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What I learned from the Coronation

7/5/2023

A new word. New to me, anyway.
Until this year I had never heard the word coronate, as in a verb meaning to crown.
The first few times I came across it, I thought that’s ignorant – everyone knows it’s simply ‘to crown’. After encountering several more mentions, I looked it up.
It turns out I was one who was ignorant – at least in some parts of the world.
According to some dictionaries, it is legitimate.
But not all. Though Merriam-Webster is happy to acknowledge it, the Oxford English dictionary, that long-time bastion of English usage, seems less willing. One of my print editions, admittedly old now, doesn’t list it; another only as a botanical term (having a crown or corona), and an online search came back with ‘We were unable to find anything about coronate’.
Collins, it seems, has had to add it as ‘in American English’.
New usage perhaps? One source says it was first recorded c. 1623. So, 400 years. I guess that’s long enough to prove itself worthy of acceptance.
So, King Charles lll has been coronated, at least on the west side of the Atlantic, and I have been further educated.

In my garden - 14 February 2023

14/2/2023

With all the rough weather we've had lately and much in the garden somewhat dishevelled by cyclone Gabrielle in the past days, I went back a few weeks in time to come up with this pic of rather better summer days.

A cute creature crouching in the chives

What I read in 2022

9/1/2023

I read a lot. Show me an author who doesn't. It’s our trade, as well as our pleasure.
My reading list for any year (yes, I do keep one) always covers a broad range, though each year it is showing more fiction .
I’ve just taken a look at my list for 2022 and see I’ve recorded 83 titles for the year. I may have missed a few but that's about normal. Some facts it reveals –
•  I’m reading 60% women writers.
   •  I rate each book out of 5, judging mainly on story or content, construction, and the quality of the writing. This year I’ve awarded *5: 24%;  *4: 42%; *3: 22%; *2: 10%; and there were a few abandoned.
•  The great majority are on kindle. I LOVE my kindle. This means I buy lots of e-books. People give me paper books and they tend to pile up as I give preference to reading e-books.
While they’re both non-fiction and fiction with the latter including classic titles (some re-read), science fiction, and light reads, my favourite genre is Literary Fiction, so it’s not surprising that’s what I write myself. I’m not a fan of series and, there again, you’ll find my own fiction books are stand-alones, being quite different from each other – though there is an emphasis on women characters.
   I expect the 2023 list will be fairly similar, but I'll be interested this time next year to see.
   Best wishes for your reading during the coming year.

January 1st, 2023

1/1/2023

In my garden - 10 December 2022

10/12/2022

Bees on the borage

Actors wanted for play readings

28/11/2022

PLAY READINGS
Playwrights Association of New Zealand (PANZ) holds occasional readings of members’ plays via Zoom.
•  If you’re interested in viewing these online events, send us your email address and we’ll let you know when a reading is scheduled,
•  We are also needing a stable of willing volunteer readers to take the parts. Sadly, we don’t have funds to pay anyone, but whether you’re an experienced actor, voice actor, or enthusiastic to give it a go, we’d love to hear from you.
Please copy and fill in the relevant lines and email to playwrightsnz@gmail.com
• I would like to be informed of attending PANZ’s online play-readings. Please let me know when one is scheduled.
Name: Email:
      • I am interested in taking part in PANZ’s online play-readings. I consent to my details being held by PANZ for the purpose of casting.
Name: Email:
Include information to assist casting:  (gender, ethnicity, languages, accents etc.)

PANZ will not use this information for any purpose other than that explained above.

In my garden - 8 November 2022

8/11/2022

This is always the first of the roses for the new season

PANZ competition results

3/11/2022

Results
Playwrights Association
of New Zealand
2022 play competitions:

ONE-ACT PLAY COMPETITION
1st Place – Reponui High Presents… by Bronwyn Elsmore
2nd Place – Structure by Gregory Dally
3rd Place – Honest Shakespeare by Rex McGregor
Commended – The Ladder by Glen Hibbert

10-MINUTE PLAY COMPETITION
1st Place – Lucifer by Angie Farrow
2nd Place – Orpheus Floats by Rex McGregor
3rd Place – The Camembert by Tim Hambleton
Commended – Christ Church by Robert Gilbert
and The Arrangement by Kerrie Anne Spicer

Adjudicators -
Conrad Newport (one-act plays).
Cassandra Tse (10-minute plays)

Contact details:
playwrightsnz@gmail.com
Links: Playwrights Association of New Zealand

Writing for theatre weekend

5/10/2022

Playwrights Association
of New Zealand (Inc)

is planning a weekend of writing
in March 2023
surrounded by the glorious colours of Central Otago.
We’re immensely privileged to have as guest speaker
Emily Duncan PhD
Burns Fellow at Otago University 2019
who will lead us through her workshop
‘Detailing the Drama’.
See and hear some of the best 10 minute plays
our members have written in the last few years.
The seminar is open to all, members and non-members,
those who enjoy theatre, or want to learn more
about writing successfully whatever the genre.

Friday evening 3rd March till Sunday morning 5th
Venue: Clyde Memorial Hall
Full registration: $180.00
Partners/companions: $65.00
Saturday night dinner included
For further details
Email: playwrightsnz@gmail.com
subject line: 2023 Seminar

Yesterday

20/9/2022

  Yesterday, 19 September, was Women’s Suffrage Day in New Zealand.
   This country is very proud that New Zealand, in 1893, was the first in the world to recognize women’s right to vote. My grandmother was one of the 25,519 citizens who signed the petition that saw the legislation passed. She is a hero in our family.


     Yesterday, Queen Elizabeth ll was laid to rest after an unprecedented 70 year rule.

And yesterday I received the first print copies of my latest book – my 13th – and was reminded what a huge amount of work goes into producing a book. Months or years of writing, then all the additional work that sometimes seems more onerous than the actual writing.

This one, Rushton Roulette, is a light novel aimed mainly at women. It’s about four women, now retired following long working careers, who decide to take up various challenges, to show themselves and their families there’s still good years and life in them yet.

The three occasions – Suffrage Day, Queen Elizabeth, and the appearance of my print book – were coincidental in their timing, with my milestone by far the least important and impressive.

But now, when I think about it, I can't help wondering if my grandmother, as she signed that petition as a young woman, foresaw such a very different age to come.

I’m sure she wouldn’t have imagined women doing the things achieved by the four in my book, and I wonder about her reaction.