Post from the Hideout

I'm blogging today from a secret hideout. Really, I'm at home but the family has gone away for a few days and I have pulled down the blinds and taken the phone off the hook. It's WRITING TIME! It's day two now and what have I achieved so far? Plenty on the writing front. On the non-writing front I have eaten half a mud cake (to tidy the fridge), chased chickens round the yard and watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. What came of this, in order was: feeling ill, catching our mystery egg thief and writing passionate but mediocre poetry. The egg thief turned out to be a large blue-tongue, caught mid-mouthful right in the chicken's nest. It could do little but wriggle and blow furious egg-yolk nose bubbles at me as I relocated it. The movie was good.Possibly I'm a bit thick but it was one of those movies where for the first half hour you're thinking "Huh?" and then finally " Oh, right." for the middle bit and a knowing " Ahhhh." at the end. Clever movie, slightly dense viewer.
On the writing front I spent several hours listening to music for my books so I could make up an inspiring sound-track for my novels. This was really great and I came up with a dozen new parts for the stories as I went along. I sure hope I get to do the soundtrack when they make a movie out of these books!!! Doing three novels at once is like doing three large jigsaws but more fun and less frustrating. Since the stories are just a pile of notes so far I decided to blu-tac my plot onto the hallway wall to see what we had so far. This was really great as I am a very visual person. I have heard other authors draw plot lines and others plan it all out on cardboard but I found this method worked for me though I will have to relocated it to my bedroom or somewhere more private before the family return. Or perhaps sooner as my critiquing buddy is over in a few hours and though I don't mind her seeing it but it feels a bit like having your knickers out to dry. I'm not ready to show my polka dot numbers to people just yet!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggetty Jig

Well, I'm home. It's a rainy old morning out there, perfect for writing.

My beachside Christmas is a warm, sunny memory; the sand in my luggage and the sunburnt shoulder are still current! It was strange to come home to a cacophony of excited doggies and clutter after a week of basic necessities and nothing but the sound of waves breaking. It all just seemed too much, too stripey, too decorated, too chaotic. Like a fluorescent checkerboard old cardigan- comfortable but shocking to the eye. Between that experience and reading Walden, my New Year resolutions are already under way. Aside from my writing and publishing aims, they include growing more of my own food, consuming less, being more by being less, and other such vague and well meaning phrases about keeping it simple.

Aside from the general enjoyment of my holiday I had two things happen that were very exciting whilst away. One was on the first morning I headed off to the nearby beach around 6:30 to do some writing in peace. I was also looking for some particular inspiration as the beach looked stormy, though still. The only other person around was a fisherman and we were both treated to a lovely show of two dolphins slowly sweeping the bay. Apparently they are commonly seen in the area but it was the only time I saw them on my trip and was a wonderful thing to experience. The other thing was getting a text to say a book I had illustrated (self-publisher) had come back from the printers and would be there to see when I returned. And now for some show and tell (see above coz I can't get the darn thing to go here *^# stupid technology challenged #^#*! Grrr. Relaxing holiday wearing off already........

Doing a Christmas Runner

Last night I went to a BBQ and became an expert on carp fishing. It appears there are just so many things in the world I am ignorant of! Speaking of things fishy, I am off today down the coast to spend Christmas at the beach. Am I bragging? Hell yes! Taking a holiday over Christmas is something we have dreamt about for ages and I am so excited we're finally doing it. Sure, we'll miss the stress and awkward situations and feeling ill from eating too much (from not wanting to upset anyone who has cooked), but somehow we'll cope.
Of course, since I am already a selfish cow, running away from Christmas, I will have no qualms about sneaking off to write whilst I am away. This I am busting to do since my fantasy novel is taking up my head space and growing likes there's no manana. Funny thing is, my general memory is not so good but what I come up with for a story, is in 3-D, full colour and sound and impossible to forget. Remembering to buy bread and milk on the other hand seems down right impossible!
So for this post I send you seashells and dolphins and a good dose of sand for your cossie bottoms. Have a wonderful, safe and beautiful Christmas!

Can't See the Tree for the Stupid

Yesterday I amazed even myself with my own stupidity. Having written out my Christmas cards, I had just spent hours telling people (publicly committing myself!)how 2010 was going to be spent on writing. That writing was going to be my priority. I then, with barely a pause, tried to work out how I was going to fit in all these appointments with people, social and other commitments that I had. I then sat down and wondered why I felt glum! Duh! I had to backtrack and reschedule my appointments outside of my planned work hours and also look at which of them really needed to be done at all. I have to say, meeting up with friends is something I will always try to do, but I'm just going to have to make firm times with myself and be realistic. After all, I've known my friends for a while but I've yet to meet my best-seller!

Three Books in a Window

Couldn't sleep this morning. The grinder in my mind had begun to turn and little crumbles of words kept tumbling out. So I lithely sprang out of bed, almost gracefully headbutting my dresser.
I headed out to my writing desk and sat looking out at the mandarin sky. I couldn't switch the kettle on for a cuppa. This alerts the dogs outside that I am up and sends them skittering and yipping to be let in for brekky. The dog noise alerts the hens in the hen house who then want their brekky...........all in all, animal chaos and no peace for writing. Instead I scribble madly in the orange light of the small window of time that I have.
OK, I mentioned I bought three books for myself . Here they are- read them at your own risk!
One: ' Is There a Book in You?' by Alison Bavistock. Self explanitory why I bought this, but I need to say it's helping me to measure exactly how much I love writing and to understand what it takes to be successful. An excellent read.
Two: ' Howard's End is on the Landing- A Year of Reading' by Susan Hill. This book can put a happy tear in my eye for two reasons. The first is, that it is a book by an author who spends a year reading all her forgotten or unread books (which I plan to do this year) and secondly because she does it from her old English farmhouse surrounded by rolling hills and hedgehogs. And if you've ever read my profile you'll know that books and things English are on my drugs list.
Three: Walden by Thoreau . Note how I did not give his whole name or book title to impress you with my obvious and wanky prior familiarity of this book. But I say it with great affection too as I am a huge Thoreau fan. As an idealist, Walden is my kind of choccy. I only need read a few pages and it's a soothing peppermint to my mind. Ahhhhh....much better now.

I also wanted to mention I saw 'Where The Wild Things Are' yesterday. Clever and brilliant but very melancholy. Probably not for kiddiwinkles either. So a difficult audience. Very inspiring to write from afterward but I sure as heck wasn't much fun to be with. The soundtrack I adored and will buy- I could write a book from that alone- excellent stuff!

Muscles To Carry, Muscles to Write With

Yesterday I wandered happily, basket on arm, through the magical land of Kinokuniya. Some time later I struggled home under the weight of 16kg of books.
I remember when I finally hit the checkout, the cashier glanced at my laden basket and I'm sure, thought- " Damn! (Whatever that is in Japanese) I'm going to get the greedy bibliophile. RSI here I come."
Next blog I'd love to tell you about the three books that somehow happened into my basket just for me- Oopsy!

You know, I realise I talk a lot(!) about things I do. Are people wondering if I am doing any actual writing. Will my tombstone say I was a writer and then just give out this blog address? I do write but I can't really put my book writing stuff here. I do try and do daily writing about whatever just to keep my writing muscle ripped. Well, it's more just non-flabby at this stage.
OK so early yesterday I wrote after I walked the dogs, simply recalling observations eg
' The sun is rose gold. Tiny sprinkles of rain like icy talc float down onto my chilled arms.'
' Hundreds of baby acorns peep from the strong arms of an oak.'
' A bulging, battered, grimy skip looking far worse than the rubbish it contains.'
' The wind shearing softly through an emerald Liquid Amba.'
' A lawn of dandelion wilderness next to a clipped, manicured verge with nothing but an imagined neighbours frown between them.'

And there you have it. Please feel free to nominate me for the Pullitzer Prize.

