tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64627323153507328232024-03-13T08:49:36.118-07:00IPOZThe official blog of IP (Interactive Publications Australia) and its imprints, IP Kidz, Interactive Press, Glass House Books, and IP Digital. We are an eco-friendly publishing house with an extensive list of quality titles by Australian and international authors. Visit our website http://ipoz.biz/ for more information or to contact us.IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-84892322292425895802023-07-24T16:53:00.000-07:002023-07-24T16:53:30.661-07:00Kelly Norman's Understanding Molly - Q&A<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-QajlP5jT7p2NSVbqbzG5Z7zwyiI8Ks1RamhfUCkrf-VeIRP0cAXHiTFRv2rOCASh2n21n9ny_Eonwbrjk9kUIwBQMQZmc0F_-kt14dp-mJi3i3aCxP7bjA7ONLTBJWHEtOh5VbEM2jlZhkc-anIJrRGwnD85EKA1fTyguhGE_gyQjtSeSjkY5q38XM4y/s2560/My%20project-1%20(2).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-QajlP5jT7p2NSVbqbzG5Z7zwyiI8Ks1RamhfUCkrf-VeIRP0cAXHiTFRv2rOCASh2n21n9ny_Eonwbrjk9kUIwBQMQZmc0F_-kt14dp-mJi3i3aCxP7bjA7ONLTBJWHEtOh5VbEM2jlZhkc-anIJrRGwnD85EKA1fTyguhGE_gyQjtSeSjkY5q38XM4y/s320/My%20project-1%20(2).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kelly Norman is a woman of many titles. A mother, a high school librarian, and now a writer! She has been inspired by all these roles to produce her story <a href="https://bit.ly/3N0AW9x" target="_blank"><i>Understanding Molly</i>.</a> Which introduces us to a young girl who experiences ADHD and ODD and how day-to-day life can be different, crazy, scary and hard. This book identifies the struggles but also highlights the good and what families and friends can do to help. Come with us as we interview author Kelly Norman and learn more about this chapter in her life.</span></p><p style="text-indent: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><b>Q: </b></span><b style="text-indent: -18pt;">What
inspired you to create a novel about a child with ADHD
(Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and ODD (Oppositional Defiance
Disorder)?</b></span></p><p>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p><i> A:</i><b> </b></o:p></span><i>I began writing the novel as an exercise in
self-care and mindfulness. Having five children at home, two of whom have
either ADHD or ADHD/ODD, I have lost count of how many nights I have gone to
bed feeling nothing but defeat and frustration.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Parenting is hard at the best of times; but
parenting both neurotypical and neurodivergent children, together, under one
roof, felt impossible.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">It seemed as though the harder I tried to keep
everything under control, the more chaotic life became. I kept asking myself
the same questions, over and over. “What was I missing?”, “What am I doing
wrong?”, “Why won’t my children listen to reason?”</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">After a particularly difficult day, I sat down
at my kitchen table and decided that I would try to step into the shoes of an
ADHD/ODD child. Afterall, how can I possibly expect my children to see things
from my point of view, when I wasn’t willing to give them the same
consideration?</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Such a simple form of empathy has changed not
only the way I parent each of my children individually, but also the way that I
view the world.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Q: Was it a
challenge finding the authentic voice of 11-year-old Molly and her peers, and
did you have any tricks to tap into that age mindset when writing?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">A: Yes and no. I was very mindful not to base the
character of ‘Molly’ on my own children or any situations that had actually
occurred under my roof. I needed her to carry her own voice, her own feelings
and of course, her own personality. The way in which ‘she’ would react to circumstances
became so fluid within my imagination, that the story almost wrote itself. I
could see things from her point of view, and I could empathise with how she was
feeling. I felt it too.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I would often reach a peak moment within the
story and close my eyes. I would take a moment to put myself into ‘Molly’s’
position and write accordingly. Everything fell into place once I was immersed
in her mind-set.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Q: When
reading <i>Understanding Molly,</i> we see some chapters written from
different characters' perspectives in Molly’s life. Why was it important to you
to show these POVs and not just Molly’s?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">A: I felt compelled to not only share with the
reader Molly’s point of view, but also the perspective of those around her. ADHD
and ODD has a broad reach; not only does it impact those who live with the
condition, but also those around them. As such, it was my intention that
whoever picked up the book would find a meaningful connection with at least one
character, but also be able to empathise with the rest.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Q: What is the
biggest takeaway you hope young readers will remember and learn from your
novel?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">A: I believe that it is so important for young
people to understand that every person they meet is worthy of acceptance and
understanding. Although we might struggle to comprehend people’s actions or
begin to rationalise why they react the way they do, it is imperative that we
practice empathy. By taking a moment to look at a situation from a different
perspective other than our own, the way in which we view the world begins to
change. That conflict driven game of tug-o-war that we are each trying to
conquer becomes less important and can pave the way to a peaceful resolution.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Q: Having the
opportunity and experience of working in school libraries, do you believe this
made it more difficult or easier to write a book aimed at children?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">A: In some ways, easier. Children are so diverse
in the books they choose to read. They want to either be taken away on an
adventure, or they want to read something they can relate to. Something that lights
a spark within them.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">With the right combination of humour, guidance
and connection to story, books have a wonderful way of positively influencing
young minds. All it takes is that one novel to turn a reluctant reader into an
avid booklover. Helping children discover a love of reading is perhaps the best
part of my profession. If my book can spark that wondrous light in at least
one child out there, then my job, as a writer, is indeed done.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Q: After
finalising this novel and knowing about these particular disorders in young
people do you have any advice for teachers, librarians and parents who might
find themselves in need? </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">A: Be kind to yourself.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">There are countless days when I struggle to
get by. I think we all do. The unpredictability, the anxiety, the tendency to
“make it up as we go along”, is always there in the background, and it’s both
mentally and physically exhausting.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Throughout the years I’ve lost count of how
many times my husband and I have been advised to, “just ignore it”, or “don’t
let it land”, but we are human, and it hurts.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have never pretended to have all the
answers, oh, how I wish I did, but the one thing I have learnt is the
importance of self-care and empathy.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">If you think this is hard for you, take a
moment to imagine how hard it is for these children. They don’t have the
ability, or the coping skills, that we have gathered throughout our journey. As
such, it is up to us, as the adults in their lives, to help them pave their own
path and teach them self-love and acceptance.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Reach out. Seek professional help. Forgive
yourself during your most difficult days and celebrate the little wins.</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I know it might feel as though no-one
understands what you are feeling, but I do. I really do.</span></i></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><a href="https://bit.ly/43R0ZqH" target="_blank">Click Here to Buy <i>Understanding Molly</i> now!</a></span></h3><br /><p></p>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-46349943847853611562023-05-22T18:02:00.000-07:002023-05-22T18:02:27.577-07:00Dianne Griffin’s From Cornwall to Moonta – Q&A<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAU0NBLgXXmZWB4raOXEQHs1XIdExkuwxV-S99DWKhWaJE2uPBn0SU1RCF9kN2ovGraZ8mNQZY6UBIUQvh2HN3EooYtFBFN2ATRnfLSQuXdjplR3op1XV7EuQZvKArfeXQN29AqWfR1VeWreGdE2jieKiVScsyW1KKkqZ1Sq96UTVRyYvcbVTDcbB3Q/s2560/My%20project-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAU0NBLgXXmZWB4raOXEQHs1XIdExkuwxV-S99DWKhWaJE2uPBn0SU1RCF9kN2ovGraZ8mNQZY6UBIUQvh2HN3EooYtFBFN2ATRnfLSQuXdjplR3op1XV7EuQZvKArfeXQN29AqWfR1VeWreGdE2jieKiVScsyW1KKkqZ1Sq96UTVRyYvcbVTDcbB3Q/s320/My%20project-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> <p></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">With the steady hand of ones family's history, in-depth research and invaluable experiences to guide her please read along as we interviewed author Dianne Griffin for a behind the scenes look of her new book <a href="https://bit.ly/41go5WR" target="_blank"><i>From Cornwall to Moonta</i> </a>and more!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: list 36.0pt;"></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #eee5d1;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">Q: How did you mediate between fact and faction in
the process of producing <i>From Cornwall to Moonta</i> from your
family history? </span></b><b><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 18pt;"><span style="background-color: #eee5d1; color: black;"><o:p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #eee5d1;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">A: I depended a lot on research. Over a 15-year
period I interviewed all family members, especially old aunts and
uncles who actually knew the central characters Ben and Emma—asking for their
stories. I quoted many tales from my grandparents’ book, <i>History of
Agery</i>. I searched thousands of old newspapers, acquired hundreds of books
on the subjects of emigration, early South Australia, and books such as <i>Life
and Death in the Age of Sail</i>.</span><span style="color: #242424;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">From the information I had,
and some psychological profiling, I began to compose their personalities.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: rgb(238, 229, 209); border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Example: William Trethowan emigrated first, and,
looking at his choices, I deduced he was the more adventurous of the two men.
Ben was more cautious. Ben’s wife was a bit like her brother, hyperactive.<br /><br /></span></span></p>
<p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #eee5d1;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #242424; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">I stayed as true to events as I
could. There were a lot of stories that were true. And once my characters had
been through one event, it was easier to follow on.</span><span style="color: #242424;"> I <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">acquired British weather records to understand
the extremely wet weather of the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s.</span> <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">And I have a book of calendars that shows the full moons. Full
moons upset some people, and yet it is great for a night out in the 19<sup>th</sup> century
when there were no lights. People scheduled events for the full moon.</span> <span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;">I travelled to Cornwall several times and visited the relevant
addresses. I spoke to local historians and cousins of Emma and Ben’s. I
researched every inch of Helston where Emma worked as a servant. And I walked
in their footsteps when we took the train from Falmouth to Plymouth.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="background: rgb(238, 229, 209); border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: What was the most fascinating thing about
British, Australian or your own personal history that you discovered in the
years researching this project?</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #eee5d1;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">A: Hundreds of enthralling facts come to mind. It
is one of the reasons I wrote the book. These fascinating insights could not be
lost to time.</span><span> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #eee5d1;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">E.G. Wakefield’s plan for South Australia was
called <i>A Cure for Pauperism</i>. And the paupers weren’t treated
exactly as promised. Wakefield wrote in his book, <i>Letters from Sydney, </i>(although
he never was in Sydney), that land prices were to be kept high enough (one
to two pounds an acre) to stop labourers from buying land immediately. Land in
NSW was 5 shillings an acre.</span><span style="color: #242424;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">Ben and Emma’s rail journey through the glorious
Cornish countryside from Falmouth to Plymouth, peppered with over 40 of
Brunel’s fabulous tall wooden lacy viaducts (we made the journey for research
purposes).</span><span style="color: #242424;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">Migrants staffed the ship throughout the journey.
Some of the passengers (labourers) were even conferred Constable status for the
journey.</span><span> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #eee5d1;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">On a more personal level, I realised how
differently each of us views our siblings, parents and grandparents, uncles,
and aunts.</span><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: rgb(238, 229, 209); border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Example: my two old grandfathers were pleasant—fun
to me as a child. A pat on the head, a few sweets. But don’t ask their
children. That is a whole different story. Almost unbelievable. It helped me a
lot, to understand their backgrounds.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="background: rgb(238, 229, 209); border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: How did your experience working as a nurse
assist you in understanding the health issues faced by migrants to Australia in
the 19th century? </span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #eee5d1;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">A: Being a nurse is understanding medicine, and how
it affects our patients. Probably most important is knowing about
cross-infection. Even in the 2020s, non-medical staff still don’t know the
simple basics of antisepsis, and how to prevent cross infection.</span><span style="color: #242424;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: rgb(238, 229, 209); border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">In the previous centuries, patients, especially
women, were not listened to by most of their doctors. I could feel their
frustration, their sense of inadequacy and the crushing self-blame, when their
families, children suffered and or died.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="background: rgb(238, 229, 209); border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: Regarding the legacy your grandparents and
great-grandparents left behind mentioned in <i>From Cornwall to
Moonta, </i>the kind of people they were, the life they lived, and the
struggles they faced — what are you most proud of?</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #eee5d1;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">A: With both my great-grandparents and my
grandparents, who were never wealthy, I am most proud of their generosity,
particularly their anonymous donations to the poor. Even with their large
families, during the great Depression they gave work and food to countless,
homeless, jobless men.</span><span style="color: #242424;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">My aunt complained that she and her sister had no
money, and that they paid rent for living at home. “Yet Dad gives money away”
she cried.</span><span style="color: #242424;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">But even my aunt and her sister gave free music
lessons to their anxious poorer students.</span><span style="color: #242424;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">And my grandfather succeeded
as a responsible farmer, giving countless years to the committees of the
district—schools, church, councils and organisations such as the Wheat and
Barley Board.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="background: rgb(238, 229, 209); border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: Having experienced re-immigration to both
England and Australia in your own life, what were the biggest challenges you
overcame? </span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #eee5d1;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">A: Saying goodbye, even when not forever, hurts.
