Karen Comer

Ten Australian summer quotes

February 23, 2016 by Karen Comer 4 Comments

Last week of summer, and it’s hot. Of course, being Melbourne, summer may not finish until the end of March or it could feel like winter next week. But right now, it’s summer.

Because my children’s novel is set in Melbourne in February and March, I am spending a bit of time this week to write down quick notes on summer. That sweaty patch on the back of your thin cotton dress, after you’ve been sitting in a basketball stadium for an hour. The hot heads of my kids when I collect them from school in the afternoon. The distant sound of kids’ laughter rising above the splashes from the pool. Hot pink nail polish peeking from turquoise sandals. My kids complaining about going to bed ‘when it’s still light, Mum!’ City filled with girls in barely-there strappy dresses. Boys wearing shorts of every clashable pattern imaginable. The sweet, fruity taste of homemade mango ice-cream.

I found these ten passages from books both old and new, which provide a diverse way of describing the Australian summer. I’ve added the title of the book, the author and the publication date at the very end of the post, in case you want to play a guessing game.

The heat was excessive. Every window and door were open, and the balmy, almost imperceptible, zephyrs which faintly rustled the curtains and kissed our perspiration-beaded brows were rich with many scents from the wide old flower-garden, which, despite the drought, brought forth a wealth of blossom.
She is putting on her new bikini that she nicked from Grace Brothers last week. She is rubbing coconut oil into her legs. She is smearing gloss on her lips.
Outside, the property is yellowed and browned from summer. The only green is in the beds immediately around the house. Even the leaves on the eucalypts, the silver strinybarks and lemon scented, are dulled from the heat and the dust.
I still suffered greatly from the heat, and on hot bright nights would smear my skin with citronella, take a rug, and go and lie on my back on the lawn.
Will you look at us by the river! The whole restless mob of us on spread blankets in the dreamy briny sunshine skylarking and chiacking about for one day, one clear, clean, sweet day in a good world in the midst of our living.
It’s almost the end of February and instead of getting cooler the weather gets more humid as the days go by. Because of the heat, the only thing I was looking forward to at Nonna’s place was the swimming pool.
Saturday afternoon was the great afternoon of the week in Plymouth Street. The factory girls washed their hair and did it up in perforated aluminium curlers, put on old print dresses with sagging necklines and torn pockets, and sat on the peeling, cocoa-coloured balconies of the tenements, beating off the flies and saying: ‘Gawd, ain’t it hot!’
In January days stretch out
With lots to do and find
We feel the sand, we tie the bait
We swim, we play, we stay up late
And no one seems to mind.
A time for games and sunny weather
Mum and Dad and us together.
It’s too hot, but I like the way the heat makes my arms feel like they’re full of warm oil, and sweat runs down them in sheets soaking the sides of my singlet.
Lunch was lazily discussed close to the water, after which they lay about on the bank and talked of many things. Nobody was inclined to move, for the heat, even at the river, was very great; a still, thunderous day, on which no shade could keep out the moist heat, that seemed, as Wally put it, “to get into your very bones and make them lazy.”

Did I miss any quintessential summer books? Did you match any quotes with titles or authors?

1. My brilliant career, Miles Franklin, 1901. 2. Closed for winter, Georgia Blain, 1998. 3. In the quiet, Eliza Henry Jones, 2015. 4. Tirra Lirra by the river, Jessica Anderson, 1978. 5. Cloudstreet, Tim Winton, 1991. 6. Looking for Alibrandi, Melina Marchetta, 1992. 7. The harp in the south, Ruth Park, 1948. 8. All through the year, Jane Godwin/Anna Walker, 2010. 9. All the birds singing, Evie Wyld, 2013. 10. Mates at Billabong, Mary Grant Bruce, 1911.

The diver’s clothes lie empty – book review

February 19, 2016 by Karen Comer 12 Comments

This is the first time I’ve read a novel written in second person. I’ve read a couple of short stories written this way, and I’ve attempted to write one myself and failed miserably. The tutor in my online short story class and several of the other students told me it just didn’t work.

Cate Kennedy wrote a fabulous short story, ‘Dark roots’ in her short story collection of the same name about a woman who started seeing a much younger man.

