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Archive for the ‘Creative passion’ Category

Touching Base

Posted in am wrinting, Creative passion, revision, tagged , , , , on August 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I’m dropping in to say I have a few posts coming up but I’m not quite ready to post yet. There was the world SF convention in Glasgow, with side tripping to the beautiful highlands, then a dash home so I could fly to the Romance Writers of Australia Conference in Adelaide on the weekend, then home again for a funeral of my awesome buddy Kaaren Sutcliffe on Monday.

I did two pitches, my first in over ten years. Lucked out on both.

I just wanted to say I’m here, I’m back, I’m busy. Robot Hearts has been proofread, but at the last minute I finally had a story that fit an idea so I wrote that yesterday and I’m just trying to see if I can get my editor to look at it, before I press print, upload etc. However, every thing is formatted and I’ve written the blurb. I need the paperback wrap but I need to finalise the pages first.

I’m chatting to the awesome Nicole tonight about her views on Destiny’s Blood and I guess the rest of the week will be spent on revisions.

I’ve been invited to the Celestial Ball event in Brisbane in June next year and I’m hoping to get the the RWA conference in Hobart in August and I’ve signed up for Worldcon in Seatle next year too. Mmmm the year is filling up.

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It’s a wee bit nippy in Canberra

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, Creative passion, Crime shows, Trying to focus, World Science Fiction Conventions, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »

It’s a beautiful sunny day outside and it’s bloody freezing. I have my Tardis slippers on, socks and I’m ensconsed in my office with the heater on and my feet are still cold. Yesterday was darn cold too and I walked to the bus stop to go to work and it was minus 2 or something celsius. Today seems colder and maybe that’s because the high today is going to be 10 C. Event though it’s cold, it’s still a wee be warm overall for this time of year. That’s not comforting at all.

Last night I went to Kaaron Warren’s booklaunch for The Under History at Harry Hartogs. Kaaron was interviewed by Dan O’Malley and they were such fun to listen to. I’ve listened to The Under History and it’s an amazing story. I’ve always considered Kaaron Warren to be such an artist when it comes to writing as she’s such an original and this tale is amazing and nothing like what you’ve read before. There was a great turn out, a big queue to buy books and get them signed. I’m glad I made it. It’s crime and also a bit horror. I think the tag line was ‘Ghost tour meets home invasion.’

I feel that I’ve been slacking off this week but I think that’s just because I’m hard on myself and not hitting all the impossible goals I set for myself.

This week, I finally uploaded the new file for Emerald Fire. I’d picked up a few typos and also picked up what I needed to write Amber Rose. There were a few things I’d forgotten that are important for the next installment. I’ve also created a Large Print-dislexic font version of Emerald Fire as well as a hard copy version. The weird thing is for the Ruby Heart hard covers, Amazon is listing them way above the price I set for them. I’m not sure what’s going on there. However, as they are aimed at libraries I’m not too bothered about it. If I get my shop up and runing I can selll them direct at a much cheaper rate.

Destiny’s Blood is now at 46,000 words. I tried dictation on Tuesday and managed 1000 words and today I think I’ve hit 5000 words, after the dentist trip so not bad. I’m not feeling crash hot so that’s even better. If my arms were longer I’d give myself a pat on the back.

I hope to add a bit more to Amber Rose this weekend too. I’ve just made sure Scrivner is open.

On Saturday, I sent off the texts for my Robot Hearts short story collection to my editor. Now I nervously await feedback and edits, which are due in July.

Reading wise I have a few things on the boil. The Time of the Cat by Tansy Rayner Roberts, which one the Aurealis Award for best SF novel recently. It’s really very good and entertaining too. I’m really enjoying the footnotes. Tansy is a very clever person. I have always thought so.

I picked up a copy of The Inn at the Amethyst Lantern by J.Dianne Dotson. It was nominated for a Nebula, Andre Norton fiction for young adult’s prize. It’s quite imaginative. I’m also reading The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill. It’s very meta, if that make sense.

