Collecting Cowries
And finding pleasure in the work
It’s been a month (already?! How?!) since I was in Broome, on Yawuru country, with my family and best mates, red pindan underfoot and that ridiculously blue sky. I’m still ‘resisting re-entry’ - a state and phrase my mum uses when she’s got one part of her brain back in the busy of every day life, but the other still out in the landscape hiking, walking beaches, camping under stars.
Gentle re-entry has been made possible because this is the first time in the year (already?! How?!) since The Hummingbird Effect was released, that I’ve had a month or so at home without festivals or events and gee it is good and gee I needed it. I’ve been getting into the new book, catching up on long overdue life admin, fixing broken things around the house, making lemon slice with the kids and having long cuddles and big cheers on the couch in front of the Olympics.
I’ve made less lists. I’ve taken the word count goals out of the calendar. I’ve declined requests. I’ve sunk into writing by guarding my time as I planned to do, leaving the house for the library or community centre to get the work done, and feeding off the energy by ongoing writing workshops with both Sarah Sentilles and (now BOOKER-LONGLISTED!!) Charlotte Wood and the exceptional writers they bring together.
Over in the west, towards the end of our Broome time, we camped at Barn Hill Station. One of those places on earth where the light and the landscape is hyperreal. We got out to the beach early, stayed as the tide ballooned high onto the sand then sucked back out revealing a glistening shore littered with sea-smoothed stones and the curls of coloured shells. Sometimes in pairs but more often solo, we walked the waterline, bending every so often with outstretched arm to turn over a particular treasure, to collect a sought after cowrie, to smooth a marbled stone.
For two afternoons in a row, as the shore revealed her bounty, we made our own ‘galleries’. We searched out particular shapes - someone wanted small black stones in perfect circles, someone else the red flash of an abalone shell piece with its pearlescent inside, someone collected anything white - stone, clam shell, faded corals. Each of us spent hours, interspersed with swims and kick-to-kick, arranging our collections. Balancing stones in tiny cairns, making bridges with long translucent fingernail shells, finding the perfect shape to fit alongside the next. Part incidental meditation, part holiday craft, part competition - we did not notice the hours passing, only the intense joy and focus of our work.
I think of those beach creations now as I approach the desk. About the way each of us was weighing colour and texture and line and shape each time we placed a stone or a shell. How we let instinct guide us. How some shapes didn’t work, some piles toppled over, some fragile shimmery pieces snapped as we tried to place them just so - and so we tried something else. How each person’s creation was so entirely, uniquely them. But mostly, how much pleasure there was in the doing - in the making.
Hope you find joy in the making in the next little while.
K xx
What I’ve Been
Reading
Voyagers: Our Journey into the Anthropocene by Lauren Fuge. This one blew my mind: stunning landscape writing that has me deep diving on the Pacific North West, alongside the science, the questions and the urgency of the climate crisis. I read it in one sitting. Fans of Robert Macfarlane, Inga Simpson and James Bradley (who will be in convo with Lauren and I at Bendigo Writers Festival soon) will love this.
Girl, Falling by Hayley Scrivenor. Holy smokes. Scrivenor is so good at what she does: her character and landscape in particular are done masterfully. Propulsive, smart, totally unputdownable thriller.
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. Late to the party, so impressed. Wrote more here.
The Hitwoman’s Guide to Reducing Household Debt by Mark Mupotsa-Russell. Had an early copy of this one for beach-reading in Broome and this got under my skin in exactly the right way. This is a debut - but wow - it’s so confident, so well put together, totally compelling and also funny and dark and smart. I have SO many questions for Mark and looking forward to talking to him at Vero Books in September, details below.
Holy Woman: A Divine Adventure by Louise Omer. Missed a whole afternoon potentially adventuring in Darwin because I picked this up and then could not put it down. More here.
Big Time by Jordan Prosser. Cracking debut. Have been recommending LOTS. More here.
Breakdown by Cathy Sweeney. If you’ve read All Fours by Miranda July (I discussed it on The Bookshelf here), go and read this one and then take both to your book group. Much to discuss! Enjoyed isn’t the right word - incredible writing. More here.
Listening to
Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein. I’m listening to this one and at once intrigued, appalled and, now, starting my own rabbit hole fall into conspiracy theories, the patterns of politics and ideologies and the Klein/Wolf mirror world.
Watching
Going deep into the comfort of police procedural series; Vera is my solo comfort watching, The Rookie with my daughter.
Got Coming Up
Things are a little quieter as I hunker down to work on the new novel and prepare for the October release of To Stir With Love, my first picture book with the incredible illustrator Jess Racklyeft.
Stay tuned for tour dates and if you’re keen pre-order your copy from your local indie book store now! Before then, join me at the following events which promise to be EXCELLENT.
So delighted that Pip Williams (The Dictionary of Lost Words, The Bookbinder of Jericho) chose The Hummingbird Effect as one of her Warm Winter Reads this year, and even more delighted that I will be in conversation with Pip, hosted by Angela Savage, this Thursday night August 8, 7.30pm free and online, register here.
Always love the Bendigo Writers Festival and I’m particularly excited to be heading back for Epic Journeys in a Time of Crisis - a panel with writers whose work has been blowing my mind recently - James Bradley (Deep Water) and Lauren Fuge (Voyagers), hosted by Lillian Pearce. Saturday August 17, 4.45pm at Trades Hall, Bendigo. Tickets here.
A brand new lit fest for Vic with Westernport Writes happening in September, check out the full program here. I’ll be in conversation with Sophie Cunningham (This Devastating Fever) and Else Fitzgerald (Everything Feels Like the End of the World) for Climate Fiction: Dystopia or Utopia on Sunday 8th September, 10am at Somers Yacht Club. Tickets here.
So looking forward to hosting the following authors for upcoming events
Anita Heiss discussing her latest novel Dirrayawadha at Montsalvat, Eltham for Eltham Bookshop on Wednesday 28 August 6.30pm. Tickets here.
Catherine Mckinnon discussing To Sing of War at Readings Emporium, Thursday September 12, 6pm. Free, register here.
Mark Mupotsa-Russell discussing his debut thriller The Hitwoman’s Guide to Reducing Household Debt at Verso Books, Healesville, Thursday September 19, 6.30pm. Free, register here.
I adore those pictures of the shell and rock art 🐚
I can feel the peacefulness 😌