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Hi all, It's one of those rare occasions that I have the house to myself. On these occasions, I usually take a holiday from my disciplined program of exercise, knowledge gathering and writing activities. I usually watch a few videos, listen to some music, have a few drinks, think about life and writing, and watch the world go by. I have looked through my DVD collection and watched The Heretic and Razorback among other films. After watching The Heretic, I am wondering if it should be included as a science fiction film, because its premise has Linda Blair's character and a priest being telepathically connected with a electronic instrument. Razorback depicts a lot of redneck Aussies and I wonder if that is why it was so derided. It did go on about Kangaroos becoming hunted to extinction from overhunting . Which was always bullshit. I have thought up a personal article to write for divine. An article about my fascination with fire, which ended when youthful misadvent...

Hi all, I had a very busy writing week last week. On Monday I sent in a pitch for three articles to Divine magazine. One of them was a review of this weekend's Wangaratta Jazz Festival. The editor suggested rather than a review, that I write more of a news item alerting people to the coming festival. I agreed to do it, which meant that instead of a three week deadline, it would need to be submitted by today. I read through the Jazz festival website and then rang the publicist of the event to ask a few questions, she asked me to email them to her. To my surprise she replied very quickly. She even sent a couple of requested photos to use for free. I also rang a few motels to check out their accommodation situation for people with disabilities: they were booked out up to two years in advance. I had already done some preliminary research at the tourist info board, before I sent in the pitch, so I was then right to write it. It took a couple of hours to write and then I ...

Hi all, I have finally gotten around to writing a post about three marketing sessions I attended at Aussiecon4. My first attempt got lost on a click on my mouse and since then I have been busy. Well, busy for me. The three sessions I attended were enlightening. They emphasised how hard it is to get published, but after you’ve been researching publishing for a while and joined a few writing groups you already know it’s darn near impossible, so what more can be said to put me off. What’s that, I have to sell your soul? Sorry I’m an atheist. Anyway, by the time I get my novels ready to be published, ebooks will have drastically changed the publishing industry. So much so, that many of the people who spoke at these sessions will be working in other industries. What we Publish. This session featured editors from the three big US science fiction publishers. Patrick Neilsen Hayden from Tor, Ginjer Buchanan from Ace, and Toni Weisskopf from Baen. Alex Adsett, a publishing...

Hi all I have been busy writing and doing paperwork type things for DiVine online magazine. I read their writer's guide, and you will hopefully see some of their advice on writing online in this blog with more shorter sentences and less thirty-three word sentences like this one. They reckon the ideal length is about ten words. I probably was told this in the Interactive Writing subject in my Master of Creative Writing, but then again I might not have been. After reading the writer's guide I rewrote the last article I had written and emailed it to them. It's a personal article, telling people something about my interests. I choose to talk about the possible connection between solving global warming and science fiction. I included headings. (Not sure about putting them in a blog.) The article has yet to be accepted. From now on we have to query the editor before we write a story. I sent my first invoice in for two stories that are already up on the site. In tw...

Hi all, I really enjoyed the Divine magazine introduction/training day on Friday. I went down to Melbourne on Thursday night and stayed in the same hotel in which the training day was being held. There were twelve other writers, some with obvious disabilities , others it was hard to tell, and like me, they weren't shouting about it. I spoke to about half of the group during the day - I'm not great at small talk, so I am not one to cruise a room. Two of the writers from last year's inaugural intake came along to tell us about their experiences. One named Graeme writes science fiction too. I learnt that we would be paid for any of the articles we sent in with our applications that were put on the magazine's website. Two of mine were: one on how ebooks will make reading easier for people with a disability and the other on looking after my father who had dementia . It feels like found money so I will spend some of it on a present for myself, perhaps I will...

Hi all, Just got the signed contract from Divine in the mail. It came with a form to fill in if I wanted to be excused from getting an ABN number. Wasn't sure if I should have one or not so I contacted the tax office, who wouldn't give me a definitive answer, instead directing me to an article on the tax office website. Read the article and then asked my sister who works for the tax office, and I have decided, my main reason for writing for Divine is for recreational purposes and not as a business venture, so I won't have to get an ABN. I am currently critiquing a spec fiction novel and have to get a move on, don't want it taking four months like the last one. Fortunately this one is half the size. Its first two chapters have me intrigued, the initial setup reminds me of the recent series The Prisoner , not in story, but both have someone in a bizarre location trying to figure out where they are and how they got there. I don't have any additional readin...