Meet the Author: Justin Cartwright

Kalk Bay books is a charming, award-winning bookstore planted in the heart of Kalk Bay, South Africa. Its front windows overlook the shimmering sea. Its overstuffed leather couches invite you to sit and enjoy a new find or an old favorite. Its ecclectic mix of local and international authors gives everyone something wonderful to peruse.
As a favorite among authors and readers, Kalk Bay Books hosts events designed to give the reader a glimpse into the life of novelists and journalists. Last night international novelist Justin Cartwright was the main attraction. His newest release, To Heaven by Water, has gotten rave reviews and recommendations. Marie, Michaela and I joined the interested audience as Cartwright was interviewed by The Big Issue Editor about his newest release.

As Cartwright shared, he mentioned several times the need for discipline in a writer. He said, "Everyone has got a novel inside of them. The problem is it is only 30 pages long." He spoke of the moment of desperation that sometimes is the only thing that drives a novelist - the need to finish and get paid. One attendee compared his writing style to Jane Austen, not in the romantic mold we see highlighted today, but in the ability to create characters the reader truly dislikes.

After the short interview, the finger-foods and a glass of wine (or two), I was inspired to work on my own novel, though it is still under 30 pages, I feel the desire to accomplish it. (Though not the desperation)

Inspired!

There is a little patio behind our fav bakery/cappuccino orgainic shop that is full of inspiration. Everytime we sit there the world is at our fingertips and issues of the day are solved. We came up with our plan for field assignment there. We sat and put together this blog idea there. We planned an international non-profit magazine there (that will be very successful, we are sure). We have ideas we didn't follow through on, too, like doing our whole promo video by playdough claymation.

What makes our patio so inspirational: the caffeine, the muffins, the organic feel, the chess board, the fact that you have to walk through the bakery to get there, the V.I.P. feel because there are only two tables and our great Australian/British French-speaking Muslim Host - Hassan and his pet pigeon, Francesca (or Francesco because we don't know the sex).

Slackers-not

Sorry for the slack of not updating this blog. There are no really good excuses more than things came in the way like; brainstorming, interviews, hours and hours in front of the computer trying to verify the numbers that were told during the interviews, writing query letters, watching Scrubs in break time, starting a book club (I got sick with a nasty virus in my stomach and was sick for a whole week, so Darcie solved this by starting the book club, she read out loud the books called "New Moon" and "Breaking Dawn"...about 1200pages). After a dry mouth and cured from the virus, some of our articles got published!! Darcie has published an article about Human Trafficking on the website www.ywam.org I have articles published in Sweden and South Africa..and more articles are in the process of getting published within the next months for us both. God has been so great and showed us the things he wants us to write about. It is our passion to honour God with our writings and open people's eyes to what is happening in the world to make a difference or get involved.

Easter-fun-time

I had such a great Easter weekend. The only way I can describe it is through these photos..Enjoy!

"Travy G's" A gigantic sandwish...

All students eat..


Until they feel like this...

Music Festival

This is how excited we were to watch Snow Patrol and Oasis

Great music + Great friends= Perfect day

Mr Cocky Guy
but I couldn't help singing along to"wonderwall"

I give this Easter weekend 5 out of 5 muffins

Hypocrisy or Honesty?

photo from www.telegraph.co.uk

I don't want to be a hypocrite.

Say you are sitting in your house, behind your locked door, on the inside of your brick wall, safely protected by your big gate, listening to Heidi Baker talk about desiring God, hungering in desperation and the poor of Mozambique and your bell rings.

You pause the message and peak out the window to be met with the deep brown eyes of 3 young boys and you don't open the gate. Rather, you sit in the living room and wrestle what you have been told and taught about the poor in South Africa.

Okay, by now you can understand that this is me (Darcie). It happened today and a battle raged between the words of Isaiah "Is this not the fast I have chosen . . . to share your food with the poor?" and the ongoing argument that handouts here are like tightening the chains of poverty.

So what do I do? If I ask myself the cliche question "What would Jesus do?" I get another battle in my head because my first response is that he would walk out of the house and give the kids even the last bit of bread he had sitting here. But I wonder if that is true. . . I wonder because I believe there is more to Jesus than I know, both as a man and as God. I have to believe that because the world I see needs deeper healing than a bandage and a pat on the back, and the God that would walk out and hand bread to a poor person is handing a band-aid to an accident victim. (Okay, not all the time, sometimes it is just bread that people need) Poverty and need aren't solved with a bit of food. The women that Elijah helped started a small business for goodness sake, she baked and sold and had enough to eat. There was a plan involved and that plan provided for the woman and her son for years to come, it didn't feed her once and create a pattern of reliance. . .however, I may have just sent my neighbor away saying, "be warm and well-fed," and done nothing to help them get there.

When I was a kid people used to drop groceries off on our front porch anonymously because we didn't have enough. To this day I hold a special place in my memory of those moments and desire to be a generous and giving person as well, but do I get to pick and choose? If I don't give to the boys standing outside my gate, but I give to my friend going on outreach does it really count? Does it really solidify the process of begging so rampant in this country if you give to every door to door begger that comes by? Or is this just the outcome of so many high walls and locked gates - hard hearts?

I am mid-thought on this one, comments welcome, even if you call me a hypocrite.

House stories part 2

Me (Marie) and Darcie's favourite spot in the house is the kitchen. A lot of great ideas are birthed here. Many articles are being typed, and delicious food is being made. Even the best TV show, Scrubs, is watched in here.

Here are some topics that are being discussed in the kitchen with friends from different parts of the world:

Now that I have started my internship at the radio station, I'm very up-to-date with the news. I decided to update my friends about the news from the G-20 meeting in London.

Marie: Thrillion!! They put a thrillion in to solve the world economy!
Anonymous: What the heck is a thrillion?
Marie: A lot of billions that will make a thrillion

Darcie: It's just as much as 50 000 camels

Lauren: Or all of the first born girls in China

Darcie browses through a magazine to see what to make for dinner...

Darcie: OOhh! I want to make these chocolate chip cookies!
Marie: Well just Crank up the music and Bake!
Lauren: Jamie Oliver thinks he is soo hot! (Looking through the same Magazine while she is eating a Darcie's home made chocolate chip cookie)...
Marie: No he is NOT hot!

Lauren: I said he THINKS he is..

We have also realized that we both suffer from short term memory loss and tiredness. Instead of solving it with eating more iron we enjoy these masterpieces Darcie threw together:

I give her 4 out of 5 muffins so she has room to improve...

Home Sweeeeeeet Home

As promised - the pictures of our AMAZING, WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC, HOME!