Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Amber Rose moving closer to publication

February 22, 2025 by donnamareehanson

These last days have been fun, not!

I had a blood test on Wednesday last week and felt great. The next day I’m sneezing, my nose is running and my eyes are watering. Friday I’m in full lurgy mode but negative RATS for COVID, RSV and Influenza A and B. I just had to weather it as I didn’t feel sick otherwise. Just a cold. Then the cough started and I felt a bit ick. Something had changed. Meanwhile I worked the day job and I’m working on Amber Rose. I had done the complete draft but I needed to tidy up to send to the editor.

Editing and coughing are not a good mix.

Anyhow, I was prescribed anitbiotics and I think I am on the mend. Still have a bit of nose and cough but I’m hoping they will fly away by tomorrow and maybe I could get a good sleep. I had to cancel few things due to the cold, like a sleep study I’ve been waiting years for. Oh well.

The good news is that I sent Amber Rose off to the editor yesterday. Happy dance!

This novel caused me some angst if you must now. I should have written it last year. Actually if I’m honest years ago. However, for various reasons I didn’t. Then something went twang in my brain and I was uncertain how to bring it to an end and I felt lost in the narrative. My friend, Maxine, did a quick read of what I had at the time, around 47,000 words and gave me some feedback. It really, really helped and I think I brought it home.

I don’t have any immediate plans for more Jemima Hardcastle books. Well not set in Victorian England in any case. I have quite a bit of half finished manuscripts that I need to work on this year and a couple of other projects boiling away.

I’m taking a break to catch up on things: blog, newsletter,preorder form, BAS and other admin. I may put Amber Rose up for preorder! That’s exciting.

Appearances

On Saturday 22 March I’ll be at the ARRA signings and will be on a panel as well as selling books, Royal on the Park, 152 Alice Street, Brisbane

Sunday 23 March I’ll be in Sydney at the ARRA booksigning, Rydges City Central, 28 Albion Street, Surry Hills

Saturday 29 March, I’ll be in Melbourne at the ARRA booksignings Jasper Hotel, 489 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne.

The ARRA events are ticketed. Here is the link to the their page.

Later on in April, I will be at Ages of Pages in Hamilton NZ, 26 April, 9.30am to 4 pm, Claudelands Event Centre. Free entry. Check the website

Posted in A writer's life, ARRA, author appearances, Author signing event | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Hectic January

January 16, 2025 by donnamareehanson

I thought December was hectic. Last minute travel, visitors, Christmas and the lead up to New Year. Alas, January has been hectic and it’s not done yet.

At the moment we are on a bit of a break up near Palm Beach. There was a series of storms last night and now the forecast is for rain until we leave on Sunday. The forecast at home was for 3 days of rain, but that’s changed to sunny days which puts our garden in the soon to be dead zone. Sigh.

I also didn’t bring anything warm because it was so hot so I’m borrowing a shawl. It truly is relaxing here. No traffic, just the lap of waves and the sound of wildlife. I am meant to be writing but did a bit of admin first. I swear I’m losing my mind but luckily I found it again.

I have done a bit more work on Amber Rose and I was very worried I was stuck. However, my good friend Maxine said not to think about it and it would come to me and it has in bits and snippets. I think the important stuff is the emotional side of the action and I think that’s hit me now. I have a few days here to get stuck in. I hope to clear 50,000 words this week.

We are back in Sydney next week for a Wardruna concert, travelling by train. We were here last weekend and I think the one before. My daughter has moved and it looks to me I’ll be here more often than previously. My sister is back from NZ so she will be my next destination in the Sydney area.

With this change I’m getting a bit spun about. How to do I make goals for the new year? What should I focus on? I feel like I’m just running and running and going here and there. I’m sure it will settle once I get used to the changes in my life.

Travel wise, I’ll be at the ARRA signings in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in March 2025 and the Ages of Pages in Hamilton New Zealand on 26 April 2025. Do come along! There are going to be panel discussions and interesting things.