I’m listening to Paladin’s Faith by T. Kingfisher, featuring Shane. As I was driving back from the dentist I was laughing my head off in a particular scene. A friend from the romance reader group put me on to Swordheart by T. Kingfisher as she said the Paladin’s are a spin off. I fear I’ll be reading T Kingfisher for a while. I have some physical copies of novellas to hand as well.

Viewing. I have finished McDonalds & Dobbs on Britbox and I loved it and want more. It’s the closest thing to a Vera fix I’ve had. We have started the box set I bought of Halo, and we are watching other things as well. It’s hard to balance, writing, reading and viewing, working and exercising. It’s driving me a bit crazy.

Did I mention I’m heading to Glasgow for the World SF convention in early August? This and other things do get in the way of scheduling writing.

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Pointy end of the stick

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, Australian author, Creative passion, Emerald Fire, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Writing is so glamous! Not!

It’s a lot of hard work generally. I have to admit it has been a bit of a tough week. I worked three days in the day job and did no other writing. I was tired, yes, and a bit burned out I have to admit. Also, doing things after work. Tuesday we went to see Furiosa, which I thought was a masterpiece. Long, but beautifully rendered, with time taken to appreciate a scene, an emotional nuance. Last night we went to The Craft of Crime at the National Library of Australia, where I am now supposedly writing. The Craft of Crime was enjoyable an interview with Sulari Gentill (I’m already a fan) and Chris Hammer, author of Scrublands, who I haven’t read. For me as a writer their session was an inspiration.I bought books, got them signed and hung with mates for dinner. Thank you Matthew, Lily and Georgina. We talked of writing and writing retreats.

This morning I went to aqua aerobics, had lunch and came here to the library. All good. Except one of the manuscripts I wanted to work on won’t load. So something must have gone wrong when I shut it down on my desktop. Never mind, I have another project right here. The words are coming, but slowly today. The weather is unseasonably warm and also wet. I don’t mean it’s hot, it’s just not butt freezing cold like it should be.

However, I don’t have to mope! Monday is a public holiday so I have five days to write and do other things too.

On the positive side, I have been reading through Emerald Fire to reengage with the characters and correct typos. Not quite finished yet as I read it aloud. I have two hard backs of Ruby Heart on their way if the delivery notification is to be believed. These are achievements!

I’ve also been reading for fun. The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill and Spirit Hunters book four by Ellen Oh (kids book for research) and also listening to Paladin’s Strength by T Kingfisher, nearly done and I’ve bought Paladin’s Hope and I see there’s another called Paladin’s Faith. I really enjoy the pace of these, quite slow in places but nuanced and funny at times as she tells the story from both their point of views so you see the lustful thinking, the imagining and their self talk, often at odds with the other. Also, Kingfisher does put a lot of things between them such as headless corpses, heads, magic, demons, other people who wish them ill. I think it’s a great combo of fantasy, horror and romance. Also, the narrator is great too.

Actually, I had a bit of a ‘ah ha’ moment in reading Emerald Fire, that what was is fun about the Cry Havoc series, is Jemima, her relationships and her weird quips and dry musings. Doing the read through of Emerald Fire I found myself laughing at her antics and that’s a great observation, considering I’m writing Amber Rose. Lucky I had just introduce some chaos for Jemima to navigate so she can have some fun dealing with absurd people who say ridiculous things. I’m also having thoughts about the next book which I’m going to call, A Prudential Light, featuring none other than Aunt Prudence. This time it will be a mix of her life when she was younger and the present…apparently she did some really interesting things in her young womanhood.

As mentioned previously I have two books on submission to traditional publishers. And maybe that’s what is getting me down. It’s such a lottery. You can do your best and still nothing might happen. Not a good time, right book, wrong time…who knows.

But I will keep on keeping on!

Also, I’ll be a Geek Markets in Canberra on Saturday 8th June. I’ll be helping out on the CSFG table so if you are in the neighborhood say hi. Entry to the markets is free.

Also, new book cover preview next post.

