Creative words

Sunday 15 November 2009

When I read words written by other writers, they always seem so much more eloquent than mine. Prose that sings, amuses, titillates, provokes... and I look at mine and go hmmm...

I'm coming to the conclusion that, like anything really, it's about depth of feeling and inspiration with a topic - and in this case, translating that into magical words - my words. Throwing yourself away (thank you Maxwell Perkins) and not worrying about what others may think when they read it, or of your own vanity and other such inconsequentials.

And pretty obviously, just doing more of it.

Serendipitous then, that today I came across the AUT New Zealand Creative Writing Competition - entry deadline 31 Jan 2010. A mighty goal.

All this means that I also need to start posting here more regularly again, just so as to get over myself.

Tech writer at large

Wednesday 9 September 2009

In addition to the obscure ramblings in this personal blog (which I keep vaguely secret!), I decided it was time I actually started writing a blog on things related to my profession. Given this is supposedly what I actually get paid for in real life and everything. So for those interested in all things communication - you can also visit me at http://www.techwriter-at-large.com.

The good, the bad & the ugly

Friday 28 August 2009


When I get older, losing my hair
Many years from now.
Will you still need me,
will you still feed me

When I'm ninety-four?

Aunt Josephine's debut in Charlie & The Chocolate Factory has occurred.
Laugh merrily then move along please.

A wet fish in my back pocket

Wednesday 12 August 2009

For most of my career I’ve been lucky enough to work with extremely motivated and committed individuals who are truly impassioned by what they do. It’s made maintaining enthusiasm and momentum easy and has suited my ‘roll-up-your-sleeves-and deliver‘ approach very well.

It’s also something I’ve very much taken for granted up until now. I’ve been naïve.


I’ve been asked a lot recently by different people my reasons for becoming involved in various things. More importantly, I’ve been asking myself the same questions so to be sure of my true motivations and commitment. And I’m learning the hard way to be certain of what drives others before throwing my hat in the ring and agreeing to things.


I’m losing count of how many meetings, workshops and communications I’ve had over the last couple of weeks where people have openly said something along the lines of “I’m a talker not a doer, don’t expect anything from me - but please will those willing to take on mountains of responsibility raise their hands”.


Who the hell hires these people? But at least you know where you stand. Worse are the ones that promise the world and deliver sweet FA. Who expect things to just happen around them without actively participating themselves. Who happily take credit for any progress which they had nothing to do with at all, yet loudly dish out criticism wherever they see fit.


Actions speak louder than words. Always.


I’m a typical Capricorn goat in many ways, in that I will steadfastly work towards a goal no matter how rocky and slow going the trail might be. But no one can achieve everything in isolation. We all have our obvious limitations and need inspiration, support and the insight of others’ experience at times.


I’m frustrated and finding it really difficult to resist whipping out the wet fish I keep in my back pocket especially for face slapping purposes. So get with the programme or just f*** off and get out of the way.

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Friday 7 August 2009

Was having a laugh with a Melbourne single girlie pal on MSN tonight. We were talking about first kisses with someone new. Strategy was being discussed. Where it ended up was that, if feeling inclined, the girl usually ends up setting it up in such a way that the boy thinks it was his idea anyway. That in itself made me chuckle, but after recounting from personal (but unfortunately not recent) experience, I realised this is pretty accurate. The old 'lean in & swoon' maneouvre. And if he doesn't take the bait, just pretend you've lost your balance while busy being blonde. The only problem it seems is getting to the "feeling inclined" stage in the first place. It's a numbers game and I'm going national.

Giving the eye

Wednesday 5 August 2009

Whenever I meet someone new I like to give them the eye. Not to be confused with the glad eye ofcourse; which is something entirely different :-> Some people use the handshake to provide insight into someone’s character or mood, but myself, I like to put more stock in the eye as the windows to our soul.

I think people are hugely interesting and it always intrigues me to observe people’s body language, especially what happens when you look them straight in the eye - how people respond to you, where they look, what emotion can I see - and in turn, how what I see makes me feel.

This past week I’ve met up with more strangers in a short period of time than I have done in brave while. I’ve come across the whole gambit. Some have looked back with an intensity that almost thrills me. Some would not look me in the eye at all, instead choosing to look down at the table while speaking to me throughout the whole duration of an hour long meeting. Some had open faces and smiling eyes, while others crossed their arms tightly across their chests, as if to form a physical barricade between us. A gentleman yesterday stared at me until I thought I may suddenly self-combust (and not in a good way).

Do you give people the eye and what do you see?

Growing a thick skin

Sunday 28 June 2009

This week has been full of 'putting myself out there' in one way or another, even though I've hardly left the house, go figure. This would have to be the iciest winter I've spent in Nelson so far, brrrr... but I digress.

Sometimes I probably spend too much time in my own company (a hazard of living in the boondocks), which can lead to thinking about the weirdest things. So this week I decided to take advantage of the anonymity the Internet can provide to share some of these 'probably-would-never-admit-to' thoughts on a popular NZ blog site (which will go unidentified for fear of my own embarrassment!)

