Currawong Manor

Lost Paris

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Currawong Manor is in its final stages but I’m still working through several strands and twists of the book. This is a larger baby than Poet’s Cottage and I’m loving escaping into my 1940s world in the Blue Mountains. The days have been drizzly and grey – perfect writing or reading weather for me.

It’s my birthday this weekend and although I shall be spending it in my writing shed I can’t think of a better way to spend my day. That’s really the best thing about writing – crafting words and storytelling is breath and life to me.

And on the subject of breath and life, last weekend we met up with my beautiful friend Belinda Alexandra and her family to see this exhibition Lost Paris by Eugene Atget at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. It’s on until November 4th and well worth a look if you’re in Sydney. Eugene Atget inspired the Surrealists, Man Ray amongst others. His images document a city before Haussmann’s modernisation of Parisian streets in the 19th century. His images are haunting and every so often you see figures within them that look like ghosts.

If you enjoy reading Kate Mosse you will really appreciate this show.I’ve just read Mosse’s Winter Ghosts and it contains the spirit of these evocative images. I loved Atget’s work because he captures the everyday in a magical sense. Whilst there I ran into more friends of mine and Tim joined us in the cafe together discussing art, magic, writing and lots of stimulating topics

 

Afterwards we wandered through the botanical gardens and saw cockatoos drinking from water fountains, scarecrows and plump kookaburras. No melancholic, haunted streets of Paris, but dazzling blue Sydney sky. The light was perfect.

Thank you for visiting me. Keep creative.  And here is some pretty music below from the very pretty Mediaeval Baebes with Veni Veni Bella. xx

NEW MOON BOOK JOY

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Hello,

I interrupt my deadline writing of Currawong Manor to share with you the parcel that arrived for me this week.

Josephine Pennicott opening box of Dornen Tochter

In this day of the machine mania, it’s such a special joy for an author to have their words so beautifully translated into a hardcover. Ullstein publishers in Germany have outdone themselves with their presentation of my Poet’s Cottage (Dornen Tochter in Germany).

I wish I could transit the smell to you over the internet for there is nothing more glorious than the smell of good paper and beautifully bound books with a ripping story inside the beautiful cover art. I also love the smell of new shoes in a box, newborn babies, Chanel perfume, rain after a storm in the garden but the book wins! And the glorious weight, heavy cover and good quality paper make this German girl beautiful to hold.

Josephne Pennicott with Dornen Tochter

Thank you so much to all at Ullstein involved in the production of Dornen Tochter. It brings me immense pleasure to know over the moon and on the other side of the world people are reading my Tasmanian sea-fishing village murder mystery. I loved the bag that was made of the book and the television advertisement which you can see HERE was also beyond anything I could have dreamt of. Nothing beats an author meeting their book for the first time. So much excitement in my garden of Spring roses.

And if you are interested in my garden writing shed, the beautiful Terri Windling whom I have admired as a visual artist, a writer, a blogger and a person for many years has featured my shed on her inspirational blog. Whenever I visit The Drawing Board I feel I have wandered into a magical tavern filled with kindred spirits who love the Bloomsbury set, fantastical worlds and words, who heed the call of Wild Man and Wild Woman of the woods – folk who listen and understand the truth of fairies, Pre Raphaelites, and represent so much that’s noble and decent about this planet. Including her very noble and charming dog, Tilly on his walks in the Devon woods.

Terri Windling and Tilly

I always drink deeply from the well of inspiration Terri offers and one of my writing highlights was that she selected Circle of Nine (my first published book in a fantasy trilogy) as one of the world’s best debut fantasy novels of the year in her esteemed 2001 Best Fantasy and Horror (Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow, editors). Terri’s wonderful book The Wood Wife was a major influence for me, showing what you can achieve with mythic/fantastical writing.

If you’re keen for a peep inside my writing shed where I’m closeted away doing long hours at the moment, you can find me at Terri’s Drawing Board HERE.

Thanks for visiting me. Keep creative and may the new moon bring blessings of inspired creativity and wishes. xx

image of Terri and Tilly via HERE

Full Moon Rising

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We’ve just passed the Spring Equinox in Sydney. You can feel the garden hum when I walk out in the morning to go to the writing shed with all the new colourful floral growth.

