Two for the Road
Posted on October 29, 2007
Time for an author update: The new book, now entitled ‘Two for the Road’ is nearing completion. Had a really tough couple of days bringing it over the line. Had to hunker down in a grotty cabin in a camping ground to escape kids/domestics etc - I think I did about 20 hours of revisions in 48 hours and couldn’t even have a drink cause I needed my wits about me. Ended up with a nervous tick in one eye, not surprisingly.
We’re just at the stage now where my lovely editor takes charge and sends me the edited pages for consideration. It’s sooo nice when someone else puts their shoulder to your particular wheel. Anyway from editing to proofs to printed book is quite a protracted process the upshot of which is that it will come out on April 1st. So far only in Australia but hopefully a couple of overseas publishers might pick it up.
Just about to start on a collaborative writing project which is very exciting. It will be really nice to have a break from working entirely alone for a while. Looking forward to learning some new skills.
I’ve either got to lose that nervous tic - or put it to good use 
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Mind Bending
Posted on October 9, 2007
With children in their pre-teens (11 & 14) I live in absolute fear of drugs and everything relating to teenage drug use seems to leap out at me. It seems that the majority of young people have or will use recreational drugs of some sort and many of them get away with it and grow out of it but the stories of ones who don’t are just heartbreaking.
Whether they take up the offer or not, drugs are certainly very freely available. We’ve had two sad stories locally; a young dance teacher who took what she thought was ecstasy but was PMA, she had a severe reaction and died overnight. A couple of months later a young man wandering around on a building site after a night of drink/drugs fell into a couple of metres of water and drowned.
Now I see there is a new threat on the horizon: Salvia divinorum. Apparently it’s cheap, readily available (over 30,000 internet sites sell it) and extremely effective, but it seems there is no such thing as a safe mind altering drug. What worries me is why young people are so susceptible now.
While there were nowhere near as many drugs around when I was young, they were there and there were deaths among my friends but it wasn’t in widespread common use as it is now. Is it a more affluent society or are our youth missing something we need to help them find? Is it the lack of community and reliance on ’stuff’ for entertainment and distraction to make them feel good? Something is missing - that’s for sure.
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