tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29440493175548181042024-03-05T15:29:32.198+08:00Writing in the MarginsA blog about writing young adult and children's fiction, and other random observations.Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.comBlogger75125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-36659230103896737172016-01-02T13:59:00.002+08:002016-01-02T16:23:27.481+08:00Sweet 2016<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Happy 2016 to you!<br />
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1. Above is my reading pile/s for Perth Writers Festival Schools and Teachers Days. Luckily I've already read a couple in that list, and it is proving a pleasure to read the rest.<br />
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2. If you're free on Saturday 16 January, come to the State Library of WA for free writing/reading workshops for kids - details <a href="http://www.slwa.wa.gov.au/whats_on/school_holidays">here</a>.<br />
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3. 2016 is already looking exciting writing-wise: I have started the year doing an edit for a novel I first drafted last year, and will be out at the beginning of next, and the calendar is filling up with lots of fabulous things, including the Asian Festival For Children's Content in Singapore in May (thank you, writingwa and Department of Culture and the Arts!). More of both forthwith.<br />
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4. I spent the first day of 2016 swimming in the clear, shark-less waters of Yallingup with cousins and kids. The evening before, we saw these folk for the hills. A visiting Irishman suggested that the sight of them to us must be ordinary: we put him straight. The elegant strangeness of a kangaroo can never be ordinary.<br />
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5. I wish you all a year of books, and the open-minded curiosity they create.Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-69346797417233741772015-09-20T08:34:00.002+08:002015-09-20T08:36:03.098+08:00The Flyaway Girls: what Katy thinksWaiting for first reviews to come in can be nerve-wracking, so getting one like <a href="http://readingtime.com.au/the-flyaway-girls/">this</a> makes one's writerly heart sing.<br />
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I'm not sure about the recommended reading age - I would have thought The Flyaway Girls is definitely at the young (and younger) end of that spectrum. If you've read it, what do you think?<br />
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Reading Time's Katy Gerner said:</div>
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I found <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Flyaway Girls</em> refreshing and innovative. The vast majority of the books that I have reviewed for young people have been about romance, sex, dangerous bullies and family violence. It was a treat to read a book in which none of these played a part.</div>
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Flyaway Girls</em> is about life balance and also about learning to accept that although you can be very good at something you will not necessarily be the best. Other themes include nurturing relationships and making amends.</div>
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Chelsea is devoted to gymnastics and is recognised as the being the hardest worker at her club and a great performer by her coaches. She is also ambitious and hopeful for her future. This is until a new girl joins her class and, despite no previous training, quickly grasps skills that took Chelsea hours of practice to achieve. Chelsea can’t even enjoy hating her because Telia is a lovely girl and looks up to her.</div>
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The characters in the <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Flyaway Girls</em> are also well-drawn, likeable and realistic: they become irritated, confused, try to be helpful and take themselves too seriously.</div>
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The environment in which the story is set is normal too: there are no long periods of suffering. Chelsea is uncomfortable with her father’s new girl friend but deals with it, her friend that makes snide remarks also has a good side and when Chelsea is snubbed by her long suffering friends, she makes new friends.</div>
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Lawrinson’s writing style is vivid, her descriptions of gymnastics interesting and her humour light. I recommend this book for girls aged 11-15.</div>
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Lawrinson has written more than ten novels including <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bye, Beautiful</em> which was a 2007 CBCA Notable Book and <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Chess Nuts</em> which was a 2011 CBCA Notable Book.</div>
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Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-16655860416443727312015-07-29T16:24:00.001+08:002015-07-29T16:24:37.788+08:00The Flyaway Girls: what Kate thinks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I got my first two advance copies of <i><b><a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780143308652/flyaway-girls">The Flyaway Girls</a></b></i> in the post the other day. This is my twelfth book, and the sight of the final product after years of writing, researching, editing, more editing, and even more editing never fails to delight me.<br />
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This novel almost never got written, and, after that, it almost never got finished.<br />
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And the reason it got finished was because I gave a copy to my colleague's daughter. I was so close to the novel that I'd lost any sense of whether it was any good or not, and I was so rusty after several years away from Real Writing that I felt I'd almost forgotten how. So I asked Kate. Now, I've never met Kate, but I know she's a keen reader, so I sent her mum an unfinished copy and asked if Kate would do me the honour of reading and commenting on the manuscript.<br />
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She did. She loved it, and passed it on to her friend and her sister. They loved it too, endingless or otherwise.<br />
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This week, it was fabulous to be able to pass on the novel, complete with ending, to Kate. And even more fabulous to get this response.<br />
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Many thanks to the Penguin Random House crew, past and present, for their patience, dedication, and for their cracking cover. (Which Kate and her sister also heartily approved, I might add.)<br />
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The book is dedicated to Amanda Quigley, the wonderful coach of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SouthsideDistrictsGymnasticsAcademy">Southside Gymnastics Academy</a>.<br />
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But my biggest thank you goes to Kate. Kate, thank you!<br />
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<b><i><a href="http://www.readings.com.au/products/19267412/the-flyaway-girls">The Flyaway Girls</a></i></b> will be out in August.<br />
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<br />Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-23752866184942090942015-06-24T08:52:00.004+08:002015-06-24T08:52:54.723+08:00Meanwhile in Germany<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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... this will be published early next year by Random House.<br />
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I'm sure you can guess which novel it is, even without a skerrick of German.<br />
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If you have do happen to have a skerrick of German, however, the details are <a href="http://www.randomhouse.de/Taschenbuch/Fuer-immer-Jungfrau/Julia-Lawrinson/e427451.rhd">here</a>.<br />