For a while now, you’ve avoided looking at yourself in the full-length mirror in the bathroom by neglecting to put the ventilation fan on. You hurry to dry yourself and get out of there before the mirror unsteams. Life, if we hold it up to the light, contains many of these foolish rituals. Like the one you notice lately where you always turn off the bedside lamp before you slide into bed with him, and the way you don’t wear your glasses at the movies.

Danielle Wood wrote the prologue ‘The good mother’ in her Mothers Grimm in second person.

So your partner moves out, just as your maternity leave expires. Your plan had been to go back to work part-time, but now that you’re a single mother you have to work full-time to afford childcare for two kids. The economics of this confuse you, but you’re too busy thinking about how you’re going to manage to worry about that as well.

Danielle told me in one of her writing classes that the secret to writing in second person was to make sure you were saying something specific to a specific someone.

It makes sense, doesn’t it, because often in conversation we use second person. ‘So you know how easy it is to forget where you put your keys? If you’re driving the other car and you don’t put the keys in the door pocket when you strap the kids in? Or if you’re wearing clothes with no pockets? That’s when it happens to you – you forget where you put your keys.’

Even though it’s not often used in novels, it’s still a familiar kind of voice. Or maybe it’s just me, talking to myself!

The diver’s clothes lie empty by Vendela Vida is a novel written completely in second person. It’s about a young woman who is travelling by herself and has her passport, money and identification stolen as soon as she arrives at her hotel in Casablanca. This is the catalyst for a series of events which take her further and further away from her life as she knew it.

I couldn’t help but like the main character, even though I wanted to yell at her for being so gullible. A perfect character – flawed and loveable.

The writing style drew me in, deep into her day-to-day dramas living without identification in a foreign country and also deep into her past which is gradually revealed.

You are picturing yourself at seventy, looking back on your youth. You will remember that you were young once, that you were thirty-three. You were in a movie in Casablanca. Now that you are on the cusp of being a full-fledged adult, as you now see adulthood, your youth has been documented. Your youth will be defined by the events of the last several months.

If you are looking for something different to read, then this book might be for you.

Read any other short stories or novels written in second person? Does this style appeal to you?

Thank you, SP, for this Christmas present – great choice!

The life-changing magic of tidying up – book review

February 16, 2016 by Karen Comer 8 Comments

As you may know, our family moved out of our home of twelve years last month and into a smaller apartment. We’re renovating our home, and fingers crossed, we’ll be back in before Christmas this year.

And as all of you know, moving house means touching EVERY SINGLE ITEM. The clothes that the kids have outgrown. The one special kinder painting of a sunflower. The cake decorating cricket set I used for Mr 12’s 7th birthday cake which may or may not be used for Mr 6. Every single water glass, wine glass and coffee mug. And that honours thesis on nineteenth-century women writers in the filing cabinet – everyone has one of those, yes?

And the books. Goodness, the books in our house!

We culled so much, and it’s lovely to live with less. Many trips to St Vinnie’s to drop off objects that someone else might be able to use. Many garbage bags full of rubbish. A few things – including our dishwasher! – dropped off to friends and family.

I wouldn’t call myself sentimental – I prefer space to stuff – except when it comes to books, of course. But I do live with four other people, and sometimes one person’s rubbish is another person’s treasure.

So, I found the words from Marie Kondo’s book echoing in my head all December and January. I’d read her first book, The life-changing magic of tidying up, the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing last year but I read it again, and also read her second book Spark joy, an illustrated guide to the Japanese art of tidying.

Marie writes in an accessible, almost conversational manner and tells many stories about clients who cannot see the floor of their house because of all the clutter. She’s not preachy but passionate about the joys of tidying-up. And honest – ‘the process of facing and selecting our possessions can be quite painful. It forces us to confront our imperfections and inadequacies and the foolish choices we made in the past’.

She has many concepts:

if you can tidy up, you can change your life
you only need to do it once – properly
most people make the mistake of clearing by location – bedroom, kitchen, family-room, hall cupboard – but it’s more effective to clean by type – clothes, books, papers, miscellaneous items like kitchen ware, linen, hobby materials, then finally sentimental items.
you need to hold every object in your hands – hug it, even
you need to ask yourself, for every object – does this spark joy?

I have to agree with most of her ideas. In the past, I would have used logic to declutter – is this useful? Would we miss this item? But intuition – for me, anyway – is a far more accurate measure of how I feel about most things, and decluttering is no exception.