And my latest binge watch is McDonald and Dobbs, murder mystery set in Bath. I just love Bath and it’s great eye candy. Plots are good, sneaky and well written. Dobbs is a sympathetic characters. Shows are longish like Vera, first season only two episodes. I’m half way through season three so not long before I finish. I have this on Brit Box but apparently it’s available on Freeview Australia, which I have not heard of before.

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Reading, listening and writing update

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, authors, Creative passion, Science fiction conventions, World Science Fiction Conventions, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 31, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I meant to write this up yesterday but I started down the dark path of changing over my email addresses, as my provider iinet decided it didn’t want to be in the business of emails. After more than 20 years, there’s a lot to do and I ran out of oomph! It will take me months to do so…you know…kills the creativity.

A few weeks ago I found out that T. Kingfisher AKA Ursula Vernon was coming to Canberra and was being interviews by Freya Marske at the Paperchain bookstore. Ignoramus that I am I hadn’t heard of her but she was getting a good wrap from friends. What an interesting author! OMG I was so inspired by her. She writes what she writes. T. Kingfisher is her audit pen name but I read she’s a children’s author, illustrator and more. Multitalented. I bought a couple of the books that were on sale and headed over to Audible to buy a few of her romantic fantasy books. They are gorgeous and sweet and funny. I finished Paladin’s Grace and I’m nearly done with the sequel Paladin’s Strength and I’ve bough Palidin’s Faith so to be listened to pile. Her other books are horror apparently. They are next on my list. I can’t find a link for her but if you google you’ll find her.

So my take away, it’s okay to write lots of things, just write them well. Explore your talent.Don’t give up!

Kaaron Warren, an amazing author and so distinctive and fascinating to read. I’ve always considered her writing style art, due to her process and her work. Art house horror! Her new novel The Underhistory is out in print and Audible so I also listened to that. It held me spellbound. I didn’t know what was going to happen and the main character Pera (short of Temperance) is eccentric, an unreliable narrator and so full of stories that the house where the action takes place seems to be held together by her tales of ghosts, her sheer will. Thoroughly recommend. I believe we are heading the launch next week in Canberra.

Here is a link to Kaaron’s homepage. Link.

On Mother’s Day I picked up The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill. This book is a bit different to her Rowland Sinclair history crime novels, which I love so much. Who knew Australian history between the wars in Sydney was so interesting. I’m half way through this book and loving it. Sulari is doing a talk at the National Library this week so I need to finish it. Set in the USA, with likable characters and some sinister happenings, including a murder of course. Loving it. Her homepage is here. Link.

Recently I finished a kids books called Grandma Neebs Through the Pantry Door. Just like adult books if you are trying to sell you need comps. Spirit Hunters by Ellen Oh was recommended by dear Angie as a comparative title so I ordered it and read it and yes this is so. I enjoyed this book and will probably read more.

More recommendations. I first heard about Steffanie Holmes at the Romance Writers of Australia conference last year. She was a guest speaker. Her speech blew me out of the water. A NZ author, she’s legally blind and, yes, reading and writing are hard but she does it anyway. Her tag line: Don’t give up before the miracle happens. After reading a few books in her Nevermore series, I know she’s bloody clever to boot. As soon as she mentioned, enchanted bookshop, staffed by fictional characters such as Heathcliff, Moriarty and Poe’s Raven, cosy murder mystery and ,yes, reverse harem or why choose, I was intrigued and not disappointed. I also bought her how to book and it had some cool stuff about booktok too. I devoured three books over two days. I also ordered a special edition hardcover of a Dead and Stormy Night and it’s beautiful. I would have bought the full set but you know $. Anyway, besides reading the books, I signed up to her newsletter and even that is so well done, professional and interesting. She also has a new kickstarter and rereleased a romantasy series. Anywhere if you were interested I suggest start with a Dead and Stormy Night.

As a reader I thoroughly recommend. As an author, I think I can learn a lot from her approach and professionalism. Here is the link to her homepage.

