Save the date #AusArts day is coming up! So many fabulous creative arts activities worthy of support - including the ASA backing book creators. Check them out on the wwe.creative.gov.au/ausartday (search for literature). And Save the Date - 23 October - for making your donations. #writers #arts

This article is interesting because it illustrates the underlying factors that bedevil writing as an artform and as a job. Writers will write regardless of pay, suppressing payrates. And commercial writing both supports and undermines writing as an artform. It's unsustainable and inequitable.

Love it.

Less than 2 weeks until our arboretum open days! Here's a few of the eucalypts flowering at the moment. These free open days only occur biannually. Currency Creek Arboretum is about an hour's drive south of Adelaide in SA. Open details here: www.dn.com.au/Currency_Cre...

I'm not sure the fact that pharmaceutical companies rort the hell out of the US health system should be a justification for letting them do so elsewhere. A lot of medical innovation is from publicly funded research. www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politic...

Delighted to have Edith Coleman featured on the Science History Institute page. A great resource for schools and teachers too. #naturewriting #sciencewriting #womeninscience #australiannature #historyofscience www.sciencehistory.org/education/sc...

What a childish rant from Peter Malinauskas over "eco-purists" and Nimbys objecting to gas projects (like they have any say). Some rational evidence based discussion around energy transition would be more helpful than name calling. Guess this is why Susan Close is retiring. A great loss for SA.

During the Black Saturday fires the automated backup for when the 000 system is overloaded did not work. No explanation why not and wasn't queried by the Royal Commission. Telcos don't seem interested in being an essential service.

A lovely Adelaide launch for Grace Notes by Jennifer Liston. Bringing to life the famed Irish Pirate Queen Gráinne Mhaol, reconnecting oral and written histories with poetry, song, and resolute rigour. A master class in literary historical reconstruction.

Trees are always a relief after people. 💚 -David Mitchell #ForestFriday #nature #scape #treescape #EastCoastKin #trees #photography

Late to this, but it means: that's it, isn't it? Game over red rover... www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Conflict of interest?! www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Got my new #author #website up and running - adding web developer to my skill set! Check it out. New skills in html coding and github. Took a week but saved $$ on annual web builder fees and have a custom website built for #books. #writing #writingcommunity #nonfiction www.danielleclode.com.au

Fossil fuel boosters want to keep us from sourcing the cheapest energy on the planet. Renewables are not only cleaner, they cost less! Fossil fuel fealty is insane. #EnergyTransition www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Don't forget to vote in RN's Top 100 Books! (Reminder to self) #bookvote #top100 #aussiebooks

Has learning #html coding this week. Poor product and massively increased costs have lead me to drop #GoDaddy webbuilding service and have a go at DIY (with help from a #ColorLib template). Easier than I thought and a better end result. No more dodgy image scaling! Fingers crossed for the upload.

Creating a new landed gentry - I really hadn't thought about it like that but yes - that's it!

I don't understand why this is not more obvious to politicians and businesses. The writing is on the wall. We need sustainability and efficiency - not growth and productivity. theconversation.com/were-still-n...

So happy to see these epicormic shoots emerging from the trunks of some Mt Lofty cup gums. This tiny forest of gums form a tiny forest was badly impacted by the long dry spell last summer. These buds are a drought (and fire) adaptation. A relief to see them appear. #naturewriting #inspiration

I often sit outside and listen to the quiet which is never as quiet as you think. Where I live, I mostly hear native birds and insects and just now frogs, but underneath I'm always struck by the incessant distant hum of the city, trucks, trains and chainsaws. Humans are so damned noisy.

Wonderful readings last night to celebrate the new issue of Coastlines literary magazine. Pretty happy to be included in this great line-up. coastlinesjournal.com/issue-10 #writing #writingcommunity #nonfiction #booksky

Pleased to hear Tony Burke's assurances that income theft via AI will not be endorsed by the cureent government but we need action on AI licensing NOW so that people can use it legally and fairly. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...

Such a useful video!

