Author: Josephine Moon

Author. Speaker. Teacher. Editor. Manuscript Appraisals.

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Prize Chai!

Karen, your chai is on its way!
Karen, your chai is on its way!

As it’s a rainy day today, I’m ‘pottering’ around and catching up on lots of overdue bits and pieces and have turned my attention to a cute craft task involving tea, of course!

A while ago, I was a guest on Jenn J McLeod’s Bar Yarns talking a little about The Tea Chest and a lot about random things, and I told a story about a chicken. I do love chooks. We used to have five chooks (Chookiyaki, Poppy, Veronica, Rosie and Chloe) but they all came to unfortunate ends, as chooks seem to do. Gosh how I cried over my beautiful, black Chookiyaki!

But, I digress. So, I was in Jenn’s bar and wanted to offer a prize for someone’s great chook story and I chose Karen’s story of the purple chook she got at a school fair.

The tea I’m sending Karen is one of my absolute favourites and definitely the ultimate Masala chai, as far as I’m concerned: Byron Chai.

So, Karen, your chai is on its way to you, finally! Merry Christmas 🙂

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Christmas Appeal: Books 4 Kids

Noddy_(character)-imageOne of my strongest memories of Christmas as a child was the unbelievable anticipation and excitement of unwrapping a brand new Enid Blyton Noddy book. Oh boy. How I loved that little guy and his friends.

Kids and books: they just go together, don’t they?

I’d love to pass on that excitement to another child (other than my own, obviously) so I’m donating books to the Salvation Army’s book appeal through the Sunshine Coast Libraries.

If you don’t live on the Sunshine Coast, there are other ways to get books to children. You could try these links:

The Smith Family

Wesley Mission

Or you could connect with your local op shop, shelter or council to see what’s going on.

Christmas, at its best, is a joyous, imaginative, creative and inspiring time of year. My wish is for every child to receive the lifelong gift of reading.

 

 

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Booksellers: Love Your Local

Since my last post about high tea in Melbourne, I have enjoyed another two events (in Brisbane and Sydney) with booksellers, who are smart, funny and creative people who absolutely LOVE books with all their might. Where in the world would we be without booksellers? I can’t even imagine but I know that’s not a world I want to live in.

You see, I spend a lot of time in bookshops, gazing at books as others might gaze at works of art in a museum, smelling the books (it might be a tad addictive), and writing. I sit quietly in corners, on couches, and sometimes on the floor. I find immense inspiration in the words and images already in print and there’s something just a little bit transcendental about absorbing the best of what surrounds me.

And I also listen (eavesdrop is really too strong a word) to the booksellers. And they are amazing. People come in and ask the most vague or helpless question about a book they want but can’t remember the name of, or about the gift they need to buy for their child/ neighbour/ boss/ crazy uncle, and those booksellers SELL. My word they do. But they don’t just hand over anything. Their passion and belief in a book spills over in their words and gestures and the customer smiles with relief and walks away happy. And I sit there with my notebook/laptop, pulling words from my brain for my next book, and I think, ‘Wow, I hope someone does that for my book one day.’

For me, the greatest part of the high teas was getting to talk to these champions of books and authors and publishers, hear how they constantly reinvent themselves to compete with global markets, and admire their tenacity and wit.

This Christmas, buy books! For everyone in your life, from your mother to your dog. And support the booksellers who are out there every day keeping our books alive.

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Me with my friend, Kathleen, who came with me to Sydney, doing the tourist thing and stopping for a selfie.

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The Tea Chest is alive!

My novel, The Tea Chest, is alive!

Last week I had the fabulous fortune of going to Melbourne and sharing high tea with a gaggle of fabulous women, booksellers in the independent book world. And to my complete surprise, a tier of reading copies of The Tea Chest greeted me upon arrival. I lost the power of speech for a good five minutes! Luckily, there was champagne and delectable goodies to revive me.

Reading copies are given out to booksellers and reviewers prior to the book being finalised and going on sale. So the cover is still not the final cover and the words do not include the final edits. But, gosh, how exciting it was.

