A TRIBUTE TO THE "JENNY BLAKES" -- WRITERS' HELPERS

A few years ago, I heard online about a lady called Jenny. I can’t even remember now just when and where I started to hear of her.  At first she was often just mentioned as “ausjenny” and it was some considerable time before I discovered more about her.

Many authors overseas as well as in Australia now know her through her blog,  Come Meet Aus Jenny where she has featured many on interviews, told about their books. This kind of exposure is invaluable to published authors. I noticed that Lisa Harris mentioned in her post on ICFW last Tuesday that it is essential for a writer to "get the word out" about her book, and "ausjenny" may not even realise how much help she has been to us.

In the last few years, things have changed a great deal with many more blogs now available to try and follow. However, at that time I personally had a very heavy schedule and found it difficult to keep up with the internet writing scene, especially blogs, but this “ausjenny” was one of the first I heard about as being an Australian in this Christian fiction blog arena. Okay, so I know now I was  rather slow to catch on as she has had her blog for the last five years.  

For some time I did not even know her real name, did not know until this wonderful woman who was supporting authors overseas began to help and focus more on the increasing number of Australian authors published in Christian fiction. Then I discovered this prolific “Writers’ Helper” was not a writer herself, has no ambition to be a published author. Eventually the news filtered through that “ausjenny” was a Jenny Blake who loves books, especially Christian fiction and was a volunteer at an Australian Christian bookshop. That was only the beginning of my discovering her many and varied talents.

I know that the last few years have been a very tough time for dear Jenny with health and family, including the passing of her mother. But has that stopped her doing what she can where and when she can to help authors? No way!

This is just one personal example. My husband’s publisher told him he really needed to do more promotion for his 31 Day Devotional series. While I’ve had a website  for a while now and finally ventured into having a blog, Ray and I are both technically challenged in this whole modern era of the internet. A writer friend told me how good Jenny was at setting up blogs,  so who did we turn to for help? Jenny Blake of course and she was wonderful.

Since then Jenny has been very involved in helping start online ventures for Australian writers. Currently, with Narelle Atkins, she is one of the administrators of our Australian Christian Readers Blog Alliance , and the last few weeks the new Australasian Christian Writers Yahoo group and the new Australasian Christian Writers  blog.  What would we do now without you, Jenny?

I believe there are other Writers Helpers that so often we never really know about. These days, published authors simply have to be involved on the World Wide Web and promotion in all kinds of areas so readers know our books are available.  There are others like Ray and I who need heaps of technical help. I know I still have to spend far more time on social media and promotion than I want to. It takes up valuable time I’d much rather spend writing my books. How much harder it would be without our Jenny Blake.

So, here’s a very big “Thank you” to all those folk who love books, who have no ambitions to be writers themselves but seek to support us in practical ways  - as well as praying for us. May we never be tempted to take your help for granted or forget to thank God for you.

And, dear Jenny, this is my personal thank you for all your support and prayers for Ray and I as well as the heart you so obviously have for Christian writers.

Would love to hear comments from other writers around the world about their own invaluable  “Jenny Blakes”.  Perhaps there are other readers who would love to help writers "get the word out" about Christian novels. There may be some authors reading this who personally have been also helped by our Aus Jenny Blake over the years.

Mary Hawkins lives in Tasmania, Australia, with her retired minister husband. They have three adult children and six grandchildren. She is the author of 19 titles and is delighted her Heartsong Presents contemporary Search series and historical Great Southland series are now  available for readers again as e-books through Truly Yours Digital Editions 

From Texas to Tasmania



2009 Texas team visit a Tasmanian Devil Zoo

Okay, so on my own blog our last few posts there have been about our Texas friends visiting our church in Tasmania and helping us try to reach out into our community. My heart and thoughts have been consumed with this great couple of weeks we've just enjoyed and thought I might share a little with you about this wonderful fellowship we have experienced again now for the third year.

