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Just so you know I’m not just slacking off, particularly after the RWA conference in Sydney, where I swore to myself I would be more professionally focussed and writer centred.
I’m in my office with the heater on–tick
I’ve been reading, thinking and researching (all kind of run together)–tick
I have been writing (Yesterday at the National Library)–tick
I finished a draft of a crime short story and sent it to be read again–tick (thank you Matthew and Lily)
I wrote a bit more on my paranormal romance. Not much so half a tick.
I’m in my office to work on anything. I have a white board on the wardrobe doors with a raft of writing and administrative tasks and I told myself-one hour on anything — tick
Evidence of said white board in the pic below but be aware that it needs a complete rewrite…still a bit bad that the to do list needs rewriting! I had the doors installed for this purpose. Matthew has one too.
I’m trying to make myself comfortable in my office again and have it associated as a place where I work. Long story but I moved out to make room for a foster daughter (which didn’t end well) and it’s taken me a long while to get settled in here and I got rid of all the shelves and stuff so it’s still not mine yet. I did buy a new fantastical rug. Still more office furniture to go.
And lucky for me we have an amazing view and when I’m lost for inspiration I can look out over the ranges, I can sit on the deck if I have some manuscript reading to do and I can chill. The sky and the ranges are always changing so it’s enjoyable and affirming to look outside.
Matthew and I try to get to the National Library of Australia to write, once or twice a week. I’m still trying to get my writing mojo back and it’s coming slowly. Today we got here a tad later than planned because I was on the hunt for sparkle boots. Why sparkle boots? Well tomorrow we head up to Sydney on the train as I’m going to the Romance Writers of Australia Conference with a theme of ‘all that glitters’. Hence, the boots.
I haven’t been to a conference for a while, standard reason, Covid. The RWA have always been for me the most professionally focussed of conventions, there to network, inspire and share knowledge. Also, lots of opportunities if you take them to pitch novels to editors and agents and so on. I decided to go because I want to feel I’m back in the writing scene again and yes I want inspiration and example to guide me back to where I was.
We have also booked to got to Terror Australis in Tasmania in October on what we think is a once in a life time occasion. We have booked a writers retreat, workshops and the festival itself, with some fabulous guests, such as Ann Cleeves and Gary Disher. I think I’ve mentioned this before. Link is here.
My first foray into crime fiction is writing a short story which I want to enter into The Scarlett Stiletto Award. Link here. Today I revised the draft I wrote last week. It needs more but it’s shaping up.
I love genre and I write horror, SF, fantasy, dark fantasy, paranormal romance and now I’m dabbling in romance and I really want to try crime too. I love watching crime shows and I read it as well, not as much as I write speculative type fiction though.
Anyway, speaking of…I should get back to the other revisions on the novel I’m working on.
Anyway, here is a pic from the NLA of the lake from last week.
I delivered my printed and bound thesis to the university to complete my Phd. It is a week shy of a year from when I submitted it. Honestly, the longest 12 months ever due to the administration at the university. Anyway, I hope to graduate in April in person but I’m likely to have my degree conferred before then. This now means I can start work on developing my Phd novel, Sihem, for publication, actually to submit to agents first up. I have structural edits to take up. You might ask why do I need to do that. Didn’t I just do a PhD in creative writing? Yes, I did but I was limited to word length and also I explored themes related to my PhD topic and that restricted how much time I devoted to other aspects of world building. That’s my January sorted.
The second big bit of news is Awakening has been published to most e retailers. I’m about to hit print on the print version too. I haven’t updated my links yet. There’s a lot going on as we finish off renovations and painting and pay attention to family visiting in the lead up to Christmas.
I wanted to share with you a bit about the genesis of Awakenings. It started with a kind of a poem as I sat by my mother in the early morning in the later stages of her life. She didn’t die that time but it was close. So I sat there at 2 am watching her on April 19 2014, looking at her pale white skin, her shallow breaths and then wrote down the ideas that came to me. Here is what I wrote:
Bring out the soldiers who lie within their frozen crypts
Do not wake them or disturb them
Their time is done
They gave us this peace, t his life and we are thankful.
Let not their sleeping, tranquil faces beguile you
They are bringers of death, purveyors of harm
It is time to let them go
Let them burn
Their flesh to no more rise
Let us grasp a future where they no longer exist
Where we are free
I don’t claim to be a poet, but these words were the genesis behind Awakening. I used some of these words and the ideas behind them for the novel. Here is the blurb.
Bring out the cold soldiers who lie in frozen sleep.
Do not wake them nor let their tranquil faces beguile.
They are purveyors of death.
They must burn!
What soldiers? Colony Five has been proudly peaceful since before living memory.
The cryptic new orders make no sense to Deleen Milo… until she sees the burning bodies in the stasis sarcophagi. She tries to uncover the truth behind the mysterious soldiers, only to become adrift in a colony suddenly full of secrets and threats. Who wants the soldiers destroyed and the colony defenceless?
