Today I'm launching the Friday with Friends series, which is (as the name suggests) a series of guest posts from fellow bloggers. Today we have the fabulous S.M. Nonnemacher, who's working on her first Young Adult (YA) novel (see full bio below). I asked her to share with us some of her top reading tips: … Continue reading Fridays with Friends: S.M. Nonnemacher
This gorgeous animation is about a cat in a box -- a very happy and very much alive cat. A devilcat, perhaps, but one that is nonetheless loved and indulged. (See here for an explanation of Schrödinger's Cat, quite another cat in a box.) It isn't the first Simon's Cat video I've posted on this … Continue reading A much happier cat than Schrödinger’s
Recently, a press release from the Plain English Foundation crossed my desk at work and immediately snagged my attention. It was titled "Fugitive emissions" tops the list of 2011's worst words and highlighted such iniquities as Nicole Kidman's "gestational carrier" and the obfuscation "negative good" in relation to the effects of teeth whitening. Now, I would argue these are … Continue reading Get over it: English is a living language
Over the past few weeks I have finally come to terms with something: I have two careers. There's the day-to-day salaried position as a marketing and communications specialist with a global organisation that brings in the dollars. And then there's my other writing career--my fiction-writing career (for many years my secret career)--that doesn't (yet) provide … Continue reading The craziness of TWO careers
For those not familiar with folk music, it might be easy to assume that today's folk scene is entirely comprised of ancient dances and story ballads. Men and women in weird costumes jigging to the jolly sounds of fiddles and tin whistles... or the minstrel in the corner strumming a guitar and singing about the … Continue reading Martha Tilston’s take on Wall Street
Another of my new year initiatives is to undertake Kristen Lamb's course for writers who blog. Its aim is to help our blogs be of interest to readers beyond other writers -- basically to encourage us to blog about topics other than writing. We're in the third week of the online course now, and it's … Continue reading The naming of cars
A lovely thing happened to me this week: the Versatile Blogger recognition was bestowed on me not once, but twice. Massive thanks to my new cyberfriends Julie Kenner/J.K Beck and Carrie Daws for the honour. I think it's perhaps more a show of blogging solidarity and support as indication of any blogging genius on my … Continue reading The Versatile Blogger – a show of solidarity
My resolution for this new year is very simple. I'm going to complete the draft of the novel I'm currently working on. Of course, execution of this goal is unlikely to be simple. The longer I persevere with this fiction writing habit, the harder it seems to get. Possibly this is because I demand more of myself as time goes … Continue reading New year’s #WIP500 resolution
This is going to be a very rambly post, all haphazard and out-of-control, which is a bit like my life at the moment. I always knew that starting a new job was going to play havoc with my writing (and blogging, and . . .) routine -- well, let's face facts, my routine is completely … Continue reading In which I ramble
Last night I hopped along to Melbourne's The Wheeler Centre ('Books, Writing, Ideas') for the last in its series of free panels featuring writers in conversation. (The series had a name, but I've forgotten.) This particular session involved 'the two Alisons' -- Alison Goodman and Alison Croggon -- both of whom are Australian fantasy authors … Continue reading An evening of writerly conversation
Ellen Gregory 