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
Postscript: Camp NaNoWriMo
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
Hanging out and talking about publishing
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
On novel pitching: an insight and an epiphany
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
More on building fantastical worlds
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
Culture, China travel photos and 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
Celebrating 200 posts
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
Book Review: Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
First published in 2002, Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori #1) by Lian Hearn is the second novel I'm reviewing for the 2013 Australian Women Writers Challenge. I first read it in 2006, but for some unfathomable reason never did read the rest of the series. I must have been distracted by something, because … Continue reading Book Review: Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn
With beads and braids in her hair
Last week my niece, who's nearly 10, showed up with coloured plastic beads threaded in her short dark hair. She'd strung the beads onto three strands of hair near her brow, and they clicked and jingled and looked really cute and funky. She offered to thread some into my hair and I will confess it … Continue reading With beads and braids in her hair
E is for Enemy
One of the key tropes of epic, heroic and most other kinds of fantasy is the presence of the 'big bad' (in Buffy speak) -- otherwise known as the ENEMY. Enemy: A person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something; A hostile nation or its armed forces or citizens, esp. in time … Continue reading E is for Enemy
Ellen Gregory 