Update- well hasn’t the world changed since this post? Now that we are in the midst of a pandemic- facebook contact is really important to keep me in touch with people. It was good to have a break though. Keep safe folks, and wash your hands!!

The first week will be great, as Christmas and all the holiday plans fall into place, wherever they are for you. Then the summer break in New Zealand, and then everyone comes home but wait…still plenty more holidays left for the kids-they are bored- and you need to be back at work!
So, if you have arty, crafty, writery kids in Wellington, send them to Maria Gill and I for
Draw Like an Artist and Write Like an Author School holiday programmes.We will keep them busy!

There is one last thing to do when leaving the Robert Lord Writers’ Cottage in Dunedin. It’s to write in ‘the book’. This is something that you are presented with at the end, rather than at the beginning of your tenure and it’s a glorious rabbit hole of remembrance from past writers to dive down.
I recognised nearly all of them and was glad that the cottage is now equipped with double glazing and a heat pump, when reading about the battle to keep warm in an Otago winter- mostly from far north authors! This was my entry, typed printed and pasted because nobody wants to try and decipher my handwriting, least of all me!