Okay, so that was a weird week – my last in paid employment. It hasn’t really sunk in yet and probably won’t until we’re back from holidays.

Anyways, as goodbyes go, it was a nice decoupling, so to speak. I went to Sydney for a couple of days, finished everything I needed to finish, handed over everything that needed to be handed over and my co-workers said some lovely things. There were also lunches out with colleagues which, in Chatswood, always involved great Asian food.

Still on food, when I got back home from Sydney Grant and I had a lovely dinner out at See in Mooloolaba to celebrate. As they say, every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.

What else?

We finally got a stairrail fitted so I no longer have to worry about falling down them – or worry about visitors falling down them. Now, I ask you, isn’t that most boring piece of home renovation you’ve seen recently? It is, however, effective.

Reading

On Mum’s recommendation I borrowed Stella Quinn’s A Town Like Clarence from the library and loved it. A fun contemporary romance it brought the Northern Rivers region of NSW to life.

I also picked up the latest in Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series and inhaled it on my flights. The mystery was a good one, but as well as making me laugh out loud (yes, in the plane), there were also parts in this one where I found myself having to dab at my eyes. Fabulous and one of my favourite reads for the year so far.

Watching

I’ve just finished streaming the second series of The Newsreader on ABCTV iView. Fantastic. And, because I was exhausted when I got home from Sydney the other day watched Love Is In The Air, a Netflix romcom starring Delta Goodrem as a seaplane pilot in Far North Queensland. It was light, fluffy, and everything a Friday afternoon rom-com should be.

Oh, and for the umpteenth time, I rewatched Crazy Rich Asians to get me in the mood for Singapore.

Writing

It’s been another big writing week and as I post this update I have just one chapter left to write of this first Whale Bay mystery before I do another run-through and send it to my editor for a structural review.

While I’m really happy with how this has come together in just six weeks, I did hit a bit of a speedbump a few days ago when I realised that the person I thought had “dunnit” hadn’t. Hmmm.

Interestingly, I was talking through my process with a fellow project manager the other day and when I told him this story and how the characters had taken over, he said knowing that I write without a plan would completely ruin his enjoyment of a book. Seriously? Apparently so.

Random bits and pieces

Over lunch the other day we were talking about how some firms hire actors for the purpose of role plays in their recruitment processes. It gave me the idea of an occupation for a character in a forthcoming novel…

Check out these images from biro artist Nicola McBride. She’s on Instagram as @nicolamcbridebiropenartist and these were all drawn using coloured biros. Amazing.

Coming up…