And on arrival not having your friends to help you through. Finding our way
around in strange places.</span><span style="color: #242424;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">In Ireland I took my baby to the supermarket in a
large pram. It was heavy work, a few hills. As soon as I arrived there was a
terrifying announcement, someone had phoned to say there was a bomb in the
store. Imagine the chaos as people exited the building!</span><span> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #eee5d1;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">When we emigrated to Australia, it was much more
relaxed for a while. Then there were the shopkeepers etc., who turned away from
our strong accents and served Aussie speakers first. I was incensed.</span><span style="color: #242424;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">And we were endlessly plied with Irish jokes. The Australians just didn’t
see they were basically saying we were stupid.</span><span style="color: #242424;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">My children were so upset,
that I searched around for an “Australian” joke. They didn’t so much as
use it out loud, but it helped, until they made friends.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b><span style="background: rgb(238, 229, 209); border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: Will readers who enjoy <i>From Cornwall to
Moonta</i> be seeing more from you in future creative writing
projects? </span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #eee5d1;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">A: Yes. I have begun to write about the next
generation, (my mother) and the next, which is my story. As a nurse to the
rich and famous I was flown to the Bahamas and also flew a patient who was in
status epilepticus, from Adelaide to Greece.</span><span style="color: #242424;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">I travelled on the Orient
Express, having booked for the wrong night. We followed an Easter procession in
Italy of a bleeding Christ figure, hoisted on strong shoulders, and shared
painted hard-boiled eggs with strangers in Greece.</span><span style="color: #242424;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">And then there was the search for my father’s story. And my own lifelong
journey, silencing the critical little voice in my head.</span></span><span style="color: #242424; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: rgb(238, 229, 209); border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; font-size: 12pt; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></span></p><h4 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="background: rgb(238, 229, 209); border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3IbGUCQ" target="_blank">Click here to Buy a copy of <i>From Cornwall to Moonta</i> now!</a></span></span></h4><div><span style="background: rgb(238, 229, 209); border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background: rgb(238, 229, 209); border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="background: white; border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none; padding: 0cm;"><br /></span></p>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-89482059184203115992023-05-15T20:05:00.003-07:002023-05-15T20:10:56.827-07:00Fred Madryga’s A Pathway to an Ending – Q&A <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwBHGi2ysz2IE_kMnNpJPnKg9bTmlgzC4fFHRM59nCre1IXaCsJhOwGt9r1UDQPG017gOAMh-tWGKfYeW4bgofX2c58whQeHOmxTpN3TNln8lfLL9TYX82BcZcPANu4-FLQbA5ZSTdfOEnRBuD9NF_SsnK2AtzrvYB8PArqL5KlaJ3rTAUansoBIb-QA/s2560/My%20project-1%20(1).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwBHGi2ysz2IE_kMnNpJPnKg9bTmlgzC4fFHRM59nCre1IXaCsJhOwGt9r1UDQPG017gOAMh-tWGKfYeW4bgofX2c58whQeHOmxTpN3TNln8lfLL9TYX82BcZcPANu4-FLQbA5ZSTdfOEnRBuD9NF_SsnK2AtzrvYB8PArqL5KlaJ3rTAUansoBIb-QA/s320/My%20project-1%20(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Author Fred Madryga, a man of many stories with a wealth of different careers to his name, shares with us these and more enlivening experiences in his new book <i><a href="https://bit.ly/3BdStGN" target="_blank">A Pathway to an Ending</a>. </i>In this interview today you will hear extras from our author's life, ideas around certain messages and the fortifying experiences and memories gathered along the way which lead to his book's creation.</span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: In all the things you have achieved in your life: career, activities, or something else, what have you regarded as the most challenging but most rewarding? </span></b><b><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></b></span></span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times;"> <br /></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: There have been achievements and challenges, and some people do seem to have concentrated on a central aspect in their lives. In fact, in the extreme, they may even be definable by that fact. We have our billionaires–it used to be millionaires–and supreme athletes, brilliant scholars, and even great travellers. But most of us do not reach such pinnacles in our lives, and I am one of those. Reaching such heights, takes enormous talent, dedication and, I suspect, something beyond just good genetics, though that does count. </span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>My view is not intended to put me, or anyone else with a different pattern of life down, or to suggest that we are lesser. In my private heart, I am suspicious of the idea of greater or lesser. The divine right of kings, and queens I suppose, and the things that they did, were my first clue in studying the issue. It isn’t that I don’t believe in excellence, you will find it in such places, but you will find a human being, too. No, those of us with different life patterns have our moments and our lives can be meaningful. They just aren’t popular in the moment of time that we exist. </span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>My view of my own life began during the egocentric period we all experience while passing through early puberty. Up until that time, I see myself as having things happen to me. Oh, I was engaging in a lot of rudimentary thoughts, but it was during early adolescence that I realized I would not be a Bob Cousy. He was five foot ten and probably the only guy of that height to play in the NBA. I was five foot eight. In the end, I found that I would not be a professional athlete, and certainly not a professional basketball player. Indeed, I would have to play sports for the intrinsic value of playing. So, I tried quite a few sports and became good at some of them. A competitive spirit remained, but that, and how to deal with it, is another story. A corollary to my thinking about sports was finding out that one had to search for where one fit and what one was good at. The realization developed an interest in developing myself. And I have been interested in doing so ever since.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>Developing oneself as a human being is not a simple process. One has to go beyond egocentrism and include other people in it for one thing. There were also a lot of interesting problems that emerged along the way, and some were very challenging. A few that were especially tough for me were learning to think for myself, learning to build on strengths as well as correct errors, learning not to need approval from others too much, learning not to be too defensive, and learning to remain open to others and their ideas. When I am at my strongest, I can satisfy those requirements, and I am happiest as a human being. That has been my greatest challenge and my best reward.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times;"> <br /></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: What was the process leading up to your decision to write <i class="ContentPasted0">A Pathway to an Ending</i> and what helped you make it a reality?</span></b><b><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></b></span></span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times;"> <br /></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: There were decisions along the way, but writing <i class="ContentPasted0">Pathway</i> does not seem like a decision. In fact, as I have said to others, it was</span><span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" lang="EN-US" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> a bit like Kurt Russell stumbling through the movie <i class="ContentPasted0">Big Trouble in Little China</i>. Like him, I kept bumping into things that I did not see coming, and I did not know that I was writing a book until very late in the game. <span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><o:p class="ContentPasted0"> <br /></o:p></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>One day I found a story that I had written about 35 years before buried in my papers. Its title was “The Change.” As I recall, I gave it to David Reiter to read back then, and, after reading it, he said something like; “Hmmm you’re a poet.” </span><span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" lang="EN-US" style="border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">My wife and </span><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I liked to read to each other. So, I read the story to her, and she liked it. After hearing her comments, I went on to edit it. She read it out loud to me, and I followed up by writing another story. We repeated the process with that story and all the ones that followed. </span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>Somewhere along the way, friends began reading the stories. They liked them and suggested that I publish them. I was shy about the idea, but I eventually sought out someone to help us with editing them. Publishing a book was now a vague thought in my mind. More time passed and some pressure came on me from talking about what I was doing with my friends. There were now 16 or 17 stories and they covered much of my lifespan. It took a while, but, at some point, I came to think they might be a memoir. I now accepted that I was preparing a book. As you can see, I wasn’t burning up the decision-making process at any point.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>As your question implies there were many things that helped make the book a reality. Reading out loud with my partner and hearing her comments helped a great deal. I am grateful that we still do it. Another thing that helped seems so darned simple that it feels like one should not have to mention it. I continued writing each day whether it was easy to do or difficult. The best time for me was early in the morning. Life situations could intervene, but I came back every time. Writers must write. It seems so simple and yet it can be so hard to do. </span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>There were many other things that helped me along the way. Having friends read and comment was a good idea. The only thing I didn’t do to get someone to read my stories was walk down the street and grab them by the arm. And that was only because I didn’t think of it. Hiring an advanced student to comment and do a preliminary edit of the stories helped, too. The person I chose was very concerned about preserving my voice, which I found encouraging and instructive. I believe this to be a primary requirement for someone reading your work. Buying a good editing program helped, though it was not a substitute for the other things.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>The next stage involved approaching publishing companies for their initial comments about the book. Eventually, David and IP introduced help at an advanced professional level. He, and his assistants, did the final edit and formatted and published the book. </span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>Another huge step came from Sibell Hackney who created the cover and spine designs. She and her partner Stephen Burles read many of the stories, and she created three designs on the basis of them. Stephen helped all three of us decide what the final design would be. Sibell carried the design forward, while Stephen wrote the author’s description. They both did a beautiful job and took the pressure right off me. Of course, David was in the background assessing the product and providing information so that the designs would fit the publication formatting. He and I both edited the final product. Sometimes it feels like everyone else did more to create the book than I did, and I am truly grateful for their efforts.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times;"> <br /></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: Is there a chapter of yours that you like the most and can you expand on why?</span></b><b><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></b></span></span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times;"> <br /></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: I do not have a favourite. I like something about all of them. Some were harder to write than others. “Jonesy’s Gyppo” was the toughest to write from a technical point of view.</span></span></span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>Some readers I have talked to still find the details concerning logging hard to follow. I really tried to make sure this would not happen. Maybe next time.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>The story that was the most fun to write was “Rex.” Though I still feel sad when I recall looking at him in that boat at the end. On some days, I feel that “Feeding Time in Camp” was as much fun to write as “Rex” was. The story does have the presence of good memories for me about the cook and pearl diver. The further I get away from writing about meeting the bear, the funnier the story feels. In reality, the event wasn’t all that funny at the time it was happening.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>The most difficult stories to write on a personal dimension were the “Offender Learning Curve” and “Ending.” The dead goose experience in “Ending” still makes me cry. And artist Emily Carr’s passage still causes tears, though for a different reason. Geese calling as they fly over is still a bittersweet sound. I am glad that I wrote all of it. “The Dog Ran” and “The Raptor Came Back” were difficult to write, but very personally satisfying. They were originally one story, and I split them up. I’m still not quite sure that it was the right thing to do. </span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>Thank you for asking the question Emma-Clare, there are few things I like more than talking about my stories.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times;"> <br /></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: There is a large amount of emphasis on the environment, land, and country in your book. How would you describe its role and importance in whom you became and the life you lived?</span></b><b><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></b></span></span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times;"> <br /></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: You are right, Emma-Clare, country plays a large part in my life. Sometimes it surprises me how central and important nature is to me. This seems especially true when considering how many years I spent growing up and being educated in big cities. I did start in a one-room school in Yale, British Columbia at 5 years of age with eight grades and a wood heater in the same room. And my early experiences and moving in and out of the country to work, learn, and hunt and fish over the years have kept the country in me. One set of my grandparents was in the country. And that is where my parents moved to upon retiring and living out the last part of their lives. Up until then, they always visited it in one way or another. Then, when my partner and I retired about twenty years ago, we moved back to the country much as my parents had. She told me that she found a home when we moved here. It was a simple truth and may not be surprising for a person who was bombed out as a child during WWII and saw her first sunrise at 15 years of age. But how she felt surprised and pleased me. Early experiences are important in one’s life and they can be hard to overcome if one needs to.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>Nature can be a hard teacher. She is amoral, and if she decides to drop a rock on you there will be no emotion while she is doing so. If we destroy our world and ourselves, she will continue while hardly missing us. So, I guess that is where my faith is – in nature. It doesn’t matter to me whether a god created nature or a mysterious single cell that physicists haven’t described yet. For me, she sets the order, and she will have the last word. Or the last laugh. It depends on how I am feeling at the time I am thinking about the issue. Nature will always exist and will always be larger than us. What would we have to do to prove this to be wrong? Destroy her? We would destroy ourselves and everything else.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>I feel humble in the face of nature. The feeling of humility came while looking at the sky at night from the roof of our two-story house with my brother, and realizing how small we were in comparison to what is out there. How small our world truly is. I respect mother nature’s ability to throw rocks, too, it tempers the humility a bit as I duck. Yes, nature is female, in case you balked at my using the term. Sexual dimorphism is very, very old. And, to me, nature is a female mother and surrounds us all. </span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times;"> <br /></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: As you explore the ideas of an ending, a close to a final chapter, what takeaway message about this theme did you intend to give readers, and has that changed your outlook since you finished the book?</span></b><b><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></b></span></span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times;"> <br /></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: Hmmm…<i class="ContentPasted0">takeaway message</i>, kind of sounds like going to a drive-in restaurant, Emma-Clare. </span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>Oddly enough, I wasn’t thinking very much about what the reader would take away from the end, other than what my experience was. “Ending” was the only valid finish to the book that I could think of, and writing it took much of my concentration. I did hope that a reader might use the fact that their life would end to temper their judgments in some ways and to appreciate the beauty in life more. I also hoped they would prepare themselves for it. </span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>I don’t believe my outlook has changed all that much since writing the ending. One thing that has happened, is that I have returned to the medieval idea of instruction manuals for dying properly. I was aware that such were written in the West from a Christian point of view during those times. The idea concerning denial of death in the West described by various authors made me assume such writing had died out. Writing the ending in my book led me to Google the topic. It looks like there are such books being written in the present day. It is an area that I might explore further if I get the time, and change could come from it.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>I have tried to prepare for death with mixed success. I believe that things go dark after dying, and one won’t be conscious, thinking or feeling after it happens. That is what being knocked out has been like, though the experience can have some interesting precursors. A general anaesthetic does the same thing.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span> </span>The last time I had that experience, I told the nurses around me that I loved them because they help people. Then I said “goodnight” and got up to a count of 4 or so. There was nothing after that. I’m pretty sure that pain ends and is a blessing for many. And I am saddened by the loss of beauty that I experience while I am alive. I don’t believe that I will miss the pain. </span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: And lastly, if you could navigate and experience the world as an animal for a day, what animal would you choose and why?</span></b><b><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /></span></b></span></span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times;"> <br /></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: I would choose a large bird of some kind; a Heron, or a big Raptor, something that could take me long distances at a decent elevation. The bird would fly north to see if the man and his dog were still around and whether there were any bones in the snow blowing over the rocks on the divide. The bird would be prepared to avoid a fight with the man. Such preparation would be necessary because it would be meeting a raptor. Such creatures can be aggressive, and I am not sure how the man’s transformation would affect his self-control. It would be enough to see the dog running free below me. No danger there. There would not be the time in a single day to do much more. If I was allowed by the creator, I would take my partner and a few friends with me on the trip.</span><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0cm;"><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ebe0c9; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><h4 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span><a href="https://bit.ly/3DrUqAO" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Click here to buy <i>A Pathway to an Ending</i> now!</span></a></span></h4><div><p> </p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span color="inherit" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Interview by<br /></span></span></span><span color="inherit" style="font-family: times; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Emma-Clare Daly<br /></span></span><span color="inherit" style="font-family: times; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Editorial/ Promotions Consultant, IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)</span></span></p></div><div><span color="inherit" lang="EN-CA" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-71827125698206211702023-04-17T18:07:00.000-07:002023-04-17T18:07:58.187-07:00Anne Vines' The Ship Wife - Q&A<p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibz3OM7d4aMm7dAfLUdEgzcNn4qaOf865g9-TpIi9cB4vP0GRRnh6X5X2O8t45igQOAwMpSEUJy2jMnhQeiHraa5abRpo_hp8crKmWZzTrXWcuNbKbUbr948DKge-2gMiVUo0GmU-HGXLxJi5YCM8ga35Uu3HiA8w5FYwvTU3y714gR0Ek3p4MjvfdKw/s2550/IPOZ%20blog%20-%20Anne.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1700" data-original-width="2550" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibz3OM7d4aMm7dAfLUdEgzcNn4qaOf865g9-TpIi9cB4vP0GRRnh6X5X2O8t45igQOAwMpSEUJy2jMnhQeiHraa5abRpo_hp8crKmWZzTrXWcuNbKbUbr948DKge-2gMiVUo0GmU-HGXLxJi5YCM8ga35Uu3HiA8w5FYwvTU3y714gR0Ek3p4MjvfdKw/w400-h266/IPOZ%20blog%20-%20Anne.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><o:p style="background-color: white; color: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><br /></o:p><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><o:p style="color: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit;"><span style="font-style: inherit;">Discover a journey through history and storytelling today as we interviewed author Anne Vines about her gripping tale of endurance, survival, overcoming and more in her book </span><a href="http://bit.ly/412ZLHk" target="_blank"><i>The Ship Wife</i></a></o:p><o:p style="color: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit;">. Inspired by the true story of Elizabeth Rafferty an Irish convict sent to Australia in 1797. </o:p></span></h3><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><span color="inherit" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px; font: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><div><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><strong style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Q: What initially drew you to find Elizabeth Rafferty and to discover her life story?</span></strong></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">A: Years ago, I read about the notorious convict ship the </span><em style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Britannia,</span></em><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> which brought Elizabeth to Australia. Then I met an enthusiastic family historian, who had researched her family and was struck by Elizabeth’s story. So, I heard a snapshot of Elizabeth’s life and a mention of the sea captains she encountered and lived with. </span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Initially, I had no intention of writing about Elizabeth, even when the family historian insisted that it would make a great novel and she would love me to write the story. I only write from the imagination, I declared, and not about real historical people. But the story stayed in my mind. I could not help looking more closely into the women on the ship, </span><em style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Britannia.