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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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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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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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