Catch Up

It's been a while and although I have missed updating my blog the various adventures I have been partaking in have been well worth the short absence. Firstly the conclusion of a very sucessful Imagine Day, I am so proud of the whole team it was an awesome day and the funds raised will have such a global impact both now and into the future. Secondly our short notice but fantastic trip home to New Zealand. Not only were we able to greet the newest member of our whanua but we had the lovliest break in Auckland and the Bay of Islands. The new blog picture is of "Peace Haven" the family farm and the place I feel most grounded. It was such a pleasure to be back and enjoy the peace, the fresh air and the sense of home I always feel when we are there. Peace Haven is a very special place for us as a family and I am yet to find any where in my travels that has the same affect on me. The Bay of Islands it's self is stunning and I will definately update the photo file on the blog for you all, our daughter took some amazing shots while we were there which I'm sure many of you will appreciate. So back to the reality of life I have been interviewing people for some of the more detailed chapters in the second book, writing a crazy amount of notes and new characters!It is almost a guilty pleasure to sit writing with my new elephant teapot and chocolate mint tea, but I'm sure I'll cope! Of course there is also the reality of new events coming that need my attention, school activities for the kids and sports in the freezing cold. Life is never boring! On that note we had an interesting situation last week concerning buses. I have heard plenty of stories about kids in the bigger cities needing guards on buses to prevent dangerous behaviour occuring. Well I thought that was a bit over the top until my sweet little year 6 comes home with the story of a year 3 boy marching up to one of the year 6 bus monitors, a very slight young girl and demanding she give him her seat. To which she replied politely no as the teachers and bus company require them to seat in that position. Well unhappy with this he flings his bag at the other monitor and slaps the young girl, then punches her twice in the face before anyone has a chance to stop him. Now this is not normal behaviour at all for a year 3 and most certainly there has to be other issues going on in this childs life BUT at this age to react that way to an older girl for that reason I guess I wonder where exactly this child is headed? The point I guess of what I'm saying is we are all blissfully ignorant of what can occur until it's shoved in our faces, it's the human "it will never happen to me" mentality but as writers it is often our job to describe the "what could could happen" and think beyond the line of what we have seen or experienced into the world of possiblities; scary but life is scary. Incase your wondering my daughter was the other monitor who had the bag thrown in her face and the outcome was the boy losing his right to ride the bus for one day and two weeks of school detention. I ask again I wonder where this child is headed? Stay warm and safe where ever you are! Isobial XxOo

Back to it!

It's kind of hard to come back down to earth after having so much fun running a big event but just like everyone else who helped I now have to get my head back into work mode. Not that it won't be fun, I've had characters and scene's running through my head non-stop over the last few weeks, they will definately be making it onto paper shortly. Not to mention the fact I left Kate in a rather precarious position in the third chapter of the next book! Letting go of all that adrenalin and excitement isn't easy, it is a huge buzz making people happy; luckily for me writing is a huge buzz too and with those who have read the whole of The Gift getting ansty to know what has happened to Kate I do need to get busy! Like most parents with school back in for the year and summer holidays all done it is time to get back to the schedule of work and home life. So over the next few weeks I hope to be writing up a storm, doing lots of blog additions and some hard out investigating! If you have read the first chapter of The Gift, firstly thanks I hope you enjoyed it and secondly you will know that part of the book is based in Auckland New Zealand and the other location is Chachapoya's in Peru so due to the interesting locations I thought it maybe fun to post some of the gorgeous location pictures and information I have used during the writing process. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed hunting them out! Also keep an eye out for other pic's in the gallery page there will be some nice additions from the 26th soon. Enjoy your week! Isobial :)

All things Australia Day....

I guess I have to talk a little about this as it has taken up not only a fair amount of my time but it has also been quite the experience. In three days, so January 26th it will be Australia Day and some how which is still unclear to me I will be running the Australia Day Celebration's for our small area of NSW called Nowra. Now those of you who have logged on before will realise this is funny because I'm actually English by birth, New Zealander by legal defination and very recently as in the last year moved to Australia but I must say even with all that I am very proud to be running this day. Firstly because the community here has been so supportive and lovely to us it is a pleasure to be able to give something back. Secondly because our church who have been amazing and now hold some of our closest friends run this day for the local community I am able to serve them as well as our area and thirdly how often as an adult do you get to plan the biggest most elaborate, crazy party ever? So tomorrow we head into the office to be interviewed for the local paper, the final meetings will be held to tidy any loose ends up and some how we will order a mass of food and drink to feed thousands of people; not a bad job really! There will be a bit of suffering too with setting up for hours, late nights and five am starts but that is why energy drinks exist isn't it? The totally best part for me is the huge amount of people that will be blessed this Thursday by all the work that has gone into this day, not just me by any stretch but stacks of dedicated people who are giving up their day off to come in and serve their neighbours, friends, family and community. It will be an awesome day I am sure but personally I want to thank those few who yet again have stepped up to help make such an important event happen for the many. I will try to post as many pictures as possible of what we get up to but check it out on face book if you get a chance Austrlia Day Brekky Nowra or Nowra City Church website. If you'll be celebrating with us have a great Australia Day, an if your Kiwi's don't worry Waitangi's not to far off and we are sure to celebrate that in style too! Welcome Malaysia and South Korea to the blog, nice to have you visit :) Isobial xxoo

