Timing is everything.

Today was a gorgeous autumn day here but would pass for summer in a lot of places. The blue sky above and the clear night sky brilliantly lit by the weirdly named full worm moon are so different from this time last week.

We’re on the other side of a tropical cyclone. The build up was scary and we had our fingers crossed that the following low-pressure system wouldn’t bring catastrophic flooding like we had back in 2022.

It didn’t, for the most part, thank the goddess but thousands of homes have been without power for a week now while teams clear debris and fix powerlines.

I should have been at my dad’s house this week, helping him pack to move to his new place but the 90 min drive was too uncertain with the number of downed trees. Appointments have been pushed back and our floors that were scheduled to go in last week have gone in today. My house is chaos again but it will be worth the little bit of hassle.

Last Saturday I should have been in Brisbane talking to a fledgling writers group about the joys of quality criticism but it was postponed.

My word for this year was going to be patience but I changed it to courage. Maybe I need to be courageously patient or patiently courageous. More like begrudgingly patient.

I was disappointed not to have the opportunity to teach more writers about the power of feedback, but I’m thrilled to have come through the first cyclone in my area in 50 years.

Three weeks ago I was celebrating a successful launch of my 2025 art-inspired writing workshops at the arts centre gallery. This year they’re advertised as Art Write Now creative writing workshops. We decided to leave out the word “ekphrastic.” It’s the Ancient Greek term for writing inspired by art and apparently it’s a bit scary.

A full house confirmed that the name change was a good idea and the smiling faces and the sound of pens on paper told me the participants enjoyed the session.

Imagine if the storm hit that weekend instead of this one.

I wouldn’t have experienced such a post-workshop high nor had a celebratory wine with my art-writing buddy Leah.

But then I do say we’re always exactly where we’re supposed to be. Everything in its right time.

How many weddings, concerts, retreats, launches, openings, etc were derailed by the cyclone? How many lives have been changed a little or an enormous amount by this weather event? How many things that were going to be wonderful just didn’t get to be at all?

We are so convinced of the certainty of our existence and get attached to things that can be easily snatched away from us.

I’ve been writing a book on ekphrasis. It’s a guide to creative writing inspired by art. I had a name “Creative Writing Inspired by Art: A fun guide to ekphrasis” but that got torpedoed by excellent feedback.

One woman said ekphrasis sounds like a skin disease.

Point taken.

So now my book is called “The art-inspired Writer. Creative exercises to spark your imagination.”

I’m still not sure it’s great but I’ll put it out into the world and hope for the best. I’m crazy like that. I not in this for the certainty.