Surviving in Style--2012 Reflections

Most of us are great at self-critiscm. I'm not talented, smart, productive, funny, thin enough. Good old January 1 has perfected the art of cashing in on our insecurities as we all plan how we can be BETTER in the new year. As artists--whether we write, draw, paint, build macaroni figurines--we strive for constant improvement. That elusive location of 'there', I'm almost there, I'll get there, one day... What about now? What about here? How about appreciating and celebrating all that you've already achieved?

Before I make my resolutions (and yes, I'm weak enough to give into the list of improvement) I like to reflect and review my past year. Here's my celebration list of 2012:

• Survived an apocalypse--so that's kinda cool.
• Moved from our country cottage in Yass to an inner-city suburb of Brisbane. Swapped views of cows and hills for trains and skylines. I've learned I can happily adapt to any environment and now love city-living as much as I loved country-living.
• Joined the Queensland Writers Centre (bonus to the move).
• Formed a writers group and we meet every week. Best thing I ever did for my writing!
• Studied via writing courses and workshops. I couldn't even count how many writing classes/workshops I did this year!
• Finished four first draft manuscripts.
• Wrote flash fiction and short stories.
• Increased my pool of online buddies.
• Taught creative writing workshops for kids by volunteering at local schools.
• Was invited to read My Zombie Dog with Year Six kids when they chose it as their class text (that was so awesome!).

Write your list and pat yourself on the back. Post your achievement list, after a few days offline, I'm itching to get around to your blogs. 2013 is looking pretty exciting!

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Happy Holidays

HAVE A WONDERFUL AND SAFE CHRISTMAS!

I'm offline for a couple of days while I suffer enjoy the Christmas bickering spirit with the family.

To all you white Christmas peeps, this is what we can expect in Australia, and yes, I've seen Santa's butt many times.

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Holiday Spirit Blogfest

Here comes Christmas! I've always loved this time of year, the tacky decorations, lights in yards and the glorious food. But, the last few years I started to lose my Christmas spirit. Started to seem the last few occasions had me running around madly the day before, looking for the perfect present for my kids. And each year our gifts would get more and more expensive, trying to outdo the year before. We'd spend thousands. Don't even get me started on the trend we had for a while buying a pet each year! Got me down.

I'm a big one for challenges. I sign up for them online, but I also try to implement them at home. We have family meetings and someone will suggest a new challenge. We've had fun with no electricity days, spend nothing days and no tv month. But my Christmas challenges were shot down this year. I started with the 'no presents' idea. Ha. Then I tried the 'handmade gifts' idea. Raspberries. But, I am happy to say we settled on a limit. The kids could spend up to $50 of their own money on each other and we would choose gifts for them up to $100 each.

The kids'll still get their sack filled by Santa, but at least now I feel Christmas has become more about our family gathering than the gifts. Looking forward to the Turkey, ham, plum pudding and hosting family and friends.

The Holiday Spirit Blogfest at romanticfridaywriters prompted me to do up a flash fiction piece. I guess that longing for Christmas to be about family and not money influenced me:

Home for Christmas

Jade poked at the dirt with a stick. Midday sun scorched her dark skin and burned her scalp even through her thick curls. Her cotton shirt stuck damp to her back, sweat pooled under her chin and ran into her cleavage. She swatted away blowflies and took another swig from her water bottle. The water was warm and did not satisfy her.

‘We’ll head back soon, I’m nearly done here.’ Her father emerged from his one man quarry. ‘I’ve found some good stones today aye luv. Gonna get a good bob for these.’

No he wouldn’t Jade thought. He never did. Always the same. Go out to the lot, fossick for stones, opals being the prized goal. He’d get them home and those promising flashes of colour would turn bland under the kitchen light. He’d talk up the find. ‘Gonna get a hundred quid for this one, easy.’ Most were worth just a few dollars. He’d return, a burger and fries for Jade and a heart-full of shame. He’d drink and cry and promise to move back to the city. Get a job.

At first Jade believed him. She’d secretly pray for his findings to be short,  so they could leave. A few times she even packed. Back to the city, back to school and Janine and Tracy and all her friends. Back to see her mother and her grandmother. He’d go back out for one more find, just enough money for the trip. He’d get all excited about another useless rock. 

She stopped packing. She’d go back to the city, soon, without him. But for now, he needed someone to share his shame with. Someone to pick up the empties and pretend to believe him when the next rock was dragged up from the ground. 

Next week was Christmas, he’d need her to get through that. After Christmas she’d go. Or maybe after New Year.

