inspiring

by

The Delight that is the Fab Five: Queer Eye:Love Yourself, Love Your Life – Antoni, Tan, Jvn, Bobby, Karamo

Queer Eye

Queer Eye

Love Yourself Love Your Life

Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Jonathan Van Ness, Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown

Hachette Australia

Headline

ISBN: 9781472261946

RRP $ 39.99

 

Description:

From the Fab Five—the beloved hosts of Netflix’s viral hit Queer Eye—comes a book that is at once a behind-the-scenes exclusive, a practical guide to living and celebrating your best life, and a symbol of hope.

Feeling your best is about far more than deciding what color to paint your accent wall or how to apply nightly moisturizer. It’s also about creating a life that’s well-rounded, filled with humor and understanding—and most importantly, that suits you. At a cultural moment when we are all craving people to admire, Queer Eye offers hope and acceptance. After you get to know the Fab Five, together they will guide you through five practical chapters that go beyond their designated areas of expertise (food & wine, fashion, grooming, home decor, and culture), touching on topics like wellness, entertaining, and defining your personal brand, and complete with bite-sized Hip Tips for your everyday quandaries. Above all else, Queer Eye aims to help you create a happy and healthy life, rooted in self-love and authenticity.

 

 

My View:

The Fab Five deliver their inspiring, inclusive, positive outlook with a few tips and tricks to have you feeling good inside and out. I am a big fan of this show; it surprises me, it is sometimes hard hitting, addressing such issues of racism and the epidemic of loneliness and poor self-image that seems to have swept over our planet, other times it shines the light on contemporary social issues, sometimes it is light-hearted and makes me smile. Never is it boring, always poignant and ultimately, fun. The book is written with these trade mark characteristics; there is a good dose of honesty and personal information shared that explains how the individuals arrived at this point in their lives (on the tv series).  Then the individuals in the team – and it is definitely a team, share a little of their expertise whilst all the time reminding us we are great, we can do whatever we make up our minds to do, and that we are “already fantastic, honey. You just need a little help to become your best self.”

 

A most enjoyable and positive read. Share this book with someone you love.

 

 

by

Book Launch: Find Your Creative Mojo – Josh Langley

Yesterday I was privileged to attend the launch of the new inspirational book by Josh Langley. Josh knows how to encourage, support, inspire… all whilst enjoying life’s journey.

I love the heading of the first chapter: “If you have a heart, you can create art.” This says it all.

 

Thanks Josh for your continued support of my creative journey.

by

Post Script: Writing The Dream – A Serenity Press Anthology

writing-the-dream

Writing the Dream

24 Authors One Dream 24 Inspiring Stories

A Serenity Press Anthology

Serenity Press

ISBN: 9780994633736

 

Description:

A collection of 25 stories written by talented authors. No two writers are the same, but they have one thing in common: they are storytellers at heart and their deepest desire is to be heard. Writing the Dream shares the stories of twenty-five Australian writers, from emerging to established authors. Some are traditionally published, while others have taken the self-publishing route. Some have faced rejection after rejection, while others have had a dream path.

 

But, while their writing journeys are different, all of them strive to create, entertain, inspire and inform. And all of them have unique and creative voices that deserve to be heard.

 

With contributors including Anna Jacobs, Juliet Marillier, Natasha Lester, Jenn J McLeod, and a host of other talented writers, the stories in Writing the Dream are set to strike an inspirational chord in every hopeful writer’s heart.

 

 

My View:

Australian authors share their personal stories of process, inspiration, writing experiences and publishing in a very personal and honest collection of short stories. So many of the names here are familiar to me; some are authors I have already had the pleasure of reading their work, or I may have seen them talk at a festival or “know” via social media, regardless of how I have “met” this diverse group of writers, it felt like these authors were reaching out and speaking directly to me – such an intimate and inspirational approach; I highly value the advice given so generously here.

 

If you aspire to write, or dabble, or dream or perhaps know someone who does then this little book will brighten their day and get the words flowing on the pages.

 

As a bonus you get an extra chapter free, twenty five individual stories and each author provides a set of tips at the end of their chapter. One of the best hints/tips I think is from Melinda Tognini:

“Just start.” (p.233, emphasis added)

 

 

 

 

 

by

Post Script: Confessions of an Imaginary Friend: A Memoir by Jacques Papier – Michelle Cuevas

Very, very special!

