The Annual Writers Retreat

It's back to the Lighthouse tomorrow for our annual Writers Retreat. (well, at least I hope the fact that this is Number 2 means that it will be an annual event!)

We had such a great time last year! I've been looking forward to this weekend for a long time. The scenery is gorgeous, the company is superb, and I don't have to drive too far to make my escape! (2 hours each way)

Although all these shots from last year were taken with my trusty little Kodak Easyshare digital, I'm taking the film SLR camera as well this time. I'm hoping I can get some more shots like this friendly kookaburra, and some great landscapes. Much as I love the instant gratification of the digital, the shutter takes a long time to activate, and sometimes I miss the bit I wanted to shoot. So the Canon SLR is loaded with film, with a couple of spare rolls and I will try and do some nature walks over the weekend and get some special sunrise and sunset shots.

I expect this year's retreat will have a totally different flavour to last year's because it will be a different mix of people. Last year there was me, Carol, Roby, Lisa, Jen, Markus, Rose, Marilyn, Sue S and Sue M.

This year Jen (below) has moved to Melbourne (we will miss you Jen!), Sue M is climbing Everest for the second time (because the first time wasn't enough) and we won't even have a token male to outnumber in our discussions.

Carol, Roby,Lisa and I will still be there but we will be joind by five NEW members of the writers' group which is very exciting. Lisa is cooking an Indian banquet on Saturday night, and we all have to dress up for the occasion and we will have a series of workshops over the weekend including Writing Fiction from Real Life Stories and Writing Life Stories. I will be giving a workshop on using Astrology to write fictional characters.

I'll be back to report on the weekend on Sunday night!

Cinderella wins a prize

Hey! Where did February go?

Oh, that's right - short month! It always throws me off.

I've got good news. It must be official because I received the cheque in the mail yesterday. $150 - 2nd prize in a short story competition. Cinderella has done me proud. But don't think that's the end of it! That was the 1800 w0rd version. The 3000 word plus version is still out there. Cindy's got a mind of her own, as well as her shoe fetish, and she's got her sights set on world domination.

Actually, I'm really glad there was a second prize. There was a time in my life when I was job-hunting and I always coming in as the runner-up. 2nd out of 150 applicants is no comfort when there's only job being offered. Glad that part of my life has passed.

I will be entering another competition - this is a Blog-off organised by Courtney at Five Second Dance Party. It will be a survivor-style competition. Entrants blog on a submitted topic and then vote on the best blog. Least number of votes and you're eliminated from the next round. Funds are being raised for breast cancer. Interested? Then head over to Courtney's blog to get all the details.

I'm getting tired of cooking for one again. So last night, I cooked for 4. 4 Tandoori chicken fillets. I was the envy of everyone in the lunch room today when they could smell my lunch heating up. And guess what I'm having for dinner tonight?

Speaking of Tandoori, we will be having a Indian feast at our writing retreat and the dress code is exotic. So I went looking for my gold snake bracelet, and in the process, I decided to completely empty my jewellery box. Behind the drawers I found jewellery that had become entwined in the music box mechanism including an amber heart from Russia, which I truly thought I had lost years ago. Unfortunately, this search did not also turn up my missing Ab Fab and Being John Malkovich DVD's.

Okay - back to the editing!

Writing Goals and Chocolate

March is going to be a big writing/editing month.

First of all, I've signed up for Nanoedmo to fully edit Diary of the Future. Sure it looks good in the picture above, but I want it to be a great read as well! And it still needs quite a bit of layering, fleshing out the characters and the scenes. The Nanoedmo committment is 50 hours in the month. I can do it, I just need to be disciplined. And I will refer back to One Pass Revision Method, although I'm pretty sure it will need more than one pass.

Next weekend is a Monologue day where our group will meet and discuss the Monologue project, so I need to write a draft of my contribution for next Sunday.



Then we have our annual weekend Writing Retreat to the lighthouse and I'm giving a workshop on using astrology to develop fictional characters. I will have to do an overview of my natal chart, so I've just dug deep into my astrology folders, located my chart and will photocopy it at work tomorrow and make it pretty!


And then the following weekend, I have an AGM to attend, followed by our monthly writers meeting, which clashes with the State Election, so we need to find another venue to meet.


