It’s been a long time since I blogged so I thought I’d give you a bit of an update. Firstly we got back from New Zealand and the writers’ retreat on 21 January and very quickly were back into the home and work thing. Because I had RSI, I couldn’t apply myself as seriously and as diligently as I normally would have at a writers’ retreat. However, I did get some serious thinking done on Emerald Fire, which will lay a very good foundation for writing the conclusion to the Jemima Hardcastle novel I commenced last year, Ruby Heart. (It’s a duology for the current story line). I did do a bit of drafting, but I couldn’t seriously say it was a decent first draft, except say the first two chapters. I do feel more comfortable though that I know how to deal with the baddie and how it all comes out in the end.
Since I been home I’ve been working on a hardcopy version of Dragon Wine, doing a very thorough read through and some fine-tuning edits. Given the amount of cutback and changes I have made I just wanted to give it one more go over before I sent it off. This process is taking me a little bit longer than I thought it would, because I still have a lot of fatigue and I fall asleep a lot.
In publishing news my story “Through these eyes I see” will be out soon in the Mystic Resonance by Specusphere. Below is a link to a very cool book trailer. It is a bit scary, but my name is on the front cover. I have not headlined before.
As I have RSI, I have not been on the computer very much at all. So today I did a little bit of catching up on e-mails. I have invested in dictation software, Dragon, NaturallySpeaking, which is working out quite well. It will take a little bit of work for me to learn to dictate (write as I think) for novel writing and short story writing. However I’m pretty determined because the RSI thing is going to be with me forever and I have to manage it. I really want it to work.
I also found out that I have another story coming out later this year in Damnation and Dames from Ticonderoga Publications. I’m very excited about this one because I love the setting and the characters. It is a 1920s noir story set in Chicago, called ‘Sangue De Notte’. It is a sister story to ‘Turning the Blood’, in Winds of Change by CSFG Publications. ‘Turning the Blood’ deals with Alf’s transformation. ‘Sangue De Notte’ happens a bit later in Alf’s life, where he meets the daring young Dela Luxman .
As for other submissions I’ve had no news as yet and I need to keep submitting stories if I’m going to get them published. Today I heard that an article I did on ‘Navigating the Slushpile’ was published by W. Q Magazine, which is put out by the Queensland Writers Centre.
I’ve dived into the slush pile again . A different manuscript in a different slush pile, but will have to wait and see . I haven’t heard anything yet .
Donna Maree Hanson, Author and PhD Candidate 
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