Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘reading’

January update 2026

Posted in A writer's life, tagged , , , , , , on January 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The new year is done. The many January birthdays are celebrated. The cake is eaten.

I’ve been doing grandma stuff with my youngest granddaughter. She went back to her mum yesterday. As a result of all this activity and due to spending time in Sydney with granddaughter, not much writing got done. Yeah.

My wall planner fell off the wall. This may be ominous. I have not sat at my desk until now to spy on my desk planner either. However, it is a long weekend in Canberra this weekend and I have good intentions!

World politics tend to distract me. I listened to Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum. I passed the link onto my partner and friend. I tried talking about it to Matthew (partner) but burst into tears. Basically, Carney summed up what has been brewing in my gut for a while. The rules-based international system is broken. It’s not coming back. We need to do something different. I listened to Macron and to Von Der Leyen’s speech and Trump’s. I’m going back to listen to a few more. It helps me to know that other world leaders are planning and taking action.

But you couldn’t write this stuff. This is worse than a bad dystopian SF novel. But I have hope, even though uncertainty is really gut wrenching.

Appearances

Meanwhile, I am looking at events…

Some of my books are for sale at Cancon this weekend at Epic at the CSFG table. I’ll be doing a shift at 12 noon on Monday so I’ll be there.

I’ll be at the Romantic Rendezvous in Sydney on March 22nd. Link to info and tickets Here.

I’ll be at Books and Beyond on April 12 in Ourimbah, on the central coast.

I’m hoping to get a table at the Geek Expo in Canbera during July but I’m currently hunting up expression of interest forms.

September I will possibly be at Books and Beyond again.

And for some reason I have three events 10 October, Once Upon a Fairy Tale indie book event in Campbelltown.

Hopefully I’ll have a stall at the Goulburn Steampunk Victorian Faire on the 17th. Noting certain as of yet, but I’ll be there in any case.

Books in Sight, Canberra Rex, on 23rd October

I shall post again if anything else comes up. I’ve put in for things.

Travel

In between everything else, I am travelling a bit. NZ in Feb, then in March doing a tour with a visitor from the UK, I’d like to fit in a trip to Singapore for at least a month and possibly to Adelaide in April. I was hoping to go to Canada with my sister in October but I have a lot going on then.

Writing

Matthew has three big projects this year so that will limit travel somewhat. But it also means I will be encouraged to write also.

Meanwhile Gentleman Magician is at just over 12000 words.

Reading

I’m going to keep a spreadsheet of my reading this year. I don’t read enough these days. I listen to audio books more.

PS I got my hair done today. Totally pink. It looks floofy in this photo.

Read Full Post »

Interview with Jemima Hardcastle Huntington

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on January 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Today I am interviewing Jemima Hardcastle Huntington to gather her views on the revelations contained in The Prudential Light- A memoir of a lady–Mrs Prudence Wainwright.

Me: Thank you for agreeing to this interview, Mrs Huntington.

Jemima: And Monster Slayer. You must not forgot that but do call me Jemima otherwise we will be here all day. I have things of a personal nature to attend to.

Me: And Monster Slayer. (Me dying to ask what monsters she has slain recently). Jemima what was your first reaction to reading The Prudential Light?

Jemima: (waves a hand). I had many reactions. I snuck a few reads of the draft while the memoir was in progress you know. My first reaction was, Aunt Prudence is not as old as I thought. My second was she has been through a lot and I realised that my life was not as nearly difficult as hers had been. I was only an orphan and sent to school aged fourteen. No hardship in that in hindsight.

Me: And other reactions? You being blood related?

Jemima: That was a surprise but I liked it better that way. I have grown fond of Aunt Prudence and she is nowhere as annoying as she used to be. She helped me during my confinement you know. Totally surprising at the time but when you read the memoir you understand better. Now that I have a child, I do not think I could have been as strong as she was when she faced such a traumatic separation.

Me: You have returned now to Willow Park. Do you think that you will spend time such a long time with Mr and Mrs Fulton again in future?

Jemima: I adore Fulton and Milly and we get along so well. I wish that we could all live together all the time. I imagine we will stay together either here or at Hatfield when the rebuilding is complete. As it is I write to Milly most days.

Me: I’ve been dying to ask about the Hardcastle talent that appears to run in your family. Was it a surprise that Aunt Prudence has this so called Prudential Light?

