Month: March 2017

Passion in life is reward enough: success is optional

~ Elizabeth Quinn ~ 5 Comments

The past two years have been the best I can remember.

Typewriter, words, printed | more on diywoman.net

I have consummated my passion for France and my passion for writing in one 24 month period. First I ran away to France for six months. Then I applied for the professional writing course of my dreams. Then I got in! I’m more than halfway through and I never want it to end. This story was first published in the February/March issue of The Victorian Writer. David Brooks, columnist for The New York Times, once said:

people who live with passion start out with an especially intense desire to complete themselves. Continue reading →

Ocean swim at Lorne Pier-to-Pub an unlikely cure

~ Elizabeth Quinn ~ Leave a comment

A classic DIY tale of fixing something that’s been broken.

An edited version of this story first appeared as ‘Not Drowning, Waving’ in The Big Issue in December 2016.

Goggles for ocean swim | More on diywoman.net

 

On the second Saturday of every new year, the waters around Lorne heave and churn like a deep fryer of boiling oil with a wire basket-load of chips tossed onto its surface. People pay money to be one of those chips.

The Lorne Pier-to-Pub is the world’s biggest ocean swim race with entries now capped at 5000.

The race has been going for thirty-six years. Organisers introduced a ballot system after 2008, when all available places sold out on the first day of registration.

Continue reading →