So far this year, I have met most of my writing goals. Short story completed and submitted, essay for groups writing competition completed and submitted (strangely enough about the Blogosphere), initial edit of Diary of the Future completed, formatted and uploaded to lulu.com to receive free copy. I've fallen behind with the next revision of Diary of the Future, but now that I've committed myself to Nanoedmo, I have a goal and a deadline. Besides I have to allow myself some breathing time to read, watch shows, and feed my creativity in other ways.


Now, a question for you....


How do you like your chocolate?


Refrigerated or room temperature?


I like mine at room temperature, especially Caramello. Caramel filling is meant to be gooey not chooey. Trouble is, my chocolate always manages to find its way back into the fridge. Now, I know it doesn't open the door and put itself there. It's my well-meaning partner, freaking out because it might melt, thinking he's doing me a favour. No matter how many times I've told him, that's the way I like my chocolate! Wonder if this little issue has ever led to a divorce?

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So, refrigerated or room temperature? And are you and your partner in conflict over chocolate? Please comment.

Hair today...

Today I broke a lifelong pattern. I went the chop but this time I didn't go all the way.

Usually when I've grown my hair long, I get bored and I react by getting the chop. Which means very short.

Not this time. I still lost about four inches, but my hair is shoulder length again. Not too short, not too long. And hopefully much more manageable.

I joked with the hairdresser that he could sell my hair on ebay, pretend it was Britney's and then we had a discussion about what possessed her to shave it off. Maybe she was tired of being Britney. I could never bring myself to shave my hair off. I don't think I've got the right shaped face and head to carry off bald. But there's some mighty sexy guys out there who look really hot with a shaved head.

I used to be really wild with my hair - different styles, different colours but in my (cough, cough) old age, I've become much more conservative. But maybe the next visit to the hairdresser will change that.

So, it was a day off work. A day to sleep in. Get my hair cut and do some administrative tasks to keep my life rolling along. I think I should have more 'hump' days off. The work week is so less daunting that way. But it's back to work tomorrow. And then only two days to the weekend!

Thank god it's Saturday!

I'm so pleased it's Saturday. I'm not sure how I made it through the week with a bout of hayfever, and fighting off the cold that my beloved wanted to transfer to me.

I had an extremely romantic Valentine's Day - NOT! I worked 12 hours. No nice dinner, just a box of noodles between the day shift and the night shift and not even a card when I got home. Oh well, it's just an excuse to spend money.

So I have spent today in a semi-haze with a migraine threatening like a rain cloud overhead (we've had that too) but hopefully the nurofen will hold it off. I think I just need more sleep. I stayed up late last night and watched Click. Loved the bit where he was adjusting the colour of his face! Tonight I think will be an early night but I might manage an early episode of Melrose Place (now that the DVD has actually arrived).

One of the best-selling concepts in the Chickollage Shop is my caption: 'Erotica Writer seeks Research Assistant. Apply Within.' and I've sold badges, fridge magnets and t-shirts with this caption. If you have bought one of these items, please stop by and let me know what has happened when you have worn it! I'm not sure if I should wear it myself seeing as I'm practically married. Would I be accused of false advertising?

Bonsai Story Generator

Nanowrimo can lead you to some interesting places on the net. Yesterday it took me to the Bonsai Story Generator, a website that will mangle your story in only a couple of seconds, but somehow retain some (and I emphasise some) sense.

So I decided to stick my Cinderella story into the generator and see what it spat out.

Here are some of the resulting sentences:

Her life was no dictator.

(but I bet hubby is!)

He had a post-it note, and the kingdom.

(useful!)

Snow married her fairy godmother, but Cindy often felt the blood rush to her husband that she would only so much He shook a napkin out of rehab to beat her palm.

(well, that's where one would usually get a napkin, isn't it?)

A ménage a problem.

(usually turns into a problem the morning after)

An erotic fantasy of colourful footwear.

(many women's fantasy)

The slipper had a genetic right to have a velvet lined, gold encrusted shoe box.

(of course!)

Dirty socks on a short red silk cocktail dress, and fame made.

(I think this one has Monica Lewinsky undertones)

This program appears to try and keep verbs and nouns in order to make some kind of sense, but it's interesting the odd combination of words. Enough to set off another bout of creativity. Hmm, I don't remember Snow White marrying the fairy godmother!

The Perfect Man - Carribean Women's Blue T-shirt

Speaking of creativity, the folks at Cafepress have added a heap of new t-shirt styles and colours and I've added them to the existing designs at the Chickollage shop. We now have women's shirts in carribean blue, red, violet along with light colours, white and dark v-necks and much more.