I celebrated the Equinox with my women’s spiritual group. As much as I dread the coming summer, even I have to admit this is a lovely time of year with such a celebratory feeling and a whiff of hope in the warmer air. Look at the amazing full moon that I photographed over my garden this week.

The full moon brought me good fortune as I am happy to say I’ve made the shortlist again for the annual Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto Awards to be held in Melbourne in November.

I’m thrilled to have shortlisted as every year the bar gets higher for me to compete. The competition is intense. I have been fortunate enough to previously win many categories including two Kerry Greenwood  Malice Domestic awards and also the coveted shoe itself for first prize in the Scarlet Stilettos. I am hoping one year I will join the few authors who have won a pair of shoes (once you win a pair you are no longer eligible to compete).

This year my good writing friend Liz Filluel is also on the shortlist and so fingers crossed for both of us. I was told by my tarot reader earlier in the year there would be a trip to Melbourne and so this looks as if she was accurate again. I keep meaning to update the blog I did earlier on my reading with her as I’ve had several people interested in exactly what she said but I’ve been so busy with writing. Watch this space.

I’m pushing very long hours on Currawong Manor at the moment as my deadline is October and there’s still a few plot strands to be woven together. I’m really enjoying my time at Currawong Manor and not looking forward to when I have to bid my characters adieu again. There’s been lots of 4am starts and lovely mother friends taking my daughter into their homes during the holidays so I can put the hours in which I’m eternally grateful for.

It would be lovely to take a family holiday and relax. l keep having fantasies of balmy tropical islands or long cruises where I don’t have to do anything except read, write and watch the water go by. Such as this image which I’m drooling over.

I enjoyed Jennifer Byrne’s interview with JK Rowling recently on ABC promoting Rowling’s new book, The Casual Vacancy. I thought Rowling seemed very down to earth for the surreal world she now occupies.

Daisy has just discovered Harry Potter and is totally smitten with Rowling’s creation. She can’t go anywhere without her invisibility cloak and wand.

Along with many last week, I was shocked and deeply saddened by the rape and murder of Jill Meagher, a beautiful young girl who harboured a dream to be a writer but was taken far too early to fulfil her ambitions in a cruel and savage manner. And this death needn’t have occurred – our prison system obviously needs an overhaul.

All women of this country are never safe when they walk the streets alone. We know that there could be lurking predators at any hour, waiting their chance. But when you have a system that releases multiple offenders – the judge had said the man had no hope of rehabilitation – then what hope have we got when the monsters are allowed to walk free?

Out of respect for Jill’s family I won’t say any more but the very least we can do for this young woman’s memory is work to GET THE LAWS CHANGED.

Here’s one of my power spots to share with you near the Spring Equinox. I love to visit here and soak up the energy. No, it’s not my back garden but I feel that I have a connection to this enchanted place. I’ve been blessed with many story and book ideas in this magical garden.

Wishing you joy, beauty and balance in your life and creativity this coming week.

image of garden source HERE

Dark Shadows

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Hello,

On Tuesday, 31st July 6-7pm at Newtown Library I shall be talking with the lovely Gayle Donaldson. The event is called Talking Heads and is a combined Better Read Than Dead bookshop and Newtown Library event.

If you would like to come along please reserve a seat HERE.

Some topics I imagine we’ll be covering: mysteries, Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, Daphne du Maurier, fantasy writing, crime writing, publishing, Tasmania, sea-fishing villages, families, bohemians, secrets, Johnny Depp. If you’re interested in any of these – or you feel like a free chat and a warm place to sit – don’t make yourself a stranger.

There are limited seats so please reserve as early as you can. Would love to meet you!

Here’s my reply to a question the Hoopla asked me regarding a heated discussion at the Sydney Writers Festival on literary awards going to books that readers can’t or don’t read due to inaccessible content. This came about as a comment from a panel Stella Rimington hosted where literary critics became worked up when she said literary awards should be given to books which are readable.

I’m paraphrasing the debate as I didn’t go to the Sydney Writer’s Festival because I was too busy writing. But I did add my piece to the Hoopla which you can find HERE.

