Romans and Druids at Christina Phillips Blog Party.....Forbidden

Life has been hectic and is not slowing down for another few weeks. Show’n’tell posts will be forthcoming about what I have been and am getting up to (2 cons & one fangirl trip). The short version is the annual RWA conference, AussieCon4, and Joss Whedon at the Opera House.

Once I work out how to get photos from my iPhone to the computer I'll post some pics from the recent Romance Writers of Australia annual conference. While there, I was able to meet in person many friends made online which was fantastic.

I've made many writer friends over the years and haven't been able to work out the how/when/technology to share in their launches/releases (other than attending their blogs, or in person launches). Christina Phillips has the honour of being my first "go look and see". 

To help celebrate the release of Forbidden, Christina Phillips's debut Roman/Druid Ancient Historical Romance from Berkley Heat, she's holding a launch party with lots of amazing authors and fabulous giveaways! In addition, Christina's giving away a signed copy of Forbidden to one lucky person who helps spread the love. All you have to do is mention the party (you can copy and paste this blurb), being held from 1st to 6th September at http://christinaphillips.blogspot.com.

You can Tweet about it, blog, Facebook, MySpace or anything! And then drop her an email at ChristinapPh @ gmail dot com (no spaces) to let her know. Please put Forbidden Launch Party (or something similar) in the subject line. The winner will be drawn for that on Monday 6th September.

Blogging & online life

Developing a blog is an interesting experience. I’ve enjoyed online life for over ten years and yet it’s only a little over a year since I decided to start blogging.

I can remember posting until the wee hours of the morning many nights for years on message boards discussing Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and when they started Angel and Firefly. Yes, I’m a Joss Whedon fan. It took those shows for me to explore the whole world of forums, message boards and the online world in general. Have made some awesome friends from the experiences. In fact it was on a dare to write something for an online friend who noticed way before me that perhaps I was a storyteller. I told her I’d last 6 sentences. Instead I was looking for an ending 16,000 words and original characters later. I was wrong and bam the beginning of my passion for writing flared brighter than a bonfire.

Yet, blogging is something I am only beginning to embrace and I’ve been trying to understand why it is one of the last aspects of the internet I’ve utilised. Driving home after visiting a friend (yes, visiting people in real life is still something  people do even with the digital avalanche) I understand what it is. Interactivity. With message boards, Yahoo messenger, MSN, ICQ, Facebook, Twitter, emails, MySpace etc the level of interactivity is much higher and direct. Not surprising how social networking has taken off. It’s quick and immediate. Message boards can be busy and quiet, with notes being followed at the reader’s request.

Blogging feels personal. Private. I write a journal and have done so ever since I can remember (the fact I didn’t tie this to any side of my once-repressed writer is another matter). I find blogging a little like journaling and working out what I want to ‘put out there’ and what is going to stay private has been a new juggling act.

I’ve had these thoughts about facebook and twitter too. I watch and follow some very successful writers, actors and musicians and wonder how they feel juggling the private and the public. Once it’s out in the interwebs it’s there. Doesn’t matter if you take it down, somewhere out there your words are recorded. 

Twitter is being catalogued in Library of Congress, which amuses me no end. Imagine it, a millennium from now, someone reading the archival material (assuming they retain the technology to read said material) and wondering why it was kept. As a classics student, years ago (and even today) I wish I had access to the general day-day chatter, styles and mores of an era. Cicero is wonderful to learn Latin, but really he can be very dry. Assumptions about the why behind reasons create much scholarly debate. Will that be our culture in a thousand years?

Winter Hibernation

*blows dust off the blog*

So, the monthly blogging fell by the wayside. Life happens. Teaching is tiring. It can also be a wonderful experience filled with lots of good moments but for me, it is draining to the point of exhaustion. I’ve always known this but never really understood why. My other half pointed out something that I’ve known, but never truly thought through to the logical ending. I’m partially deaf. Always have been. Since birth (though not picked up until kindergarten where it was thought I may be a) have an attitude problem or b) be deaf. No doctor has ever worked out why. The best I managed to find was an explanation when working at the university and talking to a PhD student developing hearing aid technology. His explanation gave me an understanding of why when I’m tired you could be speaking Icelandic to me and I’d understand you just as well as if you were speaking English. How does this tie into teaching? Well, teachers need to listen. As in hearing listen not that “Active Listening” stuff you are taught to do to show understanding and getting along better with fellow humanity. So, teaching for six hours a day = six hours of concerted effort in the act of listening. No wonder I am exhausted on those days to the point of wanting to sleep about half-an-hour after I’m home.

It also meant, the longer the teaching went on, the more exhausted I became. Which meant life moved to prioritising Must Do/Essential Life Stuff. I wish I could say I kept writing a lot. Over the duration of the contract I managed around 5,000 words. Sounds like a lot until the context of 5,000 would be about ten days worth of work usually.

