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Singapore Sojourn Part 3

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, asian-centric fantasy, Australian author, Creative passion, Cry Havoc series, fantasy, Feminism, General excitment, magic, research, revision, Victorian, victorian paranormal, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I am a week and a bit in.

I have managed to use the pool every morning. Although this morning it was raining and storming. After dallying on my phone for a bit, there was no thunder and less rain so I did my pool work. Maybe a bit shorter than normal.

In other news, my four weeks in Singapore is going to be less than I thought because we are heading to China for 12 days not 8 so I need to connect with people faster than I had originally thought.

I met up with Dev. No photo sorry but we plan to meet up again and do a writing date. I need to get to the library and art gallery and museum again to research. Although I have found some references on line.

We met with Joyce Chng the other day. She gave me some books of hers that I have started reading about female sword makers. You had me at female and swords! Fireheart is YA fantasy. Here is a local link.

Today though it’s Friday and my daughter-in-law and I are going to have a massage.

On the writing front I have been writing for a week, pretty consistently. There was one day I only tinkered with some words as we went out to meet Joyce. Today though I forced myself to write more than normal. My hands ache a little. The Prudential Light is at 20,000 words. It’s going to need revising because it’s coming out quickly and I’ll need to add bits in as I research them and also craft the story more. Sometimes I just throw down the story, plot, characters etc to see if there is a story with a beginning, middle and end. Then during my revisions, I add things like descriptions, emotions and thoughts. I can usually do something in three run throughs but some take many drafts.

Aunt Prudence is in my ear, telling more and more of her story and the characters are adding bits that my phone notes are filling up. I think I have a nice story arc going. If I can finish this first draft while I’m here then I’ve got something to go on with.

The China trip is going to blow my mind, I know it.

I’m going to miss my writing buddies. Meet Siri.

This cat’s name is hard for me to pin down.

I hear different words, I think it’s Moguai but it’s Siumoguai so I was close and I’m not totally deaf!

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A Regency Affair

Posted in A writer's life, Cosplay, costumes, Crafting, Creative passion, events, Fashion, Regency, Regency romance, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 30, 2025| 1 Comment »

A last minute cancellation. An offer of accommodation and lift to the event each day. That’s me. From 16th to the 18th of May, I was at A Regency Affair event in the small town of Exeter, just south of Sydney in the Southern Highlands. Just like a Regency House party only better. I got to use a real loo and go back to our accommodation.

I had an amazing time! Totally, absolutely, enjoyed it. Not only was in unexpected. I only just learned about the event after lamenting for some time that the Jane Austen Festival stopped before covid. I wanted to sew more dresses and things but wondered what for. Now I’m linked back in. As well as this event, there are balls, Historic picnics and other stuff going on. Because it was short notice, I only had time to dig out my gear. There were a couple of bonnets I couldn’t find but I had enough. No chance to make anything new, except I did find my very special soft bonnet only needed a few stitches to finish it so I did that. Sorry about the cross over bra showing. My stays had a malfunction as I have grown somewhat since I last wore them.

I went up on the Friday but there was a dress making workshop on the Thursday that I wasn’t quite in a mental space to sew. Friday I managed to get squeezed into a few workshops. Not all the ones I wanted but hey I was grateful to get the ones I did. First up was thread buttons and then I did historical stitching which was very cool. We learned edge stitch, mantua makers stitch and English stitch, with cartridge pleating as well. Friday night there were no tickets to the banquet but the organiser thought she might be able to squeeze me in. Bronwyn and I went back to the accommodation to prepare. I figured I should get dressed just in case they said ‘yes’. The plan was to drop Bronwyn and use her car to come back if there was space. However, the text came through that I was in so off to the Regency themed banquet we went.

There was music, dance exhibitions, poetry recitals and singing. So Regency. The food was spit roast and a lemony syllabub, which was so yummy.

I did a bit of shopping during the day on Friday. I bought a turban style headdress for the ball, a tea cup set and some lovely gloves. From Bronwyn’s stall I bought sewing notions of many kinds and some long socks. The cup and saucer are so lovely. I just love the green addition to my collection.