Last night Art School Annie dragged me away from my edit to see Dark Shadows. Wow!! This move was so much better than I expected. Let’s not mention the last 15 minutes which really sort of sucked huge-time. But the rest of it was Tim Burton in fine form. The scene with Johnny and the hippies is sooo good and worth the price of the movie. I love that combination of horror and comedy and it really brought to mind the Manson family with the innocence of the late 60s, early 70s era when you could break bread with a vampire in the woods and not realise that of course he’s going to kill you. And I’m so in love with Michelle Pfeiffer (who gets better with age) in her 70s gear and jewellery. Michelle said in an interview that her sister-in-law made the jewellery for the movie.

I’ve never really come out of the 70s. It’s one of my favourite eras and so this movie was heaven for me. Tim Burton, 70s fashion, hippies, vampires, sea-fishing villages, Helena Bonham Carter, Alice Cooper and of course, Johnny Depp.

A perfect movie. Here’s a track from Dark Shadows to glide up all feeling groovy into the weekend. Thank you for visiting me. xx

A Story in my head buzzing hard

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I spent a day lost in the magical light of Norman Lindsay’s home at Springwood.

Can you beat a drystone wall? I grew up loving them and they still have the power to charm.

Wandering into the bush with notebook in hand, it’s easy to believe Norman’s statues are luring you into another world.

A smaller magic outside my writing shed where my David Austin Prince rose proudly displayed its first bloom.

 

The  magical perfume so divine to savour. Hopefully a good omen for my current mystery novel.

 

And I must let you know of an event I will be taking place in for Better Read than Dead bookshop and Newtown  Library Tuesday 31st July . It’s Talking Heads with Josephine Pennicott. I know this is very advance notice and will update nearer to the time. Places will be limited but you can book through the library online or on  8512 4250. Would love to see all who could make it come along so we can chat murder, mystery, families, bohemians, secrets, Tasmanian sea-fishing villages, writing tips and a host of other fascinating topics. Here is the beautiful Newtown library I  shall be chatting in.
I’m really looking forward to seeing The Mousetrap in Sydney with the Sydney Theatre company performing Agatha Christie’s classic.
 I first saw The Mousetrap in St Martin’s Theatre with David in London’s West End and it remains one of my favourite theatre experiences. (Followed closely by The Woman in Black).
This week I also went to my bookclub at Better Read than Dead to discuss Craig Silvey’s feisty and wonderful mystery novel, Jasper Jones.

My daughter has just told me she has a story in her head and it’s buzzing hard. I know the feeling.
This weekend I am going to try to find some time to sit in the autumn sunshine with these two pink magazines I picked up today. I love the beautiful Christy Turlington’s feature in the gentlewoman (one of my favourite magazines).

This photograph of Johnny Depp was doing the rounds on Facebook and of course I cant’ resist ending this post with his sage and beautiful words. Thank you for visiting me. Stay creative. xx
Remember, murder lurks around every corner…

Fairies Welcome

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We’ve just returned from a joyful week in the mountains.

Josephine Pennicott working on the first draft of Currawong Manor

I caught up with old friends over pots of tea and marshmallow hot chocolates. Filled a notebook with ideas and inspirations from the great muse the bush.

Walked for hours marvelling over the Autumn colours and inhaling the  joyful scent of the bush soaked after heavy rain falls.

Daisy

I finished the first draft of Currawong Manor and got ideas for at least seven more books. The bush is always generous to me with ideas…

No television, no internet just some excellent books and our imaginations.

And the mountain fairies were of course all welcome.

In Lockdown

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Hello, I am away for a week in my mountain bolt-hole to finish the first draft of my current mystery book.

I will be taking my laptop but there’s no internet access so anything urgent will have to wait until I return.

David will be staying at home so we will be writing in different towns.

Last night I saw The Best Exotic Hotel Marigold with Artschool Annie. Critics mightn’t have warmed to this one but I loved it as it reminded me so much of my time in India.

When I am old (and beautiful) I want to stay at the Best Exotic Hotel Marigold for the old and beautiful. A very charming movie with some great depth to the characters.

