Personal posts step away from abstraction and into lived experience—moments, reflections, and decisions shaped by the author behind the work. These pieces explore perspective at its most direct, where observation becomes personal and the line between writer and subject begins to blur.
Author Michael Forman joins Bree Hartley to bring Linda J Bettenay’s Secrets Mothers Keep to life through theatrical readings. A year after discovering Linda’s search for an actor at Araluen, Michael returns to the gardens for the release of Wishes For Starlight, where he celebrates and enjoys the wine too.
Book release for ‘Wishes For Starlight’ Read More »
An overnight road trip takes Margo and me to New Norcia, Australia’s only monastic town, where history, creaking accommodation and old-world architecture share the landscape. From the monastery’s complicated past to the strange limestone figures of the Pinnacles, this short escape delivers character, reflection and plenty of open-road adventure.
Road Trip: Overnight Stay in Monastery Read More »
We needed a new garden shed but barely spent a cent building it. Leftover Jarrah, unwanted roofing iron and recycled shelves provided almost everything we needed. With a little ingenuity, some useful scraps and just $23 worth of screws, our recycled building materials became the appropriately named Shed 23, naturally.
We Built A New Shed For The Cost Of A Box Of Screws Read More »
Our DIY bathroom renovation moves from concrete and framing to plumbing, windows and interior work. While the new space slowly takes shape, we keep an ageing shower alive, test the bath’s extra-wide sill with a wine glass, and discover that home improvements rarely follow the neat sequence shown online.
Bathroom Progress: DIY Plumbing, Concreting and Building Renovation Read More »
Newgrange is usually described as a tomb, but its winter-solstice alignment suggests something more deliberate. Could this immense Neolithic monument have served as a calendar, ceremonial centre and gathering place? Step beyond the accepted explanation and explore why Ireland’s ancient builders may have created it for the living, not only the dead.
The Mystery of Newgrange Solved: Tomb, Temple or Ancient Calendar? Read More »
After months of writing and routine, Michael and Margo escape to the theatre for Eurobeat – Almost Eurovision, a gloriously kitsch parody packed with sequins, outrageous songs and audience voting. The night rekindles old stage memories and proves that sometimes writers need spectacle, laughter and creative chaos around them.
Ramping up the Euro-Kitsch with “Eurobeat – Almost Eurovision” Musical Read More »
We travelled through South Australia’s outback to see Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre holding water. Closed tracks changed the journey from bus to light aircraft, revealing floodwater, pelican colonies, donger accommodation, Coober Pedy’s underground rooms, and the strange beauty of a desert briefly transformed by Queensland rain.
Chasing Water Into the Desert: Our South Australian Outback Tour to Lake Eyre Read More »
Why choose an adult cat over a kitten? For me, personality matters more than cuteness. Sharkey and Levi arrived as shelter cats, became family, and quietly accompanied the writing of SEETHINGS—sleeping on my desk, squeezing behind me on my chair, and softening the darker places explored in my fiction.
Choosing Aged Cats Over Kittens Read More »