I’m still recovering. I knew July was going to be “downtime” month when I agreed to the gig (which by the way didn’t end until the end of June). I need to rebuild my energy up for “conference season”. 

In three weeks time I’ll be at the annual RWA Australia conference. Really looking forward to it. Love meeting and talking writing. Dressing up – both in costume and for the gala night. Good times. Then a fortnight after that I’m dropping into Aussiecon4, the annual science fiction world convention. The original plan was for myself, the other half and the teen to all attend the entire con. However, it is not a good time in the school calendar (especially for a teenager reaching the pointy end of schooling & doing subjects at advanced speed).So, instead, the other half is going for the entire duration, the teen is staying home and I’ll go down on the Friday evening (once The Teen is at his father’s) and come home Sunday night.

As I said at the beginning, Life Happens.

The Infernal

Wow, two posts in a month. Could be making up for the lack of March madness, er, I mean musings. The Infernal has a special place in my writing journey. In part the book itself and in part the author. I came across The Infernal in what feels like a million years ago but was in reality 1997 or 1998 while working in a university library. I was putting new titles onto the shelves for students and The Infernal was amongst them.


The original cover grabbed my attention as did the title and I decided to borrow it (alas, I cannot find the relevant cover anywhere to show’n’tell). To this day it is one of the very few (& I mean VERY few) books where I can still recall images created by the words (Kim, if you read this, I now have a morbid fear of pine trees). Kim is one of a very small handful of writers where I will automatically buy their books.


When I first decided I was going to attempt to write my first story (after the passion to write was inflamed on a dare by some o/s friends) I was trapped by research. Having a degree in ancient civilizations meant I’d spent many hours delving deeply into knowledge of topics. I was fairly sure that fictional books didn’t quite need the depth in knowledge but I was unsure (of a lot of things). I came across two authors in an anthology, Mystery, Magic, Voodoo and the Holy Grail, Kim Wilkins and Louise Cusack.


Little did I know the impact this would have on me. Very nervously I sent off an email to each of them basically asking for their opinions about research and fantasy and fiction writing. I had no idea if either of them would read the email let alone reply. Imagine my shock when BOTH of them had replied within a week of my sending the query. I was completely speechless, gob smacked, in awe (you get the idea). Plus the information they gave was (of course) very useful.


Fast forward to the present day. I’ve now have had two wonderful year-long workshop stints with Kim (through the Qld Writers Centre). Louise gently nudged me to join the Vision Writers group and is still an ongoing mentor, keeping me on the track of my writing path (making sure I don’t fall off it) to this day.


So, The Infernal holds a special place. If it wasn’t for the fact Kim scared the living daylights out of me with her visual imagery I wouldn’t have come across the anthology. If I hadn’t come across the anthology I would never have contacted either Kim or Louise. I don’t even want to say how my life would’ve unfolded (though I’m sure writing would’ve reared its head regardless of what I chose). I say my life, rather than my writing life as it has been through my writing life that I have now made a wonderful circle of (in some cases, very close) friends. Not to mention my fiancée.

Now, Ticonderoga Publications is doing a special limited edition release of Kim’s first book. Isn’t the cover pretty?  I love the tone, hues and scripts chosen. There will only be 100 created. I should drop hints to my other half. I’d certainly struggle to justify indulging in such a beautiful copy. Go here to place an order.

Time Vortex

I seem to have fallen into one this year. So much for the year being quiet. I really should know better by now. I did have a quite relevant reason for missing March online. During the mad preparations that was the Emerald deadline my laptop died. Died as in replacing the hard drive. Luckily for me, the m/s was in email land waiting for my reader/edit . One thing it did teach me, I must really want to pursue this writing thing. I could’ve quit. I could have in the tears and swearing, sometimes simultaneously quit. Stopped. Walked away. I didn’t.

The computer going kaplooey did throw a spanner in the works of my life. It didn’t help the computer was physically away for some time and when it did come home it wasn’t right. It still isn’t completely there but at least now I’m not so gun-shy of coming back online. My Google reader was approaching scary proportions with many still to be caught up on.
I’ve been amazed at how online many lives have become. Not just for writing but also socially and professionally. I had HR, pay office and all manner of things caught in emails I could not access (until recovery had occurred).


This brings me to the other reason for my absence online, or rather, my minimalist approach to online time. I have taken on an extra contract. I have no idea why given my plan this year was to write two books and get much more serious about sending the stories out into the world (I’ve whittled it down to one book to be written now). Life happens. So I’m now back in an adult classroom as well as my usual factory playground for work.


Making me organised is the way I’m seeing it. I’ll be this way until the end of June (or until the teacher I’m replacing returns, which I’m guessing will be early). Just in time for my event planning to take place.


So April is past the half way point. Least living in Australia I don’t have to worry about my taxes (that would be September for me) but juggling work x 2, engagement/birthday event planning, family and oh yeah, writing is keeping me out of any kind of mischief.


Til next month. Ciao.