Wait for it! My banner

You can see why I really need to finish Amber Rose and get it ready! It’s on the advert!

At least my dizzy feeling of being spun about is shared by my partner, also a writer, and he at least has deadlines to meet and is diligent about writing. I must give up streaming stuff, or only watch after I have done my quota.

Well I best stop writing now and get to work. Until next time.

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, author appearances, Author signing event, Trying to focus | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Finally I can sit at my desk

December 26, 2024 by donnamareehanson

With family visitors, the office needed to be gutted and my desk moved. I have only just now uncovered it. We had two drawers to assemble for our new bed and we had to deal with them before I could sit down and type. How wonderful it is!

We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve with way too much food and loads of presents. I was so full I feared I would burst. I received Tansy Rayner Roberts’ latest kickstarter because it was so shiny and I asked the Dweeb to get it for me. But he also was my kringle choice so he also got stuff on my wish list. A photo printer, papers, and a voucher to frame a print. Other goodies some lovely tawny port, some really beautiful embroidery items from Ms Li brought from China. A lovely fan and a lovely scarf, some redwood earrings from California, chocolate and more.

A picture of Kickstarter from Tansy Rayner Roberts.

Yesterday, is my day off. People eat leftovers generally and we did and I watched rom coms the whole day. T’was the Text before Christmas, and the commentary was: “would someone really chat to a stranger? ” and you had to suspend belief for this one, but I liked it, I wanted to watch While You Were Sleeping (an oldie). Prime wanted $19.00 for it and I figured I’d just go buy it but then I found it on Disney for free. The Holiday was another one I hadn’t seen before but really liked. I also watched Love Actually before bed.

Christmas presents and not all there yet.

This morning I was out of the house at 6.30am to walk around Lake Burley Griffrin with my younger daughter. A good five kilometres! I needed it and a bit more. Today like I said uncovering the desk and finding my computer after some furniture assembly.

Food

My writing plans before Christmas went out the window. I had to go to NZ in a hurry for my brother-in-law and sadly he passed away after suffering a lot. I had to leave my sister behind but she’s surrounded by her son, her daughter-in-law and grandkids and I’ll go see her soon when she returns to Aussie.

I ended up maxing my credit card and spending all my money. Something I have not done for a while. Luckily I get paid again next week and things are better now and the need for spending has ended. I did save for Christmas but a few unexpected things came up. We also go the dishwasher repaired twice so that was not a nice Christmas expense. We found the problem was these soap sheets we were using made too much suds. We weren’t using them right in any case but the technician said don’t use them and use a level teaspoon of powder. My iphone battery died too and needed replacing. NZ trip and hire car.

We are also dog sitting because my elder daughter and my youngest grandchild have relocated to Sydney and we are watching the dog for a bit until she gets him after New Year. The cat is not impressed as he’s confined to one part of the house and he usually owns the whole place. I had to encouraging to leave our bed last night because I couldn’t get my pretzel shape comfortable and it was too hot to have car fur against my leg.

That’s about it. I haven’t thought of a plan for the year yet. I do need to get more of Amber Rose drafted ASAP. I appear to be more worried about the Dweeb’s deadlines than my own. He got a nice lecture from me this morning. Lol.

The immediate family and visitors are all well and happy and that’s a lovely thing.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas if you celebrate and my best wishes for the New year.

A lovely tranquil view from me walk this morning around the lake.

Posted in A writer's life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

A preview of my end of year round up

December 2, 2024 by donnamareehanson

This post is based on an email I sent to the CSFG group. It has been amended.

We came back from the UK end of February 2024 and I hit the ground running. In March I attended two signing events one in Sydney and one in Melbourne, organised by the Australian Romance Readers. I’ll be appearing again in 2025 in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne next year.

I joined the CSFG novel crit group and got to work on revising The Founders’ Legacy for submission. The crit group requires members to read a novel a month for critique so it was a pretty hectic year on the reading front. The only time I read just for pleasure was when my book was up for crit.

