to being an author. That's the easy bit.

The only dissapointing thing about the whole day was that four people did not turn up. That in itself is their loss but there were six people on a waiting list who missed out and who could have been there.

My trip to nowhere and back again

I'm back. I know you did even know I'd left. When I have more time I'll put up some photos of what I have done and where I have been for the last two weeks. I've had an amazing time and have seen  and done things I have NEVER done before. ALWAYS a positive thing to do to move away and move up from where you are now if you want to change your life and move it in a different direction. (Something I'm attempting to do. Move my life towards my BIG dream)

While I was away I worked on my story. I wrote every day for 5-6 hours and a few days ago, the 15th August 2011 at 5.12 pm I could finally say THE END!

Of course that is only on paper. I am now transcribing my snakes and ladders gibberish onto the computer so that I can eventually print it and send the whole lot off to a friend of mine so he can go through the grammar.

I will then fix whatever it is I'm told to fix. I will in the meantime create a synopsis, a cover letter, a list of potential pictures with their locations, a time line of the story and a break up of each chapter.

I find it VERY beneficial to go away like this and be able to sit and go through the whole story from one end to the other. In my case because I was changing points of views in some chapters, removing some characters and replacing them with someone else. Ensuring that all my chapters flowed. Combining some chapters, splitting others up.

I am extremely pleased with my story and I know that later I will sit back and say struthe I should have done that better but at the moment I am extremely pleased with it.

For the next three weeks I have to build as many small miniature houses as I possibly can because I shall be at the Gold Coast Show and I am allowed to sell my houses for the first time. I shall be creating houses that are less complex and thereby will be a lot cheaper. I am also going to create basic bases so that people can create their own house. They will be sold for $50.00. When the show is finished I shall be putting them on my blog to see if anyone is interested in purchasing them.

I will see you later I have work, work, work to do.

Books I Have Read-The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden is an amazing story. I have always wondered about it. It has been mentioned over the years and created into one film that I know of but I wouldn't be surprised to find it had been made into more and even plays.
Frances Hodgson Burnett wrote the story in 1911 and even though it is a simple plot I found myself not caring.

I wondered if she wrote it not just because of her love of gardens but because she had suffered the same type of thing or saw what dark thoughts can do to people. The terrible life she and her family led after her father died (1853) and the family was plunged into indescribable poverty in the Victorian slums of Manchester must of had an effect on her and everyone she saw. Fortunately the family moved to the USA in 1865.

I do not know if I enjoyed the story because I like gardens or if the mind of Mary, Colin and his father remind me of my mind. What it used to be like.

I had suffered with depression for twenty years and the theme of the story is -
"Two things cannot be in one place.

Where you tend the rose, my lad,

A thistle cannot grow."

She is talking of thoughts.

"Much more surprising things can happen to anyone who, when a disagreeable or discouraged thought comes into his mind, just has the sense to remember in time and push it out by putting in an agreeable, determinedly courageous one. Two things cannot ...."

"While the secret garden was coming alive and two children were coming alive with it, there was a man wandering about certain far-away beautiful places in the Norwegian fjords, and the valleys and mountains of Switzerland, and he was a man who for ten years had kept his mind filled with dark and heartbroken thinking. He had not been courageous; he had never tried to put any other thoughts is the place of the dark ones."

later in the story

"He sat and gazed at the sunlit water and his eyes began to see things growing at its edge. There was one lovely mass of blue forget-me-nots growing so close to the stream and its leaves were wet and at these he found himself looking as he remembered he had looked at such things years ago. He was actually thinking tenderly how lovely it was and what wonders of blue its hundreds of little blossoms were. He did not know that just that simple thought was slowly filling his mind - filling and filling it until other things were softly pushed aside. It was as if a sweet, clear spring had begun to rise in a stagnant pool and had risen and risen until at last it swept the dark water away."

I can tell you from experience that it is VERY hard to keep that one beautiful thought in your mind. It is like a tiny speck of light in a huge room filled with dark smothering gloom. The only way the speck can survive is if it is fed another beautiful thought and another and another so that it can grow. Eventually pushing out the darkness that seeps into every part of a persons body and makes them sick. This, for me took years as it is VERY difficult to remember, to wish, to believe that your life can be any different from what it is. It is as if you are lost in a deep dark hole. You can not see the bottom, the sides, the edge and you do not know how you will EVER get out but in the end I did it and here I am. You can to if you just believe in yourslef.

The Secret Garden, written by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Published by Puffin Classics

My Craft Room Grows Up

My craft room has grown up and becomes a studio. Well one of them has anyway. I have two rooms but the other one is more like a store room for my models and it is so full up that I can't get in there. It also means I can't get the 'things' that are in it out. This is something I'll have to sort out but not now. It has taken a long time to get this room set up.

This lovely desk was given to me by some friends and it really makes the room feel like a studio. I'm going to be able to create lots of interesting stuff in this room.

With me, and I would think it would be the same for everyone else, I like to surround myself in the things I like. I am going to see about putting some of the pictures of Van Craig's dolls up on the blinds. I have my models around and I'd like to get my portfolios in there somewhere but I don't want to clutter the place up. I used to able to work with my stuff everywhere but now I need it tidy.


