Sunday, May 5, 2013

Sunday Story



The month of May I'm dedicating to The Virginity Mission in the lead up to release... but I reserve the right to change my mind if I get sick of plugging, or looking at the cover!


The Beginning of this Story

I borrowed an event from my life as the setting for this story. When I was young, I went on a scientific expedition to the Daintree Rainforest in North Queensland. I'd been camping all my life with the Girl Guides. I'd done a bit of bushwalking with guides but also with a bushwalking club. I 'd done a few overnight bushwalks. I was studying an environmental biology degree. I was fairly fit. I figured this would be easy.

OMG was I wrong!

It was the hardest, most challenging thing I've ever done. I knew no one when I went - except my Mum made me have a lunch for the Sydney people who were on the trip a couple of weeks before I went; I think she was trying to make sure I'd be safe, but I'm not sure how the lunch worked!

I was chosen to go from an application I submitted. So it was a big deal to me. I'd never flown by myself anywhere, and here I was heading to Cairns. Staying in a youth hostel, then catching a bus to Mossman to meet up with the expedition people. There were 120 people on the trip, plus the expedition staff (leader, quartermaster staff, medical staff) and half a dozen Army guys there for transportation (and disasters).

I was so far out of my depth but too naive to really know! Fortunately, I wasn't the only one like that.

I kept a diary during the trip - which lasted 6 weeks. I was tempted to read the diary while I wrote this story... but I didn't. I wanted to fictionalise the trip and not get fact and fiction all confused. So I wrote the story using what I remembered, and inventing Mac (my heroine) and Jason (my hero) and their romance.

This is me - yonks ago - at the start of the rainforest trip.
And last week I grabbed my diary so I could do some blogs with real vs story... and what a shock I got...

Next week I'll show you what I found :)

I've got some photos (nothing as good as the cover though) to show but because they're old, they're stuck into an album on sticky pages (are you old enough to remember those?) and I can't take them out without damaging them. So I cheated and took a photo of the photo in the album - apologies for the glare and the wonkiness.

10 comments:

  1. Oooh, intrigued as to what the diary revealed.

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    1. I hoped that would work and not be just a wanky line ;)

      Cate xo

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  2. I aint neva gonna get sicka that cova.

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    1. I don't think I will either - even with it printed out and stuck to my wall ;)

      Cate xox

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  3. Look at your lovely photo! Love that smile.

    Gorgeous cover! Congratulations.

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    1. Have to agree Hayson, that cover is gorgeous :)

      Thanks for visiting.

      Cate xo

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  4. I'm with Lily on this one. I'll never get sick of looking at that cover!!

    Can't wait to find out what you discovered in the diary.

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    1. Hey Lisa/Amanda,
      I don't know that it's possible to get sick of a chest like that!

      Thanks for dropping by.

      Cate xo

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  5. Cate, you've really got my interest piqued! I too have a very special, life changing, coming of age connection to Cairns and to the Mossman region. I can't wait to hear more details -and I'll tell you mine too if you like ;)

    Kate

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    1. Oh wow, we are connected in more than just name :) Yes, let's swap tales :) How interesting, Kate.

      Cate xo

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