A new (writing) season

Welcome!

winter vegetable garden - possum proofed!

It's late autumn in the Adelaide Hills, time to plant winter vegetables. Finding enough sun in our garden is tricky, and this spot is probably going to prove too shady but we're giving it a go, growing sugarloaf cabbages and small-leafed spinach. The cage around it is not because we expect escapees but to keep out the bane of my gardening existence - the ubiquitous brushtail and ringtail possums.

Possums are incredibly cute, especially the little ringtails. They are also voracious, having a go at just about any new growth - leaves, buds and blossoms, and fruit. They didn't do much damage to the chilis (he he!) but, unbelievably, one year they stripped my rosemary (euch, mouthfuls of rosemary!). I keep my mint and parsley in an old birdcage, and now we have decided the only way to give our vegetables a chance is to cage them. It was so disappointing to grow snowpeas last spring and eat only three pods ourselves. And don't get me started on the apple crop that never grew because the wretched critters ate all the blossoms - and broke branches in their enthusiasm to get to them...

This blog has always included a photo and a chat about what's happening in my garden at the moment. But the season I'm most excited about right now is the publication of my debut novel, The Golden Hour, to be released in early June. Yay! That's been a long time coming and it's such a joy to reach this point.

The Golden Hour, a novel by Claire Belberg
Click here to order the book if your local bookshop doesn't stock it.

To celebrate it, I'm re-entering the blogosphere. I confess I won't be posting often on here, but please go to my new blog, The Character Forge, at clairebelberg.wordpress.com, where I intend to post at least monthly. There I will give updates on publishing news, write about the writing and publishing process, and wonder about the connection between writing imaginary characters and the effect of writing on the growth of my personal character.

It's not just about me, you'll be glad to hear! I would love to connect with you - so let me know what you want to know or share about authors and writing, what you like to read and why, how imagination improves your life, in what ways reading/writing/imagining grows you as a person.This is about journeying together into more life and joy, about becoming who we truly are - doing it together because it's better that way :)