 Back in 2009, we prayed and planned and prayed as our new, small fellowship prepared with excitement and anticipation for that first team from Texas to arrive. Only our Craig and Rochelle had met the leaders, Chris and Heather Horton, about fifteen years ago and before Craig and Rochelle were married. Our son was then living in a small rural town in New South Wales where his church hosted a Texas team ministering with them. Two recently married young Texans stayed at Craig's house, became friends and kept in touch over the years. The internet and Facebook helped them even more a few years ago. The end result was the team Chris and Heather brought with them from summer in Texas to winter in Tasmania. Together we made special efforts to try and reach out into our community with the message of Christ and His love for us all as shown so clearly on the cross.



The drama of the cross by the 2009 team

 For a fortnight we shared many times together, meeting with groups in the community, holding evening worship meetings with great items and messages. Over the days there was a family concert, special programmes for children, a men’s dinner and evening and day fellowship times for women. Always we were challenged to commit our lives to Christ to serve Him, to honour and glorify His name. God certainly worked in our community that year!

There was a special blessing added to Ray and I in 2009. 



ACFW 2009 book-signing



2009 We are guests at Lark Fork church

 Before plans for the Texans to come, we had already booked our trip to the American Christian Fiction Writers conference in Colorado. Having had contact with other writers in Texas over many years I tried to organise meetings with them after the conference. Dallas became a possibility and so Ray and I had included a flight from Denver to Dallas in our international flight tickets. As we know, Texas is a large state and not until just before the team arrived here did we realise how close their church was to Dallas. End result? The minute we mentioned we would be in Dallas several weeks after they returned home, wheels were set in motion. We met the members of that team again at their own church! What a privilege! Their generosity to us was amazing and an absolute delight to share fellowship and ministry with them again and meet their friends and family. 

2011 team

 

At our house with Caitlyn and Lillian
- and two of our grandchildren



In 2011 Ray Adams presents
farewell gift to Chris

 

Ben Fisher continues to train and grow through
his Christian Fusion course

We were thrilled when the Horton family was able to return last year. We again reached out to our community for Christ, but we all thought that extra blessing would be the last time. God had other plans and through the faithful prayer, generosity and support of their church once more, we have been so blessed by the ministry by Chris, Heather, their growing children, Dempsey and Jace, and the two friends that joined them, Caitlyn and Lillian. 

 

I hope you enjoy the photos. There is so much more I could share but perhaps it would take a book?
We certainly enjoyed those times of blessing and challenge. This year we could see the changes in lives such as the older gentleman, Ray Adams and the young man, Ben Fisher, who committed their lives fully to Christ that first year. We know there will be more “fruit” become evident here in the days that lie ahead.
Praise God for our links with our brothers and sisters in Christ at Lark Fork Baptist church near Alba, Texas.

Mary Hawkins is a best-selling inspirational romance author.
A Queensland farmer’s daughter, she became a registered nurse before going to Bible College. She and her minister husband have three adult children and five grandchildren, enjoyed over 46 years of ministry including church planting in Australia, two years in England, three short term mission trips to Africa and now live in Tasmania, Australia's island state. Her 19th title, Justice at Baragula was released May, 2011. Do watch out for book giveaways here and also on her own blog http://www.maryhawkins.blogspot.com

Pressing on

I have recently returned from a trip to our beautiful, Australian island state of Tasmania, home of another member of ICFW, Mary Hawkins. I had been invited to speak at a conference there, so took the opportunity to set up a few more speaking engagements and interviews while there and also to enjoy some sightseeing with my husband. Our time away was therefore a mixture of ‘work’ and play, both of which I found very enjoyable.

Now I have deliberately chosen to use inverted commas around the term ‘work’, because in one way, my speaking engagements, interviews and book-selling opportunities hardly seemed like work to me. I love speaking. I regard it a privilege to share something of God’s love and grace and forgiveness and understanding and peace and so many other things in this way. And I’m happy to be interviewed about my writing journey and my novels. I even enjoy the hours spent preparing my various talks. It is very different from writing my novels – and yes, at times I resent being pulled away from what my characters are about to do or say – but I still enjoy piecing a good talk together and hopefully hearing what God wants me to say.

