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On Saturday I attended Once Upon a Fairytale event in Campbelltown for the first time ever. It was a huge event–so many authors. I decided to go full fairytale with a fairy grandmother dress and I added a frame to my table with greenery and fairies. I even did the elf ears! Unfortunately I had to do without the wings as they had not made it in time.
Here are some photos.
We drove home Saturday and I totally vegged on Sunday. Some of that was enforced because I developed a migraine in the morning.
I’ll be at the Steampunk festival in Goulburn next week and my last book event will be on the 24th of October at Books in Sight in Canberra. I must admit I am looking forward to not going anywhere for a bit. Don’t get me wrong I love meeting readers, potential readers and just talking to people interested in books. However, it can be tiring and expensive. In 2027, I intend to stay closer to home. Having said that, I am booked at Orchards and Authors February 13 in Batlow NSW. It is being held in an apple orchard where they make cider. Yum! It will be my first time in Batlow and it is being organised by the Cozy Chapter Bookstore. Tickets are dirt cheap $40.00 and that covers a food item and a drink. I participated in an interview with Jamie see the Youtube link below.
Today I received some post. My first ever banner for my pen name, Dani Kristoff. I think it’s hard for people to find Dani because I only have a banner for me, Donna Maree. Now I will have two. Here is a pic.
In other news, the paperback of Vorn and First Comers is getting closer. I just reviewed the proof and the book is so cute. It’s so wee! However, I needed to amend the cover slightly so it’s back into processing. This is the first time I have made my own bookcover on Canva (or anywhere). I did the banner too. I probably should have put a photo of me being all witchy. I might do that next time. That ought to freak people out.
Last bit of new, Ruby Heart is 99 cents for a little while. Here is a global link
Ruby Heart is the first book in my Cry Havoc series. I am currently working on Amethyst Way book five! I also need to get back to doing the audio book for The Founders’ Legacy. Last attempt had to be scraped because I didn’t set the microphone up properly and wasted all that lovely reading.
I have been galavanting around and it is so nice to just be at home. It was a long weekend. Conflux had been cancelled so no SF convention to attend but we filled up the time nicely. Now it is my retirement Tuesday and I am determined to rebuild my routine. I’ve been for a walk. Albeit an hour and half later than I had planned. I blame that on the start of daylight savings. The first week always plays havoc.
On Saturday morning, I did a recording of a sample of The Founders’ Legacy with the Narratives Library, met with the romance writers at Tilley’s and then went to the Shadows Awards on Saturday night. The driving was hazaradous due to deluge of rain. I was in fear of my life.
We hosted a writing day on Sunday, which was lovely. I eked out 1000 words, rewriting a chapter start in my current WIP. Amethyst Way! It was good to reconnect with the story as I’ve been busy and I haven’t been near it. During the preceding week, after the Books and Beyond event in Ourimbah, I went as far as South West Rocks with my sister to visit my aunty and stayed a couple of nights. I spent two nights in Springwood before driving home on Friday. This morning, I’m proud to say I have tinkered with my manuscript somewhat adding nearly another 1000 words and I’m not done yet. I can’t say I’m flying on with it as I’m still reconnecting to it but I should get there. I also found my missing books that I was reading in Singapore just now.
Monday we had visitors and went visiting.
We are still in the process of reclaiming the house. I managed to move a few boxes elsewhere instead of on the couch this morning and I’m doing the laundry while trying to write and think. Such a glamorous life us authors lead.
Speaking of authors’ lives, well it is getting harder. I was looking at some statistics recently. When Rayessa and the Space Pirates was published by Escape Publishing in 2013 there were around 1.5 million ISBN registrations. This under estimates the amount of books published because you do not need an ISBN to publish on Kindle for example. This year I believe the figure is over 2.5 million ISBN registrations. The amount of books a reader has to choose from has nearly doubled. There is so much competition. And adding in AI to the mix, well a lot of AI slop to wade through.
I find it so hard sometimes to keep going and I know a few fellow authors that are rethinking what they want to do and whether it is worth continuing. Returns a low. I use what I earn to reinvest in book production. I’m no longer working so there will come a time where I have no money to invest anymore. World economics impact book sales. Global uncertainty upsets the apple cart too. And just a general sense of dread means people find it hard to engage with things, streaming, movies, books, games etc. The reverse is also true that these challenges make seeking escape through fiction and streaming more likely. I really can’t do high stress fiction or streaming as it makes me anxious.
What is interesting is some of the changes that have been happening. Recently Amazon announced that KDP account holders were limited to upload two books at day. I am supposing this is in response to people uploading their 5000 AI written books to Amazon. Even uploading two books is a bit hard to imagine unless they were preorders for books yet unwritten.
Earlier this year, Draft2Digital, an ebook aggregator that manages books across a lot of different platforms started charging for their servces because of bad actors trying to upload a multitude of books. More likely, AI sloop again. I have heard many short fiction SF genre magazines complain they are inundated with AI written stories seriously impacting their ability to operate submissions.
I get that some authors think using AI helps them write a story. I don’t agree with it, but I can see into their thinking.
But these other people, who are using story prompts or copies or whatever it is they are doing to create a lot of books at once and uploading them, are just trying to scam the system, make money off trash and have no interest in entertaining readers.
The way social media is working these days, people get paid for engagement. (Waves hand, I don’t!). It’s not real but it’s there. I had a recent experience on You Tube while I was in Singapore. I wanted to watch the anniversary parade and I found some footage. It was before the parade started, which I didn’t know and there were a few hundred people watching. I was watching this footage, amazed at these elaborate floats and lots of military personnel marching etc. I texted my son, saying there was some amazing floats. The footage stopped often for ads. When he wrote back to say it hadn’t started, I reaslied slowly that I was watching AI, a creation that had no bearing on reality.
I was wondering why and then realised it was for the ad revenue. I also googled up this and saw that anything with Festival in its name was bogus. I watched the actual page from the Singapore network’s page and that fake footage really had been bogus. The real parade was nothing so fantastic as the floats on the fake channel. I was left feeling rather dirty as if I had been robbed. I had generated ad revenue for some jerks. Really, really annoying and disgusting.
It is really horrible that these days people use AI just to make money for doing nothing. Any footage I see on social media has to be immediately questioned. Also, you would have seen that people put together AI images of the Nepal floods just to make money off that awful, awful tragedy.
For me telling a story is a Human to Human thing. When I read and fall in love with a series I make a connection to the writers’ ideas, to them as a person. I might even go see them at a convention or a signing and tell them how much I love their work, their world building, their characters.
AI is not Human to Human. It is stolen knowledge and talent fed to unsuspecting humans as real, which it is not. It is real as it is concrete. But it is not real Human creation.
Bottom line is, feel sorry for us poor writers. We are here waving our books saying read me, in a dense jungle of other writers who are doing the same and now we are in quicksand, drowning in fake stories written by AI.
If you do like an author’s work. Reach out and tell them. Leave a rating or a review. Comment on their social media, their blogs, anything because I am telling you it is very hard right now and very isolating. I want to keep writing. I have so many ideas but writing is hard work.
Giving AI a few story prompts is not writing. Writing a novel is a complex thing, requiring deep thinking, creativity and stamina. It is not easy to sit there day after day until the story is done with you and even harder to go back and revise, refine and sculpt a story. You need to thresh out character and situations, stick within the limitations of your world rules and generate a strong, emotionally engaging ending. That sometimes takes years but often not, but it does take time and use a lot of mental energy.
People who think they can do that with AI are shiesters!
I do not use AI to write my books. I don’t even use editing programs. (I tried but got rid it). I have Human editors and proofreaders.
Anyway, I will climb off my podium right now.
Next year I am planning to scale back on my in person events. Although I will do some that are close to home. I will try to work out how to market ebooks, which I do not do well.
