Behind Sally's Books Mark 2

Airways... a science fiction sport story cross  Welcome to the blog hop for March. The challenge this month was to talk about crossing the genres. Maybe you remember Ghostbusters? Never, ever cross the streams. Until they did, and it worked beautifully in a chaotic sort of way.  Well, back in the day, genres were pretty clearly defined. We had family stories, pony stories, detective stories, historical novels, school stories, animal stories, romance, westerns, fantasy, science fiction, adventure, horror, ballet stories and a few others. Some of these were mainly, or always, for children. In the sixties, problem novels popped up. All those genres! Seriously! And some were perceived as being more worthy than others. And after a while, there was another shift. In this one, the literary novel was split off from the genre novels, and was held to be more worthy. I noticed all this but it never affected what I read with one rare exception: I knew Mum disapproved of books by Enid Blyt...

  Thanks to Skye for another intriguing blog hop challenge! This time, it’s about whether or not we work with a critique group or partner.   Over my sixty-plus years as a writer, I’ve had varied experience with critique partners.   My first experience came in Grade 4 at school when my teacher, Mrs Ting, went above and beyond in her response to my stories. She not only marked spelling and grammar but put little comments in the margin and actively encouraged me to write at home as well as at school. I used to bring in my “home” stories and she’d mark them for me. My handwriting was terrible, so that was pure dedication.   My high school English Expression teachers, Mrs Collis and Mrs Rockliff, were equally engaged so I was very lucky.   At home, I had my elder sister, who is also a writer. She knows my writing inside out, and always puts her fingers on my chief weakness which is a general avoidance of drama. Decades on, she remains my best critic.  ...

  Dear Mrs Odgers I am delighted to be writing to you on behalf of the Governor-General to inform you that you are being considered for the Medal of the Order of Australia (General Division) within the Australian Honours System... So came the email back in September 2025. "Scam," said my brain. Click the link... Not likely! However, it seemed a pretty creative and well-worded piece, so I crept around the back door and entered the Governor General's site via a google-search. I clicked for contact and was duly called by someone who informed me it was a legitimate invitation. To be considered for one of these honours one has to be nominated, then accept the invitation, then wait for a few months for confirmation. I was next contacted on Jan 6th to say I had been given the award. So, there you are. I can now sign myself as Sally Odgers OAM. The award was given for services to literature, following decades of writing with editing and manuscript assessment on the...

Photo explanation is at the end of the post Thanks to Skye for another intriguing blog hop challenge! This time, it’s about the research that has been most surprising to us as writers.             I love research and have been doing it since the 1970s. Over time, I have evolved several methods of finding what I want. The first and best way is to go to an original source.             When I was researching my Depression era book The Powerful Pickle Problem back in the 1980s, I found very little helpful information in books. There was plenty written about experiences in the UK, and plenty about what the political and economic climates were doing, but almost nothing about how country kids in Tasmania might have experienced the times.             Luckily, I had original sources. My grandmother and great aunt (born in 1899 ...

  Welcome to the round robin for December. Skye, our convener, challenged us to write a story, poem or essay for Christmas. Mine is called THE KING OF CLOUTIES. It's chopped into chapters to make it easier to keep track. If you'd rather read offline, send me a note and I'll email you the PDF. Please check out my fellow bloggers' pieces. Their links are below. The King of the Clouties Rating It was the day before Christmas—Christmas Eve, in fact—two years ago and I was nursing overstressed feet in a DYI B&B. According to the advert, Wayside Lodge was a historic, picturesque, economical, comfortable and flexible port of call on the Saxon Way. When writing reviews of places I’ve stayed, I strive for impartiality. I remind myself that what I assumed is not important. What was stated or implied in the advertising; that’s what’s important. I’ll now consider those statements in detail. 1.       Is Wayside Lodge historic? Undoubtedly. It was the lodge of a now...