<br />Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-33404771282269256392015-05-27T15:10:00.000+08:002015-05-27T15:10:27.583+08:00The Flyaway Girls - book and blurb<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Nearly five years after its beginning, the idea <a href="http://julialawrinson.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/moments-of-grace.html">I wrote about here</a> has turned into an actual book. With an actual blurb. And it has a title. <br />
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The novel started with me musing: what do you do if you're good at what you love, but not the best? Do you give up? Do you keep going with different expectations? How do you measure success? Is success what you make yourself, or what other people think of you? What, in the end, really matters?<br />
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Nobody gets what they want in life, not all the time, anyway. There is luck and there is talent; there are the x factors of background and wealth, temperament and timeliness. Part of learning to be a human being is managing the gap between what you want and what life allows you to have. And you start learning young. <br />
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So, here is the story of Chelsea and Telia, gymnasts, friends - rivals? <br />
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It is out in September. <br />
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All praise Penguin for the gorgeous cover and the title. And all praise to Amanda Quigley of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SouthsideDistrictsGymnasticsAcademy">Southside Districts Gymnastics Academy</a> for her inspiring coaching of gymnasts and invaluable and direct advice to one writer, me. Also thanks to my junior readers/writing coaches, Kate and Anna and Kate's friend, for inspiring me to get it to the finish line.<br />
<br />Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-59969346439525795532015-03-14T13:17:00.000+08:002015-03-14T13:17:07.227+08:00Kindling WordsFolk don't often become writers, illustrators or editors without possessing a reasonable degree of introversion: it is necessary to get the work done. However, creators are in need of communion with their people. Often this happens informally: we meet up at festivals, or are introduced through fellow artists, or at book launches. Here in Western Australia, organisations like the <a href="http://www.scbwiaustralianz.com/scbwiaustraliawest/">Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators</a>, <a href="http://www.writingwa.org/">WritingWA</a>, the <a href="http://www.thelitcentre.org.au/">Literature Centre</a> and the ASA also provide forums and courses where creators at all different stages of their careers can get together, exchange information, and <strike>drink a lot</strike> <strike>complain about contracts</strike> <strike>bemoan the state of publishing</strike> talk.<br />
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In Australia, though, there is nothing like Kindling Words.<br />
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Thanks to the <a href="http://www.copyright.com.au/">Copyright Agency</a> and the <a href="http://www.dca.wa.gov.au/">Department of Culture and the Arts</a>, I got to experience Kindling Words East in February this year - and be changed by the experience.<br />
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Seventy five established writers, illustrators and editors, lucky enough to have been chosen from a lottery system, gathered at the <a href="http://www.essexresortspa.com/burlington-vermont-accommodation-en.html">Essex resort</a> in snowy Vermont to discuss, over three glorious days, what we do when we make stories for children and young adults. The rules are strict: no pitching to the editors and no sharing personal information about others. The focus is on deeply contemplating the craft of what we do: no discussion of contracts or book deals, just the real stuff. Each day there was a keynote speech by a writer and then an illustrator. There were readings. There were shared meals and conversations over those meals about Everything. There was warmth and intensity and a palpable creative charge. In the afternoons you could retreat to your room to write (as I did), or join in whiteboard discussions instigated by participants in various locations around the resort.<br />
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I cannot do justice to the level of inspiration that gathering generated, nor can I adequately describe the warmth and kindness with which I was treated by all the participants, and in particular by the organisers. The weather was also an experience: minus twenty five, with snow so cold you couldn't make snowballs.<br />
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Stay tuned for the results.<br />
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<br />Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-84659710099724126702014-12-20T10:12:00.000+08:002014-12-20T13:31:34.687+08:00Farewell to fourteen1. It's hard to think of a word to adequately describe this year: let's settle for hectic. But I have managed, in spite of everything, to write in the margins (ha! see what I did there?). <br />
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First, the indomitable Patricia McMahon and I have finished a draft and (almost) a redraft of <em>Lark (can't sing) Jaz</em>, or whatever the title will be of our joint endeavour. I have also redrafted the still-untitled (though I have some great contenders!) gymnastics novel, which will be published in June 2015 by Penguin. And my current project has just been supported by the Department of Culture and the Arts for 2015, and its panel of peers, for which I am immensely, indeed staggeringly, grateful. <br />
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This one is going to matter.<br />
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I am also beyond grateful for the <a href="http://www.dca.wa.gov.au/">Department of Culture and the Arts</a> and the <a href="http://www.copyright.com.au/cultural-fund/apply-for-funding-career-development">Copyright Agency</a> for supporting my upcoming residency at Kindling Words East in the US, a residency specifically for professional writers, artists and editors - more of which in the New Year. <br />
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2. This is my summer reading list:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of these things is not like the other</td></tr>
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3. My old comedy buddy Jude Bridge won the Scarlet Stiletto Award this year: see <a href="http://www.sistersincrime.org.au/content/wa-writer-strikes-gold-21st-scarlet-stiletto-short-story-awards">here</a>. Judy is a writer of quirky, funny, heartfelt short fiction: she's been published all over the place in recent years, and I hope to see a collection of hers on shelves near you sometime soon. You won't read anything like her anywhere. She's the one with the sausage in her mouth, from back in the day:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wonders of latex</td></tr>
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4. This is a blog about writing, but I have to acknowledge the hideous events of the past week, and shake my head in horror, along with the rest of the world. For my money, the best piece about one of the hideous events is <a href="http://www.randaabdelfattah.com/index.asp">Randa Abdel-Fattah</a>: if you haven't read it, it's <a href="https://newmatilda.com/2014/12/16/narrative-must-shift-randa-abdel-fattah-need-new-conversation">here</a>. <br />
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5. A special thank you to <a href="http://www.thelitcentre.org.au/">The Literature Centre</a> and its staff for its support of me this year, and to <a href="http://www.writingwa.org/">Writing WA</a>. We writers and illustrators are so lucky to have such vibrant agencies supporting us in Western Australia. And, while I'm at it, thanks to all the <a href="http://www.scbwiaustralianz.com/scbwiaustraliawest/">SCBWI</a> crew - you know why.<br />
