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Posts Tagged ‘Writing’

I’m up reasonably early on the 1st of January. I managed to sleep later than normal. Yay!

Happy New Year! May 2026 fulfill your hopes and dreams.

I hope for peace and good sense to prevail the world over. I want to be optimistic for the future of the world. Being a science fiction (and fantasy) aficcionado and Star Trek fan, I have had faith in Humankind and that we will move beyond wars and famine and that we will survive into the future. However, I admit that that faith has been shaken of late.

I hope for me that I can find that optimism again. That my faith in us will be restored.

Now for more mundane things.

I have to admit I piked on staying up until 12 and left the party around 10pm. We had a family get together.

Now I just don’t want to eat more food! Everything was delicious but now I have to think about the waistline. I wish it was called the wasteline and I could watch myself waistline waste away but alas…

This morning, I took my blood pressure reading before the meds kicked in and well that’s not good is it? I thought cutting back salt was going to help there but health wise I’ve been a bit over the place. Next in the queue is a blood test scheduled for next week. I’ve been having sleep disturbances between 1-3 am most nights lately, which is very annoying. Nothing too serious except I feel like my head is in a paper bag most of the day. Aching and tingling in the fingers and toes, so much so that I have to get up and take painkillers at night, tired, fatigued, etc. I have sub-clinical Hashimotos and I have these flare ups where I gain weight, go through the fatigue, sluggishness etc and then when I’m tested they say my thyroid is reading normal. This has been going on for 10 years, since I was first diagnosed (confirmed through blood test and identification of antibodies). The other not so interesting thing is the inflammation where my partial knee replacements are. At first I thought they were loosening and the specialist thought not. However, he is monitoring six monthly, unless I have extreme pain. Each day I’m noticing it is harder to move around and my knees are stiff and sore. So after this post is done I’m going for a walk. Best thing to get the joints warm.

The new spectacles after surgery were a bit hard to deal with at first. Multifocals and two very divergent eyes now. Left eye is still seeing blurry but better than when I first developed a full thickness macular hole in August. I can report that my eyes and brain are getting used to the new glasses but when I take them off my eyes/brain go what the hell!

I have received print versions of The Prudential Light. My daughter-in-law picked up an issue with one of the Chinese characters in the book. Two missing strokes that were wiped when I did ‘remove background’. I have replaced that image with a new one and uploaded new versions everywhere. I had to redo the hardback versions because I had matt finish on the cover instead of gloss and I had gloss finish on the other hardback versions. Paperback is matt finish. That was completed this morning.

There are four different sets of Chinese characters in the book, drawn by a friend, who is a scholar of Chinese art. Modern Chinese characters have been simplified and the ones in The Prudential Light are meant to be traditional and hopefully ones in use in 1840s. As for the pinyin version, I cannot tell you if I have stuck to the Cantonese pinyin or strayed to the Mandarin. Brain is not functional. Pinyin is the romanised version of the word to help with pronunciation. Cantonese and Mandarin are two different languages but use the same characters.

Yesterday I posted my writing to do list. I also reorganised my working space. (I’m laughing because I’m on my couch with the lap top on my lap). I bought and assembled a hutch. I wish I’d taken before and aftershots. I’m camped out in my bedroom for another nine months I guess while my grandkids are living here. While I had a desk, I had a great big mess there. Along with my day job work space and my imac working space, there was just a junk yard of crap, scribbled on manuscript pages, pens (which I could never find, other desk junk. With a hutch I can lift things up, put them where I can find them. I’m so pleased with it now. I have so many pens and I threw away the ones that don’t work. So diligent of me.

I’ve also put up my planner on the wall. Time to commit to writing on the planner and getting some work done on the books I want to write. While I have a kind of full and hectic schedule for writing new books, I have some that are already written and I have to find time to tweak/revise them and send them out for submission. If I have no luck getting an agent, I guess they will be self published too by the end of the year. I was also wishing I could fit a nice epic fantasy series in my schedule too. I also mulled the idea of retiring Dani Kristoff–where I write paranormal romance with sorcerer’s and werewolves and witches under that name. It might be my lack of promotion but they are not as popular as the Dragon Wine series and Cry Havoc. Another novel I want to write is a sci fi romance that has been in my brain since the early days. So that might fill the Dani Kristoff slot in my schedule.

Who knows…the future is yet to be written.

Best wishes to all.

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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?

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There are to do lists and there are TO DO LISTS.

I find them helpful, even though I don’t use them all the time.

The big 100 days to do list fall in a heap for me. I have so many things I want to do that there are too many things to keep track of.

On work days, I use my calendar to manage the things I should be doing. That’s because in my day job I only work two days so I need a way to keep track because I forget inbetween the weeks.

