Shauna Bickley's Blog, page 5

English or English?

There was an article in my local paper today on surviving the office Christmas party with your dignity intact. It reminded me that's one of the things I love about working for myself - no office party! 

The article had some good tips but was also quite an amusing read. I was about to tweet a link to it when I glanced through it again and was struck by some of the phrases.  I've lived in New Zealand for a number of years and so I’m up with most Kiwi-English jargon, which can be differ...

What's in a Name?

Some time ago I took the little people to the zoo. As you can probably guess there were lots of other little people there as well. One of the things I found fascinating (besides the animals of course) were some of the children's names - impossible not to hear when Mums and Dads are yelling to and at their offspring.

As a writer I’m always interested in . They tend to be a good indicator of fashion and age, but that day I realised I might have to revise my ideas of the relationship between...

Travels in Oz (Brisbane and New South Wales coast)

We had planned the first part of our trip (up to arriving in Adelaide), but we decided to keep the last part a bit more free-wheeling. We had thought we’d like to drive the Pacific Highway coast from Adelaide to Melbourne as there are some great natural spots to visit on the route. However the temperatures dropped slightly the few days we were in Adelaide and when we checked the weather in Melbourne it wasn’t looking so good. Time for a change of plan.

We flew to Brisbane. We hadn’t ever spent...

Travels in Oz (Adelaide)

Our initial stops in Australia showed us quite a difference in temperature and humidity levels. Seasons in the Southern Hemisphere are opposite to those in the Northern Hemisphere and it is Spring here at the moment (October/November). I live in Auckland which has a temperate climate and winters are cool rather than cold, but I was looking forward to warmer temperatures in Australia.

Sydney was pleasantly warm (mid 20 degrees C) and a little humid when we arrived, rather like Auckland in the s...

Travels in Oz (Uluru/Ayers Rock)

Since first travelling to Australia I’ve always wanted to visit Uluru (Ayers Rock). I often use the expression 'in the middle of no-where', but that's never been more true of anywhere than Uluru. It is almost 500km from the nearest town (Alice Springs) by road and close to the red centre of Australia.


I’ve always known (theoretically) that Australia is a big place, but that's really a huge understatement. Looking out of the plane window and seeing nothing but red earth...

Travels in Oz (and reading)

I’ve been travelling in Australia for the past few weeks visiting places I’ve never seen before (with the exception of our starting point - Sydney). It’s been a long time since I’ve done this type of free-wheeling type travelling and I've loved every minute.

The trip started in the lovely city of Sydney, which is a place I never tire of visiting.



The first place on our list of 'first-time' visits was Port Douglas in Far North Queensland.

I have to admit that while seeing new place...

Spring Clearing

We've had our annual inorganic collection this week. Every year around this time the local council collects the items that are too large to go out in the usual rubbish collection. A few days before we’re notified of the collection date, and over that weekend the neighbourhood turns into a gigantic jumble sale.  Everyone puts all their junk on the grass verges and the streets are full of vans and small trucks cruising along looking at the piles of stuff. As we put things out people were a...

How Long to Read a Book?

I wrote a blog post some while ago outlining the length of time it took me to write a book. At the weekend I read this post on whether books should tell us how long it will take to read them.

Even before reading the article my first thought was how would we determine how long it would take someone to read a book? We all read at different speeds, and the speed I read at also varies depending on a number of things including: 
Whether the book is fiction or non-fictionIf non-fiction, am I lea...

Photos, Scenes and Memories

There’s nothing quite like pulling out a shoebox of photos or flicking through the family albums to bring back all sorts of memories. Reading through my writing is also a springboard for memories. 

None of the characters in my novels are me, but some of the things they see or places they visit obviously comes from my experiences. It isn’t always the major turning point scenes either that elicit memories. Here are a few from Lies of the Dead.

There’s a short lunchtime scene I wrote from exa...

Spring Bliss

At the moment I’m feeling in harmony with nature. It’s early spring and just about light as I get up, which has allowed me to see a number of beautiful sunrises as I do my run.

Spring is my favourite season, bringing with it a sense of renewal and possibility. On a more down to earth level it’s warmer than winter and not as humid as summer can be. Even after a number of years in New Zealand, it still feels strange that Spring arrives late in the year rather than being something I looked forwar...