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Writing, Empathy and Dealey Plaza
Empathy is a tough one. For a writer, it’s vital. Undoubtedly, somewhere in the mix there will probably have been a few great writers who weren’t overly empathetic, but the links between our capacity to empathise and our ability to create complex, interesting, relatable characters (whether they are likeable or not) seems clear. On the other hand, sometimes being empathetic can be overwhelming. Sometimes it seems that if you would let go and allow it to, the world would devour you. It can feel like a fine line between remaining sensitive to emotion, and drowning in it. We visited Dealey Plaza on Sunday morning before we left Dallas. The city…
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I’m Twenty-Five!
Happy Monday America… and Happy American Birthday to me! I’m officially 25 years old, a quarter of a century, which I assume means (since I’m living to at least one hundred, right?) that I may now commence my quarter-life crisis at any time which is convenient for me and inconvenient for James. Hurray! We had an amazing weekend in Dallas to celebrate my birthday, which included a lot of great food, some interesting sight-seeing adventures and a visit from James’ dad on his way from Sydney to Boston. More than anything else, it means the world to me to be able to celebrate something that really isn’t such a big…
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Aussie Expats Update – Arkansas Adventures
Friday has come and as I promised, so do I deliver. People, our trip to Arkansas was AWESOME. Now, I know a lot of people say this about their trips and I guess they’re probably right in some way or another, but they’re mostly wrong, because our trip was the most awesome. Probably ever. [Disclaimer: the fact that I am easily pleased and was travelling with my favourite human has not influenced this completely objective assessment of our trip. At all.] Friday morning saw us leisurely pack the last few pieces for our journey, which featured a boot-full of bags, boxes and random bits and pieces (in what was little…
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The Pressure Cooker of Advice Lists
Happy Monday world! Does anyone else ever feel pressured as a writer? You know what I mean: you have to do x, y and z to develop your voice. You have to use this story structure. You need a theme. You need a strong female character, but don’t push a feminist ideal; more speech tags but you should only ever use ‘said’; more diversity, more action, more intrigue, more adverbs, less adverbs… It can’t be just me. Everywhere we turn, someone is telling us how to write. Some might argue that’s just an extrapolation of all the other things that the world and its nosy people feel free to tell…
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Aussie Expats Update – Driving Reprimands, Manuscript Typing and Travel Planning
It’s Friday yet again (thank goodness!), and I’m worried that no tale will ever again live up to that of the free-spirited armadillo I introduced you all to last week. [We need to name it, I think, then freely and ignorantly apply this name to every and all armadillos seen in the future, dead (‘sleeping’) or alive.] However, I did get pulled over by an on-base cop yesterday! There you go, more drama and intrigue in the life of the Aussie expats. Having picked James up to take him to a promotion ceremony that was happening elsewhere on base (and on a tight schedule, I’d like to add), I turned…
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Aussie Expats Update – Hiking, Swimming, The Perseid Meteor Show and THE ARMADILLO
Another update and a big Happy Friday everyone! Well, this week has been another rollercoaster ride of adventures, weird animals, ice cream, burritos and training. We went for a hike up Elk Mountain last Saturday with Kim and Frankie and, as you can see from the view below, it was worth it.Though reaching the summit was an effort, and we were soaked by the time we got there, the view was incredible. Frankie had the best approach: with the sun was out in force and the climb feeling like hard work, she sussed out any possible shade and had a lie down whenever she could. We went and had delicious…
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Aussie Expats Update – Hiking, Buffalo, Wings and Sonic
Ladies and gentlemen! Well, here we are again for the weekly Friday ‘It’s Your American Life!’ update. I know… The title needs some more work still (it’s on my list of things to do), but I’m not on top of my game today. We were up until 3 am last night (babysitting, not even partying!) and I am consequently worn out and late in getting this post up. I also haven’t done any uni at all today. Oops. But anyway, have a pinch and a punch for the first of the month! It seems crazy to think that it’s already July, especially when we realised that Monday, 4th of July, marks our…
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Aussie Expats – Today’s the Day!
Oh wow. Today’s The Day people. Today is the day we jet off from Adelaide to Sydney, then Sydney to Dallas (second-longest flight in the world) and finally through to Oklahoma… Arriving on Monday 6th June, which is the same day we’ve left and thus becoming time travellers to the past, which goes some very small way to fulfilling my deep and abiding desire to be a companion on Dr Who. I’d like to say that it’s all sunk in now and it actually feels like we’re moving overseas for the next few years, but it still just seems like one of those concepts that’s kind of too hard to process.…