</span></em><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> Elizabeth was the captain’s ship wife – the woman he kept in his cabin for the voyage. He was the notoriously cruel Captain Dennett. Yet he set Elizabeth up with money, for life. How had she managed that? </span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">What was it like for her and the other women convicts on the ship? I had studied the period at university but had never looked closely at the women who were the property of the officers and sailors on the convict ships. I was a little reluctant to imagine it; I had never wanted to get under the skin of a sex slave, but Elizabeth’s case made me more curious. Was she someone not only to pity but to admire? </span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Elizabeth and her fellow convicts on the voyage were Irish. With some Irish background myself, I had instant sympathy and curiosity. My university study of the convict era had been mainly from British sources. How much was the sudden transportation of Irish convicts to New South Wales the result of an Irish crime wave and how much was it political – a method of clearing out the poorer classes or the more rebellious folk? </span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Captain Dennett</span><em style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </span></em><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">killed six convicts on the </span><em style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Britannia</span></em><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> by flogging – he ordered 800 lashes for one man. Governor Hunter in Sydney summoned Dennett to a special court hearing upon his arrival. The English government changed the supervision of convict ships from then on. The story had wide relevance. How did Elizabeth keep her relationship with the captain despite that? How did she get on in Sydney, as the de facto of an infamous captain? </span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Then I took note of the other two sea captains she was involved with – a whaler and a respectable anti-slaver. Oddly, their lives had parallels with hers. And I found that her daughter married a slave trader – the only one who was transported to New South Wales. He was a singular case, and books had been written about him, but not a novel. Though my focus would stay on Elizabeth, these other three characters gave heft and intrigue to the story. I decided that it would be foolish not to turn this strange tale into a novel.</span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><strong style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Q: Were there many aspects of history or of Elizabeth’s story that you were surprised to uncover?</span></strong></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">A: Although I knew that most Irish records had been destroyed in 1922, I was still surprised that so much of Elizabeth’s life is undocumented and impossible to verify. Even her crime is unknown. Historians have suggested that it was sedition. I was intrigued by the history of the Defenders and similar rebel and protest movements in Ireland at that time. Most of the convicts on Elizabeth’s ship were part of the Defender protest movement.</span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I was also surprised to learn how long Irish convicts stayed in gaol before they were transported, and that women and men were in prison together in Ireland at that time. Elizabeth must have struggled with hunger and privation and probably ill-treatment. </span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The fear of mutiny on ships was something I had never thought about. Captain Dennett’s paranoia about a mutiny on the </span><em style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Britannia</span></em><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> and his manic severity once he suspected it were extreme, but mutinies were a problem. Ship life for sailors, let alone convicts, exemplified the vast inequalities of that time.</span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I was stunned to read the will of</span><em style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </span></em><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Captain Dennett in which he makes a bequest to Elizabeth. He declared himself the father of her child and then he left Sydney the day after the child was born. It was more so exciting to find documentation of Elizabeth’s property, of her children, and of her travels overseas from New South Wales. There were many details of her later relationships which were extraordinary to me.</span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Although I was aware of slavery in general, I had not known that a slaver had been transported to New South Wales or that he had been swiftly pardoned in England and then had become a respectable squatter in Tasmania. </span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><strong style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Q: How do you expect contemporary readers will react to the position that women like Elizabeth found themselves in when relating to men on the voyage to Australia and after resettlement? </span></strong></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">A: I can’t expect a particular reaction, but I hope that readers will have sympathy for Elizabeth and her fellow female convicts. Today, we have more understanding of the position of sex slaves and sex workers. The history books of the past were often silent about the mistreatment of convict women by men, whether fellow convicts or authorities, and sometimes condemned the women as immoral and uncivilised. Recent books have shown more understanding of reasons for the women’s behaviour and their lack of resources and opportunities. </span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Currently, journalists and survivors of sexual abuse have shone light on the abuse of the powerless by those in power. It is a problem that people are facing and trying to alleviate worldwide. The experiences of Elizabeth and the women she knew are not locked in a distant past but resonate today. </span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I hope that readers will appreciate the success that Elizabeth achieved in New South Wales despite the power imbalance between men and women and the prejudice against convict women.</span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><strong style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Q: How did you go about negotiating a balance between historical facts and your novel </span><em style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The Ship Wife</span></em><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">?</span></strong></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">A: The gaps in Elizabeth’s story are huge. There was plenty of room for a novelist’s imagination and craft.</span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">In the creation of Elizabeth’s character, personality, and circumstances, I have remained true to the historical record, but have made decisions about her background and her motivation. I have attempted to recreate the settings in the novel with accurate detail. After 1822, Elizabeth disappears from the records, but I enjoyed imagining a middle age and an old-age version of her. I think such a character deserves a full life story.</span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">My focus was on Elizabeth, so although there might be other interpretations of aspects of the stories of minor characters, I looked at their lives from her perspective.</span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><strong style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Q: How does this project represent a development of your creative practice compared to your previous publications, and what aspects are you proudest of?</span></strong></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">A: Although I have written and published short stories based on my life experiences, this is the first time that I have written a novel about real characters and used real people as my protagonist – and antagonists. The research I did needed to be more specific and detailed. Instead of a character coming to me, I began searching for Elizabeth: for this novel, unlike my others, I did not begin by hearing a character reveal herself in my mind, I had to find evidence, fill in the gaps, and develop historical knowledge to understand what sort of person she might have been and what her life was like. I had to make her into a character. The creative process was more conscious and deliberate. I blended the research and the imagining to a much greater extent than usual. I waited until she became as real to me as my other imagined characters are. Once that happened, I could write with full force. I am glad that I created a positive and rounded character and one that, although true to the historical period, has many resonances with our times. I am happy that I have made a living woman out of only a few documentary clues. </span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">I enjoyed the challenge of blending what I imagined of Elizabeth’s story with the actual history of the time. </span></p><p style="background: transparent; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background: transparent; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></span></p></span></div><div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3o4NC6F" target="_blank">Click here to buy <i>The Ship Wife</i> now!</a></span></p></div>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-58537796731932926422023-04-17T18:02:00.000-07:002023-04-17T18:02:34.300-07:00Krista Brennan's The Storytellers - Q&A<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqk6lacl6SLEH4d8UgoSujU__dChNbZMEi5OKgkrzIuRQjeZo4d2o0MCCi7SjIZqFLvivMTn7WV_g1PlyNiQcfiWGkyRgnyXMhukrc0Kzcv9imwlgit7oRJKqf0iPpTBKXS-Y2ELyvHV2QjMzmpfoowmAXrzBzXu2oirZep7-w-iZPGSGleJQQvja9A/s1979/krista.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="996" data-original-width="1979" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqk6lacl6SLEH4d8UgoSujU__dChNbZMEi5OKgkrzIuRQjeZo4d2o0MCCi7SjIZqFLvivMTn7WV_g1PlyNiQcfiWGkyRgnyXMhukrc0Kzcv9imwlgit7oRJKqf0iPpTBKXS-Y2ELyvHV2QjMzmpfoowmAXrzBzXu2oirZep7-w-iZPGSGleJQQvja9A/w400-h201/krista.png" width="400" /></span></a></div></div><p></p><div class="elementToProof" style="border: 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, "system-ui", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p class="MsoNormal ContentPasted0 elementToProof" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-style: inherit;">Illustrator and fine artist Krista Brennan’s great attention to detail and colours found inside </span><a href="https://bit.ly/3zgpCzu"><i>The Storytellers</i></a><i> </i><span style="font-style: inherit;">left us wanting to know more… so, we interviewed her.</span><o:p class="ContentPasted0" style="font-style: inherit;"> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal ContentPasted0 elementToProof" style="font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: What was it about Robert's story that drew you into illustrating it?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: I think the whole premise of the story is very personal to me since I'm a creative person myself. I really felt a connection to all the characters, particularly the illustrator Imani.<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: At the beginning of this project how did you visualise the concepts Robert Vescio presented through text?<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><br /></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: I have a really visual internal life, so whenever I read or listen to anything I see very clear images in my head. Even in answering these questions, I can picture someone sitting in front of their computer reading the answers! Growing up this was very distracting and made focusing really difficult (and I now know it's a part of my ADHD), but it has been such an asset to illustration. So, as soon as I read the text, I can see the pictures forming clearly in my mind. The image on pages 16-17 where Imani is sketching, and the images are forming in front of her in the air is a representation of what it's like for me. Robert also gave some guidance on what he thought the pages might look like, and I would often work with those ideas as a base. <o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: Do you have an example of a page where you believe you've enlarged on what is explicitly presented in the text?<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><br /></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: I'm always thinking about how my illustrations can enhance what is happening in the text, and one of the main things I added was the visual theme of the dragon on various pages through the text. There's not quite a dragon on every page, but I wanted to have referenced throughout in various ways, developing from a small wisp on pages 6-7 to a full dragon on 12-13, and then becoming more solid and real until it's at the entrance to the theme park on page 28.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: What page or spread are you the proudest of in <i class="ContentPasted0">The Storytellers</i> and why?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><br /></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: I think I'm most proud of the cover, and it captures all the characters in their childhood, when they are first finding their creativity, and brings them together in a way that doesn't happen in the story. I like the warmth and dreaminess of it, and it makes me think of happy moments in my own childhood, climbing trees and being imaginative.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: Can you tell us about your design journey and how easy or difficult this particular project was compared to your previous body of works?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-style: inherit; margin: 0cm;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></b></p></span></div><div class="elementToProof" style="border: 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, "system-ui", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: I always start with storyboard sketches and character designs to get a sense of how things are going to look. Having so many different characters is always a challenge as it means I have to design several people (and each person at two different ages) so it took a little while to get that right. I was also using a new program to paint these illustrations so there was a bit of a learning curve in knowing how to use the brushes and tools properly. The hardest part was the book shop scene on pages 20-21 as I had to paint the cover of each book by hand. I wasted some time trying to work out if there was a short cut way to do it, but it never looked the way I wanted, so in the end I just did them all individually! I think the piece of design I was happiest with was the dragon, because it had a personal significance for me. When I was around 11 years old, I drew a dragon and entered it into an art competition at my school. I didn't win, but only because the judges thought it looked too good and I must have had help from a parent! The dragon in this story is the same style of dragon I drew for that competition, so I'm really happy to think it can finally have a place in the world (and no-one will tell me I had help with it!)</span></span></div><div class="elementToProof" style="border: 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, "system-ui", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="elementToProof" style="border: 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, "system-ui", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></div><h3 style="border: 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, "system-ui", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3E073TS"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: inherit;">Click here to get your copy of </span><i>The Storytellers</i></span></a></span></span></h3><div><span face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><h3 style="border: 0px; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, "system-ui", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3SKVHrt" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: inherit;">Click here to watch </span><i>The Storytellers</i><span style="font-style: inherit;"> book trailer</span></a></span></span></span></h3><div><span face="Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></div></span></div>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-52287613624808252972023-04-17T17:58:00.000-07:002023-04-17T17:58:17.554-07:00Robert Vescio's The Storytellers - Q&A<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbsqvzb_V99F7aKFkyJHf_Bg8Xtr88oNqcs165tEnxyg7MR7QxehUb047Wzizwxq1gtDQu34evMJ-XDNliAQsxxTg1EgmRr3S1PDX5W1Vb_OJmi-6HdHfZ8CAL9pod8VSPIuI_vyWZVtFbUTErXqrqU3Uplo-_5NfnPfRjeLdkqpcUfwUjDf1l3CCCHQ/s4264/Storyteller_FCov.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4264" data-original-width="4253" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbsqvzb_V99F7aKFkyJHf_Bg8Xtr88oNqcs165tEnxyg7MR7QxehUb047Wzizwxq1gtDQu34evMJ-XDNliAQsxxTg1EgmRr3S1PDX5W1Vb_OJmi-6HdHfZ8CAL9pod8VSPIuI_vyWZVtFbUTErXqrqU3Uplo-_5NfnPfRjeLdkqpcUfwUjDf1l3CCCHQ/w318-h320/Storyteller_FCov.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEPcvGHAcgmdyz28PNIMsqEkhWO8iffr-MGnbqTpZZXhz-CoPpObKfr9GLrsEy8p9Iys4PTDxfJMeIR0-941Ty-B9EQFcMKbMKIWTITKFVD8cefC-QhN3OPlekm2w-t14N1hv5FRKt809qeMBk2taJwXOveVm1d4QoCiV142iReQ_wzDt9FAG3fUoUAg/s4520/RobertV.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="4520" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEPcvGHAcgmdyz28PNIMsqEkhWO8iffr-MGnbqTpZZXhz-CoPpObKfr9GLrsEy8p9Iys4PTDxfJMeIR0-941Ty-B9EQFcMKbMKIWTITKFVD8cefC-QhN3OPlekm2w-t14N1hv5FRKt809qeMBk2taJwXOveVm1d4QoCiV142iReQ_wzDt9FAG3fUoUAg/w318-h228/RobertV.jpg" width="318" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Come with us as we interview Robert Vescio, the award-winning talented author in his newest children's book <i><a href="https://bit.ly/3zgpCzu">The Storytellers</a> </i>where his story and love of tales in bursting right from the pages. </span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">
</b></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;"><b><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; padding: 0cm;">Q: At what age did you discover
your own love for storytelling? </span></b><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; padding: 0cm;">A: I think I was six when I discovered
my love of storytelling. It all started with a mouse – Disney’s <i>Mickey Mouse
Brave Little Tailor</i> vinyl Record and Book. It was a See, Hear and Read 7”
Record + 24page Book. The narrator reads every word as you see it in the book.
It’s a great way to assist non-readers to learn and help beginners to read. And
you knew it was time to turn the page when Tinker Bell rang her little bell.
There were only three books available at the time: <i>Snow White & the Seven
Dwarfs</i> and <i>Mary Poppins</i>. So, my parents bought the other two in the
series when they saw how excited and engaged I was with the first book.</span></span></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><b><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; padding: 0cm;">Q: What
was the most essential part of this project for you, the diversity, the overall
message, or another? </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></b></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">A: </span><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; font-size: 12pt;">I wrote
this story to show children how an idea can lead to another aspect of artistic
expression. For a book to be created, somebody had an idea and wrote about it.
The idea was submitted to a book publisher who in turn found an illustrator to
illustrate the story. Once the book was published, it was distributed into
bookstores and libraries and then promoted. And sometimes, books are made into
movies. And also turned into rides at theme parks. The most important part
about <i>The Storytellers</i> is that a story can reach so many people around
the globe and touch them when they need them the most. Storytellers come from
all walks of life from every corner of the globe – they start off as young
children doing what they like best and then grow up to pursue their dreams.
Their lives are weaved together. They are all storytellers, bringing something
different to the same story.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 36pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><b><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: Where did the central theme of the
dragon come from? </span></span></b></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">A: That’s all thanks to Cressida
Cowell’s <i>How to Train Your Dragon</i> book series. Plus, who doesn’t like
dragons?! But to be honest, I’ve actually written a junior fiction story about
a boy named Eric who goes on a quest to find a dragon. I thought this was the
perfect backdrop for <i>The Storytellers</i>.</span></span></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><b><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: What advice would you give your
children readers who have self-doubts about achieving their storytelling
dreams? </span></span></b></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">A: Don’t be scared and don’t worry
about making mistakes. Good things come from making mistakes. Surprises. When
you make a mistake, you are creating something new. Something no one has ever
seen before. There is only your story so make it count.</span></span></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><b><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: Out of the characters in your<span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"> <i>The </i></span><i>Storytellers</i><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"> </span>book who do you relate to the most?</span></span></b></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">A: That’s a tough one. I like them
all. Why? Because they’re all creators of their own destiny. When you create,
you bring something special to the world that gives our lives meaning and
happiness. And that’s exactly what the storytellers in the book are doing.</span></span></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><b><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Q: What is or has been your favourite
thing about your chosen career as a storyteller?</span></span></b></span></p><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times;">
</span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">A: That’s easy – I get to share my
stories with children. Help to inspire and enthuse them to read and write their
