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Posts Tagged ‘revision’

Currently in Sydney

Posted in Creative passion, feminism and romance, Feminist Science Fiction, new release, SF romance, The Founders' Legacy, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 2, 2026| Leave a Comment »

It is going to be 23 degrees C today. It’s mid-Winter and that is batshit crazy. Mind you it’s about 10 degrees in Canberra atm but even that is a bit warm for Canberra at this time of year.

I have retired from my day job (Tuesday) and have come to spread my wings in the big city for a few days as a newly freed woman. Hah! (Mostly to meet people while I have the chance).

Interesting insight into the mind here. I used to think those two days I worked the day job were such an imposition. I worked hard and I was tired after. Now though my brain says…oh two days that’s nothing. You won’t get much work done now you have those two days! You could have kept working and earning $$$. I mean what the hell brain! Don’t be stupid and play around here.

Anyway, now I have to prove my own brain wrong.

I have brought Gentleman Magician with me to start the revision after beta reader feedback. That’s what you do after you launch a book, pick up the next one. The problem I have is that I have a soggy beginning in Gentleman Magician, not surprising as it’s a kind of prequel, a solid middle and a vague, cut off ending. Which means I have a bit of work to do. I did a bit of work on the train up yesterday but right now, obviously as I’m blogging, I’m a bit unfocussed.

I am going to eat lunch out so I am dreaming about Gozleme and whether there is any fresh stuff about…I can’t have any more tea because I have enough caffeine in me that I can’t sit still for five minutes. I will probably excavate my daughter’s cupboard for snacks soon and then complain about my weight. I am nothing if not consistent.

As mentioned, I launched the ebook of The Founders’ Legacy on Tuesday. I am currently planning a physical launch but that may be in early September because I am nicking off to Singapore for five weeks soon and appearing at the Canberra Geek Expo on 18 and 19 July. And I have to arrange for books to be delivered. I tried to book a launch just after Geek Expo before I fly out but the venue is unavailable…so…September. I shall keep you posted.

I am also working on an audio book. Cringe! I hate the sound of my own voice for starters. Also, weird things happen you know. Like one of the characters is called Kai and I have in two separate recordings of chapter one mispronounced the name Kai. And not noticed until I finished the recording for the chapter. The first time I call Kai Kal, which is a mix up with the main character Tal. I thought no problem I’ll just record that bit, snip the recording, delete the offending bit and insert the new bit. But for some very strange reason I am loud and sound very different in the redone recording. I delete the whole chapter and go back to the beginning. It’s all practice right?

The next time when I am editing I noticed I have called Kai “Kate”. Kate! There is no Kate. What the hell is my brain telling my mouth. This time I do a bit of research and can alter the inserted new bit which is loud etc and smooth it in. Not sure I’ll keep it but I did manage to do that using the Audacity envelope tool and manually manipulating the wave form.

Other interesting observations about recording an audio book, beside being exhausting, is stumbling over your own tongue. Yes, the tongue twisting words. There have been a few. One I edited out. The worn brown modular lounge… That does not work in spoken lingo so it changed to “Old brown modular lounge.” Self-congratulatory. Yeah that one. Gez man. Tongue gymnastics there. Preliminary…another twister.

When you record an audio book and you don’t have the stamina, experience and perspicacity, you get tired, your mouth stops working, your lips turn to jelly and your tongue becomes like a piece of disobedient rubber. Blah! Blah! Bleargh!

However, as The Founders’ Legacy uses single pronouns I think it will be more accessible as an audio book so I will perservere.

The only thing I have achieved is an audio book cover so I can’t back out now.

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Just a quick note from Guangzhou

Posted in A writer's life, China, Creative passion, Free book, revision, Steampunk, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Hi there

We arrived last night via train from Xi’an. We went Business Class, which was a godsend because we could lay the seat flat and we had space with just five chair and food. Great food. It was expensive and took 9 hours but an enjoyable ride.

(This post never got posted so it’s not last night!) So I’ll cut straight to photos.

On the platform

Below are the business class seats.

The gang!

Writing on the train

A shot of the view

Another bullet train

Railway food!

The hotel lobby

The view from the hotel room

Urgent yum cha!

These prawn dumplings are coloured and different flavours

This is my son’s favourite type of yumcha. They were so good, crunchy!

I’ve been back in Australia for a few days now. I’m still in Sydney and there are perks. I get to spend time with my daughter and it’s warmer than Canberra. However, my partner misses me. I really miss my Singapore life and the China trip was awesome. However, it’s back to real life.

On the writing side, I have a draft of The Prudential Light and now have to edit/revise and restructure it as well as find an editor. Today I have written to the cover designer for a cover. I’m very excited about this book. There was so much more to Aunt Prudence than I first thought.

Don’t forget

Ruby Heart is currently free and it’s been getting a good lot of downloads. It is soon to be promoted on Apple Books. The link to my store is here. So if you don’t have your copy get it now.