New Beginnings - Women's Violet T-shirt

Drop into the shop and have a browse!

Legendary Punk Poet T-shirt

Relapsing & the Cinderella summary

I have a confession. I have relapsed.

Just one, I thought it'd be alright. Well, that turned into one a day. Then two a day. And now I've bought a bottle home.

Shame!

Does anyone know of a Cokeaholic meeting I can attend because that brown liquid is enticing me again?

So today, my father tells me to have an energy drink instead, it'd pick me up. I thought he was talking about Gatorade. But no, he was talking about Guarana. So I bought a bottle, and then looked at the contents. More sugar than Coke, and a high caffeine rating - not sure how that compares because Coke doesn't reveal it's caffeine levels. So tonight I'm drinking water.

I'm a bit miffed that my next Quickflix DVD's didn't arrive in time for the weekend. Why can't Australia Post be quicker? I was looking forward to having a guilty Melrose Place marathon tomorrow night, and watching Click with my partner when he arrives home on Sunday. But now they won't arrive until Monday, and I probably won't have time during the week to watch them. So in absence of trash TV, I will watch quality Australian drama instead - LOVE MY WAY. Let me think, twenty to thirty somethings who drink a lot and sleep with each other and have extremely mixed up relationships - not much difference really! Just the accent.

Last weekend I watched Confetti, the weirdest wedding competition movie - that was fun - and Transamerica - powerful stuff, I can see why Felicity Huffman won the Golden Globe for her portrayal of Bree.

I started reading my lulu copy of Diary of the Future. It is amazing how having it in book format changes my perspective and makes editing so much easier. So it will undergo another edit, some formatting of the collage poetry inside, and hopefully some more poems added, reformatting of the layout, so it doesn't take up so many pages, and resizing the backcover so it appears more symmetrical. Even my father's impressed with what I've achieved so far and with this concrete form of visualisation, I know that I'm on the way to achieving my goals.

I'm bored with cooking for one. It's 8.30 and I'm not really hungry because I ate some dips and biscuits earlier, but I suppose I'll have to eat something tonight. Maybe some more snacky foods - give in to my ongoing olive craving.

Last night, I was browsing the Nanowrimo forums and came across the Auto summarize feature in Microsoft Word (in the Tools menu). So here's the 10 sentence summary of my Cinderella short story (as determined by Microsoft):

Snow White giggled.
‘Snow White and Henry are expecting,’ Cindy told her husband.
Damn the prince and his royal traditions!
Can one prince be enough for our Snow White?
Cinderella placed her hand on Snow White’s stomach.
‘Henry, it’s Cinderella.
‘Cindy, come in.
‘Oh, Cindy.’

‘Cheeky!’ smiled Snow White.
‘Still two princes!

Can anyone guess the plot from these ten random sentences?

Diary of the Future - the novel

Finally, Saturday comes around at the end of a very busy week. But I did achieve a lot this week.

I added another 1200 words to the Cinderella story and sent it off to the short story competition. I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Perhaps I may fracture some more fairy tales in the future.

I received my free lulu.com copy of Diary of the Future, and it looks great. I did have a few uploading issues and formatting issues as I mentioned in my previous post, but all this has resulted in is an extra blank page between some of the chapters. As this is my motivational copy and editorial copy, it really doesn't matter. So it's on to reading the novel with fresh eyes - hopefully, as a critical and discerning reader. Sorry, I can't post a pic of the actual book at this stage because my partner has borrowed my digital camera for the week and he is many miles away.

I passed the book around at work, and at drinks after work yesterday. A physical book makes more sense to many of my co-workers than 200 A4 pages. A book looks like a finished product (believe me it's not) - 200 pages looks like it will never end. So now it's on to revising, summarising, querying and submitting. A whole new adventure.

Oh, and I also got new tyres on my car this morning. What a difference brand new tyres make!

My Saturday

What a day! Minding my business, driving to my writer's meeting, I had a tyre blowout. Of course it happened on a bad stretch of the highway with very little room to pull over. And my shoulder has been hurting for the last couple of days, so I couldn't even lift the spare tyre out of the boot. Luckily for me, a knight in shining armour stopped, helped me nurse the car up the road to a stopping bay, and helped me change the tyre. It's one thing to know the theory, but another to have to do it, especially when you don't have the strength.