Sihem (Now a The Founders’ Legacy) was my phd novel. I kept thinking that was going to take months to revise, but I knew it was a couple of weeks focussed work and I was right. As I had put this novel on submission I haven’t revised it yet. Not only do I have the crit to apply as I choose, I have some thoughts in my head.

I also revised Grandma Needs: Through the Pantry Door, my children’s fantasy. I drafted this last year. I have continued to put this out on submission. However, it’s a competitive market out there so we will have to see.

I submitted two short stories during the year and they were rejected too. However, I got the idea to do a collection of Robot stories, which led to Robot Hearts, science fiction collection. This included six previously unpublished stories. A few were older, and I wrote three new ones from scratch. That collection was published in September. I had a lot of fun with this.

I also wrote Destiny’s Blood, Book Three in the Cursed Ones series under my Dani Kristoff name. That was published earlier this month.

I’m about 37,000 words in book three of the Cry Havoc series, my steampunk series, featuring Manners, magic and mayhem. I had hoped to have had that published this year but it looks like next year. However, I am still drafting this so who knows, I may get the first draft done by the end of the year who knows?


I also started another book /novella called Louisa’s Choice, but that’s about 10,000 words in and has been for a while. It is kinda a reverse harem/why choose book possibly series.

I still have a revision on a Regency romance to do as I have two lots of beta reader feedback and a number of other things on the go, like a YA/Cross over fantasy that is drafted but needs restructuring and the next book written.

I don’t think I’m anywhere near as productive as I wished to be, but I’ve made a start. There are days when I can’t even sit at my desk. No idea why. I reduced my day job to two days and still I am not as productive and as enthusiastic as I want to be.

I also did a few events. Gamacon in Canberra and Fiction and Friction in Adelaide. I’m set for a few more in 2025. I’ve also attended a few writing related things like romance reader lunches, romance writer get togethers and an occasional CSFG thing. I went to Romance Writers of Australia conference in Adelaide and the World SF convention in Glasgow.

I spent of time on the back office stuff too, website/blog etc. I set up a pay hip store for my books. Many thanks to Keri Arthur for help there.

I read through Ruby Heart and Emerald Fire to correct typos and created hard backs and large print hard backs. I also published a hardback version of Vorn and the First Comers, which is a prequel novella to another series. I have more to do on this front. I also bought a microphone and have been practising reading for audio book purposes. I’m not entirely there yet. Although I didn’t meet my own expectations, I think I can safely say I’ve had a writerly year. I watch way too much streamed shows and don’t read enough either.
‘
Life is hotting up for the end of year. I am expecting family to visit from Singapore. My two eldest granddaughters are turning 18 in January and both graduated from high school this year. My eldest daughter is moving to Sydney with my youngest granddaughter. My other daughter announced she eloped in August. My grandson is back from overseas and doing well.

Life is constantly changing around us.

On a more personal front I have had a bit of a crisis. I have a craft room and I haven’t been in the craft room for a long time. It’s chaos in there and I’m at the stage where I feel the need to cull, that maybe I have to get rid of some things so I can focus on a few things. I have legacy silk flower makings, millinery projects and supplies, a floor loom, dressmaking stuff, yarn, quilting supplies, embroidery kits and the rest. I’m a regular craft junkie. I feel that way about the house too, but mostly the garage and all the crap that is in there. I’ve been warning Matthew that he might have to supervise as I will throw his stuff out. Rolls eyes. Maybe this is a good thing and not a sign of some impending life crisis. I’ve put on weight. My eldest said I have ballooned. It’s a battle to keep fit, exercise, do all the craft, writing and stuff and work. I feel that I’m going to go mental just trying to do everything. So maybe 2025 is about new beginnings, giving myself a break and throwing crap out. I want order, not chaos. However, order requires consistency and work and that’s the hard part.

Speaking of hobbies. Yesterday I did a cooking course. We made ricotta gnocchi and biscotti. I made cranberry and almond biscotti. I really can’t help myself can I?

And if you want to join my newsletter, where I share promotions and giveaways. Try here.

