With the new year comes the time to organise and reflect on the year past. I’m deep into this now, organising my writing and busy editing past posts. I’ve been blogging and writing publicly now for a few years and I’ve been with WordPress for about 18 months. I must admit I find the WordPress site the easiest to negotiate… even when they occasionally get it pear shaped with the date stamp thing as with one or two past blog. There simply is no better, or easier way to stay in contact with family, friends and my readers, as well as those great adventurers who you meet constantly on the road. Like souls and others who are living the dream and holding life by its horns as they tour the country.
My latest project has been to gather up my postings into some order, mostly for my elderly Mum who is wanting to read these and can’t manage a computer. Hence… I have released a anthology of my blogs in a pricey full colour print and a cheap large e-book both with many full colour pic’s. It has been an interesting exercise for me.
A free download promotion period will be running this weekend only (7th – 8th Feb) on the e-book Discovering Australia & her Lore at Amazon. Please be aware that the e-book is large due to picture content so may take time to download so a sound internet link is recommended. If you don’t have an reader or kindle then pick up the kindle reader ap’ from your ap’ store or from Amazon for free… enjoy!
I love blogging, it’s like writing letters to friends and I am an insatiable writer. It is something that I have enjoyed all of my life. I do avidly look for those little ‘like’ notices on each blog, gauging wether it is a topic that people enjoy reading about and like most bloggers I follow the interests of the public and enjoy their participation… thanks my wonderful readers for your small engagement notes and ‘likes’.
I’m going to admit to having a little ringtone on my phone that sounds like a tinkle from the ‘engagement gods’ when someone likes a post on WordPress… it always makes me smile as it echoes down to my phone on notice and it never ceases to have the power to make my day brighter. Technology should be used to make our days more entertaining and rewarding. If it fails to do this then to my mind it fails dismally.
I have been asked how I manage to find topics to write about. I don’t find it hard because I enjoy writing I guess… but the subjects I choose are those which dominate my life, my thoughts and which I find amusing. My mind is like a wrecking ball at times but my curiosities do keep me busy.
I love the history of the ordinary people for they are the life of their land… I love Australia, her curiosities and her quirkiness and I love adventure so these are many of the things I write about. If I can combine these loves such as the adventure in discovering a living history then it is all the better, which is why I write they type of novels I do.
At I am truly enjoying the moment by journeying into Traditional Australian Aboriginal Lore. Discovering ways in how it could be part of our society today is what engages my roving mind in the tales of The Dreaming Series and the following series on The Spirit Children. Each book is a tale in its own right and can be read independently. The legends and Lore of the Kadaitcha, the Featherfoot men and the world of the Spirit creatures which moves around us unseen and largely unknown is a delight to me. Discovering the creatures of the dark caverns and secret places of their ancient legend has been a revelation and it is one that I love to share with my readers. These are the things you will find in my books. The creatures… the legends are all drawn from studies apart from one singularly point throughout the entire series… Can you discover what that point is? I would love to hear your thoughts.
I love exploring and peeling back meaning in ancient Lore and legend, something I have always done since my childhood when I traced my fingers around the rock carvings of this ancient lore which can be found all over our land, those hidden in plain sight. The stories of the Dreamtime have always fascinated me and continue to do so as these engage me in my land and my country.
I also love to explore and a new adventure will always attract me. This is why I write the small travelogues, available from a few cents to a few dollars and they are candid and open accounts of some our travels. I don’t write these to advertise destinations but more to draw my readers into the adventure of the trips. I truly love the bush, the freedom and adventure of the wilderness and in consequence I love and enjoy Freecamping across Australia. The sounds of the dawn and the song of the sunset are precious to me and all the more so when I am sitting enjoying these in those wilderness places. So I write too about Freecamping in Aus’ and I will defend this way of life for everyone despite the constant controls that Councils, Government, business and commerce try to place on these things.
Australia has a proud and glorious history of free camping and moving freely around our country. One born from the First Nations people and carried on by the convicts and settlers of the colonial era and the travellers and explorers of today. We have many names and descriptions for such adventurers from ‘Grey Nomads’, Sundowners, Swagmen, Gypsies, Carnies and so on… the list is almost as endless as it is historic.
Many an explorer and surveyor of the early 1800’s would travel vast distances across Aus’ under the sponsorship of the Government bodies only to find that the colonial settler had beaten them to the region and set up camp if not a working homestead such as with the early settlement of Melbourne.
Many a tribal people would find themselves dislodged and displaced by ‘explorers’ of the colonial era who presumed to say they ‘discovered’ a district generally, this after having been guided there by these same people, Aboriginal trackers and helpers. These ‘explorers’ commonly having enjoyed the hospitality of the homesteaders as they wrote their reports and logs. We really need to smarten up our documented history… largely it is unfortunately biased and imaginative to a ridiculous degree in Australia.
I love to expose these historically imaginative account’s as there are so many of them in our documented history that it is embarrassing. I have written about it before in what Mark Twain described as a ‘Beautiful Lie’ about what is our “official” history.
This however is what blogging and all that biz is all about for me and I sincerely would like to thank my followers for their attention. Thanks peoples… and I hope our friendship will bring a richness to both our lives for without you, it certainly wouldn’t be worth it. This blog is for you.
Travel well and make life’s journey rich and rewarding. We are headed once more into the wilderness and desert wilds as this time, we cross the continent from west to east and I hope you will enjoy the journey with me.
Jan
You can find Jan on Facebook and to join her in her journey into Aboriginal Lore, pop over to the Facebook page dedicated to the Dreaming Series and become part of the research and journey.
Jan Hawkins Author 