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I Have My Pet Dragon. Now What?

zoe52 on flickr.com

Firstly his all important name. Even tiny dragons are proud creatures and won’t succumb to a fluffy or boring name. I asked my friends and they told me their dragons were called Smokie, Felix, Diedre, Drago, Smaug, Ilkra, Venus, Trevor, Indly and Sebastian.

A fabulous collection but I was still stumped. I asked what their dragons did, why they chose that particular dragon.

Did they pick a dragon for their flying skills? Protection services? Fire breathing? Just to look awesome? Or is he a companion dragon who keeps toes warm and who reads feelings and fears?

My friends have dragons that light the fire and BBQ, cook bacon, keep their toes warm, fly them over the ocean, comfort them when they are afraid, and smote their enemies with fierce snarls and flaming curls. One friend has twin dragons who morph into 6′ tall devilishly handsome men, she tells me they have very large … feet.

My silvery grey baby is bouncing around the house like an excited puppy. A rather large one admittedly. I’ve planned how I’ll train him, my new baby dragon. The fire-proofing was more expensive than I thought it would be. And he bounced onto the bed with a such a whoosh he vaulted right over to the other side – it’s lucky the bed is king-size and the room large, and I may need to widen the doors as he grows …

As he prowled along the perimeter like a medieval knight, his name came to me. I whispered it into the chill grey evening with a smile growing on my face. He swiveled his ears, released a few sparks and bounced into the air. I may need to rethink the garden!

Aymon followed me inside and nosed at the treat cupboard, eyes bright and tail bouncing on the floor. Jumping over his tail will be great exercise I think 🙂

What are your tips for dragon training? Do you have a favorite name? At what age will you let your child choose their own dragon?

Autumn in Melbourne

Walking the dogs with a glorious blue sky overhead, crisp leaves underfoot and cheerful lorikeets going about their noisy business – who would want to be anywhere but Melbourne in autumn.

Fires are already burning from suburban homes adding smoky intensity to the heady odours of green grass and autumn leaves. We are heading to the café by the lake, where I will sip a skinny, extra hot, hot chocolate in gloved hands, while Ella and Billie alternate between asking for a share of carrot cake, and snuffling in the leafy debris around the park. My nose is cold and almost certainly red, but I feel like a million dollars in my new coat and boots. All too soon, we are heading home, where we will play the towel game, before trudging inside with clean feet (me) and barely dry ones (dogs).

It’s time to get out another book and curl up in the reading chair in the last of the afternoon sun.

Writing Course Over :(

Well my first foray into actually studying writing is finished. The last lesson was on Monday, the last writing homework was done on the weekend (Previously posted here: “Worst Nightmare”). I hope that my fellow students keep in touch.

I am feeling bereft of it already – so have started exploring other options. There is an online creative writing course that sounds OK as a stop gap … and a CAE course on novel writing that starts on May 20 which sounds very interesting.

I am also critiquing and posting in Scribblophile whenever I get the chance. Reviewing other writers work is more helpful than I thought it would be, much more so in fact. And the feedback from other writers is thought provoking, even if i would rather they said “it’s wonderful” !!!!

A few weeks ago we had a long weekend and no writing class or homework. I asked Graeme for a first sentence to get me started as I had a week looming with no writing task and couldn’t think of anything. He gave me the following:

“The darkness surrounded me, enveloped me, I felt strangely warm as if a quilt had been wrapped around me.”

I loved it! And came up with a poem the next day … and the first few pages of a possible short story in the next week. I am posting the poem next – and over the next few posts I might pop in the short story (which keeps growing – and is no longer that short :))

The poem is very very different to the short story – it’s just what came out of my head; really nothing to do with me at all!

Please post a comment or two if you have the time and / or inclination 🙂 thank you xxx

The pleasure of giving – its not just about writing

Its not just about writing for pleasure … although that does take up a lot of my energy these days ! The pleasure with which a friend received a hand-made gift (not from me) recently reminded me how much a hand made gift means – to both the giver and the receiver.  I don’t knit as much as I used to with my hands being rather useless … but I do very much enjoy making small things for friends. Hats, scarves and gloves are well within my range of capability – and do seem to be appreciated. I did say at the start that I would randomly blah on about topics other than writing … 

This is Graeme’s hat, scarf and gloves (well one of them anyway), the hat is almost done, the scarf about 2/3 of the way through, and of course there is just one fingerless glove. It is just starting spring in the UK at the moment – but the the thought was there, and I am sure it will be horribly cold in the next autumn / winter. Maybe even in the UK summer !!!

My sister is looking for a scarf soon, and I have some other friends in mind for my knitting list 🙂 I will post updates occasionally (can here your sighs of relief that it will only be occasional ….) until next time ….  

First Post

It has been a long time since I have kept a journal of any kind–but it feels right to start again now.

I have always loved words, and word crafting; but until recently my career kept me occupied and took all of my energy and creativity.

Illness has forced me to rethink work life balance, and it was with some fear that I started sharing my writing with a few friends a short while ago. It was a fear that has been proved baseless, I write freely and even enjoy my own work sometimes!

I don’t know who might read this journal, but I intend to chat in it randomly about my writing, enjoying life with a permanent incapacity, and maybe a few other odd things.

If you are reading, I hope you enjoy it… but I  will appreciate your comments regardless 🙂