I keep most of my beads on these shelves.

I find, for me that the state of my studio, my house and my garden all represent my state of mind. Everything is fine untill I get stressed and then watch out. Everything gets picked up and placed any old how and months later when things are better and I open my eyes think. Strueth!



Books I Have Read -Antonis S and the Mystery of Theodoe Guzman

Learning from other writers is something I am always attempting to do. I read every night. It gives my mind something else to think of. I have just finished reading

This is the first one that he wrote in 1997. In 1998 it was short listed for the 1998 National Children's Literature Award at the Festival Awards for Literature, was an Honour Book in the 1998 Children's Book Council Book of the Year - Younger Readers Awards and won the inaugural Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children's Literature in the 1999 NSW Premier's Literary Awards.

He was born in Australia were he studied medicine and worked as a doctor. He now lives in London.

I collect Odo Hirsch books and found the beginning of this story was not written in the same style as the other books I have of his work. By the time I got through half of the book I could see his style come out in his work and by the end of it I was really pleased I had found the book at the recent Life Line Bookfest held on the Gold Coast. 

The book is about a young boy (Antonia S) obsessed with finding out why an old man (Mr Guzman) in an apartment of The Duke's House (were they and other people live) why he hardly ever comes out of his apartment. When he does it is not for long.

Through various means and hows he finds out that the old man was a very famous actor.

Antonio S decides to put on a play. It eventually has the desired effect and he meets this old man and learns from him what it is to be an actor.

The last part of this book is very stirring. I could 'feel' the sense of loss for the actor and sense of wonder for the boy.

When it comes to writing. There is a section in the book that I feel every writer could use to help to understand their characters.

(Mr Guzman speaking) 'The very first day I spoke to you, Antonio. You asked me a question. You asked whether I knew the words of every character I had played. Do you remember? What did I say?'

     Antonio thought. 'You said all you had to do was think about what they were like.'

     'Yes. All you have to do is to remember who is the character that you are playing. If you know what he is like, what he is really like, if you have that in your head, the words will come.'

     'Is that all?'

     'Is that all? Isn't that enough?' Mr Guzman laughed. He stood up. 'It is more than it sounds. Wait here, Antonio.'

     Mr Guzman walked slowly out of the room. When he came back, he was carrying the carved figure of Paul Snee in his hand. He put it on the table beside the sketch pad and sat down again.

     'Look at him, Antonio.'

     Antonio looked. Paul Snee gazed angrily back.

     'Think of who he is. What he feels, what he thinks, what he sees. He sees you! He is looking at you. Now see yourself, Antonio, through his eyes.'

     Antonio glanced sharply at Mr Guzman. Mr Guzman nodded.

     'You are now a boy who is trying to tell jokes and can't remember them. You see another boy looking at you. You are frustrated. You are angry. Can you feel it?' Antonio stared at Paul Snee's figure, trying to feel his anger.

     'Forget the words, understand the character. When you come back to the theatre, you will see the figures on the stage. Do not simply look at them. Use them. They can help you. Put yourself inside them and look out. Feel the wood of the stage under your feet, The stage is now your world. The figures are your fellows. You walk amongst them.' Mr Guzman paused. (end of passage)

Didn't I tell you it was something worth reading, something worth knowing.

Antonio S and the Mystery of Theodore Guzman written by Odo Hirsch and published by Allen & Unwin.

Writing Stories for Children - How the heck did that happen!

Writing stories for children - how the heck did that happen?

Words. Words. Words. It all their fault. They are an amazing thing - words. They can destroy people and they can keep people alive. They can make you cry or they can make you laugh and they can change your life.
The words that changed my life were:-

'If you continue to do the things you've done in your past, you'll continue to get in the future, the things you have always gotten.'

Author unknown 

If you are like me then photos
catch your eye. Isn't he cute!

Since reading those words it was as if I could see a map laid out infront of me and I didn't like where it was heading. I hadn't like the road I had been on since I was 17. I just didn't know how to get off it. Then in my late 30's those amazing words came into my life and they frightened me. It meant that if I was going to listen to them, act on them, I would have to go against everything I knew, everything I did and everyone in my life who liked me the way I was.

In my journey to today I have found out many things but one of those things is that people don't like change. They like comfort and in comfort comes complacency, boardum, apathy and a lack of understanding of people who don't want to run with the sheep any more. Hence as I deliberately experienced 'things' I had never experienced before, people who I classed as friends, who liked comfort, dropped off and new ones were picked up. It is the way of things even if it is not understood at the time.

As I tentatively, slowly experienced one brand new thing at a time it enabled me to leave that road behind and head off in a completely new direction. Now fifteen years on I am now in an amazing part of my life. A life I thought I would NEVER have and as hard as I look I can not see that old road that I thought I would never be able to leave behind.
(Click Here if you would like to read more about how I decided to start writing stories for children)
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Writing A Story - How I came up with the idea

Ths post is about writing a story and how I came up with the stories that I am writing. I'm writing two at the moment (Story 1 & Story 2). I don't actually want to go into the details of what my stories are about as they are not published yet but still I think the processes of how I came up with the ideas within them might be interesting to some.

