Every cloud...

I hadn't even heard about the movie until I was nosing around the 2013 Oscar nominations. The Silver Linings Playbook - best movie, best director, best actor, best actress, best supporting actress, best supporting actor and a few more besides. I was impressed with Argo and that movie had nowhere near as many nods. I am a movie fan. I keep myself informed. Where had this one been hiding? I still don't have the answer to that but folks I went to see it with my girls on Saturday evening and I am so glad the Oscars brought this to my attention. After an 8 month court-appointed stay in a mental institution following a violent breakdown Pat is out and back home with his Mum and Dad. Obsessed with getting back together with his wife who has a restraining order out against him, Pat's path crosses with that of recently widowed Tiffany who agrees to help Pat connect with his wife if Pat partners Tiffany at a dance competition. You have to admit aspects of this storyline sound lame but it all makes perfect sense in the movie and is ultimately very satisfying. Mental illness was, I thought, honestly depicted - the stigma, the fears and concerns, the manifestations, the denials, the lows and the misunderstandings. The humour was real life humour, not inserted funny lines, and the acting was gob-smackingly good. Bradley Cooper is not just a pretty face. Nor is Jennifer Lawrence. If you want to know how to tell a good story, go see this movie. It is an excellent and most enjoyable lesson.

Meanwhile I have been racing through reading some more books - I am now on to book 3 of the Demon's Lexicon Trilogy by Sarah Rees Brennan. I can see occasional problems with the writing (although I think the awkward rhythm of the first book has lessened), and switching to a different main character for each book also presents a few difficulties and awkward moments (how can it be orchestrated that she overhear that conversation between the two previous MC's?) but you will have noticed people that I am still keeping on reading. I'm not that keen on the main character of the third book. She wasn't that appealing in the first two books so its hard to embrace her in the third. And my favourites from previous books are too distant. There are some plot inconsistencies in this third book. For example I didn't get how one character could have been violently ill when travelling over water because of the proximity to water (it's a magical thing) and yet choose to be swimming in the third book. And it is not 'ironic' for a solution to be obvious to the reader and for every character in the book to not see it until the end. But I am still reading. What's with that. For all the things that annoy me, there is still something very compelling. That's the nature of books I guess. I am a romantic at heart and want to see how it all ends for the characters I do like. I will be surprised if I am surprised though but that's okay; the best surprise was in the first book - its hard to pull that off again. And in the end I am learning something from this too.

If you were hoping for part two of my digital journey, never fear, I will be posting this soon. I am just waiting on some things to be sorted before I mention them. In the meantime go check this out - one author's reasoning for her switch to DIY (thank you to Jane Bloomfield for alerting me to this link).

What a week it has been...

Well, what a time it has been. I dragged my poor SO out of bed at 5.30am last friday morning so he could drop me at the airport in time for my 6.30am flight to Christchurch (thank you honey, you are a peach). I almost didn't get on as the machine wouldn't accept my e-ticket and the queue to sort things out was impressive. The two gents in front of me had tried to get to Christchurch the night before and failed because of fog. They'd come back via Wellington. Through luck we all got on the plane in time and flew down south to be told just outside of Christchurch that we might not land because of fog and would probably head to Wellington. Mother Nature eh? The power of water vapour over invention, engineering, and sophisticated instrument landing systems.

Well the pilots were good at their job and we landed. Phew. because I had a date with some very cool children from Hammersley School at Shirley Library. I had breakfast with fab book designer Kim Dovey and met up with book-fiend and brilliant blogging librarian Zac Harding. In the afternoon I kept Kim company while she completed her preparations for the Storylines Family Day on Sunday.

I had Saturday to myself. My accommodation was at the north end of the city and I took a wander round to see what nature had done to Christchurch. She'd been pretty mean. I'd seen a lot of images on tv and in the papers but it gives you a deeper level of understanding to see it for yourself. It is broken and I admire and respect all those people who have lived through it all. It made me sad and it would be hard living with that kind of sadness every day.

On Sunday wonderful fellow writer, Jane Bloomfield and I walked down to the Catholic Cathedral College for the Christchurch Storylines Family Day where we met up with our third Kiwiwrite4kidz musketeer, award winning author Leonie Agnew. What an excellent day we had: meeting with keen readers who checked out the books of our kiwiwrite4kidz members, talking with keen writers and meeting other folk from the writing community. It was very exciting for me to meet Trevor Agnew and Bill Nagelkerke and his wife. And its always wonderful to see so many families coming out to support their children's love of books and reading.

On Monday I got to visit two Christchurch schools, Redcliffs and Redwood Primary, both filled with enthusiastic students and teachers. I wished I had more time at both schools. At the end of the day I got the chance to meet my Canterbury University tutor and then it was time for me to catch the plane home.

Tuesday was my first visit as author-in-residence at New Windsor School. I got a fantastic welcome and spent the morning talking with the whole school and then had the chance to chat to some smaller groups and meet with their bookclub who had started with my novel Jack the Viking. What a great school. And wednesday night I got to read some of my books at their Milo Storytime. I dressed up in my jammies, dressing gown and slippers and had a lovely evening. Thank you so much New Windsor. I'm looking forward to my next visit in September.

This coming weekend I am running a writing workshop on plotting for older children at the National Library and Sunday I will be at the Auckland Storylines Family Day. I'm really looking forward to meeting more keen book fans and having the chance to talk about YA books at the panel discussion on Sunday afternoon. I hope I get to meet you there. See you then :)