Saturday came and we were off again. I had a basket making workshop after lunch. The only downside is that it clashed with the guest speak talk by Caroline Jane Knight, a fifth great niece of Jane Austen who had lived at Chawton House until recent years. It is impressive that any family lives in the same house for generations and the Knights have lived there since her fifth great grandfather Edward Austen Knight inherited it. The cottage in Chawton where Jane, her sister and mother lived was on that estate in the village. It’s a must see if you get there. Next time I’ll go see the great house too. While I didn’t get to hear the talk I did chat to Caroline a bit and bought her book.

Other workshops that I eyed off jealously were the fletching workshop and theatrical sword fighting. I did do some dancing workshop but thought it best I not cause frustration by trying to dance. There were mustet firings and a duel and so many very impressive costumes. The numbers are limited so intimate and I made myself talk to people and made some lovely and interesting new acquaintances. Catering including morning and afternoon tea. Lunch on Saturday consisted of a pie or quiche, whatever you ordered.

We went back to the accommodation for ball prep. I did Bronwyn’s hair and turned her scarf into a turban.

My new turban head dress was so very cool.

Pre ball there was soup and bread and we all contributed something for supper which was around 9pm. To start off the ball they do a grand promenade. I was going to sit the dancing out and hang with Bronwyn to admire the general splendour. However, a lovely young woman came up to me and asked if I would be her promenade partner. She said our gowns would look very well together. So up I went. Then when the promenade finishes it becomes a dance. I tried to offer up a better partner given my fumble footedness in the dance lessons. However, my young escort said she would defend me from bodily harm if people got upset with me. I am pleased to say that we passed ourselves off creditably and after that five set dance, I introduced to a much better dancer that I met in the workshop earlier.

Supper was bountiful. There was Jane Austen birthday cake, in traditional style, fruit, marzipan and fondant. I had two small pieces. Then Bronwyn and I retired for the evening. Sunday was a picnic at a National Trust historic house, with carriage rides, archery, maypole etc. The weather by now had turned a bit brittle and cold. However, we were lucky and it didn’t rain while we were there. Picnic sorted at the hall we drove over to Goldhaven. I did a house tour, got my carriage ride in early and did one set of arrows. I haven’t touched a bow for many years and only had one lesson. I think I am better but the target was way too close! Hahaha.

I scrurried out of there as fast as I could and walked about the beautiful garden, ate my lunch, chatted and watched the Maypole dancers.

I will definitely do this event again.

I did not take a lot of photos as I didn’t want to walk around with my phone spoiling people’s fun but I hope I captured enough. I have this is in my calendar for next year.

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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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Writing to you from the windy city

Posted in A writer's life, Amber Rose, book signing, Cry Havoc series, New Zealand, Steampunk, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 17, 2025| Leave a Comment »

You could say I blew into Auckland last night. However, the Qantas landing was perfect, the decent a little bumpy. Walking to my hotel with my heavy suitcases was indeed a challenge. I was blown backwards and often had to struggle to move forward. Later, I realised I could have caught a bus so didn’t have to work up such a sweat to get to the nearby Ibis hotel. However, the blowing backwards was just leaving the terminal and walking to the car park where the bus was in anycase.

Also, even when we are old we never learn.

Today, the house is being blown about by very strong winds. It’s quite interesting. However, as the weather is a bit shite and will be for the rest of my stay, I can take this time to catch up on my administration. I was supposed to go stay in a caravan but I haven’t heard if that is still the plan. Pray for me.

Speaking of administration, I’ve added Amber Rose to my payhip store. Buying direct means I get a tad more $, less the take from Payhip and Paypal! The book delivery is by Book Funnel so you get the file for your selected reader. My buy direct link is here.

I’ve also updated my book page which as buyer links there too. Link to the Cry Havoc page. You will notice I am sure that I have been rather abyssmal on the links to Emerald Fire. I’ll add that to my to do list.

I’m drafting a newletter and participating in a Book Funnel giveaway. I have been rather slack on that side of things of late. (You might say a year or so).

