Meet My New Writing Companion, Mr Cockatoo!
Photo of Mr Cockatoo by Belinda Alexandra
The end of 2020 was something of a whirlwind for me with the publication of The Mystery Woman and The Divine Feline: a chic cat lady’s guide to woman’s best friend, within months of each other. I was happy that after a year of restrictions and book events conducted via Zoom, I could get out and meet booksellers in person again. I even got to do a live event at a favourite Sydney haunt of mine: Anna’s Shop Around the Corner in Cronulla.
2020 whirlwind. The Mystery Woman and The Divine Feline: a chic cat lady’s guide to woman’s best friend, released within months of each other
He sits with me all day, and sometimes when I’ve been focussing for a while I don’t notice that he has moved right next to me
Everything came to a sudden halt with the new Coronavirus outbreak just before Christmas, when we had to stay home again. But things did not completely stop for me. I have a manuscript delivery deadline this coming September, so January was spent researching and outlining my new book. The weather was so mild that I spent almost every day sitting on my balcony and writing on my laptop. I can’t tell you how luxurious it felt to have an outdoor office. My cheeks were rosy from all that fresh air. I felt like I was on holidays.
I’m very excited about my new book
My indoor cats usually keep me company when I work and they weren’t excluded just because I was outside. They sat on one side of the picture window and I sat on the other. It wasn’t long before I had another companion join me. It was this gorgeous cockatoo (pictured). I have no idea if my bird friend is male or female, but I’m calling him ‘Mr Cockatoo’ because there seems something a little boyish about him. He sits with me all day, and sometimes when I’ve been focussing for a while I don’t notice that he has moved right next to me, and is looking over my shoulder. When I speak to him he moves his beak and tongue as if he would really like to say something back to me. I give him fresh water daily but I don’t feed him. Birds do best on their natural foods and, with all the rain we have had, there are plenty of native berries and nuts for him to eat. Mr Cockatoo doesn’t distract me from my work, but occasionally he does swing on my wind chime as if it were a perch. It broke in a storm we had recently. As I was looking for a new one, I found I was asking myself: ‘I wonder which one Mr Cockatoo would like?’
I’m very excited about my new book which is set in Sydney in the late 1940s. I’ll be telling you more about it – and Mr Cockatoo – as I go along. So be sure to follow me on social media.
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