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10 Best Writing Workbooks

You can get great books on the craft of writing and learn to write a novel at home, but there's so many, how do you pick? My favourites are the workbooks providing exercises to try yourself. Here are the top ten workbooks for writing that I couldn't do without:

Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass

You could write your whole novel with this workbook. Now don't be confused, there are two releases under this title. Writing the Breakout Novel is probably a good book too, but I prefer the workbook. It's condensed on the chapter lengths but has the added bonus of exercises for you to complete.

Steering the Craft by Ursula Le Guin

At first glance this seems like a run of the mill how-to book on writing. Nope. Le Guin has a magical way with words that transcends her fiction and makes a technical book a pleasure to read. She tackles the usual devices for good writing, but goes beyond and looks at elements that make beautiful writing. For example, her first chapter is on the sound of your writing and includes an exercise titled: 'Being Gorgeous'. It's not all airy-fairy though, you will cover punctuation, syntax, sentence length as well as some fun things like repetition, switching your point of view and using adverbs and adjectives (come on, we could all use some improvement with those). Her examples come from some of the greatest writers. I could read this book again and again.

The Writing Book: A Workbook for Fiction Writers by Kate Greenville

I use some of these exercises in my writing group. The book's a bit wordy for my short attention span, but good if you just use one section at a time (each section looks at a writing skill, such as dialogue, character, description, etc). The topic is explained, examples given and then you are asked to try your hand at writing with a guided exercise.

Don't Forget to Write: For the Secondary Grades by 826 National

Created by an amazing writing centre for young people, this workbook offers lesson plans for high school teachers wanting to offer their students some amazing creative and persuasive writing workshops. You don't have to be a teacher to use it, try the exercises yourself. There is also a Don't Forget to Write: for the Elementary Grades, if you've got some younger writers at home (5-12yrs).

The Art and Science of Light Bulb Moments by Tom Evans

Evans is an amazing speaker, just look for him on YouTube and you'll find many interviews. This is a writing manual with a difference, it's not about technique it's about sparking amazing creativity and ideas. You'll get amazing exercises but also find out the psychological or scientific reason these exercises work for us. Even simple acts like breathing can inspire creativity and kick start our imagination. 

The Artist's Way Workbook by Julia Cameron

Whenever there's a workbook available for a text, I'll just buy that. This is great to get you living the creative life rather than making small slots of time for creativity. Do the exercises even if they feel silly--my experience has always been the tasks I'm reluctant to try always harvest the best results. Each week you'll be assigned small tasks to promote creativity.

Specialist Subjects: 

Writing and Selling your Mystery Novel by Hallie Ephron

I'm still working my way through this workbook but it is perfect if you're writing a… well mystery obviously. Learn all the tropes and gain an insight into the necessary structure of a well-planned crime novel. There are charts for you to fill in and exercises that will take you right through the planning stages.

The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children by Nancy Lamb

This book is such a good guide it could be helpful for writing any kind of novel, but does offer a lot of insight into the children and YA book market. Find out exactly what kids expect from fiction. The text was suggested to me during a writing course I took and I'm glad to have discovered it.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Workbook by Betty Edwards

I know what you're thinking: 'But this is an artist's workbook!' Yes it is, and trust me, I'm no artist, however, drawing inspires creativity. Try a drawing exercise right before you sit down to work on your manuscript. There's something about allowing the pencil to flow over the page that helps release the words.

Adventures in Fantasy by John Gust

Another resource for the classroom but just as good for adults. This book is a whole workshop starting with planning your fantasy setting map to filling the world with characters and conflicts. Great for someone setting out to write their first Fantasy novel. There's lots of sheets to print or copy, so I recommend getting the physical book rather than the ebook version.

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Ancient Spells & Crazy Kings

 

Today I'm happy to be hosting Laura Pauling on her amazing blog tour for her new Middle Grade novel: How to Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings! I love a bit of Egyptian mythology, so enjoy Laura's post and enter to win prizes!:

    

Published by Pugalicious Press

When Bianca and Melvin brave the jungle to rescue their grandfather, they stumble upon the ancient Maya city of Etza, where the people haven’t aged in 2,000 years. They must learn to work together as they face loincloth-wearing skeletons from the underworld, a backstabbing princess, and an ancient prophecy that says in three days the city will be destroyed. No problem. They’ll find Zeb and zip right out of there. The fact that a crazy king wants to serve Bianca up to the gods as an appetizer is just a minor technicality. But this ancient evil dude has finally met his match.

Weaving mythology into a story.