Yet all this speaking, setting up engagements, getting to the various places and liaising with those involved can be draining too – particularly if one is already quite tired and also in pain. All through our trip and a few weeks prior as well, I suffered from severe sciatica in my right leg, making walking, standing for long periods and even driving quite uncomfortable. I was glad we had planned some rest days in between speaking engagements so I could try to relax completely. And God showed his great faithfulness in that I felt I was given strength just when I needed it to deliver my input and share what he had placed on my heart to share with passion and conviction. I got there in the end. People were apparently blessed and challenged – and I even managed to sell quite a few books in the process!

On returning home, however, I have found it so easy to slip into discouragement, as I catch up on various chores and deal with the many emails that have piled up. Was it all worth it, I wonder? Did the effort and expense involved outweigh the ministry that resulted from my speaking, not to mention the number of books sold?

But then I realise whose voice I am listening to. That discouraging voice certainly doesn’t belong to God, but rather to the enemy, who, as Scripture tells us, is a liar, an accuser, a deceiver and a destroyer. I should know by now to close my ears to that voice and instead to choose to believe the encouraging, comforting words God longs for me to hear. And as I do, I know God is assuring me I did my best, that yes, it was definitely worth it, even if I did not make any great monetary profit, and furthermore that people will be challenged and changed as they continue to read my books. And I am humbled and so grateful.

Yet I also realise that God is challenging me to press on, to continue to serve him in the unique way he has given me. Having ‘put my hand to the plough’, I am not to look back but to keep working and writing until God tells me to stop. And I am reminded of and encouraged by Paul’s words in Philippians 3:13b-14:

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining forward to what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

May you also be encouraged in your own writing journey to continue to press on and run the race God has called you to run. Whatever the cost, it’s so worth it!

Jo-Anne Berthelsen grew up in Brisbane and holds an Arts degree from Queensland University. She has also studied Education and Theology and has worked as a high school teacher and editor, as well as in local church ministry in Sydney. Jo-Anne loves communicating through both the written and spoken word and currently has four published novels – ‘Heléna’, ‘All the Days of My Life’, ‘Laura’ and ‘Jenna’. She is married to a retired minister and has three grown-up children and two grandchildren. For more information or to contact Jo-Anne, please visit her website, http://www.jo-anneberthelsen.com/.

Launching That Book

When my first book was released, it never entered my mind to have a book launch. Sure, the following year for the second book I did have a book signing at a local shop owned by a Rotarian friend. Seventeen titles later over the next ten years or so, I still never gave a thought to having a “Book Launch” for any of them. In fact, I had never been present at any other writer’s book launch either.

Then we moved to Tasmania and I became a member of the Society Women Writers Tasmania. One of our writers who met with us each month announced the launch of her book and so I attended my first book launch ever. When my eighteenth title, Return to Baragula was published in 2008, there was amazement when I confessed I’d never officially launched a book. So, with the encouragement and help of my SWWT friends, Mary had her first book launch, followed a year later by one for her second book in the series, Outback From Baragula.

I have been to other launches since then and in the last couple of months there have been two. The one last June was for a beautiful children’s book, Potato Music, by a local award winning author, Christina Booth. If you are interested in the fascinating story how this book came to be written, I did share about that on my own blog. Here I would like to tell you about the launch I went to a couple of evenings ago.

The author, Marilyn Quirk (url) had taken three years to research and write her non-fiction book, Tasmania. . .an island far away. She spent many, many hours searching for information, interviewing descendants to write the true stories of migrants of many different nationalities. At least these stories have been recorded for their descendants, for generations to come, but the difficulty she had in tracing public and personal historical records of all kinds and in all places was a wake-up call that these precious memories are so quickly being lost. It is an invaluable reminder to all Tasmanians, in fact all Australians, what caused men, women and children to leave their homelands. Both good and bad experiences in their own countries brought them here. Both good and bad things happened in this country while they tried to become part of a different culture with often a different language.

