There's another blog meme going around, and I must extend my thanks to Rachel at Spilled Ink for bestowing the 'Sunshine Award' on me recently. And now here are 10 things you may or may not have known about me: Favorite color – Purple It took me a while to realise I gravitate towards everything … Continue reading Little ray of Sunshine
Another long break between D&D sessions -- wah! -- but we finally got together again this weekend past for more adventures. We picked up where we left off, hanging out in a dark mountain chamber after killing a wraith... Our next move is to get out of there. We ascend the stairs leading up from … Continue reading D&D Chronicles: Tunnels and tons of rubble
A while back I shared my obsession with spiral-bound notebooks. Today it's all about their partners in crime -- PENS. Look at them! Aren't they pretty? None of these are expensive (in pen terms), but they are a step above the average disposable ballpoint. I have this many because, like most writers, I reach for … Continue reading A writer’s weapon — from above
With all the excitement post-Conflux, I've ended up almost forgetting to wrap up the big challenge for April -- Camp NaNoWriMo. The target was 25,000 words in 30 days, and once again I was on schedule -- ahead of schedule, actually, with around 21,500 words written with a week to go -- when I hit … Continue reading Postscript: Camp NaNoWriMo
One more, short (okay it's not so short) post coming out of Conflux... which would hardly have been a writers convention without discussions surrounding the latest publishing trends. The centrepiece of this was the so-called "Smackdown -- Small press versus mainstream publishers". In this panel, Russell B Farr of indie Ticonderoga Publishing, literary agent and publishing … Continue reading Hanging out and talking about publishing
The recent Conflux Science Fiction convention in Canberra was the first conference I've attended where formal pitching sessions were available to authors. It's probably not surprising therefore that the art of pitching was the subject of much general conversation. I attended a panel about pitching on the second day of the con, featuring panellists Tara Wynn, … Continue reading On novel pitching: an insight and an epiphany
I recently attended the Australian National Science Fiction Convention -- Conflux 9 -- a fabulous four days of hanging out with other writers, industry professionals and speculative fiction fans. The convention offered many valuable panel discussions and workshops (among other things); I attended a worldbuilding session with Glenda Larke, an Australian epic fantasy author whose … Continue reading More on building fantastical worlds
One of the things that attracts me to fantasy as a genre is the ability to read about -- and, even better, create -- fantastical imaginary worlds that really sing themselves off the page. It's the chance to visit wondrous places that only exist in fiction, and I heartily wish I could go there for … Continue reading Culture, China travel photos and fantastical worlds
This, believe it or not, is the 200th post on this blog. It began in January 2011 when I decided it was time to establish an official writerly presence on the interwebs. After five years of blogging half anonymously about anything and everything (including my writing life) on my beloved Forge and Brew, I crawled … Continue reading Celebrating 200 posts
I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to "face one's fears". Without me really stopping to think about it, I guess the phrase has always had literal meaning for me. But what is fear, exactly? Wikipedia says fear is (in part) "an emotion induced by a perceived threat which causes entities to … Continue reading Facing fears (or the dead thing under the fridge)
Ellen Gregory 