It's definitely travel week here on ye olde blog. Completely unplanned, I assure you! But, upon reflection, considering the tagline of 'To beyond and back', it's actually rather fitting. Today we're not peering into the past, however, but embracing the future according to this week's WANAFriday blog prompt: If you could travel anywhere, where would … Continue reading Anywhere I like? In the world?
Today's Friday blogging theme is: Share a book you can read again and again without getting bored. Well, I have to admit I'm a big re-reader of novels. Often I wish I wasn't, because just think of all the marvellous books out there I never seem to have time to read. But the simple fact … Continue reading My re-reading book: The Lions of Al-Rassan
It's been a long time coming, but here finally is the next in my A-Z of FANTASY series... And it's been rather tricky to decide which of the many 'F' fantasy words should get top billing. Should it be Forest -- A large area covered chiefly with trees and undergrowth ... in which many fantasy adventures … Continue reading F is for Faerie
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
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
Ellen Gregory 