Waltzing Australia by Cynthia A Clampitt

A tale of adventure and personal discovery, and a vivid portrayal of Australia, its history and legends, its wonders, its people, and its enduring beauty.

$19.99

Paperback

My work is sharing. My mother used to say that I should have “You’ve gotta try this” as my epitaph, because I have always shared, have always insisted, “You’ve gotta see this; You’ve gotta taste this, hear this, read this.” I love the world around me. Nature, culture, history, beauty, and good food delight my senses and make me want to present them to others, so they can participate. Writing is the medium by which I have been able to share, by which I have been able to tell the greatest number of people, “You’ve gotta try this.”

Reviewers often note that my book, Waltzing Australia, makes them feel as if they have traveled along with me, sharing what I’m seeing and experiencing, and that is what I hoped for. However, I try to take that sense of wonder beyond my trade books and infuse my other work with it. It is easy to be enthusiastic writing about culinary history, as it combines so many of my passions, and I write extensively in that field. However, like most writers, I need to do work besides the dream projects. For me, that means writing history and geography textbooks. I have traveled widely and studied deeply, and that makes it possible to bring a bit more excitement to a world noted for lackluster writing: educational publishing.

Of course, also like most writers, I dream of having my book do well—well enough to warrant the sequel I’ve begun, and to lead to the other books I have planned. If Waltzing Australia—the tale of the six-month, 20,000-mile journey around and across Australia that marked my departure from the corporate world to pursue a writing career—were to do well, find a wider readership, that would open doors to sharing more, because there is so much to share, so much worth sharing. However, the sharing in Waltzing Australia is not just of travel tales; it is a story of transformation, and it carries the message that dreams can come true if you pay the price. More than anything else, that is what I want to share: the dream. I want people to read my book and know that dreams have a price, but the price is worth paying. I have been delighted to hear from people who have said that reading my book has helped them change the course of their lives. So I guess one might say that, in addition to sharing, my work is trying to make a difference.