Author Archives: Darryl R Dymock

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About Darryl R Dymock

Dr Darryl Dymock has had eleven jobs and counting, including HR assistant, taxi-driver, high school teacher, soldier, university lecturer and researcher, associate professor, deputy director in a government department, and writer. He didn’t like school and had mediocre results there, and it took him a while to find a career direction. Darryl says he’s fortunate in never having been unemployed for very long over his working life, but he knows how tough it is for those looking for work, at whatever age. He’s the father of four adult children whose lives have taken quite different paths, and he has seven grandchildren, and therefore has a long-developed interest in stories for children. In his experience, Darryl thinks you get to where you want to be through motivation, persistence, being realistic and having the right support. He likes helping people with all of those. After working in Queensland, Papua New Guinea, New South Wales and South Australia, he now lives in Brisbane, Queensland with his wife and laptop.

A new year but an old song

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I saw in the New Year in Launceston, Tasmania, complete with fireworks, and have been reflecting on what 2012 might bring for me as a writer. As regular readers will know, I’m waiting to hear from a publisher about the latest version of my narrative non-fiction book about the pioneer aviator, Bert Hinkler. That is my No. 1 publishing priority for this year.

While that manuscript is bubbling away with the publisher (I hope), I’ve been writing a couple of fiction short stories and am working intensively on my non-fiction book about not retiring: Extending your use-by date. I expect to have that book ready to send to a publisher very soon.

My mind is always whirring with possibilities for stories, fiction and non-fiction, and that’s the way I like it (as KC and the Sunshine Band said). That’s why I’ve titled this particular blog, ‘A new year but an old song’. The old song for the new year is my ongoing commitment to writing, but of course, I’ll be writing fresh new lyrics. And I’m always ready to challenge myself, to extend myself in my writing. Beyond that, publication continues to be my goal.

So, as 2012 begins to develop pace, I look again for inspiration at the two clippings tacked above my desk:

‘Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass’ (Anton Chekov)

and

‘You must keep sending work out; you must never let a manuscript do nothing but eat its head off in a drawer. You send that work out again and again, while you’re working on another one. If you have talent, you will receive some measure of success – but only if you persist.’ (Isaac Asimov)