On Saturday I’ll be at ‘Once Upon a Fairytale’ at The Cube in Campbelltown, dressed in full fairy god grandmother mode. There will be photos. I don’t think there are tickets left though.
I’ll be in Goulburn for the Steampunk Festival, the following weekend, and Books in Sight the following weekend after thatin Canberra. I will be done.
Then I can settle down until Cancon in January 2027.
Man this year has rocketed by.
To End I shall put in the cover of my WIP. There be adventures in the Fae Lands.
This evening I went to see the Dracula Ballet at the State Theatre in Sydney. It was amazing. Visual, great sets and lighting. The white vampire ladies were amazing, so creepy and their movements unearthly. Apparently it is coming back in November so check it out.
Today I booked Tainted Lady in for an edit. Don’t get too excited. I am not so prolific as it seems. I drafted this one over ten years ago and have revised it in recent times. I am finalising a restructure but I am close. This will be the third book I’ll publish this year. It’s a Regency romance.
The cover is brilliant I think.
In less happy news, I have not drafted any more words on Amethyst Way but I hope to return to it soon. Sunday I will be at Books and Beyond in Ourimbah. Life has been hectic!
Anyway, I shall go to sleep now if I can stop listening to The Quiet Gentleman.
I am in Sydney being a grandma to my youngest grandchild. I’ve gotten over the must clean and tidy and now after a few days I am tackling things. Writing has not been easy. I am hoping after this blog post and maybe a newsletter, I will be able to settle down.
I don’t usually suffer from writers’ block. I do suffer from distraction if there are other things going on, like tax returns, travel to book events and travel to look after the bairn. (People who know me are certain I have ADHD and maybe they are right but I don’t need pills so I’m not bothering to get an official diagnosis.)
For the first time I made a book cover in Canva. I have not made one anywhere from memory previously so yay me. I had help from Google and Youtube. While I passed the first hurdle on upload, I received an email to say the cover spilled over the lines and I need to resubmit after fixing it. I did that this morning and I hope I sorted it. I don’t want to ruin my career in cover making before it has started. Mind you I did not design the cover. The designer isn’t doing things for other people anymore so they said I could use it so I did.
What cover you may ask? I’m making a paperback of Vorn and the First Comers so the novella is more accessible. I had the ebook for free and everywhere except Amazon has it for free. It’s very hard to keep permafree on Amazon because they don’t like it.
Vorn and the First Comers is an origin story for the world of Argenterra, the Silverlands series. Ages ago I was going to write different stories that link to Argenterra, Oathbound and Ungiven Land. The characters, particularly Rae, tell of their ancestors and the First Comers. That enriches the story I think and fills up with world with history and magic.
I started off strong with Vorn but stumbled with Goslien of the Valley and to a certain extent, Faruni’s Triplets. It was meant to be a collection Tales of Argenterra by Kushlan Silvertongue. I just couldn’t find a way in to Goslien’s story for like more than ten years. The other day while laying in a half sleep the story came to me. Clear picture of Panal of Puri and Goslien. Wow. I have written up notes but am yet to write this one up. But I feel a bit closer. I just can’t write on demand like that. Or to market either. I have to feel it, see it in my mind. Temperamental me!!!
News! The Founders’ Legacy is still 0.99cents for the ebook but that finished on September 30 so if you haven’t got a copy, then grab one now. I’m not making a profit on it at the moment. There is no series, but I am interested in getting people to read it and to tell me about what they think.
So far I have had a few great read comments…or that made me think…or I really liked it.
That reminds me, I have a review quote from Dr Craig Cormick, who launched the book.
Brave, challenging and just a great read! The Founders’ Legacy is going to mess with your head–in the most positive way. Dr Craig Cormick OAM, Children’s Book Council of Australia (ACT) Ambassador and Marion Writers Centre Patron.
Get your copy of The Founders’ Legacy! Here is the universal link.