And for those who missed it, here is the file of my interview with Blanche Clark which ran in the Melbourne Sunday Herald.

I shall add that to my slowly getting there media section. I am very slow with updating my website, But as the character Sonny, says in The Best Exotic Hotel Marigold, ‘ everything will be alright in the end. And so if it’s not all right. It’s not the end.’ Enjoy your week. Keep creative. Thank you for visiting me. xx

A long playing record for the weekend.

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Another busy week doing publicity for Poet’s Cottage and still trying to finish the first draft of the Currawong book.

This has to be my favourite graffiti in Newtown yet. My friend snapped this photo for me today and no – I didn’t do it.

I’ve so enjoyed meeting journalists like Blanche Clark (Herald Sun, Melbourne) and Steve Meacham (Herald, Sydney). One of the biggest surprises of the publicity part of writing was the pleasure of meeting people whose names I’ve seen in print for years. Not that I met Blanche in person – but I know what my tired brain is trying to say. I am still being woken nightly by my daughter who has developed a terror of her school-hat at night.

For my Tasmanian readers, the Sunday Tasmanian will be running a piece on Poet’s Cottage and the Tasmanian influences behind it this Sunday.

Tonight I am off to see the ever beautiful Jane Birkin sing. I’ve always been partial to this duet, Je Taime… Mon Non Plus she did with Serge Gainsbourg and have thought I would like it played at my funeral just for a change of pace. My god they both look so beautiful in this video. I read that it was rumoured by the media that Serge had sex with Jane (and his previous girlfriend Brigitte Bardot) when he recorded it. He apparently quipped to Birkin, ‘Thank goodness I didn’t or it would have been a long playing record.’

Enjoy your weekend. May it be filled with amorous creativity, passion, beauty, and adventures. xx

LIFE’S SO LIGHT

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It’s been a busy and exciting week for me with interviews for publicity for Poet’s Cottage and working on the FINAL stages of the first draft of Currawong Manor. Yes, it’s nearly there! The characters are doing their usual games with me at the moment but I think I’m following behind. Thankfully, this bunch is patient.

 

I’m so thrilled to post the first review of Poet’s Cottage HERE. It’s such a surreal feeling for me to see the book that has been part of my life since 2007 now out there in public. I know Booktopia have preorders available HERE and thank you to the lovely friends who have put in orders.

If you are interested in chasing down my original magical trilogy then Momentum have all three books (with brand new covers) as EBooks. YOu can find them HERE.

I am in my garden writing shed. It is pouring with rain and I’m so blissful I could melt. There’s no greater joy than writing in the garden in the pouring rain.

I have to also mention one of my favourite Blogs, The Local Rose, has just celebrated its first birthday. I don’t have a lot of time to visit Blogs but this is one I always love.

Shiva and her lovely daughter

My dream is to buy a writing retreat and head to the bush as often as possible to live a glam and bohemian a life as Shiva Rose. Her lovely, light-filled home was also featured on Apartment Therapy this week.

Shiva's home via Apartment Therapy

 

And in moments of great joy or sadness, I always turn to one of my favourite movies. The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

 

 

This move is so beautiful, so haunting, it hurts.

Life’s so Light.

Thank you for visiting me. I should also mention that Poet’ s Cottage will be featured in the March edition of Good Reading magazine. The article will tell the story of how a family holiday inspired my mystery novel. Have a beautiful weekend. I am hoping for a couple of dawn writing sessions to get the first draft out of me.

This morning my geranium at the front of the house which I sadly thought had died has a lovely red new flower for me to marvel over. xx

“She loved to walk down the street with a book under her arm. It had the same significance for her as an elegant cane for the dandy a century ago. It differentiated her from others.” ― Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being

 

 

