Perth Words… exploring possibilities.

Interview by Nicole Melanson ~

Sandra Leigh Price lives in Sydney. She graduated from the Australian National University, Canberra, with a Double Major in English Literature and Drama, and co-established a small theatre company before moving to Sydney. She has written both for the stage and screen. The Bird’s Child is her debut novel.

Sandra’s website

Twitter: @thevelvetnap

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED?

I’ve always been a storyteller. As a child I was quite shy and loved the world of the library and books. I wrote lengthy stories about animals and injustices. As an adolescent I became involved with drama, and I loved dissolving into a character and the world of the play. While at University I wrote poetry and also reviews and interviews for Muse Magazine in Canberra, as well as working as a professional storyteller in schools and in a Fairy shop. I spent an amazing time in…

The Beast’s Garden by Kate Forsyth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved Beauty by Robin McKinley and I adore Kate Forsyth so I thought that The Beast’s Garden would be a wonderful magical retelling. Despite the horribleness of the setting (I meant the nasty gruesome war rather than the actual place), I thought that this would be an excellent foil for Beauty’s courage and generosity. In the end, whilst I have very much enjoyed the story, I’d say that The Beast’s Garden is inspired by (rather than a retelling of) ‘The Singing, Springing Lark’, the Grimm Brothers’ version of Beauty and The Beast.

‘The Singing, Springing Lark’ is quite a bit different than the well-known tale of Beauty and The Beast and if you know your literature, you’d know that Grimm Brothers’ version will be much darker. This means that our heroine must be very determined, intelligent, brave…

Hi, I am delighted to let all my friends and followers know that I have been shortlisted for the Blog Awards Ireland 2015, in the category of Best Travel Blog.

This is a great achievement and I would be really happy if you could all vote for me, I have seen the other wonderful blogs in this category, and believe you me, I need all the help I can get.

The public vote is open until 21st September, and comprises 30 percent of the vote, the rest is up to the judges, so as the politicians say –

‘Vote Early and Vote Often’

Seriously though, I would be very happy to get your vote, here is the link, just click on my blog (Retirement and Beyond) to vote.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6CH93LD

Thanks to everyone that follows, likes and comments on my posts, I really enjoy being part of the blogging community. Now…

Kruger National Park is home to the majority of the Earth’s remaining rhino populations. So what else do we know about the rhinos’ home?

*Kruger National Park is the largest game reserve in Africa. It spans across 19,633 square kilometres, basically the same size of Israel or New Jersey.

*There are 9 gates accessing the park, adding to the difficulty to monitor and patrol human activity in the park.

*It is also home to 336 tree, 49 fish, 34 amphibian, 114 reptile, 507 bird and 147 mammal species.

*In 1869 (before the park was officially even founded), a gold rush exploded in the region, which resulted in the side effect of a significant decrease in game due to hunting and trading of animal horns and skins.

(L) Founder,Paul Kruger (R) James Stevenson Hamilton, the first game warden

*The park  itself didn’t come into existence until 1898, when it was founded  by Paul Kruger.

*The…

The new issue of of Review of Australian Fiction has just been published, no. 5 in the special volume showcasing WA writers, edited by Laurie Steed. I’ve just read my subscription copy—with a great deal of pleasure, too, as Natasha and Yvette are members of a much-valued writing group I belong to.

Natasha Lester, with two published novels (What Is Left Over, After, winner of the T.A.G. Hungerford Award; and If I Should Lose You) is the established writer of this pairing. Natasha’s third novel, A Kiss from Mr Fitzgerald, is due out in April 2016. Paired with Natasha is Yvette Walker, whose stunning debut novel Letters to the End of Love won the 2014 WA Premier’s Book Award in the WA Emerging Writer category and was shortlisted for a 2014 NSW Premier’s Award (Glenda Adam’s Award for New Writing).

Natasha’s story, ‘The Maelstrom’, re-creates…

I’m thrilled to have been Shortlisted for Best Post in the Irish Blog Awards 2015.

The post, Reflections on the Accident and Emergency (ER) Crisis, is one which is very close to my heart especially after my personal experiences with my late parents and my long career as a Sociologist in health policy research.

My hope in writing the post was that it would contribute to enhancing a part of the health care system which plays such a key role in the lives of so many people ~ patients, their families, and, of course, the thousands of health care workers who dedicate their lives to this front line service.

I would be truly honoured if you would Vote for the post.  Just Click below and you’ll find Social Bridge in the middle of the list:

Just a reminder that Public Voting for the Irish Blog Awards begins today.

I’m just thrilled to be shortlisted, of course.

It’s very exciting.

The vote will be open until September 21st.

You can vote here if you’re interested.

Many thanks.

#bloggies2015

As writers, we each face our own struggles.  I tend to think a lot of my issues could be alleviated if I had more time in the day. Seeing as how I don’t have access to a magical hourglass, I had to consider other options.  The one that screamed for my attention was time management.  My situation is not unique.  Like many of you, I work full time.  That leaves a few short hours a day to take care of my home/family, exercise, write and grow my audience.

Building my author platform

It’s hard.

Who knew there would be so much effort required?  I thought writing the novel was supposed to be the most difficult part. Imagine my surprise when I realized I needed a twitter account, a Facebook author page, a blog, etc.

It’s time consuming.

Each plank in the platform comes from the connections we make.  Those…