Few things are as intimidating as a blank page. It's a truism that, well, holds true, still. At least for me. I worked out, some-when, that fixing this is mostly about momentum. My ancient, rickety high school knowledge of physics and the difficulty of starting anything has helped me reach this realisation. But once started, sometimes … Continue reading Filling the void
Writing
Exhibition Review: things borrowed, all of them blue
I ducked in to see Alchemy of Colour at the National Gallery of Victoria, as a kind of respite. It was a dark retreat from a Friday afternoon in the city. It was quiet, and peaceful. It was everything I needed. It was blue. Although the exhibit closes on April 3, most of the works are … Continue reading Exhibition Review: things borrowed, all of them blue
Review: Of Marthas and Whistlers Mother
Yeah, I saw Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. So, spoilers ahead. I know, people loathed it. Put it this way, I enjoyed not liking it all, and I didn't hate it either. It felt like a long, slow motion languid symphony for random chess moves, before everything was in place for the action. And then Saruman … Continue reading Review: Of Marthas and Whistlers Mother
I can has art now
I've made a book. Or rather written/illustrated/compiled a thing. It's been a late rush, as it's due in a couple of weeks, but it's all coming together, almost like a plan. It's for the Sketch Book Project, which is run by Brooklyn Art Library. My lil book will be kept there and will be available … Continue reading I can has art now
The supermarketness of it all
It's not lethal or anything, yet this vice around my head is unrelenting, despite the pain killers (making me dopey). Or that could be the cortisone leaving me sleepless. But it's just (another) sinus infection. Never mind noises are too loud, light is too bright, and standing suddenly elicits a shooting agony and a weird dizziness. … Continue reading The supermarketness of it all
Murder, they all wrote
I'm in a couple of online writing groups. The questions that get the biggest responses are not about reviews or like when to use the Oxford comma - or whether to capitalise the Oxford comma. There may not be consensus, but it doesn't capture the imagination. The most recent question about research did though. We … Continue reading Murder, they all wrote
Demolishing a Rhodora
In which we find Bec, seized by an un-poetic and unforgiving mood, interrogating a Ralph Waldo Emerson poem, because the sages say boredom is its own excuse for being. The Rhodora In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes, Evocative, but is starting with weather clichéd scene setting? I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods, That's nice, but who … Continue reading Demolishing a Rhodora
Review: Ideation & Lucy
This year I attended Melbourne's White Night after years of not. It seemed a little like it had jumped the shark and many attendees were less than impressed. The highlight was Ideation at the State Library of Victoria, staged in the domed Reading Room. It was a spectacular and moving visual paean to human knowledge and the … Continue reading Review: Ideation & Lucy
A review: abominable TV
The Abominable Bride, the next instalment of Sherlock, aired in Australia. Well I say aired. It was available via BBC Worldwide (through proper pay TV) and via subscription streaming TV and it also screened at selected cinemas for about 2.5 seconds. Needless to say, I missed these. It's typical Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, self-referential, messing … Continue reading A review: abominable TV
Balancing Big Themes and Small Moments
To depict big themes, the advice to writers is to focus on small items and moments. If disease is the theme, the moment in a global pandemic is how a medico might be motivated by the sight of a toy box in an eerily empty children's hospital ward. Emotional, concrete, and reasonably relatable. Conspiracy to commit writing In … Continue reading Balancing Big Themes and Small Moments
Writing Bec 