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6. May 2015 bring peace to you all, joy if you can find it, lots of good books, good friends, good conversations. And time to breathe, reflect, and appreciate the life you have.Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-8023419302609802032014-05-05T17:14:00.000+08:002014-05-05T17:14:35.345+08:00Persistence pays off1. Way, way, way back a long, long, long time ago, I <a href="http://julialawrinson.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/moments-of-grace.html">wrote</a> about starting a new junior novel. I didn't think I would ever finish it, despite spending a wonderful few weeks watching the talented gymnasts at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SouthsideDistrictsGymnasticsAcademy">Southside Districts Gymnastics Academy</a> in January 2011, courtesy of the coach and owner, the marvellous Amanda Quigley. Well, thanks to some astute young readers (who loved it even without an ending) and other creative supporters, in January 2014 I finally finished the novel that I think will be called <i>Almost Good Enough</i>, and next year it will be published with Penguin. I can't tell you what it took to finally get to this point: it has been a very, er, eventful few years in between, and I am extremely happy to have it across the line.<br />
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Moral of the story: Keep Going. Just Keep Going. In writing as in all other things.<br />
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PS I hope to be able to deliver more exciting writing news soon.<br />
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2. Recognition can be long coming. Witness these men:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My dad, waving at his wife, his daughters, his granddaughter.</td></tr>
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3. It's been 40 splendid years of these folk: my primary school best friend sent this to me from England today. Oh nostalgia!<br />
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<br />Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-91746655132198574952014-04-03T16:35:00.001+08:002014-04-03T16:35:26.537+08:00A is for April1. It occurred to me that so much of writing is waiting: waiting for ideas to come, or the next scene; waiting to see whether publishers like your latest offering; whether readers like it. Writing is, in this sense, the antithesis of modern life, modern communication, which is all instant, and rarely cause for pondering or reflection.<br />
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Peripherally related to this: at the recent Perth Writers Festival, one of the guests at the opening party talked about hard-copy publishers as legacy publishers, implying, perhaps, that they were going the way of dinosaurs. But such publishing, like writing, will always have its place, I think, even if its role changes. Hardcopy books invite slow contemplation in a way ebooks don't (regardless of subject matter - who's with me?!). Not all stories require contemplation to be effective, but it is one of the things that matters to me.<br />
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2. The book I'm writing with the incomparable Patricia McMahon continues to be a joy, and, not only that, but we're getting closer to the/an end. The manuscript is fattening, and we're still bristling with new ideas.<br />
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3. I've just finished reading Christos Tsiolkas' <a href="http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=651&book=9781743317310">Barracuda</a>. It took me months to get through it: I wanted to savour every chapter. Has anybody else read it? It was thought-provoking at every conceivable level. Today the Miles Franklin long list was released, and it didn't appear, which is baffling to me. (Maybe, as happened to one of my favourite YA books of last year, the publisher didn't submit it?) Anybody else read it?<br />
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4. We've been getting out of the city on the weekends lately: visiting places not-too-far-away. Here is a picture of the moonscape-like Pinnacles. I'd never been there before - I'd always had the impression it would be underwhelming. It was not.<br />
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5. Life has been stressful lately, but I am lucky to work with great folks, with great ideas. Like, visiting new bars like <a href="http://www.bobeche.com.au/">Bobeche</a> on a Friday night. Which serves a kind of tea I heartily approve of:<br />
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<br />Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-9722714725329069112014-02-17T16:53:00.001+08:002014-02-17T16:53:42.191+08:00Fab in FourteenHappy New Year, dear reader! (You know who you are.)<br />
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This year is about Writing. Which shouldn't come as a surprise, coming from a writer, but the last couple of years have been, well, distracting, not to put too fine a point on it. So even though many aspects of my life are the same, and I am as pushed for time as I ever was, I am bringing a writerly focus to it all.<br />
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It's starting off well:<br />
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1. I sent off my first manuscript in years, after fabulous feedback from a colleague's 10 year old daughter and her friend (thanks, young Kate!) It needs work, but the act of completing it was A Thing.<br />
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2. Below is New York, in which I met up with the wondrous Patricia McMahon, co-author of my current project. We went to see The ABC: Why Children's Books Matter at the <a href="http://www.nypl.org/">New York Public Library</a>, curated by <a href="http://www.leonardmarcus.com/">Leonard S Marcus</a>. We both cried, listening to EB White himself read the end of Charlotte's Web. At other times, we trotted through Central Park, thrashed over our manuscript over lunch and dinner, took ourselves to the theatre. New York was fabulousness itself, despite the polar vortex that was being visited upon the city for the duration of our visit. It restoreth the soul.<br />
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3. I am chairing three sessions at the <a href="http://2014.perthfestival.com.au/">Perth Writers' Festival </a>(see <a href="http://www.nypl.org/">here</a> for details.) I've never loved reading a bunch of books so much, and while I'm aware that really I should be a bundle of nerves at this point, I'm way too excited for that. Hannah Kent, AJ Betts, Will Kostakis, Claire Zorn, Joe Ducie, Sarah Turnbull, William McInnes.<br />
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4. Who knows, I might blog more, about Actual Writing this year.<br />
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Stay tuned. Stay warm. Stay well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grand dames meet up at Grand Central</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New York Public Library: hitherto only read about in books</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This should be a travelling show (hint). It featured 'our' <a href="http://www.shauntan.net/">Shaun Tan</a>, too.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When advertising fails to anticipate Big Events</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Imagining in minus gazillion temperatures</td></tr>
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<br />Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-49789554614511588842013-11-30T11:33:00.003+08:002013-11-30T11:52:52.466+08:00The thing with thirteen1. It is the end of a year of turmoil and upheaval. There has been loss and illness and grief, and pressure-cooker stresses. It has been a year of endings of various kinds. It has been a year of revisiting the past, of trying to find how I got from there to here. This has not always been comfortable (although sometimes it has been amusing: see 6. below). Among it all, the things that matter are revealed: the connection, affection and kindnesses that comprise love.<br />
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2. I am writing, slowly and without ambition: writing to exercise narrative muscles. And considering new projects that will take me to very different places.</div>