So I spent last night doing some calculations on how much I need to spend on my car to get it back up to scratch as my registration is due at the end of next month. Time to get a loan application in but still the cost is very good considering I'm driving a 25 year old car and have had no mechanical repairs required. The costs have all been or will be for tyres and cosmetics. The car should be good for at least another couple of years once I get a new bonnet on it, and a paint job.

The writer's group meeting was really good and inspiring. Five new members - a great start to the new year. And I read my Cinderella story and received good feedback. Encouraged by this, I finished the extended version (i.e over 3000 words instead of 1800 words) today so that I can mail it to the competition this week. Somehow in the melee of yesterday I lost the entry form, so when I get to work tomorrow, I'll send out an emergency email to see if anyone can provide me with the relevant magazine.

L to R: Diane, Jennifer, Carrolline, Roby, Sue

This photo was taken at the farewell luncheon for Jennifer (second from the left). Jen was our president but has now moved to Melbourne so Carrolline has stepped up to the plate to become president.

We also did a 10 minute writing exercise in which we had to include all of the following words: luckily, cultural, eggplant, client and overhead. It's amazing the different ideas that people came up with.



Here's mine:



Sheila trudged through her market garden to her prize eggplants. She eyed them with pride. Surely she'd be in with a chance to knock Hilda McGeachin off her pedestal with these beauties. Bloody Hilda, if she wasn't taking out gold cups and blue ribbons with her steroid-filled tomatoes, she was boasting about the circumference of her zucchinis or the purple hue of her aubergine.

Overhead the clouds grumbled as a rainstorm threatened. Luckily, Sheila had finished her chores for the day, and could take refuge inside with a nice cup of tea. But she'd pull the shade cloth over the stakes just in case. She hadn't been doing a raindance half an hour earlier. No way - she'd been dancing up a hail storm to fall down on Hilda's crop just as she was ready to harvest.

She smiled to herself as the hail stones plonked on her tin roof. That would put a big dent on Hilda's plans to dominate the only cultural event in town. And the tea tasted damn good -- a new herbal mix from her newest massage client. Bit of a looker he was too, could have had some Apache Indian in him. Something like that. She owed him a massage on the house for that hail dance lesson.

I borrowed the character of Hilda McGeachin from Bilby Creek, the setting of Making the Cut.

I have also come up with a few ideas for a monologue. Finally! As this is our big group project, I didn't want to let everyone down by not coming up with something. So I will let my subconscious toss it around a while longer before I start to write.

The house is quiet again. Not so much fighting over the internet or the remote because the teenager has gone back home to the big smoke. (Hee, hee - it's back to school on Tuesday) Here she is avoiding the camera (delayed shutters can be a real pain sometimes) and securely attached to her mobile phone. The contraption will have to be surgically removed one day.

Hanging out at the carnival

I had a few hours to kill in town the other night so I wandered down to the Jetty and took some photos of the Carnival.

I've never been one for wild rides, but it was interesting watching other people on the rides. The expressions change as the ride moved faster or in an unexpected direction.

In this photo on the left hand side, the monster's hand is between the two exit doors. He kept poking his head out to entice the kids to enter The Temple of Doom. It was great watching the little's kids faces when they came out of the ride. So many young kids I noticed at the carnival were covering their ears, blocking out the loud music and loudspeakers. And I've noticed this reaction with young kids in my own family. So I wonder when they reach the point that loud noise is suddenly okay for their eardrums, and they stick earphones right in their ear, and turn the music up to '11'.

Diary of the Future is now uploaded to lulu.com so I can have a copy to stick on my bookshelf and inspire me to finish the editing and send it to a publisher. The editing isn't done as yet. So much other stuff going on, including training for the new role at work -which I'm going to love. But I managed a copy edit so there should at least be no typo's left in the book. Things like typing 'head in his pocket' instead of 'hand in his pocket' and 'chickout check' instead of 'check out chick.' I still want to rewrite the beginning of the story to change how Nicky acquires the diary.

It took until 2.30 in the morning to upload it all to lulu.com - I probably should not have converted the document to a PDF myself, because it kept reformating it to a larger size, meaning the text was going to be smaller when I changed it back on the lulu site to novel size. And then the cover took 20 minutes to upload by itself. Meanwhile, my eyes were falling out of my head, and I was wondering how I was going to function at work the next day. But I perservered and went to bed at 2.30am, knowing it was done.

