Today I thought I’d paint you a visual picture of me and my day-to-day life. Don’t expect my writer/mum/wife everyday world to be on-the-edge-of-your-seat exciting, or to involve copious episodes of me draping over a chaise lounge with a box of expensive chocolates waiting for the muse to float down onto my shoulder. As one of my favorite authors, Stephen King once remarked: “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” I’ll take the chocolate thanks, but if I waited for the muse to arrive before I wrote, I’d have a lot more grey hairs than I do now.
I grew up in a small suburb of Wellington called Island Bay. Island Bay is called ‘Island Bay’ because of Tapu Te Ranga Island that sits, well, in the bay! After a decade or so living in the Far North of New Zealand, our family moved back to Island Bay to care for my elderly parents. I have strong roots here and I love this community. It’s very different from the Far North, but to me, it’ll always be home.
So my weekdays look pretty much like this: After ferrying the kids off to school and my husband off to work each morning,I BOCHOK (BOCHOK translation: Butt On Chair, Hands On Keyboard). Here’s my office desk and we have a geriatric tabby cat, J.J, (she’s about 18 years old now) who keeps me company while I write. Unfortunately she snores, but what can youdo? And I often wonder if J.J dreams about the two white doves that arrived at our house a month after my mum passed away earlier in the year, and have neverleft.
Writing (or pretending to write and staring at a blank screen instead) keeps me busy most of the morning and into the early afternoon. On some mornings I sneak off with friends to one of the local cafés for an Americano – yum. Let me tell you a funny little story about Americanos.Once at a small town somewhere in the middle of New Zealand (I won’t say where) my husband ordered an Americano, and the young guy at the counter (who was obviously not a barista) gave him a blank look and said, “Er, I don’t think I've got the right beans for that.”
I digress. Afternoons on a fine day are perfect for a stroll down to the local park (the very same one I used to play in as a child), past my church on the way, and then a walk along the beach, with it’s amazing view of Tapu Te Ranga, the fishing boats and the Ferries sailing to Picton. Quite often we catch a breathtaking view of the Kaikoura ranges in the South Island.
If the weather’s not so great, it may be a trip up to the local library (where I am very familiar to most of the friendly and knowledgeable librarians) and the temptation of walking past the Opportunity shop to check if any new second hand books have been donated. And if I've been really, really good keeping up with my daily writing goals, there's always our own little boutique cinema!
Lastly, two to three times a week I make the fifteen minute drive around the southern coastline to pick my daughter up from school and then a wait outside my teenage son’s college to collect him (and one or more friends) and bring them all home – a rather noisy and boisterous experience!
Evenings are for family and the ever-present homework that needs supervising. And then, once that’s out the way, it’s time to curl up with a good book – here’s just a couple of my bookshelves!
What I’m reading this week: Lucky in Love – Jill Shalvis. This is the first in the Chocoholics trilogy of Lucky Harbor books, and with a hotter-than-hot ex SEAL hero, and a totally identifiable heroine (who happens to love chocolate!), this is a fantastic read.
What I’m watching this week: Old reruns of MacGyver. Don't ask me to explain. :-)
This week’s favorite quote:Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. ~ Gene Fowler
Hot guy of the week: My very own darling husband, Fred!
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