Sunday Story

I'm reading Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own for my book club. I'm sure I read it about twenty-five years ago because there is a lot of familiarity but I started it again today, after I'd done my tax return. I could not have timed my reading any worse.

My tax return was a dismal thing because I earn less than I spend (and aside from books and the mortgage, I don't spend much) - and doing my tax, it seemed I earned less than I had to pay the damn tax office. So I was feeling miserable - underpaid, under appreciated, etc etc.- and I hoped Ms Woolf's writing would pick me up.

The theme of Virginia Woolf's book is Women and Fiction, and one of the most well-known phrases from the book is,  "...a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction..."

Well, obviously I struggle with money as do so many other writers I know (many of them women), and then this week, the Wonkomance girls have a fabulous post about the places people write - see it here. And many of the women who have included a photo here, do not have a room of their own.

I read a section where Virginia Woolf says she imagines in a century, all she's saying may be different and women may be true equals and have rights the same as men. Eighty five years on, I think she'd be sorry at how we haven't achieved all that much, and are still having the same 'women need more' debates. Although, there have been so many changes for women since 1928, maybe I'm wrong and she'd see them and be pleased. I just got the feeling she thought a century would see a huge change or even a reversal in the treatment of women.

So, I'm off to go and finish the discourse on women and fiction. I hope it doesn't continue to drag me into the pits of despair where I wonder why I'm doing the things I love, when they earn me so little. Maybe I need to go back to serious work where I earned at least four times what I do now. Life is tough sometimes.

Spur me onwards Virginia Woolf! I want to keep writing fiction.

Phallic Friday - writing sex scenes

Yesterday I had twenty minutes before I met my friend for lunch. She works at the library, so I thought I’d browse and find a book but I wasn't in a book finding mood (yeah, this happens but rarely, don't worry, it will pass).

So I grab a carrel (is that what they're called the slightly boxed in little desks?) and decide to write. I'm up to a juicy bit, flesh on flesh sex, the commitment scene. It's intense and I've been thinking about this scene for weeks, so it's ready to rush from my fingertips. Off I go, typing away on my iPad mini, feeling the raunch of naked sex on the beach after a hard won battle to get from a fling to a relationship. And I freeze.

There are kids here.

There’s a kid roaming around looking for a power point for his laptop. A family are opposite me, two kids planning with their mum how long they can leave the dad in the library.

What the hell happened? Why are there so many damn kids in the library?(Yes, it is school holidays but being kid-free, I temporarily forgot that!)

And women write this at home with their children? How? How do you not panic that some kid will inadvertently read a 'fuck' or 'cock' as you type it?

Now there's an old lady standing behind me. Is she reading over my shoulder? Am I paranoid? Oh dear god, everyone's out to read my scintillating words as I type them!

I laugh.

Time's up.

At least I wrote this blog post. The skin on skin scene can wait till I'm at home in my office where no one can read my thoughts.

Wildlife Wednesday - dolphins

Nicky, the dolphin, who visits daily and is in her 30s

It's always been a dream of mine to go to Monkey Mia, Western Australia, and see the dolphins (well, as a dream, it was more like swim with the dolphins and find out I'm the world's greatest dolphin whisperer - all due to a crazy woman at Sea World when I was 18 but that's another story!). In August, I went and it was better than my dreams.

70 people stood along the shore waiting for the dolphins on the morning I went (and that's a small crowd). We weren't allowed in the water, unless directed. We were not to touch the dolphins or make a lot of noise or splashing. There were quite a lot of 'rules' and only a few DEC staff to enforce them. And do you know what? People obeyed. People were lovely. People were in awe of the dolphins. People of all nationalities, all manner of tongues, stood there and admired nature's beauty. And that's what impressed me more than anything else. The dolphins made humans behave (yes, I'm a horrid cynic about people on mass).

So let me share some of the Monkey Mia story.

In the 1960s fishermen started feeding the dolphins when they came in. The dolphins began to expect the fishermen and waited for a feed - easy feeding here!

Dolphins can be identified by body markings or nicks and cuts in their fins. One dolphin, Holeyfin, was identified for over 20 years appearing every day for a feed. In 1995, she was found dead from a stingray barb to the heart (like Steve Irwin), she was 35 years old.

Nicky and her calf (near side, halfway down body)

Her daughter is Nicky, who is in these photos. Nicky comes daily for a feed and has lost many of her calves due to her need to be in shallow water to feed. Calves can only feed in deeper water and want to suckle every 10 minutes - yep... imagine that!? (I think they can manage not suckling for a longer period, especially when older but not sure of this!) On the morning we were there, her calf kept coming in to get her to go out and feed him/her but she wasn't interested until she got fed, which took about 30 minutes.

Sometime in the late 1990s-early 2000s, DEC (Department Environment and Conservation; or whatever they may be called now as that was changing) changed the management of Monkey Mia, which had been run to suit humans and not dolphins. Research had shown some of the ways Monkey Mia worked was terrible for the dolphins (causing stress, making females lose calves, etc). So now, rather than people all feeding the dolphins heaps of fish, all in the water and making a lot of noise, a DEC staff member walks up and down the line of people standing in the shallows and talks about the dolphins. Nicky follows the DEC staff member until the fish are thawed and then a selection of the crowd are invited to feed 3 fish to whichever dolphins come in for a feed (on our morning there were 3 dolphins to feed - Nicky, Puck and Surprise).

This means the dolphins aren't stressed, they get their feed (but they still need to go hunting to get their quota for the day - which means they teach their young to feed and hunt), they aren't chased by people, people get to see and photograph them up close, and the females go back out to deeper water to feed their calves. Win-win.

Dolphin and calves

So from 8 am to 12 noon, there are 3 feeding periods for the dolphins. We went early and caught the first sighting and first feeding. I expected I'd want to stay for the whole show, but I didn't. I'd seen the majesty of the dolphins, I'd experienced the best of humanity, and I was happy to head off to the next great adventure.

I'm not sure I'll ever forget my morning at Monkey Mia. If you have the chance of going, it is quite special. And with only the mothers coming in for a feed now, I wonder if the calves will take over their role when the mothers die. It will be interesting to see what happens in the future.

Player of the Year

The NRL (rugby league in Australia) has the Dally M awards, where an award is give to the best player in each position, the best captain, coach, rookie, representative player and ultimately the Player of the Year.

Tonight was the night of nights and my latest story inspiration was in with a good chance - but he has been for a few years now and not won this award.

But tonight he won! And I feel like celebrating - even though I don't go for his team, don't know him, and it's probably more than a little creepy to write an erotic story about someone you've never met. But anyhow...

Cooper Cronk is the 2013 Player of the Year!

Yippee!!

Now I just need to finish the damn story :)

PS Just thought I should add... it's not just cos he's cute and has awesome muscles that he caught my attention. He's a master on the footy field. He dictates play, reads the game so he knows what's happening ahead of time, and has a kicking game with this awesome pin-point accuracy, which takes hours and hours and years and years of practice to perfect. In the 1980s Peter Sterling brought out the same feelings - guess I haven't really grown up!

Here's a picture from news.com.au of him at the awards ceremony.