Mahjong Musings

NaNo blog

2008-10-12T10:12:00.000+11:00

Don't forget my blog can now be found at kikifu.wordpress.com!

The gorgeous girls over at 50k in 30 days have invited me to blog with them. How could I say no? Especially since one of them is my fantastic crit partner Diane *wave*?
So every Sunday, you can read me over there, too. Every day is a different blogger, so if you want to read about seven people (plus commenters) slowly going crazy over the next month and a half, head on over.

We’re going to have a party!

Where are you blogging during NaNo? Or if you’re not participating, where are your friends and fellow authors at?

This blog is now closed.

2008-09-23T15:05:00.000+10:00

Thanks for playing, everyone!

I've decided to close this blog and move everything over to my new home at http://kikifu.wordpress.com.
Why don't you stop by and drop me a line? Grab a box or some furniture to help with the move. We'll have cookies and tea once you get there!

Also, there's a new link list, so why not make sure that your name's on there, too, so people can find you?

It's been fun.

Bai-bai!

Revisions - done!

2008-08-14T12:32:00.002+10:00

I just sent off my first-round edits for Enter The Parrot off to my editor. Yay! Now I can catch up on all my other stuff, like finishing some blog entries.
It feels good to make your deadlines. It really does.

It's a digital world.

2008-08-01T10:20:00.000+10:00

I like to think of myself as a late early adopter.
I'm not fast enough to be one of the first to get into a new technology, but I usually get an item just before it takes off amongst the geeky.
Enter the e-reader.
After handheld gaming (you should see our Graveyard of Old Consoles and Handhelds) and iPod, mobile reading and writing was the next step to go.
Laptops always struck me as supremely unsatisfying, and PDAs were just so...meh.
But I'm incredibly excited about my new, shiny iLiad. I have high hopes that it's going to make both my reading and my writing life a lot easier.
It's charging right now, but expect more detailed reviews over the next month as I bring to you
The iLiad Odyssey!

The Wild Rose Press takes its reputation seriously.

2008-07-31T09:41:00.003+10:00

The Wild Rose Press, a small electronic and print romance publisher of impeccable taste (after all, they are *my* publisher), takes its public image very seriously.
It's alos a publisher that goes out of its way to communicate with its authors, trying to address any and all problems as they arise. Authors are on a special announcements-from-the-boss e-loop where issues are brought up as they relate to TWRP in general.

This morning, I found a post pointing towards Piers Anthony's website, where he talks about TWRP in his list of publishers. Apparently, someone has pointed out to him that TWRP are slow to start edits, taking up to a year.

Well, I want to chime in there, too. Obviously, I don't speak from vast experience, but I speak from mine.
TWRP and everyone of their staff that I've had contact with has been courteous, friendly, fast and enthusiastic. My edits for Enter The Parrot got started within the month, and I've gotten the feeling that it's me that's the limiting factor, not the other way around.
The artwork was fast and fabulous, and all communication has been punctual.

Enter The Parrot is not finished yet, but I'm very confident that things will go well from here on in. And if they don't, I am assured there are ways to communicate with the publisher directly.
What more can you ask for?

What's your experience with either TWRP or your publisher and their reputation? Justified, or not?

Social networking and the great beyond

2008-07-28T13:04:00.002+10:00

Are you twittering?
If you are, you can follow me at http://twitter.com/kikilon. I'll be updating live from the snow next week, if I can get reception.
And of course I'll be covering the RWAus conference, which is only a few weeks away. Gah!
Who else is twittering around here? Who's your favourite person to follow?

What's your favourite way to stay in touch with people? Do you read a lot of blogs? Do you blog yourself? Loops?
What's the best way you get entertained by people you barely know? Share your story...

Pitching - or: What's the point anyway?

2008-07-21T11:04:00.002+10:00

Whether you're going to RWA's National Conference in San Francisco or attending RWNZ's or our very own RWA conference here in Melbourne, you're probably thinking about pitching to an editor or agent.
After all, time and time again, the one thing conference attendees want the most is pitching sessions.
We're all desperate for that look inside the head of someone who could potentially make or break our careers. but how useful are pitch sessions really?

JenWriter stresses that she does her research beforehand.

I told them why I chose to pitch them. “I decided to pitch you because you are the agent of [author], and I’m a huge fan. Plus, my work is in the same genre so I thought you might be interested.” Every time I mentioned a client’s name, instant connection. Their faces lit up, they smiled. For the ones where I mentioned only genre from reading their bios, they also seemed pleased I did my homework. But the ones where I mentioned actual clients seemed to make better impressions.

Anne Mini has a clear goal in mind before she hones her pitch. She wants the editor/agent to *want* to read her work. her advice? Don't start by summarising your book. She has a lot of great advice, in fact, she even wrote a second post on the subject matter.

On the other side of the fence, agent Rachelle Gardner has a couple of gems to offer pitching writers, mainly about taking things one step at a time. You don't want to finish your pitch only to have the first question be "Hold on, what genre is this?"
She offers this as a pitch starting pint:

My name is _____ and I wanted to meet with you because _____.

I'm represented by _____ (agent name if applicable).

I'm writing ______ (what genre).

My publishing history includes _____. OR I'm currently unpublished but have been writing for ___ years.

Today I want to tell you about my book called _____ which is a ____(genre).

This book won the _____ award (if relevant).

I'm writing about this topic because ____ (if relevant. For example, you are a police officer and you're writing a cop thriller).

My tagline is _____ (20 words or so that capture your book).

Then, launch into your pitch.

What a great idea!

Agent Kristin Nelson suggests that you don't have to try to sum up your whole novel. Instead, just focus on the first 50 pages ore so and find the catalyst, the moment that really sets the story soaring. She also has some specific advice about a contemporary romance and a romantic suspense.

Agent Nathan Bransford has a more cynical (or honest?) outlook on pitch sessions, saying more often than not, he just requests a partial because it's easier than saying no.

Agent Scott Eagan shares this view, saying that often, editors and agents will ask for the full MS, just so they can weed out those who haven't completed their project.
He also warns that while editors might acquire across the lines, it won't mean they'll be the ones to read your project.

So what can you do to make you and your work stand out from all the others?
It's all about the branding, says Jen n at AuthorMBA. In other words, present yourself how you want to be perceived. For most of us, that means professional, savvy and classy. So no sweats and lunch-stained T-shirts, please!

Does all this discourage you? Maybe you don't want to pitch a project. Maybe you're just keen for some one-on-one time with an industry professional. You figure you'll give them a little break, pick their brains, chat about your marketability, get some feedback.
Be careful, warns Rachelle Gardner. Not everyone will be happy to do this. Especially agents are there to find new clients, not hold your hand and help you along.
She does concede that editors might be more open to this approach. Be very careful, and just in case, have something to pitch.
You could always ask if the agent/editor would mind you picking their brains instead, stating that while you do have a pitchable project, you are much more keen on having your questions XYZ addressed in these few precious minutes.
Use discretion.

So what should you do?
Be prepared, be professional, and above all, know yourself and your work.
Be polite and interesting. It doesn't matter how introverted you are in real life or how nervous you get.
Practice at home in front of your friend, cat or mirror until you can pitch while doing cartwheels (or at least without tripping over your own words).
And above all, try and have fun with it.
Odds are good they'll look at your stuff.
And then you can send that coveted --requested materials-- envelope and let your brilliant writing do the talking.

Kung Fu Panda

2008-07-13T12:23:00.002+10:00

I went to see Kung Fu Panda yesterday with my fellow kung fu peeps.
OMG, it rocked so much! It had everything! Kung fu, buns, a panda... Well, okay, so it's kind of hard to explain, so just take my word for it. If you like martial arts, or pandas, or the idea of China, or just a fun, sweet believe-in-your-dreams story, KFP is for you.
As it says in the opening, it's made of awesomeness.

It made me think about my own kung fu training (something I've been woefully neglecting lately), as well as Enter The Parrot, of course.

So in the spirit of things, I've got to ask: what's your favourite kung fu movie, and why?

The tooth fairy returns

2008-07-11T09:01:00.003+10:00

Yesterday was what will hopefully be the final chapter in the Teeth Wars saga.
You know you're onto something good when your dentist calls his colleague to have a quick peak, too. Freakshow teeth? Check.
But it's all good now (or so we hope). The dentist couldn't have been nicer or more helpful, and all things considered, it went well.

Except that my tooth damage was all along the nerve and the anesthetic didn't quite take so I had to get a second shot. Which led to me looking like a new brand of superhero as I left the clinic:
Fugu Face!
Fear my pufferfish powers and poisonous slack jaw!

The anesthetic (and swelling) lasted for over 10 hours, which meant eating was pretty much impossible. Grrrr.
But today, I finally get to eat solid foods again.
So bring on the CRUNCHY!

I O U

2008-07-10T11:15:00.002+10:00

Do you ever feel like you owe other people your time/efforts? Do you bend over backwards to please those around you?
Yeah, me too, and it's a bad thing.

On average, I spend 40 hours a week on my fiction, 15 on non-fiction and 15 hours at kung fu (including getting there and back, and any planning that may come up).
You don't have to know how many hours are in a given week (psst, it's 168) to know that doesn't leave a lot of spare time.

This article breaks it down as well, and it basically says that after sleep and food and exercise, there's only about 100 hours left in the week. Well, I'm taking the 5 hours/week of exercise back from him, since I don't 'exercise' in a gym or anything, and all of my exercise in a given week is double-duty.

So I've got 105 hours in a week that I can spend between work, play and everything else that needs doing.
So 40 hours of fiction and 15 hours of non-fiction leave me with 50 hours. Just work alone takes half of my available time each week, non-negotiable.

Kung fu takes a third of that remaining time at 15 hours. 35 left.

I walk everywhere I can, including shopping, adding up to about 10 hours a week at least.
25 hours left.

reading is an important part of my life, and I try to read at least a book a week. Unfortunately, it's hard for me to spare more than 5 hours a week most weeks (sometimes I cut back my work hours to get more reading time).
20 hours left.

Video games are my other pastime, and they double-duty as spending time with my friends and/or boyfriend. Probably about 10 hours a week.

That leaves me 10 hours a week for everything else. Blogging, coffee, chatting, playing, cooking more ambitious food, eating out, podcasting, cleaning etc.

So I'm afraid that's why when you ask me if I have time, I usually go "Uh...."

Be careful who you step on as you head up in the world.

2008-07-04T14:44:00.003+10:00

This account of an editor's lunch with a prospective client shows you just how easy it is to make an ass of yourself.

Sure, everybody believes deep down inside that they're the most special person in the universe. We're all the heroes of our own stories. And obviously, if we've produced any kind of work, we're kind of in love with it, and just like with ugly children, we hold onto the belief that everyone else should see them for what they truly are, too.

Okay. So maybe you really are important. Maybe your book really is that great. Then why in blazes can't you have the good grace to be courteous to someone who quite clearly admires you and your work? Why would you go and tell someone that their opinion is not valued, not important, and in fact, merely the opening assessment for bigger and better things.

This actually kind of ties in with my last blog post. I'd rather have someone be super excited about me and my projects than just a big name to whom I'm merely a statistical blip somewhere along the line.

You don't have to sell yourself under value. But you don't have to put other people down to make yourself feel great, either.

You can't buy enthusiasm

2008-07-04T09:03:00.003+10:00

There is noting as exciting as someone falling in love with something you've created.
And if that someone happens to be your editor, well!

Jill Williamson, my fantastic and generous editor at The Wild Rose Press has in fact told me she loves Enter The Parrot so much, it's her favorite book this year. But not only that, she's also going to talk about it at the Oregon Christian Writers conference, where she is a guest speaker this year.

So if you happen to be going to the conference, say hi to Jill for me and tell her she rocks (because she does). And watch out for my book, because it's also awesome. ^_^

Ow, my teeth!

2008-06-23T09:33:00.002+10:00

I hate dentists.
Okay, that's not entirely fair, since I don't necessarily hate dentists the people. I'm sure a lot of them are extremely lovely people once you're out of their chair.
What I really hate is the feeling of helplessness when dealing with dentists.
When you go to an anything-else doctor, you have at least a sporting chance of watching what they're doing. Also, they don't hide their faces while they work on you.

With a regular doctor, I often already have a vague idea what's wrong with me, and sometimes I can even hazard a guess as to how it'll be fixed.

But not with dentists, oh no. All I know is I'm in tremendous pain that seems to move, and when I tell the lovely front desk asssistant that, she gives me an appointment for next week with one of those perfect white dentistry smiles that says "I floss twice every day. Do you ever floss? You don't, do you?"

A week. In pain. Not slight pain. 6+ Nurofen-a-day pain. And you're telling me to wait as if that was perfectly acceptable.

My GP takes walk-ins. because, you know. Most people don't just decide to get sick some time in the near future, or feel like a social visit in a crammed doctor's office.
I don't know about you, but when I give my doc a call, 9 times out of 10 it's because somethig is wrong.

