by Meridith Mckinnon When I first discovered Lek, this is how I think of her; a discovery, I knew she would be complex. No-one can leave what they know easily for another life in a completely different culture, and not have complexities. Lek ‘s move into Australian life was extreme and although in the comfort of our white Anglo homes, we like to think we are embracing of different cultures when we are in fact often bad at it. Lek moved to Australia in the early 80’s. It was a time of complacency in Australian multiculturalism, especially in the deep western district of Victoria where affluence of industry set precedence for superiority of white Anglo’s.
I think when Lek married David to move to Australia ... by Meridith Mckinnon How did I make the trailer? Did I use my own photos? Some of my followers may have seen the book trailer on YouTube. What a technical feat for me! I was very impressed with myself and loved making it! The idea first came to me after seeing other author’s trailers and I loved them. Also the fact that when I wrote my book I can honestly say that every scene, every chapter has been a movie in my head. I could picture the movement, the place and the dialogue all as a movie. Who played my character roles? Ah, they are also in my head, often characters that I had met in the past, in Thailand but I have also thought of actual actors ...
by Meridith Mckinnon An iconic industry for Australia – the Dairy industry – where my husband grew up, worked most of his life, long and hard. He has a bond with the land, farming is in his bones – but times have changed in every way, and as the seasons come and go so do farming legends, those salt of the earth characters that Phil grew up with and who mentored him in his trade. For many years our Australian Christmases revolved around harvest. Leading up to Christmas every year would be debated whether harvest would be early or late, wet or dry, good or bad. Mind you this was before silage became the norm. We only ever did Hay.
Generally harvest would be finished by Christmas but as the years went by and climate change impacted, the seasons got later and towards the end of our days on the dairy farm the harvest was often not done until after Christmas. We also seemed to have heavier rains late September to drive the season even later. There are no regrets leaving dairying. Although rewarding in many ways, it meant long hours, hard work and... by Meridith Mckinnon MY FIRST BLOG! My friend Kate told me I needed to tell the story of how I wrote my book and came to know what I know. I’m happy to share all this but I’m not confident that anyone wants to really know! I tell myself I am not an expert but I have years of knowledge. I tell myself I am not alone in advocating for human rights and stateless people ...
Message in a Bottle – 1979 in Cambodia, Thailand, North Korea and Myanmar. Where were you in 1979?21/1/2017
by Meridith Mckinnon Naming this blog post after the song title Message in a Bottle by The Police back in 1979, is no coincidence. And for those too young, surely you know Sting, lead singer of The Police so go google the song! Anyhow, it was kind of like an alliance of the stars…something like that…1979 was the year I started writing, my book begins around this year, and then there’s the lyrics! So, in the words of this song the castaway sends a message out to sea in a bottle and after a year, in despair, he thinks no-one will ever hear him or read his message but then he wakes the next day to find ‘a hundred billion bottles’ on the shore!
Writing is my message in a bottle and my way of finding a voice. Our messages need to be loud and clear and when we think no-one is listening, try harder. When we think no-one listens, speak louder. In 1979 Cambodian refugees fled across borders to escape war as Kampuchean rebels fought to overthrow Pol Pot. I was living ... by Meridith Mckinnon I have been guilty of making the process of writing a book sound simple. I agree the concept, the idea can be easy – anyone, everyone has a story, but I will admit that to write it is the challenge! How did I write my book? The idea had bounced around in my head for a long time. I’m talking probably a couple of years. The characters, or mainly the protagonist, Lek, she was in my thoughts a lot along with her husband. It wasn’t until late 2014 and I was living in Seoul...
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