Posted in am wrinting, Australian author, author appearances, Culling craft, revision | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

When plans go awry

November 29, 2024 by donnamareehanson

My big confession. I was meant to finish drafting Amber Rose by tomorrow. It is not going to happen. I have had other things crop up and the last two days I was so tired I could barely think. However, today Amber Rose is at 35,000 words, not 80,000 words. The words are coming.

A lot of things going on at the moment. A sick relative and the possibility of heading to NZ again before Christmas. Visitors for Christmas. Christmas! It’s so close. Work and social events increasing. However, I will try to keep writing until I can’t and then hope I can knuckle down in January.

I can’t believe we are near the end of the year.

I can’t believe I’ve done a lot of Christmas shopping already.

What else have I been doing?

Reading A Restless Truth by Freya Marske. I am really liking Maud and Violet and the setting on a ship. Think Titanic as a model and magic of course and lesbian sex.

I’m also listening to Kate Elliott’s King’s Dragon. I have a few of Kate’s books but I must confess I haven’t read them. This audio book displays her excellent prose, like brushes of a delicate paint, an intricate plot, reminiscent of history and elves and creatures. I’m just enjoying it so much.

I also put my nose into Julius Ceasar’s War in Gaul, which is very interesting too. A translation of course.

Viewing wise I have been whiling away many evenings watch Lark Rise to Candleford and loving every minute of it. Tonight I’m taking a break from that show to watch something with Matthew. Matthew has been very diligent writing to his deadline which is coming up fast. There will be some more Matthew Farrer fiction available next year I hope.

Posted in A writer's life | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Calm down a little

November 6, 2024 by donnamareehanson

I’ve just checked and my last post was October 17. Where did the time go? I’ve been to Adelaide, tick. Then, we had family visiting from the UK so lots of stuff to do, food to eat (oh dear my gut bulge) and things to do.

Highlights for me were Matthew’s sister took us to the Taronga Park Wildlife Retreat. It is an amazing hotel, purpose built, tastefully fitted out and you wake up to koalas outside your window and you can do an evening tour after the zoo closes. And the view across the harbour was amazing. Our UK guest was very impressed. I thoroughly recommend if you are visiting Sydney and want a nice hotel, probably pricey but great as a special treat. Then some of us took the ferry over to Circular Quay and walked around the Sydney Opera House, had lunch on a street side cafe and then walked to the Rocks until we headed back to our new hotel, the Sofitel Wentworth, newly reopened after a grand refurbishment. I was too tired to go out but the gang went to Chinatown and had dinner. Then it was a visit to Coaster’s Retreat before heading back to Canberra with our guests. There were visits to the zoo and aquarium, National Museum and other things. Too soon our guests were off again to return to Sydney then home.

Life feels a bit like a roller coaster. Writing tasks long neglected, tiredness and so on. At the moment, I’m doing the final read through of Destiny’s Blood (much delayed due to the above) and then life might decouple a bit from writing. I’ll be drafting Amber Rose again, but also assembling deck furniture and doing house related things in the lead up to Christmas. I honestly don’t know how I fit it all in, but I always feel like I’m not doing enough.

I am really looking forward to going nowhere in particular, except Matthew is taking me to Sydney for a concert on Sunday but we will be back Monday so not quite the big expedition.

Two manuscripts on submission reach their useby day on the weekend so I’ll be looking to review them and send them out again. Sigh.

Posted in A writer's life | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Fiction and Friction Event Adelaide

October 17, 2024 by donnamareehanson

After a quick stay at home for one night on our return from Rarotonga and Auckland, we headed off to Adelaide by road. We were going to take the EV but given we only had two days to get there and the time added to charge and the amount of boxes, I rented a bigger car. I was hoping for a hybrid but lucked out. However, we did end up with a Subaru Outback Stationwagon which was fairly new. It was great except it was a bit gutless when overtaking on single lane highways where you have to get passed before another car comes your way.

