While Margareta's been off mustering the good people at Romancing the Snowy have been working hard at putting together a great Writers Festival program for the weekend of the 31st October to the 1st November. You can find out all about the event at http://www.romancingthesnowy.com.au/ Make sure you sign up for the newsletter to keep in touch, and get your registrations in.
Hi everyone, Margareta's still in the Pilbara, so another update from behind the scenes. One of the biggest disappointments for Margareta was that she was up there when the Romance Writers Conference was in Melbourne (everyone had a blast from the sounds of it), but as sad as she was, she managed to find some friends to make her feel a bit better about it.
Hi everyone, Margareta's Webmistress here - leaping in to let you know what's going on in her world 
Welcome to Winter!
Life is frantic up on the hill at the moment. H is welding up cattle yards on another block, I'm trying to organise our home lives which got a tad scrambled while I was doing pre-book tour stuff, mid-book tour stuff and post-book tour stuff, and keeping up with the permanent job - kid taxi duty. And when I'm not involved there, I'm getting farm books up to date, going through cooking books and ... packing.
Yep. You heard right. Packing.
Say hello to "Crosby" our new 20 week old bundle of Kelpie trouble (I told you all to stay tuned. It's kinda like I knew something, hey?! 
)
The checklist for today, ANZAC DAY, April 25, 2015:
Dawn Service where hundreds of locals gathered. Tick.
Tears while the last post was played. Tick.
Stories shared with the children over breakfast of H's grandfather - a tunneller - killed on the Western Front in WW1, and his father - a Navy man - who fought in WW2. Tick.
Stories shared with the children over breakfast of my Great Uncle, killed whilst a POW on the Burma railway. Tick.
Anzac Biscuits in the oven. Tick.
Today I'd like to welcome, Jenn J McLeod to the Voice of the bush. Jenn is a friend of mine who I met through Romance Writer's of Australia. Recently she and her partner sold up their property and fulfilled a lifelong dream of buying a Winnebago and are now writing their way around Australia. I am so envious of all the pictures of the glrious beaches they visit posted on Facebook. What a way to live your life!
Today up here on my hill at the Glen, I am very excited, and I'll admit a tad nervous. Why?
Towards the end of last year, I did what a lot of people around Australia do. Thought about what was on my bucket list for next year - 2015. Then we lost our nephew. H's sister's son. 37 years old, a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a nephew, a workmate, a friend. His story is another blog post entirely so for now I'll just say his death caused me to think again. What was on the bucket list for the next 5 years, 10 years, for my life?
