Debbish

Book event: There’s Bug Guts on my Shoe by Deb Pak

Tuesday, January 22, 2019 Permalink

There's Bug Guts on my Shoe!
by Deb Pak
Published by Ocean Reeve Publishing
on November 26th 2018
Genres: Children's
ISBN: B07KWKQ8ZT
Goodreads

Where's that sneaky bug now?
After finding bug guts on his shoe a boys obsession with insects sees his imagination run wild...

Life passes by way too fast. We've got to slow down and enjoy it. I know myself that spending quality time with my kids is hard because of daily pressures and responsibilities. All this running around can sometimes suck the FUN out of life! When you read 'There's Bug Guts on my Shoe' it forces you to slow down, connect and spend quality time with your kids where learning is actually disguised as fun! Sneaky huh?

Book review: Gone By Midnight by Candice Fox

Monday, January 21, 2019 Permalink

It has to be said up front… THIS IS MY FAVOURITE BOOK (YET) IN THIS SERIES. Which is saying something as I’ve enjoyed both others (though loved the first Crimson Lake a tad more than the second, Redemption Point).

This has absolutely everything. Fox’s writing is intelligent but easily devoured. I’ve seen/heard her speak and she’s got that ability to spin a yarn in a way that sucks you in; and before you know it you’re enchanted, not just by the story but by the way she tells it. By the words she uses and phrases she shapes into an addictive version of reality from which you have no desire to escape.

Book review: Flight Risk by Michael McGuire

Saturday, January 19, 2019 Permalink

I wasn’t sure about this book. I mentioned the fact on Instagram. Although I’m accustomed to reading about psychopaths and serial killers and the like there are certain things I don’t want floating around in my head. Like the possibility of a plane crash for example. Or being eaten by sharks.

After 9/11 and losing a couple of former work colleagues in plane crashes (when I worked for the Oz Government) I was one of those people who’d look around as I boarded a plane and wonder which one of us the TV movie would focus on… if the plane was to go down. You know… whose backstory would they share? (And I know I’m not alone in that weirdness by the way!)

I must admit there are (eventually) some scenes-I-won’t-forget-quickly, but thankfully Flight Risk doesn’t feed the paranoid tendencies too much.

Goal-setting, habits, decision-making and regret

Thursday, January 17, 2019 Permalink

Last Thursday I mentioned a post I’d started writing after being inspired by Mark Manson. I’m not a MM devotee, though don’t get him confused with Charles or Marilyn (unlike a friend of mine). While I don’t agree with what everything he says, I very much like his way with words and find myself listening to his posts (as he offers audio and reading options) again and again… hoping stuff will sink in via some sort of subliminal mind control.

There are two I’ve been listening to of late and – as I mentioned last week, they’ve become linked in my mind – so the post I was originally writing became confused and unwieldy. This week I’d initially planned to – in wanky corporate speak – ‘unpack’ the two themes… but they continue to be inexplicably entwined for me so I’ll include links to Manson’s two articles and focus more on what I ‘took away’ from both posts (more corporate-speak, #sorrynotsorry).

My young adult novel: the beginning

Tuesday, January 15, 2019 Permalink

I’m trying to get some creative writing mojo back so shared an excerpt from my (very rough first draft) young adult novel the other day. It’s about a teenage anorexic and it was a version of this opening scene that inspired me to finally attempt fiction – a decade or so ago. I also mentioned though, that 30,000 words in I shelved it and haven’t gotten back to it, but ponder on it every now and then as I wonder which (if any) of the 3-4 half-written projects I could / should progress.

Book review: Ruin Beach by Kate Rhodes

Friday, January 11, 2019 Permalink

For the third or fourth time in just a couple of weeks I find myself coming upon a series part-way through. But thankfully – once again – it was certainly not a problem. And I enjoyed this a lot, so have already added this book’s predecessor (cos there is only one) to my ‘must borrow or buy’ list.

Overwhelm

Thursday, January 10, 2019 Permalink

You would have loved today’s post.

It was about goal setting and the fact that it’s kinda crappy, and (apparently) it’s far better instead to establish habits to get us to where we need to go. I was referencing a Mark Manson post, though realised later I somehow confused two separate posts (and topics) as MY post went on to talk about how to identify priorities and make decisions and talked about the importance of ‘regret’ in whatever it is we’re weighing up.

My young adult novel: an excerpt

Wednesday, January 9, 2019 Permalink

Many many moons ago I enrolled in a year-long novel-writing course. I’d never attempted a novel before as I’d never had any plot ideas. An opening scene came to me however… sadly based on my own experiences as a teenager grappling with anorexia nervosa (20yrs earlier), and once it leapt into my head it remained firmly planted; so I decided to make an attempt at removing it word by word.

The course itself was quite enjoyable though everyone (the tutor included) lost their mojo a few months before the year ended. So, my very rough 30,000 words (with about 2/3 of the story written) remained as they were.

When you don’t believe

Monday, January 7, 2019 Permalink

Over a decade ago I exercised briefly with a personal trainer. It was pretty short-lived for a range of reasons but what I did like was that we sat down for a conversation before my first session which led to an a-ha moment (that) years of therapy hadn’t produced.

I was doing my usual spiel about wanting to lose weight (yadda yadda yadda) but after I finished talking the trainer commented (it seemed to her) that though I said I wanted to lose weight, I didn’t really believe it could / would happen.

That conversation resonated as I’d struggled (in my old Diet Schmiet blog) to articulate a difference between motivation and commitment.