Later I made written observations on the train but we shall wax no further. Apparently no writing or reading is wasted, so if I can't or don't work on my stories, I'm at least observing and recording. And I have to say, I love every bloody minute of it.

Various Nibblies

My critiquing buddy came over the other day. She gave me a large plate full of home-made Rocky Road, a lovely Christmas card and talked about the royalties we'd be getting next year after we were published. You've got to love this woman! I nearly had a sugar aneurysm after she left, but it felt good.

In breaking news, I am now the official minutes secretary of my local sub-branch of the Children's Book Council. I'm not sure exactly what this means, but I hope I can do a few pictures. Also, can minutes be funny? I hope so. I am not a fan of the formal meeting. I can't ever get used to a small bunch of people sitting around seconding things. I keep thinking- "Are we for real?" Anyway, I guess I've got to give the impression of being a grown-up some of the time.

In preparation for the Year of Me Writing my Butt Off, I have hired a De-cluttering person. I was disappointed to learn she doesn't have a wand and we'll be doing it the hard way. But having been haunted by clutter for a long time, I am looking forward to the exorcism. No more being distracted by the debris that seems to gather around the edges of each room. This is going to be a freeing experience that unfortunately is not for free, but hopefully the results are priceless.
Today I am off to Kinokuniya bookstore to buy Christmas presents and meet up with a lovely friend. Hello happiness and goodbye budget!!!

Noice Voice

I've been thinking a lot about my voice recently. Not the voice that people would tell you goes on and on a bit too much, but my writers voice. Who is she? Does she also use a posh phone voice?

When I was doing a lot of art I would think about my style and wonder what the heck it was. I had lot's of different styles. Now that it's writing which I have in a headlock, I am looking for my writers voice. I thought about the things that I have written, whose quality surprised me; a piece that was pretty good and astonishingly had been written by moi. I like her. Is that my voice?

There is quite a bit of advice on the Internet on this subject but I thought I'd glean the suggestions of one Holly Lisle ( www.hollylisle.com ) who listed ten things to help find your voice. I will use literary latex and paraphrase a bit here. Ahem.........This may be a bit muffled behind the rubber mask..........

1. Read a variety of books and do it a lot.Read in and outside your usual.
2. Write all genres to give everything a whirl.
3. Try writing as different fave authors.
4. Play games- give yourself lots of fun writing exercises.
5. Challenge your preconceptions to know yourself better.
6. Dare to be Awful
7. Write your passion
8. Be controversial and write about things that shock your inner critic
9. Don't be complacent- if your stuff isn't challenging it's not happening.
10.Write through your fear- say it anyway.

I like this quote too " ....the only thing in the universe that readers cannot get anywhere but from you is...you."

Well, I'm off to find her. I hope she has better typing skills than I do!

Description Drugs

When I'm in writer mode, what I see and what I hear (and if I'm good, what I smell, feel, taste and sense) is all recordable for future use in writing. It's like hold up an all-recording microphone to the world. If I'm in a strong mood, I can try and train that emotion to come out the end of a pen. Of course some moods are better taken with the dogs for a walk around the block!
I find, for me, music is a great muse. I can't yet write and listen to music with lyrics but I can listen to music,, fill my 'cup' to brimming and then go pour it into writing. Seeing a movie is also powerful inspiration and probably why I like soundtracks- a convenient way to recapture a mood in the comfort of your own home. Cinematic take-out.
Whatever drug works for you, you're sure to get addicted and suffer all the highs and lows of being on them. It can be hard to have a regular life under the influence. You can spend a lot of your time in your own head, pen poised over paper, while your body goes through the motions of family and home life. And I don't want to be a zombie to my family. I guess you have to learn to just engage and disengage. But it is really hard when you're on those damn description drugs.

Loving That Research

Yesterday I was given a small wooden writing desk by a nice friend. Topped with a red enamel mug full of sharp new HB pencils and a few favourite pens it is now my very own writing space. I had been using our lovely old maple dining table but got sick of piling things on to the sideboard at mealtime. This created Mountains of Mess containing the odd surprise layer of a Star Wars DVD, a sock or an overdue electricity bill. Not good. So now I have my own cute little table with three drawers all for me. Small sigh of happiness.
I began today with some critiquing. This is surprisingly fun. Especially since the writer is not here to argue my changes! But it really is useful for both parties on several levels and I strongly recommend it. I also recommend Natures Cuppa organic tea. 'The tea that puts flavour in a writers masterpiece.' Sorry, bit of product placement there.
So after making lot's of fun changes to someone else's hard work, I proceeded to do research on my fantasy trilogy. This involved looking up some inspiring images of settings and character.These I cut and pasted together to make inspiration sheets which help me to to instantly get a feel for a scene or dialogue for a character. The thing is I am rather enamoured with one of my male characters who happens to look amazingly like James McAvoy. This is a handy coincidence as I was able to trawl through hundreds of images (I take my work seriously)of James McAvoy to find the ones that looked most like my character. Who would have thought research could be so much fun? I was certainly smiling through a good deal of it. Anyway after several hours I had to stop, pour a glass of cold water over my head and get on with other research that needed doing.
So the thing I learnt today, is that research is terribly important, just don't get caught up in the fun stuff and over-research an area. It may be amusing but it doesn't a book maketh. Darn it.

Critiquel Mass

A morning of critiquing today. My critique buddy is a teacher so I get the disturbing notion I am having my homework gone through. Nevertheless it is very helpful having a new set of eyes cast over your work. She herself writes YA Fantasy so i am looking forward to going over her work today. Being essentially immature in spirit, I should be able to tell her what a young adult might think of it too. This may make up for the fact that my ability to spot an adverb at 50 paces is not so flash.
I have just joined up to two book clubs. A classical one for which we are reading 'Chrysalis' which I have to admit I've never even heard of, and a contemporary club for which we are reading ' Echo in the Bone, also unheard of. I guess I have been too busy reading the latest Skulduggery Pleasant and re-reading Fantastic Mr Fox for the 20th time (Coz they are doing a movie of it). It will be good to read some 'grown up' books and talk with grown-ups about it. I just hope they won't be too serious as this is an open invitation to my brain to act in an immature way and try and be funny. Ah well, hopefully I will not be given detention.........
I have now finished my digital media course so am qualified to use Photoshop and Illustrator in a tentative and naive manner. But what a load of fun there is be had with that stuff! For now I will just use it to do such high tech things as make Christmas cards with a photo of my chickens wearing Santa outfits, maybe the dogs with antlers etc. Obviously I am immature on several levels. Silliness runs deep with this one.

Table of Contents

Yesterday after dosing myself up with more of Richard Harland's writing tips, I dumped my folder of stories on the dining table and poked through them looking for the silver thread of inspiration I was after. The universe has been giving me small smacks to the back of the head in the direction of fantasy writing (My first love in book genres for many years) and I know I am a dag (term of self endearment) but I just love romantic comedy road trip type books and movies.
So, from the mighty mound I have chosen two things to work on. It may become one, but two will keep me happy in the beginning. The fantasy trilogy which began as an image in my head about five years ago is just a series of images and notes about plot and characters and setting at the moment but I got the sense of meeting up with old friends as I read over my chaotic scribbles. One character I have long had a crush on so it will be rather nice to get involved with him on a regular basis. Any left- over smouldering with him, I can channel into the romantic comedy. Thrift in it's most delightful form!

Au Revoir Atellier!

Two days ago I filled a 2 metre skip with rubbish that had been cluttering up our yard. Yesterday I had an amazing revelation about being a writer and today I will pack up my studio. It's turning out to be a huge week.
My little studio which no doubt I am lucky to have (guilt apologising), will be used now to expand the family's fun room. Of course I will keep my favourite watercolours and my box of Derwents pencils and a few other things, but all that would fit in a grocery box. I still like to draw and paint,I just no longer need the dedicated room. For my writing I will be using an ancient laptop. All I need is Word after all. I feel a million times lighter. It's time to write.....................

" Lady, just calm down and drop the brush."