Jemima: I knew there was something about Aunt Prudence that needed explaining, which is why we all urged her to write her memoirs. What was contained therein was certainly astonishing. I am glad that she has the Prudential Light and that she was able to use it in defense of me. As for it running in the family, that is a surprise. I thought my power came from the Emerald Fire and also from the magic leaking into me from my Ruby Heart. It appears I always had some of my own. Edward’s magic is like a life force and as he made my ruby heart and he powered it with magic that has slowly come to me. Fulton has the same thing, except for him, the magic Edward placed into his arm and leg keep him alive and also make him strong.

Me: Now that you know Milly is blood related too, do you suspect her of having the Hardcastle traits?

Jemima: Oh you mean like magic? Milly is a wonderful person and she does not need magical talents. She has Fulton for monster slaying but I dare say Milly will surprise us all with some magical talent all her own. Only the other day I had a letter from her that has me quite puzzled. I believe she encountered a fae in the Hatfield estate forest.

Me: That does sound intriguing indeed. We must finish up our interview now. If you had something to say about The Prudential Light what would that be?

Jemima: Are you asking me to sum up the memoir in one word? How odious? Do you want me to say it is scandalous? Well it is indeed. I am glad for the present that is only circulated within the family. There would be an uproar and sell like hotcakes if it was for public release. It discusses all kinds of private things…come to think of it. How do you know about it? You are not family?

Read Full Post »

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Posted in A writer's life, Creative passion, epic fantasy, reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I’m a long time coming to this series. I can’t tell you why. No particular reason.

Back in 2008, I met Brandon Sanderson at Devention 3, the World SF convention held in Denver Colorado. He’s not going to know me from Adam though, but I recall chatting him and Patrick Routhfuss. Later on at the convention, Tor announced Brandon was going to finish the Wheel of Time series.

I had given up on Wheel of Time by then so I hadn’t read Brandon’s ending. That’s not to say that I won’t return to Wheel of Time but I’d like to start from the beginning and that takes time and commitment. Wheel of Time was inspirational to me. Reading the Wheel of Time taught me that back story can be fascinating and having bad things happen to your characters can be a good thing. Basically something I pursued in the Dragon Wine series.

I have met fans of the Mistborn at Supernova a few years ago, who cosplayed Vin and lovingly made vials for metals powders and hand made their cloaks.

Recently, I felt it was time to stick my nose in. I’m cheating a bit, because I’m listening to the series. I’m about half way through Well of Ascension. I am loving this series and there are a few reasons for this.

I find it inspirational. I want to go away and plan out a thoroughly in depth world, with magic systems and a cast of characters who are individualized and create a plot that is intricate and attention grabbing. Listening to this story inspires me to write something because I’m feeling it in the story.

Brandon Sanderson is clever. His magic system in the Mistborn series is to die for. I really love how he uses it–in hindsight it’s probably quite simple but it is an awesome backbone to the story telling.

Similar to the Game of Thrones books, there is the front story, the politics, the struggle and then there is the real threat lurking in the background. The one the audience is screaming ‘Look there!’ but the characters don’t know, or only one does.

I like the fact that Vin is a great female lead. Well done Brandon! I don’t know how it ultimately ends. I can guess, I suppose, but I’m going to finish the series. It is my guilty pleasure. It makes chores and drives fun because I can listen as I do things.

Since that time I first heard of Brandon Sanderson, he’s become something of a legend. He broke Kickstarter and made us all wonder. He has a great fandom and that’s fabulous. I read an article about him during the year about how he writes. What I want to know is how can he write on the couch, with a laptop on his lap and not get RSI, a sore back, a sore neck…is he superhuman?

Read Full Post »

New book project

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on November 26, 2025| 1 Comment »

I’m currently in Perth, visiting a writer buddy (Hi Cat). We have been talking all day, mostly about writing, our process, indie publishing, traditional publishing, ideas, editing, book production. All the things.

We have also been writing.

I’m currently working on Gentleman Magician, which I started in the Hunter Valley. I had a lovely writerly time there hanging with Keri Arthur and Jenny Kew after attending the Next New Book Boyfriend event at the Mecure Hunter Valley.

I’m now just over 4000 words in.

Firstly I had a plot glitch. A character I was going to include could not feature in this story so I had to rethink that and did manage to sort it.