Be warned – some of her detailed views on folding clothes and thanking your discarded items might be viewed as quite extreme!

‘I had been so focused on what to discard, on attacking the unwanted obstacles around me, that I had forgotten to cherish the things that I loved, the things I wanted to keep. Through this experience, I came to the conclusion that the best way to choose what to keep and what to throw away is to take each item in one’s hand and ask:”Does this spark joy?” If it does, keep it. If not, dispose of it. This is not only the simplest but also the most accurate yardstick by which to judge.’

Like many things, a cluttered or minimalistic-style house is subjective – I’m sure I have friends who would think my house is cluttered and equally, friends who think my house is tidy.

Apart from slowly seeing how her approach has worked for me (so far, I’ve completed sorted our clothes and books), what I love most about her philosophy is the mindfulness aspect. Why surround ourselves with stuff which is meaningless or useless? Why spend time and energy storing or tripping over items which hold no personal value? Why shouldn’t we surround ourselves with only items that bring joy?

Let me know what you think about decluttering in the comments!

Stella list for 2016

February 12, 2016 by Karen Comer 8 Comments

The Stella longlist for 2016 came out this week, and it is a fantastic list of wonderful books by Australian women. So if you are a reader or belong to a bookclub or want to support Australian female authors, this list is for you!

The Stella Prize was set up three years ago to shine a light on contemporary Australian female writers, and showcase diversity and cultural change. It includes fiction and non-fiction books. Previous winners have included Carrie Tiffany for Mateship with birds (2013), Clare Wright for The forgotten rebels of Eureka (2014) and Emily Bitto for The strays (2015). As for the judges’ criteria – ‘the winning book will be excellent, original and engaging.’

The Stella prize is named after Stella Maria Sarah ‘Miles’ Franklin who worked hard during her lifetime to write and promote Australian literature, and left funds for a literary prize in her will.

This is the longlist for 2016. The shortlist will be announced on March 10, and the Stella Prize awarded on April 19.

The women’s pages by Debra Adelaide
The other side of the world by Stephanie Bishop
Panthers and the museum of fire by Jen Craig
Six bedrooms by Tegan Bennett Daylight
Hope Farm by Peggy Frew
A few days in the country: And other stories by Elizabeth Harrower
A guide to Berlin by Gail Jones
The world without us by Mireille Juchau
A short history of Richard Kline by Amanda Lohrey
Anchor Point by Alice Robinson
The natural way of things by Charlotte Wood
Small acts of disappearance: Essays on hunger by Fiona Wright

I have read three of the twelve shortlisted books – The women’s pages, The other side of the world and The natural way of things – and enjoyed all three of them. Think I will read Hope Farm soon because my friend Carolyn who is a prolific and savvy reader told me she had read and enjoyed it, and also Six bedrooms, a short story collection because I am a short story writer. Then I’ll see whether I can read the others throughout the year!

If you are interested in women writers, Nicole Melanson has a fabulous blog at Word Mothers with regular interviews with women writers. I love reading about how these women fit in writing among jobs and family, seeing photos of their writing spaces and reading about their journey to publication. It’s also a great place to find some new books to read. I admire the wide variety of authors and genres Nicole provides.

Have you read any of these Stella books? Do you have a prediction for the winner? Or do you have any favourite women writers for Nicole to interview?

The stars at Oktober Bend – book review

February 9, 2016 by Karen Comer 6 Comments

Miss 9 and I had a girls’ afternoon out on the weekend – we do like to leave our boys behind and go to places likes cafes, craft classes, cheese shops and gardens every now and again – and went to a fabulous book launch at Readings. We were there for the launch of The stars at Oktober Bend by Glenda Millard, her latest young adult book. Miss 9 was there to ask Glenda to sign her first book from the Kingdom of Silk series.

There was cheese, there was champagne, and then the formalities. An Allen and Unwin editor introduced the book, then Mike Shuttleworth from Readings told us why he loved it. I agreed with his point about Glenda offering a different sensibility, a different way of viewing the world.

Glenda’s book is told from the point of view of fifteen-year-old Alice who has an acquired brain injury. She has difficulty voicing her thoughts but writes them beautifully in poems, which she leaves around her small Australian town for strangers to find. Manny finds them. He is a refugee, a child soldier who is trying to establish a new life in Australia.

