Spring fed

Byjodiemiller November 7, 2022 0 Comments
A product of yesterday's 'Witnessing Landscapes' workshop with Sally Piper. I am capable of travelling great distances, leaking through porous rock and soil with the force of a mountain behind me. Some seasons I am so abundant there is no holding back the pressure, and so I must surface and travel above ground, liberated by the flood and the formation of creeks until I return to the billabong,...

Silver buckshot

Byjodiemiller November 6, 2022 0 Comments
I am inspired after attending a workshop today with Brisbane author, Sally Piper. She is recognised for her unique ability to translate the natural environment into a visceral and sensory narrative for her readers. While I have always understood the function of Setting to root a Scene in time and place, Sally has stretched my comprehension and imagination and I cannot wait to experiment further....

…on mental health, Tourette’s, horses and cats

Byjodiemiller October 2, 2022 2 Comments
Our property really isn't ideal for horses. We only have a few spare acres of slope, prone to bog in the wet season, wild weeds in the dry. We would need some sort of shelter, and storage for feed. We'd need to shore up our fences and gates and make allies of our neighbours. There'd be vet bills, farriers, supplements, and accessories like blankets and bridles. The whole world knows horses are...

…on coming home

Byjodiemiller July 21, 2022 1 Comment
My husband grew up in Mackay and I grew up in Gympie and we met at The University of Queensland. When we married we eventually lived in the Brisbane suburb called The Gap, which is where we started our family. When we were courting (does anyone say that now? how old fashioned!) and in our motorcycle-riding youth, we often ventured out to Samford, a rural hamlet in Brisbane's north-west, and...

…on being liked

Byjodiemiller May 16, 2022 0 Comments
My name is Jodie Miller and I am a people pleaser. Sometimes it works in my favour. Sometimes it doesn't. As a self-employed person in a service industry, my natural inclination to please has made it easy... no, easy isn't the right word, anyone who is self-employed will know it isn't easy... my natural inclination has made it possible to build a brand that customers associate with service. In...

…on maintaining creative practice

Byjodiemiller May 3, 2022 0 Comments
I have always aspired to have a daily creative practice but have never managed to sustain it for long. I love my garden - but it would surely be more wonderful if I spent a little time in it every day. I love to write - but the bulk of my writing energy goes to my business. I love to cook - but so does my husband and unfortunately it tends to be a solo exercise rather than a team effort (not for...

…on resolutions

Byjodiemiller February 13, 2022 0 Comments
It's safe to say 2022 has so far been the most lackluster start to a year that ever was. I feel for regions that have had covid around longer than we have in the south-east corner of Queensland. Melbourne: hand on heart, you guys have more right to this whinge than me. Folks in the the rest of the world, especially at the start - avert your eyes. I claim the right to whinge on my own blog....

The feasts of Christmas past

Byjodiemiller December 11, 2021 0 Comments
My family of origin was not big on celebrations. My father would carve the (cold smoked) ham, but leave everything else to my mother, who did not love her place in the kitchen. Christmas, for me, evokes memories of said sliced ham, mangoes, cherries and a Lions Christmas cake, which I loathed and never ate. For my friends in the northern hemisphere this probably sounds exotic at best, or an...

Book Club Questions

Byjodiemiller July 19, 2021 0 Comments
Since my book was published in late 2020, readers have been reaching out to me. It is an incredible honour to learn how someone encountered and experienced my story and how easily readers, especially women and birth workers, launch into sharing their own stories with me. Pregnancy, birth and motherhood are universal experiences for the female sex and so, it seemed fitting to invite Book Clubs to...

… on cultivating adult friendships

Byjodiemiller June 25, 2021 1 Comment
Image by clotho98 As a married woman and mother whose grown children still live at home, I don't feel I can stake a claim on the word 'lonely'. Life is too hectic to reflect deeply on what it actually is I feel, but I know it isn't that. Confession: I crave deep and genuine friendships with other women. I suppose I want to replicate the kind of besties that I easily found in high school or my...