How To Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings is a middle grade time travel. I didn’t plan on adding fantastical elements to the story, other than time travel. The characters would go back in time, solve the mystery, and return home alive--hopefully. But while researching the Ancient Maya I learned about some of the driving forces dictating their cultural decisions. The Maya strongly believed in the afterlife. They believed in an underworld. When kings or queens were buried, their tombs were filled with treasured items to help them on their journey in the next world. Kings in particular were driven to sacrifice their own blood. When their earthly lives passed, they desired to rise up into the heavens and become a god. During their sacrifice rituals they would seek answers from their gods and past kings in the rising smoke from bark soaked with their blood. Most commoners didn’t ascend into the sky and become gods. No, they traversed into the depths of the underworld. So when my characters, Bianca and Melvin head down into a deep underground cavern, it was easy for me to connect that to the underworld of the Maya. So guess who they run into? That’s right. The undead. Thanks, Charmaine, for hosting me on the tour!

How To Survive Ancient Spells and Crazy Kings released in November. Pugalicious Press did a fantastic job, and I’m extremely happy with the results. This book would make a fantastic gift for boys or girls who enjoy adventure stories with lots of excitement! You can purchase it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. You can read the first chapter here. Check out the teacher's guide. Thankfully, my journey is just beginning and I’m excited to see where it leads. Click here for the list of blog tour stops! Enter to win these prize packages!

Prize Package One (signed paperbacks)

Prize Package Two (signed paperbacks)

Prize Package Three

 

  Refresh the page if you can't see the Rafflecopter form! a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Zombie Picking & FREE Kindle Book!

My Zombie Picks
Zombies are actually the only monsters I am really afraid of. They give me the total heebies! I originally wrote My Zombie Dog, after writing a long, long list of all my phobias for story prompts and shuffling, staggering, festering, brain-sucking creatures were on top! I'm most scared of them just touching me with their rotting flesh.
But, to challenge myself, I did write a zombie story which has now turned into a series. Undead Kev (sequel to My Zombie Dog) will be released to Kindle in February and in paperback in March. I also try to challenge myself reading zombie literature (I tried to play The Walking Dead game on the iPad, but the intro was too scary for me).
Here's my top zombie picks:

The Forest of Hands and Teeth. This novel is so lyrical you'll forget you're reading about undead creatures wanting to tear at your flesh. Not a fast-paced story, but beautifully written. My only gripe with this one is the Kindle book is way overpriced, so go for the paperback!

Chasers from the Alone series. Not your typical zombie story, because technically, they're not zombies. But they are very zombie-like and they're everywhere! Follow a group of teenagers as they try to not only survive, but find out what's happening to everyone around them. Your jaw will drop when you get to the twist at the end. VERY CLEVER!Undead. Hilarious. During a high school trip, everyone except a couple of students (who were left on the bus and of course would never in a million years get along) turn into zombies. 

Don't forget for the younger zombie lover (9-13) you can't go pastMy Zombie Dog ;). The book launch was a blast and the kids loved having the face-painter turn them into zombies. As a special promotion for the holiday season, you can download the Kindle version of My Zombie Dog for free, just for December 7th and 8th.

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Insecure about Indie Publishing?

Insecure Writer's Support Group is hosted by Alex Cavanaugh. It's a great idea, once a month we post about things that make writers insecure and offer advice and tips for overcoming those issues. 

Here's my insecurity. Sometimes I still feel awkward saying I'm an indie author. Not online, because here, we rock! But around the book shop circles and when I'm in writing workshops. At one seminar a speaker said don't bother self-publishing or no one will ever hear of your book. When you chat to people at workshops they almost always ask who you got to publish your book. There also seems to be an attitude that you only produce your own work if you can't land a publisher.

I didn't go lightly into indie publishing, I registered my business (Hot Doggy Digital Press), got my ABN and an EIN to avoid any tax problems (you need an EIN to get paid from Amazon if you're a non-US author here's a site with all the instructions). I put a lot of effort into my cover, studying popular releases, then I hired a professional to help pull it all together (Book Cover Cafe helped me produce the book). Read DIY Book Covers for some hints and tips. I accepted a lot of feedback on my story and worked on it until it felt right.

I'm fighting these feelings of insecurity. I'm proud of my debut novel, My Zombie Dog, and I'll be proud of the next few I publish too. One thing I've learned is readers don't care about the publisher, mostly it's just other writers who care.

There are steps I'm taking to lift the stigma of indie or self-published books. Let's face it, the standard needs to be lifted before the public's expectations will be lifted. I need to improve. I've made mistakes, but I'll be darned if I repeat those mistakes.

When I first uploaded my book to Kindle I was in too much of a hurry. The work had many errors. Lot of tense errors, typos. Took another three goes and a professional editor (again, Book Cover Cafe) to get it into the shape it's in now. 

