Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I agree! Well, every so often someone messages me and comments on a story I’ve written and posted online. As the writer of the story, I usually find their comments fascinating. That said, my birthday is just around the corner, so I thought it might be fun to celebrate with a few comments from YOU in this month’s blog. So, I’ve included 4 stories written by ME with comments by YOU. Should you read your COMMENT first or my story? (Click on link) YOU decide! Feel free to write new COMMENTS too if you get inspired by one of my stories 😊

ME – 1. Such A Lisp! What If Ned Kelly Was Gay?

YOU: This is really interesting to me because I studied Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang last semester for university and a number of critics pointed out that Carey’s Kelly is sexually ambiguous, allowing him to draw attention to the differing attitude towards homosexuality in settler times. One critic argued that the Australian settler/bushman life would have been conducive to male-male relationships, which is an interesting idea because you’re absolutely right: the inference that someone who we believe to be pivotal to our conception of ‘Australian national identity’ might be homosexual would cause an outrage. It did, in fact, in the 60s when someone brought it up and it caused a nationwide scandal and everyone on every level of Australian society weighed in on whether or not Ned Kelly was gay… Because that’s what’s really important?! It says a lot about how we construct both national identity and masculinity in Oz (if you consider that Ned Kelly is often touted as the epitome of what is an ‘Australian bushman’). Brilliant point about Thorpe too: people were SO OFFENDED when he finally came out after he finished competing, and for what? I’m hoping to write a post about this soon (specifically why, oh why, human beings can’t let go of this driving need to be unreasonably involved in other people’s lives and choices). Great post!

ME – 2. Who’s Ya Daddy?

YOU: I wish Daddy well on this journey. It is one I embarked upon over 25 years ago, only then as a single mother, not a single father! There are other single fathers around, but not many.

ME – 3. Hello Little Man

YOU: Hey there Big Guy, just read the story about our Dad. Was it his spirit who entered your Lounge room the night your mum’s long hair was made to blow all over the place? If my memory serves me well, he lost his life to somebody else’s hand, in a pub car park. As tomorrow is RUOK Day, it just seems the right time to ask my Best Man (Note- I was the best man at my friend’s wedding) Are you OK? We are very lucky to have a Noel Anderson in the world, better still in our lives. You are a giver, you give of yourself for the benefit of others, and those who know you love & respect you for this. Only just the other day I bumped into the old chap who was responsible for bringing our lives back together. After I dropped him home I started to smile as I was thinking of you. You have made a big (positive) difference to a lot of people’s lives, mine being just one of them.

ME – 4. Set Fire to My Birthday

YOU: Gave Up counting age when I turned 18. As long as I knew I was now legally allowed to drink or work in pubs and clubs that’s all that mattered! ( I’d been a go-go dancer then DJ then singer in a band finally ending up serving behind bars. Age is JUST A NUMBER in your head. Your mind and body as we age alas have their own age number, but if you live on ATTITUDE in life you realise age truly is just a number. Don’t count how many more albums you may turn out. Just bloody well do them. Write more plays. Write more, anything. But never ponder how much more life you have left. Just go ahead and live it. I am writing a novel and to bring it to life online I have to learn programming code. I am in remission but I stopped counting how long I may have left to live; I count how much more I can do creatively. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

About the author – Noel Anderson is putting the finishing touches on his feature film script Sammy & Dave and recently adapted Henry James’s ‘The Turn of the Screw’ into a play called ‘Ghost Story‘. Read an extract of Ghost Story on Amazon. More info: Australian Plays Org