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Posts Tagged ‘Singapore’

It’s me again

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, Creative passion, Life, the universe and everthing, Singapore, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »

My last day in Singapore.

I reached 30,000 words on Amethyst Way, Cry Havoc Book 5, which is not too shabby. I’m very excited about this.

With Gentleman Magician, Cry Havoc Novella, I’m waiting on feedback from Matthew on the blurb. I need to blurb to create entries of the National Library and the ISBNs and preorders and so on.

Now I have reached my goal, I’m about to head out to do some gift shopping and we might eat out for my last night here. At present I still have to pack but all my clothes are on the bed waiting to be stuffed around gifts and things.

In other world news, there are terrible floods in Nepal, which are awful and bring back horrible memories of the Boxing Day tsunami. I was not affected directly, just emotionally by that disaster. Climate change disaster!

As well as Dolly Parton passing away, Tim Curry has joined her. More icons falling.

In the old days of Live Journal I used to blog about life and stuff. And I’ve been thinking about this recently, particular AI and it’s impact. My writer brain goes into story mode and I toss ideas around. The trouble is those thoughts are scary.

My latest thought is that our children or grandchildren or even ourselves will have to pay for knowledge. At present, you Google something and the AI comes back you, offering help and so on. But when we are all dependent on AI, and our children can no longer think for themselves, the billionaires may start charging us for knowledge, for information.

Information that was created by humans, created by us and that is mostly free.

That’s a bit scary right. Then, what about AI changing information and us losing our history. How will we know what is right and what is wrong?

My answer? Librarians and books. Real, analogue books. But what if they disappear as wekk? What if we can no longer learn from history because that history has been rewritten and knowledge is transactional on a fee for service basis. I am sure someone has written a book like this already.

It sucks to be a writer sometimes because the brain goes to weird places.

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The Countdown Begins!

Posted in Writing, Food overdose, A writer's life, new release, Singapore, Life, the universe and everthing, tagged , , , , , on August 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Today is Tuesday and I fly out very early Friday morning to return to Australia. My last full day is Thursday. I have mixed feelings, of course. I love hanging out with my son and my daughter-in-law and I love being in Singapore. I also miss home, my partner and my family and friends. We need instantaneous travel right now so I can see family and friends everyday. I’d probably need one of those time slowing devices as well to fit all that visiting into a day. Mmm.

I’ve spent a bit of time here, writing and working on writing administration tasks. I’ve mixed that up with trips to malls, the grocery stores and restaurants and cafes and a museum. I’ve caught up a couple of times with Singaporean friends. I’ve bought local books! I’ve visit Don Don Donki a lot and bought some interesting snacks. One of my daughter-in-law’s favourite things is to go to Fair Price on the weekend to buy fresh prawns. They have other live seafood too, but it’s the prawns that are the favourite. I am allergic to fish so my darling kids don’t eat it when I’m around, even though I don’t mind if they do.

I had a sinus thing that lasted for about a week and really made me suffer. I’m great now and I am surprised how much energy I have. My daughter-in-law makes sure I eat well. (low salt, low fat, low sugar). She cooked up another feast last night. She always cooks some kind of soup (broth) with herbs or fungus and so on. I felt so full even though by volume it’s much less than I eat at home. This visit has brought home to me how much we eat at home, how much meat and carbs. I like how with Chinese culture the food is shared. Even if we eat a western type meal, Ferdi and I will swap and share as much as we can. Restaurants here don’t blink if you ask for share plates. I hope to take away a few of these habits so Matthew better watch out that we might be sharing meals instead of feeling obliged to eat everything on the plate.

I have exercised in the pool every day except for two days due to sickness. According to Google that is about 250 calories burned per day. However, I use the pool exercise to trim and tone muscle, exercise my core and work on my knees. A trip to anywhere via MRT (Metro) uses around 5000 steps. More if there is a mall and looking for things. I’m going to head out to the supermarket later as I’m cooking tonight. On the menu is crispy pork belly. (this is high fat and salt but I’m not making a huge amount). What that all equates to is that I’ve lost 3 kilos. Probably fluid mostly. I think I would have lost more but now that I’m well, I’m eating more. The week I was sick by daughter-in-law despaired of me. I had no appetite and she had to cook inventively to encourage me to eat. New discovery for me is these long green chili things that have very little heat and taste great with stir fry pork and garlic. I tried this at Xiang Xiang restaurant. I don’t know their name but I will have to go looking for them. Google tells me they are called Chinese Screw Pepper.