Okay, so horrendous pain for a week. once you get to the dentist, she'll fix you up right and dandy, won't she?
Uh, that would be a no, too.
I tell her I'm in pain and that I assume it's my blasted wisdom teeth. She takes one look at my mouth and says, "Yeah, that's right. The wisdom teeth. They need to come out."
Fantastic. So far, I'm on track. For a minute, nothing further happens. Then she takes another look in my mouth, this time with that pointy metal thing that makes you want to hold reeeaaaaally still in case they slip and give you a tongue piercing you didn't ask for.
"Do you drink a lot of soft drinks," she asks derisively.
"Not really." As in, not even every week, nor necessarily once a fortnight.
"Sugar then." Not a question.
"I guess."
"You've got holes." She says that in the same way I always imagine people to say "You've got crabs."
"Oh," I mumble. I'm not overly coherent with my mouth open and lying on my back, you see. Don't take that the wrong way.
She takes a mini air-blowtorch from her arsenal and aims it at one tooth.
"Can you feel that," she asks. "It should hurt a little."
Me, tears forming from acute pain "Uh-huh."
She turns off the air stream. Wow. And I thought I was in pain before!
She blows around my mouth some more adn tells her assistant some bingo numbers. I don't think I win, since she keeps comparing other teeth to the painful one, nodding and mumbling to herself.

"Do you want me to clean your teeth," she asks out of the blue.
"No thanks," I say, wiping my eyes. I think I don't want her scrubbing my gums, thankyouverymuch.
Wrong answer.
"What, you just came in here to check?"
Uh,yes? Seriously, do people come in here to get their teeth brushed? Isn't that a tad expensive?
"You need to come back for your wisdom teeth," she dismisses me and my pain. She doesn't even prescribe painkillers.

That was last time I went to the dentist, about three months ago.
The pain is back.
This time, I'm not going to the Pointless One that told me I had a hole and then sent me packing again. I'm going to my friend Rock Chick's dentist (I went with her not too long ago when she had some major surgery done to her), even though it's over an hour for me to get there. He was nice and friendly and explained everything that he was doing as he was doing it. I like that.

My appointment is ina week's time, the earliest they had. Oh joy. That bodes well.

Enter The Parrot: What's it about?

2008-06-10T13:24:00.000+10:00

I'm going to try and post something about my upcoming book ENTER THE PARROT every week to give you a taste of what's coming.
Feel free to spread the word to everyone you know. And if you've got a book you'd like me to promote in return, why not drop me a line? I'm always happy to help the buzz about new and exciting projects around!
Today, I'm bringing you the back cover blurb. Would you pick it up in a bookshop?

Meet Jade, the White girl in the Wong family.

On the surface, Jade fits in perfectly. But just below the surface lurks the fragrance of ginger, ginseng, and a secret kung fu society.

When her crazy grandpa's deluded parrot goes missing, Jade must dive deep into the seedy underbelly of Chinatown to find him, keeping secrets from her best friends and her cute eco- mentor, Cedric: aka the hottest guy in school. She'll need her wits about her to solve the riddle, especially when more than one bird goes missing. Could TF, the hot Chinese guy with the washboard abs, hold the key to the mystery?

One girl. One parrot. One ancient kung fu mystery.
Got kung fu?

Enter The Parrot

2008-06-02T16:30:00.002+10:00

Welcome to the revival of this blog.
I've been very quiet recently, but I promise I'll make more of an effort to keep things up and running (not just here, in my other blog projects, too).
But why now? Well, there have been quite a few things going on since I last blogged, amongst them the little fact that I SOLD MY FIRST BOOK!

I sold Enter The Parrot, the first in the 'got kung fu' series. That's the cover right there. Isn't it awesome? My cover! For my book. The one that I wrote. Me. my book.

You will pardon me for being incoherent, but you have NO IDEA just how exciting this is. Unless you're a writer too, of course. in which case you can appreciate exactly the head space I am in right now.

Get checked out

2008-05-07T10:57:00.002+10:00

An estimated 70% of girls in the Western world will have an HPV (human papillomavirus) infection at some point in their lives. Most of the time HPV clears up on it's own. However, in some cases it can cause genital warts or cause cells on the cervix to grow abnormally (different strains of the virus usually cause warts than cervical abnormalities although a few strains can cause both). If left untreated these abnormal cells can turn into cervical cancer. Almost all types of cervical cancer start out this way. The type of HPV that causes cervical lesions and the lesions themselves don't usually cause any noticable symptoms.

BUT THERE'S GOOD NEWS!

It takes years (typically 10 YEARS) for these types of cell changes to turn cancerous. Getting a PAP SMEAR every year after you become sexually active detects these changes at a stage where they are treatable. The treatments for cervical lesions depend on the severity of the lesion, however, they are often uninvasive, outpatient procedures (ie. you leave the clinic and go home right after). Cervical lesions are 100% treatable.

Cervical Cancer is one of the few types of cancer that is almost entirely PREVENTABLE. Most women who develop cervical cancer have never had a Pap test, or have not followed up on an abnormal result.

TELL SOMEONE. Tell your mom, your sister, your best friend, your girlfriend, your aunt, your cousin. Tell yourself.

For more info on HPV and Pap tests see the website below.

http://www.hpvinfo.ca/hpvinfo/home.aspx

And yes, obviously I never thought about talking about it until it affected me. get smart. get checked out early.

Personal best

2008-04-21T10:32:00.002+10:00

I've been busy with other projects (articles, recipes, my foodie blog), so this blog hasn't seen much action lately.
But I've tied up most of my loose ends and am back in the saddle, so things are looking up!

I don't want to give too much away, but exciting things are on the horizon for my fiction projects.
May is going to be Maintenance Month, during which I'll be tying up loose ends, getting my submissions in order and updating my website, which I haven't done in yonks.

The idea is to have June free to write my next project. To that end, I'm actually going to hermit myself away for a whole week. So if you need something done, don't count on June to get it.*

* Note: This does not apply to people needing me to do writing-related things like edits or submissions.

Where is the time?

2008-04-07T12:18:00.003+10:00

I am a folder fanatic when it comes to my computer. I love dividing and sub-dividing things in a weird effort to one day become more efficient. At what, I don't know. Filing, maybe?
One of the things I file a lot is my email.
My web-based email account (to which all my various email addys forward) has ten folders set up, filtering various message groups, replies from agents and editors, contest news, etc. one of them is simply called "personal" and is where I drop every email that is purely social in content. This is where all my beloved friends' correspondence goes, marked with a star for IMPORTANT, so I know to look at it, take my time, and answer it.

I realised today that my most recent correspondence is from September last year. I was *sure* it was December at least, but apparently, I lost a couple of months along the track.
Just like that.

So for all of you who read this blog to find out whether I'm still alive or why I ignore you, it's because of the folders.
And the fact that for the life of me, I don't even remember what i did in October. or February.

Well, technically, that's not true. I can tell you that I did some important revisions that were requested from me in October and had some great professional correspondence, and in February my current YA project found a paranormal twist to itself.
But outside of books and book-related things, there is only the great Silence.

I should talk more about my life here. I might need to look it up some day.

I'm back - and I bring teeth

2008-03-11T09:55:00.002+11:00

So the year hasn't started very auspiciously for me. I was in a bad rut where work would only trickle in (with a lot of "what else have you got"s), and then there were a series of mystery sicknesses that finally manifested in a jaw infection.

You know, for a country that allegedly provides health care for its citizens, the fact that dental is not considered essential is laughable.
So many other illnesses can stem from dental-related health issues. GPs can deal with every area of your body except the mouth.
Makes sense? no, I didn't think so either.

Tooth-related illnesses can manifest in everything from something akin to mental depression all the way to chronic pain in completely different parts of your body. And yeah, while my wisdom teeth were having a party finally righting themselves in my overcrowded jaw and wrecking havoc in the surrounds like a frat party, I was flitting from one problem to the next.

Now we finally have private health insurance, so in only two months' time, I can go and get the teeth checked again without eating only rice and whatever the garden grows for lunch for a week. And in 6 months time, I can get something done about these biteys o' mine.

The good thing is though that the inflammation has gone down, I can eat again, and my brain isn't preoccupied with not fainting any more, so I can actually get some work done.
There's a pile of pitches sitting on my desk that needs to go out.
Ah, pitching. The best part about writing. Well, apart from the first draft or two, of course. And the initial idea. But it's definitely in the top 5.

Mmmmh, food.

2008-02-04T08:37:00.000+11:00

I've read more cookbooks than fiction and other non-fiction combined this year, so I guess it's no great wonder that I'm looking forward to the opening of a vegie take-away place pretty much around the corner from where I live.

Mmmh, more food....

This blog entry is a desperate attempt at procrastination as I type up the very last edits (since my first reader got busy) before preparing to send it on Thursday).

Burn-out

2008-01-31T09:48:00.000+11:00

I'm tired.
There are a lot of things going on in my life that add to my stress, and there doesn't seem to be enough productive downtime.
between my new Blaze project, the YA that's going out to agents next week (finally!), the outline for the next YA, recipe development for various magazines and pitching articles, my work days are quite busy. Add to that kung fu training that's less-than-relaxing (and I don't mean that in a physical sense, unfortunately) and a lion dance team that's still trying to get off the ground and there isn't much time left for anything else.

Then between friends moving away or just dropping off the face of the earth for various reasons, and me not being a great friend in the first place (ask me about that some time over a cup of cocoa), my downtime consists of cleaning the house, gardening and playing DS. I don't even find enough time to read! At least audiobooks are something I can take with me as I hike from one appointment to the next. Hey, I might have had to cancel my gym plans, but I can still walk my 10k/day in errands.

I'm not sure what the solution is, but I'm going to find it. Later. once the articles have found a home and the Blaze and YA are out of my hands.
Maybe.

Edits and productivity

2008-01-22T10:33:00.000+11:00

It looks like TBTKMB is finally shaping up. I just finished a round of paper edits, and once it comes back from my first readers, it'll go through a final polish, and tehn it's query time again at long last!

And just in time, since I've got some nice non-fiction projects lined up, two of which came to me because of my foodie blog. Talk about viral marketing.

I'm also itching to start on my next project. Hopefully it'll be a smoother ride.
Thanks to the ever-generous Anne Gracie, who did a crash-course book fixer for me when she gave me a lift to our committee meeting, I've got a whole new appreciation for fixing my Blaze work. It's going to be awesome.

Sometimes, all it takes is one person shoving you in the right direction.

New year, new plans

2008-01-09T18:17:00.000+11:00

I took a few days off over the holidays to look back at my goals, accomplishments and shortcomings over the last year, and to plan out the new year as far as writing is concerned.

The Book That Kicked My Butt meant I didn't write quite as many books as I wanted, but I certainly made my pages. Overall, 2007 wasn't a great year, but reasonably productive. It was also a year for career advancement and has opened up all sorts of avenues that weren't there before, from detailed correspondence with agents and editors to regular column writing gigs to better networking. I also learned lots of things about the craft that I didn't know before.

I read a lot of books (and am still catching up on reviews) and made some very important personal choices towards a better me.

I like making (and talking about) New Year's resolutions. I posted the ones last year on this blog.
How did I go?

Finish Enter The Parrot

Find an agent to represent my YA writing

Find a temp agency that can hook me up with regular work

Get the lion dance team together and make sure that everything looks professional

be a better friend to the people I've neglected

Become more active in RWA

Enter 10 contests/final in 1 (whichever happens first)

Read at least 50 YA books over the course of the year

Start one YA project

Submit two more category romances to Harlequin

Plan/write two category romances

Move house

Find a group of people to play mahjong with regularly

Study Canto in a more structured environment

Lose 5-10 kg (Come on, everyone wants to lose weight/shape up/whatever in the new year, right?)

Clean more

Sleep more efficiently, i.e. less but better

Okay, so I passed 10 of 17. That's not too bad, is it? Well, okay, it is.

Time for some new resolutions.

In 2008, I intend to:

Submit TBTKMB to all the agents on my 'good' list

Get an article published and get paid for it

Find a group of people to play mahjong with (seriously!)

Pick up a new sport or other means of exercise

Write 3 more YAs

Write 2 category romances

Submit at least 2 other projects to publishers/agents

Perform at least 3x with the lion dance troupe

Read & review at least 50 YAs

Post at least 35 recipes on my food blog

Travel overseas in November/have the money to do so

A shorter list, but I think the goals are somewhat more achievable. of course, i say that now.
Do you make new year's resolutions? Do you stick to them? How did last year's go?

T'was the season, now it's over.

2007-12-27T08:41:00.000+11:00

This is my favourite time of the year. it's the maximum amount of time until I have to endure christmas carols again.
To say that xmas is not exactly my fave holiday is a gross understatement. There are so many things I dislike about it, from the force-feeding to the crappy gifts (in special, exztra-wasteful packaging) to the commercialisation of a religious holiday that itself usurped a perfectly good social holiday.

No, not my favourite time. It's also awkward. You more often than not spend it with people you only see about a half dozen times a year (if not less). People you might not even like. What's fun in that?

So call me a Scrooge, but it's just not my holiday.

Why do you celebrate? What makes this season magical and wonderful to you? Or not?
And why do you wish people merry christmas? What do you mean by it?

In other news, it's almost deadline time, and the writing is just swinging. Someone died already and I'm a very happy camper.

Canz you readz?

2007-12-22T18:49:00.000+11:00

Okay, so I'm not the most intellectual blog around, am I?
If you want to build your vocabulary, why don't you give FREE RICE a whirl? You might even be doing something good at the same time.

It's raining!

2007-12-20T09:20:00.000+11:00

Yeah, I know it's dorky to get excited over a little rain, but it's POURING outside! It's absolutely awesome. it's all dark and grey and, well, wet out there, with a soft thunder rumbling far away.
My garden is getting the happy drenching it's been so desperately craving (even with grey water, the water restrictions are hitting my poor lettuces hard), and my windows are getting washed (yeah, because I wash them sooo often).

