Inspiration – Tale Peddler - Josephine Pennicott

BIG DREAMS, BRUSHES WITH FAME AND MIRACLES FOR CHRISTMAS

josephinetalepeddlerDecember 12, 2013 2 Comments

‘Though a great deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.’

– Thomas Hardy

As I write this on a sunny day in Sydney with dappled light showering our inner-city street, cicadas competing with the traffic noise and overhead planes, gum trees a wash of green against a brilliant blue sky, Angelina Jolie has just finished directing a scene near our house for her new movie Unbroken.

Regular readers will know my fascination with comparative religions. The reason I’m so excited that Hollywood has come to our area is that Angelina is directing a scene in my local church. This church is a big part of our family and has formed the fabric of our lives here for the last decade. My daughter was baptised there and before my father died, he flew over to give me away in my Alice in Wonderland meets Carnaby Street wedding.

Unbroken being filmed at our local church

In an area bursting with the politically correct/hipster crowd, the church has been a sanctuary to me for years. I’ve seen it go through many changes and several priests, but the current priest has been my favourite for many reasons. The reason I mention Angelina is that it’s proof of how life can bring unexpected twists and miracles in ways you can’t imagine. And how ‘real life’ can be stranger than fiction and any movie. For years we’ve battled with church costs (the roof fell in a few years ago) and in one swoop – thanks to Angelina – those costs have been considerably bumped down. But I could never have expected that’s who would have fixed our church roof. Not even my imagination would have dreamt that scenario.

Extras in period costume cross the street for Unbroken

My daughter went to school yesterday morning with a little piece of paper in her pocket, for an autograph in the unlikely event she bumped into Angelina. She walked past crowds of extras dressed in period costume and the big movie lights trying to spot one person. (She loves her because she has tattoos.) We are relieved that this small brush of celebrity is with a person as inspiring as Angelina. It is heartening to point out photographs of Angelina and Brad dressed up for movie premieres, but then also be able to talk about her humanitarian work and how she has used celebrity and her beauty and talent as a force of good in the world. Everyone that had contact with her raved about how unpretentious, down-to-earth and friendly she was. I was also very delighted to see on the weekend in Sydney she went shopping with her children and bought books from local bookshops – a reminder to all to buy BOOKS this Christmas. As Christopher Marley said: ‘When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink and glue. You give him the possibility of a whole new life.’

And so Angelina Jolie is our little Christmas miracle and if you see Unbroken, know that the church in it has been my oasis of quiet contemplation for the last decade of my inner-city life.

The beautiful and inspiring Angelina Jolie

I have finished my edit of Currawong Manor.

On Monday, 2nd December at 12.30 am I pressed the send button and Currawong Manor went across the city back to Pan Macmillan. I felt enormously depleted, emotional and empty. I’ve loved working with my artists for so long and it’ s always hard to let go of my characters. I’ve spent years in their company. I feel so empty without them all and wonder if anyone will care for them. Where do these characters come from? They come. Sometimes quickly, but sometimes they are furtive and hide themselves behind other characters. Or they are too coy to appear at once, and you know they will come another time and book.

You spend years with the ones that do appear. You grow to know them more intimately than you do most of your neighbours, and friends.

And then they are gone. Released with the SEND button to a waiting editor and publisher in an office across the city and you are left alone, crying with exhaustion and wondering why you push yourself through so much for so many years to meet a being who is as real as a dream.

Divine madness has descended for years – if you are lucky – and then it moves on and you are left feeling abandoned by your own creation.

You sit and wait and hope the muse will bring you another story. You wait and ache and start to spin the web.

I’ve now begun work on my new web. and loving feeling the new characters appear.

Poet’s Cottage continues its tour around Europe and here is the beautiful cover from Dutch publishers HERE Fingers crossed that the Dutch will enjoy my Tasmanian sea-fishing murder mystery. It never fails to excite me to think that our family holiday inspired a book that is now selling internationally.

In November I appeared at the Newtown Festival for Better Read than Dead in the Writer’s Tent with the always inspiring and dynamic Kate Forsyth.

Josephine Pennicott and Kate Forsyth

I also attended the New South Wales SWITCH Library Awards dinner at the Star Room in Darling Harbour, sponsored by Bolinda Audio alongside some of my agent’s authors. Here is a photo of writing friends Belinda Alexandra and Karen Davis.

Belinda Alexandra and Karen Davis

I travelled to Melbourne for the Sisters in Crime annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards. I can’t enter anymore as I’ve won two shoes (the legal limit!) so this was my first year as a judge. Congratulations to all shortlisted entries and to the winners. You can find a full list of winners HERE.

This evening was the 20th Anniversary of Sisters in Crime at the boho glam Thornbury Theatre and so I was delighted to be a part of the celebrations. Angela Savage wrote a lovely article on the history of the red shoe, A Dagger With A Difference, which you can read HERE.

image via Sisters in Crime

The beautiful and talented Essie Davis was the host and guest speaker. You may know her as Phryne Fisher in Kerry Greenwood’s Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, or from many other wonderful parts she has played. I remember Essie from our Hobart days at Rosny College together and so it was a joy to be able to connect with her again. In the photo below you can see her hugging me.

Sisters in Crime with Essie Davis on far right

When Tasmanian girls reunite

Essie was always a person you knew would be Someone. She claims she was a dag at Rosny but I can vouch she was always super-cool and super-talented. I was also pleased to have the chance to hand her a copy of Poet’s Cottage as when Pearl Tatlow came to me, I often daydreamed over the years if Poet’s Cottage was ever made into a movie, Essie would be perfect to play Pearl. Yes, I know that seems like big dreams, but if Angelina Jolie can pay for our church roof, I can believe in big dreams and miracles. And on that note – I wish for you all the big dreams, miracles and surprising twists in your life that you could NEVER have imagined in the season of light ahead.
And it wouldn’t be a Christmas blog post on Tale Peddler without a gratuitous Johnny Depp photograph.

Thank you for visiting me. Here is the divine Mediaeval Baebes with the glorious We Three Kings.

Love, Light and Peace. May you find the best of the Holy Season within your own heart.

Josephine xx

Houses Whispering Stories And Davitt Awards

josephinetalepeddlerAugust 8, 2013 10 Comments

Hello,

image Chester Partnership

I was delighted, astounded and totally gobsmacked to discover yesterday that Poet’s Cottage has made the shortlist for the annual Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards.

I wasn’t expecting to make the cut because the formidable 61-book longlist was filled with some amazing talent. But I’m so happy to see Poet’s Cottage shortlisted along with serial-Davitt winner/writing pal Katherine Howell, Sulari Gentill, Caroline Overington, Kathryn Fox, Norelle M Harris, Maggie Groff and Malla Nunn. I’m very thrilled to see my Tasmanian sea-fishing murder mystery alongside such talented Sisters in Crime. Including my old mate, Jen Storer with her Truly Tan book in the Young Adult/Children’s section. My eight year old, Daisy when I told her Truly Tan was nominated, said with a sympathetic expression, ‘Your book will NEVER beat her.’ You can always count on your tribe to cut you down to size. You can see the full shortlist HERE

When I first heard the news, I had to go for a run to calm down. A day later I’m still sitting with a grin wider than Luna Park.

I was transported back to Stanley, Tasmania, where the wild sea wind and spectacular scenery inspired the story of Poet’s Cottage. I still hear the faint sounds of Pearl’s gramophone playing, feel the cold sea breeze blow Birdie’s hair, and hear the stomp of the Bindi-Eye Man as he treads through Thomasina’s memory trailing damp, rotten seaweed in his wake.

I’m always happy that people have enjoyed reading the tale that whispered itself to me and has clung like the Tasmanian sea-mist for so many years. They were lovely characters to explore and I’m delighted they have made it to the Davitts.

I have included an image I love of Daphne du Maurier outside Menabilly, her sea-fishing ‘cottage’ that inspired Manderley from Rebecca (it’s from the book Daphne du Maurier At Home by Hilary Macaskill) and photos of my own trip to Stanley near the Tasmanian sea. It brings me such joy that local book clubs have gone to Stanley to discover the inspirations that inspired Poet’s Cottage.

Thank you for visiting me and may your story find you. xx

Autumn

josephinetalepeddlerMay 10, 2013 4 Comments

The Autumn sunshine in Sydney has been glorious but I was in the writing shed watching the dappled mellow light in my backyard. I’m happy to say Currawong Manor has now been cut from a massive 170 000 to a much trimmer word length. The process wasn’t as horrendous as I had feared; I could feel sparks begin to fly in the manuscript as I worked. I lost several characters but I already know they will re-appear in later books. Two of them were most insistent they had to go together, which was creepy because of who those characters are – but I can’t say too much about them without creating spoilers.

