SET against the colourful backdrop of the North Shore, artist Jo Josephsen captured in images the humour and drama of a story told by her mother.

Josephsen, of Killara, relished working as part of the mother-daughter team bringing the area to life in The Amazing Adventures of Claude and Albert.

Author Patricia Woolfrey – Josephsen’s mother – had fun writing about drug busts, prison escapes, turtle rescues and thieving terriers involving her two leading characters, elderly gentlemen Claude and Albert.

And Josephsen, 59, enjoyed providing the pencil drawings to head each chapter of the book.

“Even though mum lives on the north coast, we always talk about the stories she is working on,” Josephsen said.

“She started creative writing when she retired 20 years ago, and she decided to write a series of adventures about the mischief that two retirees can get up to, and I was always entertained by the stories.

“Then she started talking about self-publishing the book so I thought it would help to have some illustrations.”

Woolfrey, 85, self-published with Ace Press because she thought everyone would be able to relate to her characters who were bored with retirement.

So they set about finding something different and challenging to do with their time, muddying their feet in the local crime scene.

Although usually law-abiding citizens, in their search for excitement they blot their copybook, but feeling remorseful they embark on a series of “helpful” adventures.

Woolfrey has taken part in several creative writing workshops over the years and is an active member of her local writing group.

“Mum likes to write based on her own life experiences and she sympathised with her two mischievous characters, Claude and Albert, who are basically sticky beaks,” Josephsen said.

“It’s funny to see them still getting up to mischief at their age.”

By Michelle: When you find yourself struggling with writer’s block, try one of these writing prompts. The goal is to jump-start your writing engine so that you can begin writing your book or story.

Remember to favor the concrete over the abstract, and to let your mind go where it may. Choose one a day, and write for at least ten minutes.

What is the worst thing you ever did? Write about it.
Write about a time when you were very angry. What motivated your anger? How did you display/hide it? How did others respond to your anger?
Many people have a box of keepsakes–letters, photographs, awards, etc. Explore this box. Write about each item it contains.
Write about something you saw and have been unable to forget.
Write about a recurring dream in first person (I) present (as if it is happening now).
Write about the moment you entered womanhood/manhood.
Write about your first experience with sexuality.
Write about something that took place in the middle of the night. Allow the reader experience night without ever using the word “night.”
Write about your most memorable experience with food, concentrating on taste and smell and touch.
Write about your first experience with death.
Describe your first meeting with someone who would later become a close friend.
Describe your first meeting with someone who would later become an adversary.
Write about a significant event in your childhood from your mother’s/father’/s/guardian’s point of view.
Spend an hour in a public place–park, café, bar, etc.–writing about the people who walk by.
Write about yourself in the third person (he/she) from the point of view of your boss/an employee.
Write about someone whom you observed in a desperate situation.
Choose an object of personal significance. Place it in front of you on your writing desk. Write about how the object came into your possession, and about what it means to you. What is your personal history with this object?
Tell the story of your life in two pages. Then tell the story of your life in a paragraph.
Write about your most carefully guarded secret.
Write about what makes you afraid.
Write about a time when you believed in yourself.
Write about your parents’ courtship. If possible, interview them. If not, reconstruct their courtship from what they or other relatives have told you.
Describe a place where something wonderful happened to you.
Describe a place where something bad happened to you.
Write about your former relationship with someone who is no longer living.
Write about a time when your personality changed, when you behaved in a way that was uncharacteristic.
Write about the last thing you did by candlelight.
List the most influential people in your life.
Write about water.
Write about someone you see frequently but don’t know well, or at all.

The vocabulary of ethnicity identity is fraught with peril. It is unfortunate that humans must at times distinguish between various subgroups, but it’s best to keep up-to-date on which descriptions are considered valid or acceptable among those belonging to those populations. Here’s a guide:

1. African

A person of African descent. Some people so described use this term even if they are US residents because, due to their recent arrival in the United States, they do not identify with black, or African American, culture.

2. African American

An American of African descent. Most people answering this description have no problem with the term black, but some groups and publications prefer this term, and it’s useful, at least, as elegant variation. Unlike as with the case of people from Asia, African Americans are less likely to be identified by their specific country of origin, such as in “Kenyan American.”

3. Asian

A person of Asian descent.

4. Asian American

An American of Asian descent. More specific terms such as “Japanese American” are used when necessary; note, however, that immigrants from nations from which relatively few people come to America can also be identified by such a construction, even if the phrase is not common (such as “Pakistani American”).

5. Black

An American of African descent; this term is generally lowercased but is capitalized by some groups and publications.