I've been receiving great feedback on the Cinderella story, so I'm pumping it up with another 1200 words to bring it to the 3000 word minimum for a major short story comp which is closing at the beginning of February. Cinderella now has a major shoe fetish - wonder where she developed that?

We watched Candy last night with Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish. It was interesting seeing the movie after hearing Luke Davies talking about it at the Byron Bay Writers Festival. And I can't imagine how long it took to set up the scene where Candy writes her story all over the walls of the house.

I'm also catching up with the second season of Love My Way. But today I need to do some writing/editing.

Why do the weekends go so fast?

Diary of the Future cover

The editing is happening, although not as fast as I would like. By 3pm yesterday afternoon, I was exhausted (post Nano, post holiday exhaustion perhaps), I laid down and woke up three hours later. Then this morning I slept in again. Guess I needed the extra sleep.

I have designed the cover for the lulu copy. I'm not going to be releasing the book for sale. At this point, the lulu copy is just for my bookshelf to inspire me. A real novel with my name on it. Goal: a real novel with my name on it and a major publisher's insignia on the spine.

I had been looking at diaries on ebay, but a lot of the more unusual diaries looked a bit on the evil side and I didn't want Nicky's diary to be that obvious. So I ditched the sculpted diaries with monsters, dragons and pentagrams and pulled out a trusted journal from my collection, added the 'bag of words' that Nicky refers to in the story, scissors, pen and a glue stick, and matched the title font to the gold on the 'diary'. I love digital cameras, and photoshop - so cool.

I added a back cover blurb and there you have it: a cover for my 'novel'.

Now to finish editing the stuff that will go in between the covers.

Another fog

Saturday morning and another fog.

So as promised, I got up early (7.30 is early for me on a Saturday morning), hopped in my car, and took some photos of the valley.

Can someone remind the weatherman that this is summer?

It's the 6th January, I live on the East Coast of Australia - it's supposed to be hot.

Now its time for me to get off the net and do some editing.

Finally, the weekend arrives

Why is it that the four days at work following a public holiday seem to go longer than any five day week? Yes, I've been hanging out for the weekend. And finally it is here.

The work week had its ups and downs. The up was a request for me to take on a new role, something I have been working towards for a while, so that was very welcome news. The downs - well, the usual downs that occur in working in a bureaucracy with fixed ways of working. Enough said. It's the weekend and I enter a fantasy world for the duration.

I wish I'd had my camera on the way to work this morning. The fog was incredible, low lying in the valley, a thick blanket covering all the trees. Beautiful! But what the -? We're supposed to be in the middle of summer!
If I wake up tomorrow and it's the same, I'll go out and take pictures. But judging by the weather this afternoon, I doubt we'll have another fog in the morning.

So I've been in a bit of dilemma the last few days. My original plan was to edit Making the Cut and polish up for submission. But as I'm working on Diary of the Future in preparation for the Nanowrimo winner offer from lulu.com, I'm thinking that perhaps I should concentrate my energy on that. So that's now the plan. And I'll be spending my weekend immersed in the landscape of Diary, editing, rewriting, preparing a cover. I need to make the most of the weekend as my partner is away so I won't have any interruptions. Plus he's bringing his 16 year old sister back for the remainder of the school holidays - she can be my beta reader as she is the same age as the main character.

So my draft copy is printing now. 196 pages. I don't know how many scenes that will be but I'm ready to immerse myself into Nicky's world.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Comment Graphics

So, it's 2007 and I'm awake.

A quiet celebration last night. Dinner at the local pub. Listening to a local singer. And then home in time to watch the fireworks on Sydney Harbour on television.

No New Year resolutions. They will only be broken and forgotten.

Seriously, I think the last time I wrote down resolutions on New Years Day was 1984. And the final one was 'to expand my horizons, form new friendships, renew old and precious friendships and have a completely fulfilling, rewarding and successful year in everything I do...'

Ah! The idealism of youth.

The dreams of a 16 year old.

And I must add, that for the previous resolutions written in that diary, I've added 'HA!' in red pen following each of them.

I'm thinking about writing a Things to Do before I'm 40 list. Up the ante on the 'Things to do before I die' because the clock is ticking.

Can you believe it's 2007? No. Neither can I. It seems like only yesterday I was running around in a millenium bug costume, New Year's Eve 1999. Sorry, I don't think I have any photos of the bug moment.

