Category › General
Protecting Nillumbik’s Kangaroos: A Community Victory
September 11, 2025
This little joey’s face helped a community stand up for its wildlife. We were determined to win – and we did. Nillumbik’s kangaroos are no longer part of Victoria’s commercial slaughter program. Strong community campaigns can – and often do – succeed. Throughout 2023, many of us worked tirelessly to get Nillumbik kangaroos out of…
From Local Politics to Fiction: How Local Reality Show Came to Life
September 4, 2025
I never became a politician – though my students and friends might have imagined otherwise. Back in 2010, I was thrilled to be preselected in the sixth spot on the Senate ticket, supporting lead candidate Richard di Natale. At the time, I was teaching a group of adult migrants and proudly shared the news with…
Don’t Turn Away: From Grief to Action for Gaza
August 28, 2025
29/08/2025 Frankly, it’s really hard not to look away. The images and reports from Gaza are horrific, and becoming increasingly so. After bombs have killed over 61,000 Palestinians, citizens are now being shot dead while desperately trying to get food. The genocide is no longer only through bombs and bullets – it’s now through starvation.…
Beyond Coming-of-Age: Writing the Ongoing Journey
August 22, 2025
As an author, I’ve always been uneasy with the way “coming-of-age” is boxed in as a genre for teenagers. The stories usually follow a familiar script: a young person stumbles through their school years, wrestles with identity, and emerges at the end of the book with a neat sense of self. The genre assumes the…
Oodles of Fun
August 14, 2025
It’s been a whole year since Misha the Groodle bounced into my life – twelve months of playing (her) and laughing (me). She’s stayed loyal to her first love, mud, but has expanded her repertoire to include rolling in seaweed, sand, and anything dead enough to make her both dirty and stinky. Lucky for me,…
The Day I Fell in Love With AI
August 8, 2025
I never thought I’d say this, but the moment AI handed me the perfect image for my short story Fiddling While Rome Burns, I was gone – smitten. This wasn’t a slow burn. One minute I was politely agreeing to “see what it could do,” and the next I was staring at an image that…
When Creativity Meets SEO: My Journey Rebuilding Bush Telegraph XPress
August 1, 2025
For over ten years, my author website, Bush Telegraph XPress, has been home to my books, short stories, and travel photojournals. Recently, I faced an unexpected challenge: the website wasn’t working the way I thought it was. Despite looking fine on the surface, there were serious issues with how search engines and visitors were discovering…
To Indent or Not to Indent? That Is the Question!
March 20, 2025
And honestly – does anyone even care anymore? Well, I do! As a writer, I’ve obsessed over formatting for years. My books follow the classic rule: every new paragraph gets an indent (except at the start of a chapter), and dialogue lines are neatly tucked in. It’s a convention that’s been around forever, subtly underpinning…
Port Fairy Folk Festival
March 13, 2025
Another fantastic Port Fairy Folk Festival! My highlights this year included the joy of discovering the wonderful Missy Higgins, dancing like crazy to Skerryvore, and hanging out with my good mate Dave Lodge. So much fun! #PortFairyFolkFestival #MissyHiggins #Skerryvore
The White Lotus
February 28, 2025
Please don’t contact me on a Monday afternoon. I’m busy then. For that’s when I check into the White Lotus hotel in Thailand for a wonderful, completely engrossing hour. I expected to enjoy_ White Lotus_ season 3 but even by the end of episode 2, I’m thinking that this could be the best in the…