The book is written entirely in lower case, as we see everything through Alice’s eyes, with small sections of the book in Manny’s voice. Despite my last post about editing your own work and the importance of communicating clearly, the lower case writing draws us immediately into Alice’s way of seeing – might not be correct grammar but it expresses Alice’s voice authentically. A perfect pairing.

I’ve lost count of how many books I’ve read and owned by Glenda. What I love about her writing are the characters and her language. Miss 9 and I told Glenda we would like to live with the Silk family – those characters are so creative, sensitive, brave and thoughtful. And Alice is a beacon for every teenager on the outsider, everyone struggling to express themselves aloud, for every young adult on the brink of falling in love. As for her language, this is one of Alice’s poems:

and when he comes
i will
pass to him
new poems
on fine white pages
sonnets and songs
rows of notes
for words to waltz to
and when he reads them he will
know that i am
more
than twelve
more
than broken much
more
he will take
my hand press my fingers
gently into his
scarred places and i
will know their meaning.

Or this is her voice –

there were fewer silences than there might have been during that first shared meal. hope prised open the tiny doors of my caged heart. twice now manny had seen me fitting. twice he had not turned his back. he had listened to fragments of my stumbling speech and begged me to speak again. his wanting to listen made no difference to my speech. it was no clearer, quicker or more fluent. my words did not sound like birdsong or poetry. but many watched me and waited while i spoke. asked me when he didn’t understand. laughed with us when we laughed at my mumblings and his misunderstandings. that night we had everything we needed – food for our hunger and conversation for our souls.

And lest you think that this book is just about stars and poems, the last section is so gripping you will not be able to put it down. Promise. This is a beautiful book for the young adult in your life – it will encourage them to look at poetry, the evocative language will expand their vocabulary and the story of two outsiders will make their world a little larger.

Glenda told Miss 9 about the next three books she was writing – we both can’t wait to read them.

How to edit your own work

February 5, 2016 by Karen Comer 11 Comments

This one is for everyone. I mean it – we all write emails for work and pleasure, reports, invitations, small business newsletters, website copy, design ideas for clients, brochures, tenders, essays, reviews, letters to teachers, complaints to corporations, blog posts etc. And whether we’re talking about a Good Reads review or a tender for a 1.4 million dollar deal or coordinating the next family weekend away, we are all writing to communicate.

Clear, concise language which expresses exactly why you are the best person for the job or the details of the next school function or why your organisation offers the best services enables you to present your best self, your dazzling research skills, your most convincing arguments, your best creative ideas or showcase your fabulous resources.

Editing your own work is tough. We know what we want to say, so it’s hard to review our own writing because sometimes what we read are our thoughts, not necessarily what is on the page.

Here are my top 7 tips for editing your own writing:

Write your first draft and then put it aside for at least a day, if not longer.
Read your writing aloud. Slowly. Listen for any unnecessary words or words that have been left out. If you stumble on a phrase, check it again and rewrite if necessary.
Ask yourself – who is my audience? Yes, it sounds like you are back at school, but if you have a picture in your mind of who you are writing for, you will communicate with more authenticity and directness. Is it your family, deciding who is bringing which salad to dinner? Is it one specific client, who has specific needs or is it a general audience who may stumble across your website? Is it your manager or is it the whole division? This makes a difference.
Decide on the purpose of your writing. Yes, another schoolish tip but it’s important. Are you trying to convince your manager to change an aspect of your workload? Do you want to persuade your child’s school to spend money in a certain direction? Do you want to convince a health spa that your massage voucher should be honoured, even if it is four days overdue? Are you explaining to a government department why your business has the necessary resources to run their new program? What is it you are trying to communicate?
Work out your tone. Are you being friendly, trying to organise wayward family members into bringing three different types of dessert for the long weekend celebration? Are you being a voice of authority, directing readers to concrete information? Are you trying to convince your manager with research and arguments? Are you opting for a friendly yet persuasive tone in your newsletter to encourage your clients to sign up for another service?
Delete any words like ‘actually’ or ‘just’. Consider these examples – ‘I was just hoping you could maybe think about reducing my work hours.’ Really? You’re hoping or you’re not hoping. There’s no ‘just.’ Think about this one – ‘Actually, I had an idea for a new venue for the school Easter lunch/work function/family reunion.’ Really? You actually had an idea about this? Do not sell yourself short. Women, in particular, are prone to adding in these justifying or diluting words. Tara Mohr has a fabulous post on this.
Check your spelling, grammar and punctuation. Use your dictionary! You want your audience to receive your message clearly – poor spelling and punctuation can dilute your message and distract your reader.