There is a great little book called ' You Know You're a Writer When....' by Adair Lara. It's full of things writers answer in response to the titles question. I bought it a few years ago. It made me laugh because I know what they are saying. Reading these things again today brings tears of recognition to my eyes as I snort with laughter. "
When I was at my critiquing group the other day, I discussed the difficulties of being a writer and illustrator. I mentioned that I had thought about being mostly one and not the other. I say mostly as it feels like a bit of a betrayal even think about giving one of them up. HOWEVER, if I imagine myself as a writer who doesn't do much artwork, I can live with that. It doesn't really bother me (And I'm a bit surprised about that) But,if I imagine being an artist who doesn't write much, a wave of panic comes over me. And so though it almost makes me cry to say this, I think being a writer is what I really want to be. And I have to admit here that some of those near tears, those waves of emotion I think are of relief.
Here's something else that makes me realise I am a writer. I used to laugh at people who talked to themselves. You know, that little commentary people do about what they're doing or something they said to someone. I always thought that was weird. But I realised with shock that I write lines in my head all the time and I never, ever stop daydreaming. I am always taking in something happening around me and then taking off on another tangent of possibility. I 'see' little stories and scenes in my head all the time! As moronic as this revelation sounds, I just didn't realise I was doing it because I do it all the time! What's with the artwork then? Ok, I'm starting to have my suspicions. OK, picture a child who talks a lot, reads a lot, draws a lot. She's five say. She likes writing too but she's only just learning to put tiny sentences together. The grown-ups praise her about the things she does well (except the talking and daydreaming!) but it is the pictures that get more praise because she can draw better than she can write yet and it's the drawing that goes on the fridge and on the wall at school. She writes stories now and plays and still does the other things and is praised in it all BUT the drawing gets most attention because it is easily seen. It is easy to compare to others. It is more easily tangible, more easily commented on. All this goes on and on. In highschool she does 3 unit English and 3 unit art. She enjoys them both and does well in them both and is praised in both. However I see something telling about those teen years. As I suffered the throes of teen angst it was in the arms of writing that I consoled myself. I did do an occasional expressive piece of art but mostly I wrote poetry and verse. Funnily I think of my HSC piece which got a poor mark and the work of a girl's who did well. At the time i thought her piece was a silly mix of abstract swirls and faces. I look back and realise hers was full of emotion, mine was well executed but as stiff as a board and totally emotionless. My writing at home was however was full of feeling. And so I have continued. My art is not too bad but most of it when I think about it, is emotionless with the exception of a few I did under the influence of powerful music. In my writing I have always tried to impart some meaning, convey an emotion. I never really doodled with drawing either. I wrote words down.
What if the thing that holds me back as a writer is trying to be an artist too? Mentally I turn off one tap to see what it feels like. The remaining tap explodes with the force of this new single channel and I am suddenly bursting with excitement and energy. What if the thing that has had me chugging at half speed all this time was my artistic 'talent'. God has there ever been for me such an irony?

The Fine Arts of Whinging and Avoiding

God, what a whinge bag. I let myself get beaten into a corner with half a cotton ball sometimes. Still it was a 41'c day and I had been reading a book narrated by Death (The Book Thief) so that may explain my state. I really should be more careful about what I read as I do with watching movies. I am a bit of an empath and if I watch or read something angry for instance I am dicing up dinner vegetables with wrath for days. Something sad and I'll get emotional about any new flowers in the garden. But at least it works with uplifting and funny too. I must use my powers for good. I must, I must.

So back up on the pony ( I am short) for me today and what do we have in today's little box of tasty tidbit's? I have my first critiquing group meeting this morning with a lady who writes Young Adult fantasy. So I will select something of mine to take and read and I get to hear a chapter of hers and then we all make encouraging and constructive comments. So I need to be in a positive mood. Luckily the weather has dropped 12 degrees and now I only need go watch a Goodies episode to complete my transformation. Goodies and pancakes for brekky. Goodie Goodie Yum Yum!

The World Between Worlds

After spending all that time soaking up the Ariel Fonted world of writers, I found myself looking at the world through the eyes of a writer. Every old painted door, every odd person or caught remark became tasty fodder for stories. The problem was, i wasn't actually writing during this time (though I would jot down thoughts) but rather being busy doing family or friend things as the year works itself toward the inevitable sweat soaked frenzy that is Christmas time. Aside from my writer frustrations I was very aware that my artist brain was in neutral and had been during my my literary soak. What i mean was I was no longer looking at things as a source of artistic creation or inspiration and I realised the presence of this brain switch when I attended my digital media class yesterday and was looking at a book of amazing digital artwork. 'Ping' my brain switched over into art mode. Anyway though I know I shouldn't waste my time worrying about it I often think of a quote from a character in a book called Finding Nino by Marc Llewellyn. One character, a Sicillian fisherman tells a foreign visitor who likes the land and the sea, " You can't be a fisherman and a farmer. You'll see..." The fact is I do worry about doing both. Can a do a good job of both? How much time do I need to devote to each to do my best. Do I even have that time? Would I be satisfied if one were a hobby? Which would I pick as a hobby if I had to? I guess the answer is I don't know.

I forgot to pass on this writing tips site from Richard Harland who spent a year or so I believe putting this info togther at his own cost for the benefit of you and I .
www.writingtips.com.au

Workshop Writing Tips- Ms Lord

I have read several of Gabrielle Lord's crime fiction novel. Not that I'll make a proper comparison to Patricia Cornwell but lets say if you like her work, you'd really enjoy Gabrielle Lord's books. She's a great writer and does a lot of research for her work as you can imagine you would need to. At the moment she is doing an action adventure series for teens called Conspiracy 365. One low cost book comes out each month with the further adventures of a teenage fugitive trying to solve the puzzle of his fathers disappearance and piece together clues left by his father. Besides people wanting him dead, other people are also trying to get to the answers first.
On writing, Gabrielle gave a great analogy about writing a story. She said at first it's like dumping all your picnic gear on a heap on the ground. Then bit by bit you sort it out, shake out the rug and place everything in order on it, shaking the ants and debris along the way. I like that!
When asked about how to get writing done, she mentioned another authors description of 'bum glue' as well as saying that it is tenacity and doggedness that give the determination to write and stay writing. She says she does not leave the house until she has written a thousand words. She can do more but not less.
She spoke about plot which she described as the movement of the story. She said the seeds of the plot are within your characters.
Gabrielle had brought in these plot layouts she put together for us to see. Obviously a crime fiction story needs to have a tight plot. She had a sheet of cardboard with the characters in little boxes on the left and then lots of boxes with facts and important clues and events that would happen continuing from the left to the right with interaction lines joining them so she can see the whole story all plotted out. This is obviously a great framework to write your story within.
So that's what I gleaned. Very useful stuff.

Last night I went to a writers Christmas dinner which was excellent. I got to see some now familiar faces, meet up with a local writer I have been trying to meet and of course meet other new people as well. At the auction I was thrilled to get a signed Tohby Riddle book, No one Owns the Moon. I just love Tohby Riddles illustrations. I also got to hear Markus Zusak talk again. He tells great stories as well as writing great books. All very inspiring and getting to know people is great fun too. I need to get more writing and less socialising done!

Workshop Writing Tips- Mr Harland

Richard Harland is a fantasy writer and had been chosen to talk about setting. Obviously in fantasy, setting is built largely by the writer’s imagination. Richard’s latest book is a style of fiction known as ‘steampunk’ which uses an alternative nineteenth century world as the setting. His book is called Worldshaker (a sequel is coming) and is set upon a kilometres long Argonaut which travels along the surface of the earth, powered by steam. We used an area of the Argonaut to do an exercise and use our five senses to describe it. This was to remind us with setting to describe settings with more than visual details. He also reminded us that weather, time of day and general lighting can completely change a setting.. In fantasy you plan out the literal setting and then flesh it out with the experience of being in that place.
He advised that parts of a scene that work have emotional value.
Richard gave lots of good advice on setting but it was his work habits that stuck in my mind. He writes in the morning from about 9 till 1 or 2 then has a break. In the afternoon he has a think about what he wants to write about the following day then he sleeps on it, finding the notes stored in his brain overnight have been sorted a little and he is able to begin the days writing with that. And that is how he gets his writing done. For me that has allergies to schedules, it gave me an idea for an effective work habit with a flexibility of time. So it is Richard’s habits that I am trying out at the moment. I am trying to write for at least 4 hours a day, a length author Gabrielle Lord managed to do as a single mother and worker. She said she never worked so effectively as when she only had that window to work in. I’ll pass on my gleanings from her next.