I love the landscape as we travelled-The mallee scrub, the flat Hay plains, the silo art, the sunsets. We overnighted at Mildura on the way down. That town is huge, so flat and so spread out. There were cafes to choose from but not being local we chose by name and went to Nash Lane. That was a real happening place.

Emu in the wheat. There were lots of emus.

The Fiction and Friction event was something. It was my first dedicated independent book convention. We stopped in Murray Bridge on the way down and checked out the Fiction and Friction bookstore before heading into Adelaide. Nice!

We saw this on the way down, near Loxton I think.
Fiction and Friction shop front.
Flat plains near Hay I think

There were over 80 authors I believe and over 400 attendees, some of whom were VIPs so had early access and an afterdark function. I have never seen so many dedicated readers with trolleys. At other romance events I’ve been two there are maybe four people with trolleys. There were loads. Some people even did trips back to their cars and came in for more. I met a lot of readers, mostly due to the souvenir booklet where attendees were encouraged to get autographs. I sold books too. Not a sell out by any means, but I’m always grateful when readers buy books when they don’t know my work. I learned heaps too from the event about the scene that I didn’t know. I’ve not been to a RARE or BABE event. I’ve been wait listed for years…But I’m not well known enough and maybe not writing the right thing…However, it was a great opportunity to get my name out there and maybe acquire new readers.

Hay silo art
The river in Hay (Murrumbidgee)

What was popular is dark romance, and I’m guessing that include taboo, also explicit stories as well as Male Male romances (which have a big female readership). One reader told me she liked them because in her opinion male/female gets annoying because the female lead is meant to be strong but comes across as an idiot. A point to take note of.

The other things that are popular are special editions. Some people do all their reading with ebooks but then like to get the first book or the series as a special edition. Who knew? Well now I know right. And merchandise either as a freebie when you preorder or to buy if not. I had a preorder form up but didn’t have many preorders. An author friend said that her preorders covered the cost of her table before she sold anything there. I saw some authors with half a normal sized room with preorders laid out. The author guy next to me wrote mafia books and he had an all black special edition. People were just drawn to it. Black cover, black pages with white text and he had included some explicit images. I think special editions as objects in themselves are fascinating.

The venue was nicely decorated with a starry drape. It looked impressive but made where I was a bit dark. People couldn’t read my blurbs.

The vibe was absolutely amazing, positive, uplifting, exciting and joyful. Meeting up with other authors (known and not previously know) was such a buzz and sharing tips and bubbly was a nice ending. The after dark event was okay but many authors packed up which upset some of the VIPs who had paid to be able to chat with authors. I was a bit confused myself about what we were meant to do. There were panels and so on but mixing cold was a bit hard. I think if you do a mingle you should do speed dating or number draws to meet people and break the ice. Going up to a group of people already talking is a bit hard. However, I did get sales during the evening.

The starry ceiling as people were setting up
I forgot to switch my watch to local time so turned up half hour early for a mingle. I was directed by staff to enjoy the river.
My table set up. The theme was gardens so I went for it.
Keri Arthur was my neighbour on one side. Love the branding on the banner.

Overall a very worthwhile experience. My big takeaway is that I need to do more with my pen name Dani Kristoff and also do some branding like Keri’s as I think it was confusing to only have my Donna Maree Hanson banner but I sold mostly Dani Kristoff books there.

It was also very valuable to get an insight in this indy convention thing. There are a lot of dedicated readers out there not reading traditionally published books.

Posted in A writer's life, author appearances, Author signing event, Romance, Romance fiction, Romance reader convention | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Hitting the road again

September 24, 2024 by donnamareehanson

I am off again tomorrow for a few weeks, mostly to Rarotonga. Do not feel bad for me. While there will be tropical distractions and family, I will try to write or at least read.

I didn’t post about Worldcon in Glasgow and I didn’t post about RWAus in Adelaide. Naughty me. Things are just well busy.

Destiny’s Blood is with the editor and sadly will not be ready in time for Fiction and Friction in Adelaide on 12 October. Not unless by some miracle. But it will be available later in October.