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3. In 2013 I have triumphed over certain types of fear: I've learned how to ride a motorbike (kinda sorta), been in a helicopter and multiple times in a small plane.</div>
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4. There have been beautiful places: I have been surprised by the glories of Western Australia.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spot the Fitzroy wallaby</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broome from above</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In which there were sharks</td></tr>
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5. Winston Churchill once said, 'Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.'</div>
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6. The past persists in the present. Sometimes this is not all bad.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broome 2013</td></tr>
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Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-37434636933835646162013-07-19T18:50:00.000+08:002013-07-19T18:51:23.885+08:00When You Remember Me1. Sometimes words are not sufficient, even for a writer. Last month, I lost a woman who meant more to me than she could know, although I tried and failed to explain it to her on many occasions. She was my substitute mother, an unjudging ear, my pole star in times of flux. She was a role model: her gusto for life and her generous heart were unparalleled. I loved her without reservation, and I do not quite understand yet that the next time I go to Melbourne, she won't be waiting for me at the airport, ready to hear the news from WA. She was the Marianne in <i>Bye, Beautiful</i>, though she thought she was Sandy; she was fearless and loyal and always open to new things, new ways of thinking; she lived her life fully and not one person had a bad word to say about her. My cousins and I danced under the stars at her wake: she would have joined us, if she could have.<br />
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2. I am no longer Usher of the Black Rod: I have relinquished the position for personal reasons, but I will miss the role and the get-up (see below). My new title is rather less sexy, and I will miss waving my black stick around. </div>
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3. I am about to head north, to visit places I have not seen since I was a child. I am stupid excited about this. </div>
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4. My/our new work-in-progress, <i>Lark (sings) Jaz</i>, written in partnership with the wondrous Patricia McMahon, got its first public airing in the chapel at Rottnest at the annual SCBWI retreat. We were exceedingly gratified by the response we had. I didn't realise how much fun it is to write with others. (<a href="http://www.anthonyeaton.com/">Tony Eaton</a>, are you listening?!)</div>
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5. Perth is funking up: a bunch of us did <a href="http://www.twofeet.com.au/tours-booking/eatdrinkwalk-perth">this</a> tour with Two Feet and a Heartbeat on Saturday night and had a ball. Do yourselves a favour and see your city with new eyes. </div>
Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-14906636121181699772013-05-03T17:12:00.000+08:002013-05-03T17:12:29.125+08:00Wired for soundOn Tuesday I was interviewed on national radio for the first time. I'm not quite sure how it happened: I got a call from the producer of Books and Arts Daily and next thing it's early in the morning and I'm waiting nervously to go into the ABC studios to talk about YA lit and sex (my special topic, I know).<div>
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I was joined by the mellifluous and marvellous <a href="http://amongamidwhile.blogspot.com.au/">Margo Lanagan</a> and the superb and savvy <a href="http://www.stephbowe.com/">Steph Bowe</a>, as well as <a href="http://deliciouslyfictitious.com/">Samantha Bowers</a>, delicious fictish blogger. You can listen to it <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandartsdaily/sex-in-young-adult-fiction/4659326">here</a>. </div>
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The experience was a delight, notwithstanding that I'd been sitting in Caffissimo beforehand muttering to myself, 'Why do I say yes to these things?' (Because doing things that scare the bejesus out of you is good, I reminded myself afterward.) Twitter has changed public discourse, and for these kinds of topics the change is for the better. I had, for example, the pleasure of being introduced to Jodi McAlister's fascinating research on <a href="http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/blog/virgins-in-romance-an-interview-with-jodi-mcalister">virginity in romance</a>.</div>
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In other news, there is exciting writing afoot with my <i>Losing It</i> launcher, <a href="http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/patricia_mcmahon/">Patricia McMahon</a>. When I can share some of it, I will. In the meanwhile, I had forgotten the satisfaction of the fattening wodge of draft text, and the thrill of taking ideas to new places. </div>
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In other other news, I went to my first Anzac Day parade this year, to see my Dad march (he's the one in grey). (If you want to read about Australian soldiers in Vietnam, read Barry Heard's <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3477834-well-done-those-men">Well Done Those Men</a>.) He's only started marching in recent years; I was proud to see him, and wished I'd gone to see him before. </div>
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In other other other news, you gotta love dogs. And random thongs.</div>
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Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-70484101031374525382013-02-24T17:51:00.001+08:002013-02-24T17:51:18.963+08:00Fabulous in FebruaryThis is what I love about Perth Writers' Festival: hanging out with my favourite writers, and meeting a few new fabulous ones, like Ambelin Kwaymullina (The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf) and Emma Chapman (The Good Wife): I highly recommend both debuts to you. I also got to go fan-girl over the proximity of Margaret Atwood at the opening party (and I swear, fainting ten minutes afterwards was a coincidence.) Helen Merrick, fellow KPS alumni, also great to meet you.<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With AJ Betts and Vikki Wakefield</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Dianne Touchell and Vikki Wakefield (Vikki and I have been called upon to do a double act at a couple of festivals: she's my magic charm, I reckon, as the sessions with her are always cracking. She reckons she's my curse, as seeing her has coincided with the contractions of lurgy (Melbourne), fainting fits (Perth) and Claratyne-induced hyperactivity. I maintain the magic charm is the more accurate description: I can faint and phlegm-up anywhere, any time.)</td></tr>
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This is what I love about wine cruises after writers' festival sessions:</div>
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And this is what I love about Perth:</div>
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Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-35151919960144634382012-12-09T18:47:00.003+08:002012-12-09T18:47:28.422+08:00Darn, it's December again1. Months have passed with no blogging, but lots of day-job, writing gigs and general rushing about. It was with some surprise that I noted the arrival of December: it's been an awfully long time since I've had such a dramatic, intense year. I've learned how to shoot a gun and handle a python (thanks Tam and Kitty!); drank cocktails in Singapore (thanks SCBWI and ArtsWA!); managed difficulties of a magnitude I had not previously imagined; and seen new parts of this remarkable state. Writing? Not so much. Sometimes life demands what writing needs.<br />
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2. In other recent news, I've been learning to keep my balance ...<br />