But apparently it's now 2007. The clock is ticking.

So, a few time specific goals for 2007.

By January 16, I will have done a simple edit on Diary of the Future, designed a cover and uploaded to lulu.com to take advantage of the free printed copy.

By January 27, I will have written an essay for my writers' group's annual competition. (I don't really want to hand that trophy back).

By February 28th, I will have completed editing Making the Cut, and sent out a cover letter, synopsis and three chapters to an Australian publisher.

That's enough for now! I can't think beyond the first two months of the year. I need to leave some room in the calendar for new creations, revision and submission and the ongoing updating of the Chickollage shop.

Speaking of Chickollage, we have added the Baby Boutique, which features cute collage designs by Jennifer Gordon on bibs, bodysuits and kid's t-shirts.

And the clock is ticking on the Ransom Notes Collage Poetry 2007 Diary ebay auctions. Less than 24 hours to go: black and green.

Here is a leaf from the diary, an attitude for the New Year, my collage poem, New Beginning.

I hope 2007 will be your Best Year Ever too.

Dorkus helps with the editing - NOT!

Dorkus decided he wanted to help me edit. Which is all well and good, but it makes my task a little harder, trying to read around him.

Well, it seems that everyone's a critic. I left the pages out for him and he slept on them. Next morning, he'd given his considered opinion by throwing up all over the manuscript.

Beautiful! Thank you very much. Lucky I wasn't the one to discover it, and my partner cleaned up the mess. Hehe!

But this version of the manuscript was chucked out after being chucked up on. Thankfully, I had finished transferring all the corrections to date to the computer file, and printed a new and clean edit copy which is safely encased in plastic.

Yesterday I finished my Cinderella short story and mailed it today for the short story competition. Because I was working so close to the deadline, there was no time for an edit after my beta reader checked it out today, but she thought it was very funny and politically uncorrect. So the premise is...what happens when the Prince and Cinderella are having trouble conceiving the heir to the throne? And I take potshots at tabloids and paparazzi, and modern royalty and celebrity.It was challenging to write a story with a beginning, middle and end in under 2000 words after writing 50k, 80k, 100k - you get the idea! In 2000 words, I'm just getting warmed up.

I also reserved a place in the blogosphere for Nambucca Valley Writers' Group, who are my favourite bunch of people. I have been posting the 2006 Year in Review for the group. You can check it out here.

Because it was relatively quiet at work today, I started working on the One-Pass Manuscript Revision on Making the Cut. And yes, I have worked through all the steps of Part One, including condensing the novel into 25 words. I'm still working on the 250 words - that will need a few more revisions.

Another work day (hopefully reasonably quiet again) and then another three day weekend. I just wish every weekend would last three days!

The Christmas Round-up

First thing - open the pressies! Dorkus scores a new water bowl, a catnip mouse and numerous toys.

I score a Virgin mobile phone and MP3 player and cooler with speakers, a cardigan, a colourful scarf, and DVD's including The Young Ones, Six Feet Under Season 1, Sommersby, and Northern Exposure Season 2.

Robbie scores The Dukes of Hazzard season 1, Reservoir Dogs, Black Dog, and others I can't remember now, diabetes cookbooks, an Austin Powers talking cooler, plus combined presents of framed pics for the wall.


Lunch is roast chicken, veggies and ham, and the weather is kind to us, not too hot despite the temperature of the kitchen.

Dinner is slices of turkey, ham and salad followed by Christmas pudding and ice cream.

A very relaxing Christmas day!

It's an exhausting job being Santa!

Christmas Holidays

Oh yes! The first day of my six-day Christmas break. How nice to sleep in, to wander leisurely around the shops, battered by holiday makers and the seasonal invasion of tourists. But six days, and several of those where I do not need to drive anywhere! That's what I call a holiday.

There are still a few copies of the Ransom Notes Collage Poetry Diary available so I have put up a couple of Ebay auctions to sell them.

The first cover is a green design and the second is a black design. Only 130 of these were printed so they are definitely limited edition. The diaries are a week to an opening, and feature quotations from famous writers, flash fiction, haiku, ransom notes and 12 full colour collage poems.

Here are a couple of my poems featured in the diary:

I want to take advantage of lulu's offer for Nano winners and print a copy of Diary of the Future but I have to edit it and upload it by January 16 to be eligible. Along with editing Making the Cut, I'm piling a lot onto my plate. Still I'm determined. I just need match the determination with focus. I'm going to try Holly Lisle's One Pass Revision Method. I've bought a new ink cartridge and a ream of paper, so I will enter the corrections I've already made, and then print out a new, clean copy to do the One Pass Revision. (We won't count the previous passes at this point.)