And of course, these tips can be watered down for kids as well. Never too early to start communicating clearly!

If you find this post useful, I would be grateful if you could pass this on to others via Facebook, Twitter or email.

February plans – and a blog award

February 2, 2016 by Karen Comer 6 Comments

a simple mind map with questions (what when where why how who) to solve a problem posted with colorful sticky notes on cork board

Yesterday was bliss – I had a whole six hours to myself. And it’s going to happen again and again and again for the rest of the term! And even though there will be editing work and domestic chores in there, I’ll have time for writing.

After eight weeks of school holidays, I’m itching to start again with my writing. I wrote some daily writing exercises and submitted one short story into a competition over the holidays, but I didn’t have the head space or the time (especially with moving house) to do much writing.

But now I have space, time and quiet.

So February is for finishing the latest draft of my first children’s book, currently called ‘If I dare’. I’m 90% there – I need to pull everything together, weave in all the loose threads, add a bit of sparkle to it. I spent yesterday reading it and making notes of any weaknesses – very analytical, very left brain. Now I’m trying to use the right side of my brain and go with the flow, loosen up, daydream, walk, mindmap, brainstorm, ask lots of questions, write on a million post-it notes so I can come up with some ideas to sort out these weak points once and for all!

I’m also planning to submit a short story to another competition, plus I’ll continue working on the online writing course my lovely husband gave me as a Christmas present. (Yes, I know – some girls like jewellery and handbags for Christmas – I really like those types of presents too, but I love writing courses even more!)

This week I received a lovely surprise – a blog award from Kelly at Fred and Pepper’s Place blog! I really enjoyed Kelly’s last post about following her word of the year. The details of the award are below, and even though I’m not really sure of the protocol, I’m going to jump in and nominate some fabulous blogs to pass the award on.

Unknown-1

Thank the person that nominated you and provide a link to their blog.

List the rules.
Display the award on your post of the award.
List seven facts about yourself.
Nominate 15 bloggers for this award and comment on one of their posts to let them know you have nominated them.

Unknown-2

I have written stories since I was six.
I used to collect sharpeners when I was a kid – had over 100 of them!
I used to drink coffee but now love a chai latte.
I (try) to meditate every morning.
I was an after-school-care coordinator for five years while I was at uni.
I am quite particular about the state of my pantry!
I first spotted my husband at a church dance when I was 16 and asked my friend, ‘Who is that guy?’

Unknown

Some lovely blogs to look at:

Carolyn @ Iris and Edie

Emily @ Squiggle and Swirl

Annette @ I give you the verbs

Deanna @ Miss bits and pieces

I met these creative girls though an online course, and have now met them a couple of times for coffee. Enjoy their creative blogs!

Reading widely

January 29, 2016 by Karen Comer 14 Comments

I went to a fabulous seminar at Writers Victoria this week, presented by Danielle Binks about reading widely for writers. It may seem a little odd to think that writers need a tutorial about reading, because after all, if you write books, then it must surely follow that you read books and would hardly need to be told how to do so. Yet as Danielle explained, writers usually fall into two categories of readers – we either read only in our own genre or read too narrowly within our own genre.

When I look back on my reading list for last year, I can see that I read mainly middle grade fiction, adult fiction that would probably be classified as women’s fiction, a little bit of young adult fiction, and non-fiction about creativity and parenting. So plenty of room to add crime fiction, science fiction, fantasy, biographies, autobiographies, historical fiction. And even though there is so much room for improvement in this area, I think I need to read more widely in middle grade fiction, for 8-12 year-old readers.

I love my monthly bookclub meetings – mainly for the lovely friendships but also because I read books that I haven’t heard of before.

And why, you may ask, is all this important? Well, Danielle explained that if you only read in your own genre, you will never break beyond it, you will only be a pale imitation of the best writers in your field. Seems to me that it is true in any field.

I remember watching Australian Story a couple of years ago and seeing Professor Graeme Clark, who invented the cochlear implant, explain how he came across his brilliant idea. He was sitting on a beach, turning over a shell in his hand and observing how blades of grass were flexible enough to reach all the way inside it. He could see how similar the shell was to an ear, and he knew then how to solve the last piece of the puzzle. If he had stayed in his lab, ignoring the beach, he would not have changed the lives of thousands of deaf people.