On other days, well it depends on what I have on, what I want to achieve. Between Christmas and New Year I generally switch off so to do lists go out the window unless I’m hosting a deck party. Parties need to do lists. How else can you delegate?

Generally though if I am not doing the day job, I need a to do list to set myself goals or achieve something. Otherwise the day can just fritter away with a little bit of this, some couch/streaming etc. If I’m struggling there might be one or two things on my to do list.

Today (example only)

  • write a blog post
  • write Gentleman Magician for an hour
  • cook dinner.

Now I have done other things. I picked up my glasses, I’ve had lunch with Rob, I went to the supermarket. I’ve also fixed a Chinese character in The Prudential Light, uploaded new print files and new ebook files. They are additional things.

Whether I will write today remains to be seen. I’m giving my brain a rest.

However, that being said, to do lists work for me when I’m enthusiastic, need to get things done. If I’m not enthusiastic, then I’ll put one thing on that to do list that is important for me, just to get me going.

Motivation can sometimes be thin on the ground. There is a push pull-thing going on with what I want to do and making the effort to do them.

I’ve bought a wall planner and a desk planner. I’m going to fix up my workspace tomorrow when the new hutch arrives for my desk. I want to achieve a lot in 2026. However, sometimes it’s hard.

A wall planner is one massive to do list really.

The downside for to do list though can be where you do things not on your to do list. Or as you are marking things off, you add things you forgot! The list doesn’t get smaller.

Anyway, here are my writing to dos for 2026. Wish me luck.

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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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The book is edited.

The proofing changes are taken up.

Just waiting on a few little bits to complete the package.

Launch date is December 16, 2025.

My second novel of the year. A good year for the Cry Havoc Series indeed.

I have been looking at the blurb and I think I need to expand on it. However, I just need some brain space. But first I have to find my brain.

Blurb

Aunt Prudence Wainwright, famously daunting dragon lady of the Hardcastle family, has set herself to writing her memoirs. There will be plenty in these pages to astonish her relations: adventures, abandonment, heartbreak, secret loves and dangers and the family’s magical gifts running through her veins. But with new children, 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 them!

Here is the series link.

A few words on writing the book now that it’s packed up, nearly ready to launch.

If you read the book you will see in the author notes that I found this book challenging. You might think this is funny given I have written over 20 books now of various lengths and have been writing since 2000. But every book/story has its own challenges–it’s own problems to solve. If you are panster you do that issue wrangling on the run. If you’re a plotter/planner you do it at the planning stage.

I’m definitely in the panster category and until I’ve written the first draft I don’t know if the story is going to work. A short recap on my story writing for this book. I went off to Singapore to stay for 4-5 weeks with a side trip to China. I walked in the pool everyday, went back upstairs to write. I thought The Prudential Light was going to be a novella of say 30,000 words and 30,000 words was my goal for the month. I drafted over 50,000 words while in Singapore. You see, while in the pool, Aunt Prudence, Mr Chen and even Jemima came to have a word in my ear and the story grew from there. However, there were problems.

The structure of the novel became a bit complex. 1864ish timeline and a 1836-1841 timeline, with some other little bits between, usually Prudence mulling stuff over and some bits of research to add validity. (Note The Prudential Light can also be called historical fantasy).

Meanwhile, I developed a hole in my macular, had to have eye surgery and recover from that. Thanks to excellent beta readers and the amazing editor, Brianne Collins, the story got ironed out from the chaos that was.

During the process though I seriously doubted my ability to write; I felt cognitively challenged and thought my writing career was over.

A bit overwrought wouldn’t you say?

Matthew (partner) thought it was due to me writing a more complicated story, rather than me sinking into my dotage!

The good news is I feel fine now. I have started a new project, The Gentleman Magician and the head wheels and turning nicely. The Gentleman Magician is meant to be a novella but I won’t know that until I’ve done the draft. While I am nearly 10,000 words in, I know I have to give it a punch in the jaw to get the story going. Luckily I have some ideas in mind. I’ll also be covering some of the magic system that Edward Huntington uses: his strengths and weaknesses, methods etc. I may have a bit of thinking to do over the Christmas break.

As for other stories in the Cry Havoc series. I have The Lady and the Magician in my back brain. That’s the story of Wilbur Hardcastle and Elinor, Jemima’s parents and will be a novella (I promise!) And after some prodding from my sister-in-law a Cyr Havoc Book Five featuring Milly and Jemima, not title yet. I have to do a bit of research into English faerie first.

Given tight timeframes, the ebook will be up on the 16th but the print version may be a bit after that. I have to get the cover flats done, upload and so on.

Cheers

Donna

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New book project

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

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I’m back and well life has been busy, with travel, with writing, day job and just stuff.

My eye continues to improve from surgery and next month I’ll see about a new set of spectacles to see if that helps. I’m over the horror of it and the doom saying about what happens if they other eye goes. Not point in fretting.

The Prudential Light is back from the editor. She’s a damn fine editor that I had at Pan Macmillan and she freelances and has worked on the dragon wine series with me. For me, The Prudential Light was a bit ambitious, two different historical timelines, a lot of birthdates, event dates to keep straight. However, I’m nearly there and the ed has taken a feather duster to my prose and worked on the plot tension. There are unfortunately (or fortunately) less baked goods in this story.

I expect The Prudential Light to be out early December, maybe earlier but next stop in the proofreader and you can’t rush the proofreader.

I’m behind on other things. Newsletters, BAS statements, blogging and social media. As much as I hate to admit it, I only have so much energy.

Appearance wise, I was at Books and Beyond in Ourimbah in September. It was such a fab event. So many keen readers and it looked so pretty, even though from the outside it looked like the car park of a Mitre 10. I’ve put in an expression of interest for next year, so fingers crossed they let me come back. I also had a stall at the Goulburn Steampunk and Victoriana Fair and that was a fab event. We are taking the whole family next year, or as many as we can muster. I made two bustle dresses for this event. One took me a very long time. Did I not say I’ve been sewing lately? Sometimes, I. have to write before I allow myself into the craft room.

A very difficult fabric to work with. All that pattern matching.

Me with pink hair. I’ll be sporting that colour next week in Pokolbin.

This dress was an adaption of the plaid dress patter. I had less fabric to work with so bought the Apricot satin for contrast and bustle. It is a lighter dress for the heat and the bustle is not as overly engineered.

UPCOMING APPEARANCES

First up, next week, I’m at the Meet Your Next Book Boyfriend at the Mecure Valley, in Pokolbin.

Tickets are available here. $50 for full day $22.50 for half day. Apparently, the gardens next door have an amazing Christmas display so come along and check it out. Link to Tickeboo here.

Next March, I will be in Sydney for the Australian Romance Readers Romantic Rendevous, March 22, 2026. at the Rydges, in Surry Hill. Tickets are now on sale. There will be panels, an author lunch and the signing in the afternoon. I’m only doing Sydney this year, but the event is happening in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth. Check out this Trybooking link.

The good news about this event is that I’ll have The Prudential Light with me. I’ll be putting up a preorder too on Benenti.

I have other appearances coming in in Canberra and elsewhere. I’ll update you all. Now to head over and do my newsletter, which is also long overdue.

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The day has come. I have surgery, a vitrectomy, this afternoon. To say I’m not looking forward to it is an understatement. I have a few fears. One that the surgery won’t happen. Two that I will lose the plot while having it. (Shit scared might cover it) I’ll be awake you see (Holy moley!). That it won’t work and I’ll have to have another surgery and you know loss of vision. That I’ll have to have a cataract surgery in about a year, if the predicted rapid growth of cataract after surgery happens. That I might have other eye issues in future or with the other eye. The macular hole was totally unexpected. I get checked annually for macular degeneration and glaucoma.

I will be missing the RWA in Hobart! I will have EMO (experiencing missing out) as Matthew told me as FOMO is fear of missing out and I’ll be definitely missing out.

I only got half of my conference fee back and I was lucky to get that. The committee’s advice is to take out travel insurance. A bit late for me though. However, in future I will consider it as I usually don’t take out insurance when I travel domestically. Recall how Matthew and I got COVID when we were heading to the Terror Australis Writing Retreat? That was a lot of bucks and luckily we were able to stay and do the workshops via phone. Not ideal but the best outcome in the circumstances.

A win though for me. I have been able to massage my draft of The Prudential Light into something beta readers can wade through. I sent that off to four of them so it will be interesting to see the feedback. My take on it that I will need to really hone the structure down. I thought I had been introduced to a good editor but they did not answer my email about a quote and timing and I’m afraid a non-responsive editor is a horror story I don’t need. I even texted them and they said I’m in holiday mode will respond tomorrow and they didn’t. Oh well. Time to look for another. Not that I have issues with editors I use at the moment, but as this is a complicated structure for me and has memoir elements I thought I needed to find a specialist and someone who can suggest things, rather than a copy edit, if you get my drift. In the worse case scenario I can do it myself. I did study editing and considered hiring myself out but that’s a lot of creative energy that I can use for my own work.

Anyhow, time to go write a newsletter and send that out.

Cheers!

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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.

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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.

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