sallymurphy.com.au

Sally Murphy, Australian author

Making Plans for the New School Year

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Now that the Christmas/New Year break is over, and people start to return to work, I’m starting to get emails and phone calls enquiring about my author visits and writing workshops. Hooray! The only thing I love to do as much as write is talk.

I love the variety of sessions I get asked to run, the amazing schools I visit, the even more amazing students and teachers I get to meet and – importantly – I love the feeling when my visit makes a difference to a child (or a while school full of children) –making reading, writing or both just a bit more special. I also love helping teachers to find new ways to teach writing and to instil a love of reading.

The sessions I did in 2017 included:

  • Dozens of meet-the-author sessions in schools and at libraries
  • Poetry writing workshops in primary schools
  • Narrative writing workshops in primary and secondary schools
  • A whole day workshop using Do Not Forget Australia as an inspiration to write poetry- every year 5 student present had at least two poems drafted by the end of the day.
  • Writing workshops for school children and the public in Sharjah in the UAE
  • A visit to a school where year 6 students had spent a term reading my verse novels as an author study
  • Leading a Bookweek rap at Bookweek assemblies
  • Professional development workshops in teaching narrative and poetry writing
  • And more!

In 2018 I look forward to visiting even more schools and libraries, spreading the love of reading and writing. If you’re a teacher, librarian or festival organiser and you’d like me to visit you,  drop me a line.

Poetry Friday: Things to Do in 2018

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Things to Do in 2018

Flourish

Nourish

 

Thrive

Strive

 

Know

Grow

 

See

Be.

 

(Copyright Sally Murphy 2018)

As I mentioned earlier in the week, my focus word (or is it a guidance word?) for 2018, is Flourish. I want to flourish this year, and I want to help others flourish, and I want to do things with a flourish. So, what better way to start my Poetry Friday posts, than with a poem and a post about flourishing.

Interestingly, my first every Poetry Friday Post, three years ago was  a New Year post. Since I wrote that , I have been a regular part of Poetry Friday but not always consistent. Like many members, I have come and gone. Life has got in the way sometimes – so some of those periods of absence, I was busy flourishing, busy with career stuff. Other times, life was hard, and finding time for blogging took a back seat. But every time I got back to Friday posts, there were people there welcoming me back – commenting on my posts, or sharing wonderful things on their own blogs. And each time I’ve realised that I’m part of something big, a flourishing community of poets from around the world.

One special thing that the Poetry Friday community does is to organise poetry swaps. In these, participants are given a name (or two) and asked to send a poem to that person, via snail mail. My comings and goings have meant that I’ve never participated – I always seem to have missed the call outs.

Until the most recent two. At last, at the end of last year, I took part in the Winter Poem Swap. Of course, it isn’t winter in my part of the world, but that didn’t worry me. I duly sent a Christmas themed package off to my recipient, Keri, with a poem about the very fact that she was in cold and snow and I wasn’t, and some other goodies.  And then – hooray! – I received a package of my own, from the wonderful Irene Latham.

Here’s a picture of what was in the package:

The thought Irene had put into the package made me teary. She used my new profile picture as an inspiration for the poem:

Kaleidoscope Poem

(for Sally)

with a simple twist

of syllables

 

a new world

twirls into focus,

 

sets hearts a-whirl

in a blur

 

of ever-changing

light.

 

(Copyright Irene Latham)

 

Isn’t that awesome? The significance of the pouch is also special. Irene had read my posts about ‘old’ poems and poem-hoarding (which so many in the poetry Friday community related to), so she sent me a pocket in which to hoard my poems. I plan to fill it with tiny poems, starting with the poem-stone. I also plan to fill the notebook with poems, of course!

Thanks so much Irene. This is why I am part of the Poetry Friday community – not for the gifts, but for the friendships which flourish!  I have the gift on my desk and every time I see it, I am reminded of the magic way that poetry brings us together.

The second exchange which I’m participating in is the New Year Postcard exchange. This time, it’s a poetry postcard. I wrote my ten cards on New Year’s Day, and they’ve been sent off across the seas (or the skies, really, since that’s how they’ll travel), connecting me with ten other Poetry Friday members again through poetry.  And, as cards start to arrive in my mail box (I’m watching it eagerly!), I’ll be reminded again that friendships flourish through poetry.

