Friday 30 September 2011

Cloak Parade

The book's written, the cloak's made and the Chantelle book marks
Narelle Stone is reading the book, Meryl has played the harp and Tyson is wearing his magic cloak
Let the cloak parade begin
Twirls and audience clapping
Now to celebrate in style!


Thanks to the wonderful Bendigo library, Tammy Higgs, Narelle Stone, Meryl Wilkinson,
Julie Gittus, and my family for the wonderful launch.  Even thunder lightning and torrential rain couldn't stop the festivities but did stop the Melbourne train from arriving in time with this special guest.

Thanks Claire for making such a super cloak and coming to celebrate-thanks for all your patient critiques of the many drafts of Chantelle's cloak.

Monday 19 September 2011

Spring in the bush and two thanks

egg and bacon plant
The bush is flowering like it hasn't done for years- here is the egg and bacon plant- well that's its common name and the famous Bendigo wax plant.


glorious wattle
Bendigo Wax plant















I just love the colour, the texture- its my childhood landscape.

I also had to share an op shop find- playmobiles are expensive and hard to find- look what was waiting for me today at a $3.00 price tag.

this is my first thanks

a triple sized strawberry












                                                                                           





And my second thanks for this huge strawberry nearly covering the width of the strawberry container.

Thursday 8 September 2011

Note on the Door and a competition

My big poetry collection- many many hours of work is out- and I can honestly say how proud I am of Walker and Mary (my editor) for producing such a  poetry collection.

Thankfully my publisher Sarah loves poetry.  I know how engaging it is for kids once I read a poem- for example this morning in a little rural school where poetry is dusty, I read 'Alright' a poem about washing machines and lost socks.  The children chuckled and interacted- that's what poetry should encourage- dialogue, language and exploration of the world around.


So here's the chance to write a poem:


Note on the door is all about family poems so the challenge is to choose a topic from those below and write a short poem to be eligible for the prize- I have two signed copies of 'Note on the Door' to give away to:

  • an adult writing poetry for children
  • a poem written by a young person( ie) a child.

And an extra prize of one free lesson from my recent e-course with the Australian poetry centre- poets writing for children- a two layer technique.

The topic:- choose from

  • a family note
  • a holiday note
  • a school note
  • a playtime note


Here's an example from my collection:

Writing on a Beach


A stick dipped into the sea's frothy ink,
the wet peppery sand
is a long table to write on.


Footprints are commas,
pearls of seaweed are exclamation marks.

Here comes the tide
erasing, refreshing , recycling.

© Lorraine Marwood


It doesn't have to follow my format-try for free verse. Deadline- Friday 23th September- winners posted on my blog site and website.


Email entry to : info@lorrainemarwood.com With the header 'Note on the Door' poetry comp.
Please note Australian residents only for the book prizes, but the sample e-course lesson can be world wide.