The General Store and Me

From time to time I had come up with little ditty's that I would write down but I never took them seriously until one year (along time ago) I made a model of a General Store. (Story 1) It was created in a time when everyone had gone away on holidays and I was left to run my parents waterlily nursery. Every night I would set the log fire ablaze, put on a Miss Marple video (starring Joan Hickson, my favourite) and make my model. When I created the main character, who lives in my imaginary forest, I had to consider what did he do. How can he move within his store and his house that sat on top of it. I must admit I got a bit carried away with it all and in the end I even gave him an astronomy tower (because I like looking at the stars, the universe). It sits on the very top of his house. It even has actual miniature star charts of the southern hemisphere. I also created a vege patch and as I thought of his life I realised that he wouldn't have time to tend it so I made it overgrown with weeds. You can see the little dove coup he has standing in the middle of it by clicking onto the link How to Make Picture Tubes. which can be found on the page labeled Information for Free & Sale.
(Click Here if you would like to read more about Writig A Story - how I came up with the idea)
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Help with Blogger - How I Made My Blog

How I made my blog. I thought people might be interested just incase anyone wants to create a Blog in Blogger. I was told it is was sooo easy! You’ve got to be kidding.
I fumbled my way around for hours and some things have still not been fixed. By the time I realised I was in trouble and that I really needed to keep track of all this information I had created 'things'. I have gone over some of it so that it could be placed here but I’m sorry to say, some of it is still missing. What is here works. See LINKS  below for relevant info.
(2 July 2011 - When I have time I will be putting all this into dot form as its getting a bit busy looking. I will also add info about keywords and how to find them and use them)

FIRST BEFORE YOU START UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE DOING.
You will be creating one page called HOME that all other posts will be able to be put onto. This page WILL automaticaly, everytime you put up a new post, scroll down. Which means the first bit of informtion you posted will now be a the bottom and will continue to go down the more posts you put on it.
ALL the other pages are STATIC. They can not have 'posts' added to them they will just stay the same. 'You can keep adding information to that static page by creating a space between them and adding a new date. That is one way of getting around it.
It is important to know this so that you will not make the mistake I have just made. Fortuanetly this is very easy to fix by cuting and pasting.
Without realising it I have placed all my information on to STATIC PAGES. Now in some ways this is good. It still allows for comments which is good and at least I don't have to worry about the information any more. This is another good thing as I'm a busy person.

I have of course put information on my HOME page that I would now, as I now realsie what is going to happen to it, have on a static page as I do not want it to end up at the bottom of a lot of other posts.
(If you would like to read more about Help with Blogger - How I Made My Blog click here)
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The Mudgeeraba Show on the Gold Coast - 2011

Well I'm going to be at the Mudgeeraba Show (on the Gold Coast) this weekend. It starts today and I am hoping to give out hundreds of fliers to let everyone know about my new blog.

This will be the 4th year that I've been at the show exhibiting my miniature models. Last year I was placed inside the craft hall rather than being on the covered veranda. I had placed a display on a long thin raised platform and so this year I expected the same thing. This turned out not to be so. When I arrived I found that the stage had been enlarged. This was really a good thing from my point of view. Last year there really was not enough space for me, my model and the people who wanted to look at it. Now I've placed the table on the edge of the corner and people can stand, safely, on the floor and look in. Children will have to be picked up but I can't have everything.
This year I also have a couple of my art dolls with me, especially the one based on Van Craig which I love.

Well I've got to go and I'll let you know how it goes and put on some photos.

Well the first day is done and dusted at the Mudgeeraba Show. I had a great day at the Mudgeeraba Show. A lot of people interested in my miniature models. Lots of people taking my fliers. Some people even promising to send me stuff. Unfortunately I don't get too excited about all that as a lot of people have good intentions but it takes a lot for people to actually put that into action. This is why when people do actually give me something I send them one of the twelve gift cards that I have created out of the pictures that were taken by Boyd Luadaka (an award winning photographer and a very good musician and singer to boot).

I suppose I should see about putting those gift cards on this blog. That would be a thing to do. Um.
Anyway back to business. I had a lot of people asking if I sold my models and children asking if I would bring them to their schools.
I did actually do that once. I was asked by the Silkwood Independant School in Nerang to bring my miniature models along. The children were most amused. Each child went home with a gourd seed or two.
See you tomorrow at the Mudgeeraba Show on the Gold Coast.

The second day at the - Mudgeeraba Show.

One of my macrame hangers
(beautiful quilts in the background made by some amazing people, not me)

Well what a day. I've have met some really interesting people doing amazing things. There are so many clever people out there.
I'm pleased that lots of people like my miniature models. They asked lots of questions about gourds and how I made the models. How long they took, where did I get the ideas. I even had a couple of my dolls there. This has been my fouth year at the Mudgeeraba Gold Coast Show and I have enjoyed it as I have every other year.