Next thing I stumbled upon this week was a podcast by Patty Jansen called The Happy Writer. How did I not know about this before. I mean I know Patty and interact with her on socials and I’m even a Patreon supporter. The pandemic really did hit me and I disengaged a lot. Now I’m back baby! Patty says the podcast was a pandemic project and now that the provider she used was sold, she’s releasing new episodes on her Patreon. With about 70 episodes, there is quite a lot of content there. All of it clear and useful, particularly if you self-publish or want to know more about it. Her most recent episode on her Patreon was on writing blurbs. So good. She is also an artist and musician. Patty has also done the covers of my collections, Beneath the Floating City, Through These Eyes and and my latest SF novel Awakening. Her homepage is here. Link.

And that takes me to my accountability post.

Destiny’s Blood-cover ordered, currently just over 30,000 words. Edit booked in. Eep!

Amber Rose-cover I had years ago, currently hovering around 11,000 words.

Robot Heart-cover achieved, editor achieved, stories compiled into one document with about four being tidied so far. Due to editor by June 15. Proofreader sorted.

A shout out to Keri Arthur who assisted with my sticky, problematic preorder form for Fiction and Friction in Adelaide (12 October at the Adelaide Convention Centre). I’ll be there selling and signing books.

Hardcover version of Vorn and the First Comers achieved.

Hardcover version of Ruby Heart achieved.

Large Print Hardcover version of Ruby Heart achieved.

Just one problem. Amazon have huge prices on these. Which means I really, really need to sort my shop. But then again, the large print was meant for libraries.

The reread of Emerald Fire is half way through. I read aloud to find typos so it takes me time. I’ve found a few things so far but the book is pretty clean, which is good. I’ll be picking up continuity stuff for Amber Rose but so far I have found that I put the characters on the page and shit happens and it sort of writes itself.

As usual it is hard to balance the day job, writing, keeping fit and house maintenance. Lol. Lucky for me, Matthew learned how to cook Chicken Saag this week and it was yummy. We are trying not to snack and are now ordering Youfoodz meals to see if portion control works.

Did I mention I’m heading to the World SF convention in Glasgow in August? Last minute stuff.

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Back after my dash across the pond

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, Australian author, Creative passion, revision, Science fiction conventions, Scotland, World Science Fiction Conventions, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I arrived back from New Zealand on Tuesday evening. Unfortunately, I developed a migraine while I was waiting for my bag to come off the carousel. Annoying because I could hardly see and I was on a tight timeframe to make my flight to Canberra. Anyway, it was straight to bed for me. Luckily I was able to take some panodol when the aura started.

Yesterday was the day job and I was going to write after but took it easy instead.

Today is writing day. First up a bit of admin. I had to upload the updated version of Vorn and the First Comers, which now includes a map and the first chapter of Argenterra. I may as well make the book magnet, a book magnet. I also published for the first time a hardback book. I made this one of Vorn and the First Comers. It looks really flash. It is the first time it is on paper as it has only ever been an ebook.

I have also made two hardcopy versions of Ruby Heart, after my read through and fixing typos. There will be a normal hardcover version and a large print version with special font for Dyslexic readers. The large print is really for libraries as they are expensive to produce and I don’t think people buy them. But I could be wrong. The next one off the rank is Emerald Fire. I’m reading it through for typos and for plot and character because I have started writing Amber Rose, book 3 in the Cry Havoc series. Over 5000 words so far and it’s cracking along. I am not sure why it’s cracking on but it seems to be. I’m over 20,000 words into Lightning Strike as well. I only started writing Amber Rose because I’d left Lightning Strike open on my desktop and had to wait for Matthew to close up for me. That took a couple of days.

However, I can honestly say Keri Arthur’s recommended 1000 words a day will get you a book in three months is pretty solid advice. I wrote 1000 words a day while in NZ. I just haven’t quite managed it since I’ve been back. When I get back from aqua aerobics I will get cracking, perhaps on both of them. I do have another project but I’m happy to keep that on the back burner while I deal with these two.

I have the Regency Romance to revise and a few other WIPs but no rush as they say! Hahaha.

Finally, Awakening has a rating on Amazon. Five star. Thank you to whoever put that there.