Right now, immigration and asylum seekers are hot topics here in Australia. With a Federal election now only four weeks away, it has become even more controversial as increasing numbers of smugglers try to reach our shores with boatloads of people hoping to find refuge and a new life here. Whereas in the past, migrants have come mainly from Europe and Asia, more recent refugees to Tasmania have come from Africa. Even though modern communication links us around the world so rapidly compared to centuries ago, this is still a new “Island Far Away” from all that was familiar – whether hated or loved. We need to all remember that with “strangers.”

Every book launch I have been privileged to attend here in Tasmania has been different – including my own – and I am wondering what other writers as well as readers think about book launches. Two launches, including my first one were held outdoors as part of a National Trust properties annual Fair. I’ve heard of one organised by a well known local doctor, farmer and then state politician who hired a hall, had about 500 people present, an orchestra etc, etc. The one this week had many descendants of migrants present, including the local city Mayor who launched the book. His own family had migrated from Holland after World War II.

From my own two launches, I realise it is important to plan one that will be particularly of interest to targeted readers of a particular kind of book. Mine are aimed at the Christian fiction market, so the last one as part of a local church’s Fair was far more successful!

I would love to hear from writers and especially readers about book launches they have been to or heard about. What worked? What didn’t?

And hopefully in days to come, I too will be able to put some of your hints into practice at another book launch!

Autumn in Tasmania

Autumn - the time of resting for nature to be ready for winter when the nourishment has to be sought deep in the ground ready for the new birth at springtime.

This time of relief from the hot sun arrived 15 days ago. That first week of March in the southern hemisphere was still very warm but each day, especially each night, is becoming cooler. Those very cold days and freezing nights will soon be here.

As I type it is a beautiful, early autumn day here in Tasmania with clear blue skies and only a light breeze. This past summer once again Australia has known bushfires, drought and floods at various times and different places. Yes, even here in Tasmania so close to Antarctica we have needed the fans on! Last week we had a few days and nights of much needed rain and cool winds but this morning my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our walk. However, soon the sun’s rays will be weak enough that the leaves start to rest. Before long the vineyards between here and Launceston will transform the slopes into seas of gold. Then when they have fallen and carpeted the ground beneath them the sharp pruning will commence.

Many parts of Australia are still recovering from the summer months and sure need a rest for awhile!

A couple of weeks ago the ten years of drought in the western regions of my home state of Queensland were officially declared over. Many places are still surrounded by seas of flood water. Homes in many towns have been flooded. Many communities and especially farmers are now counting their heavy losses. Now the water in the rivers is travelling south into western New South Wales and other towns are watching the river levels in their areas. The big question being asked is ‘Will the water reach the Darling River and will there be more rain out west to help it flow also into the Murray River thousands of miles away’. These rivers have been ‘dying’ now for years and causing immense concern across our nation. Hopefully now they will know new life, a new season of prosperity.

There is a favourite poem for many Australians called My Country by Dorothea Mackellar. When at school many years ago I memorised this poem written by a homesick Australian living in England. While I love her wonderful description of our land there have been a couple of lines that often come to mind during summers like this last one. She reminds us:
‘For flood and fire and famine,
She pays us back three fold-.’
You may like to see this beautifully written description of Australia at her official website:- http://www.dorotheamackellar.com.au/

What about you? This past year have you known times in your spiritual life of famine, of floods, even the fires of physical pain or emotional anguish and the following blackness surrounding you? Are you ready for your autumn? Are you ready to check out your circumstances, your life’s goals, your work load and recognise that you too need a period to rest and relax in God’s arms? Never forget that even God rested on that seventh day after He created the heavens and the earth and saw that ‘it was very good.’

Sometimes writers too forget there are periods we need to be quiet before God, to rest in Him, to let Him prune us of all that has become dead wood and no longer should be in our lives. As we rest in an intimate relationship with Him through His Word, prayer and fellowship with fellow believers, let our roots go even deeper into Him ready for the spring and the new things He wants to do in and through our lives.

And a reminder from Colossians 2:6,7 So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness

Aussie Boxing Day

No, that doesn't mean we have boxing matches all over the place! Many other countries also have Boxing Day as a special holiday today after Christmas. I've just done a little research on the origens of this day and found some interesting history I was not fully aware of. Even if you too have this day perhaps you would like to know a little more about it.

Some sources say this all began in Medieval times, others that it began in England a few centuries ago. This was the day servants and slaves were given Christmas
"boxes" after their hard work on Christmas Day. Apparently Queen Victoria introduced it to be the day parcels were distributed not only to these hard working folk but also tradesmen, postal workers and others as well. This was also proclaimed a public holiday in most Commonwealth countries.

Unfortunately, today shopkeepers have one of their busiest days of the year. We have been watching the news on TV of the crazy folk who have queued outside major shops over night to be there first in the door when the shops opened at 5a.m. 5a.m.?! Afraid we were still snug in bed at this place! There are some fantastic specials in most shops - if you have the patience to navigate all the cars and the shoppers grabbing for bargains. However, have to confess we did venture out but went to the cinema instead!

So, what does the Hawkins family normally do most Boxing Days if they are not brave enough to go shopping? Well, besides recovering of course from over-indulging with all kinds of delicious food, chocolates, etc on Christmas Day there is sleeping time of course but also when I was a child my family liked to get together with our extended families for picnics or some activity together. As we lived in the country and most of us on farms, it involved travelling to the nearest waterhole or creek - that still had some water in it in our hot summer. There was hopefully swimming, games to play like rounders - a family game of a mixture of baseball, softball and cricket!

Since we've been married and have our own family we still like to get together with extended family whenever possible for a real Australian barbecue. Our children still call it the Boxing Day "rellie bash." Once again swimming is the favourite occupation this day. Then of course there are all those toys to play with, books to read - if a quiet, private spot could be found. However that was mostly in the morning as the afternoon was spent watching TV and the international cricket test match at the Melbourne Cricket ground. And guess what we've been doing this afternoon? Yeah, watching Pakistan team trying to bowl out our Aussie batsmen. I have to confess having an inspirational romance book in one hand and only looking up when the crowd gets excited. Think I should confess this to my husband? Hmmm...somehow I think he knew!

Well, this is a much shorter blog this time. I'm sure you too have a busy time today. I have to confess also I'm very glad we have had a very pleasant summer day here and not the savage winter snow many other places are experiencing. Do trust you are safe wherever you are.

What about your 26th December? If you do have a Boxing Day in your country would love to have you tell us about it in a comment. Or are you still recovering from Christmas Day! I do trust you have had a beautiful Christmas filled with the joy, peace and hope that can only be fully experienced when it comes from our personal relationship with Jesus.

Mary Hawkins

Interview and book giveaway: Mary Hawkins, Return to Baragula

I'm delighted to have the opportunity to interview my dear friend and ICFW blog member Mary Hawkins. Mary has published eighteen books and lives in Tasmania, Australia. Today we're giving away a copy of Mary's book, Return to Baragula.

RETURN TO BARAGULA (Ark House Press, 2008)

Emily Parker's actions as a teenager not only impacted her own life but the lives of others.

Now, six years later, she returns reluctantly to her home town of Baragula only to discover the man at the heart of those actions, Matthew Davidson, is the community's respected doctor.

While Emily's faith is now severely weakened by all that has happened, Matthew's life has completely turned around since he committed his life to Christ. His personal relationship with God is tested when he discovers how his behaviour when a non-believer hurt so many, especially Emily, and feels responsible for her hardness of heart towards the Lord.

Disease attacks the community while danger from another source threatens Emily and her family. Through it all, will Matthew and Emily's faith be strong enough to forgive each other and put the past behind them?

Return to Baragula is set in the beautiful Hunter Valley, an area known for its vineyards. What led you to choose this part of Australia as the setting for Return to Baragula?