Workshop Writing Tips- Mr Zusak

I thought I'd like to put in some tips I gleaned from my writers workshop. You may read them and gain some great ideas or you may decide to clean your fingernails. If writing is not your thing, go and make yourself a cuppa and come back in five minutes.
I'd also like to say at this point that I am giving you my version of what was said, please don't sue me for mis-quoting!
In order of speakers (so you can get that -' Wow, it's like I'm at the concert!' feeling) the first was Markus Zusak. The first thing he said that stuck in my mind was that writing should be your number one priority. Perhaps number two (family being the other) but absolutely not one rung lower. He said he didn't need friends, his friends were people in his book. We all laughed but he may have been serious I think. I thought that awful at first but then I haven't sold 3 million books either. Writing is his life and he spends a heck of a lot of focus on that.( I do believe he surfs, so lets say he has a form of exercise and meditation too)
He described his story planning as drawing a long line and putting the readers expected ending at the end of the line (he likes to put the actual ending in after that). At the other end a beginning. Then along the line he finds parts for the body of the story. When he writes the story he checks off points along the line. He creates conflict and drama by constantly putting barriers before his character and having them resolve it.
Markus had been asked to talk about character which was apt as he is excellent at character drawing, conveying brilliantly a whole person with a few deft, and often humorous, verbal lines. I guess- think how you can sum up a person in a few words. He explained about giving characters depth. Know your character. They have a history. They have the current story and they have a past. You can dip into the past if necessary in the current story but having a past lets you know your characters and know how they behave and react.
He said to find your 'voice' for writing and write with that.
He also said to write for the joy of it or else that's what he does. He says if he knew he couldn't publish another book, he'd still choose to write.
I also noted that he was able to write freely for The Book Thief once he had stopped worrying about who his target audience might be. When he couldn't imagine anyone wanting to read it, that gave him the freedom to just let loose .( And look what happened/is happening with that book!).
I personally find the whole 'target audience' thing strange. Every writer I have heard writes for themselves with no real aim at an age group but as soon as you read up on writing or look up publishing tips they ask you to consider what age you are writing for. It's like a law that must be quoted but which writers tend to ignore. Hard to know this when you are starting out.
Anyway enough for today. I'll leave you to ponder the wisom of Mr Zusak for a bit and give you my gems from Richard Harland next time.

3am Headchatter

Feel sick in tummy. Hot and grubby. Look like I've been slapped and chucked in a hurricane. But my oh my, this noggin is full of shiny pearls of wisdom from my most excellent writers workshop day yesterday. Wow really. The best bit about yesterday was the informality of the place. A clean but old and daggy community hall was our venue. You know, the worn polished timber floors, brick walls, small stage with velvet drapes. Probably it's seen a lot of ballet classes and 21st birthday parties. But that humble atmosphere kind of set the tone for the day and helped to show the human side of our guest authors. Their explanations of how and why they work was brilliant and so , so inspiring. I came home smiling, excited and determined to give up housework forever.

Also I got to meet these lovely people afterwards, have my books signed and get a few photo's. They were all just lovely and very friendly. I get such a kick out of talking about a great book with it's author and they seem to enjoy it likewise so everyone's happy! Today I'd like to show the books I have and recommend by these authors and the people themselves and tomorrow I'll pass on tips from them in case anyone else finds it useful.

Sorry the pictures are blurry but no flash was allowed, the authors were quite animated and I was very excited!

Manuscript Appraisal

Yesterday morning at the NSW Writers Centre at Rozelle I had my manuscript appraisal with Mark Macleod. I had booked it about three months ago so it's been a long countdown. I was hoping I would get an honest opinion of my work (stories/style and also illustrations) and I hoped I wouldn't cry if the news wasn't good. After all, creative work is a piece of yourself and it makes you feel vulnerable having people poke at it. I knew it needed a poke though and I hoped it would be gentle. The NSW Writers centre (1 1/4 hours from where I live) is a lovely old world hobbit mansion on peaceful grounds of purple jacaranda. It set a nice calming tone. People were sitting around quietly. I don't know what they were doing but it gave my approach to the building a ' place between worlds' kind of feeling.

Once inside I found I would be meeting with Mark in the Harry Potter Room, which turned out to be a reference to the rooms small size, tucked in under the sloping roof, much like Harry's room under the stairs. Mark was in the room, door open with the previous person who was struggling to get a few more answers out of the guy before she had to go. It's true that a 1/2 hour just isn't enough. I am so glad I booked the hour which flew past anyway.

Mark seemed nice upon meeting him and began by asking me to tell him a little about myself and then what I was hoping to gain by this meeting with him. He is a writer and editor and has done all sorts of work within the publishing industry. So his professional opinion is what I sought of course. He looked at all of the stories I had brought with me and the illustrations. He decided to talk to me about the illustrations first. I suppose you could say this was the bad news though it wasn't too awful. He felt I needed a year of work on my illustrating, studying movement and gesture. He liked my use of colour and composition but felt my figures were a bit stiff. It was hard in a way that the book I self published and had brought in was a bit stiff and I feel I've improved a fair bit since then, but I knew what he meant. I had been thinking of doing a life drawing class anyway, so that confirmed it.

Next came the stories. He felt the stories lacked a bit of drama and that I was giving too much info to the reader. As in, he felt somethings need not be explained to the reader but left for the reader to figure out themselves. Those were his main comments, summed up. He had time to read over all my story synopsis which I had taken with me and seemed to really like all my story ideas. He was very encouraging and told me my ideas are what people are wanting to read right now (well, that was fortunate). After some rewriting he suggested I send off to a publisher. I asked if multiple submissions were OK in his opinion. He said yes, certainly it was generally accepted. Because of the months it can take to get your work seen at a publishers, it has become acceptable. You just need to mention how many other publishing houses you have sent it to, BUT no names. Sending three off at once is good he said. I asked about why publishers really preferred you do not illustrate your own work and the answer he gave me finally made sense to me and I can accept it. The reason is practical and economic. If you have an unknown illustrator, you can attach them to a known writer and the writer gets the sales happening with less marketing/advertising needed. An unknown writer and illustrator needs a lot of work because they are an unknown and book sellers don't like unguaranteed sales. Fair enough.

At the end of the session which was so, so helpful I asked Mark to sign a book I got of his called ' Tomorrow' . I was afraid he wouldn't think it appropriate and would think I was sucking up. On the contrary he was highly delighted and seemed to take it as compliment, so I'm so glad I did it.

So, now I will treat my illustrating as a separate project as he suggested and work on improvements. In the meantime i will be rewriting till the end of the year and then researching appropriate publishers to send my stuff to early in the new year.

If you do not have a professional opinion available to you as a writer or illustrator, do invest the money in getting one. It's more than worth it. Mark Macleod costs AU$60 per half hour and I recommend an hour minimum.

Today I have the workshop with Markus Zusak, Gabrielle Lord and Richard Harland. How much fun am I having?!

Fake Tan and Shaun Tan

Yesterday I decided to try some fake tan gel.

I did change colour but due to the allergic reaction I had, the colour is more like white with pink polka dots than a golden tan. I look like a very cross plucked chicken.

