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Posts Tagged ‘book event’

Catching up with things

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, author appearances, Creative passion, Author signing event, tagged , , , , , , on September 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »

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.

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Upcoming appearances and Pre-order forms

Posted in A writer's life, author appearances, Author signing event, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 4, 2026| Leave a Comment »

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 couple of early appearances.

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!

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Ages of Pages

Posted in A writer's life, Australian author, author appearances, Author signing event, Keri Arthur, New Zealand, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Hamilton is a lovely city. Keri and I stayed close to the venue and did a big long walk to Hamilton Gardens. It was $20 to see the themed gardens and expect to see photos from these pop up here and later. I reckon I could get a mystical door way theme going.

The event was quite big. A lot of authors and cool vendors and well organised. It was well organised. Some authors did fabulously well. Keri Arthur for one. Laura Hunter said she did great. Me, not too great but not bad either considering I am still building a following and I haven’t ever appeared at a NZ event before.

It was lovely to meet readers and also connect with authors who I knew but haven’t seen in a while. Waves to Lee Murray. Or authors I know online such as Mary Brock Jones. We were table buddies being placed next to each other. I met a librarian and also a rep from the NZ Society of Authors. The beauty of this book event is that it is free to readers. Yes, there are VIP tickets I think and raffles but basically it is free. I recall they do an anthology for charity too.

While I wasn’t busy at the table I scoped out a series. I did a lot of writing down of world building, story arc, characters and plot. It’s very weird but I was inspired by Nalini Singh when on panels at the ARRA event. She talked about her 12 book Psy-Changeling series and how she wrote the first book and a scene for the final book at the same time. I haven’t ever tried planning so hugely. Actually I lie, when I first wrote a book, an SF romance with feminist overtones, Relic, I mapped out a six book series, a cross galactic, alien and sex and gods and planet settling thing. However, I never published that book. It was in 2000 and SF romance wasn’t a big thing, I was a new writer, there was no self publishing then and while I had two different agents around that time, it never went anywhere and I wrote other things. I did get feedback from author friend that I should write it later on when I was more experienced. Maybe I will, who knows.

Anyway, I wrote the first scene in that scoped series the other day. However, I have lots of things going on writing wise and need to apply my ADHD post menopause brain to achieve more and faster.

Anyway, take aways from NZ and Ages of Pages. NZ is always worth a visit. Ages of Pages is a great event. Not sure I’ll go again but you never know as I always have a reason to visit NZ so makes sense.

Here is the photo bomb!

Chinese section of Hamilton Gardens

Photo by Keri Arthur. Me in the pagoda thing Hamilton Gardens

Japanese section of Hamilton Gardens. Lovely lamp.

Italian section of the Hamilton Gardens. Romulus and Remus being fed by the wolf.

Egyptian Wall Hamilton Gardens

Small statue in the picturesque section? Not sure. Hamilton Gardens.

Unicorn from Tudor garden section Hamilton Gardens

Egyptian pool, Hamilton Gardens.

Keri taking a photo of me, Chinese section Hamilton Gardens. Some great reflection going on there.

The photo Keri took of me in the Chinese gardens.

This is a shot from leaving the themed gardens. Hamilton Gardens.

This gum was in the Hamilton Gardens, general area. It’s very impressive.

Also, we walked around the street and found some amazing trees. I asked Keri to pose with this huge Plane tree so you can see how thick the trunk was.

We did about 18,000 steps that day.

At Ages of Pages

Me and Laura Hunter at Ages of Pages

Keri at her table before she sold out of some of her books.

My table at Ages of Pages

At dinner on the eve of Ages of Pages at The Cook pup. Keri, JO Mantel, assistant to Laura, Laura and me grinning like a ghoul.

Anyhow, I am back home and I’ve done some stuff and will be blogging all that over the next few days.

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