I almost forgot. Hot off the press, I’ll be in Glasgow for the World Science Fiction Convention in early August! And I am also going to be an attending author at the Fiction and Friction Signing in October in Adelaide.

I have two books on submission:

Grandma Neebs: Through the Pantry Door, middle grade fantasy

The Founders’ Legacy: Sihem, science fiction, feminist science fiction, SF romance and could be read as a queer YA

It’s highly competitive and tough to get into traditional publishing. Nevertherless, I’m giving it another go.

Wish me luck!

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Progress report

Posted in A writer's life, Australian author, Book cover, cover reveal, Creative passion, Querying agents, tagged , , , , , , , on May 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »

A few things on the boil.

Here is the cover for the robot-themed short story collection that I’ll put out this year. I was going to call it by a different name but that old name did not suit the cover. Matthew suggested Robot Hearts. Last week I drafted two of the stories and the rest I have are already written. What do you think? I’m in a quandary about an editor.

I’ve been reading through Ruby Heart, mostly to refresh my mind about the characters and story so I can write the next book. However, I’m repairing typos as well. Reading slowly out loud takes time, but it’s good at detecting missing words etc. Pity it was proofread too. I’m almost done. Then I need to read Emerald Fire so I can start on Amber Rose. I dug out the cover for inspiration.

I’m very excited to be working on this. I did start a while ago but life just went off in a big kaboom.

Yesterday was meant to be a full on writing day. However, after aqua aerobics I was wasted and starving. So we had lunch at the club as planned. Too many good options to choose from in the pensioner lunch category. And then I flaked. I felt dizzy and sleepy. We put it down to the medication I’m on. No trip to the National Library for me.

In bed, after a nap, I managed about 1000 words on The Lightning Strike on my lap top and had a cool idea where to from there. Yes, I’m seat of the pantsing this one. Eventually I’ll have to plan it, but I like to see where the story, characters and mystery goes. I’m really liking Gene and Lily but have decided to bring in Wolf and Abbie to create some huge sparks.

Today I stumbled across a review on Kobo for Oathbound, the middle book of the Silverlands series. It completely blew me away. It was nice, of course, so nice blown away and not jaw dropping to the ground appalling blown away. Link here.

Amazon put the price of Vorn and the First Comers to free and then changed it back up again. This means that this weekend I will try to get my book store live so anyone can get it free. I’ve also decided to do a hardcover of Vorn and the First Comers, which will be its first time in print.

I’ve two books on submission. And you know it is very disheartening when you know some award winning writers can’t place their books with publishers and or agents. I will try to brazen in out until I give up hope.

That’s it from me until next time.

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Trying to balance all the things

Posted in A writer's life, All the things, am wrinting, Australian author, Being organised, Creative passion, Trying to focus, tagged , , , , on May 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I’m sure everyone has issues trying to do all the things.

I was saying to Matthew how hard I was finding working, writing and exercising and balancing between them. That doesn’t include all the other things such as social activities, reading, housekeeping and well thinking. Matthew said he was finding it hard as well.

I currently work three days a week. Lately, I’ve been a bit tired after work. I think it’s the cold. I am doing writing related stuff but not drafting so much. That I do on Thursdays and Fridays and on the weekend when I get some time.

I should say our house currently resembles a tip. We have been focussing on writing etc. I think we need to correct this on the weekend as I find chaos stressful.

I have to say while I am still feeling very energetic and enthusiastic I am struggling with balance. This week has been a bit unusual though. The kitten bit my foot and because I have metal in my knees I have to be careful of infection. And as I’m allergic to penicillin-based antibiotics and there wasn’t much to choose from I had to take sulphur-based ones that make me feel ill. Headache, nausea and tiredness mostly. I’m still on Flagyl. Grrr to the kitten. Both cats are now banned from the bedroom.

A typical Thursday for us is I get up and do some writing (I get up way earlier than Matthew) and then we go to the pool. I do aqua aerobics, Matthew does laps. Then we do the pensioner lunch thing at our local club before we head to the National Library to write. On Thursdays the reading room stays open until 8. We usually leave around 5 or 6 but that’s it. Light dinner afterwards. Friday I write and maybe socialise.