The hardest part was only having a month for the edit with my daughter home on school holidays for half that time. Thankfully, I had wonderful friends who took my daughter to the cinema, on excursions, and – being a Unique Enfant (only child) – she enjoys holiday care at her school.

Somehow it all came together and I’m very happy with the end result. Fingers crossed my agent and publishers will be too.

On completion I felt as if a brass band should be playing and an auditorium of people screaming their praises to a soundtrack of Gladiator. In reality I had the school-run, lunches and everyday life to contend with. I did steal one precious day from the edit to take Daisy to the mountains so we could enjoy the Autumn light together.

I’ve been reading some fab books lately. Katherine Howell’s Silent Fear, Kate Forsyth’s Bitter Greens, Thea Astley’s An Item on the Late News, Jo Wood’s autobiography of her life with the Rolling Stones and the terrifying Poppet by Mo Hayder. When I get a chance, I shall write some reviews for them and post here. I am longing to read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and UK’s Louise Millar’s psychological suspense books. I’ve also just started Secrets of the Tides by Hannah Richell which I’m loving. A great read for cosy Autumn afternoons.

My book club, The Magic Hat read Thea Astley’s An Item from the Late News in our last meeting. I have to admit I had never read any of Thea Astley’s books before and I was surprised by what a page-turner and how darkly powerful this literary novel is. My full review is on Good Reads if you are a member.

This is a photo from my friend Mary’s wonderful Facebook page, My Love Affair With Newtown. It’s a new coffee shop opening down the south end of King Street near the Union Hotel. It looks like a little dolls’ house and with the small space, chandelier and books, it reminds me of my own lounge-room in Little Brick. I feel tempted to paint my lounge hot pink. I think that’s going to be my winter project. Our lounge room is very small like this, crammed with books and a chandelier. Hot pink might make it more cosy than the Antique White it is now.

We were fortunate to see John Bell’s wonderful Henry 4 at the Opera House recently. I just loved it as the words are brought to beautifully to life by the excellent actors. It was such a fab interpretation with more hip to it than a boxed set of Mad Men. From the moment it began with electric guitars being thrashed as the stage set was trashed, it was a wild, eloquent ride though age-old issues regarding power, self-responsibility and family. Issues as relevant today as when Shakespeare wrote it. Here’s a brief promo clip from YouTube where you can get a sense of the majestic power of the words. A most inspiring night of theatre. If you feel blocked with your writing; this two-minute clip will help you get your groove back.

If you are on my Facebook you will have seen I was deeply saddened by the news story that broke in Sydney this week when Madeleine Milne, a 13-year-old schoolgirl who loved drawing dragons, being creative and helping others became the youngest ever recorded suicide in NSW due to a bullying incident at her school. Her grieving father went public with the story in an appeal to everyone – parents and schools – to communicate more and take the time to listen to your children. The pressures on our young people are enormous these days. When I was growing up there was always bullying but somehow we had the resilience to endure it. This was however before the media began to promote the mean-girl attitudes that are so prominent today. We live in a society that cushions children so much from all hardships (and even not-so-hardships – I was shocked to discover everyone now gets a prize in pass-the-parcel!) We leave young children on technology that contains messages and images their undeveloped brains may not be able to compute. I don’t have any answers as I’m only on my L-plates with parenting, but I feel we are letting our young people down terribly when children this young are taking their own lives unable to see any light in winter’s dark embrace. And Madeleine is far from the only child who has suicided over bullying. A quick Google search will show you other horror stories.

If you do have children – please take on board this plea from Madeleine’s father:

“We all let our busy lives get in the way. The school was busy and didn’t get back to us, we were busy. I’d just say make the time.”

Fight back against the sexualisation of children and the mean culture in the media. Ensure your school has a zero tolerance to bullying and cliques. Help your child develop resilience rather than cushioning them against the inevitable crap and hard times of life. This little girl’s story touched so many people as it could have been any one of us with children. As one of my Facebook friends, Dianne eloquently said:

‘13 is such a violable age. They are full of promise and act tough, but they are fragile like a butterfly emerging from the cocoon. Handle them with care.’

Enjoy your week. As I wait for the next stage of the edit to return, I’m planning and researching my next book and also writing my Young Adult book that I’ve been having fun with for years in-between my bigger books.

And a gentle reminder that I shall be appearing in Melbourne in June 14 along with Livia Day and Poppy Gee for Sisters in Crime on a panel called Something Rotten in the Apple Isle. You can find more details of the event HERE.

And a lovely photo of Johnny to end with. This one is via the Johnny C. Depp Facebook page

Thank you for visiting me.