Also, 'bad' weather inspires me to write. Which is excellent since, well, I've got a deadline two days after christmas. People are crazy, I'm telling you.

It's funny though, since this is the perfect weather for the new series I'm working on. let's say thunder and lightning are key elements here. Also, people die. That's a veeeeery good thing right now.

I hope everybody's doing their best to stay sane over the December/January season. Keep it up, and stay loving.

POV

2007-11-30T14:51:00.000+11:00

The rewrites for this round are finished!
TC is shaping up to be the most heavily edited/rewritten book I've worked on to date. I can't decide whether that's a good or a bad thing.
Once I've typed up the changes (I love writing longhand, but getting all the stuff into the computer is donkey work), I am changing the rest of the book (a fun 150 Word doc pages as it stands) to third person. Why would I do such a thing? Because suddenly, this book has not one, but three protagonists.
And I have a sneaky suspicion I'm going to introduce one more major plot point that came to me as I wrote the last scheduled scene.

Oh yes, this book is shaping up to be fun. Good thing I gave myself until January to polish it.
And then I get to write my new book! Full of magic, mythology and glorious, glorious death.

Can you tell I'd like to murder some of my current cast? No? Well, I would. Except it's a book about food and eating. I don't like death with my food. Which may have something to do with my recent dietary changes.
Boy, i can't wait to see how my next book is going to change my life.

I like change. I just don't like typing.

Shiny new projects

2007-11-25T18:16:00.000+11:00

Nothing is as tempting as a new project.
Especially since The Book That Refuses To Roll Over And Get Edited is such a problem child.
So of course, all the other books are calling to me.
"Write me! I'll be fun!" "I'm great research." "Hey, did I tell you about this boy you should add to my story? He's fab!"
No. bad stories. Go back to your ideas box.

The good thing is, TBTRTROAGE is getting better with eacha ddition. The bad thing, it's taking longer and longer to 'fix' it each time. I *think* it's fixed well enough to withstand editing, but you never know. It's also shaping up to be my longest project to date (apart from Ye Very Firste Booke of Crapola, aka, The Chick-Lit), which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The magazine pitches are getting mildly better, it seems. At least people are replying to my emails now (huge step up from shouting into the void), even if a lot of it is "Thanks, but no thanks." Some of them have liked my stuff, and quite a few are open to receiving pitches (I cold-queried them asking whether they'd like me to send something).

Baby steps forward. baby steps.

in other news, my pantry, fridge and freezer are now officially filled to capacity with yummies and staples. i have officially become obsessed with foraging and storing. I blame TBTRTROAGE for forcing me to have food on my mind every hour of the day.
That's right... blame the book...

How many earths does it take to satisfy you?

2007-11-20T13:33:00.000+11:00

A fun little game to test your eco factor.

Consumer Consequences will ask you a series of questions about your lifestyle, and as you play, it will show you how many "Earths" of natural resources it would take to sustain all 6.6 billion humans… if everyone lived like you.

If everyone on earth lived like me, we'd need 1.3 earths! Gah!

How do you rate?

A new life

2007-11-15T10:30:00.000+11:00

Every time my parents come to visit (a once-a-year month-long occasion), my life gets put on hold. At the time, it's stressful and draining, and it usually takes me about a week to recover.
But another thing happens. As I'm recuperating from a month of parental supervision (and no matter how laissez-faire your parents are, they can't help but, well, parent you), I look at my life. I mean, really look at it. And all those niggling little unhappinesses pop into focus.

This year, I had been discontent for most of it. Something was missing, things weren't quite right. oh, nothing was wrong per se, but there wasn't enough progress.

So I spent the last three weeks (after the parentals had left) ferreted away. Plotting. thinking. Making plans. Strategising. Scheming.

And guess what? Yeah, I have a plan. Did I say one? I have several! And I've already started putting some of them into action.

The biggest change I've made was probably with my nutrition. I'm loathe to call my change a diet, as it's not a short-term fix. I've worked out a complete food overhaul and spent about 200 hours studying everything from nutrition to Chinese medicine to work out what foods I should really have in my system. Then came the recipe hunt, and now is actually the first week that I'm trying to implement things.
Dieters will know this, but changing your eating habits is HARD. I've been feeling abit unwell, and I get weird food cravings (okay, so what else is new?). but hey, I'm doing something good for myself.

I've also looked at the people in my life, and who gives me something good, and who is toxic. I've been back in touch with people from my old lives, and that feels pretty good, too.

The last change has been around the house. Let's be frank about it, my householding skills suck monkey bottoms. Big time.
But I've worked out a plan (that's going to take me three months >_<) to give the place a good, thorough clean. like a very belated, dragged-out spring clean. It's not easy, but it's happening.

Finally not so much of a change, but a nice, detailed writing plan keeping me busy until March, with a rough outline until November next year. There are four books on the agenda (not counting the one I'm currently editing), and I'm very much looking forward to that.

Life is full, but it's rich and shiny. Life is good.

Long time no blog

2007-10-02T10:02:00.000+10:00

September was another one of thow whooosh months. Between preparations and training for my kung fu club's 30th anniversary celebrations, several book outlines and a towering TBR pile, nothing much went on in my life. Well, sort of.
I've also succumbed to the clutches of FaceBook, which is another most excellent time waster. But hey, everybody needs a hobby, right?
And speaking of both hobbies and segueways, I've picked up squash again, and it's great fun.

I need more exercise in my life (says the 5x/week kung fu trianing person, yeah, yeah).

In better, and more writerly, news, I've now got six books outlined for after my parents are gone again. It's quite a fascinating process, as even in outlining, I can tell a lot about the books, and how much potential they have at this stage. I'm definitely pleased to have added this step.

So if you're on Facebook, look me up! I could use some non-kung fu friends. ^_-

Simpsonised

2007-09-23T16:17:00.000+10:00

Have you ever wondered what you'd look like as a character on your favourite TV show? No? Oh well. Maybe you should! At http://www.simpsonizeme.com , you can check out what yellow does for your skin. It's fun, and the results are suprisingly accurate. I had lots of fun picking the right photo and fine-tuning my Simpsons look.
And just to show how fashion-challenged I am, I actually got an idea for a haircut from one of the Simpsons hair models. Yeah, I know, it's sad.
I really, really need my hair cut. I'm so sick of it! It's all boring and long and, well, boring.
Anyone know of any good online sites (in contrast to offline ones, I'm Captain Obvious today, forgive me) that let you look at hair styles that were created some time after the 80s?

In other news, project Lion Dance is coming along splendidly. We just need to figure out how to raise a large amount of money so we can buy equipment, and we'll be all set. Easy, right?

Finally, after raving about the wonders of Simpsonising myself, Nerd Boy had to get in on the act. Here we are, headed for a fun day at the studios. ^_^
Link to your Simpsons self if you're blogging about it!

Feelin' fruity?

2007-09-20T10:48:00.001+10:00

I try to avoid online shopping, I really do. But when someone mentions fruit bouquets, well, I just can't resist.
This site does the most incredible-looking bouquets I've ever seen.
I'm not one for flowers (or most other purely decorative things, for that matter), but ooooh, you could send me those every week.
Why don't I live in the US, where they deliver Godiva chocolate, fruit bouquets and everything else delicious and tempting right to you?
Oh wait, there's some local ones, too! So if you need to get me something, you could do worse than look here or here.
Now I'm hungry...

I want to write!

2007-09-19T10:40:00.000+10:00

You know what's really really hard? Not writing.
Oh, I don't mean I'm not writing. I've got plenty of stuff to write, including an essay/column thingie for the new Cartoonists' Magazine. Well, it's called something like that. if you're in Melbourne, look around for it, I hear it's going to be in bookshops and the like, but being my usual attention-paying self... Well, me and names. We just don't go together very well.
And I'm pitching articles for teen magazines (I love teen magazines, everything is bite-sized and upbeat - if you skip the tearjerker piece, which I do), health magazines and local Melbourne freebie mags (I want to write for Boost's magazine. I have weird aspirations).
But I'm not writing fiction, and therein lies the problem.

You see, if I'm working on a given project, I can tell my brain to shut up and stop throwing ideas at me. "I've got this one to write, see? So hold on to that space opera, the epic fantasy novel set in a weird version of medieval China, the Goth girl book and the Clique-ripoff. This book first, mkay?"
It works. Sort of.
But this last week has been the Revenge of the Brain. Seriously, I can't sleep at night because I'm overflowing with ideas. I've already sketched out nine new projects that I think at least have potential. I even have outlining time in my calendar. In two weeks!
So it's like my brain wants to get as many ideas in there for consideration. It's like my subconscious is pitching to me, hoping I'll pick at least one (dozen) ideas for my next book.

You know, maybe I could write a liiiiiittle fiction? Just an opening chapter or two... I've got this idea about valkyries...

Another project drafted

2007-09-18T10:34:00.000+10:00

I finished the first draft of my current YA project yesterday. It was the fastest draft I've written to date, and also the most solid.
I did about two weeks of prep before starting, and I had a very detailed (well, for me) outline. The draft itself took me just under a month to write.
It's 87 A4 pages in longhand, which should be roughly equivalent to 160-200 typed standard MS pages. For a first draft, that's a fair effort.
I'm going to edit and revise it all through November and then query all the agents that requested fulls from my last project with it. Then the ones who asked for partials. Then maybe everyone else.
I like this project. it combines a couple of things I am very fond of into an exciting mix.
I'll be working on the hook and blurb this week, and I'll post it on my website. So stay tuned to learn what it's all about!

Someone, somewhere, liked an idea of mine!

2007-09-11T08:47:00.000+10:00

Okay, a lot of stuff is happening, none of them related to any of my fiction.
Firstly, Wendy Toliver (http://www.wendytoliver.com), the author of the upcoming "The Secret Life of a Teenage Siren" (aah, superpowers, mi\y kind of book), apparently reads this blog in one of its incarnations and is going to use something I said as part of her talk! Isn't that incredibly exciting?
She's going to use the "writing through the ages" analogy. I'm curious what comes from that. who knows, maybe I'll do a talk on that one day at an RWA! It could happen...

In more actual work-work news, I'm carving out a huge chunk of precious face- (and hand-)time with the current WIP to do a lot of non-fiction proposals.
I think I mentioned before that my non-fiction rejections now match the fiction ones if you count per pitch rather than per query (I pitched multiple ideas in each email, more efficient that way, or so I'm told). But hey. onwards and upwards.

Pitching non-fiction has taught me two important things: (1) Rejections? Get over them. And (2) there are always more ideas.
Good advice for all writers.

Finally, I'm going to submit (okay, first of all write) a piece to a new free humour magazine based here in Melbourne. I'm supposed to hand it in "sooner rather than later", but with the WIP approaching the finishing line rather rapidly, the piece might have to wait until next week.

And in WIP news, I passed the 3/4 mark yesterday! This was my first time working with a scene-by-scene plan, and it's been fantastically easy for my short attention span. I made very few changes to the outline, and I think I'll use this method again.
Of course I say this now, before edits, and before having typed up the words and counted them...

Originally, I was going to do the edits while my parents are coming over to visit (only 3 weeks!), but instead, I'll be writing something new. It'll drive me less crazy. And gives the WIP plenty of time to sit and rest.

Nooo, it's not because I have two more story ideas all ready to be outlined, who said that?

A writer's eyes

2007-09-08T09:33:00.000+10:00

I don't watch movies very often, but last night, with Kung Fu Boy out of town, I found myself with an evening I don't usually have to myself. So I took this opportunity to watch a movie and do some sewing.
I watched Finding Neverland, something my old DVD player couldn't handle (it was a baaaaaaad DVD player, this new one is so shiny and capable).
It's a beautiful movie! I especially loved the world he saw. That's exactly how I feel. The world is full of things that may or may not be quite there. The movie is funny and sad at the same time, but above all, it's beautiful.
Go watch it.
What other writerly movies can you recommend? I might be able to watch one more before KFB returns from his outback mission...

Old friends and acquaintances

2007-09-07T19:53:00.000+10:00

I was in a nostalgic mood tonight, so I started googling around. After all, everybody's searchable nowadays, right? Everybody has a website, and if you remember their names, anyone can be found.
So I had a browse around.
One of my closer friends in high school (and one of the few girls I actually enjoyed hanging out with outside of clubbing) is now a tour guide, translator and interpreter back home.
My old stunt buddy is a well-established stunt actor (and his pictures kick major butt, too).
Yet another has a charming site on her family and many children (and holidays).
And then I ran out of names.

I never had many friends at any given time, but the few I had have gone from memory. Half of the people that were so important in my life, I don't even remember the last name of. Foiled by Google at the starting gate.

Then I found this German friend search engine thingie where you put in your school and it shows you people you graduated with.
Talk about freaky. These are people I hadn't thought about in years. The popular kids. The well-adjusted ones with the school spirit that cared.
That wasn't me.

Looking at them made me realise why I write the things I write. Thanks, guys!

And if you're one of the people from my old life looking me up, why not leave a kind word to show you care...
And if you're not from MY old life, you're from someone's. Why not look them up and tell them you reemmber? Sometimes memories are all we have.

This post is dedicated to another friend of mine that left before I did.

