Resurrection, noun, the act of bringing something that had disappeared or ended back into use or existence.

Am I blogging again? Who knows? What’s happened in the three years since my last post? Much of the same, except now I have a new dog, a new car, a new laundry, bathroom and kitchen. In that time, we survived a pandemic, lost a beloved dog, had an alpaca disaster with the deaths of half of our herd, had two of the kids pass their driving tests and one has since left home and we got Optus Sports so we can now watch football (soccer). And that has led to another resurrection – that of my love for the sport.

In fact, that passion saw me pitch (no pun intended) a story to the Big Issue for their World Cup special and it was accepted! I simply wrote about football memories and the way the game has shaped some special moments in my life. The World Cups is a week away and I will be glued to the Lionesses and Matildas games.

I also discovered audiobooks during lockdowns and am whizzing through books at a rate of up to three a week. It’s a great way to choose books outside my preferred genres and so I have devoted more time to non-fiction, which I would otherwise not read. If you haven’t found Borrowbox and Libby through your libraries, I suggest you join up.

Writing has been slow with all the upheaval in our lives but I did manage to submit a final draft of a YA horror novel to a publisher, and am eagerly awaiting a response. I was longlisted for the 2021 Adaptable with my YA manuscript ‘A Matter of Time’ and the 2022 Mslexia Novel Competition with another YA manuscript ‘The Memory Finder’. I enter NYC Midnight short story and flash fiction competitions regularly, and use those stories for other competitions and journals, occasionally being shortlisted or published.

I intend to resurrect my NaNoWriMo ‘career’ this year too, and finally finish my adult manuscript ‘Hey Jude’ about a grumpy older woman who is forced her to confront the past when her daughter and family returns to their small community.