You gonna enter this? You should. 🙂

A Facebook friend visited today. I’ve never met her before, and I’m both introverted and ADD so I started to doodle in my drawing book.
When I got up to go to the kitchen she asked if she could add something to my doodle. Soon we were both drawing and talking about what we were doing.
Next thing it was two hours later and my simple flower had turned into a girl peering into a huge water tank belonging to the circus.
We had a suitcase full of secrets, mermaids with duck bills, mermaid tadpoles, kites, trapeze artist birds and popcorn flowers, and the duiwel loering rond.
Haven’t had so much fun for ages. ... See more

I want my grandson to know about his grandfather’s family. Luke would have adored Hudson and would have been an exceptional grandfather. He’s not here anymore but I want Huddy to know about the people that have died.
I’m plotting a picture book family tree thingy that I’ll stitch with applique, free motion embroidery and hand embroidery.
Here are the first few frames of the mock up. ... See more

Look at these lovely spaces.

I only watch rugby every 24 years. 😀 Last time was 1995. We were living in Laaiplek and didn’t have a TV so we went to Auntie Blanche’s house and sat in Junior’s bedroom, all lined up on the bed, my then husband Luke who knew even less about rugby than me, and our three young kids.
That win was part of the general gees about Mandela, the Rainbow Nation. The whole village went crazy when we won.
Opposite us lived Mr Dryden, a very proper gentleman who was a headmaster. He came running out of his house, leaned through his open car window and kept his palm on the hooter for a good five minutes. There was so much joy it just had to be expressed through noise.
Laaiplek was a very divided community racially and politically but this was the first occasion when it didn’t matter who you were or what party you belonged to. ... See more

Writing this piece was sooo hard. Like trying to get a salmon away from a grizzly. I don’t know why writing is so hard for me - other writers seem to fling out the words with no trouble. Mine have to be lured out like crabs in a septic tank. ... See more

The US version of The Thousand Steps as reviewed by Kirkus. Sometimes I think I'm crazy to have mixed dystopia, time travel, mythology and South African history into one trilogy... but teenagers and tweens don't seem to have a problem with it. We've only had really good feedback from readers. ... See more

I have an absolute horror of having my photo taken, but as the countdown begins to the publication of The Thousand Steps in the US, I've had to bite the bullet.
photo Patrick McKenna.

Sending off prizes to Joburg library. They chose Jamie and the Magic Whistle as their book for the reading competition this year. I wrote it together with vet Nicky Webb. I’ve made them tiny purses for earbuds or coins. ... See more

As always I need this... just focus.