On Sunday, which was my last Sunday here, we chilled by the pool then took the gondola from Mt Faber (not Barker) across to Sentosa and then the Sentosa one. We went to the Bikini Bar where we had a drink because it was hot and then walked around a bit. We went over 10, 000 steps just on Sentosa as we took a car to Mt Faber (not Barker!) and back. It was lovely just to forget stuff and hang out. We had Xiao Long Bao which were yummy. We tried crab ones as well and mmm well not as nice and very fishy tasting. We also bought some Pierre Herme macarons. Very yummy and tres cher. By the time we got home we were all very tired.

I do have some reflections that don’t relate to food and shopping. That is live in the moment. This might seem kind of weird but when I see an old woman, maybe 80-90 walking slowly or an elder person in their mobility scooter, I think, they are lucky because they made it to that age. I guess recent loss affects my thinking. Russell Kirkpatrick was a year younger than me. However I have been thinking like that for a while. You can’t take your good health for granted. You can’t demand that you live to 100. You have to live in the moment, do the best you can and look after yourself. Don’t do stupid things. I’m 66 and reasonably healthy but I have liver problems and I had eye issues last year. I don’t know what the future holds for me but I can live today and hope to be here tomorrow. As I begin leaving Singapore, I can’t assume that I’ll come back here and things will be the same. I can’t assume I’ll come back. I hope I will. I know I leave part of my heart here with my son and daughter-in-law and I wish them happiness and health.

What fascinates me most about Singapore is what they have achieved as a country. The rich cultures here also make the country unique. Of course, there are many places that have a similar cultural mix (hello result of British colonisation) but Singapore do it with purpose.

Okay well that was a bit deep, even for me. So on the writing front. Yesterday I finished taking up the edits on Gentleman Magician and now I need to read it through aloud. That might take a couple of days. I also need to register ISBNs and what not that will take a few hours. I am also at 24,500 words on Amethyst Way. I was hoping to get to 30,000 words before I get home. But here I am blogging instead of writing!

Overall, I am happy with what I have achieved on the writing front, given I was behind when I got here.

Edit: I made it to 26,000 words and then got a migraine so I did not cook.

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The funnel path

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, Food overdose, Singapore, Travel, tagged , , , , on August 18, 2026| Leave a Comment »

When I came to Singapore this time, I thought it was a long time, but it is going very quickly indeed. I’m in the funnel path to head back to Australia. Technically, the 27th will be my last day as I get up at some incredibly early time to catch a 7.15 am flight on the 28th. Nine days left. My son gets back from his work trip tomorrow, so yay!

I’ve been a bit sick-not sick, sick, just you know a sinus/cold thing that made me pretty miserable, particularly, yesterday. (Neg RATS) (I think it picked it up at the cinema!)Today at least I felt well enough for some gentle exercise in the pool. I think I have trimmed a few kilos during my stay. I have a fatty liver and liver inflammation so I have to lose some weight and change my eating habits. Luckily, Ferdi advises me when we eat out and cooks really lean and less salty food when at home. The last couple of days she has cooked feasts! I shall share photos. Things my daughter-in-law and I planned went on hiatus and maybe we can revive some of those plans. I believe the deluxe hair spa will open up again before I leave.

On the writing front, slow progress compared to normal me. 16,000 words into Amethyst Way with scenes in my head fighting over their placement. A good thing you can select sections and relocate them in a document without too much fuss. If I had more energy I could get back onto restructuring and revising Tainted Lady, but it appears my energy is on holiday somewhere. I still write everyday about 1000 words.

And what did I mean about a funnel? Well, I have one weekend left and my son, some friends work 9-5 so that is the last opportunity to meet people and get together. There is a YumCha lined up for Saturday so that’s excellent.

When I get back to Canberra, I shall be working logistics for my first physical book launch in an age. Years, and years. I am very grateful that Dr Craig Cormick has agreed to launch The Founders’ Legacy.

Now some awesome food photos.

This was dinner, the first day I was pretty incapacitated by a cold/sinus. Ferdi went to get live prawns. We already bought this delicious pineapple. I must mention the soup. Soup is a must.

