Soaring High

I start blogging in trepidation. I want to say quite a lot about my writing and how my books grew because it is so important to me. As I progress, so I learn. My first book on the Scilly Isles was written with a very different slant. I was awed by the variety and interest on these islands. I could make a list but I am sure to leave something out. I really envisaged an island guide for children visiting. Just to show them how much there was to be seen. And it grew! In fact to make them follow I devised a small plot. It wasn’t much but it was to keep the interest flowing. Then i thought this is fun. I fell in love with the varied characters. I think I chose too many and had to cut some out in future books. I choose names at random from our ancestors. Perhaps they should have been more up to date. Names do seem to appear having missed a generation. I made two visits to the Islands and collected a lot of information, travelling as far as i could. When the waters were calm we went to the outer islands. We watched the great tankers appear over the horizon and realised they were already on a set course. We watched the Bishop Light sweep across as darkness fell and we returned home tired from days out on quiet beaches. Characters were not developed at that stage, it mostly scenery. Spectacular scenery under and over the waters. We were sampling from all the inhabited islands. Nesting birds had to be protected in places. Just talking about birds brought in the subject of migration from across the Atlantic - a super fete. All this was 25 years ago. History in the making. If you choose to read The Golden Eagle remember it was written in order to get some wonderful islands recorded for children.

   This is quite a new experience. Writing my own blog and just a little intimidating. I shall survive. From the first of February I intend to write once a fortnight mostly about everyday life in Western Australia. Here we come under the postal address of Perth but we are closer to Fremantle and find that an inspiring city just at this time of year. A holiday atmosphere prevails - ships come and go. Sails are hoisted and swimmers take to the water. They say that the warming of the Indian Ocean has attracted sharks - mostly they cruise up the coast in the darker weeds of Guage Roads. A swimmer was killed by a white pointer over the Christmas break diving for crabs and this does not seem to deter folk who swim in the shallows. Sharks are very fond of the waters beyond Garden Island.

We give you Barbara Good, author of books for children and for adults; The Golden Eagle, The Secret Rainbow, The Golden Spiral, Golden Spirit Land, Served with Joy, Slice of Life, and as yet unpublished, Boofie, the Saucy Friend.

Some are books of poetry and some are children’s adventure stories, all have Barbara’s cheery lilt.

In this blog, Barbara will introduce you to her books, and her thoughts on her many varied interests.

Barbara Good, poet and author