Or check out My books with buy links here.

I’m so excited about The Prudential Light, which I am going to call Book 4 because I have two layers of story, one is Aunt Prudence’s memoir and the other is what is going on in Aunt Prudence’s now with Jemima, Milly, Fulton and Edward.

There will be another book, Edward Huntington Esquire: Gentleman Magician, covering Edward’s story between sending Jemima to school and meeting her again at Primrose Manor. Basically, the story of Heaton and Edward meeting and then healing Fulton. No romance I think in this one. This may just been a series novel rather than a numbered book in the series. It’s a not quite sequel.

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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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Keeping on keeping on

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, Creative passion, revision, Trying to focus, tagged , , , on September 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

This is a follow up to my accountability post.

I am still writing, regularly and rediscovering my joy in writing. It feels great.

No huge new project just yet. I’ve been revising drafts of works I started a while ago. I’ve sent Tainted Lady, my Regency romance novel off to a beta reader. I think it needs more work but beta reader comments help with that.

I’m currently revising a middle school kids book, called Grandma Neebs through the pantry door. It’s fun but also new learning for me. I do read kid’s books to research but writing them is an art. I have a beta reader lined up for that one, I just need to put my shoulder to the wheel. It’s relatively short so I hope I can knock it over before we travel.

I’ve also been writing short stories-I received a rejection this week. This means looking for a new market. I entered a contest and I have another story submitted. I don’t write a lot of short stories generally only I have found they help get the buzz going. Finishing a short story is great. Sending it out is great. Rejections not so much but I tell myself at least I’m writing regularly.

Even if it is only 30 mins in the morning before I start work or 30 mins when I finish work, it’s something. Today I’ve been at it a few hours and have now detoured to the blog.

That’s the challenge with writing, striking a balance between family, social outings, work and writing. To write a lot, you have to sacrifice, unless you can find a balance. I’m searching for that balance.

We have also found making time with ourselves to write at the National Library really useful and productive. Unfortunately, I’ll be working full time and then travelling so I’ll have to rebalance again. I’m hoping it will be easier this time because I’ve found some joy.

Best

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Revising Moonfall and other guff

Posted in A writer's life, Dark fantasy, Dragon Wine, Editing, RSI, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 30, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Well you can tell that I’m not busy and stressed as I was as here is my next post, really soon after the last one.

Today, I started the polish of Moonfall. Normally, I’d wait a few weeks between the tidy up and a polish to get beta reader feedback. However, as the MS is booked in with the editor I can’t really wait.

Because I have RSI and arthritis and so on, I have to be careful how long I spend on the computer. The longer I spend on the computer the more attention I have to pay to ergonomics. One of the ways I tackle this is that I print out the MS in bits, read them, edit them and then key in changes later. On the weekend, this was proving a bit difficult so I went to Office Works and bought a copy stand. This allows me to have the MS held up at screen height, next to the screen and made the transcribing of the corrections so much more quicker, but also less demanding on my neck. I have a small space to work in and that meant holding the print out and trying to type stuff in. With the copy stand I have both hands free.

Here is a picture of it here. I was quite lucky because it was only around $50. I was expecting it to be more.

Today I started on the polish, now that I have sent Moonfall to beta readers. I’ve been having problems with the beginning of the book from the start. Not only because a mad woman wrote it. I fixed up the continuity stuff but then found I went on a bit. I was downstairs washing dishes and thinking about the problem when a solution came to me. I was so pleased. I managed to cut about 2000 words out of the first couple of chapters and reorganise it a bit better. I am pleased with the day’s work. I think the rest of the story is going along nicely so we will see how it goes tomorrow.

Writing books can be hard work. I think I drove myself to the very edge on the weekend. I’m surprised my brain is even working at the moment.

I believe going to see the new Solo moving probably helped me wind down. I loved it. Then again I loved the old Solo tie in novels, Han Solo at Stars End and so on. Matthew and I are both geeks and love Solo so we enjoyed the film. We saw Deadpool 2 last week. What a ripper! So funny and in your face. I like how it is so meta…aware of itself, Deadpool speaking to the audience as well as the other characters. Next one we are looking forward to is Ant Man and The Wasp.

Meanwhile…back at the book farm…I have uploaded Dragon Wine Volume Two. This is the third and fourth book in one volume and at a price that is cheaper than buying them separately. I intend to do a box set of the final two books too, maybe early next year and then the complete box set. Right now Dragon Wine Volume Two is only up on Amazon, but it will go up at other retailers soon. I just have to update Calibre before I can convert the file.

And once I have had a peek at the edit of Skyfire (due today) and work out how much work I have to do, I will put Skyfire up for pre-order. That’s my big news. I’ll come back here and let you know when it’s up.

So as a tease, here is the cover of Skyfire, coming soon to preorder status. The cover is from Frauke at http://www.crocodesigns.com

 

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