Category Archives: The Writing Fraternity

September 20, 2010 · 5:40 am

Writers are weird

Found this on writers and just had to share it. Apparently there is something going around about why dating a writer is a good idea. And this person has added to it. The original is in blod.

My two favourites are below:

  1. Writers are really passionate. About writing. Not necessarily about you. Are you writing?
  2. Writers can think through their feelings. So don’t start an argument unless you’re ready for a very, very lengthy explication of our position, our feelings about your position, and what scenes from our recent fiction the whole thing is reminding us of.

My long suffering husband will vouch for the fact that he has taken me out to dinner only to realise that my head is in a book.

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September 14, 2010 · 10:06 pm

Conquest … (cue the suitably dramatic music)

In October I will be  a guest at the Conquest 2010 Convention. For info on Conquest see here.

There will be:

  • Fan Auction
  • Panels
  • Discussions
  • Competitions
  • On-the-Spot Quizzes and Prizes
  • Separate Dealers’ Room
  • Saturday Night Dinner Event

And for those of you who were at the World Con panel on Pitching and asked when I was doing a workshop, I will be running one on the Sunday at 2pm. So feel free to rock up.

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Filed under Conventions, Fantasy books, Genre, Movies & TV Shows, Nourish the Writer, Pitching your book, The Writing Fraternity, Writing craft

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August 28, 2010 · 7:36 am

Going No Posts for a While

A change is as good as a holiday and I really need to recharge my batteries!

I’m flying off to Melbourne on Sunday and won’t be back until after World Con. While I’m down there I’m going cold turkey on the Internet, no Twitter, no Facebook, and no Blogging (have scheduled posts for the Mad Genius Club because the others can answer) but there will be no posts here.

When I do get back I promise lots of interesting insights. Over on the ROR blog I’ve done a post about what will be happening while I’m in Melbourne.

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August 26, 2010 · 3:38 am

Drop by and say Hi

On Saturday the 28th of August, I’m going to be at Logan North Library so drop by and say Hi.

I’ll be with the romantic by cynical Trent Jamieson, author of Death Most Definite, the pocket rocket Kylie Chan, author of the Dark Heaven series, the lovely Louise Cusack author and mentor, and Anthony Puttee author of the Johnny Marsh books.

We’ll be talking about promoting your books and this is all part of Logan North Library’s month of Speculative Fiction. So you are sure to see Darth Vader and a Storm Trouper or two!

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Filed under Australian Writers, Dark Urban Fantasy, Fantasy books, Fun Stuff, Genre, Mentoring, Promoting Friend's Books, Publishing Industry, Specialist Bookshops, The Writing Fraternity

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August 13, 2010 · 11:32 pm

Friday the 13th – perfect date to launch Trent’s book

Here we are at Trent’s book launch. That’s Marianne de Pierres on the left, Trent with his books, then I’m behind him in the pink beret (was having a bad hair day, the curls would not behave) and Kylie Chan.

It was a great evening over at Avid Reader in West End. The previous two days we’d have pouring rain then gale force winds. Everything settled down so the garden terrace was still and the night was clear. There was standing room only as Trent’s friends and family came to support him. Marianne and I have known Trent for fifteen years since the Vision Writers group started and he’s been part of ROR for the last 9.

Books and writers aren’t made over night. You put in a long apprenticeship and then once you are published the work gets harder!

Feeling very proud and happy for Trent.

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August 10, 2010 · 9:59 am

Celebrating Friends’ books

Today I’m celebrating the launch of Trent Jamieson’s book Death Most Definite, published by Orbit, part of the Death Works trilogy.

Here is the trailer.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQtI__Zc5bY]

Tren’t s book is set in Brisbane with a quirky hero and an off beat premise. It’s a refreshing take on Dark Urban Fantasy.

Go Trent!

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July 26, 2010 · 9:05 pm

Mentoring Retreat in the Tropics

Good friend of mine, Sandy Curtis, is running a writing retreat at Kellys Beach Resort. So if you live up that way, near  the coast in central Queensland and you’d like to spend 3 days at a lovely resort with a published mentor going through your book, short story or play …

Writers retreat to the beach!

Three storytellers will each offer their unique insights into writing at a mentoring retreat at Kelly’s Beach Resort, Bargara on the coast near Bundaberg, in Queensland.
The Bundaberg based professionals will mentor emerging novelists, short story crafters and playwrights over three days from 15-17 October 2010.

Mentoring the Muse is proposed as an intensive retreat-style development program similar to iniatives like the Varuna Manuscript Development Awards in NSW or the QWC/Hachette Australia Manuscript Development Program. These have been highly successful at supporting writers to improve their work to publishable standard, resulting in numerous publishing contracts for participants.

There is nothing like getting away from family and work and concentrating on your writing in a beautiful environment with other writers, while being mentored by someone who ‘gets’ your writing!

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· 10:23 am

When friends have books coming out …

I get to celebrate!

Over at the ROR blog Kylie Chan has done a post on Sustaining Plots. Since this is book six of her Dark Heaven series, she can speak with authority. She’s also doing a giveaway of ‘Hell to Heaven’.

Go Kylie!

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Filed under Australian Writers, Book Giveaway, Dark Urban Fantasy, Fun Stuff, Promoting Friend's Books, The Writing Fraternity, Writing craft

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July 21, 2010 · 8:21 am

Go Trent!

My good friend Trent Jamieson has been interviewed over at The Australian Literature Review.

He talks about how he writes:

‘Well, I’m not much of a planner, so first drafts are generally me trying things out and trying to make sense of stuff. Most of this book was written at the Toowong Library (in the local history section) in longhand. I’d walk down there every weekday, that I wasn’t working, listening to the same music to get me in the right frame of mind (mainly, for the first book Okkervil River, Gotye, and Spoon) and write until I’d filled about eight pages or so of my notebook. Then I’d go home and type them into my computer.’

Having read Trent’s book in its final form before it went off to the publisher (and loving it then) I’m really looking forward to getting a copy of it when it released.

And over at the Galaxy blog, Trent has done a guest post on his new series and writing in general.

For more on Trent and his weird and wondferful world view, drop by his blog.

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July 19, 2010 · 12:23 am

In need of a little R&R

My writing friend, Richard Harland, has just come back from a tour of the US and the UK to promote his steampunk YA book, Worldshaker. Being the kind of chap he is, he got right into the whole thing and had this outfit made.

To read about his tour see here.

Richard is back home and having a well deserved rest.

I wish I could say I had such a good reason to need some R&R, but all I’ve been doing is working, renovating my house, trying to complete a book and helping to run a national workshop. None of which are as exciting as visiting the Basilica of the Holy Blood in Bruges. (Go Richard!).

Is anyone else running on the spot just to stop from going backwards?

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