Back to reading and writing – how can you write an original book if you are living and breathing the narrow world of your genre?

I think reading widely is true for kid readers, too. One of the greatest gifts reading can give anyone is a sense of compassion. You can understand the deaf protagonist’s perspective, you live the life of the athlete who was never quite good enough, you become the mother living hundreds of years ago who lost half her babies in childbirth, you understand the protagonist who was brought up by an alcoholic father. For kids, reading can offer insights into the home life of a school bully, into the feelings of the kid who can never keep up at school, into the thoughts of the kid who is never invited to parties. And if you read the same sort of book all the time, your world is narrow, and your compassion is limited.

So, I intend to read more widely this year to become not only a better writer but a more compassionate person! Anyone else have any reading plans for yourself or your kids this year? Or a book recommendation to help me read more widely?

Books for starting school and kinder

January 26, 2016 by Karen Comer 10 Comments

So, I’ve had a great break from the usual rhythm of life, and we’ve moved house. Our ‘real’ house is now a shell of its former self – and I mean that literally! The back has been demolished and there are holes in walls where new doorways will fit. I’ll tell you more about that in a later post. I’ve had sporadic internet access for two weeks so I’ve had a longer blogging break than I expected. But now I’m set up at my new desk – a lovely long desk that spans the length of our dining room with more storage than I’ve had before. So it’s time to start blogging again, and what better way to start than to discuss books about starting school?

We have a small collection of picture books about starting school, and I have read them to each of my three kids during the January holidays before they started their first day at school. I think it’s quite comforting to know (as an adult or kid) that there are other people going through similar experiences to you, regardless of whether those people are real or characters in a book. Below is a list of a few picture books where the main theme is starting school. I’ve also included a picture book about starting kinder and a couple of chapter books where the protagonist is starting a new school for older readers.

Tom and Small, written and illustrated by Clara Vulliamy – a lovely picture book about a boy called Tom who is starting his first day at school. He confesses all his worries to his soft toy mouse, Small. He doesn’t sleep very well that night and falls into a dream where he becomes as small as Small, and they have many adventures, including flying a toy plane to Tom’s school, where he tells Small, ‘”I can see my peg with my name on it, all ready for me … and where I’ll sit, and a special place for all my things.”‘ Tom manages beautifully at school the next day, and sees a tiny sign that perhaps his adventures with Small were more than a dream. The illustrations are sweet and I love the combination of real life fears mixed in with magic and adventure.

Starting school, written by Jane Godwin and illustrated by Anna Walker – Jane and Anna are a talented author/illustrator combination and have collaborated on quite a few books together. This gorgeously illustrated picture book tells the story of five children starting school, with different headings for each page like ‘getting to know people’, ‘in the playground’ and ‘snack time’. Like any wonderful picture book, the illustrations and text work in tandem, and it’s hard to describe one without the other. I love the picture of Sunita writing on a blackboard in front of her soft toys – ‘”Is everybody listening?” Sunita asks.’ I can imagine this book appealing to all kids starting school – Mr 6 pulled it off the pile on my desk to read it again – ‘even though I don’t need it ‘cos I’m in grade one now!’ The five characters have the universal fears and hopes of all kids, but are different enough in their personalities to be interesting.

Splat the cat, written and illustrated by Rob Scotton – Splat is a larger than life character and fills the page both visually and with his personality. He is starting cat school and doesn’t want to get out of bed. ‘If I hide from the day, maybe it’ll go away, he thought. It didn’t.’ Put your hands up if you can identify with Splat now – yes, we have all wanted to hide from the day! Splat comes up with one excuse after the other, but his mum drags him to school, along with his pet mouse, Seymour. Splat’s teacher teaches all the cats in her class that cats chase mice – a big problem when the class discovers Seymour. Luckily, Splat and Seymour save the day, and Splat doesn’t need any excuses to avoid school the next day. A funny, funny book with memorable illustrations and a great character.

