This week's Creative Writing Energy video is a conversation between Kim Petersen, myself and Tyler Zeoli, who is one of the organisers of the Write Hive Convention in April 2020.
Kim and I are looking forward to being involved in WriteHive, and even more so after listening to and talking with Tyler.
I was thrilled to have print books of Creative Writing Energy to sell at the RWA Conference last weekend.
Paradox Book Covers and Formatting did a great job preparing our files.
IngramSpark did a fabulous job printing them.
Melanie Coles was incredible. She went above and beyond her role when she helped me track down my delivery when it was 'misplaced'. Thank you, Melanie!
If you managed to receive one, and you're missing out on the coloured photos, never fear. I'll place them here so you can have the benefit of colour!
I hope you enjoy the book and find your creative writing energy!
I've taken a slight detour and co-written a non-fiction book with fellow author, Kim Petersen.
You may recognise her name because earlier this year we worked together on the Untamed Destinies anthology, along with Beth Prentice.
It's been like a whirlwind. I met Kim not that long ago, and yet, here we are with almost 2 books out together. We've got plans aplenty, some wild imaginings, and loads of interesting ideas.
We don't seem to stop. It's like there's a pressing need to achieve. I've never felt anything like this before.
Creative Writing Energy: Tools to Access Your Higher-Creative Mind is a book for writers, primarily, but hopefully other creatives may find it interesting too.
The blurb for our book is here. I guess you could term it 'spiritual' or 'new age' or 'alternate' or some of those type of words. I seem to call it 'woo-woo' and although I do it half-jokingly, there's a seriousness to it too. I don;t like any of the other terms because they seem rather confining, and this book doesn't really have barriers.
We've taken some of the lessons we've learned, and some of the things we do, and tried to explain how we use/relate those in the context of our writing, so we could share it with people.
We've covered topics like Imagination, Nourishing Body and Mind, Meditation, Mindfulness, Dreamtime, Pendulum, Oracle Cards, Crystals and Gemstones, Tarot, Runes, Connecting with Higher Self, Soul Purpose, Creation and Creativity.
Kim and I are quite different. We come at these things from quite different places, write in different styles, use different techniques, and yet, I think it might work. I think we're a bit yin-yang / left-brain-right-brain. I hope that one of us might resonate with some, and the other with others.
We're really going out on a limb with this - not just talking about this 'weird' stuff, but we're doing videos and popping them on YouTube. Neither of us are really into video-ing, so it's a bit of a steep learning curve. And we laugh so much, mess it up often, but hey, we're trying and having a bit of fun, and surely that's what life's about. Right?
To go with this book, we're going to email out weekly Creative Writing Energy Prompts and Affirmations to anyone who joins up in our writing community. So please follow this link if you'd like more information, and to sign up (there's a button when you get there, you won't automatically be signed up by clicking here).
If you're interested in the YouTube videos, the links are there too. You can watch the first one here (if I work this out!).
Our book is releasing in early August. I hope you might have a read and enjoy it.
I've been visiting the blogs of some friends lately. If you're interested in popping in and reading my thoughts, please do.
Kim Petersen
Kim is a local author who I've been doing some work with. It's nice to have a 'running mate' to do author talks and workshops with, and to chat and brainstorm over a cuppa.
In one of our chats, Kim invited me to write something for her blog. Her blog posts are all brutally honest and I was a bit hesitant about what I could/should write. In the end I went with something that's been bugging me and I wanted to be clear about.
Another invitation came from a writing friend, Jodi Cleghorn. She has a group of writers who are looking at creativity in creative and abstract ways. She invited me to write for the theme "Words As..."
As soon as I read that, "Healing" popped into my head. And then the doubts took over. But I'm working on the doubts, so I took a few deep breaths and thanked the doubts for visiting.
The next day, lying on the lawn in the sunshine, I stopped reading as words poured out onto a page. Words that talked about healing. Spoke of my life with books and words. Talked about stories.
I've been doing quite a bit more writing-focussed work lately, and I've learned a few lessons along the way. I thought I'd document them here.
ARRA Romantic Rendezvous
I went to my first Book Signing with ARRA in Sydney. It was fabulous. I met lots of new-to-me authors, chatted to readers, and learned so many things for the next book signing.
When someone is going to buy your book, don't be shocked! And for goodness sake, don't say, "Are you sure?"
People come to book signings to buy books and meet authors. So have some of your books, sell them, be proud of them, talk about them to readers. They're there to find new authors too.
Try to make the table look nice. Doing a dodgy brothers set up is awful. You have to make it attractive.
Have something to give to people, it draws them in. This can be swag, chocolates, a bookmark, or someone else's free book (thanks Ainslie Paton!)
READ the instructions for the day! I missed reading some important info about having stickers on my books (and Ainslie's). Lucky the wonderful Debbie from ARRA was prepared for vague, newbie authors.
Self Publishing
My cover
I've done a little bit of self-publishing. I popped up a small book of short stories, A Pocket of Pebbles. It had been online for a while with a dodgy-brothers cover that I did myself. I know I'm not good at cover design, but my day job is working with the programs that make covers, so I just did one being a cheapskate.
Patti's cover
When I published Untamed Destinies with Kim and Beth, I met Patti Roberts who does book cover design and formatting. She is amazing. Out of the blue one day, she sent me a cover for Pebbles, with a lovely note that said she thought it might need a spruce up. See how lovely she is, she didn't say my cover was crap!! So I updated the cover and it got some sales. What a shock :)
And then I thought I should turn it into a print book and put my money behind my work, and try to sell it face-to-face. And, with thanks to IngramSpark, I now have some copies coming to me to onsell. The whole setting up for print was a new experience (even if it is my day job!). But I'm glad I did it. Now I have to put what I learned at ARRA into action and not be shocked if someone wants to buy it!
Guest Blog Post
And I'm being brave and linking my two writing selves together a little more. So this post on Kim Petersen's blog, is my becoming whole (outing my wild writing self). If you're interested in reading about the wild me, you can go here.
Author Talk Kim, Beth and I were honoured to be guests at the Shellharbour City Library as speakers during lunch at the beaming in of the Sydney Writers Festival. Kim and I were in-person, and the library beamed Beth in so she was with us too. I felt like I was on the Jetsons :) We had a lovely audience who asked some fabulous questions. I was thrilled to learn that one lady had heard me speak on Radio National, and was happy to meet me in person. How exciting and unexpected!
Workshop
The wonderful Shellharbour Library is hosting Kim and I for a workshop on June 1.We're going to talk about Self-Publishing and Collaboration. So we've been busy pulling together information for this session. If you're around, we'd love to see you there. And I'll have books to sell and I promise I won't be shocked if you want to buy one (I hope!).
I have a new story coming out next month. It's an exciting adventure!
I did a workshop and one of the authors I met there, invited me to join her and a friend in an anthology. I said, 'yes', without trying to think of all the ways I could fail in this endeavor - the biggest being, "Could I write a short story in a short space of time?"
But I managed it - well, it's still being edited, but the first draft made my deadline (okay, so maybe 24 hours late, but still, that's good for me!).
And Feb 12th will see our stories out - available on Amazon only.
If you're looking to pre-order, the book's a bargain at 99c - but it won't stay that cheap so get in early.
I've tripped across a couple of authors who have an anthology idea and they've invited me to join in. I'll have to get my skates on because it has to be written soon - just a short story, but they still take me a while :)
I'm really excited because it's come from way out of left field. A month ago, I didn't know either of these authors. That's how out of left field it is - not on any horizon!
We had a meeting about it this week and we agreed on things. It seemed to just work as easily as when I've worked together with good friends - or maybe I'm just not doing enough work :)
We've got quite a tight deadline so I'll have to shut up and work, not blog but I had to share this news.
I have no story idea, no story, which is how I usually work. A scene in my head that looks something a bit like this photo.
A story of a man, a woman and a horse.
