It’s almost the end of 2026, and I am pleased to report it was a productive one. It didn’t start too well but I pushed through and completed my MA W&L and will graduate next year. It’s a relief as I’m so over due dates! But it’s also sad as I’ll miss the staff at Deakin and my fellow students and our academic discussions during tutorials (debating the merits of The Dark Crystal vs The Never-Ending Story 😂).
I visited the National Library of Australia in Canberra,
gathering evidence for my next narrative nonfiction. It was a new experience spending days sifting through aged papers and photos. Fortunately, I was permitted to take pictures of the artefacts as well as notes. The hard-working NLA staff did an amazing job in collating the files, making my job easier. The photo below shows the condition some documents arrived in, resulting in the need to treat them for mould.
My husband and I visited Tassie for a retrospective reccy of the setting for my most recently completed fiction, Maud & Caelan – what an experience that was. Check out the promo video I made (and see if you can spot hubby doing his best Chris Lowe – from the Pet Shop Boys – impression) –
Now it’s nose to the grindstone as I slowly sort through my 1500 pieces of research for my current work in progress and update some scenes in Maud & Caelan.
Oh, and the latest scam update –
Australian Literary Network, whom I received emails from daily for the past few weeks. I did my due diligence after receiving the first and then deleted the rest. However, a few days ago, I received over ten emails – all sent around 2am – I guess the BOT was frustrated at my disregard of it. But on an upside, while I was away, I received a phishing email on how to improve my website – so helpful and timely – and of course they wanted to fix all the problems for me at a premium by clicking a link! Timely because updating my website is on my to-do list. There’s always a silver lining!
Keep creating in whatever way you do and remember to always look for the silver lining.
#petshopboys #Maud&Caelan #researchforwriting #strahan #nationallibraryofaustralia
