Always quirky, sometimes sweet speculative fiction

Month: May 2013

Australian Spec-fic Authors Challenge – April Round-Up

You know when you could swear you already did something and then you find out you actually didn’t do it after all? Like replying to a person via email, or following something up, or – I don’t know, maybe WRITING AN ARTICLE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DO DAYS AGO!

The Pericles CommissionNormally I do my round up on the first of the month for the Aussie spec-fic author challenge and the next day I do my goals round up, so when I did my goals first instead of second my silly brain told me I had done the Aussie author challenge. Since I only open my computer if I really need to just in case it never turns on again(duct-taped together remember) I didn’t check my site until now. Aggh!

Well, better late than never.

In April I read Gary Corby’s The Pericles Commission. The book touts itself as a Hellenic mystery. Crime sleuthing in ancient Athens? You had me at hello.

I’ve actually been following Gary’s blog for months now and have been meaning to read his books the whole time, but just never managed to get around to it. That’s my favourite thing about the challenge, it gives me an excuse to do things I’ve been meaning to.

There is some seriously cool information woven in through the narrative about life and law back in 461BC and many of the characters are actual historical figures. Who knew that purses were not commonly carried back then, instead you kept your coins in your mouth (how you’d haggle around the coins in your mouth I’m not sure and, urg, germs).

I adore the character of Diotima (really? Me, liking a strong female character? You’d never guess it ;p ) and the narrative journey was great fun, at no point was I ever certain I knew the killer and there were plenty of great twists to.

If you like crime, or historical fiction this is a great book, double down on that if you like them both! You can read my Goodreads review for more of my opinions.

0068_RHABurnBrightFULL07.inddFor my May book I’m reading Marianne de Pierres’ The Night Creatures Trilogy, starting with Burn Bright. It’s a very different YA series in a dark fantastic world of never-ending parties. I’m enjoying it so far, but it is competing for my free time with Fire Emblem on 3DS and Persona 4 Arena on PS3 – some seriously tough competition.

April Goals Round-Up From A Duct-Taped Laptop

all that's keeping my poor baby together :(

all that’s keeping my poor baby together 🙁

You may have noticed a rather long radio silence from me. Normally I have back-up posts so I don’t go more than a week without posting, however, when a wild toddler throws your computer on the ground and it falls to pieces that tends to render any computer based actions impossible without either repair or replacement.

Since there’s no money for replacement, behold, my duct tape repaired laptop.

(yeah, yeah, there’s a desktop in another room, but it’s at the far end of the house closeted away from the family so I can’t keep an eye on Xander while I’m on it. That and it’s a desktop… ewwww)

We also went to Supanova Gold Coast and here's Xander dressed at the eleventh Doctor in front of the Hire a Tardis

We also went to Supanova Gold Coast and here’s Xander dressed at the eleventh Doctor in front of the Hire a Tardis

Anyway, on with my progress report on my goals. This month was definitely my worst so far, but that probably has something to do with the fact that my other months all kicked ass. Plus, one poor month does not a year destroy – I just have to make sure I get back on my game, and by game I mean put down my 3DS and the inserted copy of Fire Emblem which has consumed all my spare time for the later half of the month (damn you awesome video games – you get me every time). I can’t entirely blame Fire Emblem and the sheer awesomeness of that game, manga is to blame too. I re-read three series this month(High School Debut, Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden and Butterflies, Flowers for anyone curious).

So, I did manage to complete my novelette The Troll’s Toll and a sweet little follow-up short Petrified Lips. I also wrote a follow up for Charming which follows Hannah, it has no title yet and is still a little rough – not to mention the fact the computer kept not saving my ending. It is soooooo frustrating to write the same ending five times and always be wondering if one of the other lost ones was perhaps that tiny bit better than this one.

I also did some more tinkering in Storybook Perfect book 2 as I continue trying to wrangle the chopped in half remnants of the old second half into a book two. The start is very stilted, I need to add a good starting chapter and then figure out a smooth order for the following few chapters. There seem to be more rewrites involved than I had at first anticipated. At least the first book is looking good and is out waiting on an agent’s reply right now. So I’m making headway on goal #1 at least.

On goal 5 I haven’t submitted a lot this month because most of it is already out and waiting for responses or still needs work, but I have been told one of my stories is on the shortlist for a very cool magazine – so not a guaranteed in, but definitely a vote of confidence in the quality of that story, particularly since I thought I might have been aiming a little high by submitting it ;p

Also did some research for the Redlitzer (a local writing competition) by buying the anthology of previous winners and reading it. I’ve figured out what the judges seem to like, but I’m just not getting any inspiration. Sadly that’s about all the ‘learning’ I did.

I was still creating plenty, but didn’t do much else. Except for reading manga and playing video games. Oh, and I suppose I still did all that mothery, housewifey stuff too ;p how did you all go?

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