Yes, this beautiful part of New South Wales, about two hours drive north of Sydney, is noted for vineyards but that is only one small part of the whole area. The western section of the valley alone covers more than 18,000 square kilometres of National Parks, cattle country, vineyards, mountains and rich green river flats, capable of growing almost any crop, as well as supporting thousands of merino and cross bred sheep. You might like to check this in more detail at Hunter Tourism

However, as much as we love this region the main reason I chose to create a small village west of Scone towards the beautiful Barrington Tops mountain range is because it is in an area I “know” and love as we lived in the Hunter Valley for over twenty years. Also, our son was a forester in the Barrington Tops mountain area and helped me with research.

The prologue in Return to Baragula could be considered edgy. How important do you feel it is to show your characters struggling with real life issues?

Essential. Although this is fiction it has to show real people in real situations and the particular one highlighted here far too many young people can find themselves in. I considered it very important to try and show how a young, committed Christian can feel and be affected after yielding to temptation. I also thought it necessary to show how a non-Christian in this day and age may not comprehend the pain that a Christian may go through when this happens.

I would hope that most readers would not actually think this “edgy.” What happened is certainly not told in what I consider to be explicit language but I did need to show the depths of emotion of both characters. When writing this book I struggled just where to start Emily and Matthew’s story. I considered the contents of the prologue told in the way I have very important to show the changes in both of them years later when Chapter One commences. The choice they made when young was a major catalyst for what happened not only to them in the years that followed but also to those they loved.

What do you hope your readers will take away after reading Return to Baragula?

I believe that a novel’s primary task is to give the reader an entertaining and enjoyable read with a story that makes them not only think but keep wanting to turn the page to see “what happens next.” Certainly I try very hard not to “preach” just show through the characters how faith and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ should affect the choices we make in life.

Having said that though, especially as the targeted readership is women, I was delighted to hear of a man telling other men at a meeting they should encourage young men to read it so they could catch a glimpse of how they should behave in certain situations. I would so very much like to think not only young Christians might realise clearly how their behaviour can have very far-reaching results over many years but also how attitudes of others in church life towards them may hinder or help their relationships with God.

Return to Baragula is published by Ark House Press. Please share with us what it's like working with a small Australian publisher.

It is certainly “different” in several ways and I have enjoyed working with them. To start with, being in the same time zone is an advantage for contact via mail, email and phone calls – although I do try hard to keep all that to a minimum as much as possible because I know how busy they are. For this first book with them I did not have quite as much input but have had more with Book Two in the series. It was good to use the Australian English spell check again and not worry over much about terminology that may be considered too “foreign” by an overseas editor. I've also been able to have more input into the covers than with my other two overseas publishers!

One of the biggest differences has been the increased personal promotion I have been trying to do. Ark House have local distributors for both Christian bookshops as well as the general market. STL distributes their books in North America and I believe Ark House does all they can to get their books into both Christian and secular shops. But the fact remains they are still “small” in the over-all Christian fiction market especially and trying to compete with larger, well-established publishers is not at all easy. Like all publishers these days they do encourage their authors to do as much promotion as they can. In other words, they are really no different in that than every other publisher whether big or small!

Outback from Baragula, the sequel to Return to Baragula, was released in Australia in March 2009. Do you have a US release date for Outback from Baragula? Where can we purchase Return to Baragula and Outback from Baragula?

Ark House is still sorting out the US release date in 2010 with their distributor for Book Two so until then it is only available through Australasian shops, direct from Ark House or autographed copies from myself. I do have Pay Pal on my website but do need of course to add postage for different parts of the world and ask that I be contacted first for the total cost.

Do you have any Christmas traditions?

We usually spend Christmas with our children and grandchildren. Blending my family and my husband’s was not easy in the early years of our marriage. Remember our Christmas is during the hottest time of the year in Australia. In Sydney Ray was always used to the traditional hot roast with several choices of meat, but I was used to a Christmas closer to the heat of the tropics and usually when the grain harvest was hopefully finished on our farm or with still several days to go around the Christmas period. My mother in those early days only had a wood fuel stove that of course heated the house so made a hot meal in the middle of Christmas day unwelcome. So Ray and I had to decide what traditions we would set for us and our family. Being in ministry meant preparing for Christmas Day services and so was easier to decide to follow my mother’s pattern of cooking everything possible the day before and having a massive cold salad with every trimming imaginable!

A Christmas tree and decorations with significant meaning to us and our family are always important. I even bought a new one in Texas several weeks back to remind us of our time in the US this year.

Please share your Christmas traditions with us. By commenting on today’s post you can enter the drawing to win an autographed copy of Return to Baragula. The winner will be announced on Sunday, December 27. Please leave an email address [ ] at [ ] dot [ ] where you can be reached.

"Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws."

To learn more about Mary Hawkins and her books, please visit her website.

Narelle Atkins writes contemporary inspirational romance. She resides in Canberra, Australia with her husband and children. To learn more about Narelle, please visit her website.

Winner of Tasmanian Calendar

Congratulations to Fred Bassett and thank you to all those who made a comment! As soon as I have your address, Fred, the calendar will be on the way.
Mary Hawkins

Tasmanian Devils – and more about Tassie

Well, in my last post I did promise to tell you a little about this beautiful part of Australia that my husband and I have “retired” to. I use retired like that because I’m still not quite sure what this “retired” means – for us at least. Although he is now an officially retired minister, Ray is still preaching wherever he has an opportunity to share truths from the scriptures. For both of us our days are filled with reading, writing, family and our local church and friends. So, while we have now lived here for over six years, there is far too much of this island state that we have not explored.Tasmania is the large island across Bass Strait south of Melbourne. It became a penal settlement in 1803 and although such a beautiful place the history of early European settlement is not pleasant reading. It has been said that Tasmania's history is the most colourful but tragic of all the six Australian states. If you would like more information this is a good website: Discover Tasmania

We live on the estuary of the Tamar River north of the second largest city, Launceston and take nearly three hours to drive south to our capital, Hobart. This is the view from a hill near us looking to the mouth of the river and Bass Strait.

The population of Tasmania has almost reached 500,000 and has its own state government. As well as attracting many from overseas, it is a favourite holiday and tourist destination for the “mainlanders” - as Ray and I are learning to call anyone from the rest of Australia. The photos below are of a couple of well known places.

A friend from England is rugged up when viewing Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake. This a favourite place - especially for those who like to go for long hikes. There is one that will take a few days in this beautiful wilderness area. And no, I haven't done that one!


But we do have the famous Tasmanian devil you may have heard about in the news. Scientists are trying very hard to discover why they are developing facial tumours that are threatening their existence. Although it is officially extinct, the Tasmanian Tiger is still claimed by some to be hiding out in some wilderness areas. We would all hate to see another creature only found in Tasmania disappear.

Mt Wellington looms over Hobart. These photos were taken when there was no snow as there often is during our winter- and spring and autumn sometimes!I only discovered a few months ago that the koala, one of our Australian animal icons, does not live here. Perhaps because we are so close to Antarctica it doesn’t like our cooler climate?


The devils are fascinating little creatures. I haven’t discovered yet just why they were given this name but they are carnivorous with a set of very strong, dangerous looking teeth and like to fight!





I also did manage to get acquainted with a fund-raising “devil” one day visiting our part of Tasmania! Of course, the question I am asked is “will you be writing a book set in Tasmania?” And that is something I’ve been giving some thought to. Ideas keep pelting their thoughts at me so I know I need to keep on jotting them down for when I can start seriously considering this. However, right now I am trying to get Book Three, Justice at Baragula, written and it is set back in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales.

In fact, that is just what I should be doing right now – writing more of that manuscript!

However, I’d love to show you more of Tasmania and will send a calendar with photos of this beautiful island to a winner from those who leave a comment before 15th December.