Next was lunch the day after. We don’t normally have such big lunches, but there were left overs from the above.

The prawn leftovers were mixed with squid, and the egg omelette had snake beans in it.

Then last night!

Steamed egg with tofu, Japanese curry chicken with potatoes and beef ball and broccoli and mixed fruit, including flat peaches that were divine.

Thank you Ferdi. I think we can eat out tonight so you can take a break from looking after me.

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There is movement at the station…

Posted in A writer's life, Creative passion, new release, Singapore, Steampunk, Travel, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Gentleman Magician is with the editor. Phew! My son and daughter-in-law were away all day Monday until later in the evening so it was my chance to knuckle down and finish writing/revising/reading through the manuscript. I didn’t get the whole thing done until Tuesday morning, but it is done and it is sent at 50,000 words–full of Edward, Fulton and Dr Heaton. Sorry no Jemima!

I had fun with it and it was a challenge. Prequels can be difficult, for sure, because you have to tie into those things you set up on the novels. Also, there is no romance in it…I can’t have Edward being unfaithful to Jemima, even if it is before they get together.

Right now, I’m onto Amethyst Way. Here is the cover! A big thank you to Frauke at Crocodesigns.

It’s early days on the writing front. I have some words down and will get some more in after I have finished blogging. Amethyst Way will feature Milly and Jemima and using some Victorian era cliches– letters to convey information (not the whole book just the set up) and faerie entwined into the story.

Of course, I meant to start this two weeks ago but with The Founders’ Legacy autocorrect debacle, which delayed me finishing Gentleman Magician, I am about two weeks behind on Amethyst Way. And technically I was meant to write another novel about Jemima’s father and mother, which had to be skipped for now.

I’m so excited to be writing this story. My sister-in-law, who is a big fan of the Cry Havoc series, said she’d love a story about Milly and as The Prudential Light was Aunt Prudence’s memoir and Amber Rose was about Fulton, it seemed only fair to focus on Milly. Of course, that suggestion gave me ideas!

I am hoping to have Gentleman Magician in print before Books and Beyond on 27 September in Ourimbah. I think my chances are good. I will definitely have copies for all the October events, Conflux, Once Upon a Fairytale, the Goulburn Steampunk Festival and Books in Sight event in Canberra.

Anyway, I’m so excited.

Tonight we are eating out near Orchard Road I think because we are seeing The Odyssey in one of the Singapore Imax theatres. I haven’t ventured out in recent days, except for the pool, which is downstairs and a few laps of the complex in the evening. This is by choice as I want to write.

I know I’m in Singapore, but apart from a few things I have not done, I’ve seen most touristy things. However, now the busy things are done, I should be able to write in the mornings and explore Singapore in the afternoons, maybe even on my own. I usually go out with my daughter-in-law but you know I am a big girl now. We do have a favourite Japanese grocery store called Don, Don, Donki and will get back there soon.

I am going to a book event at the Book Bar on Friday to see Home, Truly and Beyond: Singapore’s Speculative Fiction Writers. It will feature Joyce Chng, Elaine Boey and Megan Chee with moderator Meihan Boey (I love her books). Me and my phone will find the venue.

My son is going to China and Vietnam for work on Sunday, which is Singapore’s national day. I’m likely to stay at home as we are near one of the major venues and there will be so many people, if the run up events are any indication. My son is away for ten days and that leaves me and my daughter-in-law to hang out by ourselves. My son’s absence couldn’t be helped as work is important. I head back at the end of the month, so I’ll have a final week with my son then. It all seems too quick to me. A day short of five weeks! It sounded like a long time but it’s not really. My daughter-in-law suggests I come for three months next time. Matthew has a permanent invitation, too, but alas the old kitty kat, Gin, does not.

Anyway, that’s it from me at the moment. The Founders’ Legacy is out in the world. The physical book launch will be on Monday 31 August at Smiths in Civic, Canberra. The first book physical book launch in literally years.

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Some Singapore Highlights

Posted in A writer's life, Creative passion, fantasy, geekgirl, Geeking out, retro SF, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 29, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Singapore is full of delights. Culinary, in particular, but also cultural. I had an amazing time last year with the 60th anniversary, with the cultural institutions exhibiting early Singapore artifacts that tied directly to the novel I was writing. This year I had a couple of things on my wish list. But, then, something popped up on my Instagram feed, something right up my alley. The Portals Experience. Link here.