I have not been diligent with drafting Amber Rose. I have tinkered and I have thought about things. The downside to seat of the pants writing. I need to think about what comes next. Also, I think I burnt out trying to get Destiny’s Blood ready for the editor. I wish I thought up plot as fast as I do excuses. However, Amber Rose is extremely fun. I just love being with Jemima Hardcastle and Ambrose Fulton.

It is funny how people ask me sometimes, which book is your favourite. All of them are my favourite and for different reasons. The Silverlands (Argenterra, Oathbound and Ungiven Land) is about the world, the magic and the deep joy in there. These days it would be called Romantasy. Of course there’s Sophy and Oakheart. Such a great set of characters. I love the sisterhood of Aria and Sophy and also the pure steadiness and focus of Rae. The trilogy is about romance and magic and finding yourself. Everytime I pick it up, I get sucked into the story. It was my first fantasy novel, which I penned back in 2002 I think. It was hard because it is so difficult to do something different with fantasy and I was so happy to think up a world where everyone can use magic except my heroine and how frustrating that would be.

My online store is functioning so feel free to check it out. I haven’t got all my print books there but all the ebooks are.

I will miss Conflux in Canberra this year. I’m sad to miss it. I love conventions.

See you again soon.

Posted in A writer's life | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Vale Kaaren Sutcliffe

September 6, 2024 by donnamareehanson

Kaaren at RWA conference in Sydney 2023

Kaaren’s website here.

When I first met Kaaren in the early 2000s she was vibrant, focussed and enthusiastic. And she never ceased being so, even when she knew her days were numbered. She was determined to live every day to the full, feeling as well as she could for as long as she could.

After meeting Kaaren at an editing workshop where she as a presenter, we got talking about auditing and said come and work at the Australian National Audit Ofice. I did apply and got in and we worked together on audit projects. Partners! She approached her work in a focussed and organised way and she had a really ordered way of looking at things. She made audits fun, even though she was very competitive. You’ll never be as old as me, she said once. I replied, “Not much I can do about that.” She was also a writer and a horsewoman at that time, as well as a runner and cyclist. She was as focussed about those things as she was everything else. Her earlier books featured flying horses. She was quirky I suppose, she would tell me about the conversations she had with her characters. Her Kered’s Cry series was about recovery from trauma and it was researched and planned.

We were working together when she got her first breast cancer diagnosis. I cried. She told me to stop it. That was Kaaren. Tackling breast cancer was a huge challenge, one which Kaaren attacked like everything else. The only casualty was writing. Her publisher turned out to be dodgy and the stress became too much. I published the last book in her trilogy when I had my publishing imprint. I remember talking to her after her mastectomy and she had been outside in the cul de sac (she lived rural) trying to get her fitness back up. She went into remission and made the five year and the ten year mark. She worked as a contract editor at the Australian National Audit Office and worked back at Immigration, her other home. She moved to the coast and then moved again, once she found a tumour on her spine. She wanted to lessen the chores so her husband didn’t have to worry. Always planning ahead, always organising. She gave her her horses, her mini ponies but kept her cats. There are many more adventures of Kaaren, coming off horses and so on…

From memory, she’d started writing again when there was a lump on her neck. Dragon Boating and kayaking had become her new athletic thing as well. Up in Canberra, she had a very gruelling 7 hour operation to remove the tumour on her vertebrae just below her neck. I remember her telling me that it could affect her eyesight as she had to be on her face the whole time. They put a little cage in there to replace the vertebrae. I visited her in hospital afterwards and the worst thing was a sore neck. She’d hurt her neck a few years before getting thrown off her horse and nearly lost the use of her arms. At this time I didn’t know it was a recurence of the breast cancer. Maybe Kaaren suspected. When they sequenced it, they found it matched her breast cancer. She was officially terminal. She refused chemo at first but had some radiation. The doctor talked her into a drug that slowed bone metabilising. She was fit and well for maybe a year, nothing to see on the scans. She wrote the first book in her trilogy, Undercover Mage, featuring Everand from her first series. She started on the second. I remember her telling me. The doctors want me to to X and I can’t because I need to be well enough to launch this book and write the next one. She donated money from the sale of the books to breast cancer charity. She finished the trilogy, did in person launches for all the books and wrote a romance novel, which she finished just a couple of weeks before she died. When others would curl up and die, Kaaren refused to.