Posting for broke

2007-08-23T13:26:00.002+10:00

Man, sending stuff out is expensive. I just posted two full manuscripts to agents in the US, and it set me back $65.
Is there any wonder I prefer to do email submissions?

For the next MS, I'm not going to print anything and ship it. I just can't afford it until the freelancing does a better job at paying the bills (and the food; and maybe even the clothes).

Critiques and where they take you

2007-08-23T13:26:00.001+10:00

I seem to be talking to people a lot about critique partners and critique groups lately.
I'm one of those terminally single writers. Top me, critique partners have a lot in common with dating. You meet a potential CP, you suss each other out. You may exchange pages. See if you get along. And invariably, things don't work out. one might fall in love, the other doesn't. one may be confused, disgusted or simply not as into it. One might be abusive, cruel or lazy.
Or they both might decide to just stay friends.

Either way, I'm no good with crit partners. And don't even get me started on crit groups.
It has everything to do with how I work. I produce content quickly. Very quickly. I can easily write a full-length first draft in one month without breaking a sweat. Editing is a completely different matter though.
I find it hard to convey exactly what I'd need out of a crit partner, and I don't want to be the nasty one in the relationship.

What I do love though, are first readers. First readers, in contrast to all CPs I've worked with, give you the big picture. They (kinda have to) read your whole manuscript from start to finish. They don't focus so much on the nitty-gritty as on structural and logical errors. It's just as hard to find good first readers, but to me, they are more useful at this stage.

All that means is I haven't found The One. The CP to make my life (and my MS) complete.
I'm still happy to exchange pages with people. As long as they know what they want and need from a critique, I'll gladly try to deliver.

Writing through the ages

2007-08-22T13:24:00.000+10:00

Being a writer is a lot like growing up. You go through life stages, and the problems and self-perceptions you have are very similar to what faces people growing up.

Baby:
The baby writer bumbles around with no fear. He writes purely for the joy of discovery, uninhibited and unfocused. She will abandon projects and completely forget about them. Grammar, word choice, storyline, all these things are irrelevant as the baby writer enjoys words for words' sake.

Toddler:
The toddler writer knows her brilliance. Every word she pens is pure genius, every story idea pulitzer worthy. Like their real-life counterparts, toddler writers can't fathom anyone not loving them and are prone to tantrums when criticised.

Child:
The child writer is used to being told they need to learn. they take classes and do their homework. Craft becomes important, and they often become quite obsessed with rules, regulations and guidelines. They want to win contests and get a lot of delight out of their writing. unless they feel like they're scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Teen:
Ah, teenagers. They've left their childhood behind, they've learned it all and usually have some form of success to show. It's time to bend those pesky rules that got them nowhere. it's time to rebel, to be their own person. The world just doesn't understand and appreciate them!
After all, growing up/getting published is a mere formality at this point. they're soooo ready! If only the old folks would move over and make room already.

Adult:
Oh, finally! independence, a publishing contract, a whole new world.
And suddenly, there are bills to pay and drives to take, book signings and promotions and a host of other, mundane responsibilities. It gets harder and harder to actually find time to write, let alone delight in it. Suddenly, it seems to be all about maintaining the perceptions of others. Maybe you're raising babies of your own, teaching writing classes, running workshops and presentations. Younger writers come to you seeking advice. Teen writers hate you. It's not as glamorous as it was supposed to be.

Mid-life crisis:
Then it all gets too much. After several books, or maybe after deciding you're a one-book wonder, life gets too much. maybe it's time for a career change. Something easy like deep-sea pearl fishing or miniature painting. Anything but write.

Elder:
Finally, the golden years. With age comes wisdom. Retired from the rat race, writing once more becomes a pleasurable activity, something to be savoured and enjoyed for its own merit. maybe a change of direction has opened a new perspective.

Life, and writing, has so much to offer. We shouldn't rush through the stages, but try and get the most out of every situation we're in.

Or maybe too many metaphors make for a bloated mind. Who knows?

Back from the conference with a vengeance (and a cold)

2007-08-16T08:53:00.000+10:00

Yay! I'm back!
The RWA conference was fantastic, just as you would expect it to be. The key thing I learned? The more people you know, the more fun it becomes.
It doesn't matter that I wasn't up for anything at the awards dinner. I knew two winners, one second-place getter and one third-place getter personally, and that made me so happy!

Good times are other people.

Unfortunately, I came home with the nastiest cold I've had in years, so a more detailed write-up will have to wait until I'm not phlegming up the keyboard (yeah, because you so needed that image, huh?).
So rest assured, I made it home alive, and so did two 3kg satchels of FREE books. Which have started the fourth pile of my TBR mountain.

So while I recover, I have to read. It's all quite tragic, really.

Conference conclusions

2007-08-13T13:04:00.000+10:00

Every time you (think you) are returning to something, you will go with a larger set of preconceptions, making it both easier and harder to adapt.
While I wasn't worried about finding social contact, I was a bit apprehensive about the workshops and what I would get out of them.
Both of these preconceptions proved to be quite accurate. Self-fulfilling prophecies? Maybe. I like to think of it as becoming more certain as to what I want and need out of these sorts of things.

There were no groundbreaking market news, no secret insights or great new ways to make that manuscript shine that extra little bit brighter. That's okay, I wasn't expecting that.
I did jot down quite a few ideas during talks (sometimes they were even related to what the speaker was saying at the time), but overwhelmingly, this conference was validation for me.

Validation that being a writer is a powerful thing. That you need to be strong not to be swept away by the currents around you.
Also, something I've been suspecting all along, something my dad has taught me from the earliest age: Modesty, especially the self-effacing kind, is for chumps.
If you don't think you're great, don't expect anyone else to think so either.

Also, just because a hotel is in a posh area (well, relatively speaking), doesn't make the food or the air conditioning bearable.

Resolutions for the new writing year? Stay in touch with friends I only see at the conference and make more of an effort to get some face-time in with people I *can* see more often. Being together in a group is beautifully empowering. As long as it doesn't become an excuse for not writing...

Conference roundup - Sunday

2007-08-12T22:03:00.000+10:00

The final day of the conference is always a little bitter-sweet.
This year, I still kept bumping into people I hadn't said hello to all week-end yet (yay, I know people!).
on the other hand, people settled into a rhythm, and the talk got more relaxed. People were inspired, we shared pitch stories, and last-minute purchases were made.

In the morning, we had author chats, which I'm a little lukewarm about, mainly because I never know what to ask, and the authors always look slightly uncomfortable and put on the spot. I don't know. Maybe I need to go to talks about genres I don't read or write...

After that, I went to the freelance writing workshop, which was very useful, especially the part where they talked money. it's always refreshing to hear people talk figures, even in a ballpark sense. Seriously, what's people's obsession with never talking income? It just means we all get ripped off. But whatever.
Armed with new knowledge, I'm looking forward to working harder on this freelance thing. Even though it's still very intimidating. Meh. it's not like I'm not used to pitching and getting rejected. ^_-

After another uninspired lunch (which looked like a regurgitated version of yesterday's, with the colours being even less appealing), I went to Bronwyn Jameson's workshop on tension, which unfortunately suffered from annoying technical difficulties, making the whole workshop a bit of a write-off for me.
But that's okay. i was feeling pretty tired by that stage anyway.
And then Anne Stuart gave her talk. I love her! She is sooo like me (yeah, I know, conceited much?). She even loves Gackt! Yay, J-rock!
There were a lot of "Me too!" moments throughout her speech. it was great.

And then everything came to an end, we said our good-byes, and then a couple of us met up for a last dinner along the beautiful harbour.
The food was great, the company was splendid, and it was jut an all-round good experience rounded off by very bleh hot chocolate at the hotel.
And then three sweeties walked me home, worried that something bad might happen to me.
While the gesture was very sweet, I felt very much like walking *them* home once we made it to my hotel. Clearly these girls were more worried about the surroundings than I was. Still fun though.

And with that ends another conference. my third.
Next year, the experience will be very, very different as I'll get to peek behind the scenes.

And now it's time to get back to some serious writing.

Conference roundup - Saturday

2007-08-11T22:02:00.000+10:00

First day of the conference proper, Saturday saw an even bigger crowd of people milling around the breakfast pastries (which were very tasty).
For some reason, this year they posted everybody's workshop choices up on the wall with everyone's food requirements, too. Talk about being on display! Not sure what the point of that was.
Okay, I admit it. I'm one of the bad people that never follow their own schedule, and I very naughtily changed one of my workshop choices. Again.
But hey, even though I missed out on Anne Stuart (which apparently was in this tiny, over-crammed room), I got a lot of useful info out of the sessions I went to.
Allison Rushby had the unenviable job of following Jenny Crusie's four-act-structure workshop with her own three-act one. But hey, she had a movie!
Unfortunately, I had to leave half-way through as I was due to pitch to Sheila Hodgson of Mills and Boon London.
She's a really lovely lady, very warm and friendly. I have yet to meet a Harlequin/M&B employee who wasn't sweet, lovely and funny in person. They do some good hiring, it seems.
The pitch went reasonably well, but then again, I wasn't pitching for a line Sheila actually acquires, so I felt slightly bad for wasting her time. But hey, it's always good to chat to editors, even if I felt a bit rushed.
hey, every pitch is good practice. And I'm getting the project ready to go out by the end of the month. With "requested" on the envelope. ^_^

Lunch today was a major let-down. I guess it could never live up to Friday, but this was bad even by neutral standards. Come on. Two limp salads and stale sandwiches with indeterminable spreads? Yeah, not so much. Good thing their morning break and afternoon break pastries are so filling (and sugary, mmmh).

In the afternoon, I got to listen to the very lovely Anna Jacobs, who is such a sweet lady on the outside and has such steely, no-nonsense determination underneath. there is nothing more admirable to me than a genuinely nice person with a steely core. She talked about finding good ideas and turning them into great stories, and it was definitely inspirational.

We also had the awards dinner tonight. Can I just say that awards are infinitely more fun when you know the people who are up there getting those awards?
I think I knew at least one person for each of the contests, and I'm proud to say that I knew quite a few of the place-getters and winners well!
We cheered and celebrated so much, it was awesome.
I also got to chat to a fellow chick-lit writer (yay!), although she writes at the older end of the spectrum. I love talking to people about what they write, especially if I know the subgenre at all.
All in all, a successful (if expensive) night with lots of fun, varying degrees of quality in the food, and just a good finish to a rich, full day.

Conference roundup - Friday

2007-08-10T22:02:00.000+10:00

Oh my God, I want to have Jenny Crusie's literary babies.
She's an incredible workshop presenter. not only is she as hilarious as her writing, she's also one smart lady.
She talked to us about the four-act structure of the novel, and the conflict grid. both of those were real eye-openers for me, and even though I didn't take any notes (no time for writing, listening in awe!), I felt like I got a lot out of the workshop.

Then there was lunch. it was the most incredibly over-indulgent all-you-can-eat buffet you could imagine. And while some people beat a hasty retreat at the sight of all the seafood piled on the first table, as far as I could tell, there was something for everybody.
But yes, it was heavy on the seafood side. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It was incredible.

Which was just as well, since the food at the cocktail party that night was variations of deep-fried pastry with meat filling. yes, I know it never claimed to be dinner. But hey, it's included in the price, I'm eating it. And as far as deep-fried pastry-meat things go, it wasn't too shabby.
Ah, the cocktail party itself. There were a *lot* of people in masks, which was great to see. There were also a lot of people who were carrying their masks or taking them off half-way through the night. Masks make for an easy costume, but not for easy communication.
And just like at the Melbourne cocktail party, I ended up sitting outside with just one or two people at a time. Which is how I prefer my crowds anyway.

All in all, an incredible day and a fun (and not too long) night. It certainly set a positive tone for the whole conference. Also, the book stall was amazing! Too bad I couldn't buy anything, there was a lot of good stuff there.

Conference roundup - Thursday

2007-08-09T23:58:00.000+10:00

Thursday is quite possibly my favourite conference day. All the possibilities with none of the disappointment.
I got into Sydney after a decidedly pleasant flight (something that most of my fellow Melburnians were unable to duplicate, so lucky me!) to find my hotel with a minimum amount of struggle.
Ah, the hotel.
The hotel is absolutely lovely, in the heart of what appears to be the non-touristy end of Chinatown, wedged between a church and a sex shop. It's a gorgeous old building that reminds me of Berlin, and the corridors couldn't have more character (in the good way).
My room, however, is a cupboard.

For starters, it's tiny. And I mean, seriously tiny. my bathroom is bigger than the room itself, and the prison bunk that counts as my bed is right under a small window with a view of the backside of the church and some other apartments. Lovely.
But hey, it's clean, and reasonably quiet despite being pretty much right next to the staircase. And the bathroom is quite gorgeous in its black mosaic tiles and pretty huge shower.
And seriously, how much time am I spending here?
I even have a little bar fridge in my bedside table, which is just as well, since another thing there was no room for was a wardrobe. I have two hooks on the wall instead. Good thing I don't need to hang many of my clothes. I have not a single coat hanger. Fun.

I caught up with fellow Melburnian Sue when she got here (she's staying at the actual conference hotel), and we went out for coffee. Her flight was a lot more interesting as she was surrounded by varying types of creeps. Yikes!
We then followed some very interesting instructions in search of a supermarket, which we found right behind the building we'd just been sent through. Oookay.
I bought some Milka chocolate (yay, nostalgia!) and a Nudie smoothie, then we hung around for a bit before getting some rest before heading back out to the e-list dinner.

