Ompwriter Stories

Last decade, before we moved back to our present farm in the country we love so dearly, I was a careworker for a few years. This story is about one of my most frustrating but loveable clients who showed me once again how the greatest courage demanded is often in facing each hour of every new day - and getting through it. I think you'll find yourself, like me, getting teary from laughter as much (if not more) than from empathy with this tough little battler and her lifetime of hurdles.

"You two become farmers? You must be kidding!" How little our friends really knew us. Sure, that's how life had been for the Secretary and the Building Supervisor... but those were the keywords - "had been". An opportunity had arisen to learn farming, working for a friend for 18 months on a 6,000 acre cropping and sheep farm he'd inherited... our 'apprenticeship'. Once our rural sojourn began, it continued until today on our small retirement farm. Here are the tales of our journey, filled with humour and pathos; joy and a few sorrows, too; and woven throughout, our absolute love for the land and the animals we have shared our lives with. Each chapter is a 'stand alone' providing a choice for a quick read 'on the move' - or a more leisurely and relaxed involvement with my words. Enjoyed this first book in my 'Old McLarsen had some Farms' series? Now there's 'everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask' about a decade of dairy-farming in South Australia in my second book - 'The Milky Way'. This first book is available in ebook format at Amazon, and through Smashwords and their outlets, and I have been pre-recording excerpts for local radio. These are to be broadcast soon and I will be able to share them on Soundcloud in far superior quality than my amateurish sampling there just now. I have also begun a couple of different kinds of memoirs - 'Just Moodling About... My Favourite Things', and another - 'Growing up in the Fifties' And - 'Wishful Thinker' - my first collection of short/short stories and anecdotes . My writing skills don't extend to the creation of deeply hidden allegories or metaphors. I like it this way and hope you understand my simplicity of choice. I welcome your thoughts on my stories. This way I can learn and write in the future, so please don't be afraid to express 'the good and the bad' (maybe not any 'ugly'). And please don't hesitate to share and/or vote to show your enjoyment.

More of the Weekend Write-In.

Short tales of the paranormal.

Written for the WriteOnWriters Weekend Write-In Challenge for 1 Feb 2019. 500 words, one weekend, and a story prompt -- this week's prompt was "arrive", tell what happens when it arrives. Chloe felt something was missing from her life, so she ordered it online.

As the title suggests, my second book of memoirs encompasses tales from our decade of dairying on our own farm, back in our home State of South Australia. A different learning curve from the first farm, but no less steep. This time much experience was gained the hardest way - 'hands on' and teaching ourselves. The stories abound, as before, of the whole gamut of feelings from ultimate happiness to the depths of despair. Another celebration of the human spirit that laughed in the face of the tough times, and endured... and survived. This is second book in my Old McLarsen had some Farms series - 'The Milky Way' features tales from our dairy farm in our home State of South Australia, and follows the first 'Old McLarsen... ' book 'Brave Beginnings' , available in ebook format at Amazon, and through Smashwords and their outlets, and I have been pre-recording excerpts for local radio. These are to be broadcast soon and I will be able to share them on Soundcloud in far superior quality than my amateurish sampling there just now. ** 28/2/2016 - I have found a most receptive and supportive home on Amazon's Write On by Kindle platform. I'm finding the other writers there full of helpful advice and opinions of writing problems, not to mention friendship and fantastic encouragement. - So much to learn on their forum, and weekly 500 word 'flash' story challenges to take up if you choose. Wonderful experience in looking outside the square, and tightening writing style. - Sorry to the few who have followed me, but I will be focusing my creativity at Tablo (because it's Australian and working hard to become a force in this field), and Write On. The personal benefits and learning curves are too fantastic for me to miss.

Patricia is a recovering alcoholic who returns to the town where she had been a wife , and briefly, a mother. She is trying to recover lost memories around the trauma of losing her child, but instead sees a girl with her face. Strong emotions lead her to follow the girl and discover more about her past than she expects. This is my story for the One Million Project and I need help as it is the first time I have written suspense.

More short stories and flash fiction, exploring random themes and random moments.

You work hard all your life towards one goal, winning the Olympics. Then something happens. How would you feel? Written for the 23 Feb prompt "compete".

A collection of short stories - fleeting moments of gratification in floating worlds.

'Moodling' - it's all about mental doodling. This time it's looking at and loving many so-called 'material' things in my life. Read about my much beloved possessions, and try to decide what you would choose to take with you if disaster threatened. I think I would run around like a chicken with its head chopped off, trying to decide - and finally take nothing (or something perfectly ridiculous).

A collection of short stories, each one written in November 2016. The stories cover all genres and many worlds of the imagination.

'Bottle Fairy' is a collection of short stories, based in a world of sword and sorcery adventure. It will be added to on an irregular basis, depending on when I can think of stories in this world.

The Weekend Write-In just keeps going ... .

Another collection of short pieces, random thoughts and things that occurred to me in the middle of the night.

A collection of short stories inspired initially by a wide array of prompts from various places. Sometimes it's one word; maybe a phrase or a saying; sometimes a particular photo setting the creative wheels in motion. I love the development from that first small glow of imagination, the germ of a story that begins to grow, and then the nurturing and careful pruning, until finally it blossoms. Let's see if you agree I've achieved this.

A collection of short pieces inspired by the work of Hokusai.

Space Monkeys - follow the adventures of experimental subjects Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta as they blast off into space and into a galaxy of adventure, intrigue and old-fashioned radio serial drama. Season 1 is a collection of eight radio scripts that form the first season of Space Monkeys.

More short stories from the Weekend Write-In.