I was thinking of making this post about Amber Rose (and it mostly is) and I wondered if I could share an excerpt. Let me go have a gander. Not easy as my files are on my IMac at home. Okay, round about way but I managed to download the epub and do sections of copy and paste as the epub limits the amount of copying.

This is part way into the story and there has been general chaos at the inn and more to follow, plus a copious amount of baked goods, scones, bread rolls, baps, sweet buns…and lots of tea.

With a low mood, Jemima made her way to the upstairs parlour to partake of some breakfast. Aunt Prudence was at table when she entered. “Good morning, Aunt. I hope you slept well.”
“Good morning. I had a passing night. Aly woke three times to be fed. Otherwise he caused no trouble. Have your friends set out?”
“Yes,” Jemima replied taking a seat. She reached for some bacon, which was most likely cold and eyed the scrambled eggs. Perhaps her stomach was not up to cold eggs. She cut into the bacon and nodded when the aunt lifted the tea pot.
“Thank you. I am starving.”
“You mean are hungry, dear. You are certainly not starving. That is a state of being you might never experience.”
“I stand corrected. I am very hungry. Is that a bread roll peeking out of the napkin?”
“Yes.” She passed it over.
Jemima buttered it quickly and cut it in halves.
“Why did you not say that your Uncle Ferdinand was coming to visit? I would have taken greater care with my hair and my toilette this morning.”
Jemima dropped a spoon of jam on the tablecloth. “Uncle Ferdy? He is here?” She grabbed a napkin to clean off the offending stain.
“Yes, that is what I said. I bumped into him in the hall and he complimented me on my gown and complexion before he went to see my nephew.” She preened as she conveyed this. “I am so pleased I chose this particular gown as it does wonders for my complexion.” The gown in question was a deep maroon and did look well on her. With only fine lace at the collar and cuffs, it was remarkably unadorned. Her curls looped nicely around her ears, offset by a lace cap with trailing ribbons.
“That is good news, Aunt. I was hoping he could come. I must have missed him in all the noise of departure. Thank you for telling me.”
Jemima thought Uncle Ferdy must have popped in. The innkeeper was wily so she did not know how she was going to explain the new arrival, who was likely not seen arriving in a conventional fashion. Had he walked up plain as day, she would have noticed him. She did some mental calculations. If they consolidated Fulton and Milly, the sick room would accommodate him or there was the room the Heatons had vacated. She frowned as she thought it through. Or he could just pop off again and go home but the questions, the questions. No, he would have to play the part of guest.
Standing up suddenly, she gulped the last of her tea. “Forgive me, I must see Uncle Ferdy and check on Edward.”
“Has there been no improvement?” The aunt asked, turning in her chair as Jemima made for the door.
“Not just yet, Aunt.”
“Very concerning. Do tell Mr White that I can procure fresh tea for him if he is in need.”
Aunt Prudence inclined her head, turned back to the table, and as if she was the queen, lifted the teapot to pour herself another cup of tea.
Bursting into her room and rubbing the crumbs from her lips, she found Uncle Ferdy bent over her husband. “Thank heavens you heard me.”
Uncle Ferdy stood up straight and turned to her. “There you are. I was wondering what you were about. Sorry to not come sooner but I was in the middle of something.” He peered at her. “Have I interrupted your breakfast?”
She waved him off. “No, but Aunt Prudence is keeping the kettle warm for you.”
He lifted his eyebrows. “I see, how thoughtful of her.”
Hands clasping each other in turn, she asked, “How is he? Can you help him? Is it a hex?”
Uncle Ferdy met her gaze. He had stripped off the bedcovers, leaving Edward in a night shirt, and sock-adorned feet. “The same. Perhaps and, yes, I believe so. A nasty one.”
Jemima went to the other side of the bed, not sure whether to be relieved or not about Uncle Ferdy’s answer. At least he was better equipped to help. “He looks so pale. He is breathing, but it is slow and shallow.”
A sharp knock on the door interrupted their conversation. “Mrs Huntington? It is Sir Giles, the Magistrate. I need to speak with you urgently.”
Alarmed, Jemima stared at Uncle Ferdy. How was she going to explain him to the magistrate on top of the innkeeper? “Go away now.” she whispered urgently.
“It is not that easy to pop in and out,” he whispered back. “I need to rest between.”
“Mrs Huntington?” The magistrate repeated.
“Coming!” She turned to Uncle Ferdy. “Hide then.”

