You declare a return to regular blogging and what happens?

An almost immediate dose of Covid for one thing, along with a change in day-job circumstances, caring for an ageing parent 700 kilometres away, editing and publishing their hobby novel, various renovation projects, and the occasional travel adventure to reassure that having a life can happen from time to time.

So, a few writery things what-done-happened since last time.

Nuns and Bulimia

Night Parrot Press put out a call for micro-memoir rather than micro-fiction for their 2024 release. Not a genre I’ve attempted, besides distorting minor life events into moving triptychs of emotional depth and resonance silly nonsense.

“Do yourself a favour”

A couple of childhood memories were eventually dredged up.

One was a recollection of two primary school principals of mine, both nuns, with starkly different approaches to their duties. The second piece made the memoir collection, being a remembrance of smorgasboard eateries during the “greed is good” 1980s in my home town of Geraldton.

An enjoyable exercise in reflection, culminating in a diverse collection of stories by one hundred WA writers, well worth picking up if you happen upon a copy.

Ourselves

Vietnamese Theatrics

Short and Sweet theatrical hijinks of a furniture nature

One pleasant surprise was discovering my short play “Couch” made the finals of the inaugural Vietnam Short+Sweet Play Festival.

Couch had previously made the finals in the Perth version of the 10 Minute Festival series, and remained in the pool of available plays for other capital cities.

The pictures suggest it was an equally energised and athletic performance, and I assume cultural references (such as punching out Jeremy Clarkson) received some artistic license.

Playing Possum Again

Proving there’s still life in an old marsupial yet, my short play “Possum Play” made the finals of Creswick Theatre‘s inaugural 12 Minute Play Festival.

“Do yourself another favour.”

The plays were based around a colour of the writer’s choice.

Brown was the resounding palette for mine, whether mission brown painted woodwork or the titular furry animals and their associated “National treasures”.

A book of the finalist play scripts was published for those of a micro-play bent, available from all good Amazon bookstores.

Moody Lapcats

In what is proving to be the most elongated announcement in history, my publishing imprint will soon officially declare its existence …

… once I finish rewriting the web page after my hosting company nuked it in an automated migration. This was after a world of pain regarding domain management that made me question the very nature of technological “progress” at an existential level.

Moody lapcat being moody.

In a nutshell, a sushi train of my plays are slowly trundling into the world for public delectation.

Spd D8n, Someone Called Rob, and Past Loves are out there on the book-related interwebs already.

My first one-act play “One Night Stand Off”, now released with the new title of “One Night One Morning”, is available as ebook with the print version in final proofing.

The more recent full-length version, “One Night One Day“, is also nearing release, with “Brown Acid” currently getting a rewrite for contemporary relevances.

Obligatory “Will Post Again Soon” Sign Off

There’s a glimpse of blue sky through the grey clouds of stuff-that-must-be-done. Hopefully this translates into some more frequent and whimsical blogging.

If not, see you in another year’s time.