Different to the photo, in my scene the woman comes across a riderless horse, captures him, then heads down to the beach to find an injured (limping? broken arm/collarbone?), soaking wet man who's not happy about his bruised ego and damaged body.
The rest of the story is still to be discovered. That's what's exciting about a new story.
The rewrite of my old story is still happening - I'm taking a refresher break. Once this is done, I have two stories to rewrite/finish (one will be a new Dulili story). And I'm going to try to have those done by mid year.
2019 is my year of working hard with writing. Pushing myself to see what I can achieve.
Milton, a little town just south of me is holding a StoryFest next year (June 2019) - a festival of stories. So not just books and writing, but film and poetry, all forms of storytelling. As a fundraiser, they had an author talk on Saturday night with Markus Zusak, of The Book Thief fame.
The Book Thief was a book I read early in my writing for publication journey and it smacked me in the head. It was the first book where I went, "Holy cow, this guy has crafted every single sentence in this book." Now, I don't know if he had done that right through the book because somewhere I got swept up in the magic of the story and didn't notice anymore. At the start though, when I was finding my way into the world, it was incredibly obvious.
So I went to hear him speak to see if he did craft every sentence, if he did pay so much attention to words, his work, writing.
Yes.
A resounding yes. He is meticulous. An absolute crafter of stories and of words. A writer who is passionate about his work.
He was incredibly inspiring.
His new book, Bridge of Clay, will be out in October. It's been 13 years since his last book. He told us this equated to him writing 1.9 words/day. Which made everyone laugh, especially when he lamented that it wasn't even 2. But...I bet those 1.9 words/day are perfect. I bet they've been gone over and gone over until each words sings - or at least those at the beginning before we'll all get lost in his story!
He spoke of the rhythm of words and how even commas impact that as well as word choices, insertions and deletions.
He said his aim has always been to make the next book better than the last. Although he was told just to write something different to The Book Thief, he decided he didn't want to go back on his original career goals, to make the next book better.
I loved hearing that. I loved hearing that you could have phenomenal success and still want to improve. I loved that he still had the passion to tell stories to the very best of his ability.
The Book Thief has sold 16 million copies. 16 million copies! It's almost unbelievable. It sat on the NY Times bestseller list for 10 years. Yep, ten years. You could stop after that if it wasn't your passion. If telling stories wasn't what drove you.
Markus Zusak hasn't stopped writing. He hasn't stopped perfecting his craft. He seemed like a humble, hard working writer who loved his work.
It could not have been a more inspiring night. I can't wait to read Bridge of Clay.
EDITED to add: There's a podcast of the interview, if you'd like to listen, follow this link here
Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of running a workshop for the South Coast Writers Centre and Shellharbour Library. It was my first romance writing workshop, so I wasn't sure what to expect...or if anyone would attend.
We had 9 participants and they were the best! The discussions started almost immediately, although I don't think too many of the people knew each other beforehand. They all loved writing so there was a bond which developed throughout the afternoon.
There were questions and answers, discussions with everyone sharing their experiences or hopes or dreams. We wrote. Read that out. Discussed what had been written. Loved each others' work.
We talked about publishing, point of view, genre fiction, pitfalls, sales, promo, subgenres, sex, horror, memoir, feminism, true crime, journalism, #metoo, strong heroines, werewolves, AI (artificial intelligence), authors, writing, our love for words, reading, writing, video games, movies, books, software, rejections, voice, studies, jobs, writing tools and techniques.
The three hours went like 5 minutes, and yet, looking back we covered a lot of topics, we did a lot of learning and sharing, and most importantly, I think we all went away enthused to write more.
The venue, Shellharbour's new library, was spectacular. If you haven't seen a great modern library space, check it out. Curved shelving with wide spaces. Muted, earthy colours. Spaces for different activities. Noise reduction. You're able to eat and drink within the space. A magnificent balcony in the fresh air, getting the afternoon sunshine. Armchairs that wrap around you. Beanbags. Miles and miles of space. A cafeteria. It was such an inspiring venue.