I aim to be a darn good indie published author. 2013 will see me spending a lot more time reading and promoting other indie published writers as well. 

To start, here are some new releases from awesome blogger authors. I'll post some reviews soon, for now, just click on the cover to visit the Amazon site:

Fun kids book for Christmas

Amazing fantasy novel

Anthology of stories by awesome writers including Lynda Young

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Curing the NaNoWriMo Hangover

K.M. Weiland's new book launched today: Dreamlander

It's a great read for fantasy lovers, I've reviewed the book on Goodreads and Amazon. 

Just 99c, check it out!:

December's here and NaNoWriMo is over. Long live NaNoWriMo.

In my pre-NaNo post I listed 8 things to give up to get those 50k words. I didn't go completely without. I did stay away from television for the first few weeks and haven't watched very much since then. My fav' shows at the moment are Castle, Bones, Justified and The Walking Dead (okay the last one is a love/hate relationship). I did give up a lot of social media time. I was almost non-existent on Twitter and Google+ and I only wrote one blog post. 

My days revolved around the word counts. All I could focus on was the 50k prize. And I did it. I finished the first draft of Undead Kev and have almost finished Warracknabeal Kids. Now it's over, I've taken a couple of days to shake the daze from my tired mind and it's time to get on with things. Here's a list of my plans for December. Did you take part in NaNoWriMo? How do you plan on recovering from the crazy?

• 3 pages - before NaNo my routine included writing three pages longhand first thing in the morning. These pages can be garble or clear story ideas. It doesn't matter. You can use the words to plot or just to dump all thoughts crowding your mind and blocking your creativity. I gave up my 3 pages during November, but I find it a refreshing way to start my writerly day.
• Meditation - visualisation techniques and guided audio recordings help me to clear my mind and plan my words. It's just 5-10 minutes out of my day but really sparks the creativity.
• Short Stories - novel writing has exhausted me over November. I'm taking a little break and concentrating on short stories for a while. 
• Blog - I can't wait to get around and visit blogs again. I'm gonna be a blog-reading machine!
• Reading - I decided to try some books off the high school reading list. Finally got around to reading Catcher in the Rye and now I'm working my way through some Steinbeck classics.
• Educating - Learning grammar rules via Grammar Girl, workbooks and my good friend Denise Covey (a grammar guru).

I know many NaNoers are jumping right in with their editing. I'm going to take a little break and look at  editing in the new year.

I've also got my Christmas tree up - what do you think?

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8 Steps to Launch Your Children's Book

Promoting ebooks is easy, one quick click and the potential customer is at Amazon, but how do you sell your paperback?

Have a launch!

My invitation design

Launches are a whole heap of fun. If you're not sure how to go about organising one, here's a list of things that I tried for My Zombie Dog:

Give clear instructions

1. Choose your location. Ideally see if you can get a bookstore (that has a great children's section) to host your launch. Independent bookstores are sometimes happy to set you up for your book launch, especially if they have a cafe or plenty of space. If you can't find a good bookstore, try a family-friendly cafe or restaurant or even your local park (get council permission first).
2. Plan the launch. Launches aimed at adults can include talks on the topic of the book or how you came to write the book. Kids are not interested in your speech. Keep it short. Introduce the book, have a little (preferably interactive) talk about it and then include some activities. Include some stories and jokes. Read part of your book (you could read the whole thing if it's a short picture book). 
3. Have giveaways. I've had magnets made up with zombie dogs on them, they cost me very little from Vistaprint. You can also get bookmarks (kids love bookmarks) or postcards.
4. Include a few quick games or competitions. I'm asking kids to come dressed as zombies for an undead fashion parade, I'll be giving away book vouchers from the store as prizes. Emily (my teen girl) will be offering zombie face painting to create a whole little army of undead.
5. Promote your event. Facebook is awesome for this, but you might need to get out and about in your community. Offer to speak/read at local schools and libraries. Have invitations to the event printed up (again, Vistaprint are awesome for this) and hand them out. Try to get a buzz going.
6. Advertise - Do a letterbox drop in the area near the bookstore and put up flyers at local shopping centres. You could even put an announcement in the local paper. Get a banner made up to put outside the store on the day of the launch.
7. You can also promote through mums and word of mouth. Get to know the school mums or visit some Mummy blogs and see if they'll review your book for a free copy.
8. Order your books way ahead of time. No point booking a launch only to find your books haven't arrived yet!

My magnet give-aways

That's it! Most of all, make sure you have a LOT of fun, don't let it get stressful!

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8 Things to Give Up for NaNoWriMo

National Novel Writing Month.

50,000 words in one month. Sounds crazy. Ready to give up? Great! Me too. I'll give up lots, just so long as I don't have to give up writing my novel. It's all about the words and we know getting words on  the page can often be all about finding the time to write. What are you prepared to sacrifice?

Here's a list of the things you could give up for November to win NaNoWriMo:

1. Plot - 'But I'm not a pantser!' I hear you shout. That's okay. Maybe you spent all of October planning every scene for your novel. Fine, try that. But if you don't have your story plotted out already - now is not the time to do it. Just go with it. And if you do? Add some random things on the days you feel stuck. Sometimes knowing what you have to write can slow you down. Have your character pop into a cafe for a bowl of jelly and find a fly in it. The thing is you'll get your word count, it's great writing practice and you can always delete it in the edits.
2. Perfection - Repeat after me - 'This will be a crap draft, but at least I'll have a draft.'
3. Cleanliness - Now I'm not suggesting you stop showering, that's a great place for inspiration. But forget the vacuuming, washing clothes, mowing lawns etc. Kids can wash their own clothes and wear their uniforms crinkled. The family will figure out how to make baked beans on toast, and maybe they wouldn't mind whipping up something for you while they're at it. It is a universal rule that NOBODY EVER visits an author's home in November. Make sure you don't visit a writer friends house and comment on the cobwebs either. That's like killing puppies, you don't want to kill puppies... do you?
4. Television - Ooh this is going to be a hard one for some people (me). I can't remember the last time I turned on tv to see what was on, but we watch a lot of DVDs and download tv series from iTunes (I love Castle, The Walking Dead, Justified & Bones). But for November I've pledged to watch NOTHING. My family are sadly not supporting this challenge, so I'll be spending a lot of time alone in my room typing.
5. Company - Those people called family and friends will only weigh you down dude! Ditch 'em now. You may however, hang with other writers and encourage each other with word races and accountability for word counts. If you can't trust yourself not to wander off for coffee with mates, hide all your shoes for the month.
6. Stress - Nothing slows action more than worrying about it.
7. Blogs - Don't panic, I'm not suggesting you HAVE to close down for the entire month (although many bloggers are), but you shouldn't let yourself on until you've met your word count for the day (at least). I'm not planning to do much blogging over November and I doubt I'll be visiting blogs, unless I get ahead of schedule. There's a zillion blogs to visit, no one will mind if a few of them slow down. Plus, I don't like to blog unless I'm reciprocating by visiting blogs, otherwise I think it's a bit selfish and rude. And I don't want to be rude. I want you to like me :)
8. Internet time - Schedule a reduced time, maybe thirty minutes a day, to check emails, Facebook, Twitter etc, or again, let yourself online AFTER you reach your daily word count.

That's my list. I'll be giving up all these things for November. How about you? Another one for the guys is shaving, let your stubble go wild this month!

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How to Write Better Description

Photographs can help provide detail for descriptive writing

One of my lightbulb moments in writing came when it finally sank in that specific was better than general. For example, we could say:

The boy bounced the ball.

But we can all see that's pretty vague. It doesn't conjure any clear image in the reader's mind. Perhaps say:

Bobby Reynolds dribbled the basketball across the court.

Now we have a better idea of what's happening. And I'd have to admit, that last one is how I'd probably describe a boy playing basketball. Other than 'dribble', I have no knowledge of the game. Truth is, if I don't know what a basketball game really looks like, then I won't be painting the picture with my words. So how can we get better detail? By studying the specific. If you were to watch some YouTube clips of a game, read up on the rules and lingo or even better, turn up for a live game, you'd get a better feel for the actions, emotions and surroundings.

In our writing group last week, we looked at improving our descriptions by using more specific detail. This was a really fun exercise (adapted from one I found in Don't Forget to Write), it involved writing and drawing (but don't worry, because no amazing artistic skills are required). You could use just about any topic for this exercise, I chose to use animals. Here's the steps:

A 'before' sketch of a crocodile

1. Each participant is given the name of an animal (big red kangaroo, chimpanzee, octopus, draft horse, snow owl, sea turtle, rhinoceros, crocodile, etc).
2. Once you know which animal you are using, try to draw a picture of it. There should be no visual aids or prompts, just draw from memory.
3. Write a short descriptive passage about that creature.
4. Now I hand out to the participants a figurine and blown up photograph of the creature, to compare to their drawing.
5. You redraw the creature, this time taking particular notice of the small details you overlooked previously. For example, the way the fur/skin/feathers/scales sit, how the creature holds itself, the particular shape of the eyes, etc.
6. Once you're happy with your new sketch, write a new descriptive passage, this time including some of those smaller details.

