May, 2012

I don’t win things often. Then again, I don’t enter things often.

But I won something last month: first place. The first female to finish the Five Dams Challenge.

Riding 240kms on rough roads in the hills is a hard day at the best of times. Riding it while you have a cold and are drugged up on pseudoephedrine is harder. The first 120kms were great, but once the cold and flu tablets wore off and the road got bumpier and the day got hotter and my legs got heavier, it was a real slog. It hurt, a lot. I cramped near the end, and when the muscles spasm like that, there’s absolutely nothing that your mind can do.

But I finished. And I’m glad. It’s nice to remind myself that pain fades; that laughter is what lingers. It’s nice to finish first female.

Right now, there’s the craziness of end of (uni) semester prep and marking. And there’s the flurry of tutoring. And I love that too. I’m getting a reputation as a tough editor, which is not such a bad thing. I just hope I can be just as tough on my own draft when I open the file in a couple of weeks’ time. Can’t wait :-)

Cheerio

AJ

PS, click on the book covers below for links to my book trailers on youtube. You can also find more info on www.fremantlepress.com