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3. Had encounters with Hugh Jackman...<br />
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4. Been here ...<br />
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5. With these people ...<br />
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6. Tried to make the most of those champagne-and-caviar moments, when they happened ...<br />
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7. And in between times, I've been trying not to let the lizards and snakes in.<br />
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8. May your 2013 bring you peace, love and grooviness. And for you to keep zen if peace, love and grooviness are elusive, unpredictable, or intermittent. Warmest wishes to you all.Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-51530253020810318652012-10-01T16:01:00.002+08:002012-10-01T16:01:44.685+08:00Eight in October1. October was the eighth month in the Roman calendar, which seems about right, as it does not seem possible that we're heading toward the round-up of 2012. Mind you, so much has changed this year, for better and for worse, that it seems more like the work of eight years, not ten months. So much crammed into a dizzyingly short time.<br />
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2. October is the month of <a href="http://www.thelitcentre.org.au/content/professional-development">this</a>. <br />
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3. I've been doing gigs all over the place recently, fitted around the day job: for Wanneroo and Cockburn libraries for Book Week, at Hampton High, St Mary's, Wesley (my first ever boy's school, incidentally). I also had the delight of going to Melbourne for two days for the Melbourne Writers Festival, which was wonderfully captured <a href="http://alphareader.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/melbourne-writers-festival-recap-hard.html">here</a> by the wonderful Danielle. I also got to meet with my fabulous publisher and <i>Losing It </i>editor at Penguin before I succumbed to a virus and became filled with mucus and self-pity. <br />
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4. I have half-moved house (I know, long story), and recently planted herbs in pots in my new place. It gives me great pleasure to gaze out on them morning and evening, to stir them into sauces, and watch the new growth push upward and outward. <br />
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5. Last year, my birthday resolution was <a href="http://julialawrinson.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/spring-reflections.html">this</a>. This year, my intention is to become more Zen, in the sixties sense of the word. Or, to put it another way, less this:<br />
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And more this:<br />
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I'll let you know how I go.<br />
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6. Even without a telly, I've been enjoying Rake, Scott and Bailey, Puberty Blues (what a script! what a brilliant set of performances!) and Call the Midwife, post series one and two of the highly addictive Game of Thrones. I'm a bit less organised with my reading: if anyone's got a good book they reckon I should read, do let me know. (Beside Dianne Touchell's <a href="http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/books/1331">Creepy and Maude,</a> which I'm looking forward to getting stuck into this week.)<br />
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7. Dog. Does. Not. Like. Dogwash.<br />
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8. I've properly started a new project, at long last. It features ABBA, the Olympics and Countdown. I'd forgotten how much effort, aside from creative effort, is necessary for historical fiction. It's delightful to be at the plotting stage, where everything is possible, and hardly anything committed to paper. Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-79357294226609609292012-08-02T18:35:00.001+08:002012-08-02T18:36:04.878+08:00Arise, August!1. So many people launched fabulous books in July. I went to the launch of Meg McKinlay and Kyle Odgers' new book <a href="http://www.megmckinlay.com/TenTinyThings.htm">Ten Tiny Things</a>, which I'd been tantalised by in Rottnest, and James Foley's <a href="http://www.walkerbooks.com.au/Books/IN-THE-LION-9781921720321">In the Lion</a>, which I'd been tantalised by in Singapore. I adored them both. I didn't end up at the launch of Jon Doust's <a href="http://www.fremantlepress.com.au/authors/548/Jon+Doust">To The Highlands</a>, which I also can't wait to read and have heard some hysterically funny parts of, but I have every confidence it will live up to the anticipation it is generating.<br />
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2. Also, AJ Betts won the <a href="http://textpublishing.com.au/about-text/the-text-prize">Text prize for Children and Young Adult Writing</a>. I've heard some of the early draft of this book, and I assure you, it is ten types of wonderful (and ten types of moving). I don't know if it's our splendid isolation, but Western Australia is coming into its own this year.<br />
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3. I am delighted to be going to the <a href="http://www.mwf.com.au/2012/?name=Writer-Lawrinson-Julia">Melbourne Writers Festival</a>. I need Melbourne like oxygen, and its writers festival is full of ideas and perspectives that are good for the soul. I also can't wait to appear with <a href="http://www.mwf.com.au/2012/?name=Writer-Wakefield-Vikki">Vikki Wakefield</a>, who I already feel kinship with. <br />
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4. I am scribbling bits and pieces. I have no expectations about what they will end up as, but the process is deeply pleasurable.<br />
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5. Cheers!<br />
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<br />Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-51962490354480039062012-07-01T11:11:00.001+08:002012-07-01T11:11:13.606+08:00No More Beer and SkittlesOh, I know, it's been ever such a long time. But I've been busy.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dianne Wolfer, Naomi Kojima, Yoko Yoshizawa, Leonard S. Marcus, me, James Foley and Norman Jorgensen at Ku De Ta, Singapore</td></tr>
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* At the end of May I was lucky enough to visit Singapore to present at the <a href="http://www.afcc.com.sg/#&panel1-1">Asian Festival of Children's Content</a>. My first session was with the dynamic <a href="http://www.afcc.com.sg/speakers/cynthea-liu/">Cynthia Liu</a> on realism and imagination; the other was with fellow Western Australians <a href="http://www.afcc.com.sg/speakers/dianne-wolfer/">Dianne Wolfer</a> and <a href="http://www.afcc.com.sg/speakers/norman-jorgensen/">Norman Jorgensen</a> on Light Touch, Gritty Themes. I had absolutely no idea what to expect: given that most delegates were from Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and China, as well as a few from the States, the UK and Canada, I wondered how we would communicate across cultures, with our vastly different assumptions about and experiences in the world. It was therefore fascinating to see how love of reading and books united us. The fact that most of us grew up on the same diet of English language books (Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, even the Little House series) provided a shared language; passion for getting kids reading did the rest. </div>
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We often whinge in Australia about how hard it is to make space in the curriculum for reading and particularly reading for pleasure; compared to what some of our Asian colleagues are up against, in highly competitive cultures that put a high value academic, maths-based achievement at the expense of what we call humanities, we have nothing to complain of. Despite their difficulties, I met scores of teachers and others determined to make space for literature in Asian schools. I salute them.</div>
