Are you glad to see the back of 2006? I certainly am. While I have no desire to wish my life away, this has been a year I'd rather not have had.

The funny thing is that it's not just me. I can see from my own astrology chart why I've been having such a bad run - and if I'm realistic, I'll admit that next year will only marginally be better - but it seems all my friends and relations have been having an equally ghastly year. Personally, I've been plagued by bad health, poverty and uncertainty about accommodation, and I can see others having similar problems.

Getting away from the personal, there have been a few good things. Governments, it seems, are finally admitting the reality of climate change. How come pollies are so dense? Climate change has been bleedin' obvious for over a decade! Al Gore's movie must've helped. And there've been some other good movies, too:-) I loved Kenny and Pirates of the Caribbean II best of all the films I saw this year. Thank heaven for good books, good music and good films. Sometimes a bit of escapism is downright necessary.

I wish you all a much better year in 2007, with lots of good reading - and writing, if you're that way inclined! Or whatever else lifts your heart.

And, as Dave Allen used to say, may your god go with you:-)

Omigod, it's almost Christmas! Actually, insofar as such ideosyncracy is possible in our society, I'm opting out. I've sent no cards (although I will write greeting letters to the few friends I won't see and who don't have e-mail) and there's absolutely no money for gifts in my present impecunious state.

I will, however, eat as many mince pies as are on offer. I wait all year for mince pies. As soon as they are in the shops I buy packet after packet, a different one each week; trying out brands, comparing them to my memory of earlier mince pie delights, and especially remembering my mother baking them from scratch. Now those were mince pies! They contained real lard and sundry other strangenesses, and omigod, they were good! No mince pies since have borne comparison, but that doesn't mean I won't keep looking...and buying...and tasting. Mmmmmm...

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Eight weeks ago, I moved from Perth, Western Australia to Mount Gambier, South Australia, a distance of over fifteen hundred miles. I think that's about 2,500km if your mind works that way. Mine doesn't. I mislike these metres, litres and kilograms, forsooth.

Anyhow, here I am in the space between the worlds, so to speak, or at least, between lifestyles. The last quarter of the year isn't a good time to move; certainly not if you're an inveterate joiner, like me. I miss the groups I belonged to in Perth: the WA Shakespeare Club; the Society of Editors (WA); the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre, especially the Spec-Fic group and the cousin-twice-removed face-to-face critiquing group that I value so highly; the WA Society of Genealogists (specifically the Western Suburbs House Group) and the WA School of Yoga, to say nothing of the many individuals I met in other contexts such as Buddhism, Meditation and Astrology which I've moved away from to some degree in recent years. Those groups and the people in them cannot be replaced. Of course, I'll meet new friends and join other groups over here, but therein lies the rub - everything is winding down for the summer break, and just as things start to wind up again I'll be on my way to England. So, in fact, I won't be joining any groups here until the middle of next year. Nor can I look for part-time work, which I really need to supplement the pension. (It's funny how everything else is going up, but not the pension - it gets harder and harder, month by month, to feed and clothe oneself, to say nothing of luxuries like health insurance and internet access.)

So how, you might ask, am I managing to travel to England? It's courtesy of my sister Clare, who lives there and always has, having elected to remain when the rest of the family emigrated in the fifties. It will be wonderful to see her and other rellies, and also the many e-cousins I've met through my family history research. My last chance to see the old country - now, that's exciting! It's something I'm really looking forward to, although I won't let myself get too excited this early or I'll be like a kid in the weeks before a birthday: only sixty more sleeps; forty-nine; twenty-four... No, I'll be patient and try to live day by day until St Valentine comes and carries me back to Perth, whence I fly out to Dubai and then Heathrow - whoopee!

Meantime, I'm in limbo. Not only am I failing to settle in properly here in Mount Gambier, but my life seems to be on hold. I've done precious little writing these last few months. It hardly seems worth doing much to my new flat - after all, anything could happen before next June and I could well have to move again by then. Yet one can waste a lifetime through inaction - I'll just wait until after Christmas, until I get a job, until the plot of the novel clarifies, until, until, until.

My Buddhist training is niggling me about being present in this very moment and not allowing myself to be ruled by attachment to past or future. Every week in limbo is a week wasted, but any other action--or non-action--seems too hard. But is Too Hard a good reason for dawdling in limbo? I'll think about it and let you know:-)

I've always though I couldn't write short stories. Not that I haven't tried: I have, many times. But after about 5,000ww I've always realised that what I'd thought was a little story was turning into a novel, complete with subplots and a cast of thousands.

But something must've clicked in my brain, because I've written two shorts in the last month. What's more, they're completely different from each other: one's a dark fantasy and only about 2,000ww and the other is a soufle-style historical piece of about 6,500ww.

Even if neither ever gets published I feel I've accomplished something worthwhile. I can't help but wonder, though, how much of my sudden interest in shorts is displacement activity because I don't want to have to start the new novel...

Writers love to write. When we're not slogging away at the WIP, we're running around the blogsphere writing notes to each other:-) And why not? Blogging, it seems to me, is an eminently sensible way to keep in touch.

It's especially good to see so many friends from mailing lists and critiquing groups dropping by. I have formed many friendships through such groups and boy, have I learnt a lot! In the right group, the aspiring writer can receive help, encouragement and instruction all in one place. Of course, there are extremes: some groups (or at least, individuals within them) can be horribly destructive: bad enough in some cases to discourage beginners completely. Others have been known to turn into cosy little enclaves where no one ever says a harsh word about anyone else's work - and no one ever gets published, either. A happy medium is necessary if the group's going to fulfill its purpose. Members need to feel comfortable enough to express their opinions honestly and safe enough to know that criticisms of their work are directed at the WIP, not the writer. A certain measure of trust and affection is essential, and I've been lucky enough to find this in several different writing groups.