Then I had my first Jenny Crusie sighting! She looks so different than her pictures.
The foyer was chock-full of published authors about to be carted off by bus, making us unpublished e-listers feel mighty inadequate. but nuts to them, we had a fantastic time, even if the food ordering turned out to be a slight challenge.
My friend Rachel ordered the same food as me, which caused the waiter to point out that he'd already delivered a pumpkin pizza, so we couldn't possibly want another one.
Well, we did.

It was good catching up with a lot of different people, and I was actually quite pleasantly surprised how many people I knew (and even more that knew me. Hi!). Also, apparently people read this blog and noticed the lack of updates. Oops.

After dinner, a smaller but no less determined group set off in search of quieter venues as it was pretty impossible to talk to anyone but your direct neighbour at the long tables.
We found the Lindt/Sprungli cafe which does the best hot chocolate I've had in Sydney ever (and I tried quite a few of them). They also make lovely truffles. Mmmmh, truffles.

So lots of lovely people, and I already spent almost half of my week-end budget. but oh, it was worth it.

Tomorrow, the real fun begins.

Conference countdown

2007-08-06T14:37:00.000+10:00

Only a few more days until the annual RWA conference, and I'm incredibly excited.
While the actual workshop program doesn't have me thrilled in my seat, I'm looking forward to the opportunity to catch up with friends and people I only see once a year (and don't even talk to all that more often either).
There are already plans for coffees, lunches, even dinner seating arrangements. We'll see how much of that actually happens.

I also have every intention to actually podcast from this conference. Then again, I said that last year, too, didn't I? We'll see, I suppose.
I still haven't made my mask or finished my awards dinner dress. I did buy feathers though. Lots and lots of feathers which are currently being chased by The Cat. Fun!

Spider pig, spider pig...

2007-08-05T01:58:00.000+10:00

It was my friend Meg's birthday, so we went out for a night of fun and revelrie. Which included the Simpsons movie!
Although not everybody liked it, I thought it was fun. You know, the kind of fun where you don't have to use your brain.
They actually succeeded in turning a half-hour show into a full-length movie without being too draggy or boring. And ooh, was it ever pretty! Sooo much shiny movie-goodness.

If you haven't seen it, go see it. If you've seen it, how long did it take you to stop singing the Spider Pig song?

Back from the snow

2007-07-30T14:37:00.000+10:00

We're back!

It did get a bit easier, and the boys happily whizzed past me in the skills department, moving on to level 3 lessons while I was still struggling with the staying upright part. But I caught up in the end. We even went down a black run! It was awesome, and scary, and I slid quite a large portion of said black run down on my well-bruised behind.
But all of this can't top my *other*, unscheduled black run.
You see, at Hotham there is this one place where a nice, reasonably easy blue run veers off to the left, while straight ahead (okay, slightly to the right) is a pretty much vertical drop, euphemistically called a black run.
Everyone else in my group easily swerved to the side, enjoying the blue run ahead. My board, however, had other ideas.
So despite my flailing and very clear commands of "Nonononooooo, not that way, tuuuurn!", I started sliding towards the edge.
But no problem. After all, after four days on a board, I'm an expert at the butt break. So I tried sitting down. Which caused the board to dig in in protest (sort of like lifting a cat off your lap), causing me to swivel around. I'm now belly-down, face-first and sliding towards the abyss.

What would you do?

I tried digging in the board. Nope. I even risked my hands to slow myself down. Again, nope.
Eventually, my board decided I'd been punished enough and allowed me to skid back around so I could slowly but surely continue my descend, but now board-first.
I'm not quite sure what happened, but eventually, I had found a clawhold in the steep icy mountainside and stopped myself. I was now stuck half-way down a black run I had no intention of getting down.

It was a loooong crawl back up. Now my ribs hurt with every breath (a friendly doctor assured me they probably aren't broken), I'm battered and bruised, but hey, I'm a boarding babe!
Let's do it again next year.

Snowboarding is HARD!

2007-07-24T19:07:00.000+10:00

Owowowowow.
Okay, I'll admit it. I'm one of those people who can never envision failure until it happens to them.
Hey, I figured out the basics of skiing in one cloudy evening, how much more difficult can it be when your feet are strapped to the same board? After all, my key issue with skiing seems to be that my feet have an intense dislike for each other and refuse to stay any closer together than absolutely necessary.

Turns out though, snowboarding is very much not for the faint of heart (and light of bottom). We spent a delightful day crashing onto various body parts with as much glee as possible.
Pommer lift? CRASH.
Getting off said lift? CRASH.
Getting off said lift after the helpful lift attendant at the top dug a TRENCH to make things more interesting? FACEPLANT.
I'm still not sure why the attendant took a perfectly smooth patch of snow and made a deep, curving trench with her shovel. I suspect she hates beginning skiers and boarders and wants to put them in their place. Which happens to be in the snow. Butt down.

Apart from that, skidding down an almost flat hill on a board is surprisingly fun if you can stay upright long enough for inertia to do its thing.

We're all battered and bruised, but boy, are we having fun yet.

Hooray for snow!

2007-07-20T16:02:00.000+10:00

Only a few more sleeps before heading to the snow! I'm so incredibly excited.
This year, we're going to be snowboarding as well as skiing. I expect many bruises and lots of frozen behinds.
We're leaving our options open to change back and forth depending on how badly we do. We're also taking lessons, which should help with the general embarrassment.

I'll try to post updates from the snow, but don't expect too much. I might have to backdate a couple of posts I'll be writing up there, so stay tuned!

Lazy ways to make a living

2007-07-10T11:31:00.000+10:00

I'm going freelance. that's right, I've used my powers of making stuff up for evil by turning to just the facts, ma'am (okay, with a little flourish for flavour). That's right, I've queried every magazine that couldn't hide their email address (and a few that could, mwehehehe) to tide me over with some faster short-term cash while I wait to hear back on my various projects from agents and editors.
Some days, I can't believe how far I've come since starting out as a hopeful, clueless final-year English/Japanese student.
Most days though, I feel slack because really, I haven't achieved anything yet. Oh well. back to writing!

Time to read

2007-07-06T11:10:00.000+10:00

I just updated my read-so-far and my to-be-read lists, and gah, there's a lot of stuff!
So for the next month or two, I'm taking Fridays off to catch up on my readings until my TBR pile at least fits in its allotted shelf again.
It's a hard, hard life...

In other news, did you know that my name appears on the Contest Divas website? I wouldn't have known if a former housemate of mine hadn't emailed me out of the blue today to catch up. She mentioned she'd googled me. Which always makes me slightly paranoid. not the fact that you *can* google me (that's the whole point of having a website/blog/public persona), but that friends and acquaintances would choose to do so.

So 'fess up. Have you ever googled people you used to know? Did you get in touch with them? Why?
I'm curious to see her again. Just when I was talking about catching up with people...

Do you like free books?

2007-06-27T09:58:00.000+10:00

I like free books. A lot.
I think I may have mentioned this before, but I really, really like free books. ^_^ But it's not just about the receiving, I like giving away books, too. Which is why I'm active on BookMooch, a free site where you can list your books and (hopefully) swap them with people all over the world.
Got some books to share? Want some of my old Harlequins?
Come on over, swap, drop me a line and friend me!

Oh, and mooch some of these books so I can afford to mooch new ones. I like getting nice mail.

Mooch from me at BookMooch.com

Zip zop zip zop zip zop

2007-06-26T08:52:00.000+10:00

I'm wearing my snow pants to work today!
Aaah, the glory of working from home. Yes, it's freezing in here (I could see my breath getting up), but at least I can put on my gorgeous "home" ski pants and fuzzy socks. My pants are a gorgeous aqua blue, and my socks are pink and very offensive to the killer kitten (as evidenced by a run across the side where she thoughtfully killed the sock so it wouldn't go bump in the night. She's so nice....

I only have one more day of drinking disgusting herbs, yay! Although I must admit that they helped much better than Nurofen did. And without the eroded stomach lining. Stupid headaches.

But back to the skiing part of this entry! Because not only am I wearing my happy skiing pants to work today, I also got my flight confirmation for our ski trip! We're going in late July and it's going to be awesome. I've never been to Hotham before, but I hear since renovating, the place has become very exciting. It's not New Zealand, but at least it's (slightly more) affordable. And I'm going to learn to board this year, too!
I need a holiday...

Is anyone else going skiing this winter? Has anyone on the other side of the world been yet?

Head space for rent

2007-06-25T08:46:00.000+10:00

I've hardly written anything this last week as I've been very sick, and sitting in front of a monitor was pure agony. Or doing anything that involved brain function, for that matter. I was one bored cookie this week, I can assure you.

Fortunately, thanks to some vile-tasting medicine, lots of sleep, a family pack of Nurofen + and an ever-purring cat, this morning was the first time I woke up without a mind-shattering headache. Hooray! I can finally get back to work!

I've felt horribly unproductive, which probably didn't help much. So today, I'm catching up, planning my writing schedule for the next fortnight and hopefully getting some stuff done. I'm not going to training tonight, I'm shooting for 5,000 new words. It'll be my own personal BIAW challenge.

I've also got a few magazine article proposals to send (yay income), so it's time to brew the tea, turn up the heat and get clanking. Did I mention I have a new keyboard after breaking my old one, too?

Sorry. Really

2007-06-08T15:04:00.000+10:00

Only ten more contest entries to judge. Mostly, it's been one good, one bad for some reason, but the last three were, well, not quite there yet (translation: GAG!).
It's easy if a story outright sucks, because there are usually some useful hints I feel like giving (commas are not optional, be consistent in your spelling, your hero is a buttwipe and your heroine needs a frontal lobotomy to be even remotely witty).
But it breaks my heart when the entry is just, well, meh.
There's nothing *wrong* with the opening chapters, there's just nmothing right with it either. What do you say to that? I still try my best to find something constructive to say other than You're boring! Stop boring me!

I won another book!

2007-06-08T10:29:00.000+10:00

Dona Sakar-Mishra, author of How to salsa in a sari (Jan 08, Kimani Tru) -also creator of the most awesome titles- has an ongoing contest on her blog this week where you can win FREE BOOKS! There's only two left, so you'd better run over, because I won one yesterday!
I'm going to get Shannon McKelden's Venus Envy, which I'm mad excited about, since the blogosphere had nothing but good things to say about it, as far as I could tell.
Remember the last time I won a free book? It's now sitting on my shiny, shiny keeper shelf. I've said it then and I'll say it again. There's *nothing* as awesome as a free book.

If you could win a free book that's been (or being) released this year, what would it be, and why?

Travel time

2007-06-07T10:49:00.000+10:00

While ~~wasting my morning on Wikipedia~~ researching characters for my next YA project, I stumbled upon this place. Am I the only one who does vanity name searches at an encyclopedia website? ^_^
Population: 12. Man, I want to go and visit there now.

I wish I'd thought of it first

2007-06-05T11:21:00.000+10:00

Jealousy is my favourite vice. I'm always jealous of waht other people did, or have, or can do.
Which usually gets me to a "Me, too!" type of spurt of productivity.
Reading books does that especially. I'll love someone's story, or the fact that they published 20 novels, or their bio. Which, I guess, isn't such a bad thing per se.

Another me-too idea came to me via an agent's blog. Check out this neat YouTubve video by the Rebels of Romance (I wish I had a superhero tag...).
And the Shomi imprint not only has gorgeous covers, but an awesome name, too.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to write more so I can be a writing superhero, too.

Catching up

2007-05-28T13:45:00.000+10:00

I'm so hopeless at emails that some of my friends now send me reminders. Charming little one-liner emails saying "Hey, are you still alive? It's your non-writing friends checking in to see whether you're still with us!"
It's bad when writing friends send me the same message.

I used to be really into email. I used to exchange pages upon pages of stuff with one particular friend, and it was awesome. When I was a teenager, I had 40+ penpals (in the grey ages predating the internet, can you imagine such a time?)
Nowadays you're lucky to get a coherent paragraph out of me.
The reason is, of course, that my life is inherently boring. There is very little variation in my routine, and I always seem to run out of hours before I cn go and have adventures.

I write from about 9 am to about 5 pm Monday to Friday. Sometimes I take a break and walk into the city, catching up on podcasts. I then write more in the city. At 5:30 every weekday except Friday, I meet The Boy and we go to kung fu. We get home some time around 9:30 at the earliest. Usually it's after 10.
I'm a lousy sleeper, so staying up late is just not an option.
On Saturdays, I do what I think of as miscellaneous work. Judge contest entries, sew kung fu uniforms, do admin. We usually walk to training (which is from 1-3pm), and after training, we might see our friends, or we might just go home. Most Saturday afternoons are spent playing games, either board or console.
Sundays alternate between playing games or reading most of the day, cleaning, and visiting The Boy's family, an almost two-hour trip each way.
I read blogs if I get up early enough. I read whenever I find a spare moment. I clean when my head is about to explode from PC radiation.

You see why I don't email? If you asks me what I've been doing, I could jsut show you this post. because it doesn't matter what week it is, this is what I'm doing.

Why am I doing this? To get a body of work. Once one of my books sells, I can say "Hey, look! Do you want these other two books in teh same genre? How about these three in a different genre? Or I can whip up something new. I'm used to writing quickly."

once I make money from my writing, I'll be able to change my schedule. Not the writing pat. The rest of it. Because I love the writing dearly. You couldn't pay me to stop (but you could certainly pay me to keep going... I wouldn't mind that at all).

So sorry I'm boring. I promise I'll try and have more adventures ASAP. I'm hungry for adventure, too.

Babies, both literary and real

2007-05-23T10:15:00.000+10:00

I've never felt like my manuscripts were my "babies". No angsting at the post office counter as they weigh up the thick envelope (well, apart from a fleeting 'there goes my lunch money' fear, but that's okay).
So I was very happy to send out my requested partial to the warmer climates of Canada (yeah, how often do you hear 'warmer' and 'Canada' mentioned in junction?). I hope this editor likes my changes. ^_^

On other babies, I have a lot of opinions, but I can't beat this summary. It's perfect.

In other news, yesterday evening, we had a grading at my kung fu school, which is always an exciting event. but it was made even more exciting since we had a black belt grading!
Black belts are a huge rarity at our school. Since its inception 33 years ago, we've only had 21 black belts. Isn't that amazing? So it really is something special.
The quality of the grading was very varied overall, with some people performing better, and a lot of them doing worse than expected. For the people grading, it's an indication where they need more work, and how it all comes together. For the higher grades who weren't grading, it's an indication where things need to be improved. I predict a change in focus over the next few months...

Yesterday I was going to outline my new YA, and instead I wrote the opening pages. Which I suppose could technically count as characterization, I suppose... That's the problem with writing two projects at once. On the upside, it might mean the partial could be ready to enter the Stiletto contest next month. I hear they're still looking for more YA entries. So what are you waiting for? Get your entries in there, too!

Spawn of Evil

2007-05-17T09:45:00.000+10:00

Telemarketers were invented for the sole purpose of making me feel stupid, I'm sure of it.
I'm not very good on the phone. I have trouble understanding what people are saying, no matter how clear the phone line is. I don't know why. I think I get distracted and don't pay attention.
This problem is amplified if the person on the other end has an accent I'm not used to (What is it with telemarketing companies outsourcing to India anyway?).

I usually feel bad to just hang up, so I try to let them down politely. but on Tuesday, I had the Spawn of the Devil. He kept blabbering on about electricity and gas bills (we don't have gas), and I thought he was actually from our electricity company or something. And he just wouldn't stop! He kept talking and talking and talking, even though I told him repeatedly that I was, in fact, quite busy, and could he hurry up?
When he asked me for "just a few more minutes", I hung up on him. I was so angry! Don't these people care that I need my time?

He then had the gall to ring back straight away, and let the phone ring for three full minutes before I unplugged it for the rest of the day.

Yesterday, I didn't answer the phone all day. It rang over two dozen times over a six hour period. Unnerving much?

I need an answering machine. >_<

Simspiration

2007-05-11T09:59:00.000+10:00

When I write for a long time, I get into this weird headspace where I can't focus on anything I'm supposed to be doing. I need to take a break from hard edits then and recharge my creative batteries.
For me personally, doing something closely related to my current work (read: write fiction) just doesn't do it.
So instead, I work in a different medium, one vastly under-utilised.

I'm talking about the Sims, a virtual life kind of game where you basically get a bunch of characters and make them do your bidding, from cheating spouses to peaceful fishermen to death by lightning. And you can keep track of your little Sims' misadventures in a blog-type story format.
I love this game. it's pointless, fun, and utterly addictive.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some virtual gardening to do, the eggplant harvest is about due. ^_^

2007-05-10T07:54:00.000+10:00

That got your attention, didn't it? ^_^

I find that every book I write wants to be written somewhere else. I'm not sure why, but it seems certain kinds of atmosphere are more conducive to certain kinds of writing than others.
And apparently, I'm a sex-in-public-places kind of girl (which is funnier if you know me, trust me on this).

So more often than not, you will find me in the afternoons (after a morning of editing fun) in one of Melbourne's many buzzing inner-city food courts, nursing the cheapest hot beverage I can find (what can I say, tight budget doesn't allow to buy foodstuffs every day, especially not non-essentials), half listening to the chatter around me and steaming things up on the page.
Let's just say the Blaze is *really* blazing now. I couldn't have more fun.

There's a new podcast in the works for me for Monday. I feel like I don't really have the time for it, but I'm making time. I miss being a podcaster. I've also started planning a new type of podcast, but that's for later.

In love with languages

2007-05-03T09:22:00.000+10:00

I just finished A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke (after it spent a year in my TBR pile), and now I feel like dusting off my French again.
Or get into any language, really.
A friend of mine is starting to study Japanese (which of course means I feel like dusting my sorry Japanese skills off, too). And there are those Cantonese books that are still staring at me, daring me to use them...

I miss learning a language. It's been almost three years since I've attended any form of real language class. The first three years since kindergarten. Isn't that scary (and weird)?
I've always been surrounded by foreign languages. It comes with living and traveling in Europe with culture-hungry hippie parents, I suppose. I remember always being mildly surprised if we went somewhere and there were still German-speakers present.

Apart from chunks in over a dozen languages (chunk size may vary), I've also learned the meta skill of Understanding, which means I can follow a conversation in any language, even if I don't understand a word people are saying. I still feel part of the conversation, I just can't add to it for obvious reasons.
I find myself doing it all the time. Listening to friends speak Chinese or Japanese on the phone. The Boy speaking Cantonese with his family. My parents speaking... oh wait, I do understand those. >_<

And speaking of parents, apparently, they found my website, so in case you guys are reading this blog, HELLO! \(^_^)/

Moving on.

I had my first language class when I was still in kindergarten. It was English for children and mothers, or something like that, and while apparently, it was disappointing on the mothers' end, it was quite fun where we were. Even though the only thing I remember is us having to draw a family portrait and naming each relative in English. I thought I'd be smarty-pants and labeled everybody. I got the words right, but instead of writing "my father", "my mother", etc, I called everybody "me", as in, "me father", "me mother" and so on. I was showing my presumed Irish roots, eh? that was fun.
I also still remember some lines from the 6 singles (yes, this was pre-CDs) that I used to listen to obsessively to learn some basic English vocab. And I knew the word "tie" before my dad did. I was so proud at the time.

In primary school, a few friends and me woulds spend many recess hours playing the "word" game. One of us would say a German word, and then everybody would say the corresponding word in a foreign language. Two years of English made me the resident expert, of course (and don't tell anyone, but sometimes, I made words up. Shhhhhh.). my other friends were a Korean girl who came to us in grade 2 without knowing a word of German (she was the inspiration for the game; we taught he new words that way), my best friend, who is Lebanese, and another friend whose parents were from Spain (for some bizarre reason, every Spanish boy in my primary school at that time was called Marco. it was very confusing at times). What a great game.

Of course after that, I always had more structured language classes throughout my school career, what with German schools teaching you at least two foreign languages (we learned four, including Latin). And at uni, I always had a language major going alongside whatever else it was that I was studying. And when I was in drama school (when I wasn't in the UK), I went to night school to keep up my languages.

Now that I've finished uni, I'm language-course-less.
What I really want to do is find a good Cantonese course here in Melbourne, but all the schools I've found didn't look very reassuring (or didn't have Canto, only Mandarin). And The Boy is having a hard time teaching me (read: it's just not happening).

So I'm stuck listening to the Pimsleur audio course for idiots: Cantonese 1. Which I've studied when I was living in Canberra (Canberra is a riveting city, and the best thing you can do is listen to a foreign language while you're walking through its (very pretty) curvy streets in winter.

So let's hear from you guys. What languages do you speak? Which ones would you love to lwearn? Are you currently studying? Where/how? Need a conversation partner?

*sigh* I need to find a conversation partner that speaks Cantonese and wants to learn German. I had one, once. That didn't work out, either.

A new direction

2007-05-02T10:07:00.000+10:00

I've been mulling over this Blaze-wannabe manuscript for two weeks now, making piddling changes. And then last night, BAM! A whole new plot point appeared, taking the whole story to a different level. of course it means basically a complete rewrite of the opening act, but that's okay, because it's incredibly much fun.
Needless to say, not much sleep was had while I tore apart the opening chapters.
I'm hoping to resend the revised chapters some time later this month (end of the month at the latest), once I'm a bit deeper into the revised book so I know where I'm at.

I so love when a story is falling into place.

The YA on the other hand is on stand-by. It's still out with a couple of people, but what with various industry shindings happening around this time, I expect to be in for a longish wait. That's okay. I've got a romance novel to write.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make two people ravish each other in many, many ways. Who said writing mysteries is more fun than this?

Some days, you can't win

2007-04-24T09:02:00.000+10:00

One of the agents that have read the full MS for Parrots just got back to me, rejecting it. It felt to me that she was on the fence, and the breaking point was the fact that I didn't grant her an exclusive read at any stage of the submission process.
Which is sad, but understandable. She comes across as a very hands-on agent, which I appreciate, and investing time into something that potentially will make someone else money must be frustrating, to say the least.
But obviously from my end, an exclusive is just not feasible, especially at this stage of the game.

Not that it matters. In the end all it means is that the book wasn't strong enough for her to take it on regardless. That's okay. There are still some fulls and partials out there, and after that, I'll just go the direct route with this project.

And I'm mailing off my romance re-submission request next week.

At least I've reached the next step, "not quite there yet, do this and send it to me again". Step by step... Getting there. ^_^
And I can't wait to start my next YA once the romance is on its way to London. Hooray for writing!

2007-04-20T10:16:00.000+10:00

Remember how I was talking about finaling in two contests with my Blaze Wannabe?
Well, the results came back, and they couldn't have been more different.

The first-round judges of RWA's Selling Synopsis contest placed my entry first (yay!) at 92% average score. The final editor? Hated it. Thought it was the worst piece of tripe. Gave it 1s and 2s (of 5, and, in one case, of 10).
I won't lie. That smarts. A lot. She said there was no emotional connection. She ranked it 8th out of 8 finalists, not surprisingly.

What does that tell you? her and I are never going to be a good match. When there is this much discrepancy in feeling the love, it's not going to get better. I agree that this story needs work, but it's not as awful as this editor felt. And that's okay. I've noted her name down, and I won't submit to her. Why waste my time and hers?

The final editor at the great Expectations contest sung quite a different song. While she wasn't overly taken by the first chapters as they stood, she thought if I spiced things up a bit, she'd definitely want to see it again. She connected with the work. And you bet I'm taking her suggestions very seriously. I've noted her name down, too. on my "Submit to this person again" list.

The moral of the story? Don't be discouraged if an agent or editor or reviewer or critique partner slams your work. Have a tough skin. not everyone is going to like you.
Take the constructive criticisms and look at them. if you can't the day you receive them, stow them away and look at them again later. Don't take every piece of advice on board, but evaluate everything you receive.
Try and keep track of people's preferences. if you can, work with them. Don't work against them, it's not going to work.

Above all, keep your pride and self-respect. Success comes to the determined.
Don't give up. Keep at it.

Now if you'll excuse me, my manuscript awaits a hot, sexy love scene.

Last day of Late 20s...

2007-04-13T17:16:00.000+10:00

Today is my last day in my 20s (let's hear it for birthdays!), and I have accomplished a few things just today that I am quite proud of.
Like, say, send my Parrot book out to the three agents that have asked to see the full manuscript!
it took me all day and at least half my brain to write up all the edits I made over the last week (and before that, month >_<), but it is a truly beautiful book to behold. Even if someone who judged it in a contest (it came 4th) didn't necessarily think so.

I've decided to take a small break from writing YA while I wait for the agents to get back to me. in the meantime, I've got revision requests on a romance novel that won third place in an American contest. The editor will look at the manuscript again if I make it sexier. All right!

Life could be worse, I can assure you (see icon).

Time management

2007-04-11T08:53:00.000+10:00

There are a lot of things I choose not to do these days.
Go shopping (except for food). Go out in the evenings. Clean the house past the bare minimum (yeah, it's sooo hard. ^_<). Read more than a book a week (and mostly less). Read my RWA newsletters cover to cover and in the month I receive them. Podcast. Write stories with no intent of finishing them. Pick up a hobby.

I'm making decisions about my time budget. I prioritise. I choose things I absolutely want to accomplish (finish the latest edits & snatch that agent; starting a new book as soon as the old one is out the door again), and hobbies I don't want to give up (reading a book at least most weeks, playing games one day a week, going to kung fu five times a week). The rest of my life has to wait for openings, I'm sorry to say.

So if you're one of the many people I'm neglecting, I'm sorry. It's not you. It's me. And this book. I'll sign your copy when it's out. ^_^

You're not quite good enough.

2007-04-05T08:24:00.000+10:00

I got another very nice agent email that left me rather down. This one read what I call a 'big' partial (the first 5 chapters, rather than the usual 3). She had a lot of good things to say about the work. She liked the voice, the characters, etc. her major problem was that she thought I edited the book so much, I broke some things, giving the story some major storytelling flaws.
Wham. Sucker punch.

I mean really. I know I suck at editing. But I've been holed up under a rock for the past three weeks working my ass off to make these edits. And I failed. Again.
This agent kindly offered to read more if I made some major revisions (where have I heard that one before?). And you know what? Of course I will.
Here's some of what she said:

I really like Jade's voice, and I'm intrigued as to where the story is going, but I'm concerned that you're skipping some of the action that's central to the story. That could be an after-effect of a revision, but, for instance, when Jade meets TF she talks about already having met Mrs. Friday, but I didn't read that. There's also a number of times where it seems you skip over some very interesting action or backstory. I'm a big proponent of "show don't tell," but I feel like there's several times where you've done neither, instead jumping right to what happens next. It leaves your reader feeling like they've missed some part of the story. I don't feel like these first five chapters tell me enough about the secret martial arts school to justify Jade's interest in investigating the birds, and her conversation with TF about the six birds is completely out of the blue -- up to this point, your readers have only heard about two or three.
Basically, I'm torn. I'd like to read more, as I'm drawn to the fish out of water lifestyle Jade leads, and I love her interest in detection (I'm a huge fan of "Veronica Mars"). You've also set up some fun ancillary characters in Gung-gung and Fazza, and two very attractive love interests. That being said, however, I'd need to see that some of these concerns about the storytelling have been addressed before moving on.

The thing that's really getting to me? She gets it. She looks at the things I care about most and liked them. that's invaluable.

These agents are offering suggestions that have nothing to do with changing my vision for the characters and the basic premise of the story. Because everybody loves those. It's the plot itself that just doesn't want to work.
Strengths and weaknesses have never shone clearer.

But for now, I'm sad, so I'm taking a break. I'll get back to work at lunch time, after printing the complete MS (which has expanded by a good 15 pages through the last edit). Then it's Donald Maass' workbook for this baby, and then we'll see if people still want me to kick it up another notch.

Oh, and to end on an upbeat note, this is where I'm going to celebrate once I find an agent. Oooh yes.

Free book!

2007-03-29T09:45:00.000+10:00

Not only is Tina Ferraro a charming and witty lady (as you can see when she blogs over at YA Fresh), she's also written a book with one of the best titles I've seen in a while.
But you know what makes her the most awesome?
Thwe fact that I got her book, signed, for FREE!
Let's hear it for free books, yaaaaaay!
Don't have it yet? What are you waiting for, go an buy TOP TEN USES FOR AN UNWORN PROM DRESS! how else will you know what the buzz is?

I can't wait to read it, but I'll have to. I've got two library books I need to finish first, and a novel to finish editing.
So hopefully, I'll get to it before my birthday in mid-April.

The power of friends

2007-03-22T10:26:00.000+11:00

One of my very close friends graduated yesterday, so we went out to celebrate. It was great fun, despite some logistic difficulties. We took some pictures, and it was just an all-round good time.
Sometimes it's the small things that make life that extra bit sparkly. I missed having a good laugh out with friends. I don't seem to do it enough nowadays.
I'm such a boring person...

Procrastination is an art form

2007-03-21T13:36:00.001+11:00

The Book That Will Not Die is 1/4 finished (again), and it's getting better.
Since I needed a break, I played around with Picasa, Google's picture album thingie. If you like cats, photos, and wasting time looking at both, why not check it out?

Contests from the other side

2007-03-21T11:21:00.000+11:00

I've been complaining about contest judges and their lack of real feedback for as long as I've entered contests.
Well, why don't you do better then, I've been asked.
So I volunteered to judge a contest (and I took heaps of entries, too). I just judged my first entry (which was good, not great). I made a point of writing in the margins of the MS, and wrote comments in each section of the score sheet. I'm judging the way I would like to be judged.
Of course I don't know whether that's good or not. For all I know, the author will hate me for daring to criticise their master work. Doesn't bother me. it's help freely given, and I hope they take it in the spirit it was given in.
I'm learning a lot, too. There's nothing like seeing what doesn't work to get a better understanding of how things could work.

Which I'll now have to apply to my own work.
Which reminds me. I wonder where my two finalist entries are at? Haven't heard back from them in a while...

A year too late

2007-03-20T09:19:00.000+11:00

I received an email rejection for Parrot today, and it's been the hardest to take so far.

Dear Kiki:

Many thanks for sending me the full of Enter the Parrot.

I will be open in confessing that, of the 100 or so submissions I looked at this past weekend, this was the most fun and interesting and I read it with great enthusiasm. The hook, “white girl, Wong family” is brilliant, and I had to root for Jade after that hilarious opening scene.

Unfortunately, as I read further, I found that I lost some of my initial enthusiasm. In particular, Jade’s voice, so spunky and fun at first, began to sound wearisome and overbearing, to my ears.
Please know that, only a year ago, I would certainly have offered representation on the spot. But the YA market seems to me increasingly crowded, and to break in a new author I find that the execution has to be as good if not better than the concept. Regrettably, I just didn’t feel that was the case here.

So, I will step aside for a more enthusiastic agent. Please accept my best wishes though, and feel free to include me on future submissions should you remain un-agented.

Part of me wants to go on rewriting. After all, one agent believed in it. Part of me wants to let go and start something new. Return to Jade a bit later when I'm more able to deal with her and the book.
I believe in Jade. I believe in her story. I'm just not sure I believe in myself as the writer of her story right at this point. Maybe I'm just a wuss who's scared to keep going in the face of adversity.
Close calls are much tougher than general 'I don't get it' responses.

I've been fighting the mystery book for a week. Wrestling with the next round of edits, never getting started. I'm chicken, I'll admit it. it's not even that a new project is calling so loudly, I'm getting distracted. I'm just afraid. I don't read mysteries. So how do I write one? And what if it works? Will it mean I need to read more mysteries to get the hang of them?

You know, of course, what the solution to the dilemma is.
Shut up and write.

Group blogs vs. letting the individual shine

2007-03-19T09:04:00.000+11:00

Okay, I read too many blogs. I use Bloglines to keep track of them all, and occasionally, I'll find a new one to add, or drop one I just can't be bothered to read any more.
I've got my blogs sorted by interest and they're sort of prioritised. But it made me wonder. Some of these blogs have multiple authors, and they're very prolific. Presumably, this adds more traffic to the site as it's an easy one-point stop for people to rad these authors, and they are able to attract a cross-audience.
But I wonder. is that really a good thing? it works for me if the voices are similar and the topics sort of tie in with each other, but more often than not, it seems to be just a random collection of people that don't have enough to blog about.
Seriously, if I have to rad one more blog post along the lines of "Omigaaaawd, I can't believe it's my turn to blog again! What should I blog about? I don't know! I know. I'll rehash something I read somewhere else. or talk about procrastination. I am so meta!"
Shoot me now.

I've been thinking of group blogging, not so much as replacement, but as addition to my personal blogs. Bringing authors of similar topics together. I'm thinking specifically of authors who write multicultural YA/chick lit.
Do you know any bloggers who fit that description, either individuals or group blogs?

The book that whoops butt

2007-03-16T10:20:00.000+11:00

What started off as "some medium fixes" is turning into a major rewrite. It's not a different book per se (in fact, the synopsis reads surprisingly similar still), but it's like the whole thing has been gutted, shaken up, and now patiently awaits rebuilding.
I spent most of this week planning, rearranging and working out the kinks. Now all that's left is the actual rewrite (I love the writing bits of a book), and I'm very excited about it.
I'm also sick. >_< But hey, there's a book to write. I've got a bottle of o-juice, a pot of strong green tea and a story to tell. Beware, I am Writer! Hear me roar.

But YOU live over there, and I live over HERE.

2007-03-15T09:07:00.000+11:00

Agents. They're a funny lot, aren't they?
Yesterday I received my first paper rejection (I've queried only electronically, and this agent had requested a partial in hard copy). This is what it said, hand-written on the back of my original query:

Dear Kiki,
this actually is a lot of fun, but the market is so tough right now, and in the end I worry that a writer not living in the US might have an even tougher time. Can you get the book published in Australia? If so, then - if it does well - it might have a better shot here. best, ~

It's actually a very sweet rejection in a lot of ways. he took the time to not use a form letter, for which I'm grateful. he explained what made him unhappy about my submission. he ended on an up note.

But still, c'moooon. It's Australia, not the jungles of Peru! We have broadband internet, satellite TV, phone lines... Is he worried that getting in touch with me is hard? Or is it my grammar and crazy spelling? Vocabulary?

No, what it all comes down to is that the book wasn't exciting enough for him to take the project on regardless of the perceived or real problems. This is agent number three who gives the 'No non-US clients for me' rejection. It's sad, but it's okay. Someone will love me and my books enough to take me on. if no agent will, I'll just knock on every publisher's door.

Plus, there's a second book in the works now, so pretty soon, I'll have that to send.

Another hook

2007-03-11T19:42:00.000+11:00

I submitted the hook of my new project (as yet unwritten) to rachel Vater at her blog.
Thought I'd share her comments with you, too.

18. FAKE N' BAKE - YA contemporary
Venice Ng is keeping it real. She knows her exotic beauty makes her an automatic In-Girl, but she doesn't dwell on it. She's a total Twinkie (yellow on the outside, white on the inside). She doesn't even speak Asian! She's always taken the path of least resistance, dating white boys with Geisha fetishes and pretending to read Chinese gossip mags for the cool factor.
Now it's time to fake it. Her high school wants Venice to compete in a cooking competition for a place on teen heartthrob and celebrity chef Lockie Hartwood's latest show. Of course. She's popular with everybody, she's a good student, and above all, she could be the Token Asian! Never mind that Venice's idea of Chinese food is ordering Number 17 at the All-Night Emperor (Slogan "Not even the Great Wall can stop us from delivering. 30 minutes or free spring rolls for you!"). Not to mention that she can't cook. Seriously. As if she would want to play to that Asian stereotype. But it's her chance to meet the TV star hottie, and if that means talking to NerdAlert's brightest, Quinn the manga boy, then so be it. If only he would take her seriously! He seems completely immune to Venice's charms, practically forcing her to steal his lunchbox and pass it off as her own food creation during the competition.
When Venice and Quinn get paired up to be one of the teams on the show, things go from surreal to bizarre as the contestants battle open flames, weird ingredients and tempers on and off the camera. And what's the deal with Lockie's Jekyll and Hyde act anyway?
==
MY COMMENTS: I love the idea of an American girl who isn’t at all connected to her ethnic heritage… except for when it helps her image. I’m not quite as taken with the cooking element since it seems to take over the plot. But I like the issue of other people’s expectations and assumptions based on appearance and how someone deals with that when they’re as American as apple pie, born and raised in the USA and not different on the inside at all.

I love her character. I love the story. I hope I can make them both work together...

Link Updates!

2007-03-02T10:15:00.000+11:00

I've updated the link section on the right, using BlogRolling. now it'll be much easier for me to stay on top of my major linkage!
Expect to see lots of cool links soon.
In the meantime, if you've got a site (your own, or just one you love) that you'd like me to link to, comment, or drop me a line!
I'm all for networking...

There is no right or wrong in copyright

2007-03-01T09:09:00.000+11:00

This is what people were talking about on one of the e-loops I subscribe to.
I love free content as much as the next person (in fact, I'm a major cheapskate), but I try not to steal content I have access to. I use YouTube to watch TV shows I can't get here Down Under. I download book samples of authors unknown to me (if I can't get them in the library) before deciding who to buy.
But offering so many books up for free?
Come on. it's hard enough for most people in the industry to make a living. Do you really want to deny a few cents to the people who made this book happen in the first place (and it really is only a few cents each for the most part).
Add your voice to the masses. Fight back!

Entering A Dialogue

2007-03-01T09:05:00.000+11:00

I got my first reply from an agent today that wasn't some form of "Nice try, play again later" brush-off.
This agent read the full in a single day and sounds *very* enthusiastic about it, which makes me very excited. She's not ready to take on the project, and has pointed out a major flaw to me. So now I have to decide whether I want to rework the story. My gut instinct says yes, since one part she was concerned about was a part I struggled with, too.
I won't make any changes to the MS as of yet, but I'll be working on a new plot line, basically.

There is so much to like about your manuscript. I like the concept, White Girl in the Wong Family, a lot. I like Jade’s voice. I like her wacky family and her schoolmates. I like TF and Cedric. I love the parrot squawks.

The concept, the voice, the humour and the boys are what's dearest to me in this story, so I'm glad she liked them.

Sometimes I felt your use of slang/vernacular worked incredibly well (Dim Sum, R ‘n B, EASY-Stud, etc.) and in some places it didn’t (no shit Sherlock and nifty seemed like her parents’ generation, not Jade’s). Could be your age or your location. Not a big deal, but Jade’s slang should be double checked to make sure it rings true with a teen’s authenticity (like you advise others on your blog.)

Could be the fact that I was never an English-speaking teen... but good on her for calling me out on not practicing what I preach. Even though my teen speak 'source' says "No shit, Sherlock" a lot (and she's now 18ish, I think), I'll give her that.
I hate people reminding me of my age though, mainly because it makes me feel old. >_< Note to self: write younger.
She also talked about some minor fixes like scene transitions and the fact that I never describe Jade, the heroine. Fair enough.

The one thing that did [present a problem] was the way you spend half of the book with the mystery of the parrots and the other half with Jade at school. 50-50. I felt tugged each time you switched back and forth. I would advise you to make this book mainly one or the other (the mystery I guess, although I was more intrigued by the ‘White Girl in the Wong Family’ aspect.) But of course this depends on whether you are going to keep Jade as a continuing character in a series, each one with her solving a new mystery.

