My next lot of  writing very much reflected the forces influencing my teenage attitudes in a Catholic, lower-middle-class family in Geelong.

 

Letters to the Editor (Geelong Advertiser) became a public form of expression for me with:

• comments reflecting my initial interest in politics (very much in line with the Democratic Labour Party policy). 

• opinion pieces on the plight of Aborigines penned following a visit to central Australia. This lead to an invitation for me to go with a group of seminarians to a mission station in Lese (gulf area of New Guinea).

 

Throughout my teaching career I have fortunately had ample opportunities to play with creative writing in its many forms.

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Also,  I experimented with poetry as a means of self-expression ~ on love, being loved and being hurt....

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During the eighties, while involved with Geelong Dive and Outdoor Centre, I published the club monthly newsletter. This allowed me to experiment, albeit tentatively, with the integration of photography, prose and self-publishing.

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My creative writing only formalised in my mid-forties while as a teacher at Grovedale primary school where I explored the concept of strategy gaming as a technique for developing pupils' problem-solving skills. So confident of my creation was I that I directly approached the editor of Longman Cheshire. In 1986 they published the "Play the Game" series.

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When one of my editors moved to Macmillan, she requested that I produce another series of strategy-gaming books for teachers.

In 1990 the "Game-Play Program"  was published.