I’m also in a novel crit group, so I’m reading a draft novel a month. I get this month off as my novel is being critted in June. I listen to books, currently The Underhistory by the amazing Kaaron Warren. I’m reading through Ruby Heart to pick up typos and refresh myself on the characters etc. I’ve started a file for Amber Rose, the third book in the series, in Scriviner. I’m reading it aloud so that takes time. I’m nearly done and then I’ll start on Emerald Fire. I drafted two short stories in the last week for my Robot Heart collection. They need more work. I’ll need to pull all the stories together and get moving. I think I’ll relegate short stories to the weekend.

Today, I’m going to write fresh words on a couple of WIPs, Lightning Strike, the next magical/werewolf story following from The Changeling’s Curse and another project I’m not too sure about which I’m 10,000 words in.

Theoretically I know there’s this concept called pacing but I never understood it.

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Getting on with business

Posted in A writer's life, All the things, am wrinting, Creative passion, revision, tagged , , , , on April 29, 2024| Leave a Comment »

I’m writing this post because the story I’m working on won’t open on my Mac. I’ve decided to take a breather before getting upset about it.

I’m really pleased with how my reengagement with writing is going. I’m spending part of every day in my office. A big hurdle.

Yesterday, I lobbed a children’s book manuscript at a publisher who had open submissions. Yay! And about two weeks ago I lobbed a 100,000 word manuscript to another publisher. That’s two manuscripts that had a lot of work put into them. I arrived home on February 29 and today is April 29. So that’s two months and a lot of work. I’m so proud of myself and I’m so happy that I enjoyed it. I work 3 in my day job days a week.

I thought I’d use this evening to write some new words. Alas I can’t. But I probably need to check I don’t have the document opened on my laptop. Hehe before I start doomsaying about lost documents.

It is really interesting that I’m starting to trust myself again. Instead of thinking -that rewrite/revision is going to take months…a year- I decided that I was kidding myself. I could do it much faster than that if I just got on with it. I had one goal, which was the novel crit group that Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild is running. I needed to get the bigger novel polished and ready. I had a structural edit on that already so I had been putting off tackling that.

With the children’s book, I had such lovely encouragement from my friend, Angie, that I just knuckled down again and concentrated on it. Being shorter it didn’t take as long. The read through was tougher though because I kept tinkering.

On my agenda is also writing a strategy and plan.

Projects

I have several/many other projects in progress either on paper or in my brain.

The Lightening Strike. I’m writing a new novel in the Cursed Ones/Spellbound world. Uniting them in Sydney. It should be fun. I’ve started that one. That document does open and is currently 15,000 words.

A Choice for Louisa (using another pen name). A kind of Regency novel/series/ not quite sure I can nail it project. If I could open the document I’d tell you how far along I am. About 5000 words maybe.

The Tainted Lady is a Regency romance. I have two lots of beta reader feedback and at 90,000 odd words it’s a big job to get stuck into that. I’d thought I’d start on that in May and see how I go. That will be the final revision I think before I decide what to do with that.

Robot Hearts SF short story collection. I have one maybe two more stories to write. One has been drafted. The rest are written. Part time project. I think.

Amber Rose is in the planning stage. I did write the first chapter long hand and lost the note book. I’m currently rereading Ruby Heart and then Emerald Fire to get reacquainted with the characters, their descriptions while at the same time fixing typos. I am using Scrivener for this one so it’s set up in there.

Into the Dark Glass is a YAish/steampunkish portal fantasy/that I have started to restructure. The sequel Dark Lady Rises is just a twinkle in my eye. My agent at the time didn’t like Into the Dark Glass and couldn’t tell me why. I have spent about eight years mulling it over. (There was a PhD in the middle of that). I don’t have an agent atm.

I have an SF novella that is is feminist SF but I need to get that out and dust it off. I might publish that this year.

I also have a crime novel I want to write but I need to do more thinking on that. Once I’ve cleared my plate a bit I think. There is also ideas for prequels and sequels to series I have already published.

