Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Will Johnston: Variety really is the spice of both life and literature

Bay of Plenty Times
3 Dec, 2014 11:09 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Isn't one of the definitions of madness doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result? Luckily I work in a job where no day's work is ever the same. Whether that means I'm not insane is another story, for another day. My point is that I have massive variety in my work life. Look at me rubbing your nose in it with my awesome job! I make no apologies for that either, you should be proud of your job, you should tell people how good it is... otherwise what's the point in having it, right?!

Last Thursday I got to run a Q & A, come book club, session with one of the best authors we have in NZ. Sarah Kate Lynch is a bit of a living legend. Now she's got a job with variety in it, she gets paid to travel to exotic/awesome places and write about them. One of her hats is being the Travel Editor for The Woman's Day. Jealous. Well, jealous of the job, not jealous of her working at a ladies magazine. I think that would kill me. By that I mean someone there would kill me cos I'd be constantly asking questions about silly things, like why do we need articles about a former weather presenters, friends, dogs best friend; a cockatoo that looks like Elvis Presley (note the exaggeration for dramatic effect)?! Though I'm not the target market, so I'm not supposed to get it.

Then there is her amazing fiction. She travels to these far off lands, puts herself in all of these weird and exploratory situations and comes up with fictional characters and a brilliant storyline. If you want proof, her latest release is called 'Heavenly Hirani's School of Laughing Yoga', it's based in India and it spent its first 2 weeks of publication at No. 1 on the NZ Bestseller List.

Well done to Creative Tauranga for bringing her to the Bay. She said she's planning on coming back much more and it's beautiful. Nice to see we impress even the most travelled of the travel writers. Though she's not telling us anything we didn't know already, right?!

My favourite story on the night was how she met Hugh Jackman in a cinema in Queenstown and was so nervous when she shook his hand all she could say was 'I've lost my hairclip'. Haha. Bugger.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

On Saturday I drove The Hits car in the Downtown Tauranga Christmas Parade. I waved at thousands of people and made a toddler cry, just by waving at her. Turns out I'm not great with kids then! See, something different every day and I even learnt something!

Will Johnston is host of The Hits 95FM Day Show. Live and local from 9am-3pm, every weekday in the Bay of Plenty.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Truck driver back at work and walking again after surviving fatal crash

07 Jul 06:00 PM
Bay of Plenty Times

'The man I once trusted violently raped me': Man jailed for attacking ex-wife next to sleeping child

07 Jul 08:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Do it now, run him over'. Teen who ran over mother's partner twice can finally be named

07 Jul 07:00 AM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Truck driver back at work and walking again after surviving fatal crash

Truck driver back at work and walking again after surviving fatal crash

07 Jul 06:00 PM

He had nine surgeries: 'There was nothing left - no bones or anything left in my foot.'

'The man I once trusted violently raped me': Man jailed for attacking ex-wife next to sleeping child

'The man I once trusted violently raped me': Man jailed for attacking ex-wife next to sleeping child

07 Jul 08:00 AM
'Do it now, run him over'. Teen who ran over mother's partner twice can finally be named

'Do it now, run him over'. Teen who ran over mother's partner twice can finally be named

07 Jul 07:00 AM
Hunter who feeds the hungry named Volunteer of the Year

Hunter who feeds the hungry named Volunteer of the Year

07 Jul 06:56 AM
Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP