Back in chilly Armidale

It was a bit of a shock to return to minus degrees after several days of island life here, sitting on a verandah with a view of palm trees and Keppel Bay, chatting to people about writing instead of doing it myself...
I went snorkelling a couple of times (didn't see much) and traipsed over Kanomi trying and failing to find the highest point (they need to do more maintenance on their walking tracks). And of course there were the workshops. Four of them - Introduction to Life Writing, Memoir and Memory, Morning Pages, and Polishing & Publishing. The twenty participants were all attentive and well-behaved and applied themselves to the practical work with diligence and enthusiasm. It was much less daunting than I'd expected and I got to hear some utterly fascinating stories.