Ahem, on a less personal note, and don't mind me scratching, I spent some of yesterday drawing and painting a few things from around the garden and a few things that just fell out the end of my pencil. Then I studied the artwork of Illustrator Shaun Tan on the Internet and was very very tempted to buy a print of one of his works. One day! In the meantime I will endeavour to make the best bid for a signed book of his at a function I'm at in a week. I just hope it doesn't go above $5.

My first Illustrator/Photoshop course on the weekend was excellent especially since there are only two people in the class. Whether or not a large group of people got locked in a room at the other end of the college grounds I couldn't say but having a teacher all to yourself practically is great. We have begun on Photoshop. Its fantastic and I am mentally rubbing my hands together in glee the whole time. Still, I envisage it will be some time before I am flying the plane competently. There's tonnes to learn. There are so many tutorials on the net about how to use this type of software. It's been great seeing how an artist put together a particular artwork. I mean my brain goes numb trying to take in all the complicated steps, but it's a happy kind of numb.

In other news I am looking for a localish illustrator group to join. Where are they? Maybe I will place an add at my local gallery. And one of the on-line industry newsletters.

In the meantime I am still sorting through my stories to choose the ones I'll head to the manuscript appraisal with. So hard to pick these things when I love them all. I have tried casting a cold hard eye over them, but the eye just mists over. Hopeless! The best idea I can come up with is to pick the ones that have gotten the strongest response from readers, especially emotive responses, and go with those. They tend to be the ones I have strong illustration images for too.

I do love artwork that conveys emotion well. Of course today's pics show no such thing, but darn it, that's all I had.

Digital Art for Illustrating

Hey, techno presto; I'm back from a week in an Internet black-hole. The words ' Communications Ombudsman' have power!

A week without Internet has been hard though I feel like a spoilt western woman saying so. Beware the technology we become reliant on.....On the other hand it's great to have it back! Woohoo!

Today I don my artist smock and beret and skip off to Digital Art class. I am expecting it to be brilliant and fascinating and I can't wait to begin. There is a little timber-toed part of me that is a bit scared about the technology. Mr Computer and I are polite friends. He thinks I am a moody, tantrum throwing novice and I know him to be unnecessarily complex and temperamental. Yes, we are work buddies. But today computer technology will allow me to create a whole new world of illustrating. I have a vague inkling of what I'm in store for and even that feels like lighting your birthday candles with a comet. I think this is going to be big for me. My imagination is about to be gifted with a very large and shiny set of crayons. Watch out! Lets hope all the technical jargon will Velcro to my mind. At least I am hopeful the class may contain other people my age-ish and maybe some illustrators. I know a few writers now, but my artist self would like to meet some illustrators too.

The rest of my week to come will be putting together work to take in for my manuscript appraisal with Mark McLeod. From time with him I will learn how publishable my work is and what I need to do to make it happen. This is an exciting prospect but frightening too. For a start I have to pick my best stories and I love them all. Also I will take illustrations for them. That's another part of myself open for comment too. Of course the whole point is to have someone very knowledgeable in the publishing industry offer advice on my work. So, so valuable. Well, that is the hope. He will probably only have time to comment on two or three stories maximum. I know I will have a secret stash of others in my bag just in case. At the end of it I will ask for a book signing though I hope he won't think this is a suck-up. It's just he is a lovely writer and how often do you get to ask these things?

On another note I had an e-mail from a lady who had bought one of my books at the writers dinner last week. She had read it to her pre-school class and they loved it. She quoted their favourite parts. What a lovely feeling it was to hear that! One sweet and sour thing to come out of that dinner is that I have had a few more requests for my book. Yes, genius here didn't think about that one. I have no other books. I could print more from Blurb but the price is way to expensive. Also I have had an offer for a loan to self publish. Using a local printer I could self-publish in greater quantities but I would have to prepare for the leg work and have a plan. I will wait to hear what Mr McLeod says next week before I take that step.

Technology Malfunction

Warning. Warning. Engine failure in the main thruster!

I have had no Internet due to a server stuff up, for five days and counting. Big black thunder clouds are floating around my head, rumbling ominously.
I have thrown wobblies to no avail.
All this has made me realise the Internet has become a drug I didn't realise I was addicted to, until it was suddenly taken away from me. Having reflected wisely upon my reaction to this turn of events, I say " GIVE ME BACK MY DRUG!"
Circumstances being what they are, I have taken to dressing in a black catsuit and sneaking out into the night to use other peoples computers to do my deeds on. My friends look amused by the outfit when they open the door to let me in. Nevertheless it has given me the opportunity to get some communication out there, hence I can bring you such compelling news as:

I am using my son's touch typing software to teach myself, well, not origami obviously. This involves firing letters out of a canon and making pretty pictures from letters. Why did I not find this before?

Hormones and creativity do not a pretty picture make. I think I actually hissed at my paints today and folded my arms and stomped at the computer.
Some days you just have to take a break from work. Instead I planted 30 plants in an hour. I think they will grow because they are now too frightened not to. Also one of my hens went broody. I played her funky disco music to remind her of her single days and get her mind off motherhood, but it didn't work.
All this proves that sometimes you've just got to be kind to your sad pathetic tantrum throwing self and wait it out till the sparkle sparkle fairy brings back the rainbow.

After the Ball

La, la, la......
I'm still dancing around my loungeroom after the CBCA dinner on Saturday, fondly recalling the magical night in all it's glorious detail.
Well, this is a slight exageration but it was like being locked in a lolly shop for a few hours with lots of your favourite sweets. It was a lovely blur of talking to other writers and people passionate about children's books. It was lovely to meet people like Di Bates, Bill Condon, Deborah Abela, Jeff McMullen, Jenny hale, Sue Whiting, Roslyn J Motter, Mary Jacobs. I can honestly say it was no less exciting meeting newbies like myself and sharing tips and stories. There weren't a lot of illustrators that i know of ( I couldn't see any inky fingers or paint in hair) except for one lady who amazingly was in my year at school. I sold 7 of the 10 books I took to sell AND I got to do my first signings! Very cool! Thank you so much to those lovely people who bought my book and /or gave me huge encouragement and compliments. It was all great. I also bought books, got them signed and me and my children are madly reading those.
We are doing it all again next year and will be having a very well known literary figure as guest speaker whose name I will disclose when I am allowed!
On another note I had the AGM for my Federation of Australian Writers group, for which i was hoping to avoid nomination as treasurer. I smugly managed this but then nearly fell over when I was instead nominated as president. Arghhhh! Needless to say I have not accepted however flattering. A big mouth does not a good president make! I have only been attending for 5 months (1 meeting per month roughly) and I do not understand the running of things. i thought it was a huge step for me to offer to be the minutes secretary for my branch of the CBCA. I normally avoid committees like the plague but understand there is no such thing as a free lunch. I am learning that no matter how flattering an offer you get, give your ego a good firm slap and only take on what you can realistically manage. You get to realise that every time your head gets bigger, your brain gets smaller. For very action there is an equal and opposite reaction!

Function Disfunction

Well I have The Dress. It took me some time traipsing through my nearest shopping complex/retail rat maze, brain whimpering, but finally I found it. I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say I look just like Elle McPherson in it. Taller, different eye colour, airbrushed, everything. Amazing. Even one of my children is called Flynn. Shazam huh?!
So, all there is left for this dinner is to make up a little coloured flyer with some samples of my illustrating work on it. So that way if some nice person says ( upon hearing of amazing talents) "Wow, you'll have to show me your stuff sometime." I can rummage through my handbag and say " Well gosh, look what I happen to have here, No, No, I don't need those extra five copies back. Feel free to give them away." And that is how things happen in my mind; a wonderful land of lollipops and gingerbread houses. In reality things often go wrong with my cunning plans. For instance I was waiting on a friend to introduce me to a local self-published author whose work I admire. When I decided I would attend another dinner function down the coast in a few weeks, I decided to contact this writer and ask her if she'd like to come. This was a great idea for two reasons. I'd finally get to meet her and chat in the car on the way there and I would have company I knew a bit at the dinner. Also I was a bit chicken to drive down at night midweek to an unfamiliar city and find the restaurant, parking etc, by myself. Well, the writer contacted me and she would love to come which is great, but she says not to worry, she will make her own way there! Darn and dang!
Oh well, I will send out a note to the dinner hosts and see if anyone else from my way is going who would like a lift. I believe Markus Zusak is going.............

