It’s Djilba season here on Bindjareb Noongar country, Western Australia. Whilst Makuru is technically the ‘first rains’, djilba means wet and windy weather warming up towards breeding season. And when I say rain, I mean lots of it! For the past two weeks, I’ve been ducking in and out of sun showers for my new job, with hardly any time to write in the evenings. But that’s okay–sometimes we need to focus on some things more than others, and there’s no point in pushing myself to write while all this rainy change is happening too.
Nonetheless, my writerly side was bolstered lately by the arrival of the recently published Reflex Fiction Anthology: In Defence of Pseudoscience. My short story, She Follows A Familiar Recipe, is featured for being longlisted in the Reflex Winter 2021 flash fiction competition.
I’m always amazed, holding my own work in my hands. Thankful, too, to whatever muse led to this moment, for the work of all the people editing and putting together a book, and for the time months ago when I allowed myself a moment of creativity that continues to reward.
So whilst writing might be slow at the moment, I know it will return. Just like the winds will blow the rain away for spring to come, so too the time will come when I’ve made it through the hurdles of a new job (which are as necessary and predictable as the rains, of course), and on to easier, sunnier moments.
Until then, I may be a little quieter. Reading my new book of flash fiction–a great way to catch full stories when time is short. You can purchase your own copy from Reflex Press.
Happy season, all. 🙂
Book images in this post were captured by Emma Gill. Header image by Jarrah Tree from Wikimedia Commons of “Riverside Drive, Perth, Western Australia, looking across Perth Water on a windy winter’s day…”.
EMMA LOUISE GILL 