Pursued into hiding, Deleen manages to revive Rik Chesson, a Cold Soldier trying to understand the new world waiting for him after 134 years of cryosleep. Deleen has never trusted easily, and Rik’s nanotech-infused posthuman form sets her nerves on edge. But they are the only ones who can rescue the surviving Cold Soldiers and defend the colony against a deadly new threat. They have to work together, and as they begin to truly know one another Deleen realises that however Rik’s body may have changed, the man inside might just be one she can love…
It has taken a while to get this book published. I started out thinking it would one thing but Nicole Murphy who was my first reader suggested I take a different tack. Every time I was part way through a revision something else would crop up and some of those revisions were big. This year, I had another beta reader, Lily, who did an amazing job and her comments helped me focus on getting it done and out there. I hope you like it.
I’m still writing, still excited by touching my passion.
My problem now is that I have to moderate my time at the key board because sinking into a story for hours gives me RSI in my right arm, but also a sore back because posture suffers from long sitting.
Last night I ached but I was all good today. I’m using a timer now.
Today the farm settled. I might have mentioned we renovated and emptied it out etc. We are celebrating with pizza tonight. It was meant to settle last Thursday so we booked an amazing degustation dinner at an exclusive restaurant. The settlement didn’t go through. We celebrated any way. So today, the actual day, it’s pizza at home, in front of a kung fu movie Matthew wants to watch.
I’m very focussed on getting The Changeling Curse to the editor. I’m taking up comments from the most amazing beta reader Lily and also Nicole. I have about 199 pages to go (67 pages done). The main thing is I am very happy with how it’s going. I probably still have a few pot holes to fix but I’m so happy and excited, I’m loving it. I hope this feeling lasts.
Awakenings, my SF novel is with beta readers right now so I’m hoping that I can get The Changeling Curse out the door to the editor before beta reader comments come back.
I am back here again blogging. Not year long wait this time.
Since I blogged last I’ve been making a concerted effort to reengage with my creative writing.
I booked to go the Australian Romance Readers Awards in Sydney at the end of April. I’m not up for an award or anything (not having published anything in the last couple of years) but I want to reengage with the scene, with other authors, some of whom at great buddies. And it’s a great event, at a great venue and Matthew and I will enjoy ourselves.
The next thing I did was actually get out some manuscripts. I have a middle grade book I’m writing so I reviewed what I had written so far and extended the story a bit. I have a lot of works in various stages of progress. I targeted two novels that have been almost there for a while. The science fiction one, Awakenings, I reviewed and then sent to beta readers. That was a massive milestone for me.
On Saturday, I also shared a table to sell books at the Geek Markets here in Canberra. Again, this was to help me get back into my writing groove. It’s not all just about drafting, revising and editing. There’s actual promotion, selling and getting into the scene. I had an okay day. I sold books, talked about my books and answered questions about my books. I hung with fellow writers, some I haven’t seen in two years.
I wore a mask most of the time and I’d say about 30 per cent of the people I saw walking past had masks. They don’t have to wear them, but there are still a lot of Covid around. I seriously like Canberra geeks. I have now put in to book for Gammacon in Canberra in July. (I hope I managed to snag a table)
Anyhow, something in what I’ve done appears to have worked. Today, I started working on The Changeling Curse, the sequel to The Sorcerer’s Spell, a paranormal romance, very spicy. Something happened. I am sharing the covers with you below. They have been languishing for so long for me to put the words with them.
Today, I fell into writing, editing etc and entered the ‘zen’ zone. I call it the zen zone because everything around me disappears. I lose track of time. I go into the space where my story is unfolding. I feel excitement. It’s like a drug. I just want more and more. This feeling kept going. I did lose track of time. I had an appointment and shamefacedly realised that I’d been absent. I went out and then I came back and started writing again. And the zen zone came back. I am so excited by this. I have passion again. I feel like I did when I first discovered writing. It feels so amazing.
I can’t describe how happy and invigorating this makes me feel. Now instead of setting goals like ‘half hour a day on a manuscript’ I’m setting myself goals ‘take a break before you wreck yourself.’ For so long I was in a creative desert.
I’m really grateful to my writing buddy Lily Mulholland. She beta read The Changeling Curse for me and also made comments and suggested edits. These small things, which probably took her a lot of time, have been amazing. I feel like I can do this. I feel like I’m a writer again.
I could probably look back on the last month or so and see other activities that have helped me reinvigorate my passion. I beta read for two authors. I sat down with Kaaren and talked about her story. We brainstormed ideas for the plot. I said to her… Gee I feel like I’m a writer. I also beta read another story and it somehow turned me back onto excitement of creating stories. These small things were stoking the flames I think. I did not think I’d feel this enthusiasm again. I kept wondering what I was going to do with myself if I didn’t write. My future seemed bleak. Now it doesn’t anymore.
I had to share this with you all. I have my passion back. I want to weep with the joy of it. I hope it doesn’t go away again.
Here are the covers that I have had for years. I hope to get these books out this year.
Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing 