Celebrating our Achievements

At my work, we have a new standing agenda item on every meeting in the organisation. It's called Celebrating our Achievements, and every meeting must start by mentioning and celebrating positive achievements by our staff.

So, I am rolling out "Celebrating our Achievements" to the Bootcampers. As 2010 comes to a close its important we celebrate the great work our writers have done over the year. When I put the call out to the Bootcampers to give me their achievements, I had a great response. Congratulations to all on their achievements in 2010, some of which are listed below.

Eleni Konstantine

• Healer’s Destiny - polished, submitted to agents and entered into 4 competitions.
• Registrar for Romancing the Novel.
• Attended Coogee Conference – pitched to agent and editor
• Attended BootiCon!
• Obtained funding to help with Coogee costs.
• Attended WorldCon
• Entered 2 short story competitions. (one a brand new story)
• Submitted short stories to markets.
• Wrote one new short story needing work.
• Dream Tamer – first draft completed.
• Presented a Blogging Workshop at the Writers’ Centre
• Won the Little Gems cover contest
• Focusing more on writing and less volunteer work.
• Published on Antipodean SF, November issue with ‘The Bucket"
• Mirror, Mirror flash fiction accepted for publication by Mindflights e-zine
• Undertook Bob Mayer course via RWNZ
• Reading – lots done and a range of different genres/subgenres. Fun.
• Nominated for the Lynne Wilding Meritorious Service Award.

Goals for 2011

• Edit – DreamTamer, Gateway to Hell, Clown story, sanctuary sci-fi story (for Aus anthology)
• Write – Shadow novella, Lady & the Dragon, short story for MZB’s Sword & Sorcery anthology
• Read resources on writing I have on my shelf.
• Overhall website
• Enter Little Gems Short Story
• Enter Little Gems cover contest
• Submit once stories are polished :) Hoping to sumbit one novel, two novellas and 6 short stories.

Dana’s Achievements for 2010

• completed two more semesters of uni (only four more to go!)
• finished a synopsis for Believe in Fairy Tales
• entered the STALI
• entered HM&B’s New Voices comp
• started a new manuscript in a new genre
• learned heaps through Bootcamp, Breathless in the Bush, the RWA’s Perth Roadshow, and the RWA’s 2010 Sydney conference
• pitched to and editor and an agent (got requests from both)
• studied a new writing topic every two months
• built on and founded new relationships with other writers

Nikki Logan

A whole bunch of firsts for me this year...

• Saw my first book on the shelves (Feb 2010, and then quickly followed it up with two more and a novella before the end of 2010).
• Signed a contract for books 7-9.
• Got my first royalty cheque
• Entered the RITA for the first time (didn't final though)
• Did my first general public romance writing workshop and RWA workshop

Tracey's achievements for 2010:

• Made the second round of the Emerald award.
• Finishing TAFE course.
• Attended Coogee conference, with successful pitch to Harlequin.
• Entered my first international writing contest.

Fiona's 2010

• Entered the 2010 Little Gems Short Story Competition, and story was accepted for publication in the anthology
• Entered the 2010Valerie Parv Award and received good feedback
• Entered the 2011 Emerald Award, waiting….
• Attended the RWA conference and Booticon and met all of the Bootcampers
• Managed the RWA Group Grants Scheme
• Volunteered as Editor on work newsletter and published six editions

I'm sure everyone will agree this is a FABULOUS list of achievements. Congratulations to all. As 2010 draws to a close, and thoughts turn to New Years, I urge you to make a list of writing goals for 2011, then in December next year, you too will be celebrating the year's achievements.

Happy writing in 2011 everyone.

Quiet Day

Yesterday I ticked off one of my "must do's" in life - the Bon Jovi Concert. Together with 40000 other fans, we packed into Suncorp Stadium on what must have been the hottest night so far this year.

This morning I'm wondering at what age you're too old for rock concerts. I'm pretty sure I've got heat exhaustion, I can't hear anything, I've got a strained voice and a complete inability to lift my arms above shoulder height. And a few general aches that come with two solid hours of dancing.

Worth it? You bet. Bon Jovi are professional rockers and they put on a really great show. I can't wait till they come round again.

The Christmas Letter

Thirty years ago, before ready access to technology, there was no such thing as the Christmas Letter - the one page summary of the year's activities - that has become part and parcel of sending Christmas Cards.

I have a bit of a chequered history with The Christmas Letter - having attempted one for the last few years, I've come to the conclusion that really my life is a little bit boring and seriously consistent. This year, I changed the date from 2009 to 2010 and I was done. Hubby and I are both still working the same jobs. Senior dog still going to the vet for ongoing medical problems, junior dog still trying to be returned to the RSPCA for behaviour related issues (no, we'd never send her back but we have had the conversation...)

So, do I send it with my cards? Do I leave it out and let the world wonder where I've been all year? Maybe I need to spice it up? Many years ago I worked in a small family business - the shop was this family's life. The children's homework desks were in the back room, there was a mini kitchen and the groceries lived in the shop fridge not at home. That family sent ONE christmas card every year. And it was so they could continue to receive "Aunty Pat's* Christmas Letter", a fictionalised version of what went on in a relatively close relation's life.

For example: "Peter* really enjoyed his twenty-first, especially the after-party". In reality - Peter was arrested for drunk and disorderly and no-one in his immediate family knew where he was for 36 hours after he left the party. "Sarah*, now 15, is embracing her artistic tendencies". In truth, Sarah ran away from home with a 19 year old and was living in a campervan in Byron Bay the last time they heard from her.

My personal favourite: "We will be holidaying at our beach house again this year, and you are welcome to join us over the festive season. The park across the road has ample toilets and hot running showers." I don't think my employers took them up on their generous offer. I however, was tempted as I couldn't imagine what sort of Christmas Lunch that would be.

So, what's the funniest thing you've seen in The Christmas Letter?

PS *Names changed, of course...

The Little Black Book

My face to face writing group decided earlier this year to explore their creativity and one of the projects that's really captured my imagination is The Little Black Book.

No-one talks about "The Book". It is handed to the next person on the list at the start of each meeting. Longing looks are directed at it by its new custodian before it disappears into her bag, to be devoured the minute she walks in the door from face to face.

So what's inside? A round robin long short story, or short novella. Each writer must add another four pages to the story (plus any artwork they like), before passing it onto the next writer two weeks later. There are brief character bios in the back, but other than that it can go in any direction you want to take it.

The last time I had the book I turned a minor character into a major player, introduced a crooked cop to the story and gave one of the heroines an unusual cosmetic procedure. I can't wait to see how that story turned out. I'm anxiously awaiting my second round. I'm totally in the dark about this story but I did catch a glimpse of a pink feather as the book was handed across the table. Flamencos? Fairies? Melbourne Cup hats?

Oooohhh the suspense!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I live within walking distance of a Westfield Shopping Centre and we're getting to the point of the year where its actually quicker to walk over than to drive and find a park. Christmas starts earlier and earlier each year.

We've always had "family rules" around Christmas. Only thinking toys or experiences for the children - I really love a little store called Mind Games for their selections of games, jigsaws, mazes and puzzle books. And about five years ago we vowed (after a particularly harrowing carparking experience) not to visit Westfield in December or January. This prompted the rule of having Christmas shopping done by 30th November, a goal I am not going to meet this year.

Two years ago we added "not buying anything marketed in Christmas packaging". So no tins of shortbread or stockings filled with lollies. If I want fruit mince pies, I have to actually bake them.

This year we're going to do Christmas differently again. We're only purchasing Christmas gifts from independent retailers - nothing from major chain stores or shopping centres. Difficult? Not really. Brisbane is blessed with plenty of markets, City Hall runs a fabulous Charity Christmas Card Shop, the RSPCA has a pet barn at Springwood and there are plenty of independent booksellers so everyone will have their reading fix. I recommend Rosemary's Romance Bookstore in the city and Pulp Fiction if you're buying for non-romance lovers. And if you're looking for an extra special gift for a romance lover, you can't go past Romance by You , a personalised romance novel starring your romance lover and her partner, pets, friends and colleagues.

I had better get my skates on. It's just over a month until the big day...

Peanut Butter Lover's Month

When I read November is peanut butter lover's month I just had to share some recipes. I grew up in Queensland, where peanut butter was called peanut paste in my formative years - due to pressure from the Butter board who wouldn't allow the peanut butter manufacturers to use the word butter.

I don't eat nuts. Really dislike them, but peanut butter is a whole different story. I love PB/H - aka peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and anyone who makes rumballs at Christmas, I've got a comparable treat made from peanut butter and honey.

Peanut butter and honey balls

Take equal amounts of peanut butter and honey and mix well. Gradually add skim milk powder until the texture firms (suitable for rolling). Roll into balls and coat in either dessicated coconut or crushed peanuts. Store in fridge. Serve with coffee.

Interestingly, I saw a recipe that added cocoa to a half/half PB/H mix and then stored the completed mix in the fridge as a sandwich spread. Haven't tried that yet. When I didn't have milk powder, I used dessicated coconut in the mix and that worked too.

And then there is this recipe, which does my head in. How can it bake into a cookie if there's no flour? But it does.

4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 cup sugar

Combine the above ingredients. Drop spoonfuls onto a lightly greased tray and bake at 350 degrees F for 5-7 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool, then remove from tray and enjoy.

Happy Peanut Butter Lover's Month to all.

Disappointing Fiction

I have plenty of authors on my auto-buy list - if I see their name on the cover, the book goes into the basket. And generally this works really well for me. But in June I auto-bought one of my favourite authors, and its taken me till now to finish the book.

Why?

I didn't like the first three quarters of the book. To be fair, I probably hated reading the first three quarters of this book. But because I usually love this author I kept going. One chapter here and there, hoping it would improve. Last night about 10pm, three quarters of the way through, it finally snagged my interest and I'd finished it by lunchtime today. And wondered if maybe it would have been better as a novella or short novel.

So, what do I do now? Do I leave this author on my auto-buy list, do I do a quick skim of the next book before it goes into my basket, or do I take an author-holiday?

What would you do? And how many pages in do you get before you decide a novel isn't for you?

November is for...

Depending on who you ask, November means different things. Ask the motor-sport fans (like hubby) and they say its the end of the season and when the V8 championship gets entertaining. Ask the horse-racing fans and they say Melbourne cup and Spring Racing Carnival. Ask a Generation Y, and they'll say Christmas Parties - I have four Christmas party invites for November because December is too busy.

But if you ask a writer they say NaNoWrMo - National Novel Writing Month. Described as thirty days and nights of literary abandon it challenges writers to produce 50 000 words in 30 days in November. I've never managed the 50 000 words, probably because I've got a huge dose of edit-while-I-write-itis. But I love the challenge and it brings writers together - one of our local coffee chains sets aside tables for NaNo participants.

Are you doing NaNoWrMo this month? If so I wish you BICHOKAW (bottom in chair, hands on keyboard and write).

Beach Holiday

The name Fiona means "white" or "fair" and looking at my skin, my parents certainly got it right when they chose it. I risk sunburn if I sit under a lightbulb, so we've never really been the beach holiday type. But this week, we're forgetting all about flooded rivers, broken fences and all the other challenges of the bush to holiday in the fabulous Hervey Bay.

There won't be much in the way of sunbaking, but we're staying right on the beach, in a pet-friendly holiday house. The older dog won't be spending too much time on the sand but I'm really looking forward to taking the junior dog (who's still really a puppy) to the sand for lots of digging.

My must dos for a beach holiday - a run along the Esplanade or two, seeing the sunrise over the ocean, fish and chips and my favourite creativity exercise - building a sand castle. Not just a tipped out bucket castle, but a full scale medieval style construction complete with moat. I don't write medieval, but I do love to read it.

And speaking of reading - I have been saving some books for this week. Unfortunately, both Kelly Hunters were devoured during the rain last week. But I've got Anne Gracie's "His Captive Lady", Susan Grant's "Sureblood" and "The Star Prince" and Patti O'Shea's "Eternal Nights". Seven days, four novels - that sounds about right!

Wild Weather

The Eastern seaboard of Australia has been experiencing some wild weather in this last week - torrential rain, gale force winds and down south - snow.

We're the proud custodians of a block of land a few hours from the city, with a river running down one boundary. When I say river, I should say river-bed, because it doesn't run all that often. When we bought the land we asked the real estate agent if there was any possibility of being flooded in. He raised his eyes skywards (probably praying for patience) and drawled "Darl, we'd have to get some rain first." We took that to mean no and signed on the dotted line.

Since that time we've had four major floods, the most recent is happening right now. In town, we jump on the net and check our river height (technology is great). Yesterday, hubby drove down to check the fences, which are about 2m underwater. Here are some photos of the flooded Maryland River. It doesn't look too bad until you realise the bridge is across a gully and sits about 5m above the ground!

Ideas, Ideas

I've decided if I could write as fast as I collect ideas, I'd be a really prolific writer. I've got hundreds of photos and articles in my idea folders, and just recently I decided to try and sort them.

First up were the photos collected from magazines. Hundreds of potential heroines and heros, with a definite bias towards brunettes of both sexes. The majority of my characters are in the great outdoors, and a lot of the men are in denim. Plenty of inspiration there.