The short story is coming along. It's about Cinderella and Snow White, and what happened after 'the happily ever after' because it really it isn't happy especially when you consider the pressure on modern day's princesses - life is not a fairy tale. The deadline for the short story competition is 31st December so the plan is to finish tomorrow and then edit on the weekend, before posting it.

Writing Deadlines

Yesterday our writers' group had a monologue workshop, as preparation for our next big project. We watched and listened to some of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads monologues, and then lunched at the local RSL and then had a drink at the Sports Club to soak up the ambience for our project.

This means that my writing/editing timetable has now expanded:

1. Write short story for competition. Deadline 31 Dec
2. Write essay for competition. Deadline 27 Jan.
3. Edit Making the Cut and write cover letter, synospis. Submit by end of Feb.

4. Write monologue by end of March.
5. Finish first draft of 'I'm with the Band' by 31st May

6. Edit Diary of the Future by 31st July.

I like the famous Douglas Adams quote about deadlines whooshing by, but I will not be subscribing to it at this point. I am committed (or maybe I should be committed!)

And at the same time as all of this writing and editing, keep working the day job and updating the Chickollage shop with new designs.

Jen and I both have bestsellers at this point:

This is Jen's Smile design.

And my Erotica Writer design:

And Jen has given me a few more designs to upload over the next week.

We had our work Christmas lunch at the Botanic Gardens and it was very relaxing. I must get down there more often and walk around, spend some time with nature because I spend way too much time sitting in front of one screen or another: at home on the computer, watching TV, or at work on the computer.

How's the Christmas shopping?

Ok so the Christmas shopping is done, just one or two more presents to buy, and then food to buy. No relatives for Christmas this year - we're just going to stay at home and enjoy the peaceful surroundings of our lovely home.

Last night I watched the final four episodes of Six Feet Under. Very impressive, great writing, and the way it was wrapped up was very fitting. I discovered the first season DVD set on special on Thursday night so I bought it and it is now wrapped up under the Christmas tree from Dorkus the cat, much to his disgust.

He wasn't impressed with his new Santa hat and scarf either.

This morning I woke to no electricity. So I couldn't jump onto the net and check my email as I normally do. When I went shopping on Thursday night, I had no idea what to buy my brother for Christmas and came home with nothing for him. So this was playing on my mind, and I was considering venturing into town again to find something. Instead, I started sorting out through some boxes in my study, and found the perfect book for him that I had bought several months ago, and forgotten. Duh! So, he's now set. And I also went to the local occasional market and bought a bag of tomatos - everything else was just junk. No inspiration there. When I arrived home, electricity was restored and was swiftly followed with a courtesy call from the power company to ensure everything was okay.

So while I have almost completed my Christmas shopping, I'm wondering if everyone else has.

I have uploaded a heap of Jennifer's new designs to the Chickollage store.

Here is just a small sample available on t-shirts, journals etc. Face it, Jen has the bug:

And here is the Queen of Collage Poetry herself, Ms Jennifer Gordon, launching the Nambucca Valley Writers Group 2007 Collage Poetry Diary.

Party Animals

Last night I went to my work end of year party. You know the old cliches - when the workers get flirtatious and drunk, and say inappropriate things to their superiors. Didn't see any of that. The function was held at the Pet Porpoise Pool, so I spent the evening surrounded by animals, and not just the party animals from my workplace. I played catch with a dolphin, and was kissed by a seal. A unique experience and not one I would usually expect at an end of year gig.

In my post Nano life, I have been spoiling myself with rewards for reaching my Nano goal. This included buying the Countdown Spectacular DVD (watched half of one DVD so far) and having a Six Feet Under marathon (I watched 8 episodes in 2 days). And I enjoyed reading a new young adult novel, Notes from the Teenage Underground by Simmone Howell. But now its back to the editing of Making the Cut.

Jacaranda Films blogspot

My partner has got himself a blog, so the times that I can't access the net, its because he's updating Jacarands Films at half the speed that I would work.

Hopefully, I have now taught him enough about blogspot that I don't have to answer questions every fifteen minutes.

Check out Jacaranda Films!

You'll make him happy.