Join me on Day 1 in the Antarctic Peninsula where we get up close and personal with penguins, seals and humpback whales.

If (like me) you believe even half the Tik Tok videos on what it’s like to cross the Drake Passage these days, you’d be thinking you too may end up at the bottom of the ocean.

We’ll be onboard the Silver Wind for 12 nights and taking almost daily excursions in zodiac boats onto the ice. Will I be kayaking or doing the polar plunge? Probably not … I’m already way out of my comfort zone and have been having night terrors about being tipped out of the kayak (or even the inflatable zodiac) and mauled by a killer whale.

A few tips and tricks for dealing with a block when you’re working on a manuscript.

But now spring is in the air. Mornings are brighter. The temperature is rising. Excuses to stay in bed and indoors are getting harder to fabricate. Yet I feel sluggish and tired and generally lacking in spark. I need to get more work done for the podcast, more words on paper for the next novel, more sales on the rung for my stagnating bank account. I need to tone up and slim down, wake up each morning without a fuzzy head and a desire to roll over and continue sleeping. In short, I need to give myself a good kick in the behind, get moving and get organised.

My bookshelf doesn’t really tell the story of my life because I’ve given away so many books. If I’d kept them all, it would certainly plot the arc of my life ...

It's been a while since we've had a Books Spark Joy post but this week's guest is one worth waiting for! Historical fiction author Emily Madden's love of books started at a young age. Nothing has changed – she rarely leaves a bookstore without a book and I can testify to that - Emily and I were both at the pop-up bookstore in Millthorpe last week and she definitely had a stack of books in hand!