In the photo above she was at the RWA conference in Sydney in 2023. She had started entering competitions for anthologies and placing. It really lit up her world to get the validation and the encouragement. This year she placed second in the spicy bites.

Her funeral was beautiful and everything so many people said was true. She was many things and it is really hard to think of her gone. I’m crying now, because i’m writing about it. But after the funeral I had to think of her somewhere else, not gone as that was the only way I can cope. She had a positive influence on me always. She had me riding horses and writing and laughing. One of the things I learned about Kaaren’s life from her brother was that she had a really good childhood. I think that’s why she could walk around with a little dragon on her shoulder and wear it with pride. She had a solid beginning.

Kaaren leaves behind her husband, two daughters, son-in-law and a grandson. I remember one of her goals was to live to him born and she made it to his first birthday. She touched many lives and so many people. I can never be as brave as she was, as forward thinking and as caring of others, particularly her family. If she knew I was crying now, she’d say. Stop! Stop that.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Smacking that ball out of the park

September 4, 2024 by donnamareehanson

Robot Hearts is locked and loaded. It is uploaded on most eretailers or heading that way.

I’ve uploaded the print version and am waiting for proofs.

Technically, it took me longer than I hoped. That’s because I’ve been sitting on the collection for a week or so because I was neck deep in revisions for Destiny’s Blood, Dani’s new book. That’s at the editor, but I’m pretty shattered by all the effort. While deep in revisions and on a deadline I could not disengage to do the admin stuff required to upload, even with everything ready. I did my day job but that’s about it.

I am yet to get back to the drafting of Amber Rose. Once I hit my stride with Destiny’s Blood, the blinkers went on and I couldn’t do too much else. However, I’m looking forward to getting back into that one. Loads of fun with Jemima Hardcastle.

Admin

I’ve been working on the shop but it’s not there yet. However, I did get the link between Bookfunnel and Papyhip working.

Binge watching round up.

I have watched all 8 Seasons of Castle. I think they stuffed the last season because when they weren’t doing the serious story arc about Lokstat, they made Castle to be like having paranoid delusions. That’s a shame because I thought over the series they established that he was clever and his story ideas for crimes had value. I’m continuing the Nathan Fillion journey with The Rookie. Matthew bought season 1 on DVD and we started it last night. A very good outing for the first episode and really good balance of character, challenges and crime solving.

I watched a couple of episodes of Grace, crime drama set in Brighton UK on Britbox. One of these episodes featured illegal human organ trafficking and undocumented migrants. I found this one very hard to watch. I also got mixed up and watched a Season Four episode before finishing Season One, so that’s like reading the ending in a book before reading the beginning. Shock! Horror!

Reading

Currently just The Fourth Wing and my novel crit book. I started a new ebook but I’m burnt out from the deadline I mentioned above.

Craft

I am almost finished the lap rug for Matthew. Just have some fringe to do and it’s done. I don’t want to count the years I’ve been working on this. It must be before I started my dayjob. in 2021.

Health

I’m currently wearing a 24 hour blood pressure monitor. I had a bit of a stress blow out the day of my friend’s Kaaren Sutcliffe’s funeral. Blood pressure spiked and I’ve been trying to get the monitor for two weeks. There’s a funny story in that but never mind.

Appearances

I will be at Fiction and Friction Indie Book Convention on 12 October at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Tickets are available here. I have a pre order form up, but I’ll be closing that soon. Probably 15 September. The link to the pre order form is here.

I had other posts to write but alas it’s 3.30pm and I’m ready for a nap. This could be because I’m trying to write a blurb and that’s so hard. My brain is fried.

I also need to update my books page.

Posted in A writer's life, Australian Science Fiction Foundation, Author signing event | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »