Unveiling ‘Shifting Sands’: A SeaQuills Anthology

/ Garrulous Gwendoline

There is so much going on in my life that my blog has been neglected. It is not that I don’t think of what I’d like to write. It is just I haven’t worked out how my brain can type the page without any intervention from me.

I’m not sure if I have previously mentioned this. A couple of years back a friend asked me if I would help get a writing group off the ground. We had two mutual friends who wanted to write their stories. ‘Sure,’ says I, notorious for over-committing myself. The upshot was that, although the original two backed out, we gathered a committed group. Some had been published; some had never written creatively. Being writers by the sea, in no time flat, we named ourselves SeaQuills. And, in no time flat, the work being created was of a publishable standard. ‘Let’s create an anthology,’ some bright spark suggested. ‘Sure,’ says I. And the outcome? 74 short stories and poems contributed by Joni Braham, Amelia Fielden, Jim Lackie, Magaret McKay, Penelope Murphy, Annabelle Quinn, Christine Sykes, and Gwen Wilson, all pictured here at the launch on 18th October 2025.

What if the ocean’s gentle ebb and flow concealed countless untold stories?

Welcome to Shifting Sands, a vibrant anthology by the SeaQuills Writing Group, whose members live, meet, and write amid the stunning coastal beauty of Wollongong, south of Sydney, Australia.

Prepare to be enchanted, amused, and quietly undone by this richly woven collection of voices. Here, a curious snake triggers an unexpected chain of chaos. An alien disrupts peace and protocol on a suburban bowling green. A lonely child reshapes a soldier’s life. What was it like to be an expat in newly independent Papua New Guinea, or a diplomat’s family in Asia?

Untethered to a single theme, Shifting Sands glides across genre: from laugh-out-loud comedy to quiet elegy, from witty fables to memoirs steeped in lived history, introspective reflections, glimpses of resilience and absurdity, with interspersed verse that moves from lyrical to sonnets, to delicate Japanese forms and prose.

Within these pages, 8 different voices speak with clarity and mischief, laying bare the raw, the wondrous, and the wonderfully unexpected.

Let the tide of Shifting Sands carry you where it will, with stories that linger like salt on the lips.

Shifting Sands paperback is available directly from me; and on Amazon worldwide in both Paperback and eBook. We have already sold one copy in USA. We look forward to sharing our stories far and wide.

Amazon USA

Amazon UK

Amazon Aus

Book cover for 'Shifting Sands' featuring the title and subtitle 'Stories and Poems' by the SeaQuills writing group, set against a background of gentle ocean waves at sunset.

29 thoughts on “Unveiling ‘Shifting Sands’: A SeaQuills Anthology”

  1. I smiled when I read about the beginning of your writers’ group. Many, many years ago a bunch of sixth graders came up to me in the playground and asked me if I would teach them how to play basketball – I had no idea how to play BB at that moment, but I said yes and hit the library. A couple of weeks later I called a training session for anyone who wanted to learn (we didn’t have a court and only one ball). A heap of kids turned up, but NOT ONE of the original group! Fifty years latter and my life in basketball is over, but oh so many stories. The way things start always amazes me. Well done. Aussies are resourceful respectful people.

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  4. Congratulations on the anthology, Gwendoline. I will definitely have a look for that on my kindle. The stories sound so interesting. My writing group is going to compose their second anthology this year, and having been through the process, I can imagine how time consuming it was for you. Well done. Would you recommend Amazon again for such endeavours?

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    • My colleague Margaret McKay is the Amazon expert and afficionado. She was going to teach me how to do it until I baulked at needing a bank account in USD, or a provider capable of Swift transactions. I’ve been with a credit union for years and wasn’t going to set up with a bank just for this.

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  5. I marvel at your energy and creativity, Gwen. Congratulations to you and the rest of your writing group. And happy writing. Like you, I often wish the writing I do in my head can miraculously jump on a page without me having anything to do with it.

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    • How wonderful, Eileen. thank you for your support. I will be sure to pass on your congratulations to the writing group tomorrow. As for winding down? No. Tomorrow I will workshop with them Chapter 1 of a historical novel, Florence & Lucy. And the preceding hist nov, Louisa, is due for publication Feb/March of next year. xx Gwen

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      • The link took me to the book’s page, kindle format seems to be the default From there it may have been a cookie issue to get it to allow me to select the paperback version, so it took a little finagling but the book has been ordered and is on the way.

        We all keep waking up on the right side of the ground, so I have little to complain about, though life over here gets more interesting by the day. 🙂

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        • Thanks so much for that test, Lavinia. I have passed your feedback on to Marg McKay, our official “publisher”.
          The daily warnings to Australians about travelling to the USA have slowed down since Bill and I departed last April. I think your domestic focus has moved on from turning tourists away from entering the country. The push-back on Australians back in March/April was probably part of the tariff wars, and I note today the tariff on Australian beef has been lifted. I thought at the time it would be only so many months before McDonalds would be forced to raise their prices and “regular” people would kick up. It was already well documented your domestic beef producers had needed to destock from earlier problems, so would not be in a position to fill the supply gap.
          Now the problem is much more inward-looking, starting with the extended government shutdown. I hope you did not suffer too badly in the fallout. :(-
          Virtual hugs.

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Every story is richer with good company. Come, add your voice!.