I’m not rushing this project, but aiming for 1000 words a day and I’m getting a feel for the narrative. As this story will be in Edward’s point of view I’m going to have to once again get used to not writing in Jemima’s. She will return to the pages in Cry Havoc book five though so don’t worry. I love Jemima and have so much fun writing her.

The challenge with Gentleman Magician is to work out Edward’s journey in becoming a magician. He has inherent talent but it must be developed and his meeting with Fulton, healing him etc, which are two interesting plots entwined.

As I’m a pantser I have no idea how long this book will be. I have no idea if other plot bits will show up. It’s early days in the words on a page.

However, it is good to be writing, good to be enjoying it and I’m waiting eagerly for The Prudential Light proofreading changes to come back so I can upload the book to retailers.

Like my sewing and craft projects, I have way to many book ideas and projects on the boil that I don’t know whether I will get them all done. However, Cry Havoc is likely to be my focus for at least the first six months of 2026. Then I’ll need to work on a Dani Kristoff novel. Who knows priorities shift.

Meanwhile I’m enjoying being in Perth for nine days and seeing friends.

Work in progress

Read Full Post »

The Prudential Light Cover Reveal

Posted in A writer's life, cover reveal, Creative passion, Steampunk, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on August 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Frauke, the fantastic designer from Crocobooks, has outdone herself with this wonderful cover for The Prudential Light, Cry Havoc Book Four.

I love this so much. Originally I wanted a silhouette of an older woman but once I saw this one, I realised that was how Prudence sees herself and how she would want to be remembered. The skinny, pretty young thing. You might notice so Chinese influences in the cover and that’s part of the story as is the magnolia.

Originally this was going to be a novella, but as you know from previous posts, lots of story came out while I was in Singapore and in the pool and there was also a front story of what was happening with Jemima and crew and then the memoir component. Now it’s going to be a novel, if a bit shorter than the earlier ones.

Now I might have mentioned I was also going to do a story about Edward, Fulton and Dr Heaton. It is sort of a prequel, but isn’t. This story is about how they met, how they fixed Fulton etc. Well guess what kiddos!!! Another cover reveal.

I have not started this one yet. But look! I love it. I realise it says novel right now. However, I do think it is a novella or shorter novel. However, when the time comes I’ll adjust the cover if necessary. Fingers crossed I get this written by the end of the year. Next blog post will reveal some health issues that might impact my writing for a bit.

Originally the title was going to be Edward Huntington Esquire: Gentleman Magician but that was way too many words if I was to stick to the style of the other books. So I trimmed it to Gentleman Magician. I also went for a younger model. The first iteration had a bowler and didn’t look right. The joys of self publishing.

Remember if you like any of my books, please leave a review or rating as it really helps.

Also if you haven’t read any Cry Havoc books, Ruby Heart, book one is currently free until August 15.

Apple

Google Play

Kobo

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

And on my bookstore.

Appearances

My partner Matthew Farrer (Black Library) and I will be guesting at Ozcomicon in Canberra this weekend. Fingers crossed.

I’ll be at Gamacon on 6 September in Canberra. That sounded so far away before but is coming in hot.

I’m also scheduled for Books and Beyond in Newcastle on 27 September.

I’ll have a table at Conflux in Canberra on 4-5 October.

On 18 October I will have a table at the Steampunk Faire in Goulburn. Hopefully I would have sewn my bustle gown by then.

And Newcastle Book Boyfriend on 22 November.

Read Full Post »

Procrastawriting or taking care of business

Posted in A writer's life, Australian author, author appearances, Author signing event, Book cover, book signing, Conflux, Creative passion, fantasy, Geeking out, research, revision, Science fiction conventions, Steampunk, Victorian, tagged , , , , , , , , , on July 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Yesterday, I did zero work on my current WIP, The Prudential Light. I did not have the excuse of the previous couple of days of recovering from my shingles vaccination, which really did knock me about. I did procrastawriting.

I wrote and sent a newsletter, and prior to that I signed up to Benventi for preorders for Books and Beyond 28 September. That took time. Here is a link to that preorder form. This is evidence and also if you are in the Central Coast and want to check out the event, please do. I’d love to say hi. It’s a first time, small writer event, which I think is free for the public.

I’ll be at the Geekmarkets on the CSFG table in the morning of 19 July with some of my books on offer. Also, free and fun.

I’ve signed up to Gamacon 6 September and I will have another appearance in August to announce soon.