I've found that workshops can be hit and miss. They depend on the participants' interaction and enthusiasm. I was so incredibly lucky to have the best bunch of writers come to this workshop.
Even if people didn't read or write romance, they were open-minded enough to be at the course, to want to learn and discuss, to accept the genre.
And yes, I'm so very pleased to say that there were men as well as women in attendance.
I'm running a workshop this Sunday for the South Coast Writers Centre and Shellharbour Library, and I'm becoming excited.
I've taught lots of workshops before but this is my first romance writing one.
In crowds I'm ridiculously shy about talking to people, but in a class, that's a totally different story. I LOVE running classes. I love sharing information, learning, seeing what others write, talking to people.
I love discussions, the generation of ideas, working together towards dreams.
I love giving back some of the information and help that so many romance writers have given me over the past 10 years.
I just can't wait!
I see on Facebook that there are some people coming and that makes me even more excited. (Thank you, lovely people!)
My new banner
I have a banner, and it's beautiful!
I have promo bits and bobs.
I have bags supplied by the Australian Romance Readers Association, which I'm sure the participants will LOVE!
I have hand outs and a plan.
There are ten trillion more ideas in my head than what I can use.
I even have a book that's on sale!
So, it's all systems go for Sunday 1st July at Shellharbour Library.
OMG! Last post was a vague one about getting out of my comfort zone...today I can tell you what it was. I was invited to a podcast as an author of the W.A.R. series with the incredible Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.
If you don't know Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, it's a group, co-founded by Sarah, based in the USA who discuss all things romance and have been around for 13 years. They have a page for people new to their site, which is here, so you can read a quick overview of their 'mission' and achievements.
I love them because they're fun and funny, taking a light-hearted approach to life...while at the same time discussing serious topics, holding in-depth discussions, and being smart about a genre that's often maligned. They have their finger on the pulse and are an incredible source of information.
Sarah Wendell came to the RWA Conference in Fremantle, in 2013 as a guest presenter and she was an incredible speaker and as effervescent as she sounds in podcasts.
And so...the incredible Kate Cuthbert wrangled us a chat on the podcast. I couldn't decide if I was excited or terrified. The day came around...and wouldn't you know it, I had computer issues, more specifically microphone ones. I could hear but not speak. I had joked about hiding behind Amy and Nicola, but when that became a reality, it was incredibly frustrating. I wanted to be there so badly. I thought I'd missed my chance. Then...
Sarah, in her loveliness, arranged a separate chat for me using a different system. This time no microphone issues. No one to stand behind. Just me, and whatever came into my head (which is sometimes terrifying to even me!).
And today, our podcast is live - Amy and Nicola up first, me at the end. Once again I'm torn between excitement and terror. I have my fingers crossed that I don't say something incredibly stupid, that I come across sounding okay and not like a mad, crazy, hermit who laughs all the time.
Doing this was the best fun. And yes, just like skydiving! Stepping outside your comfort zone can be a lot of fun, especially if you have a smart interviewer like Sarah.
Oh oh oh oh oh! Next week I'm doing something so far out of my comfort zone, that's so exciting as well, and I just can't get a grip on how that makes me feel. Sick, mostly!
Have you ever done something like that?
I think it might be like skydiving, and I've done that and lived to tell the tale... actually, I LOVED every single second of it and every second I remember it :)
So roll on next week! And when I can tell you about my adventure, I will!
Tandem Skydiving over Wagga Wagga - a long time back!
Long Game (Women of W.A.R. Book 2) comes out on the 20 Feb, which isn't too long away at all.
Cress and Quin come from Grong Grong in the Riverina region of NSW. I wrote a blog post about how I made that choice, which you can read here.
All the Women's AFL teams are in capital cities, so Cress had to move to Sydney to play for the Sirens. Rather than the usual "fish out of water" trope where the city girl moves to the country, Cress is the country girl moving to the city.
I grew up in Sydney but left in my early 20s. I've done a lot of the popular tourist attractions as a country person visiting the city. When I was trying to work out how to show Cress as a 'fish out of water' I thought about showcasing some of the popular tourist attractions.