Confessions of an Imaginary Friend

Confessions of an Imaginary Friend: A Memoir by Jacques Papier

Michelle Cuevas

Simon and Schuster Children’s Books

ISBN: 9781471145506

RRP A$14.99

 

Description:

Jacques Papier thinks that everyone hates him. After all, teachers ignore him when he raises his hand in class, nobody ever picks him for sports teams, and his sister, Fleur, keeps having to remind their parents to set a place for him at the dinner table. But then Jacques discovers an uncomfortable truth: He is NOT Fleur’s brother; he’s her imaginary friend! And so begins Jacques’ quest for identity …what do you do when you realise that the only reason you exist is because of someone else’s imagination? The whimsical “autobiography” of an imaginary friend who doesn’t know he’s imaginary – perfect for fans of Toy Story, The Imaginary and Moone Boy.

 

My View:

This small paperback novel is crammed full with sparkling humour, is vividly descriptive and has the most amazingly beautiful prose. It is written is an easy to read deceptively simplistic style that children will enjoy and the adults looking on or reading to them will notice their hearts swelling with the emotions and the deeper points the subtle messages in this book conjure up. It is simply divine! The characters beyond cute, the lessons and realisations…, there so many levels of storytelling in this book, you must read this yourself to appreciate it.

 

“…you couldn’t help but think that anyone and everyone is amazing. I guess everyone, I realised would include me. But what was special about me? I guess you can’t always know what those things are about yourself. Maybe because you’re too close to see it, like a flower that looks down and thinks it is just a stem. I guess the important thing is to trust that you are. You’re special. And the people close to you see it in more ways than you could ever, ever know.” (p.143)

 

PS I have just discovered that Fox Animation has bought the rights to this book and is developing a movie. Cant wait!

 

 

by

Inspired By Silver Moon – Bryce Courtenay

Bryce Courtenay in the Silver Moon (p.123) says “And God created  a flower and named it after the sun….the smile never leaves her face. Look into it and you see pure simplicity that is  genuine beauty, a personification of the sun itself.” After reading this book and in particular the last few pages I was inspired to plant sunflowers. They are stunning.

Sunflowers

Sunflowers

 

 

by

Post Script: The Silver Moon Reflections on Life, Death and Writing – Bryce Courtenay

This book is simply delightful, inspiring and a joy to read.

22914512

The Silver Moon Reflections on Life, Death and Writing

Bryce Courtenay

Viking

Penguin Books

ISBN: 9780670078264

 

 

Description:

Each of us has a place to return to in our minds, a place of clarity and peace, a place to think, to create, to dream. For Bryce Courtenay this place was a waterhole in Africa where he used to escape to as a boy, in search of solitude. One evening, while lingering there, he witnessed the tallest of the great beasts drinking from the waterhole in the moonlight, and was spellbound. Ever since, he drew inspiration from this moment.

 

The Silver Moon gathers together some of the most personal and sustaining life-lessons from Australia’s favourite storyteller. In short stories and insights, many written in his final months, Bryce reflects on living and dying, and how through determination, respect for others and taking pleasure in small moments of joy, he lived life to the fullest.

 

From practical advice on how to write a bestseller to general inspiration on how to realise your dreams, The Silver Moon celebrates Bryce Courtenay’s lifelong passion for storytelling, language and the creative process, and brings us closer to the man behind the bestsellers.

 

 

My View:

 

I have read a few of Bryce Courtenay’s novels over the years – he has written many, in fact 21 books over 23 year which is a pretty amazing record and for me my favourites have been The Power Of One and April Fool’s Day – books that I feel Courtenay had really invested himself in the narrative, but that was until now. After reading The Silver Moon I have fallen in love with this author all over again.

 

I love his gentle words, his poetic writing, and his inspiring reflections. I wish I had had the opportunity to meet this author before his death in 2012. I wish I’d had the opportunity to hear him speak- his words speak to the soul and we can all learn a lot from this simple unassuming book. Bryce Courtenay is in his own words “…a character driven novelist and I’m fascinated by the human persona and the travails and troubles and angst and adventures that we human beings manage to create for ourselves…I’m driven to tell stories. Stories absolutely fascinate me, and while writing is a hard process, I can’t conceive of not doing it. It is a compulsive and impulsive thing.” (p. 90, The Mercury, Dec 1997).