If a group has a few published authors among its members, so much the better. I have learnt a great deal from reading the WIPs of people whose work will appear on the shelves a year or so later. Watching a work being crafted, week by week, and seeing that the process, while never easy, does become smoother in time, is very encouraging. And, of course, one learns about the process itself both by example and by considering the critiques offered by writers who have been through the trials of learning to write. The criticisms of other learners are just as valuable, for newbies are closer to the learning coal face than their published friends and sometimes offer basic advice on matters that more experienced scribes take for granted. One also learns from giving criticism - at least as much as receiving it. In fact, some writers say they do most of their learning that way.

Writers who live in the country need not despair. The Internet offers many options, ranging from paid tuition (shop carefully!) and formal groups such as the Online Writers Workshop to casual critiquing among peers, conducted by e-mail. Now that I live in the country this is my main form of contact and I treasure it. But I do hope to be able to make trips to the Big Smoke from time to time. Personal contact, coffee and chat all have a place in the learning process too: in fact, they are important factors in building the necessary trust among those who give and receive criticism. I value the trust and affection of my colleagues just as highly as the professional development aspect of critiquing in a group.

Hot, changeable weather here at present. I had the air cooler on for the first time yesterday. Climate change is alive and well - and quite capricious in its manifestation.

I've had useful crits from friends who've read my short story, so time to return the favour - a day of critiquing lies ahead.

Thanks to everyone who's dropped by to comment so far. Be sure to leave your blog or web address or maybe your street name initials so I can say g'day, especially if I don't know you by your handle.

The new Antipodean SF edition is out and my friend and colleague Joan Malpass has a neat little story in it. You can read Joan's story here Anti-SF is always worth checking out each month. You will almost always find one or two gems and get a couple of laughs.

A few weeks ago, I moved house. It was a Big Move, all the way from Perth, Western Australia, to Mount Gambier, South Australia - about 2,000 miles or nearly 3,000km. I've lived in Mount Gambier before and I have siblings here so it's not as much of a shock as it might have been, but it will take me a while to get used to living in a country town again.

With all the angst of leaving Perth, the trials of settling in and the constant socialising I haven't been writing much. Normally, I'm one of those writers that needs days of seclusion to get anything on paper, but I've managed to pen a short story that had been gestating for weeks and there are a couple more on the simmer. However, I haven't touched the new book I'd hoped to have drafted before I go overseas in February. I have Good Intentions - you know, those things that pave the road to Hades - of getting started within the next couple of weeks. Now I've blogged it I shall have to do it, right?

Like the rest of the country, the south-east of South Australia is in the grip of drought. Yet in the last week we have had not just rain, but hail stones! The temperature has swung from a minimum of almost zero on one of the coldest November days on record to a maximum of 29 degrees Celsius, which is a bit more reasonable, given the time of year. Today should be lovely - 27 degrees and balmy. That's good, because today Mount Gambier residents and a horde of visitors will turn out in force to view the annual Christmas Parade, complete with brass bands and The Man Himself. He's going to feel pretty warm in that red suit.

That reminds me of a silly thing I did when flying over from Perth. My friend Ellen had given me a beautiful pair of red leather ugg boots and I couldn't wait to wear them. When I arrived in Adelaide en route to the Mount it was 35 degrees! Oh boy, did I get some strange looks!

But I'm settling in OK and have already had some visitors. My son Bruce and his family are over from Perth at the moment and on Thursday night I had my friend Tracey Spark and her new fiancé Gary to stay over. They are just starting the last leg of what has been a wonderful trip around the country; all the way up to Broome, Darwin, Katherine Gorge, Cairns, Sydney, Canberra, Victoria and Tasmania, camping in many wonderful wild places. Tracey, a colleague from the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre in Perth, is a film-maker and performance artist. She will have so much new material to process when she gets home that she will no doubt have inspiration for months, if not years, to come.

Travel is one of the best sources of inspiration, I think. And one of the best ways to learn about ourselves and other people. I congratulated Tracey and Gary on still being engaged - and very happily so:-) - after nearly four months on the road. I've heard of some relationships crashing after less than a fortnight when subjected to the stress of travel!

Last night I went with Bruce and his family to visit the Umpherston Sink Hole, a local beauty spot. (My sister Anne, a keen local historian, has recently published a book about its history.) It has become home to myriads of brush-tailed possums, who have learnt to beg their food from tourists and locals. There must have been upwards of thirty people there at dusk, all armed with food for the furry little scavengers. While I question the desirability of feeding possums, and especially feeding them white bread, where else are our children going to get close to wildlife? At one time, any country drive would bring a sighting of kangaroos or wallabies together with plenty of birds and reptiles, but alas, no longer! The ones we haven't killed seem to have become shy and nocturnal, and who can blame them? My grandchildren were delighted at their close encounters.

Hey, I'm ready to read posts from friends, rellies and colleagues - and you don't even have to lend me any ears! Just click where it says 0 (or however many) comments at the end of this post. Use the comment box to link to your blog or web-page if you have one and tell us all what you've been up to lately!

Yes, it worked. I now have a Blogspot profile and posts. Whee-ee-ee!

I've been meaning to try blogging for ages and this is my first attempt. Well, second, actually, since I set up a profile and blog on MySpace earlier in the week. Over there, however, people have to be members to post to blogs, and I really want one where my friends can post, too. I want to know about people's writing, editing, holidays, hobbies, life events and anything else they want to share with me and others. MySpace does have the advantage of sharing Bulletins with friends, however. You can see my MySpace page Here

Now to see if this has worked...