New hair, new mood

Finally! A blog post! Nine. Long. Months. Later.

December 2014 was filled with winter travelling in England, Paris and Ireland, and was a fantastic experience. I’ve travelled many times however this was my first time travelling in a Northern Hemisphere winter.  I have never appreciated shorts and a T-shirt more.

Putting on the layers upon layers of clothing was the equivalent to an average workout and we found ourselves exhausted before we got out the door! Then there’s the icy feeling in your throat mixed with the sweat pooling at the base of your spine where you can’t possibly get to it.

However nothing compared to sitting in a late night coach toward York, resting my head on the window, and realising it’s not rain, it’s snow. My whole body stopped moving for several moments as the event I’d been waiting 26 years for finally happened.

Sheffield, coach getting a top-up.

I have one request from anyone reading this; go to Ireland! Just go. The amount of green is beautifully unyielding and I have never met a country as kind. More of my travel pictures are on Instagram (@rebeccadonbavand).

Temple Bar

The rest of the time was occupied by taking on a full-time load of an intense university course. Thankfully, I’m part-time again and will graduate by the end of the year. Working that hard has made me value how my time is precious to focus on the things I want to achieve.

A much needed kick in the pants came from attending several writing seminars at Supanova in June. I was genuinely star-struck meeting one of my favourite authors, Kevin J. Anderson. Hearing the authors talk about their writing processes took my novel off its pedestal. They gave me confidence to get back into it and make it something I need to do now; not in a few days, not when the dishes are done, not when I’ve got some time aside…now.

Supanova Perth 2015; from left, Karen Miller, me, Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta

Much love, and here’s to less assignments!