In the ideas folder there's articles on

• deaf dalmations,
• cycleways on disused rail corridors,
• a recent legal battle over a historic house smack bang in the middle of a local redevelopment,
• storm chasers,
• a school that travels with the agricultural show circuit, teaching the show children and
• a fascinating article on death and dying that I have no idea how to incorporate into a romance, but I can't throw out.

Unexpected highlights included the two page spread detailing Johnny Depp's movie career in photos (sadly no 21 Jump Street photo) and enough information on space to fill the Starship Enterprise.

I spent an afternoon and sorted this treasure trove into folders to make finding my carefully collected photos and ideas a little bit easier. Now my head is full of stories clamouring to be written.

Where should I start?

More made up terms

As well as my frequently recurring attachment disorder (failure to attach files to emails), I also suffer from two other problems that occur frequently enough to need a name.

The first is my penchant for having to drive around the block because I can't remember if I put the garage door down. I do this about three times a week, and more often if life is hectic. My feeble attempts to name this syndrome (having failed to find anything on google):

• Remote Revisit Disorder
• Un-controll-a-dooring

The fabulous Nikki Logan wanted to play as well and I think she wins on sheer originality:

• Double-check Descent Disorder (DDD)

Interestingly, someone has invented a gadget that detects the door hasn't gone down within a specified time frame, and auto-triggers the remote to close the door. I figure I might put that on my Christmas list.

My second problem - revisiting the car to check I've locked it. Showing I have a complete inability to learn from experience, this tends to happen on the days when the DDD (above) is playing up. Having driven back around the block (through all the roundabouts and speedbumps) and discovered the door was actually down, I'm now running late. I get to the carpark and leave the car. Two minutes later, I'm back to check I've locked it. And of course its locked!

I think I'm going to group all these minor inconveniences into one general term:

• Distraction Disordered - adjective - describes someone whose day to day functioning is compromised by having their head in the clouds.

What do you think?

Attachment Disorder

Yesterday I sent an email minus its attachment. Today I received a request for a writing look over (one step down from a critique) minus its file, and not for the first time I wondered if there was a word for this. So I googled and thanks to the good folks at Urban Dictionary ( www.urbandictionary.com ) I have the following candidates:

Forattachment: The act of forgetting to attach a file to an email.

Forgetfileness: The act of forgetting to attach a file to an email.

Attachment Disorder: Suffered by people who forget to attach files to emails

Attachmentally Challenged: A politically correct way to say attachment disorder

Attachless: Used to describe an email minus its attachments

Attachmiss: Verb to describe the act of failure to attach.

I'm sure if I kept looking I'd find a million different terms but my current favourite is attachment disorder. What's yours?

Going Paper-lite

I am on a mission - to change my office from a muddle of clutter to a sleek paper-lite space that's so well organised I'll be able to lay my hands on any piece of information I need within about 5 seconds. I've known for ages I need to do this but this last week I've been looking for a whole heap of work I'd done on a new story. I've turned every piece of paper stacked on that desk upside down and inside out forty times looking for it. And I can't find it.

So here you have it - the before photo, and the after photo. It's going to take me a while to get to the after photo, but I've made the commitment and I'm determined that I'm not going to let clutter steal any more of my time.

Wish me luck.

All in the name of research

At Boot-i-Con I was lucky enough to brainstorm my next project - I won't say too much other than I need my hero and heroine trapped together in a very small vessel for a long voyage, and they will spend a lot of time tripping over each other.

So I've been hitting the local library and raiding their caravan, motorhome and boat magazines - full of glossy spreads detailing some of the most fabulous equipment to be had. Each review has a "I would have liked" section, and as I read I'm jotting these down. Already my vessel is taking shape - yes there are two seats but every time you sit in one of them, you hit your head when you stand up again. Or perhaps there's no power outlets in the lounge/dining nook to plug in things like laptops, and the kitchen sink doesn't have a splash guard so the bed gets wet if you're a messy kitchen hand. The possibilities are endless.

This research has had some additional benefits. Our library is in a big shopping centre, so I've already picked up some bored retireees hanging round the library while their wives shop, all willing to share their caravanning stories when they see my reading list. Next on my list is a trip to a caravan yard so I can pick up some brochures. Hubby is looking increasingly worried about my new interest, and having seen the prices of some of the luxury rigs, I can see why.

It's all in the description

As a young bride I was over the moon to discover a picnic basket amongst the wedding presents. My delight however was short lived. Hubby looked at it in horror and muttered "I don't do picnics." My tartan picnic rug was destined to live its life out in the hall cupboard.