I love the little ears on the seal, I would have forgotten those without a photo.

All the animal pics on today's blog are taken by Tim Clancy

I worked on an octopus and my memory conjures up the likeness of Henry from the Wiggles:

Picture from The Wiggles official site, click to visit www.wiggletime.com

But with the help of a photo and figurine, I was able to write about an octopus in a way I hadn't considered before:

Lilly spread her arm out in front. The water was thick and bubbles effervesced from her breathing apparatus, making patterns up towards the blue light above. The octopus swayed from side to side. It floated a little closer, curious about the girl in front of it. It’s long tentacles swished and curled about, each taking their own direction, moving to their own silent rhythm. On each tentacle little suction cups pulsated. It was the eyes that surprised Lilly the most. The way they’d look right into hers, taking her in. You’re a funny thing, they seemed to say. Now the tentacles encircles Lilly’s hand, caressing it gently. It was patting her like she was its new pet. 

My sketch of an octopus after seeing a photo.

So try to get the specific detail in your description writing. A few carefully placed key words or verbs will help the reader find the scene believable. Now you try - maybe watch a clip of someone playing basketball and write a short passage? Share it if you want to. I love to see what you're writing!

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Art Prompts Fiction - Romantic Friday Writers

Is it just me, or do his eyes follow you around the room?

My writers group (Vannguard Writers) took an excursion to Queensland Art Gallery. Ok, so the art gallery is right next door to the State Library where we have our writing sessions, so it wasn't a big excursion, but still it was a nice change in routine.

Denise Covey, friend and fellow Vannguard writer, hosted this arty session with some creative writing exercises using the artworks as prompts (you can read more about this excursion on Denise's blog). One of the exercises was to imagine yourself as a character in the painting, or put yourself as an extra character into the scene. I flipped this around and took my character out of the painting... literally.

Getting yourself out and about, using prompts to inspire can freshen up your writing, and new layers and textures. Maybe you could visit a museum and write about the interesting items or times, or, a restaurant and write about the smells, tastes and atmosphere.

This week Romantic Friday Writers are hosting a horror blog challenge, and I decided my response to our art exercise would fit in nicely. So if you're up for a bit of afternoon horror, here's my take on the requirement of a scary tale with a touch of romance... (1,000 words - FCA as always, I welcome critique and am not at all sensitive to feedback)

John Opie's Portrait

Christina tugged at the chrome armchair. It was heavy, but with some focused grunts she managed to pull it across the large glass doors. She sighed. Her arms burned, but she couldn’t stop now. She’d have to make sure he couldn’t push those doors open. Exhausted but determined she manoeuvred all six armchairs shoved up against each other.

Feeling safely hidden for the moment she allowed herself the luxury of sinking down to the floor. He would come for her, she could only pray the doors would hold. Outside she heard the wailing of mechanical monsters. So many inventions in this world! Like the voices. When she’d found that poor man in the darkened corridor crumpled in a pile, his uniform patch announcing Chubb Security, Christina had bent to see if she could help him. Too late, she knew as soon as she saw his life spread  to form a dark stain. She’d spun to run, but heard them. The voices. Looking back she thought they came from the dead man. Crackling demons taunting. But there was a box by his side and someone called Doug was checking in on Larry. She didn’t know what checking in involved, but she knew a worried voice when she heard it. She called to the voice, begged him to come, to send help. She warned him the devil himself was loose. 

The only response was a repeat for Larry to check in. She could hear him but some dark magic kept him from hearing her. Maybe help would come in time? She’d didn’t think so. Each time she was pulled from the dark into a newer version of her world, he’d come for her. That was all she could remember. Everything else was hazy. There was only him, his need for her.  And John! It was coming back now. John had warned her, tried to save her each time. Did he succeed? She didn’t think so. If he had, all their souls would be at rest. Instead she kept being ripped from that horrid painting. 

It was always the same and yet Christine could not conjure a clear memory of how the events would run.

She looked around the room only dimly lit from outside. The walls were adorned in many paintings and small round tables displaying pottery and china under glass boxes. She pulled herself up and moved about the room, treading softly so as not to make a sound. She squinted at the plaque by the door, there was just enough light from the hall to read Brisbane State Art Gallery. She knew not of Brisbane. The last time she emerged from the painting she was still in London. The painting had been shipped to this new location. And those foolish teenagers had obviously known the legend and snuck in here on this ungodly night to conjure their own dark magic. But to summon him? Surely the stories of his violence and taste for blood had survived the hundreds of years since the fire. John had made sure the world knew about the Count, the monster he really was. 