Basically I raised a very controversial and personal issue, which the blog owner published, and as a result got over 100 comments and rising since Friday. Most were quite scathing of me (judgment; such is human nature) and some I found quite insightful. But as the owner of the blog said to me: "don't take any of the harsh comments to heart - as someone who's put themselves out there, you learn to develop a very thick skin".

I guess I'm just intrigued by social experiments! And sometimes I'm sure we all feel like Ze Frank's full-fat milk huh? After all, what else did I really expect?

Snippets from the pontoon

Thursday 18 June 2009


Hmmm... well I haven't been doing much (non-work related) writing of late; too busy. But I feel it coming on... soon... when I find the space to sit and think... the ideas are bubbling away under there somewhere. But good things take time and all that.

In the meantime, some quick update snippets off the top of my head:
  • Kiwifruit season has come and gone for another year. I'm drinking enough juice for my blood to go green.
  • My horse and I haven't parted company for ages. We're in love with one another again (in a totally unsick kind of way!)
  • Does my new addiction to National Radio mean I'm getting old?
  • I'm reviving my acting career in a local drama production. Today Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, tomorrow Broadway!
  • As the result of becoming a community volunteer, of late I have been found haunting the local police station, funeral homes and the court house. Really, never a dull moment.
  • My horoscope tells me I'm going through my most romantic phase for the next 5 years. This is concerning for obvious reasons!
  • In a fashion sense, I'm going through a definite vintage phase. It's either as a result of the recession or the fact that I love playing with different charactertures.
  • I can still be found working in interesting places. Above is a pic of me sitting in one of the pontoons (hulls) of a rather large catamaran studying its shore connect power system.
How's that?

Crisp and sunny

Wednesday 13 May 2009


Me and CB at the Nelson Area Winter Dressage Series last weekend.
We were debutantes (even though he's a boy horse) :)

Ping Pong Pippa?

Sunday 19 April 2009

Do you duel?
Have arms?
Any depth perception at all?

Come over and play in my shed.
You bring the fish & chips,
I'll provide the beer.
All challengers welcome;
See you soon :)

Big ups to the gigglers

Monday 19 January 2009


Making the national open women's pairs final in only your second year on the greens... Wow! Where to from here? Big congrats to my fab friend and one half of 'the gigglers', Fiona McKinlay. You will go far. But I've always told you that... maybe now you're plastered all over the media you will start believing me.

Not fwends anymore

Wednesday 14 January 2009

I've got a nuisance texter. I've tried numerous tactics to get rid of them - politely asking, ignoring and even getting a bit antsy on it - but I can't seem to convince them that I'm actually not their friend called Shay who is just pretending not to know them.

Since I think Shay is under 15 years of age, I'm mildly amused that they don't find anything peculiar about my text style compared to the "Hae row wuu2" type language they use (which I can't even translate into something meaningful).

After a couple of weeks I'm well and truly over receiving these frequent texts, so in a last ditch effort to try and get them to stop (and since even contacting Vodafone doesn't seem to help), I text back today with "ur abt 2 learn a lot abt karma if u eva text me again". Okay, so yes I'm childish.

I had to laugh out loud at the reply: "karmas nt real u flupin idiot oh and shay were nt fwends animore BTW". Great! I really hope that since we're not "fwends" anymore it means they'll finally stop texting me.

Resolving

Monday 5 January 2009

A new year. When we spend the first 2 weeks getting out of the habit of writing “08” on everything in favour of writing “09”. When traditionally you resolve to either start or stop doing something-or-other in particular.

I make resolutions all the time and certainly don’t consider them to be the domain of the new year only. What can I say; I’m a goal orientated person. I find it much easier when I have something in my sights to aim for. And otherwise, whatever it is, is unlikely to ever happen in this lifetime!

So at new year I like to resolve to do something a little extra special - rather than the run of the mill lose weight, get fit, save money, blah blah blah. Somewhere around the 90s was an extremely good year, when I remember resolving to make love in a waterbed (and a belated thanks to my then boyfriend’s parents who unwittingly provided their marital bed in order for me to realise this objective!)

With regret I never achieved my 2008 new year’s resolution, which was to take my first helicopter flight. I had the opportunity in November during the Nelson A&P show, but decided I’d rather wait until I have the money to take a flight over Mt Cook or somewhere equally breathtaking, rather than the somewhat less inspiring Richmond Showgrounds!

I already live the life of Riley really and am pretty happy with my lot, but after much thought I’ve come up with 2 resolutions for 2009:

  1. Charlie Brown and I are going to brave public scrutiny and enter the mid-winter Nelson dressage series. We’ve been taking lessons for around 2 months now and have something to prove to ourselves. I never thought I would ever in my lifetime even contemplate doing this, so I’m halfway there I reckon.
  2. Stop beating myself up about being the only single girl I know in my mid-30s who can’t even remember what it’s like to be in love. I'm convinced I'm still normal (whatever that is) ;)

Auld lang syne my friends xx