A Week of Ups and Downs

...she’s all prepared for when the time comes to shuffle off her mortal coil.  From "Old Age and Villainy".

This is just one variety of the beautiful frangipanis we have here.  The perfume is reminiscent of a tropical fruit salad, hence this one is described as the fruit salad frangipani.  Ours are just starting to bud up with new leaves now.  Aaah...perfumed tropical nights.

I generally don't suffer from mood swings but the last week or so has seen my dark side surface.  I have lost patience with my telecommunications provider...a dinosaur of a business if there ever was.  They have the lion's share of this industry in Australia and their impersonal automated service is frustrating to say the least...especially when one wants to yell at someone.  Arguing with a computerised message service doesn't work somehow.  Apparently they are the company who have the largest number of complaints recorded against them but does it make any difference?  No...

However, the week did start off on a real high, as those who read my Facebook page will know.  I attended the Carnival of Words, the Gold Coast festival of writing, on Saturday.  I, along with a couple of friends, was responsible for the coffees and teas.  The event was organised by the facilitator of the Screen, Theatre and wRiters Studio (S.T.A.R.S), the amazing Nerida Marshall, and featured well known, new and emerging authors...including the proliferative Peter Watt, author of the fabulous Frontier Series books, and one of my favourite authors.    If you are interested, here's a link to his FB page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/60777773968/

It was a wonderful day with a great energy which several people commented upon.  During the day, the winners of the Winter Snap Short Story Competition were announced.  I had entered two stories and at one stage, when I was getting some fresh air and talking to the guys manning the barbecue, Nerida approached me, asking if I would make myself available as she was about to announce the prize winners.  I never thought anything of it apart from thinking I may receive a certificate of participation or something like that.

Imagine my surprise when one of my stories reached finalist level!  I was over the moon with delight which was heightened by the fact that my certificate was presented to me by Peter Watt himself...and I got to shake his hand.  I stood to one side with a broad grin on my face as the other prizes were announced then was frozen with shock when my second story received second prize!  This one even earned my first ever prize money...woohoo!  The winner was my friend, Dee Dee McCarthy, author of the horror novel "New Soil".

None of us were surprised that Dee Dee won.  Apart from the fact that she is a fine writer, the genre...werewolves, zombies, murder, mystery and stories of that ilk...are her specialty.  Her win was very well deserved. 

Actually although my dark side did emerge for a little while this week, it was pushed back by remembering Saturday.  Even at this moment while writing about it, I feel the wonderful positive feeling of "anything is possible" flooding my being.  I can flyyyyyyy!!  And I met Peter Watt (just in case you didn't get it the first time).