Love Josephine xx

Halloa Below There!

josephinetalepeddlerJanuary 9, 2013 7 Comments

Halloa Below There and Happy New Year!

I have to be one of the few people in the world who doesn’t enjoy going out on New Year’s Eve. I’m not a fan of fireworks and not being a believer of chronological time, New Year’s Eve doesn’t mean a lot. My idea of a terrific New Year’s Eve is to drink champagne and watch a good BBC ghost story, which is what I did this year – Charles Dickens’ The Signal Man, which I can highly recommend. That’s where the ‘Halloa Below There!’ come from. The Signal Man is the highlight of a BBC Ghost Stories For Christmas DVD. The remaining two are weaker 70s ghosties that contain all the worst elements of that particular era.

The Signalman

I have recently joined Instagram. Not sure if I’ll be posting on there a lot. I am not the world’s biggest techo when it comes to mobiles (I hid my last antique one deliberately and lost it). I’ve only ever had one mobile which was the size of a brick and all the letters had worn away. But I shall give the new spaceship I-phone a rather dubious go as I do love Instagram. You can find me HERE. I have yet to figure out how to attach the badge to this page. One day I might master my computer but it doesn’t seem likely at the moment.

Fab Christmas read of chirpy teacher in English village in WWII

dusk in our street

Daisy Angel

At the time of writing this we are facing heat-wave conditions. Tasmania, my home state, has been battling bushfires for days. So many stories of courage coming out of the state. They do breed them tough in Tasmania but this one in particular really caught at my heart. You can see the video HERE of the amazing Walker family in Dunalley who really embody fortitude and pluck. Grandparents Tim and Tammy Holmes really inspired me as did all the Walker children. I can’t imagine how agonising it must have been for the mother of the small children, Bonnie, who was trapped on the other side of the flames not knowing her children’s and parents’ fate. All the firemen and volunteers who selflessly put their lives on the line every summer to protect the homes and lives of total strangers are heroes. I’ve been involved in bushfires years ago in the Blue Mountains and I remember how terrifying it was and how everyone would cheer when they saw the fire trucks for quite awhile afterwards.

And another of my personal heroines is the Pakinstani young girl, Malala Yousafzai who was shot in the head by the Taliban when she campaigned for girls’ education. Malala is the manifestation of strength, grace and power for women around the world.

I have so much news but no time at the present and so I’m heading back to the humid, garden writing shed as my deadline is next Tuesday.

Where have all the lovely garden orb spiders gone this year? Last year the graceful orbs were everywhere in our garden. This year they have been replaced by larger huntsman spiders.

Scooter the sun Daisy

My resolution or my word for the year is Serenity. I’m going to be working with Serenity all year in different aspects of my life. In my serenity pursuits this year I plan to curtail some of my internet activities as much as I can. I crave for things such as:

hand-written letters, stamps and cord-cursive writing,

the smell of book shops

the glossy sheen to a new fashion magazine,

silence, mystery, absence

the weight of paper and pens scratching on paper

ink, pencil, paints

Happy New Year to you all. xx

LIFE’S SO LIGHT

josephinetalepeddlerDecember 14, 2012 2 Comments

Regular readers may recall I was fortunate enough to win a photo shoot in Sydney with one of my long-time favourite photographers, Cara Coulson, who ran a competition for a private shoot with her in either Sydney or Paris. I was excited to win the Sydney shoot because I’ve followed Carla’s blog from the beginning, and also a major character in my forthcoming mystery novel Currawong Manor is a photographer.

This week the much anticipated meeting took place and I can finally reveal the location – Woollahra House, a magical, shabby, bohemian terrace which you can read more about HERE and HERE and where the interior shots for this post came from. It was a perfect location for me. And described as ‘Alice in Wonderland meets the Addams family.’

Not only could I easily visualise Tim Burton and Johnny Depp sitting together working out a scene for their next movie, or Helena Bonham Carter lying back on the sofa; but I’d fallen in love with this striking old lady terrace a couple of years ago when she was featured in a newspaper. I had never imagined I would one day be photographed within her glorious shabby walls by Carla. Life really does work in some twisty beautiful ways sometimes!

It was a real delight to meet Carla, and an honour to be photographed by her. Thanks to the power of the internet I felt I already knew her as her blog posts are so warm and engaging. She is a rock star with a camera. A funky, tender magician. There is a certain sensuality, an intimacy to working with her but it’s not a soft energy. Despite Carla’s tenderness and caring she has a strength and power which comes from a long apprenticeship of her work, and a spiritual perception and insight of people.