Excerpt From
Amber Rose: Cry Havoc Book 3
Donna Maree Hanson
This material is protected by copyright.

And of course after all the proof reading, I found a typo. I swear they are god’s curse. I hope you enjoy the excerpt. Now to write myself a note to fix that typo.

I am at the Ages of Pages book signing event on the 26th of April in Hamilton. It’s a free event. Details are here.

Talk again soon.

.

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It’s all happening!!!

Posted in A writer's life, Amber Rose, Book launch, Cry Havoc series, Digital Publishing, Steampunk, victorian paranormal, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 3, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Amber Rose is up for pre order at major e retailers! !!

Amber Rose is up at Ingrams for a paperback, a hard back and a large print hard pack, with accessible font.

Phew!

I’m currently working on the universal links. Books2Read this time. Here is the link.

Get your pre-order! Date of release is April 10, 2025. All the files are up so it’s just waiting.

I’ve got to send a newsletter as well today and I have a release day blog post to prepare for the ARRA website.

I’ve also been dictating/narrating one of my Dani Kristoff books because I think I should narrate them myself. Aussie accent and all that. And, gee, Amazon and others offering AI readers. I’d rather have a human.

I also have ideas burning out of my brain for A Prudential Light, a short novel about Aunt Prudence Wainwright. This ‘memoir’ is foreshadowed at the end of Amber Rose and I think it’s going to be a beautiful and poignant story, some of which will be set in Singapore (colonial times). I am heading to Singapore in June so I was hoping to wait until then but I’ll have to make notes as the ideas are rushing out of my brain.

Here’s the cover and the blurb for Amber Rose again in case you missed it. Many thanks to the awesome Maxine McArthur of editing and proofreading and also feedback during drafting.

Also, if anyone ones a review copy please contact me on my contacts page.

Blurb Amber Rose

A book of manners, magic and mayhem…and, perhaps, a tad too many scones

All Ambrose Fulton wants is to enjoy his idyllic life at Hatfield, helping his wife Milly raise their little son, tolerating Aunt Prudence and entertaining their friends.

What he gets is a ferocious assault from a violet-eyed automaton that devastates the estate and makes off with his enchanted clockwork arm, brutally ripped from his shoulder. To the rescue, barely in time to save his life, come friends Edward Huntington, gentleman magician, and his wife, the monster-slayer Jemima.

Whoever sent the machine can only have wanted one thing: to glean the secrets of Huntington’s magical mechanical designs for purposes clearly nefarious. Now as well as wrangling an anxious innkeeper, a fake heir, interfering magistrates, odd magicians and some thoroughly unexpected visitors, they must uncover their mysterious enemy’s identity and stop them or who knows what evil ends Huntington’s inventions will be put to?

A final word as this is topical. I love technology and I think AI can be a useful tool for many things. However, I don’t think it’s good for creative things personally. I don’t use AI in my writing and my covers. As I haven’t bought a cover recently, I don’t think my cover artists use it either. I will, however, keep an eye out for it. This is a personal choice for me.

I am a bit of a geek. When I first used Skype and I was over the moon. This is Star Trek come to life. We have moved on from that. I had an Ericksson flip out phone back in the day. Yes, because it was like a communicator from Star Trek. I read science fiction and have loved it ever since I can remember. I have hope for the Human race, although that hope, that belief has been sorely tested of late. I’ve had an iPhone since the early days. Back then people criticised me for staring into my phone, playing with my phone. Now I watch other people do it while I look at the view or what’s going on around me. I still spend way too much time on my phone. I do Duolingo, puzzles, read books, listen to books, read the news, social media (no longer X) and communicate with people via email and text. I love my iPhone and I love tech, but I guess we must have boundaries.

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Publication update-Amber Rose

Posted in A writer's life, Book launch, book signing, Cry Havoc series, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on March 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Oh the excitement! Amber Rose is all laid out and off for a proof read.

It’s a milestone and I’m pleased with it. A bit more admin to do before I can put preorder links up. That’s a job for superman….no, actually, I’ll do it tomorrow as I’m a bit tired now.

I went to the ARRA events in Brisbane and Sydney on the weekend and met some lovely readers. Even readers who had some of my books and came back for more. That’s fabulous and I’m so grateful. I will be travelling to Melbourne for the book signing event at the Jasper Hotel on Saturday. Tickets at the door for the signing event.

What was fun about these events was that I got to be on panels, talking about bookboyfriends, talking about tropes. The feedback after was really positive. I also hosted a lunch in Sydney with four readers. I know what I write isn’t for everyone but it is lovely to meet people who read widely as well as people who write in your genres. In Melbourne I’ll be moderating a panel on Paranormal romance versus Urban Fantasy with Nalini Singh, HH Hodgson, and M J Scott (Melanie Scott) and that’s going to be fun and interesting too.

Interestingly I think I sold more SF in Sydney than I would at an SF con. Go figure! Rayessa and the Space Pirates, Awakening, Robot Hearts and my other short story collections. Brisbane I sold more Dani Kristoff paranormal romance books.

Don’t forget I do have a book store for ebooks and print books. If a print book isn’t up there and you want it just drop me a line and I’ll get back to you.

Me and my half table at ARRA Brisbane

Matthew and me at ARRA event in Sydney. Photo by Jenny Kew

Me with the headdress I bought at Sydney ARRA.

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Fiction and Friction Event Adelaide

Posted in A writer's life, author appearances, Author signing event, Romance, Romance fiction, Romance reader convention, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 17, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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.

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Achieving Goals

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, Argenterra, Australian author, author appearances, epic fantasy, fantasy, General excitment, magic, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »

This week I think I’m going to achieve a goal and if I’m lucky two of them.

In the day job, I have scaled down to two days a week, starting this week. This is my first Wednesday free. You can’t believe how happy I was last night knowing there was no work tomorrow and two days isn’t enough time to get stressed. Next workday is Monday. This is kind of a goal I suppose.

Last night, we went to see Fly Me to the Moon, which was so much fun. I wasn’t feeling it from the trailer but it was way better than I expected and I got all kinds of retro rocket feels from watching launches and seeing rockets! Well worth the watch. The moon launch was 55 years ago.

The dragging symptoms of RSV are still with me. The cough is gone finally but I still have annoying and persistent nasal congestion. This is five weeks! Over it.

This morning I went for a walk in the fog a bit later than I went yesterday when it was one degree C! I am trying to regain my fitness after not exercising for five weeks. I’m going okay with that. I had an ulterior motive too. I needed to think up something cool to end Destiny’s Blood. I only have to write the resolution so maybe 5000 words, maybe a bit more. Luckily the ideas came thick and fast on my walk and I dictated those ideas in my phone. My goal is to get this to my wonderful beta reader Nicole by Sunday as she has some leave and can read it. Doing a happy dance here. After addressing beta reader comments, it goes to the editor.

Goal number two is a bit trickier. I received the edits for Robot Hearts, my short story collection and there’s a bit of work to do there. I figure I should just run at Destiny’s Blood, then switch to the short stories. Then I can pick up Amber Rose again. There is only so much brain.

In between I need to do my tax return and BAS before heading off to Scotland on the 3rd. I’m off to Worldcon (world SF convention) in Glasgow and I get to meet up with my buddy, Glenda Larke and her family.

Here come my complicating factors or wonderful interruptions. My son is here from Singapore. He leaves very early Friday. My Sister in law and Brother in law are visiting this week. I love hanging with them so a bit of a juggle. Tomorrow we are out but today I’ll stay in and write. Tonight, we have a family thing watching my granddaughter in a production. Saturday I am an Gammacon sharing a booth with Chris Andrews. Gammacon website here. So exciting but not conducive to writing. Come along and say hi and buy some books!