Well, I'd say "content organising" is another way of outlining actually. A good outline reflects the topics and is an effective way to review nonfiction both before writing to plan, and after/during writing to check and restructure. And you can do it in Word. #nonfiction #outlines

Seems odd to release a major productivity commission report into AI at 10.30pm. Like they don't want anyone to read or comment on it before the morning news cycle.

Wild sky this morning. Red in all directions. #sunrise #redsky #weather

Given how abundant ants and termites are it's actually equally interesting how few mammals specialise in eating them. And the traits they share because of that adaptation. #echidna Be interesting to extend to other vertebrates like birds and reptiles.

Pretty delighted about how the writing hut has turned out. Pretty impressive upgrade from the open, leaky, dirt-floored shed by the dam.

Australia should recognise Palestine and stop being lap dog to the US and UK. They do not share our interests, they just have an interest in exploiting us. It's not the same thing. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07...

Enjoyed Dawkin's latest Book of the Dead. Reviewing a book well is not always easy so it's also nice to have that work appreciated.

Horrified to hear lobbyist Jillian Segal proposing outrageous Trumpian financial penalties for universities and arts organisations upholding #freespeech in order to privilege some religions over others. Australia already has a fair and robust anti-discrimation and protection. No special treatment.

Amazing encounter with a cassowary at Etty Bay. They've become more common here in recent years. Saw another two on the road out. Never saw them when I lived here. Incredible birds, if a bit intimidating. #auswildlife #ausbirds

Great speed reads night at Bibliotheca Bar for the #StoryandtheSelf conference in Adelaide with #iaba and #asal. Great venue, fab readers and appreciative audience.

Heading to Melb today for a Copyright Agency meeting. Collecting and distributing copyright payments from govt, schools, unis and others to support creators makes a complicated task much easier and is vital support for creators and their publishers. Latest payment went out this week.🎉

Love the charactersitic knobbly #gumnuts on Southern Bluegums. Don't often see the #blossoms high up on these tall straight trees, but some helpful cockies had been pruning this one. #plants #australiannatives #eucalypts

Just to be clear Morrison's federal response to Covid was an utter cock-up. It was the states that carried the load and implemented sensible often tough policies made worse by federal incompetence. He should be held to account, not given an effin award.

Proving yet again that our awards system - at least at the highest level - is a completely confected crock of privileged self congratulatory backslapping amongst the already overindulged. How can this shameful corrupt waste of space be awarded anything other than a dark forgotten corner of history?

The most disturbing thing about these genAI models is not that they make shit up (a big one) but that they are programmed to pretend to be human. And that users are told to be "nice" in order to get the right answers. Why would anyone program software to conceal errors and limitations?

A visit from the Green Man. #foundobject #mistetoe

Love the idea of a historical adventure genre! Some great books listed here. Anyone who loved In Search of the Woman who Sailed the World will love these too. #jeannebarret #nonfiction #adventure #biography

The price of greed.

The national interest is best served by research into a broad understanding of how the world works - physical, biological, cultural, psychological and more. Short-sighted and squinty eyed political vision is a narrow lense indeed.

Crafty activity for a session on echidnas at the Junior Naturalist's tonight. What are the 10 coolest things you know about echidnas? There are just so many to chose from!

Unconventional characters of the past provide a much more interesting history.

Yesterday morning I turned into our road to meet a deer with a large set of antlers straight coming towards me. Not the kind of wildlife I'm used to seeing here! Kangaroos , eagles, koalas🐨 sure but don't often see 🦌.

Day 1 - Kylie Tennant

Back to business as usual, destroying the planet for short term profit. Sound economic and environmental management requires a transparent and ethical energy plan, free from shady political donations. I would love to be confident our government is making the best decisions, not the best paid ones.

Have cancelled my #Duolingo #NoAI subscription even though that will continue to run until it finishes. The paid version was NOT worth it. I joined for family membership, which turns out to cost even more. Better #languagelearning programs anyone? With incentivisation not enshittification.

A useful thread with suggestions of alternatives to #Duolingo now the owner of the wee owl has decided to fire 70% of the people who are language specialists, and replace them with AI. I can't make governments stand up for people over profiteering, but I can vote with my feet.