Despite my initial wariness, Carla with her box of magical techniques helped me to move into the moment and to lose my ego and ‘shrinking Josephine’ outside the door. It was a very inspiring creative collaboration for me and a perfect chance to research for my book. I realised how much you have to relinquish control and surrender sometimes which isn’t easy for writers to do as we are used to being in total control of our creative projects. You have to be able to trust and to allow the muses to merge between two people when being photographed. I love the still above from my favourite movie The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Woollahra house wove its patina spell through all of my veins. Debra Cronin is the genius behind this magical house which she rents out for photo shoots and dinner parties. I wish somebody would commission this talented lady to do a book on her interior talents.

Everything about the shoot was dreamlike. The pastel greys and apricot colours of the walls. The taxidermy, antique books, the young girl from Western Australia who was also having her portrait taken. A beautiful, willowy model, dressed in Vivienne Westwood with a bird on her head like an elegant Helena Bonham Carter. She matched the house perfectly.

The make-up artist looked a combination of Jane Birkin and Lou Doillon and was every bit as rock star as Carla and Jane and her daughter. She put less make up on me that I’d normally wear to the school pick up but I loved her work and her false eyelashes. She won my heart as soon as I walked in when she said that I looked great without make up. (Normally people ask me if I’m feeling okay). It was a joy to work along side her and also Carla’s beautiful friend, Athalee, who spent more time ironing my red dress than any normal mortal woman should have to undergo and looked after me so well.

We did a shot which was inspired from this photograph of Agatha Christie where we set up a vintage typewriter and books.

I am hoping to use some of the photos for publicity for Currawong Manor.

When my husband (dressed in his everyday wear of waistcoat vest, shirt and Akubra hat) came to collect me with Daisy, Carla was kind enough to shoot a few family shots. Not knowing Daisy she asked her to ‘act like a rock star’. My daughter who had been cautioned beforehand to do EVERYTHING Carla says immediately went into overdrive snarling at the camera, making wild moves and getting totally hyped as she lived the part. I was only relieved she stopped short at trashing the room.

It was an enchanting day. One particular moment stands out for me when Carla directed me to look away from her and when I looked into the big mirror I could see a wall of stuffed birds and a blue butterfly (the blue butterfly is always a special symbol to me since my father died) and also Carla shooting me in the reflection). It was one of those times that you wonder if you really are dreaming.

Josephine Pennicott and Carla Coulson

If you would like to join me in that wonderful dream experience and book a portrait shoot with Carla then all the details are on her website for shoots in both Sydney and Paris. I can highly recommend it for the experience alone. If even this introverted writer enjoyed it as much as I did you most certainly will too.

And if you don’t already, follow Carla’s blog for beautiful inspiration in both words and images. You will find her HERE.

In other exciting writing news, Poet’s Cottage will now be published in Holland as well. And so I am thrilled my Tasmanian sea-fishing murder mystery will be enjoyed by people in mysterious far away Holland. That is a lovely early Christmas gift for me. Thank you, Holland for buying my Tasmanian mystery. I would love to visit such an exotic fairy tale destination one day.

Christmas is just around the corner. If you wish to buy a signed copy of Poet’s Cottage then if you order through Better Read than Dead my local bookstore HERE, I can sign it for them if you request when you order.They do online ordering as well. The B-Format of Poet’s Cottage (the smaller size) comes out in Australia on December 29th so if you have been waiting for that format you can pick it up then. I can assure you the smaller version is just as beautiful as her big sister. Pan Macmillan Australia have done such a stunning job on Poet’s Cottage in all her versions and formats.

A perfect Christmas gift for a mystery lover

I am still working on Currawong Manor to reach the deadline. I have my Christmas tree up but with no decorations apart from one home made Christmas angel by my Daisy as everything has been so frantic. But this Christmas I have simplified it as much as I can. Although I still do my cards by snail mail, make a trek to the David Jones window and Santa Cave, Carols etc the more commercial side I have cut back on. I hope your Christmas is filled with blessings and the magic of this holy and joyous season.

Thank you to all who have lurked, commented, and given me your energy this year. Below is a video by Tara June Winch on a worthy cause to donate to. I’m off to give some money now. Please watch if you have a couple of minutes spare. The magic of books and words gave me such a template for life when I was little and any cause that promotes that miracle to children is worth our efforts.