This means most of my preparation for Saturday will be on Friday and thus making Sunday harder to meet. I should stop writing this blog post hey.

I am really pleased to see some sales of The Silverland Series either the box set on KOBO and currently discounted (they only place it’s listed I think) and individual books on Amazon and elsewhere. I know romantasy is a new buzzword but The Silverlands is a romantasy or romantic fantasy or fantasy romance has been around for a while. It’s a world slip, featuring two girls from our world who find themselves in another world. A world where everyone can do magic, except Sophy. The story follows three young women and their romantic tales and the hidden dark threats to them. I am supposed to be checking this book for typos but I just fall in love with the world and the characters, particularly Sophy and Oakheart, and get lost and start reading instead of checking for typos. Not sure if I’ll make this a hard cover but you never know. Vorn and the First Comers is a prequel novella that’s for free in most vendors. One of the features of The Silverlands is the tales people tell from the early days and Vorn and the First Comers is one of these. I think it enriches the world building. It was my first fantasy series and I worked hard to make it original.

Until next time.

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The dreaded lurgy aftermath

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, Australian author, author appearances, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »

It’s been over three weeks since I got RSV. I’m still coughing a bit and have nasal congestion. One of my ears is not too happy either. It doesn’t pay to be older and susceptible. This is my fourth such illness in less than a year. Although I infected my partner and son, they have recovered. It’s my curse.

I’ve been working extra days and higher duties on the day job. I thought they’d get in the way of drafting and my son is visiting too. However, that’s probably not the reason my word count isn’t as high as it should be. I’ve been a bit slack too. I don’t usually write on the days I do my day job, unless the story is burning its way out of my brain. RSI means I try to keep my at computer time limited.

This week I had novel crit group with the CSFG. This means I need to read a novel a month and provide a critique. I did that! Yay. Now there’s a new novel to read. I’ve also been reading The Time of the Cat by Tansy Rayner Roberts. Nearly finished. It’s entertaining. It’s a bed time read so how much I read is based on how fast I get tired. I listened to Harlen Coben’s Tell No One, which is a stand alone novel of his. Told in the first person, it starts out lyrical and also rivetting. It had a really good twist and then the last twist I didn’t like at all. Anyway, lets not give it away or dwell. I also listened to the second Strike novel The Silkworm. I will read more. I find them a bit addictive so not conducive to writing..

Anyway, I think you can see where and how I’ve been slacking off. I’ve also got a few more episodes of Castle under my belt along with a delve into the Grace series. Castle is mostly cosy mystery but Season 3 and 4 sometimes went into thriller and harder crime areas. Matthew thinks I have a thing for Nathan Fillion so he bought me the first season of The Rookie yesterday. Grace is a tad more edgy than I like, but its good and I’ll get back to it. Grace is filmed in Brighton. I’ve spent some good times there.

Accountabilty post

Destiny’s Blood is at 70,000 words. I meant to get there last weekend but didn’t. I would like to get to 75,000 this weekend, but I have stuff on so I’m not sure. Oh dear I’m a committment phobe!

Amber Rose is at 22,000 words and I haven’t touched it since my last post. Mostly because I’m getting to the crunch time with Destiny’s blood so all my focus is there.

The really, really big distraction is that I bought a microphone and downloaded Audacity yesterday. I wanted to see if I could narrate one of my books. I’ve been using voice memo on the phone and sounded crap but you know the software and the new micropone sound pretty good. It’s pink! Lot’s of practice as it’s technical. Also, you know hating the sound of your voice thing.

Achievements

Emerald Fire in large print and hardback arrived. I have yet to decide if I’ll do more of my books that way. It’s a bit of work and I have to pay for the covers to be redone. Here is a picture of my hardbacks. I’m very proud of them. Weird. I thought Australian libraries would buy them but mostly it’s Europe and UK who have ordered these.

Appearances

I’ll be a Fiction and Friction in Adelaide in October. Link here

I have a preorder form for this event here.

I’m also with Chris Andrews at Gamacon on 27 July, 2024 at the Canberra raceway. Link here.

Talk soon!

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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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