Next up, I’ll be in Ourimbah in the Central Coast on Sunday at a free book event. It’s such a cute event and it has indie writers across children’s, non-fiction, romance, fantasy, sf and horror. Well worth the trouble! Here is the website.
The next event for me is Once upon a fairytale at The Cube in Campbelltown. I’m looking forward to dressing up with a fairy persuasion.
Sometimes writing books is yelling into a void. Maybe it is an indie publishing thing. You know, at least in the traditional model, you might have an agent that says, well done or an editor that says they like your book, and marketing obviously like it and the booksellers have ordered it and maybe you get sales and reviews. You might get book blurbed by another author, a famous one, and that will go on the cover or in the end pages.
The indie model is a little bit more fraught, I think. I have beta readers and they might say-this is good- or I liked it- along with comments to fix things that aren’t working as well. An editor might say that they enjoyed it, but here you are paying them so can you believe that? Maybe, they don’t have to say that after all. Goodness I sound paranoid as all hell. Well no false modesty there!
But the real proof is in books selling and book reviews and ratings. Sometimes there is this nerve wracking period where they are no reviews. Just crickets! And honestly, reviews were more the thing say ten years ago. I had heaps of reviews for Shatterwing, but once retailers bought in ratings, you get them instead of textual reviews, if the person comes back to give you a rating. Also, people used to review books. I haven’t stuck my nose in because it’s become one of those things that people want money for and once you start paying, retailers like Amazon will shut you down. No paid reviews. And honestly, review blogs have been replaced by Booktok and well I haven’t really got my head around that.
BTW I stay away from Goodreads mostly because it’s kind of a cess pit, although there are some great reviews in there and I love aspects of it but it can be hard going.
On Apple Books just now I saw someone had given The Founders’ Legacy a three star rating. I think it’s great that someone rated it. But as a writer, I’m craving dialogue, what did they like? what did they hate? what did they think? There are no other reviews. Anyway, I shall twiddle my thumbs and wait.
This is probably because The Founders’ Legacy is a thinky SF book and it’s going to be divisive I think. It’s sort of in the book banning category in the USA kind of thing because it’s talking about gender, equality, gender roles and it’s not an easy read because of the pronouns (single non-gendered pronouns). Dr Craig Cormick who did the launch speech said it ‘does your head in’ and it’s meant to do that. In that way, it’s not like my normal novels, which are action and adventure and story and meant for fun.
Anyway, if you have read The Founders’ Legacy, please leave a review and or rate it where you bought it. Or blog, or post or make some noise. That is really, really helpful.
The reality is this book isn’t going to be on bookshelves. People aren’t going to be drawn to the pretty cover, the internal decorations, the back cover blurb. That’s the reality of indie publishing. While I have set a recommended retail price, the price at book retailers is really high. I think Amazon has the paperback for $47!! Anyway, there is a buy direct link on my website where you can get it at the RRP of $30.00 including the gst.
By the way, the ebook of The Founders’ Legacy is currently 99 cents for September. Here is the link This is a universal link that should take you to your preferred ebook retailer.
One last thing, I have been doing a lot of book events this last year or so. What is fun and interesting is return readers. I am surprised sometimes when a reader says, I read that and that. What can I read next? So awesome. Also feedback. For example, I was at an event in Newcastle a few months back and a reader said she’d really like more space pirate stories. I do have one in mind and they sell okay at book events, but yeah colour me surprised. They are rather fun and uplifting I think.
And another interesting thing for me, is The Silverlands series. I have the box set on Kobo and Apple Books and it is my best seller on Kobo Plus. Go figure. It was my first fantasy series I wrote, first series to indie publish and sometimes I think it’s the poor sister, but I don’t know some people really like it. It would be more romantasy these days because it has three romantic relationships, and a coming of age thing, and well my favourite hero ever, Oakheart. Now that Amazon have altered their pricing I may put the box set up there too.