Bridge Climb sprang to mind. I've done it a few times and it's pretty amazing. When I thought about doing a Bridge Climb, it triggered an idea that Cress could have a love for the Sydney Harbour Bridge itself, and have a thread of that running through the story.
I've been really lucky with choosing days to do the Bridge Climb. I've done 2 day trips, and a night one. All have been magnificent weather, which was lucky! Once was windy, but I'm not sure which time that was (maybe the night one), and it wasn't too frightening at all.
I loved the views of the Bridge and the Harbour. I think it's one of the most magnificent places in the world - and strangely enough, so does Cress!
Here are a few photos of my climbs. I've blurred my companions' photos, so please don't think I went up with strange aliens!
The day climbs gave the stunning views of the Harbour... but the night climb gave the beauty of the city lights. I'm not sure which was my favourite!
I've made a collection of my short stories available on Amazon.
These are short stories (less than 3000 words) written between 2008 and 2014 for the Romance Writers of Australia short story contest, Little Gems.
Each year there was a different gemstone for the theme. Stories had to be a romance and suitable for all.
This is a representation of my writing development, although I'm not sure what that shows. In 2009, I had no real idea of what a romance was, so I wrote three stories. One is rather awful...a tasteless choice of situation...but I included it anyway.
I didn't edit the stories and change my style, I only polished typos. I thought the style was part of the development.
Anyway, I've popped them up if you'd like to have a look. So far I've only popped them onto Amazon, but I will get formatting it for the other sites too.
Long Game, my next book, comes out 20 February 2018, which seems a long time away but with Christmas in the middle, it will no doubt go quickly. Until then, I thought I'd tell you a bit of the 'behind the scenes' story.
Country Towns and Sport
I moved to Wagga Wagga after I finished uni, in my 20s. Wagga Wagga was the home of many many great sporting people, including Peter Sterling who was my favourite Rugby League player.
Back then, Wagga Wagga was like a big country town (I reckon it's like a city now!) and I was thrilled to be moving to such a sporty place. And sport was everywhere; I wasn't disappointed. It was a bit of an eye-opener because even though Wagga is in NSW, Aussie Rules was very popular. As popular as Rugby and Rugby League. And this was a new experience for me. I'd grown up where Rugby League was most popular. Rugby next, followed by Aussie Rules and Soccer.
I'd watched AFL in Sydney, live and on TV, so that wasn't new. It was the popularity that surprised me. Wagga Wagga itself had a couple of teams, surrounding towns and localities had teams. And the passionate supporters of these teams were as parochial as any supporters of first grade in Sydney.
When some towns' teams became short of numbers as the town/locality shrank in size, groupings happened and two or more towns would band together to field the team. I loved this. One of my favourite amalgamated team names was Ganmain Grong Grong Matong (GGGM). These three towns were along the way when driving between Narrandera and Coolamon, a lovely trip I often did.
When I was asked to write Long Game, I knew I wanted to write about a country girl moving to the city to play. I began thinking about where she might have come from...and GGGM popped right into my head. But rather than use all three towns, I decided that Grong Grong would have their own team. If you'd like some info on Grong Grong, try this website.
Cress would grow up in Grong Grong, just out of town on a farm. She'd be full of country exuberance for sport. She wouldn't care how far she had to travel to play a game, she'd be there. She'd juggle work, life and play around sport. She'd be good, really good. So I gave her a bunch of brothers who'd make her tough. She'd compete with her older brothers in the paddocks at home, where she'd learn her skills and learn to be tough.
Sport is such an important part of the fabric of many country towns. I wanted to show this in the story. So Cress spends most of the time in Sydney, but she comes home to Grong Grong, where she can fit back into farming and town life, without the trappings of Sydney superstardom.
Country towns seem to level everyone. If you grew up somewhere, when you go back, you're just that kid no matter how big you make it in the wider world. It's the down-to-earth quality I love about the country.
So, that's some of background behind Long Game. If you read it, I hope you'll enjoy it.