Anyway, my son and daughter-in-law liked the idea too, being geeks like me. Portals is in Scots Road, fairly central. What is Portals? Well SF and Fantasy, a whole spectrum of books, book cover art, figurines, dioramas, games, genre discussion. It was truly amazing and I think I needed a season ticket to get the full effect of it. It opens up the whole world of cover art and books. The early SF. The early art. I’m thinking AI is going to kill the future of cover art and I hate that. These covers were amazing, just like the stories were. Amazing and new at the time. The SF, Fantasy and Horror genres reek with creative imagination of the other worldly and it’s not just books and cover art. There are games, game art, figurines, dioramas–whole scenes of imagined worlds. There are archetypes and there is genre growth and evolution and Portals gives more than a glimpse into this.

I thoroughly recommend this event. I asked one of the staff members if the exhibit will travel elsewhere and she thought not. It took the organizer two years to put together and now they will be looking to store the contents when the exhibition ends September 1, I think. So you have all of August to check it out.

The store was amazing too. You could by first edition SF paper backs, art prints (with half the revenue going to the artists), art postcards (same deal) and other geek stuff.

I will share some photos. It is five stars all round. No loos on site so come prepared.

Image 1. Panels of Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazines. There were several panels of different magazines on display.

Image 2 An example of a panel with book, game and figurine and artwork Warcraft

Image 3 Examples of book displays in the first room

Image 4 Film, artifacts and book Planet of the Apes

Image 4 Examples of early SF books

Image 5 An early book that I had not read

Image 6 Figurines–These were done by themes, exploring different cultural origins

Image 7 Eastern tradition

Image 8 Greek inspired figurines

Image 9

Image 10 Map

A short clip of Atlantis Diorama

And a short clip of one of my favorite parts- The book slider loop thing

Obviously I have way more photos and video but this is just a taste. You should get along to see if if in Singapore and if you are heading to Singapore soon, check it out.

Also, we went to Alice Boulangerie and Restaurant. I had an amazing burger. I couldn’t have the prawn pasta or the lobster pasta because they put fish roe in there. (I needed to google the ingredients). Amazing pastries in the display too. Great service.

Otherwise I have stayed at home and worked on book stuff. Like all day. On the weekend we are booked for the Ginger Lily High Tea at the Hilton in Orchard. Stay tuned.

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I’m in Singapore (for a bit)

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on July 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »

I arrived on Thursday evening and I’m adjusting to the slight time difference. I’m not quite there yet. I am here mostly to chill and be with my son and my daughter-in-law. There are a couple of things I’d like to do. Maybe visit the science museum on recommendation from a writing buddy. Also, a Portal exhibition of SF and fantasy miniatures came up on instagram so we will go to that. And catching up with a couple of friends.

I usually set some goals when I come for a long visit. Five weeks is a long visit. Enough to get a break and settle my mind. First goal is to get to the pool to walk everyday, usually early morning. Two days in and I’ve done that. This is to help keep me fit. Something I have been neglecting. To eat good food but to be food smart because I have gained 5 kilos since I was here last year and that’s not good. I am meant to be losing kilos not gaining them!

Writing wise, I have a few things on. My original plan was to start drafting Amethyst Way, the next Cry Havoc novel. However, I need to revise Gentleman Magician first and I have booked it in for an edit so best get going.

The other thing was edit the audio book of The Founders’ Legacy. I’ve recorded it but not edited and mastered it. I did a bit of that yesterday but I may switch to Gentleman Magician as that’s more pressing (and less frustrating).

The audio book recording is such a challenge. Sometimes your mouth does not obey your commands and you mumble or say the wrong word. Eep. Then there are words you can write but not easily say. For example, self-congratulatory which I can say but not when I’m recording myself etc. There are other tongue twisters like ignominy, preliminary and many others. And dealing with non-gendered invented pronouns! Oh well, hopefully I will learn from this.

Anyway, the only picture I have taken is of the pool and noodles from last night oh and the delightful meal my daughter-in-law cooked when I arrived. Did I mention that noodles are my friend? My daughter-in-law and I bond over noodles.

Next post is a tribute to Russell Kirkpatrick, who passed away fairly suddenly.

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The Prudential Light-launches tomorrow

Posted in A writer's life, blurb, new release, Steampunk, strong female lead, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The ebook is loaded on all the platforms.

