He sees scorched earth, blackened stumps, ashen remains; reminders of generations lost. She sees tender shoots emerging defiantly, whispering of resilience and renewal. Perception is all. Images Main image is Grey Box by km lambert. Blackened by bushfire or burnoff by Fairy Duff is marked with CC PDM 1.0. Eye is from the Pexels image…
Still I survive
You pulled my strings lured me in tasted me, tested me and satisfied I was pliable you smothered my brightness broke my spirit feasted on my heart. Still I survive. I wrote this for Day 7 of Writers Victoria’s Flash Fiction Comp. Prompt word was ‘bright’. Reproduced here with a sneaky 31st word.
The pseudonymous Elena Ferrante
I recently delved into the ‘unveiling’ of pseudonymous author Elena Ferrante and the impact the revelation had on reviewers and readers alike. Perhaps not surprisingly it’s got me thinking about pseudonyms on social media but more on that coming soon. Claudio Gatti’s proclamation in 2016 that pseudonymous author Elena Ferrante was, in fact, Anita Raja,…
The long and the short of it
Here are the wee stories I’ve written for the first five days of Writers Victoria’s Flash Fiction comp. Initially, my intention was to use it as an exercise to pull together some juicy sentences that I could expand on down the track. Then the working week started, reality hit and despite only needed to come…
Running late
She ran her hands down her thighs, trying to smooth the creases in her suit trousers. She’d have to go as she was; there was no time to change now. I’m gearing up for Writer’s Victoria Flash Fiction competition running for the month of April. If you like writing flash fiction, prompts will be released…
Growing old as an art form
You may recall that one of my summer reads was The Luminous Solution: Creativity, resilience and the inner life by Charlotte Wood. In the book, Wood shares work that she has written – and rewritten – over many years in her pursuit of understanding other people’s creative lives. Her astute observations about not only her…
It’s in the way that you use it …
Spoiler alert – I’ve tried to be careful with what I’ve posted here, but if you haven’t seen or read The Circle and you think you might like to, I’d strongly recommend that you look away now. This week in one of my classes, we were tasked with thinking about the portrayal of social media…
The Sometimes Diary of Nina Thirkettle
Saturday, 12 March Okay, it’s official. I am a ‘grumpy old woman’. Maybe not technically in years and all that but I embody her spirit with a degree of fervour that I didn’t realise was in me. Was at the sports store – desperately need a new pair of running shoes as I now have…
You don’t have to shout to be heard
If I wrote about me—my thoughts, my fears—who would I be? What would my voice sound like? Would I sound old? Scared? Interesting? Just a little bit crazy? What would I write? Is long-form the way to go? Could I sustain reader interest, let alone my own? When I hear the story in my head…
Day 28. Tick.
Today marks the final day in my ‘post everyday for a month’ challenge. While I have absolutely enjoyed pushing myself to get something up each day, I’ll happily admit to finding the schedule rather brutal. It’d be fair to say that I’m not unhappy to have the pressure off for a little bit. To those…
thekettlehasemphysema.net 
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