Anyway, I should stop looking at what is happening with The Founders’ Legacy and get on with other stuff. Gentleman Magician goes live tomorrow. I have Amethyst Way in progress and another book I’m meant to be restructuring. Mind you I have hurt my back shifting a desk and that has dented my ability to sit at the desk quite a bit. So while I feel sorry for myself, I shall blog!
I have a number of appearances coming up in September and October and some early next year.
First up, a late invite to Oz-Comicon in Sydney next weekend for Matthew Farrer and me (12-13 September). Matthew will be up for talking about Warhammer 40K writing, other game writing that he does. He won’t have stuff to sell but he might have QR codes.
I’ll be up for talking about books or selling books or signing books or saying hi.
Oz-Comicon pre-order form is here. It will open on a new tab. Pre-orders work if you are in a hurry and it’s crazy busy at the convention. Also, you can get a preview of what might be on offer but I may not bring all my stock.
Next up is Books and Beyond in Ourimbah, NSW on 27 September, 2026. This is a great book event. Here is the link to the website. Here. Free entry and indie authors of all kinds. It’s a cute space too, with a cafe and next to a massive hardware store. The pre-order link is here.
Then in October we have Once Upon a Fairytale, October 10 in Campbelltown. A first time event, which looks to have sold out, but do check for tickets. The pre-order form is here.
Then there is the Steampunk Fair in Goulburn. I’m so looking forward to two days and I’ll be dressing up. I’m hoping to make a new costume but mmm time is getting away from me. The pre order form link is here.
Then a big one Books in Sight in Canberra. I don’t think there’s been one here before. There is a typo in this ad so I’m waiting for a new one. Pre-order link is here.
In 2027 I have a few early appearances. I may be travelling overseas so other appearances are in doubt.
I will have a space at Cancon, in Canberra 23-25th of January, 2027.
First up is Orchards and Authors in Batlow. I have never been to Batlow. It’s not far from Canberra and the event seems so fascinating. Here is a little about the event. My pre order link is here.Why not step out and check out Batlow and the Apple Thief Cider place?
And then on 14 March, it is Romantic Rendezvous time in Canberra! I’m so excited! My pre-order form is here. Although I may have yet another book or two before then so keep checking back.
That is it for now. I am looking forward to a rest in November and December!
I reached 30,000 words on Amethyst Way, Cry Havoc Book 5, which is not too shabby. I’m very excited about this.
With Gentleman Magician, Cry Havoc Novella, I’m waiting on feedback from Matthew on the blurb. I need to blurb to create entries of the National Library and the ISBNs and preorders and so on.
Now I have reached my goal, I’m about to head out to do some gift shopping and we might eat out for my last night here. At present I still have to pack but all my clothes are on the bed waiting to be stuffed around gifts and things.
In other world news, there are terrible floods in Nepal, which are awful and bring back horrible memories of the Boxing Day tsunami. I was not affected directly, just emotionally by that disaster. Climate change disaster!
As well as Dolly Parton passing away, Tim Curry has joined her. More icons falling.
In the old days of Live Journal I used to blog about life and stuff. And I’ve been thinking about this recently, particular AI and it’s impact. My writer brain goes into story mode and I toss ideas around. The trouble is those thoughts are scary.
My latest thought is that our children or grandchildren or even ourselves will have to pay for knowledge. At present, you Google something and the AI comes back you, offering help and so on. But when we are all dependent on AI, and our children can no longer think for themselves, the billionaires may start charging us for knowledge, for information.
Information that was created by humans, created by us and that is mostly free.
That’s a bit scary right. Then, what about AI changing information and us losing our history. How will we know what is right and what is wrong?
My answer? Librarians and books. Real, analogue books. But what if they disappear as wekk? What if we can no longer learn from history because that history has been rewritten and knowledge is transactional on a fee for service basis. I am sure someone has written a book like this already.
It sucks to be a writer sometimes because the brain goes to weird places.