I’ve started the process for print production. Just in time because Frauke, the cover designer is taking off on holidays! There will be a paper back version, a hardback version and a large print accessible version (mostly for libraries).

We have updated the blurb. I saw ‘we’ because Matthew Farrer did the hard yards. I send him my thoughts and he turns them into blurbs.

New and updated blurb

A book of manners, magic and mayhem

Aunt Prudence Wainwright, famously daunting dragon lady of the Hardcastle family, has set herself to writing her memoirs. But which Prudence will have her story come out?  

Will it be the maiden aunt who lived quietly in a small village, bringing up her niece Milly and sewing and embroidering to her heart’s content? Maybe it will be the outrageously-dressed, old busybody whose battle of wills with her niece, Jemima, unfolded in Ruby Heart? Better yet, the doughty old warrior hidden under the lace and brocade, who fought off villains with her hatpins and umbrella in Emerald Fire?  Perhaps it will be the family matriarch featured in Amber Rose, prim, dependable, astute at procuring baked goods and deft at baby wrangling, who is at times a tad flirtatious with the older gentry?  Or will these memoirs reveal yet another side of Prudence that the rest of the Hardcastles have yet to see?

With the family’s magical gifts running through her veins, there will be plenty to astonish her relations: adventures, abandonment, heartbreak, secret loves, and dangers. But with new babies on the scene, marriage proposals, battles with rogue magicians, and the very past she is recalling bursting back into her life in startling ways, how will she ever find the time to finish writing!

I’m very excited to see it out there in the world. I can’t wait for feedback, truly. It might be a bit different from the other books in the series.

I’ve started work on The Gentleman Magician but I’m getting lots of ideas for Book 5 so much so that I found it hard to sleep last night. I’m going to be playing around with tropes and cliches. I’m currently contemplating a title too.

Some pre order links but it is also listed on Google Play Books, Barnes and Noble.

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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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Saying goodbye to Singapore and hello China

Posted in A writer's life, China, Creative passion, Cry Havoc series, research, Singapore, Steampunk, The Prudential Light, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 21, 2025| Leave a Comment »

We leave for China today. First stop Beijing. I think I can allow myself to get excited. I know the cats certainly are because they are bouncing around the place.

I have really enjoyed my time here. It has been a positive experience sharing space with my son, his wife Ferdi and their robobvac which is even now harassing my feet. I’ve made it to the pool every morning, with additional visits with the family on hot nights now and then when time permitted.

I’ve eaten way too much food and I was hoping the heat would lower my appetite but air con baby, that keeps me going. We had dinner at The Coconut Hut last night in Beach Road. It is high end Malaysian cuisine. The lamb was amazing and the beef cheek rendang rich. However, we did not linger and we were home fairly early. There was packing to do and so on.

I have been debating whether I should take my laptop to China. I think we will be so tired after sightseeing that I won’t have energy to write etc but I will on the flight there and back.

On the writing front, The Prudential Light draft is now at 50,000 words and I estimate it will be between 60,000 and 70,000 words. I am debating whether to call it book 4 in the cry havoc series because there is some now action that moves things along as well as the memoir/Aunt Prudence’s story. I have also been playing around with taglines.

Do tell me what you think…

The Prudential Light: A Gentlewoman’s Memoir

Manners, Magic, a little spot of mayhem and not enough scones.

However, some people have commented that I should leave ‘a little spot of” out.

Compared to Amber Rose baked goods do not feature as much as they ought to. However, I am revising and I might get hungry. I have managed to fit in some pork pie.

This morning as I was waking up I thought it could be something like…

The Prudential Light: A Gentlewoman’s Imperfect Memoir… as you might have guessed Jemima does scribble in Prudence’s notes on occasion and event critiques her work.

You might be able to tell that I had fun with this story. Aunt Prudence proved much more interesting than I expected. People have skeletons in the closet and she has her fair share.

Singapore has been a perfect inspiration for this story. From the hot, humid weather, to the time in the pool letting my mind wander and characters telling me what’s next and the two museums that helped me with setting and so on. Being out of my normal environment, I had time to focus on writing as well as do some outings.

I’ll always treasure this time. I will be back but just for a day before I head home. The good news is I have an invite back just need to figure out when that might be. I will have to make sure Matthew comes too then.