own stories. And, along the way, make some fans!</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></span></p><h3 class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3E073TS" target="_blank">Click here to get your copy of <i>The Storytellers</i> now!</a></span> <span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></span></h3><h3 class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: normal; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3SKVHrt" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;" target="_blank">Click here to view <i>The Storytellers </i>book trailer!</a></span></span><br /></span></span></h3>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-16344482866600181012023-03-20T17:47:00.000-07:002023-03-20T17:47:09.195-07:00Stuart Black's The Signatory - Q&A<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrTjdgkZzZLoDKdnZcqc7ezzg216V05lDTXK3C23a7HF8lK8-wNPZ0ih84p23-pHgrzl2tqaduOlisV6bx_d6iPQuwsEDBFm2a0mAF0me8CZcTM7wjMtPMcf6R3blYFcgz63YE1RWofvS8tShPkIlTbqKafkXj5czb9CXMbJj2Xx6OJ3Wi9OZvbqX2ug/s2550/IPOZ%20BLOG%20-%20Stuart.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1700" data-original-width="2550" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrTjdgkZzZLoDKdnZcqc7ezzg216V05lDTXK3C23a7HF8lK8-wNPZ0ih84p23-pHgrzl2tqaduOlisV6bx_d6iPQuwsEDBFm2a0mAF0me8CZcTM7wjMtPMcf6R3blYFcgz63YE1RWofvS8tShPkIlTbqKafkXj5czb9CXMbJj2Xx6OJ3Wi9OZvbqX2ug/w400-h266/IPOZ%20BLOG%20-%20Stuart.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-weight: normal;">Witness our in-depth interview with author Stuart Black, the founding partner and CEO of South-East Asia's leading healthcare communications groups, Ward6. We discover Stuart Black's inner workings as he speaks of his life, career and newly released book <a href="https://bit.ly/3kn8hS0" target="_blank"><i>The Signatory</i></a>!</span></h3><div><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: What motivated you to write in the crime and murder genre?</span></strong></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A: The crime genre is built around a type of storytelling that appeals to me. And, for me, a novel is always about storytelling. I like the genre because it’s entertaining, it packs a punch, and it still allows you to deliver a powerful message.</span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: As a CEO of a major company, how do you balance the responsibilities of that role with your interests as an author? </span></strong></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A: As many authors before me have said, writing is a compulsion. I’ve always done it. I started writing songs – they were the vehicle for my storytelling when I was younger. And when I stopped playing in bands, I switched to writing novels. I don’t have as much time for it as I would like – I do have to run a business – but I have enough time.</span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The upside to running the company at the same time as being an author is that it provides rich material to write about – each and every day. It also means that I can afford to write about what I find most compelling – and am not forced to try my hand at what seems trendy or what someone else might think I should be writing about. I am free to write my stories, in the way I see fit. </span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: What environment helps you best to sit down and write? </span></strong></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A: When you are busy, as I usually am, and have competing priorities, as I usually do, then motivation is the key. What motivates me is engaging with the world in a positive way – where the moral or philosophical issues that I like to write about have a chance to spring to life. Going for a walk in the park can be motivational, watching the news can be motivational, reading a book can be motivational, listening to a great piece of music can be motivational. And my office life can be motivational. </span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The location I like to write in varies. I am not one of those writers who needs to go to the same small ‘writing room’ each morning at 7 am. For me, the constant that I seek is good light. I don’t like to write in dark and depressing closed-in spaces. I love a good chair and a good desk in a bright and open space. </span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">Q: What were your challenges when writing </span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The Signatory</span></em><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> and what helped you overcome them? </span></span></strong></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A: There are always many challenges to writing a novel. Number one is getting the first draft down on paper. But that’s easy compared to the rewriting. It is incredibly hard to look back at your own work and make the necessary corrections/improvements.</span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Having said that, what is satisfying is that, when you do, and you spot the stupid mistakes you made in the first draft, you know you are making the manuscript better. That motivates you to keep going. </span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">When you feel you’ve given it your best shot, it’s also great to get feedback from an external source, such as a friend or an editor. Just when you are feeling burnt out by the process, that external feedback can give you a new energy. Enough to have another go and do that extra bit of rewriting that is always needed on my manuscripts. And as with the previous manuscripts I have written, that was certainly the case with </span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The Signatory</em><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">.</span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: What aspects of corporate life in Sydney led you to set the novel there? </span></strong></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A: While I travel regularly, Sydney is my primary place of work, so it was easiest to set the novel there. I know Sydney very well and I hope that gives the novel – from a setting point of view – extra authenticity. </span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">But it’s important to note that the themes in the novel are universal. From a business point of view, what I am describing in </span><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">The Signatory</em><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> could have happened in any major western city. The reader is looking into a Sydney-based ad agency, but it has been bought out by a global firm, and that happens regularly in cities around the world. </span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The fictitious global company in the novel is listed on the US stock exchange, and that means it has all the pressures on it to consistently increase revenue and profit that all listed companies have. And all the associated temptations for management to cross the line between right and wrong (to make an extra dollar).</span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><strong style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: Were you influenced by other crime authors, and, if so, what are the points of difference between their work and yours? </span></strong></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A: I am influenced by storytellers in general, rather than just crime writers. In terms of the crime genre, I am probably more familiar with the classic British novels and movies and TV shows than American or Australian ones, but I find inspiration in any great story, regardless of where it comes from. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: none; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; padding: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-US" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ebe0c9; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></p><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #0e101a; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span data-preserver-spaces="true" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">The thing that distinguishes my novels is that they are so firmly anchored in a world that I know intimately. I grew up in Sydney at a time when there was plenty of crime and corruption to observe (extending to governments of every persuasion and various police forces around the country), and I have worked in the corporate world for almost my entire adult life. I have strong feelings about the rights and wrongs of what I have observed in my life and that colours my writing. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; padding: 0cm; text-align: center;"><br /></p><h2 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: none; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; padding: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span class="ContentPasted0" lang="EN-US" style="background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: large; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><a href="https://bit.ly/3YTHI5J" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: inherit;">Click here to buy </span><i>The Signatory </i><span style="font-style: inherit;">now!</span></a></o:p></span></h2></div><p><br /></p>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-54449681478192444282023-01-23T16:40:00.001-08:002023-03-20T17:52:42.584-07:00Dr Charlotte Birkmanis' Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping - Q&A<span style="background-color: white;"><span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQz5-Z5Ku44qJJEem83v7dWZ3COlNudx53PQE7HwsrOEBytub8141umlriZE8rSvDCFcuO-q-grvt7d96mT4hydokmE5IbNzWcfdNH8xY4yWCIlFCp4WnSBYN1aJx0fGrDejIonjYl4ESGxntGng2EK03vD9K1XtnHKSsscKtjeX8z-TNqpoGH2Ri5A/s406/Lulu_Cov.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="406" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixQz5-Z5Ku44qJJEem83v7dWZ3COlNudx53PQE7HwsrOEBytub8141umlriZE8rSvDCFcuO-q-grvt7d96mT4hydokmE5IbNzWcfdNH8xY4yWCIlFCp4WnSBYN1aJx0fGrDejIonjYl4ESGxntGng2EK03vD9K1XtnHKSsscKtjeX8z-TNqpoGH2Ri5A/w213-h209/Lulu_Cov.jpg" width="213" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlaBugaUSYBcjxddxll4Z735kgC-7CK5SV-WnxpVAif1kcw4fftrxBz3tZst9c2tws-YkrdYA-astRX70D1QvGLhQbXvO2ZA_VdXqi6Wxg0SD3N_dD_FRjkhJFx77GK5JfwheXn1GO3qlBLgc32dbzyHSoHrmL_48NMTX7U43IHpRUAX-FleEkhRfFKg/s678/CharlotteB.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="678" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlaBugaUSYBcjxddxll4Z735kgC-7CK5SV-WnxpVAif1kcw4fftrxBz3tZst9c2tws-YkrdYA-astRX70D1QvGLhQbXvO2ZA_VdXqi6Wxg0SD3N_dD_FRjkhJFx77GK5JfwheXn1GO3qlBLgc32dbzyHSoHrmL_48NMTX7U43IHpRUAX-FleEkhRfFKg/w239-h209/CharlotteB.jpg" width="239" /></a></span></div></div></div><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: 13.9pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;">Dr Charlotte Birkmanis is a marine biologist, shark scientist as well as an author! Exploring so much about the life of sharks and other marine animals, Charlotte has been the perfect person to work closely with co-author Josie Montano and illustrator Carla Hoffenberg to bring readers an inside look into their children's picture book <i><a href="https://ipoz.biz/portfolio-single/little-shark-lulu-is-sleeping/" target="_blank">Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping</a></i>! It's the first of several planned books in the Little Shark Lulu Series, so keep your underwater camera poised for the next one!</span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: 13.9pt;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></p><span><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span></span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: 12.85pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Q:
</b><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><b>What has been your favourite part of writing </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Little Shark
Lulu is Sleeping</i><b>? <br /><br /></b></span></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">A:
I’ve really enjoyed working with such a great team. Josie and I have been
friends for a while, so I jumped at the chance to work with Josie and it was
fantastic to meet Carla. Together with David as book designer, it’s truly the ‘dream team’. Even
though the team was based on both sides of Australia, the Zoom chats were so
much fun. My favourite part would be when I shared some facts for the book
(such as the sperm whales sleeping vertically or the parrot fish sleeping in
mucous cocoons) and the others would say ‘wow, that is so cool’. That was
definitely a highlight.<br /><br /></span></span></p><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; line-height: 12.85pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span><span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: black; padding: 0cm;"><b>Q: What
inspired you to create a children’s book? <br /><br /></b></span></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">A:
I was bitten by the writing bug early and I’ve been writing fiction and
non-fiction all my life; in fact, I won my first prize for writing in primary
school with a poem that ended up being published. I love sharing fun ‘fin’
facts about our oceans, and so it was a natural progression from presenting and
chatting about sharks and other marine critters to sharing what goes on at
night time in the ocean through a kids' book. I was inspired by the questions
that I would get from children (young and old) when chatting about marine
animals. Often the reply was ‘that can’t be real’. But sometimes, fact is
stranger than fiction!<br /></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><br />I
love it when shark lovers join citizen science projects and share in the fun of
caring for our oceans. Get involved by sharing the fun facts behind Lulu’s
adventures with your friends and family. You can find more details about these
fascinating critters in the Teacher’s Notes that accompany </span><i style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">Little Shark Lulu is
Sleeping</i><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"> on the website. <br /><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black;"><b>Q:
</b><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0cm; padding: 0cm;"><b>What is your favourite shark, and have you had the privilege of
swimming alongside them? <br /><br /></b></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">A:
I have swum with so many sharks in my career and no matter how many times I see
them, it still gives me a thrill. The first shark I tagged was a lemon shark,
so they hold a special place in my heart. I’ve done a lot of work on tiger
sharks as well, and they are stunning creatures – especially the baby sharks
with their stripes. I also love the open ocean sharks I study now, especially
mako sharks, or as I call them ‘the Ferrari of the ocean’. The last shark I
swam with was one of these open-ocean voyagers, a young silky shark. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;"> </span></span></span></p><h3 class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 8pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3cYXAkd" target="_blank">Click here to buy your copy of <i>Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping </i>now!</a> </span></span></h3><h3 class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; margin-bottom: 8pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-themecolor: text1;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3VUQGPh" target="_blank">Click here to watch the book launch of <i>Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping</i>!</a> </span><span></span></span></span></h3><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">
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{page:WordSection1;}</span></style></p><br /></div>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-49037858019130399572023-01-23T16:36:00.001-08:002023-03-20T17:53:55.047-07:00Josie Montano's Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping - Q&A
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></p><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpc4py4OkwSdCs0Lp5weJ-xzRmU42c0wOn0RegjyBGjsT6VUXPmYtlee6WSAP7v-ouNY1Ce3dAmmOSUjMD8y9WImA_T8--v3CTTeJuQPAaYGLVwqslE0NjR_IrPUJtHeH-uAZt-vTVzU_XeCvFH2yMd4EiekbneN5hBtMZ3gQ99fMzUlMjTuh8XyiYw/s640/JosieM%20Medium.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="427" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEpc4py4OkwSdCs0Lp5weJ-xzRmU42c0wOn0RegjyBGjsT6VUXPmYtlee6WSAP7v-ouNY1Ce3dAmmOSUjMD8y9WImA_T8--v3CTTeJuQPAaYGLVwqslE0NjR_IrPUJtHeH-uAZt-vTVzU_XeCvFH2yMd4EiekbneN5hBtMZ3gQ99fMzUlMjTuh8XyiYw/w177-h266/JosieM%20Medium.jpeg" width="177" /></a></div><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Come along with us to interview Josie Montano, award-winning author and advocate of giving voice to those who cannot, as we discuss her newest children's book <i><a href="https://ipoz.biz/portfolio-single/little-shark-lulu-is-sleeping/" target="_blank">Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping.</a></i><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></p><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><b><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Q: How
did you find the writing process collaborating with Dr Charlotte Birkmanis on
this story? </span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></p><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A: I have collaborated with other
authors in the past, but this is the first time I've collaborated with a
scientist. We respected each other's suggestions and contributions and created
a wonderful result out of Art + Science.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></span></p><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><b><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Q: What
is special about <i>Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping </i>when compared
to your other projects? </span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></p><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A: What made this project was the
amazing enthusiastic collaboration that came from four people, myself,
Charlotte, Carla the illustrator and David the publisher. We communicated and
collaborated from the beginning to the end, we were involved in every aspect. Also,
I learnt a lot about what goes on under the sea!<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></span></p><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><b><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Q: How
was the name ‘Lulu’ decided and is there any special meaning behind it? </span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></p><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A: We named her Lulu because the name means “precious”, “peaceful”,
“protected”, and “calm”.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span></span></p><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><b><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Q: What
is your favourite aspect about being an author of children’s books? </span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></p><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A: I love the feeling of sparking
a child's imagination, that my words and story bring them joy and how my gift
can inspire new worlds to open up — to take them away on a journey even if it's
only for a few minutes.<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
</span></span></p><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><b><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Q: What
do you consider the most important achievement as a writer that you have made
in your lifetime? </span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></p><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">A: My most important contribution to the world are
my resources on Autism. I have over 30 resources published internationally on
the topic and they have assisted people all over the world
including Autistic persons, their families, and educators.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXGYbp_3fPgOSM22w8uEmsIK1XGu8BTW8silY2oYsG5tbbBH8SYpQDjOOb63FJ_AYPOjzBHQAaGR6BwEzPEgS20ScYxgUXEw_kRVa37mjq_9y07ATZggGAQVmyWIEScaBbGk8JwmsOdpR4tWN0FEyUzo3URg59akfQvGHS8yKBxTm800XKop3Qx1EQkw/s406/Lulu_Cov.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="406" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXGYbp_3fPgOSM22w8uEmsIK1XGu8BTW8silY2oYsG5tbbBH8SYpQDjOOb63FJ_AYPOjzBHQAaGR6BwEzPEgS20ScYxgUXEw_kRVa37mjq_9y07ATZggGAQVmyWIEScaBbGk8JwmsOdpR4tWN0FEyUzo3URg59akfQvGHS8yKBxTm800XKop3Qx1EQkw/w165-h162/Lulu_Cov.jpg" width="165" /></a></div><p></p><h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><br /></span></h3><h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3cYXAkd" target="_blank">Click to buy your own copy of <i>Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping</i></a><i> </i></span></span></h3><h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3VUQGPh" target="_blank">Click here to watch the book launch of </a><i><a href="https://bit.ly/3VUQGPh" target="_blank">Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping </a></i><a href="https://bit.ly/3VUQGPh" target="_blank">now!</a> </span></span></h3><div><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></span></div>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-24508609688168369292023-01-23T16:34:00.005-08:002023-03-20T17:58:33.804-07:00Carla Hoffenberg's Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping - Q&A<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixKlNsRBfuFexiqVNmjtvZcKZR9UX6B-q8FTgAaqzQWoMkFwaSRzkjsWaYU14rLy3-3eovUwiZSPFJXlX6ucCYaClvFdoVcNaGvnfLI41vRP7B8clURAENzrL6dccL18y2jfsWq4vVRdsvUu9aOybTCVa7W9hNGsWA0XQeT7cVBZSdJ72EZ2W_-73VPA/s1873/lulu.png" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="1873" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixKlNsRBfuFexiqVNmjtvZcKZR9UX6B-q8FTgAaqzQWoMkFwaSRzkjsWaYU14rLy3-3eovUwiZSPFJXlX6ucCYaClvFdoVcNaGvnfLI41vRP7B8clURAENzrL6dccL18y2jfsWq4vVRdsvUu9aOybTCVa7W9hNGsWA0XQeT7cVBZSdJ72EZ2W_-73VPA/w400-h199/lulu.png" width="400" /></span></a></div><p class="MsoNormal ContentPasted0" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal ContentPasted0" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">We wanted to dive in deep with children’s picture book illustrator Carla Hoffenberg and learn more about her behind the scenes journey with <a href="https://bit.ly/3vdo87D" target="_blank"><i>Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping</i></a>… here is what she shared.<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><b class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: Since this was your debut children’s book how did you find this experience and were there any new or surprising challenges to overcome?<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A:</span><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">I loved the experience of making on <i class="ContentPasted0">Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping. </i>It was great working with David, Josie, and Charlotte. It was a real collaborative process, which made it all so enjoyable. We had regular catch ups and I loved hearing their feedback and suggestions. I also really loved drawing sea creatures and doing research — watching clips of sea animals, looking at images of remarkable marine life and snorkelling.</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">The illustrations took a few months and it really felt like a test of endurance!</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">I had to be disciplined with my time and make sure that I progressed within the schedule to meet my deadline. In addition, there were so many scenes and characters and I had to be consistent with my style and quality.</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>Q: Which page or spread in </b><i class="ContentPasted0"><b>Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping</b></i><b> are you most proud of and why?</b><o:p class="ContentPasted0" style="font-weight: bold;"> </o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: <span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I am most proud of the ‘Octopus Spread’. I feel like it demonstrates the most storytelling and I came up with a side story for this spread. (Crab thinks that Octopus has invited him for a romantic dinner. He doesn’t realise that he <i class="ContentPasted0">is</i> dinner.) I also particularly love drawing sunsets and this spread gave me the opportunity to do that. I introduced a shimmering, sparkling, sequenced dress, which was really fun to draw.<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> <br /><br /></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ZlnYOC2sS--OWlYxxwz-kBl1XwFjZUzbFSm70ox2fAUMTtaITHvxWeR6Mj0CmVAUaZezq1guvEB7BmmbW-f0ElgvcQ9Pi4snvkWZJCeb3lRHqdUWTPx28b2-u6BXXqyu1L1ehegcKtnVWlEHC-xs-bNT-9T61NMEV9lyzSQwEtKSHNznbSBXSj2gjw/s6125/04_And_05_Lulu_Octopus_CMYKpsd.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3063" data-original-width="6125" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ZlnYOC2sS--OWlYxxwz-kBl1XwFjZUzbFSm70ox2fAUMTtaITHvxWeR6Mj0CmVAUaZezq1guvEB7BmmbW-f0ElgvcQ9Pi4snvkWZJCeb3lRHqdUWTPx28b2-u6BXXqyu1L1ehegcKtnVWlEHC-xs-bNT-9T61NMEV9lyzSQwEtKSHNznbSBXSj2gjw/s320/04_And_05_Lulu_Octopus_CMYKpsd.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><b class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: As animals have been an occurring theme in your body of work; for this project, what was your favourite animal to illustrate?<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: <span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">Firstly, I loved drawing Lulu and her parents. I was excited to not portray a shark stereotype, but rather portray them as a friendly, endearing species. There is so much to love about sharks, and I wanted that to shine through in my illustrations.</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p><p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">The ‘Mini Mantis Shrimp’ was a close second. I don’t normally think of crustaceans as attractive, but this spread changed my mind.</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">This animal is colourful and charismatic, and I learnt the lesson that, if you really look, you can find beauty in anything.</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span color="inherit" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><b class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: Can you elaborate on your design process for this story and the tools that you used?<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: <span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">The most important part of the process was the initial, sketching phase. This really helped me to get to know the animals and get a sense for how to represent them. I did countless sketches of each creature that appears in the book to get</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">familiar with their anatomy and how they move. This allowed me to consider how to show them doing different actions, with varied expressions.</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p><p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU-o52zywiSiSFUqr_PoiPpL6hqwLK2-euNcLVRbzz40-CD6IG3iuDDWvD2lvR9POkXW5IYJowxTDU9b21FvJNJKVq4mAvDjKSbhOwW4PNbZlBnSeXm6Md016iZ_-WUPg0MKkXx8VRsrPMpeXvesGCjT6dOmhKyCtAC6gub7iP-V_SvmkVGu_jDXJyYQ/s2409/Image.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2409" data-original-width="2409" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU-o52zywiSiSFUqr_PoiPpL6hqwLK2-euNcLVRbzz40-CD6IG3iuDDWvD2lvR9POkXW5IYJowxTDU9b21FvJNJKVq4mAvDjKSbhOwW4PNbZlBnSeXm6Md016iZ_-WUPg0MKkXx8VRsrPMpeXvesGCjT6dOmhKyCtAC6gub7iP-V_SvmkVGu_jDXJyYQ/w320-h320/Image.