Early October, it’s Conflux in Canberra, where I’ll have a table too. Not sure if I’ll make it onto any panels yet. That’s 3-5 October over the long weekend. A great SF con and a real experience if you have never been. I am hoping to launch The Prudential Light there but if so I need to get cracking.

I have other events later in the year as well but that’s the next few.

I have ordered book covers for The Prudential Light and Edward Huntington Esquire: Gentleman Magician so keep your eye out for those. I’m super excited about those.

While I have mucked about for two days, I actually did do some work this morning on The Prudential Light. It requires some additional structure so I had to write some new bits and one section needs a bit of research. The word count is now 53,000 word and I am not sure if this will reach 70,000 by the time I’m done.

I am in the ‘this is a mess, everyone will hate it, I can’t make it good’ stage. Or trending that way. I am still having fun with Jemima and Aunt Prudence.

Now as you can see I am writing a blog post. Is this procrastawriting? Or a heavy dose of writerly admin? I find it a bit of a diversion and I like blogging. Often I think of things I want to blog about and then don’t get around to it and then forget.

Have I told you I have started a TikTok? I am very much a Noob and the platform has amazing potential but being time poor I don’t have time to explore it and I’m also distracted by all those TikToks. My lastest talk about how hard I find revision. I love drafting novels. The hard work is shaping them into something you can read. Hence, my angst over is it good enough, can I make it better and so on.

I also owe the blog some posts from China, which I will get to.

Now it is time to get another cuppa.

PS my daughter just made me tea, put the heater on, brought me slippers, my hoodie and a cookie. I’m so spoilt.

Read Full Post »

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.

Read Full Post »

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!

Read Full Post »

Fighting the lurgy

Posted in A writer's life, Emerald Fire, Paranormal romance, Paranormal romance writing, plotting, Trying to focus, tagged , , , , on June 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Last Wednesday I went to a book launch. I posted about it. I started feeling a bit off, put on a mask and went home quick smart. It was a light cold and I thought I was over it until Friday or Saturday when I started coughing. Come Sunday night, I didn’t sleep, I coughed and coughed until I was a wreck and I felt so ill. I coughed until I vomited, not pleasant. I also experienced a dreaded pee your pants moments, over and over and I thought my life was over! No doctor’s appointments available until the next day and I couldn’t work. Tested at home and negative for Covid, then did a triple test for Covid, Flu AB and RSV. Still negative. Doctor tested me for whooping cough (even though I had a booster) and a pcr for covid. Negative. Apparently if you have had a booster for whooping cough you can get a mild version and you can spread it to other people. It’s a garden variety virus. I started to feel well enough to sleep. Waking up is not as much fun and I have no sense of smell. My cup of tea tastes like hot water. The Vicks vapour rub makes my eyes water but I can’t smell it. Vegimite tastes slightly salty. I hope it comes back soon. It might be the nasal spray I’m using. I might be the virus. Who knows!

I’m not 100 percent yet. But I can sit up and do stuff for a little while. I have been whiling away the time with a bit of writing, reading, and mostly watching The Golden Girls from season one. I was already watching Castle but that tends to be the evenings. We also finished watching Halo on Blu Ray which I really liked. Reading is still the same, but I am also reading a manuscript for the novel crit group.

Progress was great until I was struck down with the lurgy. Today I’m hoping it will be a good writing day. I am not sure how I’m going to finish this story. But I did create a very cool character that would make a good spin off story. He’s the White Wolf of Donegal!

So paranormal romance Destiny’s Blood is at 52,000 words. I hope to get to 60,000 by the end of the weekend. That will be hard as my son arrives from Singapore this afternoon and I enjoy spending time with him. Luckily he has to work though and so do I next week, with extra days, so I need to focus. I may only last an hour before I want to get horizontal.

The other project, Amber Rose, had a slight increment, to just over 22,000 words.

Both projects are pants projects so I have no idea what is going to happen. The characters just go in there and make shit up. Haha. It usually works out but somewhere I have think stuff up, maybe jot something down.

Let’s not talk about the WIPs…there is only so much one can do in a day.

I did get Emerald Fire into Hard back and Large Print Hard back and I’m expecting my print copy proofs next week. They go live on June 30. Go libraries. Go!

Also, a weird and wonderful thing happened. The copyright agency paid me money this week for my work being used. I have no idea what. I’ll go check.

Julian Assange is back in Australia. Who would have thunk it.

Read Full Post »

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.

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »