When Covid-19 hit, I was halfway through a first draft. It was a novel set in the 1990s and I was writing it to celebrate a decade I was young enough to fully enjoy. I still have the outline but, at the time of writing this blog (28/10/2020), haven't looked at it since March. This …
Never read your reviews!
New book. Time to check for reviews. Because at time of writing this I was addicted to Google, searching said book title plus my name. All authors do it. We need the quotes for marketing while the novel is still fresh. No reviews on Amazon several weeks after release, but a few on Goodreads. But, …
Genrecon, Brisbane
In short, Genrecon was a blast! Held at the State Library of Queensland, it was three days of learning, participating and making new friends. This was the third writing conference I've been part of, and as well as listening to some amazing speakers, I was invited to be on two panels and got to present …
Getting a manuscript ready for submission
A father and daughter team were on the radio the other morning. Like me, dad obviously enjoyed the house party days of the nineties. He told his daughter (and us) about the Primal Scream track, 'Loaded'. Hearing people still affectionate about that decade is why one of my WiP's is set in that era. I'm …
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Leaving my laptop behind
I'm about to leave on an extended break. As a writer I had already decided my laptop, Huey (yes, he has a name), was coming with me. My husband was also considering bringing his. We both have matching laptops, just in different colours. We weren't trying to be a sickly sweet couple when we bought …
My first draft is very first-drafty
My life has changed a lot in the past year. I don't have as much time to write as I used to, even though that issue will change by the end of the year. In one way, it's good. I'm concentrating on promotion more, instead of just writing. Where I feel this change most is …
I signed a new book contract.
The week before writing this blog I signed a book contract. It was for an eBook titled Winter Masquerade. At one stage I wanted to expand this book but after reading it for editing, I liked its pace. I didn't want to bloat the story. Someone asked me during the week which of my novels …
Selling Books at a Smaller Con
It's Sunday morning when I'm writing this. We're at Hubcon, the small pop culture con in the Blue Mountains. This is its inaugural year. There are only eight of us in Author Alley which means better sales for our books, compared to the larger festivals where there's more competition. Of course, I'm asking the best …
Looking back at my Writer’s Notebook – Part Four
I'm still not even halfway looking back at my old notebook... But I'll make this my last musings on its contents. One thing that's surprised me straight away is that I originally was going to title the last in the Angel and Actors series novels, Drama Queens and Demonic Beings. So glad I didn't. There …
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Looking back at my Writer’s Notebook – Part One
I filled my first writer's notebook. My friend, Brett, gave it to me as a present for my birthday over ten years ago. It also came with a lovely pen on which he engraved 'The pen is mightier than the sword'. Inside the notebook, he wrote an inscription of which some of the lines are: …
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