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">After this phase, I was able to place my characters in thumbnails and think about the storytelling aspects as well as composition.</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">The next step was formalising the illustrations and creating line drawings.</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">This is generally the most painstaking for me as it requires a lot of concentration and “precision”.</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyLg6vYvIsp05GN7IGIIpjYS2pRmUsHRVnv_j6wSHw9l2bbsn638w7Ba6tW2vHerdzBlm1yB0YAsCXGRrossTjMOP1B-54TTdnykZCBrdtdavda9InWHk4B6hobdJPFIlhQ3hh5KtUKkBnm5Ga3qyooHMbnJQU-BOutHKm8jRp_R1YpF8xEOalwiadg/s3508/Image%20(1).jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2480" data-original-width="3508" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyLg6vYvIsp05GN7IGIIpjYS2pRmUsHRVnv_j6wSHw9l2bbsn638w7Ba6tW2vHerdzBlm1yB0YAsCXGRrossTjMOP1B-54TTdnykZCBrdtdavda9InWHk4B6hobdJPFIlhQ3hh5KtUKkBnm5Ga3qyooHMbnJQU-BOutHKm8jRp_R1YpF8xEOalwiadg/w400-h283/Image%20(1).jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">Once everyone was happy with the line drawings, I moved on to what I consider the most fun part – adding colour to the spreads. This is the stage where I add life, details, elements of joy storytelling and some Easter eggs.</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlfuu_N9RwzlNFDv3X08CBezjSUDZ_ij6k91JRYvELpq9gewXJv409MvV4RZtL2jzR2J1ZKkS-NlNRFWJgFoUpbFhysjMpaUMetr0bbleDXVRsXGvY1asQvepsRrEw-Atl36W24dnsf5Q2_ecWZfs8lw0NhnMOOnwVUf5wMyx8AWuDlWGDx36w8xsMUg/s3024/Image%20(4).jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlfuu_N9RwzlNFDv3X08CBezjSUDZ_ij6k91JRYvELpq9gewXJv409MvV4RZtL2jzR2J1ZKkS-NlNRFWJgFoUpbFhysjMpaUMetr0bbleDXVRsXGvY1asQvepsRrEw-Atl36W24dnsf5Q2_ecWZfs8lw0NhnMOOnwVUf5wMyx8AWuDlWGDx36w8xsMUg/s320/Image%20(4).jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">I used the app procreate for the illustrations. I find it easy to use and it allows me to maximise my drawing time. I stole every free minute that I could to illustrate this book – sometimes even the 10 minutes that I had in the car while waiting to pick up my kids. Also, there’s no set up or clean up time!</span></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhduGiSe7nRfqlm2VossB4Nzn5H13x7IPUBGDVCoVyBEG4xZH5CVToixy1w_dcn_dBdEiWbqCfGhqW1o0PjOFjKGvXbZxtHGDl-CQnvwOcClRacyLX40GIdZkVIZyKLh6lXNqQhSXWypTUr7yFHiPK8VzH9zJxi7vqT8S-pQPfyhYtzxK8jDTzgDUwnNg/s6125/Image%20(3).jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3063" data-original-width="6125" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhduGiSe7nRfqlm2VossB4Nzn5H13x7IPUBGDVCoVyBEG4xZH5CVToixy1w_dcn_dBdEiWbqCfGhqW1o0PjOFjKGvXbZxtHGDl-CQnvwOcClRacyLX40GIdZkVIZyKLh6lXNqQhSXWypTUr7yFHiPK8VzH9zJxi7vqT8S-pQPfyhYtzxK8jDTzgDUwnNg/w400-h200/Image%20(3).jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><b class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Q: How did the artistic decision to have the sea creatures dressed in colourful outfits develop and is there meaning behind it?<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A: <span class="ContentPasted0" color="inherit" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">The first spread I did was the Sperm Whales wearing PJs (even before the thumbnails). The suggestion to have them wearing PJs came from the authors. I fell in love with the idea of the animals wearing clothes, and it immediately conjured up images in my head. It was so much fun putting clothes on the whales that I just had to do it for all of them. I find that putting clothes on animals really helps them become more relatable to kids, and it was fun for me to add clothes and accessories to enhance their personalities. Also, it would’ve been a little bit inconsistent, if only the Sperm Whales were clothed. </span><o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p><p class="xp2" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 0px none; font-family: times; font-size: medium; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">At one of my recent school visits,</span></span><span class="xapple-converted-space" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">one of the kids said, “They have to be wearing clothes, because you wouldn’t want them to be naked in a kid’s book.”<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><br /></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><br /></o:p></span></span></span></p><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDuvLqt4NfSaZ8eO9sR1ugXPXVDZhX-MLMulQsDaepmQVlYxL4Rk1g2d2lwUNyW-lnvw0s6p-WfjaL2ZXXBsUSvNou69Lxa0XUiTEPYbdq7LuJZNJ88PfkeL88oyjoyknyRzkwzCHuoXULxb2zmVreVaBRjCy6kj6PW7L7I9upZUAx0SGXDnb3U5wIiQ/s1818/Image%20(2).jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1818" data-original-width="1818" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDuvLqt4NfSaZ8eO9sR1ugXPXVDZhX-MLMulQsDaepmQVlYxL4Rk1g2d2lwUNyW-lnvw0s6p-WfjaL2ZXXBsUSvNou69Lxa0XUiTEPYbdq7LuJZNJ88PfkeL88oyjoyknyRzkwzCHuoXULxb2zmVreVaBRjCy6kj6PW7L7I9upZUAx0SGXDnb3U5wIiQ/w400-h400/Image%20(2).jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sketches of Shark Lulu</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><p class="xp1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><br /></o:p></span></span></p><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><br /><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3cYXAkd" style="font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" target="_blank"><span style="font-style: inherit;">Click here to get your copy of </span><i>Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping<br /></i></a><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><i> <br /></i></o:p></span></span></span><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><a href="https://bit.ly/3VUQGPh" target="_blank">Click here to watch the book launch of </a><i><a href="https://bit.ly/3VUQGPh" target="_blank">Little Shark Lulu is Sleeping </a></i><a href="https://bit.ly/3VUQGPh" target="_blank">now!</a> </o:p></span></span></span></span></p></o:p></span></span></span></h3><div><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span class="xs1" color="inherit" style="border: 0px none; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></div>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-90744207300686823292023-01-23T16:25:00.001-08:002023-03-20T18:00:27.117-07:00Dr Kate Dolan's Beating Drug Addiction in Tehran: A Women's Clinic - Q&A<p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzuqXK34SviFXKdW0TFmzqUy5IdAnSUzo7RkDRg3netFKYRd16u_O4yHU3rFMd0LQzJpNHSvpPmZOlvziCu8atYQZ3gPh62BK1rHQOKydvsPDJvPc_cM4IjTINS0u72XduZBGafkjwsgNiq5SlUHrPJEIVZxQk4DKXbbeRIxNOI8yHSd6xdM5qeDddxw/s1448/kate%20dolan.png" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1091" data-original-width="1448" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzuqXK34SviFXKdW0TFmzqUy5IdAnSUzo7RkDRg3netFKYRd16u_O4yHU3rFMd0LQzJpNHSvpPmZOlvziCu8atYQZ3gPh62BK1rHQOKydvsPDJvPc_cM4IjTINS0u72XduZBGafkjwsgNiq5SlUHrPJEIVZxQk4DKXbbeRIxNOI8yHSd6xdM5qeDddxw/s320/kate%20dolan.png" width="320" /></a><b style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> </b></p><p class="MsoNormal ContentPasted0" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal ContentPasted0" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Author and first place winner of the CIBA award for Journalistic Non-Fiction 2021 Dr. Kate Dolan, shows readers a unique and valuable insight in her book <a href="https://bit.ly/34r3UKu" target="_blank"><i>Beating Drug Addiction in Tehran: A Women's Clinic</i></a>. We had the opportunity to interview her and find out more regarding the topics addressed in this award-winning publication. <b> </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><b>Q: Since writing this book, how has it changed your life and the lives of Iranian women affected by the drug crisis?<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></b></span></span></p><p class="contentpasted1 ContentPasted0" style="margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A: <span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">I became more aware of how the Iranians respond to drug use problems. I was visiting the UN office in Tehran, and I mentioned how many women who used drugs were at the local pool. The UN lady said they are everywhere. So, I guess I became more attuned to prevalence of drug use among women and their willingness to venture out.</span><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> </span></o:p></span><span class="ContentPasted0"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br /><span><b>Q: </b></span></span><b>What can readers do if they wish to be more involved in creating change in Iran?</b><o:p class="ContentPasted0" style="font-weight: bold;"> </o:p></span></span></p><p class="contentpasted1 ContentPasted0" style="margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A: <span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">People can help if they stay informed about the current affairs in the country. Look for avenues to help either through donations or sharing the news. We can also talk to our local MPs and express our concern about the violence occurring there and push our government to take action. </span><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> </span></o:p></span><span class="ContentPasted0"><br /><br /><b>Q: What is the best advice that you have heard to help those suffering from addiction?</b><o:p class="ContentPasted0" style="font-weight: bold;"> </o:p></span><span> </span></span></p><p class="contentpasted1 ContentPasted0" style="margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A: <span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">In order to help people who have an addiction we need to meet them where they are. This means we must avoid trying to impose our wishes on them – “stop using or else!”. Rather accept that addiction is a long-term condition and people often relapse. Self-help support groups are useful for the person and their family.</span><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> </span></o:p></span><span class="ContentPasted0"><br /><br /><b>Q: Can you elaborate on the larger issues involved with being a woman providing advice within a culture where males dominate?</b><o:p class="ContentPasted0" style="font-weight: bold;"> </o:p></span></span></p><p class="contentpasted1 ContentPasted0" style="margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A: <span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">The male director of the centre where we placed our clinic said to me “there is no point in having a lawyer to help the women because the law favours the man”. So, one needs to work within the law, but I did find some women were able to bend the rules.</span><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> </span></o:p></span><span class="ContentPasted0"><br /><br /><b>Q: What lessons have you learned from the Iranian experience that could be applied to rehab programs in Australia?</b><o:p class="ContentPasted0" style="font-weight: bold;"> </o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal ContentPasted0" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A: <span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Iran has several programs that we could use in Australian but don’t. They provided opium tincture. This is an opiate substitute that is more appealing than opioids such as methadone. <o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></span></p><p class="contentpasted1" style="margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">They also had several prisons where they provided needle and syringe programs. Unfo</span><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">rtunately, the research on these was faulty and they were ceased. We do not have such a program. <o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span><b class="ContentPasted0"><br /><br />Q: Do you believe drug use in Iran is stigmatised to a greater or lesser degree than it is here in Australia?<o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal ContentPasted0" style="margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: medium;">A: That’s a hard one. In Iran I tended to mix with people who were familiar with drugs and users and so saw little stigma. I don’t have a fair opinion of the general person in Iran. <o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal ContentPasted0" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><br /></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal ContentPasted0" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaNr4fyA7Eod9ocfByXc5LtrbefVyzoLfSOwHkp9HS5JPlDbKHxuTt1zYoT2xhamdJCLN-NHkB7mwNeT8mkqUSRR5P2bCZ6kx2xWd-UU8fTbgB4lErlyrlZjKcnbozs2j7Pu5LMUEyjeh4wmbdEZK_5V0XIVJH38g2OpXaew1NHFgsM6-tOidb0h-IyA/s327/nellie-bly%20firstplace-small.jpg" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="273" height="190" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaNr4fyA7Eod9ocfByXc5LtrbefVyzoLfSOwHkp9HS5JPlDbKHxuTt1zYoT2xhamdJCLN-NHkB7mwNeT8mkqUSRR5P2bCZ6kx2xWd-UU8fTbgB4lErlyrlZjKcnbozs2j7Pu5LMUEyjeh4wmbdEZK_5V0XIVJH38g2OpXaew1NHFgsM6-tOidb0h-IyA/w159-h190/nellie-bly%20firstplace-small.jpg" width="159" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal ContentPasted0" style="font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="margin: 0cm; text-align: center;"><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><a href="https://bit.ly/2NLSsDD" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: times; font-size: large;">Click here to get your copy of <i>Beating Drug Addiction in Tehran: A Women's Clinic</i></span></a></o:p></h3><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-69796813534992874532023-01-23T16:24:00.003-08:002023-03-20T18:20:32.374-07:00Constantine & Simone Pakavakis' Earthrunner and the War of Water - Q&A<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyXy3oZo_Yhjny-dKBYLL0X3X1xxQoXxWMAfexIjPLmTCPm5G0os7HtD5qz_aaMBFVlLFG0_m8JseXOrFdIQXWUT5lirRdpzSKNi_qvcSl3eSTh7K1DbanK2oEmkpAOv3fq5Hgc5RnjN1X-nPDVZPCm7lTnrKhok-5Hdm2DFFM95NMwzcdHibYPTYclQ/s2000/_2%20Earthrunner%20blog%20crop.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1059" data-original-width="2000" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyXy3oZo_Yhjny-dKBYLL0X3X1xxQoXxWMAfexIjPLmTCPm5G0os7HtD5qz_aaMBFVlLFG0_m8JseXOrFdIQXWUT5lirRdpzSKNi_qvcSl3eSTh7K1DbanK2oEmkpAOv3fq5Hgc5RnjN1X-nPDVZPCm7lTnrKhok-5Hdm2DFFM95NMwzcdHibYPTYclQ/w400-h211/_2%20Earthrunner%20blog%20crop.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div></div></div><br /><br /><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">Co-authors and father daughter duo Constantine Pakavakis and Simone Pakavakis created <i><a href="https://ipoz.biz/portfolio-single/earthrunner-and-the-war-of-water/" target="_blank">Earthrunner and the War of Water</a></i>, a great entwining and thought-provoking story of family, war, peace and resolve. How did they do it you may ask? And what were the ups and downs of collaborative composition? Fear not, we asked for you! <br /><br /></span></p></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q: Was it a difficult process to
distribute the writing of <i>Earthrunner </i>between each
other? </span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></b></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><b><i>Con:</i></b></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">It was quite an organic process that seemed to go
through different phases as needed. </span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">At the very start we discussed ideas of what could
happen and gradually built a backbone to the story. It was pretty clear from
the outset that we would build it around the idea of twins as we didn’t want
the story to have a stereotypical appeal limiting it to only boys or girls. We
wanted it to be realistic as possible and so having different writers for Leeta
and Patish would help give their personalities more individuality. </span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Yet there were times when we called on each other
for joint drafting, which seemed to work well too. We would often finish each
other’s sentences or revise a sentence in a more engaging way. It was always
about the best writing, not who wrote it. So, really, there were three authors,
Simone, Con, and Simone & Con combined. <br /></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><b><i>Simone:</i></b></span><span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Splitting our novel between our twin characters,
Leeta and Patish, made distribution a natural process, particularly after we’d
created a structure of the story and key events for each chapter. We had
different times and systems for our writing; Dad would often get up early in
the morning before work and dedicate himself to a chapter, whereas I preferred
to write sporadically during the day and sometimes into the night. At intervals, we’d come together to edit, rewrite and polish different sections. </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">One time, </span><span>I remember writing the dialogue
between Leeta and Anula as if they were 21<sup>st</sup> century teenagers; lots
of ‘oh my gods’— probably the way I was talking as a fifteen-year-old
myself. Dad not so gently highlighted my five pages of writing, days and days
of work, and said, ‘um, this won’t work for ancient India, Simone’ and told me
to start again. My teenage writing ego was crushed many times over, but for it,
the better writer I became.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q: Where is your favourite place to sit
and write? </span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></b></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><b><i>Con:</i></b></span><span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
This story was written in so many places…at home on the couch if we were
writing together, at the State Library Victoria, on holidays at Daylesford,
Lorne or Byron Bay, at Byron Bay library, at Mr Tulk Café at SLV, at our
friends’ property at Malmsbury, the Botanical Gardens, and even while
holidaying in Paris and Crete. I guess the single most used place was when I
wrote intensely for a year getting up at 5am every morning to write for an hour
before work, sitting on the living room couch with a cup of black tea as dawn
broke. In the silence, and before the day’s activities began, I would read back
over the last few pages to help me re-enter the land of Gandhara, 330 BC, and
allow the story to write itself.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><b><i>Simone:</i></b></span><span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
<i>Earthrunner </i>was written with Dad in so many places and especially during
so many summers on school holidays, but, most memorably, together on the couch
at our home in Richmond with our toy spoodle, Alby. Alby often would often
sleep in an awkward position alongside — or on top! — of us on the couch as we
wrote, circling his body between our two laptops. His gentle snores would often
ease any editing tension as we debated the placement of a full stop or the best
direction for a paragraph. When writing alone, I adore the bustle of a café or
the gentle hum of a library. There’s something soothing about the happy
chatting of voices and the wafting smell of caffeine, and I love noting others
as they carefully study their own projects; there’s something inspiring about
surrounding yourself with other creatives.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q: What is the major message and
takeaway you wish to give to readers of the <i>Earthrunner</i>? </span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></b></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><b><i>Con:</i></b></span><span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
You are never alone or helpless. Whether it’s a personal matter like being
teased or bullied, or a global issue like climate change or war, use whatever
agency you have to solve the problem in a peaceful way. Ask questions, get
help, collaborate, you do not have to face it alone. And trust the wisdom in
your heart.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><b><i>Simone:</i></b></span><span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
Young people have the agency to make positive, peaceful changes on a local or
global scale in the world. Find your voice and, with others, discover how
you’re going to use it. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q: Would you or have you ever
considered making <i>Earthrunner </i>a series? </span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></b></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><b><i>Con & Simone:</i></b></span><span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
Yes, from early on, once we decided on the setting of ancient India, we wanted
to highlight the concept of Ahimsa or non-violence that has such a strong influence
in the culture and philosophies existing in the Northwest of India at the time
of the arrival of Alexander the Great. Most historians and novelists have
concentrated on the personality of Alexander and the strategies he employed in
his conquests, but there are great, little known stories about the Indian
population and their perspectives that we want to highlight. And these stories
are important historical examples of how war was averted, stories of
non-violence that need to be known. War is often claimed to be inevitable by
the rulers or politicians who have their own motives for going to war at the
expense of the common people who are the ones who will die or be maimed or lose
loved ones. So, the story of how the people in the kingdom of Gandhara made a
decision to avert a war with Alexander deserves to be examined more broadly
than it is.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q: After this experience can you
imagine working as co-authors once more for future projects? </span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></b></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><i><b>Con:</b></i></span><span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
Absolutely. Of course, it will be different as our living conditions,
availability of time, knowledge and skills are continually changing, but we
know we respect each other’s ability to cooperate and trust in each other’s
creativity, honesty, and reliability.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><i><b>Simone:</b></i></span><span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
Definitely. Our lives have changed a lot since when we worked on <i>Earthrunner
</i>– I was a primary and high school student, and now I’m a teacher myself! —
but we have grown significantly as co-authors in writing our first novel
together and doubtlessly would be able to use these newfound skills for a
future project. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Q: If you were to meet Patish and Leeta
in real life, what advice would you give them? </span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></b></span></p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">
</span><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><i><b>Con:</b></i></span><span><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
I met them while writing and said “I’m glad you didn’t listen to me and
followed your own hearts. Oh, and your Way of Peace sounds pretty cool. I wish
I had known that stuff when I was your age.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: black; font-family: times; font-size: medium; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><b>Simone:</b></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"><span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
</span><span>I think I’d begin by
congratulating Leeta and Patish. In <i>Earthrunner, </i>the courage they found
to follow their inner voices, and stand up for those they cared about, was
brilliant.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;">I’d encourage them to continue demonstrating this courage in all
aspects of their lives. In addition, I’d remind them to let the other Shaktin
kids know about the monkeys down at the mangoes. Saving cheeky monkeys instead
of throwing stones at them might just have unexpected value…</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3BcgAnT" target="_blank">Click here to get your copy of <i>Earthrunner </i>now!</a> </span></h3><h3 class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://youtu.be/BVJ8oAPo6G4" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Click here to watch <i>Earthrunner's</i> book launch!</span></a><br /></span></h3><div><br /></div>