PS. If you're from Grong Grong and I got anything wrong - a million apologies. I tried my best to remember things.
Last year I read In The Quiet by Eliza Henry Jones and blogged about it here, because it took my breath away.
Over the last two weeks, I've read Ache, her latest release. Usually I devour books, but this was not to be devoured. It was to be sampled in small delicious bits so I could appreciate its power and beauty.
It's sat on my To Be Read pile for a long time, quietly whispering to me but I wasn't feeling well enough to delve into it. In the Quiet had hit me hard, and I was expecting this to do the same. I needed to be well enough to be opened up (exposed, torn apart; I don't think there's a word that describes this event) by literature. The blurb was heartbreaking enough - grief and recovery after bushfire.
It was everything that In The Quiet was, and more. Powerful. Heart breaking. Touching. Devastating. Renewing. Human. Real. Gritty. Poignant. Masterful.
It's a story told in broken pieces, which suits Annie who is broken herself. Traumatic events have made her question everything in her life. Her closest relationships are tested. Her daughter is traumatised by their shared experience, yet neither can articulate their horror. The grief is raw with the child, Pip, and contained by Annie. The story pieces Annie together with the most gorgeous writing, in bite sized pieces.
The setting, in the mountains, was once beautiful but is now blackened. The descriptions of the landscape are beautiful and powerful, with the landscape regenerating slowly, as the humans heal.
There are some harrowing events, deftly handled with descriptions that leave you aching but also give you hope.
I don't think I have words for this book.
It's grief at its rawest. It's Australia at its harshest. It's literature at its finest.
It tears you, makes you ache, at the same time as it fills you with hope.
It beautifully demonstrates that everyone grieves in their own way, over their own losses, and none of those are easy to define or describe or articulate.
It also shows that time heals, but not everyone heals in the same way.
Ache gave me a beautiful ache inside. Thanks for another incredible read, Eliza Henry Jones.
We've taken some of the lessons we've learned, and some of the things we do, and tried to explain how we use/relate those in the context of our writing, so we could share it with people.
We're really going out on a limb with this - not just talking about this 'weird' stuff, but we're doing videos and popping them on YouTube. Neither of us are really into video-ing, so it's a bit of a steep learning curve. And we laugh so much, mess it up often, but hey, we're trying and having a bit of fun, and surely that's what life's about. Right?
I've been visiting the blogs of some friends lately. If you're interested in popping in and reading my thoughts, please do.
Kim, Beth and I were honoured to be guests at the Shellharbour City Library as speakers during lunch at the beaming in of the Sydney Writers Festival. Kim and I were in-person, and the library beamed Beth in so she was with us too. I felt like I was on the Jetsons :) We had a lovely audience who asked some fabulous questions. I was thrilled to learn that one lady had heard me speak on Radio National, and was happy to meet me in person. How exciting and unexpected!
I have a new story coming out next month. It's an exciting adventure!
I have no story idea, no story, which is how I usually work. A scene in my head that looks something a bit like this photo.
The Book Thief was a book I read early in my writing for publication journey and it smacked me in the head. It was the first book where I went, "Holy cow, this guy has crafted every single sentence in this book." Now, I don't know if he had done that right through the book because somewhere I got swept up in the magic of the story and didn't notice anymore. At the start though, when I was finding my way into the world, it was incredibly obvious.
Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of running a workshop for the South Coast Writers Centre and Shellharbour Library. It was my first romance writing workshop, so I wasn't sure what to expect...or if anyone would attend.
OMG! Last post was a vague one about getting out of my comfort zone...today I can tell you what it was. I was invited to a podcast as an author of the W.A.R. series with the incredible Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.
Long Game (Women of W.A.R. Book 2) comes out on the 20 Feb, which isn't too long away at all.
The day climbs gave the stunning views of the Harbour... but the night climb gave the beauty of the city lights. I'm not sure which was my favourite!
Last year I read In The Quiet by Eliza Henry Jones and blogged about it here, because it took my breath away.