So, I look forward to being a more regular contributor to Poetry Friday this year (I’ll even be hosting the round up for the first time in February). It’s become an important part of my identity as a children’s poet – and, though I’ve only ever met two of the other members in person (yes, there are two other Aussies!) – it’s the friendships that make it so special.

I hope you’ll flourish with me in 2018. Happy New Year!  For more Poetry goodness, check out the other Poetry Friday posts. This week’s round-up is at Reading to the Core, where, coincidentally, Irene’s new book is also featured.

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

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A new year

Is an unopened gift

A letter in the mail

A crisp new notebook

A story yet to be written.

(Copyright Sally Murphy)

 

Happy new Year!  Although I have mixed feelings about New Year’s resolutions (see my post about that here) I DO feel that there is something magical about a whole new year starting, with promise of new opportunities, new beginnings and crisp, clean pages.

Because I’m wanting to start as I mean to continue, I have registered for Anastasia Suen’s  30 for 30 Challenge, which challenges participants to write for 30 minutes every day for 30 days. Although the challenge starts tomorrow, I decided that the first of January was great time to get started (I guess that means I’m aiming for 30 for 31). So, the first thing I did this mronign was to sit down at my desk with my brand new journal and write for 30 minutes. Then I put a cross through the date on my  desk planner. I look forward to doing that 30 more times, and to really get some work done on the exciting stories which I want to write in 2018.

After my writing session, I headed off to the beach for my first walk of the year. Aaaaaah. I am so lucky to live where I do.

 

So, my year has started with a flourish, which is great, because that is the word I have chosen to use to guide my year.  Flourish works both as a verb (to grow and thrive in healthy, vigorous ways) and as a noun (a bold or successful act). And of course, if you are arty at all, you’ll also know that you can spice things up with a little flourish. So, I plan to flourish this year, and, hopefully, to help those around me (including YOU) to flourish, too.

Happy 2018!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS. Do you like the picture? This is a photo of a sign at Yokine Reserve, a playground in Perth. The blue sky behind it hasn’t been edited.

What I Read in December

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December was a busy month, but I still managed to get through 25 books, thanks especially to audio books.  I do love a real, physical book that I can cuddle up to on a couch, or in bed, or wherever, but for the car, or as company during housework or chores, audiobooks are wonderful – and the discovery of Borrowbox, which lets me borrow audiobooks straight to my phone for free, has enriched my life this year. (If you want to know more about BorrowBox, which is probably available to you, too, at your local library, there’s a good article here).

My favourite book for the month was, incidentally, one I discovered through Borrowbox, and which I am so in awe of! Artichoke Hearts,by Sita Brahmachari, made me cry and smile and feel all of the feels – and wish that I could write like that!

So, here’s the list of 25 with links to my reviews (or, where I haven’t reviewed them, to the book in a bookstore or elsewhere online). I’d love to hear what you’ve been reading.

Picture Books

Once Upon a Small Rhinoceros, by Meg McKinlay & Leila Rudge

Paddy O’Melon The Irish Kangaroo, by Julia Cooper & Daryl Dickson

A Bag and a Bird, by Pamela Allen

Reena’s Rainbow, by Dee White & Tracie Grimwood

A Perfectly Posh Pink Afternoon Tea, by Coral Vass & Gabriel Evans

Feathers, by Phil Cummings & Phil Lesnie

A Thousand Hugs from Daddy, by Anna Pignataro

Younger Readers

Game Day: Patty Hits the Court, by Patty Mills & Jared Thomas

Game Day: Patty and the Shadows, by Patty Mills and Jared Thomas

I Don’t Like Poetry, by Joshua Seigal

It’s OK to Feel the Way You Do, by Josh Langley

Artichoke Hearts,by Sita Brahmachari

Ruben, by Bruce Whatley

Young Adult Books

Sparrow, by Scot Gardner

In the Dark Spaces, by Cally Black

For Adults

Some Kind of Wonderful, by Giovanna Fletcher

The Way Back, by Kylie Ladd

Believe and Achieve, by Paul Hanna

The Mini Motivator, by Paul Hanna

The Sales Motivator, by Paul Hanna

The Money Motivator, by Paul Hanna

An Almost Perfect Christmas, by Nina Stibbe

How to Be Thin in a World of Chocolate, by Michele Connolly

The Kindness Pact, by Domonique Bertolucci

Playing the Matrix, by Mike Dooley

Having got this post ready to go, I realised that, of course, this was my last list for 2017, which lead me to go back and add up my total for the year. Pleasing to see that I managed 197 books in the midst of a busy year. But, of course, there are still thousands and thousands of books that I WANT to read.  Maybe in 2018 I’ll figure out how to read in my sleep 🙂

Poetry Friday: The Jetty Three Ways

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Taking a break from my Christmassy poetry to  revisit as place which seems to be growing ever more a part of my life: the Busselton Jetty, a mile long jetty about half an hour from  where I live.