Ballgowns and Badly-Drawn Cars

Yesterday I had a lot of fun doing an illustration for one of my own stories. I'm happy with the style and will begin the next one today after I come back from finding 'the dress'. Let me explain. This Saturday night I have a Children's Book Council dinner to attend, the main purpose of it being to network. Excellent. As I am a new person to the industry I would like to stand out. But not in a Barbarella way. Something that is very me (a paint-spattered drop-sheet?) yet stylish. Not one of these maxi-dress things that are all the rage at the moment. It would be trailing along the ground as I am height challenged. Plus they look like you need to accessorise with a giant clam-shell sunhat, oversize sunglasses and a pastel crocheted clutch bag. No, I will be looking for something feminine without too many body parts escaping. Something dashing yet demure. Something respectable yet fire-engine red. Gosh I hope Big-W can deliver the goods.

For a story I am writing at the mo, I need some cosmic education ( "Do or do not...there is no try."). I mean literal education about the universe ie star, planets, Magellanic Clouds (I just had to say that, it sounds so cool) etc so I looked up the details of my local observatory where you can go visit. They seem like a, er, secret handshake kind of group and I'm a bit scared but it should be very enlightening. I have to go and do regular romps to expand my creative mind. I am also going out to sketch cars soon as my pictures of cars all look like wooden block vehicles. Very sad- what a girl! Yet ironically I cannot do shoes well either. Need to work on that too. I will share something actually useful. I found the most excellent book for helping draw people. It was a source book for comic artists with figures photographed in every pose imaginable. Sorry I don't know the book author but there are several types of this thing around and I will be buying one.

Now, it's off to conquer the world, but I need my little cup of hot tea first.

seeking work v stalker girl

I am free from the bottom problems of family pets this morning thank goodness. There may have been corks involved, but I'm not saying. At least it is quiet, bar the rusty shears sound of the resident wattlebird and it is simply unfortunate that he is up a large tree and has wings else he'd be quieter too.

OK. Today I would like to share a dilemma which one day may be experienced by yourself. At the moment I have no paid work. I'm not being idle. I write every day and try out new mediums in illustrating, padding out my portfolio. Next month will be quite busy with courses and work-shops, but at this stage, no paid work to speak of. Several months ago my details were given to a writer who was apparently seeking an illustrator. It was some time before he contacted me and I had put the whole thing into the 'probably not happening' category. He did however eventually contact me and it turns out he is a travel writer, often popping oversea's and thus quite busy. He also has a novel out which I just happened to have given a friend as a gift. So I was suitably impressed with his abilities and I thought my having already bought his only novel (so far) was rather serendipitous. He also very trustingly forwarded me the text for the childrens picture book he had written and explained that he was looking into self-publishing since his work had been rejected after initial interest due to the global financial situation and publishing cuts. So, after a chat he explained he was off overseas again and would be in contact apon his return. I didn't hear from him for several weeks but i used the time to read his novel which I really enjoyed. After more silence from his end (must've had a cork too) I decided to be a bit cheeky and send an e-mail to him to say I had read his novel and enjoyed it, which was all completely true but it gave me a reason to contact him. He replied within hours and explained he had not long been home. Fair enough, he's a travel writer. Anyhow he said he was busy with work for a few weks and would call after that to arrange a face to face chat about the book. In the meantime whilst I was looking for more illustrations to do for my portfolio, I decided to do some from this guys book in case we did meet up. Just some pencil drawings, nothing time consuming, but I had a lot of fun doing them. Now heres the thing, it's been 3 1/2 weeks since I heard from this guy. I would like to show him the illustrations I have done. BUT I don't want to seem like some desperate stalker illustrator. I could just finish the pictures and add them to my portfolio or I could send off some copies to this guy. I have asked a few people their good opinions and have recieved answers from " No, just leave it" to "yes, stalker style is good, it will inspire him to focus on the book." And then there was the middle ground of " Send the pictures but keep your correspondence light". I don't know. I can sense both my ego and pride making comments on this one and it all feels a bit too much like highschool boy angst. I respect the advice given so far but it would have been more bloody convenient if you'd all picked the same sodding answer! What to do?

Working with Children and Animals

I have always loved animals but this morning I am not loving them so much. Yesterday the dogs spent much of their time indoors due to the pouring rain. This same weather prevented me from walking them and they were obviously somewhat annoyed about this as they left their 'comments' on the lounge room floor overnight for my husband to notice mid spoonful of his weetbix bites at breakfast. It probably wasn't the parallels drawn between nuggets that prompted him to hastily clean away the mess but it did not an appetising breakfast make. For myself, my nerves rose before I did when I woke to the sound of hungry chickens way before they were due to be out of their hen house. As I am sure I could hear the grinding of my neighbours teeth from their beds, I stumbled outside giving the chickens a mighty " Shush" command. Now chickens do not understand "shush". If they paused for a second at all it was probably because I startled them for a moment with my brightly coloured dressing gown. Then they just cocked their heads, blinked and continued their piercing squaaaaaaarks. I stomped back inside and harrumphed around the kitchen grabbing food for them, throwing a treat for the dogs who were jumping around me excitedly wanting their breakfast.
When I did feed the chickens I was unhappy to note that the place I put my hand to balance was the exact same spot the worlds largest chicken poop had been deposited. I wondered later if the noise I made then had been interpreted by the neighbours as the sound a chicken might make having got an egg stuck mid-vent. There was another toileting accident later this morning too but that involved one of my children, a toilet seat and a moment of poor judgement and I'd best leave it at that.
Needless to say that sometimes trying to work at home is a huge challenge at times. To be able to type away in peace without the demand of family, menagerie or home is a skill I have yet to master. I was recommended a great book on this subject of juggling, which I am reading at the moment. It's called The Divided Heart by an Australian author called Rachel Power (who has a great blog too as I discovered) who basically went and interviewed a pile of creative mum's about how they juggled their work with their family and home. The women interviewed are writers, various types of artists, dancers, theatre people etc. It's very interesting reading and it makes you feel as though you are in good company rather that slowly going mad all alone. Their was one quote given that stood out and which I have written on my bedroom wall by the door. " If it matters, I'll get it done. If it doesn't get done, it didn't matter enough."
Albeit sometimes spattered with manure, this really helps me turn up to my work. And sometimes you need all the help you can find.

How to be a Children's Writer and Illustrator

What does it take it take to be a children's book author and/or illustrator? Right now I would say the ability to get up way too early and stumble around in the dark to pull on mismatched but warm clothing and then find enough bleary eyed coordination to push two vital buttons: the kettle and the computer. Or the kettle and the studio light switch.

There are other things. Notice in my title I didn't say successful. I'm not there yet. I can only tell you how I arrived where I am and say I appear to be heading the right general direction in so much that I am a 100 times more a writer and illustrator today than I was about a year ago. Up till then I was a mum who who had part time jobs and a concertina file full of stories written over the last 5 years. I did the odd bit of artwork for myself and others. And I had joined an authors society whose newsletters were so full of literary jargon they just made me feel stupid. And that's it. Except to say I was very frustrated. The stories I had written were yelling in my head to see the light of day. I wanted to send some off to a publisher yet I wanted to illustrate them myself. Publishers make it quite clear they would prefer you did not illustrate your own work. I agonised over that for ages(you've got to really drag these avoidance techniques out) then decided to send in just the stories and then once published, hopefully have the pull to ask to illustrate book number two or three myself. Get your foot in the door first, I thought. I attended a weekend away for children's book writers and illustrators. Gosh didn't I feel like a right ping-pong at a basketball convention. The workshops were great and I got to meet some very well known Australian authors and illustrators BUT I have to say it was all very clicky and I really felt like an ignorant novice. Well, that's because I was! And really in so many ways I am still a novice but I have done a large amount toward not being ignorant since then. Aside from the networking I mentioned in an earlier blog which is so, so vital, I research other people in the industry. I look at their books, look up their websites, go to book launches and events. For my writing, I write something every day and read as much as I can find time for. For illustrating I look at other peoples illustrating, I copy some of it to understand their style (hey, it worked for Van Gogh), I try different mediums and take the odd class to learn how to use a new medium properly. But the most important thing I do now, is take my work seriously. I had decades of excuses as to why my creativity could not also be my living and I am just as busy as I ever was but as tacky as it sounds, I've found my bliss. Now I've opened the door to my passion, I'm taking the bloody door off the hinges because now I only intend to succeed.