When I started this book, I started with the parrot idea. You get bonus points if you get the original reference (kids solving a mystery using trained parrots spewing forth slightly wrong quotes). but I'm not a mystery writer. Suspense is not my strength. So I got sidetracked into the everyday life of Jade and her schoolmates. The parrots became a vehicle for the plot I really wanted to talk about: a secret society and a girl's double life. That's what the series I envisioned is about.
So what to do? Cut the parrots I worked hard on, but that never quite fit, or make it work and cut back on the real life banalities? It's a very tough choice.

All in all, I'm very excited about this dialogue (in case you couldn't tell ^_^), and now it's time to do my homework. Rework the book and do some research on this agent (hey, no matter how much I love her enthusiasm and critique, I want to know who I'm dealing with, right?).

Stay tuned on where this is going.

There is always more good than bad.

2007-02-27T11:56:00.000+11:00

I got my nicest rejection to date, but one that drives home the point that not living in the US is a handicap. One agent declined on the grounds that I don't live in the US, which would mean dealing with me is too much of a hassle.
I like to think that if the work is strong enough, I can overcome this problem, but it seems to be a strike against me. I'm not happy about it, but the rejection was buffered by four requests for partials. Can't complain about that one!
Also, there was one full request which sounded extremely enthusiastic. She is asking for an exclusive for four weeks, and she was so lovely, I would if I could!

I had to write an author's bio, which is much harder than it sounds.I tend to be quirky, but the bio should be more professional. I can tell you random facts about me (you know, the kind of stuff that goes in the back of some books), but professional achievements? not so much. but when I started writing it, I must say, I was feeling rather pleased. I've accomplished more than I give myself credit for. And I haven't even talked about the non-writing stuff!

So my last money (after paying my RWA dues) is going for postage to mail out these partials. I hope there are more electronic submissions headed my way.

Agent hunt: update

2007-02-26T10:59:00.000+11:00

I think I'm done querying all the agents that I was interested in so far. Now I play the waiting game. By which I mean focus on a new project.
I jsut spent the morning printing out the most current versions of all my WIPs, and boy, is that a lot of paper. but now I can sift through them and pick the next one to bring up to scratch.

I got a rejection from Blaze on Friday. I had to chase that one up, so I didn't have much hope for it. it was a personal rejection, which is nice, I suppose. I'll be looking at that baby in a bit more detail some time soon, too.

Contest finals are weird, since they basically put one of my MSes on hold (the editor I wanted to submit to is currently judging it in synopsis form...). Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

It's time to refocus. I'm looking forward to it.

Good news come in torrents.

2007-02-20T09:33:00.000+11:00

Wow. So far, 2007 has been deceptively excellent. I may be broke, but suddenly, everybody loves my stories.
I've finalled twice in the Great Expectations contest (once with a YA, once with a Blaze), and it's the best feeling! Guess I only disliked contests because they never recognised me, lol.
Now I have to get my entries polished up after reading some very lovely comments from the judges. one gave me a perfect score! O_O
Yeah, I can't believe it either.

Today is lion day, since our performance is on Thursday. I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be so much fun! I hope we'll be able to get a video of it on YouTube. I always wanted to be an internet movie star. ^_-

In other news, the cool change means our weather hovers around a 'pleasant' 28'C today. Yay. Almost not boiling!

Happy Pig Year!

2007-02-18T23:07:00.000+11:00

It's Chinese New Year, and I hope you've all been celebrating in style.
This year is the Year of the Golden Pig (even though there seems to be some debate about that), which is very lucky to have children, apparently. It comes around every 60 years (the combination of animal and element), and some combos are luckier than others.
So grab some Chinese sweets and fire crackers, and watch some dancing lions or dragons.

It's going to be a great year.

Which year were you born in?

They liked it!

2007-02-16T21:15:00.000+11:00

I got the score sheet for the synopsis contest I entered (and finalled in) a while ago. My understanding is that all our entries are with the final judge right now, but they sent me the score sheet that resulted in said final. I simply assumed I would have scraped in somewhere around position 4-8.
But I came in first! Holy chef on a sizzling hotplate! 91.45% score.
Yes, I do feel mighty awesome.
I can't wait to hear what the editor says to it! Maybe she'll want to see the partial (which I was going to send anyway, but shhhhhh)!

Oh, and my second entry came in 9th, so it *just* missed out on being a finalist. by .2%, lol.

A helping hand

2007-02-16T08:36:00.000+11:00

Writers are fragile creatures. We bitch and moan and weep over harsh words, or sometimes just over the general uselessness that is our sucky selves.
Then all it takes is a kind word, and we're back on top of the world. Fickle? I'll give you fickle!

I finished my edits, and I had a feeling fo gloom. This couldn't possibly be any good. no one would want to read anything this dreadful. I should go and get a job at Target or something. If they'd even hire someone as useless as me.

Then The Boy comes back after reading the first thirty pages, and he gives me the best feedback! No, not glowing praise, but the questions he asked and the suggestions he gave motivated me and helped me work through some things I'd been thinking about. And not just for this book, but for its sequels! This is enormously exciting. ^_^

But today is not a writing day. Today, I'll be out with fellow creative (though she dabbles in many more things than I do), . It's going to be hot (36'C/96'F), so we're off to the shopping centre for some much-needed air-con goodness. Yay!

The uphill battle

2007-02-15T10:17:00.000+11:00

The hard days are the ones that make me feel like a pro. When the words don't come easily. When it's more craft than art.
This final fine-tooth edit has been kicking the living shit out of me. I'm tire,d cranky, and convinced this is the worst drivel ever written.

It doesn't help that the rejections are piling in after my initial wave of successes. I got one today on a partial, and that smarted a lot, because that agency has been signing heaps of new YA clients lately. But what can you do? Form next week, it's paper submissions for me. I can probably afford about four a month, so we'll see how that goes.

There are only 10 pges of edits to go, then a lot of typing up. Then the baby is finished! For good, ready to send anywhere finished.
My reward? Pick a new project and start planning that. oh, I can't wait!

Ticking time bomb

2007-02-12T10:35:00.001+11:00

I write well to deadlines. let me rephrase that. I write *only* to deadlines.
So I've got an egg timer now, and it's increased my productivity by about 200%. Even when I feel that I'm struggling (and I've been feeling like that often last week), looking at that ticking clock is spurning me on. No easy distractions. no getting up for another pot of tea. no internet browsing.
There is only me and the MS for as long as the clock is ticking. It's fantastic.

I haven't had a day with under 2,000 words output this last week, and I've usually only been writing for two 1-hour stretches. I'm feeling super efficient, and it feels like *craft* (in contrast to art, which I am always wary of). There is no muse. There is just me hammering away at the words. And I can feel myself getting better, like a muscle being worked out even after you're ready to quit.

I still have to kick myself into starting the timer, but once it's going, I'm on. It's a great trick for procrastinators like me. And little by little, the pages add up. Parrot is back up to 240 pages. Which is insanely excellent, I can assure you. Only five more days until it leaves the house. I'm saving up my lunch money for postage (well, kind of).

Blurbs, first pages and the middle - how do you choose?

2007-02-06T09:52:00.000+11:00

This post was the inspiration for today's musings.
What makes you buy a book? How do you mainly decide on a new author/series?
Do you only buy word-of-mouth?
What if you're really bored and there's nothing in the bookshop that you *wanted* to get, so you have to find a different book to try?

After a catchy title/cover, it's up to the blurb for most of us. And that's where the waters get very murky. Some blurbs are fantastic. Some are useless. Others should come with a big, fat spoiler warning.
As a reader, I'm scared of blurbs. What if they give something away that I wanted to be in suspense about?

I used to choose books very differently. I wasn't aware that "most readers in a bookshop will read the first page or so before deciding they buy your book".
I never did that, because I found that too many authors tricked me. Their first page was hooky and interesting and promised all sorts of good things, only to bore me to tears by page 98.
So I opened the book in the middle and read half a page. If the voice didn't grab me, the book went back, often to my great disappointment.

Am I the only one who doesn't buy into the first-page hype?
After learning the secret from the inside, I understand where my feeling came from. Do we as authors over-polish the front, but leave the pins and tape on the back and sides?

Only writers get it

2007-02-04T18:03:00.000+11:00

Isn't it just the worst when you have good news and no one can understand them?

"I have two agents who want to see a full!"
*blank stares*
"Uh, that's good. Really good," I'll explain.
"Okay."

Whereas fellow writers will squeal with me and appreciate the excitement.

That's why you need writer friends when you're a writer. To share your excitement.

And to appreciate that having 15,000 words of rewrites to go means insanity, tea and chocolate.
Not "Hey, can I help you?"

Milk + honey. It's a good thing

2007-02-01T10:04:00.000+11:00

Whatever sickness I've been fighting since Sunday has finally caught up with me, so I spent the morning in bed with a very purry cat. Life is good when you have a cat.

I had to do some major restructuring yesterday to get myself back on track. I've finally taken on more projects than I can handle at the same time. Now they're prioritised in a nice master list, and hopefully, I'll be able to stick to that.
I've reduced my daily word counts to a very comfortable amount (but counting 7 writing days a week) with weekly targets, and that makes me feel focused. The to-do list is lasting me until the first of June. Then it'll be time to plan for the rest of the year. it's scary how quickly time added up once I had all my existing projects lined up.

But things are always at their busiest before Chinese new year, I find.

But today, it's my day off. bring on the milk with honey.

Well, what do you know?

2007-01-26T10:15:00.000+11:00

'Write what you know' is one of those overused mantras in writing. So is 'write from the heart'. A lot of people's inclinations (mine included) is that you can't take the what-you-know thing too literally. Research can be done, and after all, you constantly write about people/situations/time periods you don't have a personal account of, do you?

but maybe there is another point to it. I've had this discussion recently (on the train, as you do) about writers of YA books. And how I, as a general rule, dislike YA books written by mothers of teens and/or teachers of teen grades. Why? because they just don't ring true to me. They often sound too stilted, too trying to be cool.
I'm sorry, but just because you happen to run a b n'b (whether school or home) for teens does *not* put you in touch with teen life, issues and what they're really like.
Now, I'm certain I've read YA books by people in that age bracket that I've enjoyed, but not because of their occupation/living in a research habitat, but *despite* it.
I believe in order to write a certain age, you need to be able to act that age. it's like mental maturity or something. If you're no longer in synch with your inner teen, it's much harder to pull it off.

If you are writing YA, or thinking about it, ask yourself. Do you connect with what's hot right now? Do you follow the lingo? Do you appreciate pop trash? Are you down with music trends, do you understand the clothes?
Where were you in your teens? Were you popular? Were you a geek?
And one of the things that always grates on me is the lack of techno gadgets in a lot of teen novels. Hello? We've evolved past cell phones and casual mentions of iPods. Some people use IM in their books. IMing is the new talking on the (landline) phone. Text messaging. Online gaming. Why don't we see those more often?
because a lot of writers grew up before the tech overstimulation.

Maybe it's just me, but I much prefer YA books written by people who are still around that maturity level. They bring a natural language to the game, a certain flow that rings true. These people *could* have teen children/teach at school, but most don't. Most haven't grown up themselves.

What's my point? Maybe not write what you know, but act your age and write appropriately.

But how should my manuscript be...

2007-01-23T09:42:00.000+11:00

Coming to you via Miss Snark, the answer to all your manuscript formatting questions (and query letters, too).
This week is a busy, busy week. in the best possible way. I have the revised version of my contest finalist (no, I'm not tired of saying that yet) QLS to polish up and send, and an agent has asked for 30 pages of the YA. Which will *also* get a final sheen.
Extremely exciting times.

So it's really been just in time (not really, but I felt like it) that my web site has grown. it now boasts its own YA section, and if I may say so, it's very shiny and pretty. Have a look: http://www.kikianika.com/kikilon
The old romance writer site has moved, too. http://www.kikianika.com/kikianika
I'm hosting them both together until I can afford another domain name.

This year is off to a good start. We'll see where it takes us.

I am a contest finalist!

2007-01-22T10:00:00.000+11:00

Celebrate every step of the way. And today I am celebrating the fact that one of my category novels finalled in the RWA "Selling Synopsis" contest. The final judge is Sheila Hodgson of Mills & Boon London, who is reading the six finalist entries. How exciting is that?

Also, a shout-out to my fellow finalists:
Sharon Arkell
Loretta Hill
Beverley Eikli
Beverley Lewis
Cathryn Hein

I don't know what they are writing, but I'm excited for all of us.

I usually don't do well in contests (and often bemoan the fact here), but it seems that my synopses and query letters/pitches at least are doing well enough for me. last year the Blaze pitch contest and the conference pitch and the Crapometer, this year kicking it off with the Synopsis contest.
Now I just need to get my pages noticed in the same way! ^_^

But if nothing else, it really motivates me to get my Parrot synopsis up and shiny today.

Drought Relief Shopping

2007-01-22T09:55:00.000+11:00

X-posted

Safeway/Woolworths Drought Relief

On the 23 January 2007, Safeway (Woolworths) will be donating its
entire supermarket's profits for the day to the drought relief. The
funds will primarily be used by the CWA for immediate support for rural
families with the remainder to help fund research into sustainable
farming practices.

This is expected to be in excess of $3 million dollars.
So if you do your normal shopping on the 23 January you will helping
farming families who are currently doing it tough.

All the details:
http://www.woolworths.com.au/woolworths+ceo+pledges+support+for+drought+relief.asp

If you need to do some supermarket shopping this week, go on the 23rd. It's for a good cause!