I also had the pleasure of staying in the charming Windsor hotel, which was delightful.

Thank you to everyone who came to meet me, hear about my book and share tea. I always knew booksellers were special people but I like you all that much more again.

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GenreCon Wrap-up

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I was at GenreCon in Brisbane on the weekend, just for a day on account of my young child, and sadly missed out on the cocktails and karaoke, which were responsible for a number of red eyes on the Saturday. I was in a bit of a state myself, actually, having just lost my beloved Golden Retriever, Goldie, and I had several vague conversations with people, where words simply would not make their way from my brain to my mouth. Apologies if you were on the receiving end of one of these uncomfortable conversations.

Here are the highlights from that day, during the moments I was actually engaged with life.

  • Chuck Wendig was a special guest at a session on planning and prioritising writing around the complications of life and gave a hilarious account of what it’s like to have multiple book contracts and a toddler running around while trying to work, something I can empathise with wholeheartedly. Gracie Macgregor was also a guest there and equally funny in her accounts of writing and motherhood.
  • It is always delightful to chat to the lovely and funny, Anna Campbell, who managed to cheer me up for a few minutes. Thanks, Anna.
  • I caught up with a former work colleague, a fellow editor where I worked at John Wiley & Sons, Victoria Steele, and her friend, romance writer, Christina Brooke.
  • The food. Can I just say how amazing the food was at GenreCon? Seriously. Great job.
  • I sat in on a workshop with Damon Cavalchini on preparing for reading from my book, The Tea Chest (out in April 2014). I picked up some great tips, including thinking about what I would do if it suddenly began to rain on me in the middle of my reading (has anyone created an Iddy-Biddy-Book-Umbrella?), and also, the benefit of having my own source of light, such as a book light.
  • And it’s always a delight to hear Kimberley Freeman (Dr Kim Wilkins) speak on all topics related to writing.

 

Well done to Meg Vann and Peter M Ball for organising such a great event. I look forward to staying for the festivities next year too.

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Rumi-nating Thoughts

I’m a terrible poet. Absolute rubbish. But I love to listen to it. I can sit and listen to the spoken words of poetry for hours (though I haven’t been able to for years because I’ve been living in the bush… but all of that’s about to change as of next week!).

Rumi
Rumi

While I love listening to poetry, I rarely ever read it, let alone buy it. But today, while working on my structural edit for my forthcoming novel, The Tea Chest, sitting in the lovely Rosetta Books at Maleny, a book off the shelf caught my eye. (I believe books often choose us, not the other way around, and this one certainly did.) It was Rumi, the book of love, a collection of writings and poetry from the 13th century Sufi poet, Jalaluddin Rumi. (I think he may have been ‘trendy’ for a while but I’m generally a few years behind trends. Don’t come to me if you’re looking for the latest cool thing.)

And what a charming little book it is.

Something I love so much about poetry is the way it frees the mind from structural concerns, bends our thoughts and clashes words together in a way that is so fresh and fascinating. I think it bypasses are critical minds and heads straight to the emotions.

I’ve been hopping my way through the book, opening pages randomly. Here are just a few gems that have made me laugh, long and melt.

The ground’s generosity takes in our compost

and grows beauty. Try to be

more like the ground.

You’re song;

a wished-for song.

Put seeds and cover them.

Blades will sprout

where you do your work.

Drive slowly. Some of us

walking alongside are lame.

Keep walking, though there is no place to get to.

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Creative bingeing is just around the corner

The Brisbane Writers Festival program comes out this Friday and my first thought was, oh great!, followed by, gee I wish I actually lived somewhere that had a writers festival. But then, the third thought… I will be living there in just two months time!!!

Dear reader, if you have ever been to this site before (and I feel truly privileged (and surprised) if you have), you will know that I’ve been living that stereotypical renovation nightmare for the past nine months. And if you have ever read my ‘about me’ page, you’ll see that I live on the Sunshine Coast. Except that I don’t! And do you know why it says that? Because when I wrote that page, I believed I would be living there in a few weeks time. And every month that’s gone by since, I’ve thought, oh, why change it now because I’ll be there in a few weeks time.