Anyway, I have lost count of the number of times I have walked on the jetty – either part way or the whole way, and last year I did it several times, and wrote this poem, which I’ve shared here before:

Earlier this year I met a long-term goal and, rather than walking along the jetty, I swam the whole way around it, in the annual Jetty Swim. And, yes, I posted about the experience here, too, with this poem:

The weather was grey

The ocean was choppy

It rolled and it swayed

But I’d planned for so long

For this one special day

When the starter said ‘go’

I was off and away.

AND
I did it I did it

I swam all the way

I did it I did it

So hip hip hooray!

I’m currently in training to do the swim again in February – though I am hoping it will be a slightly flatter sea.

Speaking of training, there is a third way to traverse the jetty: a little train which runs the length of the jetty. It’s slow, and although it looks fun, I’ve never done it before. But yesterday, I righted that wrong and finally travelled on the little red train, taking my mother with me As well as the train ride I had another new experience: under the jetty, at the end, is an observatory. It’s one of only a few underwater observatories in the world and is unique because it there are no captive or introduced fish. All the sea life you can see is there because it lives there.

SO, the thing is, although I’d walked along the jetty and I’d swum around the jetty, not only had I never ridden the train along the jetty, but I’d also never visited the observatory. I’d always intended to, but hadn’t got there – in part because I am a bit claustrophobic and wasn’t sure how I would feel. But my mum, who lives nearby , and had  visited once before when it was new, really wanted to go again. So we had a mother-daughter date, and we went and it was amazing. See – mums really do know best!

And, of course, there’s a poem:

Under the Sea

I’m under the sea

And I can see

Schools of fishes swimming by me.

 

I’m under the sea

And I can see

A lone diver waving at me!

 

I’m under the sea

And I can see

Both fish and diver are wetter than me!

(Poem Copyright Sally Murphy)

The diver was a bit of a surprise. And, when he realised we could see him, he put on a bit of a show for us.

I couldn’t figure out how to work the lovely coral and algae growing on the jetty pylons into the poem, but here’s a little peek. 

Have a great poetry Friday. The round up today is being hosted over at Random Noodling. Head over there for more poetry goodies.

Poetry Friday: An Aussie Christmas Song

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Another Aussie Christmas offering this week. There’s a few very Aussie words in this one, so it will be interesting to see if it’s understandable to my Northern hemisphere poetry friends. Let me know if there’s anything you don’t get!

A Christmas Song

We sing of jingle bells and snow,

of warm red suits and ho ho ho;

but none of this is quite the way

when it is Christmas here below.

Downunder in good old Aussieland

it’s time for sun and surf and sand.

It’s hot, not cold, it’s summertime

and summer treats are in demand.

Hard work for reindeer in this heat.

Hot roofs would burn their tender feet

and racing through the summer skies

would surely leave them feeling beat.

And as for Santa in fur and such:

he’d soon feel overdressed a touch.

Being snug and warm in blistering heat

is not going to impress him much.

He also needs roos for the job

of sleigh-pulling – an Aussie mob

to get him moving all around

from Sydney town to Iron Knob.

His suit, too, needs an overthrow:

a new outfit, from head to toe.

Some boardies, singlet and some thongs

would seem to be the way to go.

So let’s not sing of snow and ice,

instead I’ll give you this advice:

roos, utes and summer are the go

for Christmas songs that sound real nice.

So ripper, bonza, beudy, strewth!

Though you might think my song uncouth

it’s true blue and it’s ridgy didge

to sing a song that tells the truth.

(Poem copyright Sally Murphy)

This week’s Poetry Friday roundup is being hosted by Steps and Staircases. Head over there to see what other poetry goodness is on offer this week.

Also, if you are looking for a quick Christmas craft activity, you can help your children make a a pair of Christmas antlers just like those Sage Cookson wears on the copy of my latest book. You can find printable pages, and instructions here.

sallymurphy.com.au