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{page:WordSection1;}</style></p>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-86752297840011248412022-12-14T18:04:00.000-08:002022-12-14T18:04:18.655-08:00Jeremy Roberts' The Dark Cracks of Kemang - Q&A<div style="border: 0px; color: #242424; font-family: "Segoe UI", "Segoe UI Web (West European)", "Segoe UI", -apple-system, "system-ui", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: 15px; text-align: center;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ebe0c9; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 1pt none windowtext; font: inherit; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQe499H2S8MtWDlq4vnrGItUqzOWISJ1UCAwKjw_mh7oSkAYGiK10LXUlOK74lc2HPwDqZynKLe3Cp-UBvp1BdgqSitLKHeQisQ8MZIZBhf9nhFysidtN-iMVQAdu9Uj76Bk6-MVor66fKPIJMgNWWCe7Op4h4oqRXhtEl_BxZuJAqsU9CS8IC4RPHg/s1280/jeremy%20Large.jpeg" style="background-color: transparent; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="975" data-original-width="1280" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxQe499H2S8MtWDlq4vnrGItUqzOWISJ1UCAwKjw_mh7oSkAYGiK10LXUlOK74lc2HPwDqZynKLe3Cp-UBvp1BdgqSitLKHeQisQ8MZIZBhf9nhFysidtN-iMVQAdu9Uj76Bk6-MVor66fKPIJMgNWWCe7Op4h4oqRXhtEl_BxZuJAqsU9CS8IC4RPHg/s320/jeremy%20Large.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #ebe0c9; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; background: rgb(235, 224, 201); border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-style: inherit;">Come journey with us as we interview and discover more about Jeremy Roberts, the avid performance poet, traveller, and the author behind </span><o:p class="ContentPasted0"><a href="https://bit.ly/3Q3RQnh" target="_blank"><i>The Dark Cracks of Kemang</i></a><span style="font-style: inherit;">.</span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><b>Q: What was the most surprising difference you found between writing poetry and writing </b><i class="ContentPasted0"><b>The Dark Cracks of Kemang, </b></i><b>a full-fledged memoir? </b></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm 0cm 0cm 18pt;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">A: The original intention was to construct a text halfway between prose and poetry, but I soon decided that the story – the narrative – demanded an accessible, highly readable, approach. The poems could be appended to the prose. I found that writing such a large volume of prose was, for me, just as challenging as writing poems. Just as lines in a poem go through many rewrites, so, too, did the paragraphs of <i class="ContentPasted0">Dark Cracks. </i>I wanted to get the tone exactly right.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="xgmail-msolistparagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: Do you have a certain chapter/memory that was the most enjoyable for you to write and relive? </span></b><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></b></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">A: I’d rather say that the whole year – 2013 – was an enjoyable time to revisit, but that is avoiding the question. I suppose that this book might not exist, were it not for the formation of The Bajaj Boys, so I’ll say that recreating the gigs – the poems, music, dialogue, and camaraderie, were the most fun. I like how each of the gigs was unique and moved us a little further along the performance spectrum. I’ll also say that writing the guide to the Indonesian dating scene was highly enjoyable.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="xgmail-msolistparagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: What advice would you give future expats who are travelling to Indonesia that you wish someone had told you? <o:p class="ContentPasted0"> </o:p></span></b></p><p class="xgmail-msolistparagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="xgmail-msolistparagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">A: OPEN your mind, relax, and float downstream. Try to learn Bahasa Indonesia, too.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="xgmail-msolistparagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="xgmail-msolistparagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: Any prospects for <i class="ContentPasted0">The Bajaj Boys</i> to come together for a live concert for New Zealand or Australian audiences? </span></b><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></b></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">A: A live concert? It’s only a plane ticket away! Would it be a free gig? Derek might want a Scotch; I’ll take a zero beer. A couple of slices of cheesecake or banana splits (see book) would probably seal the deal.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p class="xgmail-msolistparagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: If you could add an opening soundtrack to your book, what song would you pick? </span></b><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></b></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">A: '</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZWB0VF2vDI" target="_blank">Strange Days</a>' by The Doors.</span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="xgmail-msolistparagraph" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><b><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">Q: As poetry is a big factor in this book, what in particular draws you to the art and what poem in <i class="ContentPasted0">The Dark Cracks of Kemang </i>do you wish more people knew about? </span></b><b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></b></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">A: Writing poems is the best form of creative self-expression I know – or can do. Even though I am quite public about my commitment to poetry, it still feels like I belong to a secret society. (The number of people who <i class="ContentPasted0">actively </i>engage with this ancient art is, by my estimation, 1-in-1000 in some locations and 1-in-5000 people in other locations.) The idea of a muse – an inspirational goddess, as defined by the Greeks, is addictive, and she sometimes delivers! I like spending time with pen and paper to find out how you exactly<i class="ContentPasted0"> </i>feel about something or somebody. The challenge – in the 2020s – is to be free and write about what you really want to, in a <i class="ContentPasted0">way</i> that you <i class="ContentPasted0">really</i> want to – and not be trumped or corralled by contemporary ideology or social values. Reading poems by others remains a pleasure and this also motivates me. Live poetry readings – in which I am heavily involved – is now possibly more important than printed-on-the-page poetry, which is a remarkable turn-around. I want to make more musical recordings of my poems (including as The Bajaj Boys), which also pushes me forward. And of course, I’d like to publish more poems.</span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Q: Is there a poem from <i class="ContentPasted0">Dark Cracks </i>that I would love more people to know about? </b></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit;"><span class="ContentPasted0" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;">A: All of ‘em! – is the poet’s honest answer. But since you asked, I will say the five-part Bali poem. It’s a circular, <i class="ContentPasted0">micro</i> philosophical novel!</span><span class="ContentPasted0" style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></p><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9;"><br /></span></span></h3><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3Biaxyn" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: #ebe0c9; font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: inherit;">Click here to get your copy of </span><i>The Dark Cracks of Kemang</i></span></a></span></h3><h3 style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; margin: 0cm; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLicu50m-Ng" style="background-color: #ebe0c9;" target="_blank">Click here to watch <i>The Dark Cracks of Kemang</i> book trailer</a></span></h3><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p class="xmsonormal" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p class="xmsonormal" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; margin: 0cm;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-style: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></p></div>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-22623242586216192192021-10-17T20:15:00.007-07:002021-10-17T21:32:35.331-07:00Richard James Allen's More Lies - Q&A <p> <b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1c5JU0DB_e9i0dFE1HG1tBHbZi4fyScvkTFzldStSXkOmJNNpvhNRnLommtARzIXdODXKE8HtJgNELPAxFc2433Jmz8w731jTVQNuJA4Ah1hdmEGIOq5OSJe3LN4Ks0N8lP-osFsFJqXj/s2000/More+Lies+%25282%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1c5JU0DB_e9i0dFE1HG1tBHbZi4fyScvkTFzldStSXkOmJNNpvhNRnLommtARzIXdODXKE8HtJgNELPAxFc2433Jmz8w731jTVQNuJA4Ah1hdmEGIOq5OSJe3LN4Ks0N8lP-osFsFJqXj/w400-h320/More+Lies+%25282%2529.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><b><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxiwvpAd_Vus1mHk4Yn551TEQVsmVfgwLi_aur4C_YJbU5jJd0tCOmZvuvVoFpGwI44_NTQYwEOgKiByDjB-yaQJ5zz4gEIWh2cmmZW1SCz4sLsgnkbVl4u18d0SzgwFWsNBwo8-w1FZrr/s2000/More+Lies+.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><br /></a></b></div>After travelling down such a long road to finally finishing <a href="https://bit.ly/2TAOQqR"><i>More Lies</i></a>, we wanted to pick Richard James Allen's brain. So we interviewed him...<p></p><p><br /><b></b></p><p><b>Q: Give us a snapshot of your writing process </b></p><p><i>More Lies</i> was inspired by living the life of an artist in an East Village tenement walk-up in New York City in the 1980s. Living from gig to gig, as a dancer, and having published two volumes of rather experimental poetry back home in Australia, I set out to write an income-generating page-turner in an in-your-face cocktail of pulp fiction and performance poetry that, at one point, I called 'verse noir'. I hoped it might become a cult hit, sort of a cross between <i>Howl</i> (by an author I had met) and <i>The Catcher in the Rye</i> (by an author no one had met), and so dedicated the book, in a cheekily ironic spirit, <i>'for Money'</i>. I never guessed that it would have the longest road of any of my works to publication. And on that long and winding road, with no end in sight for many years, were many transformations, which I now see as hard-won blessings. <b> </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Q: You mention that you never guessed thi would have been the longest road in any of your works to publication... roughly just how lonf did <i>More Lies</i> take to finally come to publishing? </b></p><p>A: Actually, Interactive Press' publisher, Dr David Reiter, hinted at the answer to this question himself in his witty description of the 'Zoom Launch of <i>More Lies</i> by Richard James Allen' on YouTube: "This novel...took Richard as long as Moses wandering in the wilderness. Whether Richard reaches his Promised Land is up to you, the viewers." <b></b></p><p>Here's a link to the edited highlights video, which includes an acrobatic feat of balancing truth and lies launch speech by David Adés, and me having a go at juggling the slippery words of a slippery narrator in my mouth:</p><h3 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://bit.ly/2YJPEwH">ZOOM Launch of More Lies by Richard James Allen <br /><br /></a></h3><p><b>Q: What inspired you to combine thriller and comedy in the way you did? </b></p><p>A: While it would be impossible to trace all the roots of <i>More Lies</i>, one place to dig would be in Dada and the Theatre of the Absurd, accidentally planted into the soil of <i>The Maltese Falcon</i> and <i>The Big Sleep</i>. <b> </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Q: How did you come up with the storyline?</b></p><p>A: This book wrote itself. It literally exploded into life. My job was just to pick up the pieces.</p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p><b>Q: An author, a femme fatale and her brother with big ambitions, were any of the characteres based on people you know or had heard of? </b></p><p>A: A bit like <i>Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead</i>, the characters in <i>More Lies</i> are travelling players in a Barthesian verbal carnival; a textual, visual and aural spectacle that exists in teh shared minds of the readers and viewers of a thousand and one old books and movies. <b> </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Q: Like the protagonist in <i>More Lies</i>, do you find storytelling keeps you alive in more ways than as an author? (How does being an author serve you other than as a job?) </b></p><p>A: Creativity keeps me alive. But this book almost <b>killed</b> me. <b> </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Q: Is there anything you took out of this book or if you were to write it again, would you change or add anything? </b></p><p>A: As is traced in the <i>'Acknowledgements',</i> and alluded to above, the history of the development of <i>More Lies</i> was a very long one. So no, no, no, no, thank you. </p><p><b> <br /></b></p><p><b>Q: Any advice for the reader? </b></p><p>A: <i>More lies </i>is a fast book that should be read slowly, at least the second time around. <b> </b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Q: Your last book, <i>The Short Story of You and I, </i>is dedicated to the reader, and reviewers have commented on its warmth and inclusivity. Interestingly, <i>More Lies</i> uses direct addres to draw the reader into its story, not just as an observer, but as a participant. And yet the overall tone is more confrontational. Can you comment on that? </b></p><p>A: <i>More Lies</i> is syncopated and playful, a bit like bebop jazz. It asks you to engage, but puts you off your centre. It is also a little bit brazen, like a layer cake that blows up in your face. But don't take it too seriously. It's only words and feelings. </p><p>That said, now that it's finaly found its way out into the world, amidst COVID lockdowns and an international pandemic of mendacity, <i>More Lies</i> almost feels like a wakeup call that is oddly relevant today. </p><p> </p><p><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer4134722121"></span></p><blockquote style="text-align: left;"><span id="freeText7357873429264123377">“A wonderfully warped journey into one man’s unravelling psyche, and a joyous celebration of the necessity of story.”<br />- James Bradley, author of 'Ghost Species'</span></blockquote><p> </p><p><span class="readable" id="reviewTextContainer4134722121"></span></p><blockquote><span id="freeText7357873429264123377">“Richard
James Allen takes the world of Raymond Chandler - the mysterious
murder, the femme fatale, the world-weary observer - and turns it on its
head. We end up with a funny, provocative novel that shakes up how we
think about reality.” <br />- Anton Enus, SBS<br /><br /></span></blockquote><p></p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3gluUkW">Click here to get your copy of </a><i><a href="https://bit.ly/3gluUkW">More Lies</a><br /></i><a href="https://bit.ly/2YJPEwH">Click here to watch Richarch James Allen's virtual launch of <i>More Lies</i></a></span> </b><br /><b></b></p>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-2573678061410098842021-10-17T18:35:00.002-07:002021-10-24T16:47:07.913-07:00James Gering's Staying Whole While Falling Apart - Q&A <p> <b> </b></p><p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBt6e2Fg0kKpys4T0So2_dcpjDPKwStnm5CObkrANc_-I0W66Sgm08YWYSeFId3hQ6pQr0_ak1-7eYqD3Qt-ALUHx9cUubdr1JiHuWjHDfYIAXovlaq2Hb3rXT8PZHMZZpFQCKxcO-D1tS/s2000/Staying+Whole+While+Falling+Apart.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBt6e2Fg0kKpys4T0So2_dcpjDPKwStnm5CObkrANc_-I0W66Sgm08YWYSeFId3hQ6pQr0_ak1-7eYqD3Qt-ALUHx9cUubdr1JiHuWjHDfYIAXovlaq2Hb3rXT8PZHMZZpFQCKxcO-D1tS/w400-h320/Staying+Whole+While+Falling+Apart.png" width="400" /></a></b></div><br />We interviewed <i><a href="https://bit.ly/3vDmWsF">Staying Whole While Falling Apart</a>'</i>s author James Gering to find out how he stays whole while falling apart and more! <b><br /> </b><p></p><p><b>Q: Your main protagonist is a character called Aaron Auslander but it's hard to look past the parallels... are any of these poems based on your own experience? </b></p><p>A: Many poems, yes - we are each great repository of experiences to draw on. The skill lies in converting experiences to art. Sincerity in poems is about emotional truth not literal truth. The writer reflects on his material, finds the fresh angle, and strives for an artistic conversion. Letting ample time pass between a life event and its poetic rendering is important so that artistic judgement is not compromised. <b> <br /></b></p><p><b>Q: How do you manage to stay whole? </b></p><p>A: By living outside the city, far from the maddening clichés. I live in the Blue Mountains. My backyard is a world heritage wilderness, and after a day's writing I like to get physical. I run a mountain trail, swim laps, rock climb or ride my mountain bike - something different every day. I wouldn't like to bore myself or the exercise would fizzle. <br /><br />I like to find the balance between my imaginative world and the real world. As a writer, there is a real danger of disappearing down an imaginary rabbit hole. Us humans are social creatures with an urge to love and be loved. We also need material for our writing. Hooray for the human canvas and the settings the real world provides. </p><p>At the moment I am writing full-time. This can be dangerous in terms of rabbit holes, but I think I have enough hard-won ploys to manage. One ploy is consciously moving between states of intensity and insouciance. Twenty-five years ago I was the intense moth getting singed. <br /></p><p><b>Q: Do you have any advice for readers on how to stay whole while falling apart? </b></p><p>A: Strike a balance between your emotional, intellectual and physical needs. Embrace the natural world, doubly so if you live in a big city. Flora and fauna are a wonderful salve. Additionally, animals are more genuine than us humans will ever be. Remember your childhood and to sometimes see the world through childish eyes for a fresh take. Beware community - it can be two-edged. Only conform to a group sympathetic to your character. Listen to <i><a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjUhvmd3tLzAhW4xzgGHd8YDo0QyCl6BAgGEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DsTJ7AzBIJoI&usg=AOvVaw27ENUCUjvkSOcmN9p_-f19">The Sunscreen Song</a></i>, its sage advice, like doing one thing a day that scares you. <b> <br /></b></p><p><b>Q: What would you say was the hardest topic to explore and why? </b></p><p>A: It's tricky to get depresion right on the page - clichés abound and the writing can easily slip into mawkishness or melodrama. You also have to find points of connection to the reader, regardless of whether they have ever been depressed. <b> <br /></b></p><p><b>Q: What life changing experiences have helped you as an author and how? </b></p><p>A: Learning from my mistakes has been useful. Adversity also - the humility it brings. I came to Australia from South Africa when I was 16 after a family trauma, and I struggled to find my place as a sensitive person with an inquiring mind. Enter poet, John Berryman, stage left. He gave simple advice for metamorphosing into a poet. He said that when you are young, you need to survive a life-threatening trauma, only by a whisker, and then you are in business. I agree. but perhaps there are other ways too. Parenthood was also life-altering for me, so wonderfully enriching. Suddently you are serving others in a loving manner every day, and it opens a treasure box of raw material for stories. <b> <br /></b></p><p><b>Q: Touching on your Judaism, what do you think are the defining features of Jewish life today and how has it influenced Aaron Auslander's character? </b></p><p>A: There are many ways to be Jewish - from ultra religious to atheistic, from cultural heritage to Israel, a country that punches well over its weight in many fields of human endeavour, whether technological advances or the embracing of diversity. Few countries in the Middle East have the vision and inclusivity to host the Eurovision song contest. </p><p>I like to think that Judaism helped Auslander to develop an inquiring mind, and helped develop his self-deprecatory humour, not to mention his Houdini-like talent for rising above adversity. </p><p><br /><b></b></p><p><a href="https://bit.ly/3cjLKOu"><b>Click here to get your copy of <i>Staying Whole While Falling Apart</i> </b></a></p><p><b><a href="https://bit.ly/3A1WV84">Click here to watch James Gering's virtual launch of <i>Staying Whole While Falling Apart</i></a> <br /></b></p>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-74148872455754728022021-10-13T00:12:00.002-07:002021-10-17T17:06:40.803-07:00Kate Maxwell's Never Good At Maths - Q&A <p><span> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzjNvDnMtZWVrJ_wSluntR8w83bX9z2bgKJbJGtdggtwenr9zIOX_Z5PI5YssBG75yQiPHc2ZUBjfigiZUn3uo_EucueZsEGtRT-q-OJd-5PlUN62iZ8dwnAo6qWJyOJEdZ3UhHAPHzy8/s2000/Never+Good+at+Maths%25281%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuzjNvDnMtZWVrJ_wSluntR8w83bX9z2bgKJbJGtdggtwenr9zIOX_Z5PI5YssBG75yQiPHc2ZUBjfigiZUn3uo_EucueZsEGtRT-q-OJd-5PlUN62iZ8dwnAo6qWJyOJEdZ3UhHAPHzy8/w400-h320/Never+Good+at+Maths%25281%2529.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><p><span>With her recent release of <a href="https://bit.ly/3cakbqO"><i>Never Good at Maths</i></a>, we wanted to know more about Kate Maxwell beyond her inability to do maths...so we interviewed her. <br /></span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><b>Q: Your book doesn't actually explore math. How and why did you choose to title it the way you did? </b></span></p><p><span>A: There's some truth in the title that maths has never been my strength, but I chose the title primarily to express the way it often feels to be pigeonholed as a 'type' of person. As a predominantly right-brain thinker, it's also a tongue-in-cheek way of dealing with a fairly dismissive label. Mathematicians are often very creative, and creative poets are often good at maths. I'm just not in either group. The title is my quirky introduction to a level of satirical and self-deprecating humour I sometimes use in this book. I'm trying to tap into the self-conscious feeling many of us have when we are conflicted about our abilities and the way in which we are perceived. </span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><b>Q: You cover a lot of different themes in <i>Never Good at Maths</i>, how did you choose what to cover, what inspired you to cover so many themes and did you have to do a lot of research? </b></span></p><p><span><span style="font-size: small;">A: Many of the poems span decades and original versions have been tweaked over time. Some themes are of the simple every day, little curiosities, character portraits, and more global and political themes. Most of the time, if my interest is sparked in something, then it leads more naturally into forming images and builds i<span style="font-family: times;">nto a stronger piece. </span>Unless I'm writing to purpose; for a competition or special journal issue, I don't usually pick a theme first. It usually comes as I build the poem. A few poems do require research if I'm describing something historical or quite specific e.g., <i>White Man in a Hole</i> or <i>Katy, Bar the Door</i> and many poems are inspired by what I read, w</span>atch, and observe. </span></p><p><span> </span></p><p><span><b>Q: Did you face many personal challenges when addressing the various themes when writing <i>Never Good at Maths?</i></b></span></p><p><span>A: Some topics are inspired by road trips, emotions, the news, literature, art, or characters I find interesting. If I write in somebody else's voice, then I can remove myself a little from the poem. A few of the more personal and biographical poems can pose personal challenges as it's not easy admitting who you are, or how you've felt at times, but it can also serve as free therapy. Obviously, not everyone will agree with the messges portrayed or political stnce I take but that's why it's called freedom of expression. <b><i> </i></b> <br /></span></p><span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #222222; display: inline; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span></span></span><p><span><b>Q: How and why did you get started as a poet? </b></span></p><p><span>A: I don't know if I can answer that as clearly as I'd like. As a child, I think I liked playing with rhyme and the sounds words make. When I worked out that you could make a succinct and powerful little package with words and messages, then I started to become entranced with poetry's power. I still love the puzzle of placing just the right word or phrase but am not always as keen on the frustration when I know I'm still missing pieces in my self-made puzzles. </span></p><p><span> </span></p><p><span><b>Q: From the Poet's point of view, how important do you think it is for readers to be able to understand the meaning of a poem? Are some better left unsolved, or do you believe that readers should work to know the underlying meaning/s?