6. Chicano

An American of Mexican descent. This is one of those terms best reserved for use by those it refers to. People of similar ethnic heritage from countries other than Mexico may share communities and philosophies with Chicanos, but they may prefer not to share the name. (The feminine form Chicana is used when referring specifically to women.)

7. Hispanic

A person of mixed Spanish or Portuguese and Indian heritage. Some people of this description oppose the term because it emphasizes the European element at the expense of other identities.

8. Indian

This term has two distinct meanings: a person descended from people who long ago immigrated to the Americas from Asia, or people of Indian descent (that is, from India). Many people in the first category so identified prefer this term to “Native American,” and some use “American Indian” only to distinguish themselves from people originating in India. (American Indians were originally misidentified as such by Christopher Columbus, who believed, in error, that he had reached India rather than the Western Hemisphere.)

9. Latino

A person of mixed Indian and Spanish or Portuguese descent. This term, although no more etymologically valid than “Hispanic,” is preferable among many such people. (The feminine form Latina is used when referring specifically to women.)

10. Native American

A person descended from people who long ago immigrated to the Americas from Asia. Many people adhering to this description prefer to be called simply Indians or to be identified by their tribal name. (Note that the terms indigenous and aboriginal are not strictly correct, because Indians did not evolve in the Western Hemisphere. Canadian Indians who call themselves the First Nations are more accurate.)

Of course, many other descriptors for ethnic groups exist, including many broadly considered derogatory and even offensive. However, some people belonging to ethnic groups so labeled use such terms among themselves to reclaim them and diminish their painful associations.

A final note: I use the term American (which need not be hyphenated to another proper name) to refer to US citizens, although Americans — meaning people who live in the Western Hemisphere — who do not reside in the United States outnumber those who do. This apparently arrogant appropriation of the term is objectionable to some people, but it is unrealistic to expect that it will be abandoned.

Today I offer the second in an occasional series of articles aimed at helping you overcome writers block. This involves personal memories and as such will be different for each of us.

Do you have what I call a memory box? Photographs of the children when they were growing up, a marriage photograph, perhaps a death certificate. A survivor from a holiday. Take the memory box down, pick a few items from it and write about them. It may be challenging but it will awaken the memory and imagination cells.

Part of my memory box is a group of photographs stretching back to the early 1950’s of my brothers and sisters. They are not like the photographs you have to day, big, blousy, colourful, and throwaway,  No, these are in a small book, black and white – no colour then – about half the size I suppose of a traditional postcard.

When I take them down and look at them, it helps me recall my growing up, the pets I’ve had, my school days, the good and not so good times. It helps me imagine and when I return to my creative writing I find the juices beginning to flow. Try opening your memory and see what happens and as always go with the flow.

I stumbled across this competition quite by accident but thought to myself its novel and while the money may not be that big, then neither is the entry fee and well it seems sort of fun

Here’s what you have to do. On the 1st of every month the contest promoters ‘Strictly Shakespeare,’ will leave a prose and poetry prompt on their website ‘Strictly Shakespeare,’ anyone wishing to enter will have two weeks to put their thoughts together and submit their work by the deadline on the 14 of each month.

Here’s the interesting part – the judging. The team at Strictly Shakespeare will choose what in their opinion is the ten best entries and then the public can have their say.

Selections are made this way. Every day one entry in each section will be knocked out due to public opinion.  (The votes will be cumlative so if you don’t get a chance to vote each day, DON’T WORRY!)

After ten days the good folks at Strictly Shakespeare will have it down to a 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd winner. The prize isn’t big you’ll get a share of the competition. However, Strictly Shakespeare are working to establish a fixed cash prize. It’s a bit of fun, give it a try.

Ask any writer and they’ll tell you that at some time or another they suffer that almost fatal illness – writers block. Over the next two days I’m going to offer some suggestions as to how you might defeat writers block. Think of the tips as a sort of antibiotic!

Write about something that you saw many years ago which is still fresh in your mind today.

Over forty years ago I was helping steward at the funeral of my local Cardinal in my home city of Armagh.

Dignitaries from all over the world were at the service and I was delegated to look after the press photographers They had been allocated this room to develop and send their photographs to their various newspapers throughout Ireland and beyond. Part of my job was to make sure no one entered the room while developing was in progress; it was my first experience of a dark room.

To this day I can see what appeared to be a clear sheet of paper been dipped into a fluid and as if by magic a ghostly image appear and come to life. It was attached to a cylinder tube and sent ‘down the wire.’

Now of course pictures are instantaneous we hardly think about them, but this to me was a magic moment, a simple one, but one I will never forget  is there anything you’ve seen in your life that you can’t forget – write about it.