A Dream Of A Theatre

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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

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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

Dancing Queens

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Katherine Howell and Josephine Pennicott

On Saturday night David and I headed into the city to attend our agent, Selwa Anthony’s annual Sassy Awards in the hotel Amora.

Anna Romer her sister, Sarah and Josephine Pennicott

It was fab catching up with writer friends such as Ian Irvine, Manisha Amin, Anna Romer, Belinda Alexandra, Katherine Howell
and a host of other scribes.

Lyn Mcpherson and Josephine Pennicott

Belinda Alexandra and Josephine Pennicott

David Levell and Josephine Pennicott

Selwa Anthony, Josephine Pennicott, Linda and Belinda Alexandra

After the award ceremony we danced to an Abba tribute band in a spacious function room with art-deco touches – songs that jerked me into a childhood of Countdown, Sunday night’s tomato soup and toast as we swirled, mimed and rocked it out as only writers can to the funk-orange stirring anthem of Dancing Queen.
Here’s a link to the wonderful FABBA  HERE  If they could get me on the dance floor all night, they could make a dead man groove. I’ve never seen so many smiles on faces around me on the dance floor as we revisited the best era for music and the glorious Sassy Seventies.
Thanks for visiting me. Enjoy your week and keep creative and inspired. Let it go to let it flow.  xx

Dornen Tochter

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There’s no more delightful sound in the early morning than kookaburras calling as I wake before dawn to wrestle with another draft of Currawong Manor.
I’ve been doing a lot of 3am-4am writing shifts, knowing school holidays are only a week away and I have an October deadline. I love sitting in bed with my laptop and coffee, the house is silent and dark and suddenly outside the night is broken by the kookaburras. Such a comforting sound. 
 
The big news this week is that Poet’s Cottage or Dornen Tochter as it’s called in Germany is officially released today. The publisher Ullstein has really created an outstanding presentation of my Tasmanian murder mystery. The marketing people even made bags – I would never have imagined in a thousand life-times a bag made out of my book.
Life really does give you even more than you dream some times. The design was originally inspired by my garden writing shed wallpaper which is a Laura Ashley design. It’s a lovely paper and I purchased it from HERE in case you want to buy the paper as well as my book! A perfect choice for my garden writing shed as it’s light and comprised of birds and butterflies to help my imagination fly.
Germany is really impressive when it comes to publishing. Book sales are flourishing there and when they produce such a quality product as Dornen Tochter which courtesy of the lovely lady on the YouTube video I have swiped you can get a really good look at below) – you can understand why the German book market is so healthy. To have my own story so beautifully presented means so much. I’ve been very lucky with my book. Pan Macmillan in Australia created a stunning cover and now Ullstein with their hardcover version. Both create different moods and both are true to my story.
I feel very excited to know that my Tasmanian sea-fishing village mystery is now being read by folk in Germany. I hope they enjoy it and it may even inspire some to visit my home-state of Tasmania when they travel to Australia.
And so a special week for us with Dorten Trochter and to all at Ullstein who put so much into my Poet’s Cottage…
Vielen Dank!
I have my agent, Selma Anthony’s literary awards night on Saturday but for the rest of the weekend, I will be working away inside my Currawong Manor. But on Sunday, my family will have a special dinner where we will toast the good health of all at Ullstein with some ginger beer.
Thank you for visiting me. Keep creative. xx

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves

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A great year to celebrate for women crime and mystery writers in Australia. This is an extract from a recent media release from Melbourne Sister in Crime, Carmel Shute.

Gabrielle Lord and a very blonde Josephine Pennicott

‘Award-winning Swedish crime writer Ǻsa Larsson presented the 12th Davitt Awards at a gala dinner of over 100 crime buffs at the Celtic Club in Melbourne where she also talked to Professor Sue Turnbull about her ‘life in crime’. Turnbull coined the term ‘Arctic Noir’ to describe Larsson’s novels which are set in the icy wilderness of northern Sweden.

Turnbull, also a national co-convenor of Sisters in Crime and the Sydney Morning Herald’s crime columnist) said that Sisters in Crime had been delighted (and amazed), to see women scooping the pools at this year’s Ned Kelly Awards (29 August).

“Four of the 6 awards on offer went to women including the Life Time Achievement Award which went to Gabrielle Lord. To cap it off, all presenters were women so it was far from the blokey affair of previous years,” she said.

Gabrielle Lord

“The sisters are doing it for themselves right across the crime board. This year, we’ve had the pleasure of the TV series, Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries,based on the 1920s flapper detective series by Kerry Greenwood, a founding member of Sisters in Crime.

Kerry greenwood and Wizard Dafydd image by Pat Scala

Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries

“You open the Australian Women’s Weekly and you read a feature on Warragul member and author, Honey Brown. You open the Saturday Weekend magazine of the Herald Sun) and you read features about Sydney members Kathryn Fox and Josephine Pennicott – or Honey Brown. You walk into the airport and there is a giant illuminated poster promoting the latest novel by Cairns memberHelene Young.”’

And a few photos of my week and inspirations to share some of the Sydney sunshine.

shoes that crackle with summer anticipation and gypsy love

Thank you for visiting me. Stay creative. xx

Bluebell

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.Spring is coming to Sydney and the Spring Issue of Country Style is always my favourite issue of one of my fave magazines

photo Michael Wee for Country Style

photo Michael Wee for Country Style

Just glorious to take a break from the writing shed and sit in my courtyard garden to relax in the sunlight with a pot of tea and peruse the pages of fab and interesting folk living my dream life in the country.

photo Michael Wee for Country Style

photo Sharyn Cairns for Country Style

photo Sharyn Cairns for Country Style

The images are glorious (the originals are even better) and so grab a copy and lose yourself in a field of enchanting Bluebells.

 

The Bluebell is the sweetest flower That waves in summer air: Its blossoms have the mightiest power To soothe my spirit’s care.
There is a spell in purple heath Too wildly, sadly dear; The violet has a fragrant breath, But fragrance will not cheer,
The trees are bare, the sun is cold, And seldom, seldom seen; The heavens have lost their zone of gold, And earth her robe of green.
And ice upon the glancing stream Has cast its sombre shade; And distant hills and valleys seem In frozen mist arrayed.
The Bluebell cannot charm me now, The heath has lost its bloom; The violets in the glen below, They yield no sweet perfume.
But, though I mourn the sweet Bluebell, ‘Tis better far away; I know how fast my tears would swell To see it smile to-day.
For, oh! when chill the sunbeams fall Adown that dreary sky, And gild yon dank and darkened wall With transient brilliancy;
How do I weep, how do I pine For the time of flowers to come, And turn me from that fading shine, To mourn the fields of home!

Emily Bronte