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Just out of interest, the gritty themes session - which I was the most concerned about re cultural divides - was standing room only: we had 120 people attend. I talked about <i>Bye, Beautiful </i>and <i>Losing It:</i> I did note the shock on some people's faces as I explained what Schoolies Week is. That's one tradition I'm sure the audience was pleased not to share with us!</div>
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* In June we had our annual Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators retreat at Rottnest. I started playing with a couple of projects, including one with <a href="http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/patricia_mcmahon/">Patricia McMahon</a>. After feeling creatively exhausted for a while, in part as a result of Real Life events, it was deeply satisfying to be among my people, and to actually feel inspired, rather than tired.</div>
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* If you happen to be a young Queensland writer, you might want to enter <a href="http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/whats-on/awards/ywa">this</a>. Good to see that state is still doing something to support writing, although it's still heinous that it cut out its Literary Awards. I sincerely hope the government has a good re-think about that one. </div>
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* I am doing dry July for the first time: my team is <a href="https://www.dryjuly.com/team/drinkspausedforacause">Drinks Paused for a Cause</a>, and you are most welcome to donate. So there'll be none of this:</div>
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<br /></div>Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-21851537025516388152012-05-20T12:24:00.003+08:002012-05-20T12:24:57.634+08:00Losing It unleashedHaving a book launch involves as much organisation, angst and 'why-am-I-doing-this-again?' fretting as your average wedding. Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating, but really, a launch is not for the faint of heart. Once upon a time publishers used to organise launches: in these uncertain times, those days have gone the way of three-book contracts. A launch is the author's business.<div>
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So the first thing I did when organising the launch of Losing It was to say, 'Help!' </div>
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Help came in the form of the superlative <a href="http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/patricia_mcmahon/">Patricia McMahon</a>, who did everything from script her four teenage co-launchers to coordinate the platters to supply her very own husband for security and clean-up duties. </div>
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Help also came from the team of <a href="http://www.thelitcentre.org.au/">The Literature Centre,</a> who provided the venue, books, glasses, moral support and wine-toting (thanks Mailee!). The Literature Centre is second home to many of us writers, and first choice for book launches (of which mine was one of four for May: the author-organised nature of these things is clearly not putting many of us off!) </div>
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I am waiting for some more photos of the four gorgeous girls who played my four characters: in the meantime, see below. And if you want to know why you should never have sex in a Yaris, watch <a href="http://youtu.be/GbGZOObZgnM">this</a>.</div>
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And if you want to know why I wrote Losing It, read <a href="http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/entertainment/a/-/arts/13709623/the-queen-of-teen-issues/">this</a>, which also features my daughter's first published photograph. I'm not sure why it got a mention on the <a href="http://www.acl.org.au/2012/05/pick-of-the-days-news-friday-may-18-2012/">Australian Christian Lobby site</a>, but hey, I hope all their readers buy a copy. I'm sure they'll find it worthy of, er, discussion.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of Losing Its.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lesley Reece, still luminous from her BHP Billiton partnership launch that same morning.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoAHwG-jAY5oFF2RJDFd-3xGi1c_ldNims0C2ffW4A6rzJGxkKOJmsUzS9rNyfbt3VaiUYWFFnmIhHEkXQyCflMZJ1vZueEQyrK38z1pOU4z9idz7xEXKHcCIpVqOv9QlQfED2z5hYDDo/s1600/IMG_5149.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoAHwG-jAY5oFF2RJDFd-3xGi1c_ldNims0C2ffW4A6rzJGxkKOJmsUzS9rNyfbt3VaiUYWFFnmIhHEkXQyCflMZJ1vZueEQyrK38z1pOU4z9idz7xEXKHcCIpVqOv9QlQfED2z5hYDDo/s320/IMG_5149.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Patricia McMahon: 'Take the shot, then put that camera down.'</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBFOStd1qpBA8JAqczClSszfzMyLVCI-CH3VZXuxckvokpx04sWl7jt62lBb8RhZS6my-AhGCZWkH8mxt0p0mtdXN8S9myXqr3kOoOCo4mohX2uIYirYDg4bIrjjKPByYblWFjqHX728E/s1600/IMG_5143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBFOStd1qpBA8JAqczClSszfzMyLVCI-CH3VZXuxckvokpx04sWl7jt62lBb8RhZS6my-AhGCZWkH8mxt0p0mtdXN8S9myXqr3kOoOCo4mohX2uIYirYDg4bIrjjKPByYblWFjqHX728E/s320/IMG_5143.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My wonderful supporters #1.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3jYy0sxaC8YIk0-tLdJ8C0fOZTUkyMJiSi9OaA60UTkqvNJjwOhc-ePSFUXgP70h_uHU_cecQm7QHT46RCIvs3oW_CkqnkoSQiw1COhdQsmTvNECwJ_Mob4_QYeUB7CBmAZP_8rj7M8o/s1600/IMG_5144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3jYy0sxaC8YIk0-tLdJ8C0fOZTUkyMJiSi9OaA60UTkqvNJjwOhc-ePSFUXgP70h_uHU_cecQm7QHT46RCIvs3oW_CkqnkoSQiw1COhdQsmTvNECwJ_Mob4_QYeUB7CBmAZP_8rj7M8o/s320/IMG_5144.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My wonderful supporters #2. There was a lot of love in the room that night, in both directions.</td></tr>
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<div>
<br /></div>Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-50329104734456426632012-04-12T15:42:00.001+08:002012-04-12T15:42:29.322+08:00Bye, Beautiful and places in the sunWriting can seem like a lot of effort for little reward. Your books (if you're lucky enough to get published in the first place) might be ignored, go out of print, drop off the radar (or never be picked up by the beacon in the first place), or date too quickly (I believe I mentioned a phone box in my first novel, just as one example). Now there is a whole new level of uncertainty with the demise (they say) of the bookshop and the unknown quantity of the ebook. <br />
<br />
I am therefore more than usually gratified that <i>Bye, Beautiful</i>, six years after its release, is still getting attention like <a href="http://elimy.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/review-bye-beautiful-by-julia-lawrinson.html">this</a>.<br />
<br />
Also, I spoke at John Curtin College of the Arts last week, and was presented with a range of remarkable interpretations of <i>Bye, Beautiful</i>, like these:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCGGOW6OpmR3UXq1vVu-3c-dIkLiMv7KdbFuDIt-RV4oJSOWJ_Mqk2EzWwTdw1XeDloPTb72Unid8ObNjTaR1fpyezYkqMRtMwNWUO5ipX1lq10CH_MPWcNbNjC-a-4hMj-34nY8Jj_zs/s1600/IMG_5050.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCGGOW6OpmR3UXq1vVu-3c-dIkLiMv7KdbFuDIt-RV4oJSOWJ_Mqk2EzWwTdw1XeDloPTb72Unid8ObNjTaR1fpyezYkqMRtMwNWUO5ipX1lq10CH_MPWcNbNjC-a-4hMj-34nY8Jj_zs/s320/IMG_5050.JPG" width="239" /></a></div><br />
In other news, I recently drove 2000kms with an old school friend to visit another old school friend on her mango farm. It reminded me of how important high school is, despite its limitations or otherwise - and regular readers of this blog will know I haven't always been inclined to speak fondly of my alma mater - and particularly the importance of those formative friendships. <br />
<br />
I also learned that I'm a pretty good shot with one of these:<br />