Until I discovered it's all in the description. The picnic basket is long gone, but in its place we have the "Smoko" Box. Fitted out at the local army disposals store, its suitable for trips to the motor sport, or for smoko down on the farm. Hubby is more than happy to boil a billy and sit out in the sunshine for morning tea or lunch, provided the word picnic is not uttered.

At some stage, I'm hoping to sneak it out to the park or the beach but I don't want to blow the cover of my picnic basket in khaki.

It's all in the description. And as a writer I figure I must be able to use this technique in lots of other situations. So what creative descriptions do you have for things around your house?

A history of romance

I was involved in a really interesting conversation recently. We were talking about the changes in the romance genre since we've been reading, and someone mentioned Betty Neels. You could have knocked me over with a feather when another writer about the same age as me asked "Betty Who?" Betty was one of Mills and Boon's most prolific authors with a career spanning over thirty years and hundreds of novels. Betty's nursing heroines and doctor heros probably steered my career choice towards working in hospitals, and her chaste heroines were perfect for my early teen years.

It got me to thinking - my romance reading habit now spans three decades. I always thought I had no real brain for history, but looking back I've stored away a lot of romance history. Who was writing what, and when? Amazing, when you consider how many romances I've read over the years.

My all time favourite Mills and Boon author was Brisbane author Lynsey Stevens, Carol Mortimer came in a close second during the eighties and I couldn't go past Johanna Lindsey and Kathleen Woodiwiss for historicals in the nineties. I spent a couple of hours on the internet after that conversation and saw plenty of original covers I remembered, complete with the latest fashion and hair.

So thinking back to your early reading days, which authors were on your must buy list?

First draft in 30 days

I'm a disorganised writer.

There are piles of editing sitting on my desk, files scattered all over my computer and intrays full of "one day" projects. This is a complete contradiction to my day job, where all of my paperwork is filed according to the "rules" of the organisation, my desk is cleared at the end of the day and my time is scheduled down to the last second.

So why is it so hard to transfer those habits to my writing life?

I think its left brain-right brain confusion. My day job is 100% left brain, but when I write I want to turn on my right brain and create.

So when I saw "First Draft in 30 Days" by Karen S. Wiesner sitting at the RWA Conference bookshop, my left-brain saw the word "system" and insisted I had to have it. I'm gearing up to use this system on my new manuscript, the one I brainstormed at Boot-i-Con. Fingers crossed it will work.

Boot-i-Con 2010

It's been a bit quiet round here lately. Some of the Bootcampers attended the RWA conference in Sydney, followed by a three day writing retreat - Boot-i-Con 2010 in the NSW Southern Highlands. The conference was fabulous - sorry I don't have photos but I'm sure they'll start coming through any time soon.

Boot-i-Con was the perfect end to my week away - I roomed with Anne, who may actually be a twin (separated at birth of course). Our late night giggly conversations interrupted everyone else's sleep, but Bootcampers are a polite group, and no-one mentioned our midnight chats.

As well as writing techniques and ideas, I learned some new skills:

• How to identify a wombat scat and wombat trails - unfortunately this did not lead to a wombat sighting despite several late night expeditions.
• How to light and manage a fireplace - not a skill we need very often in Queensland
• How to cook on a wood-fired stove. (And boy is having a continual supply of boiling water in the kettle a great thing for a writer)
• How to pack an extra 7kg of books, gifts, writing supplies and chocolate into a suitcase that was pretty full to start with.

A big thanks to Jacqui for hosting us, to Dana for baking for us (those Snickerdoodles are to die for) and everyone else for making our 3 days away exceptional.

Eight sleeps to go

Not that I'm counting, but it's eight sleeps till we leave for the Romance Writers of Australia Conference, and Boot-i-Con. The suitcase is out and I'm spending way too much time trying to decide what to take. Here in Queensland, I've been in shorts and T-shirts most of the week, but I know Sydney and our Boot-i-Con venue will be much cooler. So I've dug the gloves and scarf out and started planning my layers.

I'm really looking forward to the Friday workshop at this years conference - Debra Dixon's "Goal, Motivation and Conflict". Reading her book gave me a couple of lightbulb moments and I expect I'll get even more out of the workshop. So putting what I've learned to good use:

Goal: To pack smart for conference

Motivation: To leave enough room for books, lucky door prizes, books, gifts, books, freebies etc

Conflict: Needs outfits for three conference days, one fancy dress party, one awards dinner, one silver themed luncheon and three days of Boot-i-Con.

Something tells me I need to either re-organise my clothes, or buy a bigger suitcase.