The not waiting game...

View from my desk in the Waitakere Ranges west Auckland.

Regarding what this blog was set up for, to generate interest and gather an online community for the Frank Erceg book.
Earlier this year I sent an extract of the manuscript and some sample images to a publisher. They're in the process of making a decision and this all takes time. One has to be patient and until then there's still a lot of work to be done.

This week I'm off to Christchurch for an extended weekend to see family and undertake some more interviews, see what else I can dig up.  I've got a couple of articles to write for NZ Outdoor Hunting magazine on my return, which I'm looking forward to getting stuck into. This has involved months of full on research, collecting data and learning more on the early days of hunting in New Zealand. I'm pleased NZOH asked me to write these historic based articles, I've learnt heaps and  fast becoming a deer-hunting historian nerd. I love it!

Polly likes to keep me company

Aside from this project, I've joined NZ Society of Authors and have been working with an editor on a novel length manuscript for their assessment programme due the end of May. If I am accepted into the programme I'll have the opportunity to work with a professional assessor on the story.
Then there's the day job,  although I have today off. Each week the goals are set and deadlines put in place otherwise its too easy to whinge and moan about not having enough time. We don't have a TV and live in the bush, our driveways about 1/2 mile from the end of the road so the peace and quiet its great for writing.
Read more about my writing routine at Stephen Townshend's Germinal Press blog:
http://www.germinalpress.com.au/blog/the-writers-routine

Steve's a good ol' kiwi boy, his family knew the Erceg's during the time they lived in Taumarunui. Steve's now based in Sydney and is the founder of Germinal Press, in a short time GP has made a mark in the publishing business with some great titles in the The Last Word series, including Rugby World Cup 2011 and  Mixed Martial Arts. Make sure to check it out.
My other posting on his site was for the Rugby World Cup: what to do in Auckland, that was fun to research.
http://www.germinalpress.com.au/blog/rugby-world-cup-2011-party-central-vs-the-west

Well I've got a day to get on with,  words to hammer out a pile of library books to return and a very small cabin bag to think about packing for tomorrow. My ticket to ChCh is a grab a seat carry on 7 ks only - will be interesting!
Will be back next week, thanks for dropping by.

A good keen woman reads Crumpy...

Well I finally got round to reading the kiwi classic 'A Good Keen Man' by Barry Crump. Can see why it has appeal to the masses and sold over 300.000 copies, its an easy and fun read. He also has some touching and poetic moments writing of the surrounds and hut life, of the stillness of nature, giving some eloquent passages that surprised and delighted me.

Scattered throughout the book is the repititive phase good keen man having good keen fun with the other good keen men and Flynn ain't he a good keen dog and some of the hunters well they're not good keen men. There's one good keen woman towards the end. I have thirty pages to go if I hear that phase one more time, I might have to throw the good keen book across my lounge and hope it vacates the premises swiftly through the good keen doorway out into the good keen bush. You get my drift ! But ahhhhhh, bugger me if I'm not enjoying it.
My copy is from the library, a 50th anniversary edition with an introduction by author Jack Lasenby.
Jack writes for children and teenagers and his books and short stories are widely read by people of all ages, and include the series of Harry Wakatipu the pig headed pack horse which sounds a hoot and I want to read some.

I've just skipped to the new Zealand Book Council's website to read his bio:
http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Writers/Profiles/Lasenby,%20Jack

But I'm digressing here, back to the good keen book and the very last sentence on page 224:

"The world of stone fireplaces, trees and rivers belonged again to the owl and the possum."

In Jack's introduction on page 13 he mentions that he:

"can't help but notice it's the owl, not morepork, not ruru. And is there a play, I wonder, on Lear's 'The Owl and the Pussycat'? It never pays to underestimate Crump."

Well this got my creative juices going. Here's my play on the classic Edward Lear poem, I hope you like it.

      The Owl and the Possum
       by Louise Maich 
       Dedicated to  Barry Crump 1935 - 1996
       Adapted from the original "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear.

I

The Owl and the Possum sat in the bush

Side by side in two beautiful trees,

Ruru in a Rimu and Possy up a Kauri

Chomping on all the leaves.

The Owl looked up to the stars above,

And sung to a small guitar,

“O lovely Possy! O Possy my love,

What a hunk of a Possy you are you are,

What a good keen Possy you are!”

II

Possy said to wee Owl, “You’re a good keen fowl!

And your singings not too bloody bad you know.

Say let us shack up, I’ve saved a few bucks:

But what shall we do for a ring?”

They hit the road with their meagre load,

To old Dave’s car-wreckers yard.

In a recycle bin they both did hop in,

And a Tui-beer tab caught the light of the moon

The moon

A Tui beer-tab caught the light of the moon.

III

Old Dave said, “Before you take it, first let me shape it,

Into a fitting wedding band.”

They took it away and were married next day,

By the Kereru who lives very grand.

They dined on kiwifruit, pav and whipped cream,

And scoffed it all down with a runcible spoon:

They got pissed on le Brun and danced to Dragon,

And Ruru stole the spoon,

The spoon,

And Ruru stole the spoon.