Oh by way, Ruby Heart is now free. If Amazon want to charge you ask for a price match. I’ve submitted links so I’m hoping they will come to the party.

Check out Ruby Heart and meet Jemima Hardcastle, brave, intrepid and game for anything.

Links.

My store.

Apple.

Barnes & Noble.

Kobo

Google

Amazon

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Singapore Sojourn Part 5

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, China, Creative passion, Cry Havoc series, research, Singapore, Steampunk, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I have been here three weeks and one day. Wow, time has flown. And on Saturday we fly out to Beijing for 12 days in China. What I thought might be a short side trip has become the big China trip and I feel the excitement building.

I made a few goals for my time in Singapore. Pool walking every morning. I have done this, sometimes with more enthusiasm and a few days with less. I am sleeping a bit longer than those initial days where I woke up at 5am. However, I can’t seem to sleep in past 7.30am. But I am reaching sleep goals according to my Apple watch. I’ve also road tested these two last days taking my Apple watch into the pool. It is a much better way of keeping track than lap counting. When I count laps I lose count because I starting thinking about Aunt Prudence.

My other goal was writing 30,000 words of the novella The Prudential Light, which is Aunt Prudence’s memoir in the Cry Havoc series. Well I am at 44,000 words so I should at least make 45,000 words today but you know there’s a lot going on in this story and it may be a novel after all. I blame the condo’s swimming pool for that because many of my ideas came to me while pool walking and losing track of how many laps I did. The reason I think this is that I have written so many scenes and I think the plot might come together at 50,000 words but all the restructuring, back filling skipped scenes etc is going to bring it up in word count. Anyway, I’m very happy about that.

Next steps is to commission a cover and also a cover for the next installment, Edward Huntington Esquire, Gentleman Magician. This will cover the period of Edward finding out he was a magician and his meeting with Dr Heaton and Fulton. I probably have another story in the series, which would be a novella (god I hope so!) about Wilbur Hardcastle and Jemima’s mother. It will be a love story but not a romance because we all know that Jemima’s mother died young.

Then I might start on my spin off series.

Meanwhile in Singapore I have caught up with my mate Dev and we have hung out. Yesterday, we had a marathon Orchard Road experience yesterday from 12pm to about 7pm, including most importantly a trip to Kinokuniya. We started at Pizza Express which is fine dining in Singapore. Then we had tea and something naughty in Paul’s, which is outside Kinokuniya and then later I had a kind of Hawker Centre experience in the Food Republic, which is sort of the same thing except in a mall and airconditioned. I had some fried prawn noodles and oyster omelette. I’m not keen on oysters, I can eat them, but I really liked the egg part, which was crispy and tasty. Dev tells me it is eggs with water and tapioca starch.

Me and Dev and Kinokuniya

Lychee Fanta and Cream Soda flavoured Fanta. They were a $1 each and interesting.

To get back on the research track on Monday we went to the National Museum of Singapore to see their Once Upon a Tide special exhibition, about the history of Singapore. Well worth the visit. We also did a quick walk through of the permanent exhibition on level one. Lucky I did because I found out Rickshaws were invented in Japan later than I thought and where popular from 1880s until 1930s.

Below is an early map of Singapore in the period that I’m interested in.

I also got some good photos of things that will help in my story of Aunt Prudence and that’s the main focus of my visit to the museum.

I have really enjoyed hanging out with my son and daughter-in-law. On Tuesday we went to the island of Sentosa to check it out. We mostly did things like the free shuttle bus to check out the beaches and we did a skylift up and back to look around and at at the Shake Shack. We don’t have Shake Shack in Australia. The chips are good but this time they weren’t as hot as they should have been. The Shake Shack in Gardens By the Bay were so good! The cheese burger I had was real and yummy.

On the skyride

Today is going to be an at home day. I need to do some writer admin, hang out my washing so I can pack for the trip and write. I really need to do something with my hair but that remains to be seen if I have the energy. I thought a pink rinse would go down well in China, except I didn’t bring any with me so my hair is very blonde and curly. However, apparently Beijing will be hot but not as humid so my hair could remain straight.

My Kinokuniya purchases. Thea Guanzon is from the Philippines and Sue Lynn Tan is Chinese from Hong Kong.

Above is the emotionally needy Siumoguai who had snuck into my room and perched next to my swimmers.

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