The Joys of Being a Writer

I have begun a new year, already with a poem and a short story scheduled for publication. This morning I recieved in my email digital copies of three anthologies from Black Ink Fiction, five of the stories being animal themed drabble (stories of exactly 100 words), and the other two being short stories of the erotic romance genre. My experience as a writer since the end of 2018 when I started taking this hobby seriously has been a true eye opener. I have made a multitude of supportive friends online, people who write and publish from all over the world, and I have discovered wonderful support from friends and family here at home. I still don't consider myself a professional writer, not yet, but this hobby has enabled me to feature in so many anthologies (both in digital format and in print) that it is getting more and more difficult for me to consider myself a librarian first and a storyteller and poet second. All things considered though, I will always make being a husband and a father my top priority. Hopefully, 2023 will continue to provide me with ample time to submit my stories, short and long, and to maybe one day pay my way through writing... There are many opportunities for the writer of today, one just needs to be clever and quick. A thick skin helps too, along with wonderful friends and family from all over the world willing to stand in your corner and cheer you on. Thank you all!

Family time thanks to Puss and Wednesday

Happy New Year and all the best for 2023 to you all. I am ashamed to admit that I have started a weekly podcast for an independent publisher and am recording podcast episodes much faster than I am posting here. Perhaps I should get into the habit of posting the same day that I record... I guess time will tell... Speaking of time, we have seen in a new year very differently this year... A quick family escape, a planned trip to the seaside that went from two days to one. The river that runs through our town of Murray Bridge as well as numerous other places located in New South Wales, Victoria, and our home state of South Australia is rising, and rising unusually high. One thing that is a result of all of this river water is that the oceam mouth (where the river flows into the sea) is now quite murky and yucky. A trip to the beach is no longer the same joy that it once was. New Years' Eve at Victor though impressed us with the family fireworks and fun things for families to do. Unfortunately the accomadation let us down somewhat and so we returned to a home that is relatively spider free. It was strange to have New Years just as a family, normally there is a party at our house and lots of hugs and kisses when the old year makes way for the new. I guess traditions change, and this tradition helps us focus on what is important, family. And on the topic of family we have had a wonderful family day out recently in which we managed to catch the latest flick from DreamWorks, Puss in Boots - The Last Wish. If each member of our family had a star to allocate then this film would get at the very least four and a half blazing, beautiful, dazzling stars. Probably five if we were all honest. Great characters, and engaging storyline, a good one for the whole family. Something that deserves ten stars at least is the reimagining of the Addams Family, the Netflix series Wednesday. Our eldest has watched it when it first came out and we held off because I heard it was dark and very violent. Then we heard my brother-in-law was watching it with his family and they have kids much younger than ours. So we bit the bullet and decided to give it a go and absolutely loved it. Even Mr. 16 decided to join us for a few of his fav episodes. All in all a great start for us for 2023. Hopefully, this trend will continue.

Another Crook and Law EPIC weekend

Oh wow... It has been another loooooooooooooooooooong delay between posts. Life has been busy trying to find the happy medium between work and life (and often feeling like THAT is impossible). So much to post about and yet I never seem to be able to make the time to stop to do so. This weekend is an acception though, I have found that moment to reflect, to sit and type, to capture the now. So here goes... Friday night we braved our local show, a wet and windy night with people everywhere. I worked up until 6pm at the local library so sadly missed out on the usual wandering around and checking out the local stalls, crafts, and displays. Our daughter entered some cakes and muffins, after having some success at last year's show. Sadly no luck this time with a million and one entries in her age group... We are super proud of her efforts though and we love the taste of everything she bakes. It was great fun spending some time with the Crook family... Even if for me if was just sharing hot chips for tea... Saturday saw us once again playing host to an epic Australian Football Grand Final party... Streamers, balloons, friends, drinks, and soooooooooo much food. Our team, the Geelong Cats, came to play, teaching the Sydney Swans a harsh lesson on how to play the game on the biggest stage of all. Geelong truly proved they are The Greatest Team of All (at least in 2022)... Again the Crook family were there with us, cheering at each goal. My brother-in-law Ben and I both married Gallasch sisters nineteen years ago and our friendship has grown stronger and stronger over the years. The girls sadly lost their mum (a HUGE Geelong Cats fan) mid last year and so watching the win was a very emotional one as the Cats did it for mum this year. We are sure that Barbara is up there looking down on us all, cheering as loudly as she can. We feel her presence always, but even more so yesterday during the game. Now on to today... Day three of our EPIC Crook and Law weekend... Today we are off to a FREE day at the Adelaide Zoo!! Thanks to the union that my wife and my daughter both belong to we have two free family passes to a day out at our local zoo... This is not the Monarto Open Range Zoological Park, more a traditional city zoo... We love seeing all of the animals, and the free sausage sizzle is an added bonus... Looking forward to the fun ahead as once again we have a solid catch up with the Crooks. Hoping you all are having a great time too... Hopefully soon I can jump back on and bring you up to speed on everything else that is happening in my world, the world of Tim the Wizard... :)

The Return of a Legend

I must apologise, I have been very lax in blogging as of late with at least six months between my last post and this one. To say I've been too busy writing seems ironic, but I guess in a way it is the truth... To boast about successes is not the reason I have returned to the blogger-sphere however, I am certainly not suggesting that I be the legend who has returned. No, no, certainly not... No, last night (Thursday, July 21st 2022), for the second time we had the pleasure and privilage of hosting the amazing Markus Hamence. This man oozes charisma, joy, and charm. His eye for design is evident in every project he sets his mind too; be it turning his Adelaide apartment into an indoor jungle, putting on stage shows with superstars, or creating a personal gallery in a nook in a house which is the focal point of the home... The man just knows what works... It ia such a shame that we have had to wait more than a year for Markus to grace us with his presence once more, a mistake I will not be making again in a hurry. Fear not, people of Murray Bridge!! You have shown your love for this man... Your local library is listening... Expect to see more Markus in the coming months as we stumble our way through what remains of 2022... The hair! The charisma! The legend! Markus shall return again...

The Laws go to the movies

The silly season has hit us and 2022 has begun pretty much in the same way that 2021 began (and ended). Mask up, sanitise and social distance. In Australia we have hit our long stretch of summer holidays. With two teens and a tween to keep entertained we have turned to the wonderful silver screen for help. Yes the Laws have left the house and ventured to the movies. First off I had the pleasure of taking Miss 11 and Miss 14 to see Sing 2... We all enjoyed this feel good sequel and I must confess the final scenes drew a tear or two from my normally dry eyes. Catchy songs and endearing characters means we give it a strong 4 stars out of 5... Venom next (Let there be Carnage)... Woody made this movie for me... I got flashbacks from a certain R rated film... Master 15 and I both enjoyed the craziness... Not too much beheading, more terrible oneliners... A tongue in (someone else's) cheek 3 star effort... In typical MARVEL style there is an intreaging end credit cut scene that I am glad we hung around for... Spiderman No Way Home was next and the best of what we have seen... Such a great homage to past films while dealing with the current universe arc... Fun! Fun! Fun! In fact such a great film that it inspired us to look back at all the previous spidey films... Master 15 said it is the best one yet... Looking forward to what happens next MARVELwise... Can I give a film 7 out of 5??? Maybe in another universe... Family fun for all next... Ghost Busters Afterlife... For those of us who have seen the original two (and the cartoon series that came after)... This film was so much fun... For the uninitiated I would say it is probably a 3 star effort at best... And today? The Law bus ventured back to our local cinema to see Clifford the BIG Red Dog... Clifford was BIG and Clifford was Red and I was happy to see that it stuck pretty close to the book... John Cleese was a lovely surprise and his appearance made a great kids film even better... For most of us it was at least 4 stars... For Master 15 (whom I was plesantly surprised came with us) it was probably a 2 or 3 star effort... So in a nutshell I would say catch all these films if you can... Cinema is fun for all!! Happy holidays <3 <3

Raya brings the whole clan together

 Well Disney here is a challenge for you... I have a family of five, three kids ages 11ish (going on 33) to almost 16 (I know everything and you can’t teach me anything at all)... I need a movie that will entertain the kids. Bonus points if it keeps the attention of my wife and me. The footy is on so don’t be offended if we miss half the film...

Raya you say? Raya and the Last Dragon... Hmmm... Young, fierce, female driven adventure... Quirky characters with a riveting story... What?! What?! Whaaaaaar?! No singing?

For my eldest child to say he liked it... Well Disney I think we just watched a winner... Daughter number one and daughter number two still talking about it the very next day... Yep, definitely a winner...

The greatest test of all my wife and I only spent the occasional moment checking the football scores...

Five stars for the five tribes, well done Disney... Well done indeed...

Sadly our last Sports Day at Jervois Primary

 Such a cold day today and a sad day too. As our Miss B is off to secondary school as of next year it was our last ever Sports Day at JPS today. I always try to be there for this day, a chance to help out the teachers and cheer on the kids. Our little school has a real mix of sporting superstars and those with far less interest (and skill) in sport. What I love most about Sports Day is that regardless of skill, interest and natural talent (or lack there of) each and every student is encouraged and everyone is applauded for giving something a go.

It was difficult to understand why a school would schedule Sports Day in the throws of the season of Winter, difficult for us Laws residing at Casa de Norman anyway who are not overly sporty and so have no real interest or comprehension of primary school sporting events that occur later in the school year. So it was though that the school decided the day pending what could be a mamoth storm was to be our 2021 Sports Day. In fact such was the uncertainty regarding a downpour of rain (that is still yet to unleash) that a back up day (also in Winter) was suggested. Luckily the cold came, the grey clouds came but there was not a single drop of that theatened rain all day.

Foolishly I though a beanie on my head and a long sleaved shirt would be enough to keep the near freezing temperatures at bay. I had left my thick jumper behind as I did not think I could force my yellow T-shirt (the only piece of clothing I own that is the colour of my daughter's team Sturt) would fit over the thickness of such warmth. In hindsight I realise I probably should have just worn the T-shirt underneath and the hidden my support. As at previous Sports Days my voice would always betray my aligience to YELLOW and Sturt, yelling out the team name passionately and proudly to every teacher, student and parent regardless of what colour clothing they wore. Last year I was informed due to COVID no shouting was allowed, a very quiet affair that year. 2021 was not the case here in South Australia and so I now sit by the heater at home pondering a port to sooth my throat.

For all my screaming, shouting and teaching my little niece to do the same unfortunately this year was not our year. It seems Sturt was competative until the team games and then it all seemed to unravel. So on such a sorrowful note we farewell the wonderful day that is Sports Day. So proud of Miss B for her efforts and so proud of my amazing wife who gathered together such a wonderful cheer squad for Boo today... Another farewell... Another step closer to our next chapter...