Travel emails evolve into book

By Linda Muller - Redlands Times

It's the sort of book you can read over a few beers.

A few Drops short of a Pint sprang from a series of emails author Chris Dowding sent to friends and family while living temporarily in Ireland in 2001.

'I used to send emails home and a few friends said I should turn them into a book. This is the result,' he said.

His efforts won for Chris the 2007 IP Picks Best Creative Non-Fiction Award and has also prompted Chris to continue to write. He has already started another book.

Educated at Redland Bay Primary and Cleveland High Schools but now living at Marcoola on the Sunshine Coast, Chris said his school English teachers 'never liked' his writing, something this honest account of Ireland now makes a mockery.

'My wife and I went to Ireland like most people go to England. We wanted to live in another part of the world but not where there were lots of Australians. It was challenging,' he said.

Chris writes about the little things, like having no car and using public transport, setting up a bank account, gaining a job and the 'social environment'.

'It's very social. In Ireland, work is there to pay for lifestyle. The pub is the centre of the social village and the meeting place. I have so many memories of what happened but it is easy to forget all the details. Now they're always there,' he said.

The book took Chris about four years off and on to write and included some courses in memoir and travel writing.

Comments

Congratulations Barack Obama - the dawn of a new day

He's done it - or rather, America has. Today will go down as a historic moment for America and the world, one that the rest of the world was watching intently. And if the rest of the world could have voted, they would be happy. A recent international poll by the BBC World Service found that the 22 countries surveyed preferred to see Obama win the election. For me, it means hope. The U.S looked stuck in old approaches to ongoing problems. Problems in Iraq - throw more troops at it. Banks losing hand over fist - throw more money into them. Doing more of the same thing seems to guarantee getting more of the same results. Fear, misunderstanding and mistrust were the order of the day. But now I see a man who wants to embrace everyone. A man who wants to understand. A man who wants to build trust. The mettle of any organisation, including a country, is set by its leader. I can't wait to see what can be achieved with this man as an example to the people of the U.S. and the world. Let

George - one of the most successful fraudsters in history

This man has successfully posed as the American president since 2001. He has pulled off an incredible variety of politically suicidal stunts and his latest effort is possibly one of the best. Thousands of people lose their homes. George appears to do nothing, apart from talking up the US economy. A little while later, millions of people have lost their homes. Still nothing. A few bankers lose their shirts. George and the Federal Reserve hand over billions and billions of dollars to prop them up. Suddenly, lots of bankers and stockbrokers have lost their shirts, and George is looking to hand them nearly a trillion dollars . What I don't understand is this -> if he has a trillion dollars to spare (and I think the only way he could is to get the U.S mint printing 24 hours a day), why doesn't he buy up the houses that have been foreclosed, and rent them back to the previous owners, or even more radically, give them back. Surely the same amount would be spent, people would have a

Engineers practising medicine?

The office I work in is located above an X-ray and Imaging centre, and a Doctor's practice. Because the local Council won't allow large or numerous signs on new buildings, it isn't uncommon for people to get lost and end up at our door. Annie, our secretary, usually redirects them to the right office. Yesterday, she walked past my desk. 'There was a man at the door who wanted to give blood. I said to him this was the wrong office. He said the sign downstairs was pointing up at our office, so this must be the right place. He wouldn't leave. I think he must have thought I didn't understand what kind of office I worked in." "Well, we can take his blood if he really wants us to," I replied. "Ask him to sit down and say someone will come out shortly. And let's leave him there for hours," added a colleague, smiling. "You're missing a new opportunity, Annie. Ask him which vein he wants the blood taken from and then prick him with

Chris Dowding - writer

Search This Blog