Well, at long last I will be returning to the land of creative smorgasbords after toughing it out in the bush for five and a half years. Now, you may be one of those ‘born of the land’ types that loves the isolation, the fact that you’ve got no where to spend your money, and that you see more snakes, crocodiles, kangaroos and bunyips than you do other people. But I’m not. And honestly ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????I think it’s a freaking miracle that I’ve managed to write a novel that was accepted for publication in the time I’ve been living here in sensory starvation. Because I need bookshops, cafes, theatre, food festivals, music festivals, folk festivals, drumming classes, yoga classes, dance classes, and some sort of social event that requires me to wear more than track pants (uh huh, yup) and Ugg boots.

And a gym!!! Oh gosh… a real gym with machines and childcare. Oh, and perhaps a supermarket? Yes, that would be great too. A movie cinema. Oh, come on, now you’re spoiling me! Indian/Greek/Thai/Italian food? A multi-million-dollar library (that has an actual cafe in it?!?!!?) Stop!! It’s too much!!!

And what about a world-class beach lifestyle? World heritage national parks? Sailing? Fresh fish? Farmers markets? Mmmm….. that will be me in just two months time.

The date is set. The boxes are packing. The furniture is selling. I’m drowning in a billion admin tasks. And I am saying goodbye to the red earth, the emerald-green grass, three-hundred-and-sixty-degree views, the wallabies that greet me on the driveway, the sound of my horses as they gallop across the open fields*, the pair of red-rumped parrots that come and sit on the verandah and chat away as though they’ve been married longer than we have, the numerous shopkeepers who know my name and what I want (even if they can’t get it for me), the people who sell fruit off the back of their ute on the side of the road, and the first home of our married life and our baby’s life.

I’m saying goodbye, I’m feeling the sadness… but oh gosh I’m getting excited about the creative bingeing I’m going to do when I get to the other side. I’m about to go on the biggest binge you’ve ever seen. You may have to organise an intervention to get me out from under the paint brushes, coconut milk cappucinos and henna tattoo heaven.

 

(*my horses are coming too, it’s just that they’ll have hills instead of wide open plains and there’ll be far less galloping and a lot more ambling and puffing up the slopes)

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Check out Sue Williams and Father Bob

It’s so lovely when authors help each other and this week I was once again gifted with some wisdom from of Australia’s prolific, talented and best-selling authors.

The scary thing about getting your first big publishing break(s) is that you’ve finally managed to scramble your way up into another level of achievement, only to have to kind of start from the bottom again as you attempt to write like, you know, a professional.

fatherbob_lrgI am very grateful to author, Sue Williams (latest book, Father Bob: The Larrikin Priest), for taking time out from her terrifying deadline this week to talk to me about the processes and quandaries of non-fiction writing and to share a bit of coaching as I work through my first major non-fiction book, to be published by Penguin in 2015.

My non-fiction book is about horses. And as a huge animal lover, I hope to write lots of animal-themed books over my career. But I have to get this one right first! So it was really reassuring to be able to quiz Sue one-on-one to check in with her and myself to make sure I was on the right track.

Please visit Sue at her website and check out her extensive collection of bestselling Australian books. Father Bob is sitting beside my bed right now waiting for me to get through the pile and I’m really looking forward to it 🙂

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A shameful secret

I have a confession to make.

In the spirit of Liane Moriarty‘s latest novel, The Husband’s Secret, I have decided to reveal a shameful secret. Actually, just to be self-indulgent, I will reveal two secrets.

First, Bold and the Beautiful is my guilty pleasure. I’m watching it right now! (I know, I know…)

Husband'sSecret_AusBut not only that, I have for the first time in my entire life done something awful. I skipped to the end of The Husband’s Secret to find out what the secret was. Yes, it’s true. Why? Because the tension in this book is utterly excruciating and I actually thought I might DIE if I didn’t relieve just a little of the pressure from this intense and masterful tale.