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And that fanging around on one of these in the dunes is about as much fun as there is:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJbvDgT5xpi2WhkAvTHw7hCr8B4sC0AJPm5Cw5K3IVUac5436Wz_n9K9eYwCmC_uoIqhBz0sAMYy962Ti66oI96yo5O3wgZem46TUuYr3LPiZKa3WwclxqH-hy303GE7fLEx4c7XQMDc/s1600/IMG_4915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYJbvDgT5xpi2WhkAvTHw7hCr8B4sC0AJPm5Cw5K3IVUac5436Wz_n9K9eYwCmC_uoIqhBz0sAMYy962Ti66oI96yo5O3wgZem46TUuYr3LPiZKa3WwclxqH-hy303GE7fLEx4c7XQMDc/s320/IMG_4915.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-17024922611337470692012-04-01T13:15:00.005+08:002012-04-01T13:19:16.270+08:00From the mouths of othersToday, this week, I have no words: ironic, perhaps, given that <i>Losing It</i> was officially released on Wednesday. So instead I am gathering the words for you, that you might find a pattern you like among them.<br />
<br />
1. since feeling is first<br />
who pays any attention<br />
to the syntax of things<br />
will never wholly kiss you;<br />
wholly to be a fool<br />
while Spring is in the world<br />
<br />
my blood approves;<br />
and kisses are a better fate<br />
than wisdom ...<br />
e e cummings<br />
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2. I am over-run, jungled in my bed, I am infested with a menagerie of desires: my heart is eaten by a dove, a cat scrambles in the cave of my sex, hounds in my head obey a whipmaster who cries nothing but havoc as the hours test my endurance with an accumulation of tortures. Who, if I cried, would hear me among the angelic orders?<br />
<br />
How can I be kind? How can I find bird-relief in the nest-building of day-to-day? Necessity supplies no velvet wing with which to escape. <br />
Elizabeth Smart, <i>By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
3. chaos, n: The wrongs are always more visible, the threats always closing in when in truth the world opens and opens and opens. <br />
David Levithan, <i>The Lover's Dictionary</i><br />
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4, Neither she nor James had ever uttered the word 'love'. Both were too shy. Both were troubled by what might dissolve if they dared to name it. Neither wished to alarm the other, or to reach and find their hands empty.<br />
Gail Jones, <i>Five Bells</i><br />
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5. But no one succumbs to a temptation they find unattractive. What is it, this compulsion to scrawl things on blank pages? Why this boundless outflowing of words? What drives us to it? Is writing some sort of disease, or - being speech in visual form - is it simply a manifestation of being human?<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Margaret Atwood,<i style="font-style: normal;"> <i>Curious Pursuits</i></i></div>Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-11855332143989761592012-02-04T10:00:00.000+08:002012-02-04T10:00:56.230+08:00S*x and speaking1. I am chairing two sessions at the <a href="http://www.perthfestival.com.au/en/What's-on/Perth-Writers-Festival/">Perth Writers Festival</a>: one about the Mickelberg brothers with <a href="http://www.perthfestival.com.au/en/What's-on/Perth-Writers-Festival/">Tony Buti</a>, and <a href="https://www.perthfestival.com.au/en/What's-on/Event/Tapping-Into-The-Zeitgeist">Tapping into the Zeitgeist,</a> with David Levithan, James Roy, and Indian rock star writer Chetan Bhagat. I scored the latter because the fabulous AJ Betts is engaged spreading her fabulousness in a workshop at that time. I can't wait. I'm also speaking at Spearwood Library for the <a href="http://www.love2read.org.au/events-calendar.cfm">National Year of Reading</a> on Valentine's Day.<br />
<br />
It's a good way to start the year.<br />
<br />
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2. I have just sent off the final proof of Losing It, with not a moment to spare. It's the cumulation of lots of discussions and deep thought about sex and sexuality, and I'm proud of it. I'm not the only one thinking about sex, though. Tracy Clark-Flory says <a href="http://www.salon.com/2012/01/01/the_education_of_a_sex_writer/singleton/">here</a> that 'Sex is one of the most profound ways that we have to connect with other human beings, to transcend our physical separation'; Faramerz Dabholwala gives us a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/20/first-sexual-revolution?CMP=twt_gu">history lesson </a>in case we thought sex was invented in the sixties; and Michelle Griffin recommends <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/why-teens-should-read-raunchy-novels-and-straightup-smut-20120131-1qr97.html">here</a> that teenagers read (not watch, read) porn and raunchy books.<br />
<br />
Something tells me Michelle will approve of Losing It.<br />
<br />
3. For Perth people who might have missed <a href="http://youtu.be/NpW1dv6rTgk">this</a>, it's true: I'm totally moving to Melbourne. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPaLdaOU9uk9kbScT8wCjDAL5HNPJeHJNzHgJoYiSR0CQWOeuBDxU40t1aoaAF2-7Uu0sMPH_QA_5GvGOS0GCMGULM2gMOCGD-5uN-_ZE0MYxkNpC-0mus_aBFQ3l0cBFgqw6E1wlxqa4/s1600/IMG_4514.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPaLdaOU9uk9kbScT8wCjDAL5HNPJeHJNzHgJoYiSR0CQWOeuBDxU40t1aoaAF2-7Uu0sMPH_QA_5GvGOS0GCMGULM2gMOCGD-5uN-_ZE0MYxkNpC-0mus_aBFQ3l0cBFgqw6E1wlxqa4/s320/IMG_4514.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-510838695131367182011-12-18T13:07:00.001+08:002011-12-18T15:49:48.994+08:00Coming in 20121. Forgive me banging on (yes, this is the post of double entendres), but on 28 March 2012, <i>Losing It</i> will make its way into the world. Penguin has been doing some great pre-publicity and whipping up anticipation (see <a href="http://alphareader.blogspot.com/2011/12/anticipated-books-of-2012.html">here</a> and <a href="http://penguinbtl.blogspot.com/2011/12/2012-preview-losing-it.html">here</a>), and I can't wait. It seems an interminably long time since I started it, back in 2008, to now. It's had three editors, and been rewritten, restructured and re-edited so many times I've lost count. It's taken in the stories of so many friends who have, for years, been saying, 'So where is it?' Now, finally, I can say: here. Nearly.<br />
<br />
2. I loathe this time of the year. I know I'm Grinchy, but I have yet to live through a year where I don't wash up after Christmas a wreck of exhaustion and wanting nothing more than to lie in a darkened room alone with a bottle of white and a pill to take me to mid-January. Until I was 12 I loved Christmas and the smell of wheat dust on the easterly and playing chasey with my cousins, darting in and around the shaded paths my grandfather had built in his backyard. After that, something happened, perhaps a new awareness of the gap between who I was and who some of my family wanted me to be, and Christmas made me feel the objectionable weight of their disappointment. And now, though Christmas is now filled with civilised lunches and spending time with family and friends I love, I can't shake the dread of it. Anybody else with me?<br />
<br />
It does, however, cause one to reflect on the year that's passed: this year has been a mixed bag, to put it mildly. I haven't had any publications out, apart from <a href="http://www.puffin.com.au/products/9780143306337/my-best-book-nibbles">this</a> republication, but I've done a lot of writing, having finished a project for Penguin and almost finished my junior novel, and am excited about the writing (and publications) to come. And next year there will be lots of festivals I will be appearing at: more news on those as confirmed. I am extremely happy in my new job, in contrast to this time last year. So these positive things are an antidote to other aspects of my life, which are difficult and bound to become ever more so. (My summer reading program is going to include Joan Didion's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/books/review/09pinsky.html?pagewanted=all">The Year of Magical Thinking</a>.)<br />
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3. It's been a sad week for the world of literature and ideas: <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8957017/Russell-Hoban.html">Russell Hoban</a> died, followed by <a href="http://m.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/16/christopher-hitchens-appreciation-by-ian-mcewan?cat=books&type=article">Christopher Hitchens</a>. My summer reading program will also include more of Hoban's work: I fell in love with Turtle Diary when I was 17 and have re-read it every few years since. I admired Christopher Hitchens' robust intelligence, erudition and gusto for debate: although I did not agree with some of his opinions, I always respected the sheer weight of information and scrutiny that went into making those opinions. <br />
