Diary

It’s taken far too many months for this marvellous model to grace the dedicated desk space in my office. When Fiona comes to visit next she will be very surprised, and hopefully gratified, that her amazing creative talent is finally on display. We’ve known each other for a very long time, and during the insanely busy time when I was helping to run the flower farm, working part-time in a school library, doing a spot of journalism on the side, and fighting the proposed pulp mill that is the subject of the manuscript I’m hoping to get published, Fiona cleaned my house each week. There’s only so much a person can do after all, and it has to be said cleaning our house during those manic years was fairly low down on the list of my priorities. But Fiona is a woman of many talents and she certainly possesses one that I so don’t have: sewing and dressmaking. So over the years she’s also made a few garments based on the pattern of a favourite garment that I was particularly fond of, and she’s also done some clothing alterations for both of us. My skills with needles and thread are limited to sewing on buttons, and taking up hems on John’s too-long pairs of jeans. Anything else is beyond me. But this fabulous model is the pièce de résistance – along with the beautiful crocheted knee warmer she gave me last year. This was when winter was approaching and so determined was I to finish writing the book, I decided to get out of bed at the insane hour of 5am and get in a solid hour’s writing in before dog walking and the demands of the day took over. Fiona was also one of many Tasmanians who needed to be circumspect about her opinion of the pulp mill. It was a project that polarised people, including families and friendships. She was one of several who passed on snippets of useful information, but on the basis of anonymity so it couldn’t be sheeted home to her.  Needless to say Fiona will be one of those whose contribution will be acknowledged – when this book is finally accepted by a publisher.

The diffioculties of attracting the representation of a publisher - or an agent - when it comes to publishing the manuscript you've laboured over for so long.

Seeking a publisher or agent for my book was never going to be easy, and so it is proving to be.

The book is written, now it's a question of attracting a publisher.

Part memoir and part story of how a community came together and stopped a pulp mill being built in Tasmania's Tamar Valley.

For 12 years Tasmanians steadfastly opposed the building of a pulp mill in the Tamar Valley. The campaign was long and hard and took its tioll, but the community won it. This book is their story.

It's said funerals can be an occasion when people learn more about a person they may only have known in a single conext. John Ball's inteests were many and varied and it's likely the packed service reflected this. We all hope to be remembered for living a good life. John could certainly claim that.

When the final draft is complete the next stage is finding a publisher. Then there will be a need for a structural edit. That's when the real work starts.

The occasion was a sad one, but a chance meeting and conversation meant clarifying a memory and ultimately strengthening a chapter - even if it involved a significant re-write.

Part memoir of an accidental activist, and part chronicle of a community's campaign to stop a pulp mill from polluting their valley. The end of the long and winding writing road ihas almost been reached.

Don't despair is Thomas Mayo's message to all those who voted Yes in the 2023 referendum for an Indigenous Voice to parliament. Another is to review the accepted history of Australia. It was far more brutal than most Australians realise. But now is a time to look forward and Mayo has suggestions on how to go about doing this.