(The painting shown is a politely modified version of a piece by talented artist David Wenzel that I had long loved)

The Soporific Effects of Tax Education

Eventually some kind sod will pay you for your creative work and if you plan to make a living from that enterprise then you are a business. I thought it was just having a jolly good lot of fun and being paid to keep doing it. Apparently not, you have to get all serious about it.

At some stage I decided the best way to understand what I needed to do business-wise was to visit an accountant. What I discovered in fact is that I seem to have an inbuilt hearing filter that does not allow me to understand the words coming out of an accountants mouth. I peered at her closely, I nodded sagely, I willed myself to understand what she was saying but it was no use. When I left I looked down at a little list of questions I'd taken with me. Beside the questions were little squiggles and marks as though I had attempted to record an answer but my brain was so confunded I had not been able to even get a simple word out the end of my pen. Such as "Huh?" I liken the whole thing to being abducted by aliens. I couldn't remember much of what had happened yet I felt worried and slightly disturbed. At least there were no probes. Now, I have to say here that it wasn't really the accountants fault, I should have asked for further explanations but she was looking at me so encouragingly I didn't want to admit I had no idea what she was talking about.

So, in case you are subject to the same strange effects of tax jargon, here is what I found to be the best way to find out all you need to know: I looked up the Australian Tax Office website and ordered free booklets of tax and small business, record keeping, home-based business. It all arrived a few days later and I have to make an admission here. These books are written so that even a moron can understand and this moron found that, explained in simple terms everything was quite interesting and comprehendable. I applied for an ABN (Australian Business Number) from the same place. You also need to register your business which is a separate thing. You can do that from here too. For myself, I am a sole trader and am trading under my own name but you may want to have a name for your business. In that case you need to register a business name. Think of at least 10 names as you can't have it if someone else has already thought up the same brilliant title. The tax office also have a phone service and I found them incredibly helpful and nice. It was as though they have heard every dumb question possible and nothing you can say will shock them. They kindly kept all tone from their voice that would indicate they thought I was a bit stupid. I recommend them very much. Now at some time you will need an accountant and I strongly suggest you find out which ones near you already deals with people in the industry. Ask other writers or artists who they use or ask one of the groups you join who they recommend. Then go and meet them. A lot will not charge for a first meeting (ask first) you can at least check out how they fare on your comprehension filter before you sign up for a life of fun together.

Making a Children's Picture Book Using Blurb

In typical hirdy-girdy style I am going to leave the road of chronological order and lift the stripy tent flap of fun stuff instead. So today instead of telling you about my trip to an accountant where I was struck dumb with imcomphrehension, I am going to tell you how I got to make a single beautiful book using free Blurb software. And hey, Blurb company people out there, if a massive excited herd of writers and illustrators rush to use your software after my Blog today, i am happy to give you my bank details.

So, once apon a time a lady wrote a children's book and came up with some far-out groovy illustrations for it to boot. She hadn't sent it off to a publisher yet, but she really wanted to see what it would look like as a book, for the purposes of gratuity and self-confidence. Luckily this talented and witty, fun and ambidexterous lady had a friend who had produced a small quantity of books showing off her beautiful wares. I will get a crack over the skull if I don't explain her wares are textile prints. Actually, let's get Kristen to blush a little here whilst I give her a plug. Come on down Kristen Doran of Kristen Doran Design. Kristen is the graphic artist friend I am very lucky to have and whom with her skills and networking has really helped me out loads of times. She doesn't need my plug as she is already quietly famous. I believe she may be asked to make a sheath for the Opera House in her latest fabrics. You can see her beautiful gear at http://www.cheekybeaks.blogspot.com/ Hey, everyone come back! You're not meant to go look now............Great! Now theres just the two of us. Oh well, I'll tell you. So that friend of mine beginning with K had made a book using Blurb. What is Blurb? Blurb is a free software you download and make up your own book, using pictues and or text and then you order it and they print it and ship it to you. It is ideal for photo's and is a great way of making a photo album without printing out all those pictures. So in my case we scanned my illustrations and using the bluprints on the software, you just kind of fill in the gaps. It's that simple. Well it was that simple for me because Kristen did most of it. But it really is pretty easy. To make up one soft-cover 36 page full colour childrens picture book measuring 20 x 25cm and have it posted to me cost about $35. Now, obviously if you want to sell these books it is not really cost effective but the ability to print up one book is priceless, I mean you should have seen the grin on my face when I beheld my book for the first time. It was a kodak moment, everything was in slow motion with a frosted lens, I spun around, my book held high in the dappled sunlight....It was great stuff. And it's worth it for the confidence and experience. It makes getting published by a publisher seem that much more possible PLUS it's an invaluable advertising tool. I just printed up another 10 (cheaper this way @ about $26 ea) books to sell at a Children's Book Council dinner. I'll be selling them at a loss, but it will get my book great exposure and as I said earlier, it's all about networking.

So check it out yourself http://www.blurb.com/

ISBN and Legal Deposit- Important Hoo-Ha

There's a few more things I want to share. Let me just wipe the muffin crumbs from them. Righto. ISBN's; the little string of numbers on the inside left of most books in the world is something you have to look into yourself if you self publish. If a publisher publishes your book, the joy is theirs. What is it? Through the miracle of cut and paste, it shall all be explained:

The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is a 13-digit number that uniquely identifies books and book-like products published internationally. Each number identifies a unique edition of a publication, from one specific publisher, allowing for more efficient marketing of products by booksellers, libraries, universities, wholesalers and distributors.

So bottom line is, though it is not always a legal obligation, it is in your best interests to have one. In Australia you can buy them singly or a group. I bought a block of 10 for Au$80. Not surprisingly they cost more if you buy one at a time. When you have published your book, you contact the ISBN people and tell them which number you used and the book details. There is lot's of plainspeak info on their site. You can also purchase barcodes from here via a link. One other thing, and you can find it mentioned also on this site is Legal Deposit which I think many people self-publishing may miss and it is actually the law. Now, I only know the Aussie rules but whomsoever publishes a book in Australia (with the exception of books made only for friends and family) must send a copy of their book to the National Library plus whatever libraries are also listed for your state. That is another 3 for me in NSW. So take a note of that if you self publish. It is not a bad thing to have your books in these places, in fact it is flattering, however the excitement or annoyance is a bill you have to foot yourself.

Today I noticed I can put a title in

I know, I know I'm late today. I'm all rushed and askew. Well, I know I am bound for greatness sometime soon, but for now I still had to do the grocery shopping earlier this morning. I would like to tell you I trailed over dewy grass to my local village market. That I wandered casually from stall to stall, breathing out puffs of mist, hands in my tweed coat jacket, chatting to Mr Rosenkrantz at his vegatarian sausage stall and laughing gaily with Marjorie Frumpstead as I admired her wholemeal wicker soy candles. That I returned home eventually with a 500 litre barrell of organic Pinot Noir under one trembling arm and and a limp soy chicken and bunch of homegrown watercress with frogs still attached in the other.
But no. No in reality I wandered the cold empty isles of Coles, alone like a little snack going through after a colonoscopy. Perhaps I moved a little faster.
After all the excitement of filling my trolley with little squares of plastic and cardboard, I got to meet Michael, the check out guy. It appeared from Michaels general demeaner and expression that he had had to pull a damp and frozen pair of undies off the clothes line in order to get to work on time. And they still hadn't dried. His warmth, friendly attitude and wit were clearly expressed elsewhere and later in the day. All in all a life affirming experience.
Yet, here I am still tapping away with those worn out two fingers to tell you another piece of advice to get published- just show up: at that desk or easel or floating beanbag with built-in laptop. Just show up and you will improve because you are proving that you mean business. Grrrrrr!!!!