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4. The garden is an extravagance of produce: corn waves at us through the window each morning; I bite into squirty cherry tomatoes hot from the sun, munch on crisp peas, suck the juice out of sweet strawberries; there is enough rocket to feed a middle-class army. I've also grown enough garlic to knock out all the characters, major and minor, in <i>Twilight</i>.<br />
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5. I wish you all a productive, happy and uneventful (in the Chinese sense) 2012. I leave you with one of my favourite Blackadder quotes: Needs must when the devil vomits into your kettle. Make of that what you will.Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-15890655931859153492011-11-19T14:22:00.001+08:002011-11-19T14:24:47.355+08:00New in November1. The irony of November being National Novel Writing Month is striking this writer's anvil once again as we speak (pardon the questionable image, it's been that kind of a day). For me, November is always frantically busy with non-writing-related activities, although lately I have paused to give thanks that I am in a different dayjob to the one which consumed vast amounts of my time and energy twelve months ago. So I watch my fellow writers' word counts increase through their NaNoWriMo efforts, while the only thing that increases for me is the distance between what I thought was the end of my work-in-progress and the actual end of said WIP. But what used to be snarkiness re NaNo has transformed into something more gentle: I consider the vast amounts of creative effort being expended by others, and think that this can be no bad thing. <br />
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This benign view is probably fuelled by my excitement about my upcoming YA project. I have tried and failed to get Ozco funding for a couple of years running (close but no cigar), and now I've decided to just Do It. It's writerly, it's edgy, and I have no idea how I'm going to put it together. I'm stupidly excited. And therefore excited about everybody else's creative work. <br />
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2. It is spring, finally. Here in Western Australia the weather wasn't sure for quite a while, but now days are more blue than rainy, buffeted by pre-summer winds. The wild fowl on the lakes are followed by their offspring, bottlebrush shrubs (bushes? trees?) are being set upon by squawking parrots, and red-tailed Carnabies are flying regularly overhead, though not in their former numbers. I've planted spring onions, tomatoes, various greens, capsicum, cucumbers. A few weeks ago, a complete stranger on a ride-on lawnmower, with a fanatic glint in his eye, levelled the weeds at the front of the house unbidden. I'm going to plant a row of sunflowers there, and hope that next time he might mow around them.<br />
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3. My daughter is studying <i>Bye, Beautiful</i> at school. That's one way of getting her to read it! <br />
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4. My junior novel is edited, rearranged, fine-tuned. I'm on the home stretch, but facts, as they are wont to do, are getting in the way of a good story, so I've had to go back to the drawing board for a few things. And I've just received the blurb for <i>Losing It</i>. So things are in motion, after feeling like I was running on the spot for quite a while.<br />
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5. I'm writing this on my iMac. I've never had a computer of my own before (I know, I know), and I'm in love, and jealous as all get-out. Now I know what all my writer friends have been going on about all these years, and no, this is not a sponsored post.Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2944049317554818104.post-75490184315033171342011-10-16T15:01:00.000+08:002011-10-16T15:01:15.387+08:00While waiting1. I'm waiting for the final edit for <em>Losing It</em> to arrive in my mailbox. While waiting I'm pondering a) who should launch it and b) what the playlist should be. My wishlist for a) includes Bettina Arndt, Kathy Lette and Germaine Greer (actually, the person I'd really have liked to launch it is the fabulous, late Dorothy Porter, RIP), or a smart, funny, sassy young woman. Any suggestions, let me know. I'm hoping to launch in Perth and Melbourne in April.<br />
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For b), I have a list of the obvious suspects from the days of my youth (Salt n Pepa, Prince, U2, Prince, George Michael, Prince) and a few from my daughter's iTunes catalogue (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLnWf1sQkjY&ob=av3n">Jizz in my Pants</a> by Lonely Island for one). However, the problem with contemporary music is the embarrassment of riches it provides in such matters. (Listened to the lyrics of 50 Cent's Candy Shop lately?) I don't have any problem with sexual explicitness, obviously, but I do have a problem with the way that female pleasure doesn't seem to rate a mention in pop culture (Missy Elliot notwithstanding). Part of the reason I wrote the novel is because it's perfectly fine for young female characters to fall in love, but God forbid they actually might want to have sex. Sex and romance get horribly tangled, and girls get a raw deal. Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox. As with a), any suggestions, let me know.<br />
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2. I'm discovering one of the perils of being a mid-career writer: the email that tells you your novel is out of print. I'm up to the point where practically half of my catalogue falls into this hideous category. However, <em>The Girl Who Fell Into A Book</em> has just been given a new lease of life in this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvkYj0iGjUmuMoqvfLEq3fHwwqOOlAeIkaTLWZ-VM3WZIoXhd7Jw-g-dAUc50XeChz7lzf_t7dwchwfXHV217Y4M9URO4n0VVE3bzsh_seJHgf5MXYp6bTdXNypfzshUbMcpyk9nHV3sw/s1600/Yallingup+etc+Oct+2011+192.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" oda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvkYj0iGjUmuMoqvfLEq3fHwwqOOlAeIkaTLWZ-VM3WZIoXhd7Jw-g-dAUc50XeChz7lzf_t7dwchwfXHV217Y4M9URO4n0VVE3bzsh_seJHgf5MXYp6bTdXNypfzshUbMcpyk9nHV3sw/s320/Yallingup+etc+Oct+2011+192.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>Details <a href="http://www.puffin.com.au/products/9780143306337/my-best-book-nibbles">here</a>. If you have a girl aged between 5 and 7, it'd be an awesome Christmas present. Just saying.<br />
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3. If you had a choice between peace and excitement, what would you choose? Last weekend I got to combine both with a party for my cousin's 40th and staying in a place where my morning view was this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_GiD16IOH4sc1HzP5hhaZ1vWVCiiQsASOvPN3sNO7TMpKuDmFgORDAcxfkvFS_LeNJmuYMuKDV2IvjryiS8x3I1iz7ddeXsNuRkuHXwOilQ3DLBJCpYBY0_HjAD85gH0eqRUTKmghZI/s1600/Yallingup+etc+Oct+2011+091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" oda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij_GiD16IOH4sc1HzP5hhaZ1vWVCiiQsASOvPN3sNO7TMpKuDmFgORDAcxfkvFS_LeNJmuYMuKDV2IvjryiS8x3I1iz7ddeXsNuRkuHXwOilQ3DLBJCpYBY0_HjAD85gH0eqRUTKmghZI/s320/Yallingup+etc+Oct+2011+091.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>before going for a swim in an ocean that looked like this:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuZ7v_qkOJVLOeUNp0pANTWj0WSR7uWJ1Fy4_5asjPrN-wm-hrh1ahaonwgKiF5iqsZHLm48POTGxm8Ohcni3NCDyKMMH9_xGINFnoHNQIo2yh1k2Put2yQh0y82T2oA_QtV_9jKz2wr8/s1600/Yallingup+etc+Oct+2011+106.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" oda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuZ7v_qkOJVLOeUNp0pANTWj0WSR7uWJ1Fy4_5asjPrN-wm-hrh1ahaonwgKiF5iqsZHLm48POTGxm8Ohcni3NCDyKMMH9_xGINFnoHNQIo2yh1k2Put2yQh0y82T2oA_QtV_9jKz2wr8/s320/Yallingup+etc+Oct+2011+106.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Julia Lawrinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11055247583065099733noreply@blogger.com2