Keep Creative, and look for the everyday miracles. May this season be a rebirth for you in your life and art

Josephine xx

A SWAN FLIES

josephinetalepeddlerNovember 20, 2012 6 Comments

A very busy time.

image by Carla Coulson

My deadline for Currawong Manor has been extended until the end of December which is wonderful as it gives me more time to spend a last month with my characters before they leave the writing shed.

Carla Coulson

I was very excited to speak to Carla Coulson on Friday night in Paris, whose photography/books and blog I’ve long been a fan of. In a couple of weeks she will be taking some photographs of yours truly in the most AMAZING Sydney location. I’ll be fascinated to see how she works for research purposes for Currawong Manor. Hopefully in the midst of editing, I shall be able to organise something to wear.

image by Carla Coulson

David leaves tomorrow to spend a night in a koala hospital for work.

And on Friday I’m flying to Melbourne as I have shortlisted for the annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards with Sisters in Crime for their crime short-story competition. Wish me good fortune, and best wishes to all the other nominated writers. It is an honour to have made the short-list again.

Kerry Greenwood (by Harjono Djoyobisono

Kerry Greenwood is presenting the awards along with Marion Boyce, from Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries who is responsible for the totally stunning outfits Essie Davis wore in the ABC series. Marion has an impressive body of work including Salem’s Lot and so I’m really looking forward to her talk on Friday night.

Speaking of sassy authors – how fab to see fellow Selwa Anthony author, lovely Kate Morton achieve such incredible heights with her latest book The Secret Keeper.

Kate photo by Brigit Solhoug

We are all thrilled for her in Little Brick as we’ve watched Kate navigate her writing career way back when she was first submitting her early work. And it proves that there are readers out there who still love a well-told story presented in a beautiful book. I bought The Secret Keeper the other day and had to cull seven paperback books to fit it on my shelves, but it is a glorious presentation. And I’m very excited that Clint Eastwood has bought the film rights to her second book, The Forgotten Garden.

Sandra’s Birdie and Pearl

I may not have Clint Eastwood but the beautiful chickens above belong to lovely Sandra who hosted a book club meeting for Poet’s Cottage. Her chickens are named after my characters Birdie and Pearl. Such an honour to have not only a television commercial and bag made for my Tasmanian mystery but to have chickens named after your characters fills me with joy. I would love to have some chickens!

The weekend was a blur of editing and fact checking. A highlight was the smell of freshly cut grass in my park on a twilight run whilst an enormous black swan launched himself into flight in front of me.

Mischief Night

josephinetalepeddlerOctober 31, 2012 0 Comments

Haunting music from Loreena McKennitt. Bang your pots and honour your dead. Happy Mischief Night. xx

A Dream Of A Theatre

josephinetalepeddlerOctober 29, 2012 2 Comments

I had the most beautiful birthday weekend. I spent most of the time working on Currawong Manor whilst wonderful David ran Daisy around to all her weekend activities. Saturday evening I just had a quiet celebration at home with my little family. This time last year I remembered thinking it seemed to be the worst birthday of my life. Dad was dying and so many things were not flowing. Life is far from perfect at the moment but when it comes to family, despite our humble little house, I feel very blessed with family and close friends.

And a very cool birthday surprise was tickets to see Neil Gaiman talk at the MONA festival at the beautiful Theatre Royal in Hobart over our Christmas break.

This glorious theatre which Noel Coward described as a ‘dream of a theatre’ can boast a long list of famous personalities treading its boards including Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh

Theatre Royal in Hobart

(and also yours truly, playing the part of Jan in The One Day of the Year).

You can read more about the fascinating history of this beautiful theatre HERE.

Waterboys

And this morning David also surprised me with tickets to see Mike Scott and the Waterboys in their first ever Sydney gig at the amazing art-deco style State Theatre. We saw Sharon Shannon play their years ago. January 2013 looks set to be a pretty cool, fab and inspiring month with Gaiman and Waterboys. The State Theatre was created as ‘the palace of dreams’. You can read about it HERE

State Theatre Sydney

State theatre Sydney

And thank you to all the beautiful Facebook friends who took time out of their busy weekends to post messages for me on my personal page on Facebook.. I’m very joyous to be blessed with another year to create and spend time with the people I love.

David Levell and Josephine Pennicott

Thank you for visiting me and keep creative. xx

Lost Paris

josephinetalepeddlerOctober 26, 2012 2 Comments

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

josephinetalepeddlerOctober 15, 2012 6 Comments

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