I have found an excellent tonic for being awake at an early hour. You just eat a big plate of pasta for dinner the night before and voila (or viola as my son says) you never really got to sleep and eyes already open it's just a matter of hauling your carcass out of bed. Pour some hot tea down the throat and here I am.
OK I thought today I'd tell you about all my writer and illustrator friends. .......................Actually I don't have any. If you dreamt of being a writer or illustrator and woke up to find yourself in a room full of people with pencils or pens behind their ears, lucky you. However when I decided to do this sort of thing I knew no-one. A massive piece of advice to give- NETWORK,NETWORK, NETWORK! Have a look at your own people assets to begin with. The people you can easily chat with around your area (if you are on a remote island this may not be possible) are librarian's, teachers, bookshop owners, printers, people at galleries, artists, friends who may have a relative in any of these area's or in the publishing industry. Talk about your work to people. You don't have to give away your stories or show all your pictures but let people know what you do. Many of these people will put you in contact with others and you begin a little database of contacts. Keep a record of all this. You never know when you might use this. By the way you are not using people, but becoming a link in a network chain where you in turn will connect others.
I am lucky enough to have a graphic artist friend who though not involved with books herself as such, knows a few people who are. Successful people possibly won't want to be your buddy as such but many are happy to give abit of advice or perhaps give you another name. It all helps. Borrow books on the subject, theres tonnes at your library.
Next, join groups of people with similar interests and also organisations put together to serve people in the industry you want to be in. Prices vary on all thses things so ask people what they recommend and put your money firstly with best value given. For instance, I joined a local branch of The Federation of Australian Writers. By doing so I became an affilliate member of the New South Wales (my State) Writers Centre. Between the two bodies I get lot's of info, meet people and get members rates to lot's of workshops and functions. I also joined the local branch of the Childrens Book Council of Australia where I recieve another lot of benefits. I subscibed to two on-line publications- Buzz Words and Pass it On, both dedicated to the childrens book industry in Australia and very helpful and interesting and at a very reasonable cost. Check out your local versions of all this if you haven't already.(They are a tax deduction if your work is a business). So be brave and make your passion public- only a few will run away and if you're quick you can chuck a business card in their bags as they retreat!

It early morning and I am up writing to show that I am a serious writer. Impressive eh? . The fact that my eyes won't focus properly, I am half frozen and my hair looks like a half-eaten fairy floss is mere trivia and simply a bonus to you that I am not visible. Because I am SERIOUS WRITER GIRL...IRL...IRL..IRL (super hero announcement echo). Yes, I Natalie will no longer fart around, fritter or squander my time to write and illustrate because I intend to have have lot's of my stories published ASAP.
I have been struggling with the balance of family and home with my writing and illustrating. I also do a few volunteer things and work about 3 hours a week. I had three days I was dedicating to my book work but really I was not getting a whole lot done (it's amazing how often the daisies needed dead-heading) and though I don't like to admit it, constantly finding excuses why I couldn't work. I also realised I was behaving like a child. I would throw tantrums and sulk that I wanted time to do my 'stuff' but the whole time I felt guilty that I was doing something 'wrong', something a bit naughty and not allowed. After all,I wanted all this time and space and some equipment but I wasn't really making any money. I felt like people were all thinking " Boy, that Natalie wants it all doesn't she? Doesn't want to do housework (duh!), clean up after people, do paperwork, deweed the herbaceous border. What a selfish tofu quadruped (I'm a vego)!
Embarrassing to admit but I finally realised I was the architect of my own boundaries. I was holding myself back. I had decades of practice avoiding all this. I should have realised my enemy was me all along. SO, I gave myself permission to succeed without limits. I decided to look at myself as my employee. What a slacker! This girl needed to put her nose the the grinder and prove she really wanted what she talked endlessly about wanting. So here I am being serious. I have installed a plan where one by one I get rid of distractions (the family can stay but the foghorn chickens may discover flight) and I have divvied out the housework and chores among the family. That should get a laugh all round. So now I get up around 5 and write till 7:30. Then I do family and home stuff till 9:30 and then it's illustrating till 3 and family and home again till after dinner then a bit more writing and reading and e-mail for an hour. That's roughly 8 hours of serious writer/artist dedication. I do believe in fairies!

I think you should know a bit about me. That way you can feel quite confident about what you too might achieve if you see that an often quite thick, over-the-hill ex-pharmacy assistant can become an established writer and illustrator.

In primary school I loved:
Drawing and painting
Writing and reading
Making up plays and performing

In highschool I loved:
Art
English
Ancient History (although sadly Narnia was never covered in the curriculum)

So naturally my dad wanted me to be...........a vet.

Yep that's right and he still tells me occassionally to this day that I would have made a great vet.
Now to be fair I have always loved animals too but I am thinking my interests and talents lay fairly obviously in arts and literature.Well, really my parents just wanted me to live a comfortable life and they did not want me to be a starving artist or writer. So the phrase " I don't know what I want to do" became my mantra for the next few decades. Of course I had to fill in those decades somehow. I went to Uni and did Theatre Production, I did hairdressing, worked in bakeries, sold insurance (warning this work can destroy a soul), worked in a drycleaners ( I got fired from there- beat that people) and mostly worked as a phamacy assistant. I was a single mum for a while and did housecleaning ( obviously a highlight, those years). Blah, blah, blah. The whole time I wrote journals, poetry, did the odd drawing and painting. All these years I was often unhappy. I have to say that at one point a guy I lived with agreed to me working part-time so I could be creative at home. In all honesty most of the time I just sat there. I didn't know what to do. I made some nice muffins.
Luckily my mum always encouraged me by annoying me with requests for artwork. My grandfather wrote a few books about his life. My brother got me some mural jobs and I'd met a lovely guy who was happy for me to get creative whenever. Trust me I knew to marry that one.
I found I had all these stories bubbling out of me. I wrote them down. I had images in my head for the pictures to them or movie-like images for the adult fiction.
But I was still working part-time in work I wasn't enjoying. I had a family, a home and pets that all needed attending to (never ever buy chickens if you need some peace to work in). My creativity happened in the gaps between till one day I just couldn't ignore the misery inside me any more. I felt like I was going to explode if I didn't make my stories my main focus. And luckily there was no divorce and my family likes baked beans on toast. Well, it's not that simple and more about that later. But todays blog can be summed up thus:
If you have a creative child, please please please encourage them to persue that. I hear so many parents ask their creative teenagers what they will do for a real job and it breaks my heart. Creativity is a great gift however it is like a sword. You can use it and be a great warrior or unused it turns back on you.

...............Ooops! Am I on now?Can I just lower the mic?
Okay folks; I am an illustrator and writer. Mostly for children. Am I published? Hey, you won't get a free coffee from Gloria Jean's for knowing me, but yeah I'm published............Okay, Okay I did it myself but hey, after wandering around the the Wood's of Wrong Careers, I'm doing it my way at first. Coz, it's not as scary and I would never reject my own submission. I save on postage too.
The wacky adventures that are befalling me after deciding to go with my passions prompted me to share. At the very least you can laugh AND avoid that awful pitfall that I fell A over T into. Or maybe you'll get some good advice. I'll let you know as soon as I think of any.
In the meantime please come share the fun, the pain and the burnt dinners as I aspire to become a world reknowned writer and illustrator.