Michael Gerard Bauer Author

Blog #5 2020: In which I do a quick catch-up.

Posted on July 31, 2020 by mgbauer

Well, as usual the days, weeks and months have somehow slipped away from me since my last blog in early May.

Covid-19 lock-down restrictions have eased quite a lot here in Queensland for which we are very grateful, but elsewhere in Australia, and particularly Victoria, things aren’t going quite so well.

In the meantime, here’s what’s been happening in our neck of the woods …

1. School visits have begun to slowly resume. Recently I’ve enjoyed speaking to students face to face at Sheldon College, Ipswich Girls Grammar and Brisbane Bayside State College (displays below). (Oh and I’ve also started-up a side-business as a contract killer.)

2. I’ve managed to do some (but not enough) reading. I really need to cut back on Netflix and Stan!

3. I’ve also sent a few more messages out via mikemail*.

*mikemail – where new and old technologies combine for very average results!

4. And I made a number of book and author videos for different people.

5. I was also very pleased to see that the ranks of PEG-PEOPLE continues to expand rapidly thanks to the talented Year 8s at Woodcroft College.

Top effort Woodcroftians!

If any other schools have created PEG-PEOPLE please send photos.

6. And with some of the Covid-19 restrictions lifted my wife and I have tried to get out and about more both for our own sanity and also to inject a bit of money into struggling businesses in South-East Queensland. How lucky are we to live in such a beautiful part of Australia?

7. Finally I’m sorry to say that I’ve been doing little or no writing. Hopefully this will change in the very near future.

So until the next blog, stay safe and positive everyone and do whatever you can to help keep everyone safe around you.

Cheers
Michael

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Brisbane Bayside State College, Cleveland, Ipswich Girls Grammar, Maiala, Mt Mee, Samford, Sheldon College, Shorncliffe, Woodcroft College, Wynnum | 2 Comments

Blog #4 2020: In which I give you my lockdown lowdown.

Posted on May 6, 2020 by mgbauer

‘What have you been doing to occupy yourself during the lockdown?’ I hear you ask from an acceptable distance.

Well, simple answer, ‘Not much.’

But perhaps the devil is in the detail as they say.

1. So first up you’ll be happy to know that I’ve been keeping my social-distance from people. You’ll be especially happy I’m sure if you were one of those people.

2. I revamped our bird box to discourage Indian Mynahs from bullying their way in and I’ve returned it to the backyard. I expect a flock of pale-headed rosellas to be fighting over it any minute now. Position! Position! Position!

3. I discovered that everything looks much better if you spray it with chrome paint. You should see my face. I’m absolutely glowing!

4. I sent a few messages out to various people. (Although they tell me there’s this thing called email now that everyone reckons will be big.)

5. Over on my Facebook page (Michael Gerard Bauer Author – feel free to LIKE it!) I’ve been working my way through Ishmael and the Hoops of Steel and posting daily quotes and photos. Is one of the signs of boredom/insanity that you start re-reading your own books?

6. I’ve been walking most days but I’ve been getting the terrible feeling that I’m being watched. It’s almost more than I can bear! (But just look how trim my wife and I are now.)

7. I cut opened an avocado and it was so perfect and aesthetically pleasing that naturally I got very excited and took a photo of it and posted it on every form of social media I could think of. Toast + butter + vegemite + avocado = Food of the Gods. You can thank me later.

8. And of course like most other people I’ve been taking photographs of myself in the bathroom where the sunlight filters through the blinds and falls in bright stripes across my face. I was quite pleased with the result. And I’m hoping my eyesight will eventually return.

So yeah, nothing to be worried about here. Thanks again for asking. I think I’m coping pretty well. Apparently the lockdown is getting to some people …

Cheers
Michael

PS: And in WRITING NEWS I actually finished writing something (more about this hopefully in future blogs) AND I got my first look at the beautiful cover of the CHINESE language edition of THE RUNNING MAN which will be available there soon courtesy of GUOMAI CULTURE & MEDIA.

I have such fond memories of my trip to China in 2015 visiting three schools which I wrote about in Blog 87 and Blog 88.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Guomai Culture and Media, Ishmael and the Hoops of Steel, Lockdown, The Running Man | Leave a comment

Blog #3 2020: In which I hunker down at a Safe Distance.

Posted on April 12, 2020 by mgbauer

Well, my aim at the start of this year was to do AT LEAST a blog a month, so because this is just my third blog, I’m assuming/pretending that it must still be March – hey otherwise I’d be pathetically behind already and that just doesn’t sound like me, right?

Of course the world has changed dramatically since my last post.

Luckily my wife and I got in a couple of trips to Melbourne to see our daughter, son-in-law and our new beautiful granddaughter before all the chaos began.

During our vists to Victoria we went to …

The Australian Open …

The National Gallery of Victoria …

The Melbourne Aquarium …

and Hall’s Gap …

I also managed to get in a few school author visits in February (Hi to everyone at Sherwood Primary School, The Gap High School, Marist Ashgrove and Brisbane State High) before everything went virus-shaped.

Then of course SOCIAL DISTANCING became a thing …

My wife and I sharing a romantic movie date.

… and finally it was LOCKDOWN and STAY AT HOME time.

So since then I’ve read a few good books …

… and been working my way through an extensive house tidying/organising list.

In WRITING NEWS – I haven’t been doing much writing at all really but I do have a YA novel and a couple of picture book projects that I need to get back to soon.

In the meantime I was really pleased to see the complete ISHMAEL TRILOGY become available in German language audio form thanks to the wonderful Horcompany …

… and to receive some Turkish editions of RODNEY LOSES IT!

I also made an embarassing video as part of the online announcement of the 2020 CBCA SHORTLISTS. You can see it HERE – if you dare.

Finally I was saddened to hear of the death of legendary Australian poet BRUCE DAWE. I had the pleasure and honour of meeting him once.

As an English teacher I loved using his poems in class and in my first novel THE RUNNING MAN there is a reference to his brilliant and powerful poem HOMECOMING which is about bodies being sent back home from the Vietnam war.

telegrams tremble like leaves from a wintering tree
and the spider grief swings in his bitter geometry
– they’re bringing them home, now, too late, too early.

Homecoming – Bruce Dawe

Stay home (as much as humanly possible). Stay safe.

Cheers
Michael

PS: Don’t be like Rodney …

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Australian Open, Brisbane State High, Bruce Dawe, CBCA shortlist, Homecoming, Horcompany, Marist Ashgrove, Melbourne Aquarium, NGV, Rodney Loses It, Sherwood Primary School, The Gap High School, The Ishmael Trilogy, The Running Man | 2 Comments

Blog #2 2020: In which we have absolutely the right kind of visitor.

Posted on February 3, 2020 by mgbauer

It’s always lovely when writer friends are in town and drop in for a visit and it’s especially lovely when that visitor is the inaugural Australian Children’s Laureate (2012-13) BOORI MONTY PRYOR.

Besides being an award-winning author (PM’s Award 2011 for Shake a Leg), story-teller, actor, sportsman, model, film-maker, musician, DJ, basketball player/coach, public speaker, educator, Australian of the Year Nominee (2020), Master’s Games silver medallist and passionate promoter of Aboriginal culture, Boori ~~hasn’t done much with his life~~ is one of the most generous and beautiful people you could hope to meet.

In 2018, ABC iView released “Wrong Kind of Black” a drama series narrated by Boori and based on his life. In October 2019, it was nominated for an International Emmy.

If you haven’t seen WRONG KIND OF BLACK, you really should. I highly recommend it. It is brilliant. Go HERE.