Around seven years ago, I was sitting with a group of fellow editors. We all worked in a publishing house in Brisbane and we were talking about books (of course) and do you know what? Half of the people in that circle confessed to regularly skipping to the end of the book to find out what happens to decide if it was worth reading. Half!!!! As an aspiring author, I was distraught! And these were editors, no less. They should know better!!!

But here I was, just a few days ago, lying in bed, well past bedtime, in writhing agony of the unknown and what did I do… exactly the same.

Shame, Josie, shame.

If you’re into compelling secrets, fantastic writing, clever dialogue, humour and very human tales, you won’t be disappointed in Liane Moriarty’s latest offering. Though I certainly do not recommend it for reading before bed. Not if you ever want to sleep before turning the final page.

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Delighting in Sensual Joys to Nourish the Brain

I had a full body creative light bulb moment yesterday.

small thingsI found the most heavenly store on the weekend, Simple Things Small Joys in Cabarlah in Qld. This was most definitely MY kind of store, which I proved by walking out with French linen cushions with feather inserts, hand-made olive soap balls, French country quilts and a few other cute knick knacks. Simple Things Small Joys is in the loft space above Black Forest Hill, boasting Australia’s largest display of German cuckoo clocks and grandfather clocks. Black Forest Hill is easily spotted from the New England Highway, around 20 minutes outside Toowoomba, and is a great little spot to visit anyway.

Simple Things Small Joys is filled with all the things I love but so rarely ever invest in because I am ‘too sensible’. Why would I buy a French country styled quilt when I don’t actually need one? The answer, as I am slowly coming to accept, is because I love it and it brings me joy.

We are currently working through a massive renovation of a 100-year-old Queensland workers cottage on the Sunshine Coast and, truly, it would almost have been easier to build a new one from scratch. But what it means is that we get to start again, find a new style we love, a consistent, nurturing, beautiful style. French country. It’s what makes our hearts sing.

I recently started meditating again (and realised the last time I did so was the night before my baby was born and therefore more than 10 months ago!). And I started with a small (sixteen minutes) daily themed meditation program put together by Oprah and Deepak Chopra. Well, one of the themes for the day focused on your external environment. Yes, I think we all know by now that clutter has a negative impact on our psyche, but what I really got out of that meditation was Deepak’s explanation that surrounding ourselves with the sights, sounds, smells and textures of things that bring us joy actually nourishes our brains. And your brain can’t work very well if you don’t nurture it.

small things2Big. Lightbulb. Moment. I could instantly see the metaphor of beauty as food for our brain. We all know we need to eat well in order to function at our best and what our brain is crying out for is its own version of food. You couldn’t expect your car to run without petrol. You couldn’t expect to live without eating. Yet so often we expect our brains to work doing the millions of things it does every hour of the day without giving it what it needs. Joy. Love. Stimulation. Sensory input. And of course, if you’re familiar with Julia Cameron (I know, I know, I bang on about her all the time, but seriously, she’s brilliant) you’ll know that your inner artist needs these things too.

I’m also coming to accept that I’m a bona fide artist now. You know, with a paid writing gig. So it’s actually imperative that I stock the well with creative goodness if I expect my brain to expel some of that onto the page.

So when I found the gorgeous Simple Things Small Joys on the weekend, I faffed around thinking, oh I’ll just buy a soap, for about half an hour before coming to the realisation. Why am I buying soap when what my heart and brain really want is the linen? It’s a bit like craving a chocolate, and you think, oh but I don’t need the chocolate. I’ll just go and eat a banana, and a biscuit, and a pizza, and a glass of wine… and a million calories later you still want the chocolate so you eat it too. Just eat the chocolate! Or in my case, buy the linen. So I did. And I love it 🙂small things charms

If you get a chance (and you’re into this kind of thing), I can’t recommend highly enough a visit to Angela Oament at Simple Things Small Joys. You won’t be disappointed!

(And no, I didn’t get paid to say that. I just like to share the joy!)