Just Jack, written and illustrated by Jane Tanner – this one is about a boy starting kinder. To alleviate his fears, Jack dresses up in his superhero costume. It makes him feel fearless, and he has a great first day at kinder, coming home covered in water and sand. Mum wants to wash his superhero costume – Jack refuses. Jack eats birthday cake, makes mud pies and paints over the next few days at kinder in his superhero costume and refuses to let mum wash it, despite all the mess. Eventually mum wins the battle and Jack has to go to kinder as ‘just Jack’ with no superhero costume. He realises that he can still have fun at kinder as ‘just Jack’. I think this story is for every parent who has eventually washed a food or dirt covered dress-up costume after a battle to put it in the washing machine!

Truly Tan, written by Jen Storer, illustrated by Clare Robertson – this chapter book is for 7-10 year-olds. Tan has moved house with her family and faces life at a new school in the country. Her new teacher is called Miss Dragone, her first show and share with a cat skeleton did not go down well and she was kept in at recess for sticking out her tongue at a boy. Tan ‘stares out the window. The sun is shining and the sky is blue and I wonder what they are doing back at my old school. I bet they’re not doing long division. Or stupid carnivores. Or being kept in at recess. Oh, yes, it was a nice old school, my old school …’

The naming of Tishkin Silk, written by Glenda Millard, illustrated by Caroline Magerl – this is the first book in one of my favourite series. This chapter book for 7-10 year-olds is not all about a new school but because the main character, Griffin, faces a hard time at his new school, it is worth mentioning here. Griffin is a boy with long hair, his clothes aren’t right and he’s been homeschooled by his Mama, who is now in hospital. I love how Griffin remains absolutely himself, despite the taunts from the class bully.

I hope that these books are useful for you if you have a little one starting school or kinder. I’m always happy to lend out our books to local readers – let me know if you’d like to borrow a book. And I hope that you had a lovely summer holiday break and found time to read some wonderful books. I’m looking forward to writing blog posts about the books I’m reading, the books my kids are reading, my writing and editing projects, and the odd post here and there about life in general. I did a little bit of blog planning over the holidays and have mapped out some ideas. If there are any bookish topics you’d like me to cover – craft, parenting, cookbooks, helping kids to read or write, writing for yourself – please let me know in the comments. Thank you for following my blog!

2015 wrap-up

January 1, 2016 by Karen Comer 6 Comments

It is the time of the year to become introspective and reflect on the year that has been. I love doing this – maybe it’s a writer’s way of pulling all the loose narrative threads together into a seamless whole. Not that my life is a perfectly plotted story and surely it is not completely finalised yet!

The strong plot of 2015 was my writing. As my youngest kid started school this year, I’ve had more time than I’ve ever had before to write. A pivotal plot point happened in June, when I pitched my first children’s book to six publishers at a literary speed dating session. (Note: I have never speed-dated and it has been over twenty years since I have dated anyone other than my husband!) All six publishers said yes to reading the first three chapters. I walked away feeling euphoric, that those six yeses had validated four years of hard work. Since then, three publishers have said no – still waiting to hear back from the other three publishers.

The writing thread intensified in November, when I wrote the second book in my children’s series – 55,638 words in a month. As the heroine of my own story, I had no idea I was capable of writing so much, so quickly. Empowering!

And my writing path veered slightly to the left when I launched my website and blog, thanks to the talented and patient Lisa Bevan. I’m so grateful to everyone who has subscribed, commented or passed on the link to a friend.

Of course, the cast of characters for 2015 includes my ever supportive and encouraging husband, plus Mr 12, Miss 9 and Mr 6 – a wonderful set of quirky, creative, curious characters. Added to that, a lovely bunch of friends and family who add so much love and laughter to my days.

There were a few sub-themes to keep the pace moving along – we completed the plans for our renovation and look forward to the building part in 2016. And there were the usual kid sporting commitments to keep me grounded and out of my ivory tower – does Mr 12 really need to play basketball five times a week? Apparently so!

No worthwhile book is without conflict but I’m very lucky 2015 was light on with drama. I’m disappointed the literary speed dating session hasn’t led to a publishing contract, and I’m disappointed I missed out on a mentorship program. And there were the usual run of the mill illnesses and broken-down car issues and we’ve run out of fruit for school lunch boxes type of dramas. Nothing too serious.

I hope 2015 was a wonderful year for you and that 2016 is ………….. (insert word of choice here) for you.

I’m going to take a break from blogging for a few weeks while we have a week away, then move house. I’ll be back at the end of January. Happy new year!