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Hi all, When my eyes are fixed, I am going to try a writing idea mentioned at the Emerging Writer's Festival. One of the panelists suggested that a good way to learn another writer's style was to type up one of their books. The novel I am writing is in the first person and past tense, so I decided to choose a similarly written novel. I remembered that James Bradley's The Deep Field is in first person, but it is in the present tense. I hoped Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake was in first person, but it isn't. I thought The Life of Pi by Yann Martel might be, and it is. It is also in past tense. It has the added advantage of partly being set in the jungle, because a lot of mine is set in the Australian bush. I won't type up the whole thing, just the chapters set in the jungle, and then see if I can find other critically acclaimed first person/past tense novels to study. Still not doing much editing/writing due to tired eyes and mind. Graham.

Hi all, I expected to be in a state of panic today as I prepared for cataract surgery on Wednesday, but after a meeting with the opthamologist last week I am relatively calm. Firstly, the opthamologist explained to a more receptive patient (me) the reason he had said there was slightly less of a chance of success with my eyes. He said the membrane under the lens on both of my eyes was thinner than normal, so there was a chance that it could split which would mean a hastily arranged second operation that usually fixes that problem. After initially refusing to give me any odds on the overall chances of success, he said it was probably 400:1. After a bit of thought, I decided I would play blind-in-one-eye roulette with a 400 chambered pistol. The second reason is that, due to an infection, I have had to postpone the cataract surgery for three weeks. Nothing like putting time in the way of a good panic. The first cataract won't be done until the 9 th of November and the ...

Hi all , The countdown has begun: only nine more days until I have cataract surgery on my left eye. My stress levels are rising as I ask, what happens if something goes wrong? If the cataract surgery is unsuccessful and leads to my vision becoming worse in the left eye, I am highly unlikely to agree to surgery on the right eye, at least not until I consult a number of opthamologists (eye surgeons). I suppose I could get increasingly thicker glasses so I could read with the right eye, so at least for a few years I would be okay. Hopefully by then, new procedures would ensure success with the removal of the cataract from the right eye. And maybe they will eventually be able to fix the damaged left eye with stem cells or some new technique. All will not be lost if something goes wrong. Still it is a bit of a worry. I finished editing chapter eight of "Stalking Tigers", only another twenty chapters to go. I added 2,000 words to it, which I wouldn't want to do for th...

Hi all, I'm still editing chapter eight of Stalking Tigers. I'm doing very little writing or reading at the moment due to tired eyes, general tiredness and devoting time to other things, like gardening. Warmer, wetter weather has caused a weed and snail surge in the garden, as well as a rapidly growing lawn. I was only going to plant tomatoes and lettuces over the warmer months so I wouldn't have to spend too much time watering, but I have already added carrots and will soon plant some beans. Oh well, I can consider it research for my novel as some of the story revolves around the stranded characters becoming self-sufficient in food. Dan Browne has knocked Stephenie Meyer off the top of the bestseller lists. His new book, which has been getting good reviews, sold 126,000 copies in Australia last week. The new science fiction series FlashForward looks promising. It's based on a Robert J Sawyer novel and like Lost has a continuous story line. Its premise has eve...