MONA, QUOLLS, MEDIUMS AND A CANNY WITCH

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I hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year. We escaped to my favourite place on Earth – my home state of Tasmania – for a family Christmas.
I sighed over houses in Bellerive.
Ate fish and chips at Mure’s
and saw the incredible MONA gallery which has to be one of the most exciting venues for contemporary art in the world. A must-see if you’re heading to Tasmania and really worthy of a blog post of its own. Hats off to the flamboyant David Walsh, who chose to put the fortune he made from gambling into art.
Bless you, David Walsh, for creating such an exciting and rich exhibit for Hobart. Not all of the works were to my taste but that’s part of the fun. You select what you love and hate with the O machine that you carry around; you can also see how other visitors voted. I found the Poo Machine really silly (I couldn’t stay in the room with the stench) and the Vagina Wall wasn’t really my cup of tea, but it’s all interesting. It wasn’t as shocking as I imagined but then I did spend three years at the College of Fine Arts so it takes a lot to rock me. But MONA was way, way better than I had envisaged it would be.
We journeyed to Bruny Island for a few days where we fed wild quolls, watched hard-working fairy penguins and shearwaters return from a day at sea, and explored desolate beaches.
Daisy swapped television and city streets for nature, no shops, very late nights with our wildlife watching and the most pristine air and views imaginable. Not to mention the most luscious food on the planet. If you haven’t eaten fresh Tasmanian raspberries, just-picked peas in the pod and my total favourite of them all – pink-eye potatoes – then you must or bust. I’m always a glutton in Tasmania and the owner of the unit we stayed at on Bruny claimed the food is better because the climate encourages a slow growth which makes all the food tastier.

Josephine Pennicott and Daisy on Bruny Island

 

When you have a parent die so near to Christmas, the day can never be as magical as it would have been. Despite the silence that fell upon us at times there were many treasured moments.
I love the fact my daughter is still so innocent and believes so strongly in the magic of Father Christmas. She did ask David why so many of her toys were made in China. As he paused to consider a reply, she said with a triumphant chorus, ‘I know! It’s because the elves were lazy and bought them from the shops!’
 
It’s always so difficult for me to return from the shimmering beauty of my home state. Returning to Sydney on New Years Eve, we were greeted by the rudest taxi driver you could imagine and the usual long queues at the airport and gritty industrial city streets. ‘Welcome back to Sydney’ I sighed to long-suffering David who knows he is now in for several months of me frantically trying to come up with every reason why we should all relocate to Tasmania. I can spend hours surfing Domain, dreaming as I cluck over the houses and prices. ‘If we sell up here, we could buy a house and a boat in Tasmania’ is my current, cunning lure to my Sydney-loving man.
My daughter is home on school holidays which always impacts on my word count. Just before Christmas, I had the agony of my new laptop falling from the bed, breaking the hardrive and I lost a week of unbacked work on my Currawong Book. Luckily, my characters are patient with me. This book is different in that a lot of it came to me already fully formed – unlike Poet’s Cottage which flowed as I wrote. I knew from the beginning with Currawong Manor, where it was heading and all the character’s secrets. Hopefully, it will work. The first draft is always a vexing time and often it feels as exciting as my Foxtel guide.

Josephine Pennicott and Allison Dubois

And I have launched into 2012 with a very spiritual week ahead. As you can see from the photograph which I posted on my Facebook, I once again was in a VIP audience with Allison Dubois of Medium fame. Alas, no connection was made for me but many interesting and poignant stories from the audience, including a suicide and a murder case which Allison channelled a lot of information through. It’s the second time I’ve been in the VIP audience and although disappointed not to be selected for a reading, it’s always emotional to witness the shock, elation and tearful joy of people who receive strong readings from Allison.
On Saturday I visit renowned witch and tarot reader, Ly de Angeles who has quite a reputation for giving you the hard truth. You can read more about her death prediction to one of her clients HERE. I’m looking forward to meeting with Ly as I’ve read quite a lot about her over the years. She sounds like an amazing character and I’ve wanted to have a reading with her for years. Fingers crossed for this session…
Wishing you a magical 2012. May this year be the one that you follow your Bliss, appreciate the present moment and live the amazing life you deserve. I’m very into Gratitude at the moment and have started a second blog to journal online a year of gratitude. I’m not expecting anyone to follow this one but I do feel it’s important for me to appreciate what is here right now as I tend to always be focusing on the absence. I’ll post a link when I get it up and running. 
Here’s to being present and appreciative in 2012.
Thank you for visiting me. xx