Ode from an Aussie farmer to his sheep

Ode from an Aussie Farmer to his sheep ©

I will not turn my back on you

And send you to strange lands

Where you will surely suffer

By careless and cruel hands

Ne’er again will you board damned ships

The ships that smell of hell

No animal of mine will know this fear

For you have served me, oh so well

I am forever grateful

No more could you give

Your humble life is what I ask

For me and mine to live

Australia is your homeland

And this is where you’ll stay

Among the trees and land you know

This promise I have made

 

Tidying my study

A few nights ago I decided to tidy the study. I have manilla folders all over a trestle table but the contents are often in many places instead of the folder they are meant for. So I went out and bought about 10 different coloured manilla folders, some sticky notes, pens and exercise books. I sorted out existing folders, created new ones, labelled the front of each folder in bold texta, put sticky notes of due dates on works in progress  and put an exercise book inside each folder to force myself to write in one book for that particular project. Once I had laid out the projects that I need to work on, I found that I had five things to complete. I put them in due date order. There is a picture book, reworking a junior fiction piece, a poem and another junior fiction piece. These four have deadlines which is good for me as it means I will get them done.

But my main project of a historical junior novel has no due date. I will get to it soon. I am researching my character and have contacted those involved who are responsible for the biographical information I need to create my novel. I also have an idea for the plot. I will use one incident which happened to the character in real life and use it to shape the story.

So I know where I'm heading thank goodness, and when the kids go back to school tomorrow, I had better set myself some writing time to get these projects done. I'm looking forward to all of them.

Highly Commended in Poetry Comp

Lorraine Marwood recently ran a poetry competition called 'Note on the Door' after her recently released book of same name.

From four topics, I chose 'A family note' and entered my poem, Summer Night, which was highly commended.

I can't tell you how thrilled I was at this result. I talked about it for days. Here is the poem:

Summer Night

Too hot to sleep, kick off sheet,

tiptoe downstairs

and out into the cool night air.

Earth's night light so still and round,

resting in a blanket of stars.

A creaking board, movement, a hug,

Mum's out here too.

Thanks to Lorraine I created this poem and loved the opportunity to submit to her competition. I just love Lorraine's style and enjoyed her book, Star Jumps which won the Prime Minister's Literary Award, 2010.

The experience has ignited my interest in poetry.