Today is Tuesday and I fly out very early Friday morning to return to Australia. My last full day is Thursday. I have mixed feelings, of course. I love hanging out with my son and my daughter-in-law and I love being in Singapore. I also miss home, my partner and my family and friends. We need instantaneous travel right now so I can see family and friends everyday. I’d probably need one of those time slowing devices as well to fit all that visiting into a day. Mmm.
I’ve spent a bit of time here, writing and working on writing administration tasks. I’ve mixed that up with trips to malls, the grocery stores and restaurants and cafes and a museum. I’ve caught up a couple of times with Singaporean friends. I’ve bought local books! I’ve visit Don Don Donki a lot and bought some interesting snacks. One of my daughter-in-law’s favourite things is to go to Fair Price on the weekend to buy fresh prawns. They have other live seafood too, but it’s the prawns that are the favourite. I am allergic to fish so my darling kids don’t eat it when I’m around, even though I don’t mind if they do.
I had a sinus thing that lasted for about a week and really made me suffer. I’m great now and I am surprised how much energy I have. My daughter-in-law makes sure I eat well. (low salt, low fat, low sugar). She cooked up another feast last night. She always cooks some kind of soup (broth) with herbs or fungus and so on. I felt so full even though by volume it’s much less than I eat at home. This visit has brought home to me how much we eat at home, how much meat and carbs. I like how with Chinese culture the food is shared. Even if we eat a western type meal, Ferdi and I will swap and share as much as we can. Restaurants here don’t blink if you ask for share plates. I hope to take away a few of these habits so Matthew better watch out that we might be sharing meals instead of feeling obliged to eat everything on the plate.
I have exercised in the pool every day except for two days due to sickness. According to Google that is about 250 calories burned per day. However, I use the pool exercise to trim and tone muscle, exercise my core and work on my knees. A trip to anywhere via MRT (Metro) uses around 5000 steps. More if there is a mall and looking for things. I’m going to head out to the supermarket later as I’m cooking tonight. On the menu is crispy pork belly. (this is high fat and salt but I’m not making a huge amount). What that all equates to is that I’ve lost 3 kilos. Probably fluid mostly. I think I would have lost more but now that I’m well, I’m eating more. The week I was sick by daughter-in-law despaired of me. I had no appetite and she had to cook inventively to encourage me to eat. New discovery for me is these long green chili things that have very little heat and taste great with stir fry pork and garlic. I tried this at Xiang Xiang restaurant. I don’t know their name but I will have to go looking for them. Google tells me they are called Chinese Screw Pepper.
On Sunday, which was my last Sunday here, we chilled by the pool then took the gondola from Mt Faber (not Barker) across to Sentosa and then the Sentosa one. We went to the Bikini Bar where we had a drink because it was hot and then walked around a bit. We went over 10, 000 steps just on Sentosa as we took a car to Mt Faber (not Barker!) and back. It was lovely just to forget stuff and hang out. We had Xiao Long Bao which were yummy. We tried crab ones as well and mmm well not as nice and very fishy tasting. We also bought some Pierre Herme macarons. Very yummy and tres cher. By the time we got home we were all very tired.
I do have some reflections that don’t relate to food and shopping. That is live in the moment. This might seem kind of weird but when I see an old woman, maybe 80-90 walking slowly or an elder person in their mobility scooter, I think, they are lucky because they made it to that age. I guess recent loss affects my thinking. Russell Kirkpatrick was a year younger than me. However I have been thinking like that for a while. You can’t take your good health for granted. You can’t demand that you live to 100. You have to live in the moment, do the best you can and look after yourself. Don’t do stupid things. I’m 66 and reasonably healthy but I have liver problems and I had eye issues last year. I don’t know what the future holds for me but I can live today and hope to be here tomorrow. As I begin leaving Singapore, I can’t assume that I’ll come back here and things will be the same. I can’t assume I’ll come back. I hope I will. I know I leave part of my heart here with my son and daughter-in-law and I wish them happiness and health.