But the girl, maybe sixteen with witches eyes and sharp metal swords and rings pierced all over her face, had thought she was resurrecting a lost love. The love between Christina and the Count. It may have started that way, but John Opie came riding his carriage into town, armed with scientific equipment, little pins wobbling along measuring unknown entities and vials of hissing and foaming liquids. He’d been tracking the Count for years. He claimed the charismatic man was actually a demon sent from the depths of hell to devour human souls. Christine had laughed off the claims about her husband. But girls started to disappear. One by one. All of Christine’s servant girls. The Count in turn accused Mr Opie. 

The Newspaper clippings had convinced her. One for each of the places the Count had lived and visited. Missing girls. It was true.

Fire is the only way to return a demon to hell. Christine slipped from her husband’s bed and burned their home down. She would have made her way out too, out to her beloved John. But her husband awakened with a vigour and caught hold of her.

‘Then we die together,’ he’d snarled. And they had. As the flickering heat enveloped the room she saw their wedding portrait remained unharmed. Mocking her through the the flames. 

The teenagers had frightened her with their chants, but she was more terrified when she turned to see the Count smiling beside her. She’d screamed and run.

In the darkened art gallery she’d stumbled about until she’d come full circle. There were the teens. Dead in a heap. She ran on. The man with the Chubb badge stretched across the floor. The sound of the Count calling to her.

‘Christine, my love, wait!’ He appeared, arms stretched to reach her. She spun to the right and ducked down a corridor. Now she hid in the darkened room alone. Or was she? A shadow moved in the corner. She wanted to scream but was too weary with fear.

The silhouette stepped forward until the moonlight through the window revealed his face.

‘John!’ She leapt into his arms.

‘Christine, you bought me back,’ he smiled down at her.

‘I’m so sorry, I tried to come to you, but he held me back, I… I couldn’t get out.’

‘Shhh, it’s okay now. I was there too. I came for you.’

Christine stepped back. ‘But you couldn’t have. I sent the servants home and locked every door.’

‘You remember how this goes?’ John smiled.

‘I don’t understand, I’m confused…’

‘Christine!’ The Count banged on the glass doors.

She gasped and leaned into John’s strong protective arms. 

‘Christine!’ The Count yelled, ‘It was him, he’s the monster, run Christine!’

Christine spun to look up at John, but his face had changed, his teeth exposed, long and pointed. She tried to run, but it was too late.

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Why, How and Where of Social Media

This week I was honoured to be invited to speak at a Strathpine Library to a writers group on the topic of social media. It was a fun night and the group was very welcoming and participated enthusiastically.

Here are some of the points we covered:

Why use social media?

1. Connect with your peers - Writers share a supportive and encouraging community. You'll find other writers who are learning the craft and willing to share their findings as well as professional authors offering tips and advice online. My online writing buddies have helped me by sharing links, bringing competitions to my attention, guiding my marketing plans, and making recommendations for service providers.
2. Keep up with industry news - You can follow agents, publishers and other industry experts to learn of opportunities and guidelines for submissions.
3. Reach an audience. Readers use social media too and they love making a personal connection with the authors they read. Social media is a great way to make readers aware of your books.

Marketing yourself:

1. Be consistent. Most writers will spread themselves over more than one social platform. Have one suitable profile picture, preferably of yourself and not your dog/cat/kids/favourite cartoon character. When people connect with you, they want to feel it's really you. Using the same profile pic on all platforms means follower won't be confused by your identity. 
2. Entertain, educate or engage. This is the only reason you post. If you can be humorous, go ahead, share a joke (appropriate to your target audience). Followers will also appreciate tips and advice. Plus don't forget to respond to other people's posts, make a connection.
3. Some people believe you must follow everyone who follows you. I feel you should follow the people who's posts interest you, don't worry if they follow you back.
4. Stand by your own standards and ethics, don't criticise other peoples decisions online. For example, there's a lot of criticism about certain authors paying for reviews lately. I choose not to pay for review, but those authors who do have the right to make their own choices. 

Where to go?

There's many options for social media, here's my choices:

1. Blogger. I tried Wordpress and looked at others, but for me Blogger was a nice simple and clear platform. It's very easy to update and to follow through Google friends. I also like that Blogger links to my Google+ account.
2. Facebook. This is not my favourite platform, but it's where my friends are. I don't like the way you have to request a friend acceptance from people you want to follow. It is handy though for creating fan or group pages.
3. Google+. I like the way this platform flows. The circles are a great idea, you place people into the groups you want to use. My circles include writers, marketing, internet experts, artists and friends/family.
4. Twitter. This is great for finding and sharing links. You're limited to short posts, so sometimes it can feel a bit like everyone is posting at you rather than interacting, but it is the platform that has generated the most sales for my ebook My Zombie Dog.
5. Goodreads. A good site for gaining reviews.
6. Amazon. You can create your own author page.
7. YouTube. I follow some wonderful authors who offer vlogs (video blogs) on this platform. It's also good for hosting your book trailer. YouTube does attract trolls (people who leave nasty comments just for the sake of upsetting you) so don't post vlogs unless you're thick-skinned.