</b></span></p><p><span>A: I am not an obtuse poet. I love writing stories as much as poetry and find the narrative very important. I love to paint pictures with my words, take on other voices, and tell stories. It's important to me that my poems are relatable and strike a chord with readers. My favourite poems are ones where language and emotion blend to bring you a slice of life that you can almost se and feel. I know many talented poets who embed their poems with oblique layers that make meaning either unclear or reliant on prior knowledge. I can often enjoy these poems too, even though I may not always be able to access what the poet really intended. Sometimes the beauty of the words, or strength of the mood is more important than the narrative. But that is their skill set, and not necessarily mine. <b> </b></span></p><p><span><b> </b></span></p><p><span><b>Q: This is your debut release, what were the biggest lessons you learned and what do you plan and hope for the future? </b></span></p><p><span>A: I supposed the lessons learned werethat you should always let your work rest for a while and return to it with fresh eyes before editing again. On the other hand, poems never quite seem finished but at some point, you have to let them go. Also, an editor's eye on your work is so valuable. You get to close to your work and can become blind to flaws and repreated ideas. I'm hoping this is my first of many anthologies. I'm writing quite a lot right now. I also have some children's book manuscripts that I'd like to see out in the world. <b> </b> </span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><b>Q: Your debut covers a lot from personal recounts to views and belieds, do you think you'll take the same approach for your next book? Why or why not? </b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.8667px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 10pt; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span>A: Yes and No. I have enough collected works for another book of poetry and a short story collection. Both have no obvious unifying threads but there are patterns and repeated themes. Following that, however, I would like to attempt to write more poem suites in order to flesh out veryin perspectives, voices on theme or topic. As my experience grows, I'm hoping my breadth and voice will also develop. <b> </b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.8667px; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 10pt; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-GB"> </span></span></span></span></p><p><span><a href="https://bit.ly/3gitc2k"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Click here to get your copy of <i>Never Good at Maths<br /></i></b></span></a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3tapVIs"><b>Click here to watch the vitural launch of <i>Never Good at Maths</i></b></a></span><br /></p>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-70825730723450037302021-10-12T22:58:00.000-07:002021-10-12T22:58:43.373-07:00Paul Scully's The Fickle Pendulum - Q&A <p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnkJD4SpmuRnPqJwZQISvTddicyoJf-dZ37ZDk3HWfgu7xDJXASqkgXcGndSF0mwWaaxUW1QzEPUmbHbU9HyYhdZO4wcDBVXq6E6r0LvOi4DqMT8mSZzia1LDmJUWA8oQBKhm5XgbWQWfl/s2000/The+Fickle+Pendulum%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnkJD4SpmuRnPqJwZQISvTddicyoJf-dZ37ZDk3HWfgu7xDJXASqkgXcGndSF0mwWaaxUW1QzEPUmbHbU9HyYhdZO4wcDBVXq6E6r0LvOi4DqMT8mSZzia1LDmJUWA8oQBKhm5XgbWQWfl/w400-h320/The+Fickle+Pendulum%25281%2529.png" width="400" /></a></div><p><br />With so many views on belief and doubt, we interviewed Paul Scully to get a better insight on navigating the philosophical discussions, as explored in his poems in <a href="https://bit.ly/3vPMpz5"><i>The Fickle Pendulum</i></a>. <br /><br /></p><p><b>Q: What motivated you to explore belief and doubt, and the way we view them?</b></p><p>A: I attempted to Australianise <i>The Conference of the Birds</i> in my previous book, <i>Sature Lines</i>, and investigated how the Sufis used poetry to explore their beliefs. I'd read bits of Rumi and Hafiz before but not widely. During my process, I wondered about the converse known as doubt, and it grew from there. I also recalled Graham Greene, his fallen believers and moral ambiguities. A Catholic upbringing must have also been in the mix somewhere!</p><p> </p><p><b>Q: What do you hope is the biggest take away amongst readers of <i>The Fickle Pendulum</i>? </b></p><p>A: I try to be neither didactic nor dogmatic. I take heed of the say, don't tell maxim. There were elements of personal investigation, interest in the stories found, some education, wonderment, etc.. I'd be happy for people to catch a sense of these and perhaps be interested, if not equally, then somewhat, and to appreciate the writing at some level. </p><p> </p><p><b>Q: Did writing <i>The Fickle Pendulum</i> change your views on belief and doubt?</b></p><p>A: Not Really. The biggest surprise was finding out someone like Laura (Riding) Jackson could walk away from poetry. This discovery drove me to reading up on why she did so. My findings were that her flinty personality radiated absolutism and her poetry suggests a difficulty in maintaining such intensity over a prolonged period, but it is still a surpsise to me. We've all had times when we've felt our writing has become insipid or perfunctory, but her reaction is way beyond that. Although my writing process didn't change my views on belief and doubt, it has caused me to think about what I love about poetry, and to challenge my premises. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Q: Why did you choose to review the beliefs and doubts specifically through St Thomas the Apostle, Galileo Galilei and Laura (Riding) Jackson? </b></p><p>A: The challenge is to ground the discussion of abstractions in some way and I wanted to take multiple perspectives. I've used historical characters in the past and it seemed natural to do so here. They bring a storyline with them which can act as scaffolding while you work at the detail. St Thomas, known as the Doubting Thomas due to his lack of faith, suggested himself. Science is in some ways a counterpoint to religion and I just needed to find the right scientist. Galileo Galilei was a Catholic who on one hand believed in God and religion, but on the other hand, was torn by his beliefs in the role of science. I had doubt in poetry in mind from early on as perhaps a tangential take on the theme. Someone had suggested the work of Laura (Riding) Jackson to me alongside Rimbaud, who was another candidate. </p><p><br /></p><p><b>Q: Do you often find yourself in doubt and how do you prevent or overcome doubt? </b></p><p>A: I wouldn't say I face doubt often but I certainly entertain doubt as more than a momentary feeling from time to time. Climate Change has been a persistent source in recent years, especially when people espouse views that it is nonsense or that we shouldn't take restorative actions for nationally competitive reasons. I find it incredibly hard to understand how intelligent people could arrive at such conclusions and wonder at humanity. Likewise truly evil acts. People offer both despair in such instances, but they also offer salvation through love and friendship. As in many things, it is necessary to accept paradox as a natural and recurrent phenomenon. It also helps to bring things down to an everyday scale and find meaning and pleasure there. </p><p><br /></p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><blockquote><i>"If there are no easy answers here, there is nevertheless a sense, as Browning says, that ' All our life is some form of religion.' In verse that is measured and always thoughtful, Sculy weighs the detail and delight of things against their difficult, confronting implications."</i><br />- Martin Langford, author of<i> Groud</i></blockquote></blockquote><p> </p><p></p><p><a href="https://bit.ly/3wW6nbs "><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Click here to get your copy of <i>The Fickle Pendulum</i></b> </span></a></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3A1WV84"><b>Click here to watch </b></a><a href="https://bit.ly/3A1WV84"><b>Paul Scully's virtual launch of <i>The Fickle Pendulum</i></b></a> </span></p>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-36264019525652784942021-07-08T17:03:00.001-07:002021-07-08T17:11:54.809-07:00<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Elisabeth Hanscombe's 2017 memoir <i><a href="http://bit.ly/2xZuF6M" target="_blank">The Art of Disappearing</a></i> is a challenging and disturbing read on the subject of child abuse from the perspective of a psychoanalyst looking back on her childhood. It's no less challenging for others in the discipline who might question the validity and objectivity of writing this as a memoir.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">Christine Vickers' review in the <i>Australasian Journal of Psychotherapy</i> (Vol. 38, No. 2, 2021) tries to come to grips with the professional and personal issues inherent in such an endeavour.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1128" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqGSQPAsqe5k73Y7V2w7LTOW2bWb6cv6mRJbE-F3hzQm1-HX1lgahQj9vIiOSJ7oFo4suG7XIRXtLT210-5J_06kIv1VExeZJMjam_iMa-C7UMgtBkfbzKFyV86efyLyVDTUSwKva7z2Tp/s320/9781925231595.jpg" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">Elisabeth Hanscombe’s memoir</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">is about witnessing and the silencing that fol</span><span class="s2" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: -3px;"> </span><span class="s3" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: -0.1px;">lows. As </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">a young girl, Elisabeth feared for her life when, night after night, she</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">turned her face to the wall pretending to sleep,</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">hoping to disappear while her</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">drunken father crept into her sister’s bed, in the room they shared. His betrayal</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">and abuse of her sister and Elisabeth’s frozen fear is the backbone of the story.</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">And was it Mother’s complicity that added to the</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 2.8px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">harm already done? The</span><span class="s4" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 2.8px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">moth</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">er who hid herself in novels while her daughters and sons suffered. Elisabeth’s</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">brothers tried to rescue their sisters. And there is the tragic figure of Elisabeth’s </span><span class="s5" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: -2.8px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">father, whose early promise was derailed by alcoholism. All the while there is</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">the struggle with love. For how can one love another, a parent, brother, or sister,</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">whose life has become so pitiful? But we do. Even if we fear them. Or hate them</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";">too.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: "Bodoni 72";"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Some members of the psychoanalytic world would not agree this book should<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>be written,<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>let alone<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>published<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>and<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>reviewed. The author<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>and<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>I<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>both<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>practise<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>psychoanalytically, following<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>Freud’s tenet that the analyst’s abstinence<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>is fundamental to the therapeutic<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>endeavour. The analyst<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>must<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>not intrude<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>into the<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>patient’s<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>world,<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>nor use<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>the<span class="s4" style="letter-spacing: 2.8px;"> </span>patient<span class="s4" style="letter-spacing: 2.8px;"> </span>for<span class="s4" style="letter-spacing: 2.8px;"> </span>his own<span class="s4" style="letter-spacing: 2.8px;"> </span>gain. The<span class="s4" style="letter-spacing: 2.8px;"> </span>therapist’s<span class="s4" style="letter-spacing: 2.8px;"> </span>survival,<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>and presence at each session, as the patient’s object - alive and breathing, as the<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>British psychoanalyst and author D W Winnicott remarked, is essential for the<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>maintenance of the therapeutic space, along with the constancy of the<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>room, the<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>time, its frequency, and the duration of the session. The firmness of the<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>room is,<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>metaphorically,<span class="s6" style="letter-spacing: 1.4px;"> </span>the<span class="s7" style="letter-spacing: 1.9px;"> </span>safe<span class="s8" style="letter-spacing: 1.6px;"> </span>holding<span class="s8" style="letter-spacing: 1.6px;"> </span>space<span class="s9" style="letter-spacing: 1.5px;"> </span>in<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>which<span class="s11" style="letter-spacing: 2.4px;"> </span>psychoanalytic<span class="s12" style="letter-spacing: 1.1px;"> </span>therapy<span class="s13" style="letter-spacing: 1.8px;"> </span>occurs. That and the analyst’s capacity to hear the patients’ minds without drawing them<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>into the analyst’s particular idiom. A<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>memoir written by one in the profession<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>must<span class="s14" style="letter-spacing: 0.4px;"> </span>necessarily<span class="s15" style="letter-spacing: 0.9px;"> </span>be<span class="s3" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;"> </span>an<span class="s16" style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;"> </span>invasion<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>of<span class="s17" style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> </span>that<span class="s17" style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> </span>critical<span class="s18" style="letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span>boundary,<span class="s15" style="letter-spacing: 0.9px;"> </span>it<span class="s14" style="letter-spacing: 0.4px;"> </span>is<span class="s3" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;"> </span>argued.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: medium;">I am unsure. Memory and memoir are subjective; ultimate truth, unknowable. The British psychoanalyst, Paul Williams’s account of a young boy’s experience of parental rejection – he<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>entitled<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>his book,<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><i>Scum</i> –<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>is a pertinent comparison.<span class="s18" style="letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span>Williams<span class="s19" style="letter-spacing: 1.2px;"> </span>enters<span class="s14" style="letter-spacing: 0.4px;"> </span>the<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>mind<span class="s17" style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> </span>of<span class="s20" style="letter-spacing: 0.7px;"> </span>his<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>protagonist,<span class="s7" style="letter-spacing: 1.9px;"> </span>haunting<span class="s15" style="letter-spacing: 0.9px;"> </span>readers<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>with<span class="s21" style="letter-spacing: 1px;"> </span>his pained,<span class="s16" style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;"> </span>fractured<span class="s20" style="letter-spacing: 0.7px;"> </span>language<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>and<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>distorted<span class="s12" style="letter-spacing: 1.1px;"> </span>ideas.<span class="s16" style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;"> </span>Williams<span class="s22" style="letter-spacing: 0.5px;"> </span>does<span class="s22" style="letter-spacing: 0.5px;"> </span>not<span class="s20" style="letter-spacing: 0.7px;"> </span>describe<span class="s15" style="letter-spacing: 0.9px;"> </span>his work as fiction. ‘The author of the<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>book and the individual written about are not<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>the same person’, he writes in <i>Scum</i>’s prequel, The fifth principle. This is literature, he continues, ‘an account of the methods of a mind in its efforts to prevail<span class="s5" style="letter-spacing: -2.8px;"> </span>in oppressive circumstances’. Memoir may also be disguised as theory. Freud’s<span class="s5" style="letter-spacing: -2.8px;"> </span><i> Mourning and Melancholia</i> is his personal response to the savagery and losses of<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>the<span class="s23" style="letter-spacing: 2.1px;"> </span>Great<span class="s17" style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> </span>War,<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>and<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>death<span class="s3" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;"> </span>of<span class="s18" style="letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span>his<span class="s24" style="letter-spacing: -0.2px;"> </span>beloved<span class="s22" style="letter-spacing: 0.5px;"> </span>daughter<span class="s22" style="letter-spacing: 0.5px;"> </span>Sophie<span class="s22" style="letter-spacing: 0.5px;"> </span>from<span class="s22" style="letter-spacing: 0.5px;"> </span>the<span class="s19" style="letter-spacing: 1.2px;"> </span>Spanish Flu<span class="s3" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;">.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">If Hanscombe is exploring an important idea: about abuse, silencing and<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>complicity, then criticism of her methodology might be throwing the baby out<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>with the bathwater; our psychoanalytic selves derailed by vexation over therapist<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>self -disclosure and its potential to interfere with the patient’s freedom within<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>the analytic space.<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>Psychoanalysis is built on confidentiality, both ways. The<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>patient comes first, it is argued. The analyst’s mind must remain private.<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>The<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>boundary<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>issue cannot<span class="s22" style="letter-spacing: 0.5px;"> </span>be<span class="s3" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;"> </span>disavowed.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: medium;">If that is what is happening. Like Williams, Hanscombe is no longer a child –<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>a girl-child –<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>seeking invisibility. Instead, using memoir as her medium, she teeters on the edge of what psychoanalysts might call discretion, and ‘boundaries"<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>and speaks.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Perhaps believing she is writing about herself, some may lose sight<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>of her<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>intent to explore the cruelty of childhood silencing. Alchemies of secrecy<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>and abuse create toxic enchantments.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Uncalled, her father remains protected,<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>his<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>wife<span class="s16" style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;"> </span>and<span class="s6" style="letter-spacing: 1.4px;"> </span>children<span class="s6" style="letter-spacing: 1.4px;"> </span>remain<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>in<span class="s20" style="letter-spacing: 0.7px;"> </span>his<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>thrall.<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>There<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>are<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>no<span class="s24" style="letter-spacing: -0.2px;"> </span>winners<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>here.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">The tension, as Inga Clendinnen wrote in her 1996 online essay, “Fellow Sufferers: History and the Imagination”, is in the recording and writing up of historical research, memoir included. Fiction makes us safe, she says. Even with</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">Humbert</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">Humbert’s sexualised charmer, Lolita, fiction is straightforward. We</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">suspend</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">belief, resonate with the</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">experience, taking comfort in the fact that this</span><span class="s25" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: -2.6px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">is all made up. For historians and memoirists writing, the reality that many events</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">occurred</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">will</span><span class="s22" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.5px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">haunt</span><span class="s22" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.5px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">the</span><span class="s18" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">page.</span><span class="s17" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">Historians</span><span class="s10" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">know</span><span class="s26" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: -0.4px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">that</span><span class="s17" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">readers</span><span class="s17" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">seek</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: -0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">factual</span><span class="s22" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.5px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">rendi</span><span class="s3" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: -0.1px;">tions. Readers will assume memoirists’ </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">intent is description of actual events. In</span><span class="s5" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: -2.8px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">writing history, we must recognize how events in the lives of people, now dead,</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">show their part in our formation. All the while we recognize that history is about</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">the present. So when a memoirist writes, he is not writing of himself now, but</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">interrogating</span><span class="s18" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">a</span><span class="s14" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">past</span><span class="s20" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.7px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">state</span><span class="s18" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">of</span><span class="s18" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">mind.</span><span class="s15" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.9px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">Perhaps</span><span class="s10" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">he</span><span class="s20" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.7px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">is</span><span class="s27" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: -0.3px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">actually</span><span class="s18" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">writing</span><span class="s16" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; letter-spacing: 0.3px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Bodoni 72;">fiction.