Big Moments in My Life Getting born was huge, but I don't remember much about it. What I do remember was playing parachutist, leaping off a table and splitting my head open on a lounge chair. Then there was the time my big brother was teaching me how to ride a pushbike. With him jogging alongside me and holding the back of the saddle, I was keeping my balance pretty well. As we started down a small slope, he couldn't keep up, so he let go of the bike. A car appeared from nowhere. I swerved across the road in front of the car and disappeared over a small cliff. Apparently the puff of dust and hurtling back wheel looked very funny from back where he was standing. What do I remember about high school? The music! The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkel, the Stones... all that other fantastic 60s stuff really turned me on. I learnt the guitar and tried to bodysurf and fell in love, and got dumped, and fell in love, and got dumped, and fell in love... University was wild! Plenty of drugs, sex, and rock and roll! And that was just the lunchtimes! Except for the r & r, I looked on. In between doing folk gigs and playing rugby, I graduated. I loved Marguerite, I loved God, and I loved teaching English. More fun and games. Cartwheeling a catamaran, skiing in Canada, sinking a trail-bike into a salt lake on the edge of a desert. Jeremy was born. Amber was born. My Dad died. My Mum died. I quit teaching. I dug holes and shovelled gravel, taught guitar in a maximum-security prison, designed and printed tee-shirts and wrote Gaz. At the moment I'm living near Albany, on the spectacular southern coast of Western Australia. I'm currently working on a couple of new books, as well as finishing off an MA at the University of WA. Memorable Moments As A Writer Receiving an
acceptance letter from the publisher for my first book.
(I jumped so high, I sprained my ankle when I landed!) My
first fan mail where a kid who had never read a novel
before, told me how much he loved Gaz. Meeting and talking with Tan Le.
Hearing Amber cackling with laughter as she read the
draft for Gaz Takes Off. Seeing the school
dance scene from Different Voices being performed by Helena College
drama class. Watching someone's usually raucous class
full of kids quietly grinning with their heads stuck
inside Gaz Takes Off. Travelling through Java while
researching Escaping Paradise.
Hobbies and Interests I guess I'm eclectic - so many different things fascinate me. Apart from writing and reading, I love to watch movies - especially Australian and New Zealand low budget productions, comedies on SBS, Jackie Chan, and well-produced drama. Cooking (and eating) is great fun, as is sewing (though I do this less often). I'm hooked on music - listening, playing (the guitar) and going to the occasional concert/gig (The Waifs, Xave Brown, Paul Kelly). Cycling, sailing, woodwork and fooling around on or in the ocean are also high on the interest list, as is learning more about other cultures. Things that bore/irritate me immensely: cricket, economic rationalists, stock market reports, US cultural imperialism, jingoists, cleaning fridges and bathrooms.
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