In this digital age the culture of writers has evolved to include social media, it's important that we evolve to fit within this emerging culture.

And for some online fun, why not take part in this blog challenge: Write a short story for halloween with a romantic spin and post your link on Romantic Friday Writers:

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Insecure Writers - Time Management

Every 1st Wednesday of the month is a time for insecure writers to group together. This month, my mind is obsessed with time. 

I have a bad habit of taking on more projects each day than can possibly be tackled in a 24hr period. My to-do lists grow into epic quests. Some of the projects I'm trying to juggle now are:

• Organise a launch, distribution and sales points for My Zombie Dog.
• Finish writing first draft to Undead Kev, sequel to My Zombie Dog.
• Edit/rewrite DOGNAPPED? My tween girl mystery.
• Find time to write my love project Warracknabeal Kids, a mystery set in 1939 outback Australia.
• Edit and submit short stories into competitions.
• Set myself up to run workshops at schools/libraries for creative writing.
• Together with my team, organise an Indie Expo for Australia's music, film, art and writing industry.

Each of these projects have many tasks to complete, and I want them all done NOW! I start to feel panicky, like I'm running late (I CAN'T run late EVER). Of course I also need to fit life in around these tasks. 

I am taking steps to manage all these projects:

• Downloaded Pomodorable from the Mac App store. This uses the method of set time limits per task. You work on one task for twenty minutes, then take a ten minute break (stretch, move about).
• Morning pages - I write three pages longhand when I wake up. It's not always useful words, but it does push me to keep going.
• I'll (try to) limit my task numbers on my to-do list. Do you know if you have more than five tasks on your list you're less productive on each one? A to-do list needs to be achievable, otherwise it just becomes a reminder of failure and a form of punishment. I need that reward of ticking boxes.

So what do you do to manage time wisely? If it's time to write you need, you can check out this post:

10 Ways to find Time to Write

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Future of Books and Emerging Authors

The future of books... but first:

This week Australian Women Online feature an article on Emerging Australian Women Writers, by journalist Belladonna Took. I am very humbled and excited to be included in this article with talented emerging authors, Kymberley Gaal, Emma Gibson and Karen Tyrrell. If you'd like to read the article, click here.

I signed up for 'Book Camp unconference' a little uncertain of what to expect. I mean, what's an UNconference? The theme of the day was to question and discuss the future of books and emerging authors and technologies. I like to question and discuss, so I was up for it.

The day was hosted by author Simon Groth from if:book and we were asked to volunteer to lead sessions. I love this upside down module. 

Looking at the model of the traditional book, what it has now emerged into and where it could go was something most participants were curious about. The traditional pathway of author to publisher to reader or even author to reader may change. The reader is not necessarily the best client for your product. One scenario raised was with choose-your-own-adventures that are locality-based. This method was trialled at an Adelaide festival with posters and QR codes. This storytelling involved the 'reader' to walk the streets of the story while finding the codes for the next part. In this example only about ten people finished the story. If your goal is to do something different, experimental then there's no problem, but if you're wishing to earn an income from your skills... well, you can see the problem with only ten potential customers, but it's important to acknowledge many authors require an income from their skills. This requires rethinking the author to reader model. You could consider a commercial or government client, such as the Department of Tourism. They would have the capacity to market this type of activity to readers/visitors. Or, you could make location-based stories containing QR codes that provide information on the localities, you wouldn't have to be present in the location (I see this being a good alternative for famous locations like the Eiffel Tower, The Great Barrier Reef, etc).

Craig Mod led a discussion about the affect of digital on our sense of living. The point was raised that if we do not post our experiences on social media in many ways they don't count as real, they become disconnected with our understanding of experience. We live in the instagram era, as soon as we see, do or taste it, we upload a pic.

The issue of quality from self-published authors and service providers was enthusiastically discussed. The days of appreciating free crap is over. Readers want product that lives up to the promises.

And the thing that stuck with me most was on the necessity of social media for authors to reach readers. There are many examples of great authors that sell millions of books with no online presence. It was generally agreed that if you are an amazingly talented author, you don't need to interact with the public. Lucky for me I actually like social media!

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