Administration wise

I’ve got a newsletter and I’m not afraid to use it in May.

I’m still setting up the shop on this website. Slacker that I am.

I’ve put Awakening on special and listed it on a newsletter.

And am keeping my accounts up to date.

Travel

I’ll be popping of to NZ in May for five days for family reason.

I’m going to RWA in August in Adelaide (just need to get my ticket)

I’ll be at Fiction and Friction in Adelaide in October (after I get back from Rarotonga and NZ). I’m currently working on my preorder form.

I’d like to visit Perth in November if I can.

Mental State

I fear the above might make you think I’m a freak. I’m sure there are other people who are much more productive than me or who have more project in the offing or stuff on their mind.

Also it was my birthday yesterday. Yay me!

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Back from the long holiday

Posted in A writer's life, Burn out, Creative passion, feminism and romance, phd, Trying to focus, tagged , , , , on November 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »

We’ve been to Bali, Singapore and drove through Victoria and spent a number of weeks in Tasmania. We tested positive for Covid on arriving in Hobart. Luckily we were still able to do our Terror Australis Writers Retreat because they let us, and we had a sefl-contained unit and our meals could be delivered. I got out of isolation in time to have my fan girl moment with Ann Cleeves.

This is not a detailed travelogue. Something even more exciting to me!

You see for nearly a year now I have not wanted to be in my office. Instead of finding it hard to get me out of there and off my computer, I just didn’t want to go in there. I thought perhaps I had burn out from the PhD. I’ve dabbled and so on. I got a few things done but the joy wasn’t there…just little glimpses of hope when I achieved something.

On Thursday, I decided I was going to work on an academic article based on my research. This has been on my to do list for about 2 years…and it kept getting pushed down the list so far down it wasn’t even on my radar. Along with my PhD novel I might add. I started doing some preliminary work. Reading some articles, checking out the formatting requirements for the journal I want to submit to etc. Today, Sunday, I started on it. I haven’t put a lot into it yet. What I felt, though ,is what amazed me. I felt joy. Absolute joy. And well that surprised me.

This is why only now looking back to I see that it was most likely burn out, now that it has lifted. I think the holiday helped because you know 6 weeks of being away from home, a free routine mostly. We got Bali Belly, I had a cough sore throat (non-covid) before I left and then go Covid for reals and now I’m coming good. I feel really good physically and mentally. I’m so grateful for that.

I’ve got a short window to focus on the article and the novel to be honest as we head overseas to the UK in December for 2.5 months and there’s a lot to do before we go and not as much time as you’d think to write while away.

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Keeping on keeping on

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, Creative passion, revision, Trying to focus, tagged , , , on September 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

This is a follow up to my accountability post.

I am still writing, regularly and rediscovering my joy in writing. It feels great.

No huge new project just yet. I’ve been revising drafts of works I started a while ago. I’ve sent Tainted Lady, my Regency romance novel off to a beta reader. I think it needs more work but beta reader comments help with that.

I’m currently revising a middle school kids book, called Grandma Neebs through the pantry door. It’s fun but also new learning for me. I do read kid’s books to research but writing them is an art. I have a beta reader lined up for that one, I just need to put my shoulder to the wheel. It’s relatively short so I hope I can knock it over before we travel.

I’ve also been writing short stories-I received a rejection this week. This means looking for a new market. I entered a contest and I have another story submitted. I don’t write a lot of short stories generally only I have found they help get the buzz going. Finishing a short story is great. Sending it out is great. Rejections not so much but I tell myself at least I’m writing regularly.

Even if it is only 30 mins in the morning before I start work or 30 mins when I finish work, it’s something. Today I’ve been at it a few hours and have now detoured to the blog.

That’s the challenge with writing, striking a balance between family, social outings, work and writing. To write a lot, you have to sacrifice, unless you can find a balance. I’m searching for that balance.

We have also found making time with ourselves to write at the National Library really useful and productive. Unfortunately, I’ll be working full time and then travelling so I’ll have to rebalance again. I’m hoping it will be easier this time because I’ve found some joy.

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