Archive for the 'The Writer’s Life' Category

Hay-py New Year!

Abundance is all about us at present with the best season in decades and every morning I am thankful I wake up to paradise! (A paradise that involves a lot of hard work – but they say work is good for the soul!)

I just wanted to take a moment (in between hay baling and writing) to wish you all a belated Merry Christmas and a brilliant New Year in 2010.

I want to thank my readers and the people who take the time to comment on my site for their support. I am so grateful I have you to share my stories with. Because as my life gets busier and busier with growth of the farm business and my writing, I am blogging less and less.

Therefore I’m taking a plunge to re-design my website for 2010. I’ll still have a blog so you can see what’s happening on the farm, but the rest of the site will be a bit more ‘fancy-pants’ so that my international readers can get a grasp of what this Aussie farm girl is ‘on about’.

My dedicated webmaster, Allan, is indulging me in this and I hope you too will be patient as we breathe new changes in to rachaeltreasure.com in 2010.

Top 20 Cricket Poem

Well, I made the Top 20 list of the inaugural Cricket Poetry Award.

One hundred and six poets submitted a poem for the inaugural Cricket Poetry Award competition, in which twenty were selected to be publicly read by actors on the 1st Oct 2009.

Based on the reading and crowd response, the last four poems were chosen and re-read the following week on the 8th Oct at the Cricket Art Prize opening – SCG, Members Pavilion.

The judges, Adam Gibson and Jessica Halloran mentioned that a great majority of the one hundred and six poems were of a very high standard. As such, they had a very challenging time when reading and re-reading all poems; having to make some very hard decisions in the end to get the field down to twenty for the first public reading; then select the last four for the reading at the Cricket Art Prize opening.

Cricket Poetry Award 2009

Cricket season is almost upon us! It’s a sport I love and this season I will sorely miss seeing the boys play on our home paddock at Runnymede.

Thanks to the drought, a re-sown surface failed to emerge, so the boys with bat it out at Buckland this season instead of the pretty hawthorn-lined paddock at Runnymede — at least until we get some grass.

While I was on on book tour I found out my cricket poem (penned one night when John was at football training) had been selected and I was a finalist for the inaugural Cricket Poetry Award 2009.

My poem was performed at  a live reading in Sydney recently. 

The judges mentioned that they selected poems that “… spoke about how cricket was interwoven with life in an unforced and natural manner …”

I hope you enjoy my poem — sparked by my memories of my cricketing youth!

Fantasy for White
By Rachael Treasure

Zinc cream haze on freckles.
That’s me on The Hill. 
Terry-towelling hat.
Wheat-blonde hair. 
Breasts just buds. 
70’s summer of love-awakened with spilled-beer perfume.
Wobbly-booted yobbos, fizzing ring-pull cans. 
The crisp ‘tock’ of ball on bat in the chasm of my chest. 
Solar Plexus bliss.

Us kids entertain the boozers, stacking tinnies pyramid-high. 
Blokes clatter our Cascade kingdom.
Hoo-haaing in their Alvin Purple world. 
Dad draped over his esky as if it were mum. Tranny to his ear.

My life grew green and white with blu-tacked men on bedroom walls. 
Knights wield willow swords. 
Sports-Gods, sunscreen-smeared.
Homework forgotten.

Now, The Hill is my heat-mirage of summer-youth. 
Those Ashes men could be my son. 
But can I soak your whites? 
Just to breathe the musk of liniment and mown grass. 
Forever a girl, and fantasy for white.

Uplifting night for all!

With my short-arse Tasmanian genetics I needed an apple crate to talk to the crowd at my book launch!

We had a crew of Levendale Primary Students on hand (including my Rosie) who rattled tins and raised $158 for our little country school. Thanks to all who donated!

The night was made even more special as we had a bus load of locals come down from our Valley to share in the fun.

Of course, the rare chance to use a lift resulted in many of the Levendale-ites getting stuck in one for an hour! My editor and publisher, Belinda and Ali, from Melbourne shared the experience!

They did have beer inside the lift and we were able to slide slices of pizza through a crack in the door, so most of them had a good time anyway!

Kathy Mace found it particularly up-lifting and Paul did enjoy being enclosed with nine women!

Night of nights!

Check out the Girl Power! Meet Katie Crane, Me, Ali Watts and Belinda Byrne.

I had an amazing book launch in Hobart last Thursday. Thank you to all of you who came along to share in the celebrations of the launch of my new book, The Cattleman’s Daughter, which has sailed to the Number Five bestseller spot according to last weekend’s Sydney Morning Herald!

I was overwhelmed by the words of praise that came during the speeches for my books and the impact they’ve had on people’s lives.

Rural Youth Vice-president, Katie Crane’s speech gave me goosebumps and my publisher, Ali Watts of Penguin Books brought a tear to my eye. It was also so special to have my editor, and friend, Belinda Byrne fly in with Ali from Melbourne. Thanks girls!

A Deniliquin Ute Muster Gallery of top chicks!

Divine Deniliquin!

I was a busy girl during my time at the Deni Ute Muster. It was so fantastic to meet so many of my readers from all over Australia who share my rural world that I love.

John and I, kid-free for the weekend, caught up with old friends and made new friends. (One especially entertaining fella named Hans certainly made an impression on everyone he met – you’ll see him on my blog very soon and he and his story are sure to feature in a novel one day!)

My Penguin team

Meet my legendary Penguin publicist, Felicity and Penguin camera-god, Andre! We shared a great day at Deni Ute Muster.

After work, we ended in the Bundy Bar, of course! Look out on the Penguin website soon for a clip of my Deni trip!

Time of my life

Deni Ute Muster will certainly go down as one of the best times of my entire life!

John and I worked hard and played hard and a special joy for me was meeting some of my gorgeous readers by day and partying with them by night. What an inspiration you all are!

Thanks so much to all the wonderful people who came to say hello and who shared a rum and a song with me and Johnny T.

Deni 09 – what a time!

We’re back in Tassie after the biggest and best publicity tour for my new book, The Cattleman’s Daughter.

Sleep deprived, with no voice left, I’m still reliving the best memories of Deni which involved many laughs, loads of Bundy, thousands of blue singlets and a metre long salami.

Come back soon to read all about it and to see pictures of some of my awesome readers who I caught up with.