</span></span></p><p style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Simple, rational assertions are not always the correct ones. For Freud fifty<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>minutes<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>was<span class="s3" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;"> </span>long<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>enough<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>to<span class="s3" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;"> </span>sustain<span class="s18" style="letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span>his attention<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>to<span class="s16" style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;"> </span>a<span class="s20" style="letter-spacing: 0.7px;"> </span>patient<span class="s18" style="letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span>on<span class="s18" style="letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span>the<span class="s18" style="letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span>couch.<span class="s16" style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;"> </span>So<span class="s28" style="vertical-align: -1px;"><b>, </b></span>the fifty-minute hour has become the norm, along with remembrances of silent<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>analysts, and their manner of interpretation. In the space thus created, it is argued, the patient is free of the<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>disruptions of a past that led her to the analyst’s<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>consulting room. The lens through which we view ourselves and others is more<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>translucent than we would like. In psychoanalysis the patient’s experience of<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>her own idiom, and discovery that she is other to her analyst, is the essential, but<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>ongoing<span class="s17" style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> </span>task.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: medium;">If<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>therapy<span class="s22" style="letter-spacing: 0.5px;"> </span>is a<span class="s24" style="letter-spacing: -0.2px;"> </span>conversation<span class="s12" style="letter-spacing: 1.1px;"> </span>with<span class="s20" style="letter-spacing: 0.7px;"> </span>oneself<span class="s12" style="letter-spacing: 1.1px;"> </span>in<span class="s15" style="letter-spacing: 0.9px;"> </span>the<span class="s8" style="letter-spacing: 1.6px;"> </span>presence<span class="s10" style="letter-spacing: 0.8px;"> </span>of<span class="s16" style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;"> </span>another,<span class="s18" style="letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span>what<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>are the responsibilities of each?<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>An intrusion such as a sexual enactment, or boundary breach in the service of the analyst’s need is a serious violation. If an analyst<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>chooses to write a book, which he states to be based on his own experience, is<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>this<span class="s27" style="letter-spacing: -0.3px;"> </span>such<span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: 0.1px;"> </span>a<span class="s29" style="letter-spacing: -0.6px;"> </span>violation?<span class="s17" style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;"> </span>Or<span class="s14" style="letter-spacing: 0.4px;"> </span>is<span class="s3" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;"> </span>it<span class="s18" style="letter-spacing: 0.6px;"> </span>the<span class="s6" style="letter-spacing: 1.4px;"> </span>saying<span class="s3" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;"> </span>so,<span class="s16" style="letter-spacing: 0.3px;"> </span>that<span class="s3" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;"> </span>irks?</span></p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Bodoni 72"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><b></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /></p>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-91404342693517711362021-04-18T17:33:00.000-07:002021-04-18T17:33:13.233-07:00<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"> Your Job Search Companion</span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, job security has become a key issue for many people. Some jobs, in industries dependent on international tourists, are particular vulnerable, and as the pandemic continues businesses may disappear or be drastically scaled back. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Being flexible, and having the ability to adapt to a "new normal" in the economy, is essential. Lee Smith's new job search guide, <i>The Job Tree</i>, will help job seekers of whatever age and level of experience develop and refine cover letter, resumé writing, and interview skills that will help them compete in the challenging jobs market now and in the future.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">To make the job easier, the book includes downloadable templates tailored to the key global markets. It's truly a DIY handbook to ensure job candidates can make a lasting impression.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We interviewed Lee about his book.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRSQ0pgU2y3_VIyEUUpCbnSV1tpQJNVCgOjAQcvB_hkq8d2WH2qIBUX63kHTU090bt_ElBAYpjSQo_j3CMvmn52zoOOudgdvsJ5L-KebFpuuJiqIVo-ziU0ly5ulXfM25FKYagyJ5bjcuf/s683/TJT_FCov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRSQ0pgU2y3_VIyEUUpCbnSV1tpQJNVCgOjAQcvB_hkq8d2WH2qIBUX63kHTU090bt_ElBAYpjSQo_j3CMvmn52zoOOudgdvsJ5L-KebFpuuJiqIVo-ziU0ly5ulXfM25FKYagyJ5bjcuf/s320/TJT_FCov.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: 11px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><br /></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><i>What motivated you to write </i>The Job Tree<i>?</i></span></b></span></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b><i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It was during the Covid-19 lockdowns of 2020, my attention focussed on those who had lost their jobs; on businesses that had closed and the impacts on the owners. What could be done to help them; to encourage them?</i></span></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i><i>I had retained the rights to a follow book to my first book </i>Kick Start Your Career<i>. It seemed the right time to write the new book and focus on helping people find their next job.</i></span></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i><b><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">What were the origins of your interest in helping people with careers and jobs?</span></i></b></span></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b><i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>During my professional career in technology I was also involved in helping colleagues and staff to find jobs. The origins of </i>Kick Start Your Career<i> came from a request from a University of Queensland professor for a course to help graduates find their first job. This led to a partnership with a Dutch professor, John van Genderen to write the first book.</i></span></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i><b><span style="color: #0b5394;"><i>What are the key chapters and themes of your new book </i>The Job Tree<i>?</i></span></b></span></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b><i>The scope of the book is to cover all the major aspects of job hunting. It draws on the author’s extensive professional experience as well as expert inputs drawn from international experts. It ranges from identifying career and job options, to your skills and abilities. Preparation of CV or resume is important. The role of social media in job hunting is addressed. Where to search for jobs? From analysis of job criteria to job application cover letter to interview skills.</i></span></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i><b><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">What approach have you adopted for the book?</span></i></b></span></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b><i>Books provide information. They do not provide knowledge. That only comes when we apply information. That comes from doing rather than reading or listening. The benefits of explicit instruction have been incorporated in the book. It has personal plan that allows the reader to tailor the book’s information to their particular personal aspects. This also allows the reader to develop the resources need for job applications as they progressively complete the personal plan associated with each chapter.</i></span></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i><b><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">What about the personal aspects of job loss and job hunting?</span></i></b></span></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><i><br /></i></b><i>Human aspects are central to job hunting. The book would be remiss if it only covered the skills and methods of winning a new job. It covers they key aspects of well-being: emotional, physical and mental. It recognises the grief and loss that comes with job loss, business closure or interview knockback. It points to professionals who can help in this important area. It provides encouragement and motivation.</i></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXmYgWgpRoVLJREwjMI1TN3lFXQUhcmP1yY8VUWlV8R_XvmWZb6xpehwBx-08YdMo6SB-Q2cbu-sofCD5xMvY_lA5lVjmNCJLB4ixZRCbIsmNOGzqOBXdcpO9YMCC5QnwGxBDAphIsRr5D/s296/LeeS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Times; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXmYgWgpRoVLJREwjMI1TN3lFXQUhcmP1yY8VUWlV8R_XvmWZb6xpehwBx-08YdMo6SB-Q2cbu-sofCD5xMvY_lA5lVjmNCJLB4ixZRCbIsmNOGzqOBXdcpO9YMCC5QnwGxBDAphIsRr5D/s0/LeeS.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lee Smith</td></tr></tbody></table><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><i style="font-size: 11px;"><br /></i><b><i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;">What are your hopes?</span></i></b></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: 11px;"><i><br /></i></b><span style="font-size: medium;"><i>That the book will lift up those who have lost jobs; to provide the skills and experience to navigate the minefield of job hunting. That it will help job seekers to successfully transition to a new job or career.</i></span></p><p style="font-family: Cambria; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i><i>To win that job!</i></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /><br /></p>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-49007056671861069312020-10-19T17:38:00.008-07:002020-10-21T17:02:12.853-07:00And Other Essays by Michael Cohen + Interview!<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jIO67LDEgpE" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div>Here's the video of Michael Cohen's second book with IP, <i>And Other Essays</i>, being launched on Zoom.</div><div><br /></div><div>More info: <a href="https://bit.ly/3057Iiz">https://bit.ly/3057Iiz</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Buy Now: <a href="https://bit.ly/2X0FmEe">https://bit.ly/2X0FmEe</a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Before we launched <i>And Other Essays </i>on Zoom, we sat down with Michael to ask him some questions about the book.</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNormal" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><i>Why choose the essay form</i>?</span></p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>History and inclination, I’d say. I spent quite a few years teaching what we called, hopefully, “expository writing.” We didn’t expect anything like finished essays from our students; we were trying to coach them into writing clearly and concisely so that they could be good communicators in their various jobs. But we used the best essays for models and springboards for student writing, and I got used to looking at how good essays were put together, and also to encouraging students to see how they worked. Those were really lit classes where I taught the literary form that was somewhat neglected in the rest of the literature curriculum.</p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>But I like the essay form because it’s not just a way of trying to craft something that is satisfying; before I get to the revising and refining stages, writing an essay is a way of thinking about a subject that does not happen until I seek to form sentences about it.</p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">What is the hardest part of creating a collection of essays?</span></i></p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Well, just as in all writing, you have to murder your darlings. I put the whole corpus of work since my last collection together and tried to look at it as ruthlessly as I could. Is there really enough good stuff for a collection there? As it turned out, there wasn’t; I had to write a couple of essays to make up for the weakest parts I kept finding in the collection, and I was doing that cutting and substitution right up until the time we went into production.</p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">How did you decide what went into this book?</span></i></p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>As I have said, it was a decision based on the quality of the whole group of essays I was choosing from. I do not see this collection of essays as having a theme or unity beyond those features of style and favorite structures and methods of development that are unique to me, and those features, while they may be obvious to others, are mostly opaque to me. I think this omnium gatherum sort of nature is reflected in the title:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>And Other Essays</i>. The subject matter too, keeps coming back to what Michael did last summer: there are a couple of essays about flying, a couple about gyms, one about golf, and a bunch about what I’ve read and reread.</p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">Are essays primarily sources of information or entertainment?</span></i></p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>I suppose a writer’s unique viewpoint about a topic might give you information of a sort, but I think mostly what you find out about by reading a book like this is my take on things. Of course I strive for accuracy in writing about climate change or the New Atheism or what various writers have to say, but I certainly hope I’m not the main source of your information about any of those topics, and I hope also, fervently, that you find what I have to say about them entertaining, because I’m convinced you won’t continue reading me very long if you don’t.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">What experiences have helped shape you as a writer?</span></i></p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> </p><p class="ydp33ce22ebMsoNoSpacing" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "bookman old style", "new york", times, serif; font-size: 16px; text-size-adjust: auto;"> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>The short answer is everything I’ve done or read. And also what I’ve written: I wrote academic essays and books all during my teaching career, and when I retired I knew I didn’t want to do<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>that</i><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>anymore. But I still wanted to write, and I discovered that I could think about things that had happened to me and things I’d read in a very free and enjoyable way by writing about them without the sorts of constraints I had while writing about Shakespeare or nineteenth-century English paintings and novels for an academic press. I know, though, that academic writing is very useful, and mostly for the person who’s doing the writing. Again, it’s because it’s a concentrated way of thinking about the subject. And there were plenty of things that had happened to me throughout my life that weren’t very well sorted out in my mind before I began to write about them. Reading is the main way we learn about what’s going on in other people’s heads, and knowing what other people are thinking is a way to see that our troubles and concerns aren’t unique. Writing is a way of giving back to that conversation and when it works at all, it works both ways, for the reader and the writer. Once I had realized a few of these things, I became a writer in the sense that writing became as necessary for me as reading.</p></div><div><p class="p6" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: medium;">— Michael was interviewed by Lauryn Garrard, Assistant Editor, IP, in October 2020</span></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> Michael's previous book with IP is <i><a href="https://bit.ly/39MXPcI" target="_blank">A Place to Read</a></i></span></span></p></div><div><br /></div>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-24961749847298218512020-10-18T20:31:00.001-07:002020-10-18T22:55:26.307-07:00Adventures at Humminghive: Here We Are!<iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZpZVsAVjUYI" width="480"></iframe><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://bit.ly/32tqJMM" target="_blank">Buy Now</a></div>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-8829962118148504132020-10-11T19:35:00.003-07:002020-10-21T17:00:35.398-07:00Interview with Laura Jan Shore, author of Afterglow<p><br /></p><ul class="ul1" style="text-align: left;"><li class="li4" style="font-family: Palatino; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i style="font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWqmwzC_Ew_qKselY11bp0XjMyYAMkVVlxM1vNkpTqrdn-lDMvxw7Fa9NG0HtZCRqg4G0E7pWoT4FzBN2Cvesdy5DfaUL1lMnR8m-q2yt-EyodVUsOmyx4fcfXPmpDOY8Mr-pYwePPZy9/s289/LauraJS.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiWqmwzC_Ew_qKselY11bp0XjMyYAMkVVlxM1vNkpTqrdn-lDMvxw7Fa9NG0HtZCRqg4G0E7pWoT4FzBN2Cvesdy5DfaUL1lMnR8m-q2yt-EyodVUsOmyx4fcfXPmpDOY8Mr-pYwePPZy9/s0/LauraJS.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #0b5394;">You went through a traumatic event when it came to losing your husband. How important do you think poetry was in helping you through this process?</span></i></li></ul><p></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">After the loss of my husband, it was reading poetry that brought solace and connection. I noticed many of my friends and family didn’t know what to say to comfort me. Our culture does not offer a container to support those experiencing grief.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Other people’s poems gave me permission to find language to express my own feelings.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><ul class="ul1"><li class="li4" style="font-family: Palatino; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;"><i>What prompted you to respond through poetry?</i></span></li></ul><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Writing a poem is a process of discovery. Articulating what I felt or what I remembered deepened as I worked the craft. I explored a variety of ways to say it in a condensed form, to get at the essence of it.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p></p><ul class="ul1" style="text-align: left;"><li class="li4" style="font-family: Palatino; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;"><i>Have you been in contact with people who have experienced similar tragedies and resonated with the way you have handled grief and loss in your book?</i></span></li></ul><p></p><p class="p7" style="font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Yes, I’ve had feedback from other women who’ve experienced the weird reality of being a widow in a society that no longer names this or has a cultural place for it.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p></p><ul class="ul1" style="text-align: left;"><li class="li4" style="font-family: Palatino; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;"><i>Did your husband’s death change the way you responded to him in your poetry? Did you feel closer to him in the poetry written after his death than before?</i></span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: Palatino; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://bit.ly/2zWREow" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="2469" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNXnSxJOOnkkzheCxnBFpqAHh0yDcvX5AmUCyP7-Fy3DjPh1q7h6Gq-X754PuumGDbyEw2j2Dp1Juw1EyZWSw9PWqjUlKT8j-gggokH0XXyi4L2wiU9CNH3zJm1eHkjdloU0Boyj2CHqf6/s320/9781922332226.jpg" /></a></div><br /></span></div><p></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">When I wrote poems about him while Anand was alive, he would give me feedback and suggestions.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Not a writer himself, he enjoyed having me write about him. After he died, I felt his presence and heard his input. <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p></p><ul class="ul1" style="text-align: left;"><li class="li4" style="font-family: Palatino; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;"><i>Would you recommend writing as a means of coping for people who have lost a significant other? </i></span></li></ul><p></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Absolutely.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Journaling is an amazing resource for working through the waves of grief. It’s a way to keep the loved one alive by remembering and a way to give voice to the pain of loss. Whether that writing remains private or later becomes the seed of a more polished form, the process is invaluable.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p></p><ul class="ul1" style="text-align: left;"><li class="li4" style="font-family: Palatino; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;"><i>Do you think his memory will continue to inspire you to write? </i></span></li></ul><p></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I find I am frequently addressing Anand as I write. It is a way to continue our conversations.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p></p><ul class="ul1" style="text-align: left;"><li class="li4" style="font-family: Palatino; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394;">If your husband were still alive, how do you think he would respond to the book?</span> </i></span></li></ul><p></p><p class="p8" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 36px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I believe he would be proud of the book and grateful to me for writing it. He was always transparent about his own shortcomings and psychological challenges so I know he would have appreciated my efforts to describe these, in hopes that it might help someone else.</span></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br /></p><p></p><ul class="ul1" style="text-align: left;"><li class="li4" style="font-family: Palatino; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: medium;"><i>What is next on the horizon for you, Laura? Any upcoming projects? </i></span></li></ul><p></p><p class="p5" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I’ve another poetry collection with the working title, <i>Ripening</i>, that I’m still compiling.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>It is about growing older in chaotic environmental times, bearing witness to species loss and cultural upheaval in parallel to personal loss and physical deterioration.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">— Laura was interviewed by Lauryn Garrard, Assistant Editor, IP, in October 2020</span></span></p><p class="p6" style="font-family: Calibri; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #bf9000; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> Laura's previous book with IP is <a href="https://ipoz.biz/ipstore/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=369" target="_blank"><i>Water Over Stone</i></a><br /></span></span></p>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-71027393105257432992020-08-02T00:24:00.001-07:002020-08-02T00:24:33.578-07:00Monstrous by PS Cottier, intro by Tim Jones, hosted by Dr David Reiter, ...<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dv6uZ8GJzNY" width="459"></iframe>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-68532992981229448862020-08-01T19:36:00.001-07:002020-08-01T19:36:54.296-07:00The Power of Women by Jane Daoud<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w7sJYxMcAi4" width="459"></iframe>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6462732315350732823.post-18709246002309875522020-07-27T18:14:00.001-07:002020-07-27T18:14:59.028-07:00Afterglow by Laura Jan Shore, launched by Tricia Dearborn, Interactive P...<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cmjkMVT26Io" width="459"></iframe>IP (Interactive Publications Pty Ltd)http://www.blogger.com/profile/14544355200251329995noreply@blogger.com0