Bend over an kiss your butt goodbye.....

Well after a fabulous holiday in New Zealand we jumped on an early flight back home to Aussie and from that point on it all went pear shaped. Our late night packing mean't we had missed the toy gun in our son's carry on so immediate confiscation ensued. Then we had to run to get on the flight as it had taken sooooo long to get through. We had to weigh all carry on again for no apparent reason, I got the lovely pat and wand treatment etc so lots of airport fun! Then we were treated to a flight of horror movie capabilities, turbulance the entire way, cold food and disembarking on the tarmac via stairs onto a bus. So white as a sheet from holding off hurling we enter the airport only to find it packed, luggage missing as it was put on the wrong flight and lots of tired grumpy passengers. The only sunshine in the entire experience was exiting two and a half hours later to a much loved family member who was sweet enough to drive us home. Over that flight though I had plenty of time for praying we wouldn't crash and trying to think of distractions which would keep me from hurling all over the poor people infront. One of the things that worked really well was thinking of the kids movie Madagascar 2, where the penguin's instruct everyone during the crash landing in Africa to bend over and kiss their butt's goodbye. It worked really well, kept me chuckling and wondering if it was at all physically possible? Maybe if started pilates or something? Anyway home gain and settling in to routine once more. The two hour time difference has caused a little issue with our body clocks waking us up early wanting food at random times and bed so early we feel like old people but I'm sure it will sort it's self out soon enough. I guess the benefits of all these lovely experiences is the ability to tuck them away into the writers closet so to speak, I have a fabulous vocab now for near death plane rides, holidays filled with continuous rain and crazy body clock antic's; I'll just have to find a story line to match! Hope all your holidays were filled with adventures too. Isobial xxoo

We are fine!

To all those lovely people who have txt, emailed and called we are fine. The poor people in Christchurch though! How aweful so close to Christmas to have yet more bad earthquakes. Please keep these amazingly resilient people in your thoughts and prayers over the Christmas break and thank you for your good wishes to us. Big hugs Isobial in Kiwiland xxoo

Home Again

Well I can say with out a shadow of a doubt you can go home again! Flying into Auckland Airport and seeing the lights over the city had tears welling in both myself and hubby's eyes; we are home. It is funny how much familiarity and weird little things like the smell of a place can make you feel instantly relaxed and at home. We don't have to think two or three words ahead to make sure the people we are speaking to will understand and we know where we are going which is a huge bonus! More than that though the joy of seeing loved ones we haved pined for all year bouncing and cheering on the other side of the barrier was so sweet! All those in jokes and casual conversations slip back into play with an effortless ease and you know for that very short period of a holiday, you truly are home again. I hope where ever you are for Christmas, you travel safe and feel the joy of share such an amazing time of year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, from one very happy kiwi girl! Isobial xxoo

You thought the hard part was done?

When ever I talk to people about what I do there's a lttle pause where you can almost hear them thinking "really" as in well sitting around writing's not that hard. Actually it is, no matter how much you enjoy doing it there is a lot of mind numbing hard work that goes into every finished page. Depending on the topic you can spend months researching and formulating just one chapter. Add the extra demands of life into the mix and what seemed like a fairly simple prospect now looks like the impossible, but if you hang in there the overwhelming sense of achievement you feel when you hold that completed manuscript in your hands makes it all worthwhile! At present we are experiencing the joy of gettting published; this is a real whirlwind of fast learning! The options are numerous and daunting but life is mean't to be an adventure isn't it? We will keep updating the blog on how that's going and of course providing as much info as possible to others; who knows what other amazing books are out there just waiting to be shared with us! Keep an eye out for blog updates as we will list some of the self publishing options, writing competitions and publishing houses shortly. To completely change topic for just a second before I go, congrat's to The Warriors and All Blacks fantastic job yesterday...very proud to be Kiwi over here! Have a great day...an yes it's still sunny here! Isobial :)