Perth Words… exploring possibilities.

Street Art in Waterford City, Ireland.

This quote from Oscar Wilde is painted on an old wall on a hilly street near where I often park in Waterford City.

The first time I saw it, I only glimpsed the top two lines as there was a car blocking the rest of it. It certainly captured my attention and every single time I see it now, it stays with me for hours and hours.

I reckon there’s a lot of truth in it and I’m beginning to think that the ‘busy, busy, busy’ approach to life which is so dominant in our society is playing a huge role in dragging people away from living to existing.

I know that there are some people who are genuinely busy and I would count many working parents of three or four young kids as probably being among the most genuinely busy people out there.

For so…

By Rashida Murphy

Growing up in the seventies in a convent school in India meant that the foundations of a colonial education were firmly entrenched by the time I was a teenager. To borrow Rushdie’s words, I too grew up “kissing books and bread.” Most of the books I kissed and consumed were those that inhabited my father’s rosewood bookshelves, along with the ones we were obliged to read as texts. The Bronte sisters were an early influence, as were Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy. I could easily visualise Byron’s “deep and dark blue ocean” despite never having seen one and hear Shelley’s skylark without any idea of what that might be. And how I ached, along with Keats’s “drowsy numbness” and wandered, “lonely as a cloud” with Wordsworth, while peering into that “deep romantic chasm” with Coleridge. The poets spoke Romance to me and the Bronte sisters taught me…

So proud to see this book on the shelves now. It’s a collection of personal stories by fifteen wonderful women writers responding to the the colour purple, and edited by my friend and colleague Rachel Robertson​ and me.

We have our own stories in here alongside Anne Manne​ Annamaria Weldon​ Toni Jordan, Natasha Lester​ Sarah Drummond Deborah Hunn​ Rosemary Stevens Hanifa Deen​ Lily Chan Lucy Dougan​ Amanda Curtin​ Tracy Farr​ Jacqueline Wright​ .

It’s been fascinating to see what emerges from asking women to think about what purple means to them and Purple Prose includes stories about families, pigeon fanciers, French Impressionists, feminism, ageing, the footy and more. Just what you need to solve your Christmas gift dilemmas! Hope you enjoy it.

In addition to assisting Ol Pejeta and the Black Mambas, we are currently raising funds to support an anti-poaching unit in southern Kruger National Park. This APU has lost rhinos in recent months, and are in need of additional training to track poachers.

By providing them with training of human tracking, this will enhance their skills, cut down the chances of poaching, and further equip them in protecting wildlife in the area.

By purchasing an ornament, a piece of art or making a donation, you will provide necessary support for our project.

Ranger in Kruger National Park. photo: Marco Longari

I’d love to know to what extent blogging runs in families. I know about 3 pairs of sisters who blog, 3 mothers and sons; 2 mothers and daughters and I think that’s it.

Maybe it’s just that I’m not moving in the right circles to find the families, or maybe I know them individually and haven’t put one and one or two and two together ( that always reminds of the card game ‘Fish in the Pond.’ Do you remember it? )

There is the little matter that there can be a sense that there is only room for one blogger in a family ~ a bit like one photographer.

I think my late mother would probably have got into blogging if it had been around in her day. She wrote a lot for publication and broadcasting and loved being part of a ‘community of writers.’ I often think of…

Worrying has to be one of the essential parts of a writer’s DNA. There are so many things to be concerned about! However, the reality is so many things are out of a writer’s control–especially during the writing process. Here are my top 5 things writers should learn to stop worrying about. Save all that energy for what matters: writing the best book you can.

1. Timelines

Writers make promises to themselves and to other people. Some people call this goal setting. This is a reasonable thing to do, provided you’re being realistic. However, there are other timelines that you can’t worry about because sometimes things get pushed back in publishing: an offer that’s “supposed” to come in, a delivery date that’s no longer attainable, a publication date that gets moved up or way back and many more. Focus on what you can control and let the rest go. Use…

Three ways to help!

1. Purchase a greater one-horn rhino ornament

2. Purchase a piece of art-on sale for the holidays!

3. When you shop Amazon, mention Fight for Rhinos, and they will contribute to our conservation projects. No added cost or work from you!

ALL proceeds from your donations go directly toward our rhino conservation projects; currently including Ol Pejeta Conservancy, the Black Mambas APU, and our ongoing campaign to help APUs with a variety of needs to combat poaching.