What fascinates me most about Singapore is what they have achieved as a country. The rich cultures here also make the country unique. Of course, there are many places that have a similar cultural mix (hello result of British colonisation) but Singapore do it with purpose.
Okay well that was a bit deep, even for me. So on the writing front. Yesterday I finished taking up the edits on Gentleman Magician and now I need to read it through aloud. That might take a couple of days. I also need to register ISBNs and what not that will take a few hours. I am also at 24,500 words on Amethyst Way. I was hoping to get to 30,000 words before I get home. But here I am blogging instead of writing!
Overall, I am happy with what I have achieved on the writing front, given I was behind when I got here.
Edit: I made it to 26,000 words and then got a migraine so I did not cook.
Yesterday, Amethyst Way word count increased to 20,000 words. All that pool inspiration is working. I have a lot more to do just to jazz up the three scenes I have targeted. But, the edits for Gentleman Magician have come in and this morning I diverted to them. Not that I’m racing to get it out the door and published as that takes a bit of work.
I publish wide and a do a print version so this means I have ISBNs to assign, which in turn means I need to work on a blurb and assign the different ISBNs. Admin work, but still work.
I need to register the book with the National Library of Australia so it makes the catalogue.
If I do a preorder, which I can as I have all the things I need, I would then need to register the book on all my sales platforms and that takes more time. More admin. I would also then need to do the layout, which in Vellum is pretty easy, except I have to do things like write author notes, update also buy links and well more admin.
Then there is the proofreading. This time I will do this myself by reading the story aloud. I had a good copy edit so am confident that the MS is pretty clean. This may take a while because I hate people hearing me read aloud. Go figure. But if I sent it for a proofread I would need to book it in and wait a couple of weeks or more for the proof to be completed, then take up the changes.
Then when I am happy I will upload the final manuscript to all the ebook retailers. And then I will know the physical page count so I can do my cover template to send to the cover designer. Then when she sends me the cover, I am ready to upload the print book. The printer (Ingram Sparks) does an eproof and then I can hit print if everything is okay.
Then there is announcements, soft launches, ordering copies and so on.
Admin is the opposite of creativity! Like doing your taxes while trying to draft a massive fantasy novel. For me, admin is the pits and the bane of creativity. I don’t know why because I was a public servant and they live for admin! Hahaha!
I also have some logistics for the physical book launch of The Founders’ Legacy in Canberra upon my return.
However, nothing compares to a good new book unboxing. You find most authors will show photos, videos, post you name it. Because their baby is born. Anyway, it is possible, Gentleman Magician will be out in the world mid-September. In time for Books and Beyond in Ourimbah or Ozcomicon in Sydney earlier.
It is official. I’m excited. Here is the awesome cover again.
Today I had a whole hour in the pool, gently exercising and occasionally engaging my core. And then, what I had been waiting for occurred. My zen zone inspiration beamed in. Walking back and forth in the pool is pretty boring but it’s the right kind of activity to kick the zen zone into gear. I had been lamenting its absence. But there it was.
Yesterday I had a few scenes in my head and I wrote them down. I knew I would be reworking them because that just seems to be the way I work. Sketch out a scene, go back and tweak the dialogue, add thoughts, scenery and so on. About 3 am an idea came to me about one of the scenes I wrote and I hurried to write it down, even though I kept saying to myself you won’t forget this. But I’m 66 years old. I forgot stuff like what did I walk into this room and what was the name of that character I invented and what was that scene I thought was great. So writing down.
Anyway, in the pool my brain went into hyperdrive–ideas, tensions, actions, dialogue, consequences all coming out. Basically, the upshot is–Don’t be so pedestrian. Give those ladies are very hard time. Make them suffer. do this. And remember this and do that. So, of course, I’m writing a blog post.
As my excuse I have not had a coffee yet.
Also other ideas that came to mind were…don’t give up on yourself. You can do this. All by yourself if you need to.
