Really?
April’s coming? The last month of the first quarter of the year?
Crikey!
I have to look back and ask: is there accomplishment in the last almost four months?
Well, yes. I’ve almost finished Michael, despite the hurdles that are being thrown my way.
Wow!
2018!
Already!
Is there anyone else who thinks this year has passed at the speed of light?
As I hugged my dog tight at midnight, trying to ameliorate the effect of fIreworks on him, I thought on my year.
Was it good? Could it be better?
I first met Ann Swinfen a few years ago.
I had been an indie author for some four years and she had been a mainstream author but was considering the indie path and she contacted me for advice and information. Since then she has scorched a path with frequent releases in print and e-pub and recently began to tread the path of audiobooks. She is an elegant writer, knowledgable of her field and now has a dedicated following. I asked Ann to cast herself away and let us know what she would read whilst so isolated…
What prompts an historical fiction/fantasy writer to want to see the Dior Exhibition?
Silks, satins, embellishments of beads and gold thread. It’s that simple…
I met speculative fiction and historical fiction writer Richard Abbott through Facebook. Both of us belong to an excellent writers’ (and readers’) group called The Review.
The desert island that Richard chose charmed me straight away. He says: ‘The “desert island” is actually the north end of Bryher, one of the Scilly Isles. Since these are only 28 miles off the coast of Cornwall, calling it a desert island is perhaps stretching a point, but I would happily be stranded there! Some of the Scilly Isles are inhabited, others not, but they’re all within an easy row of each other. Each is a little different in character, but they all have splendid views of sky and sea.’
Over to you, Richard…
I first met Kelly Gardiner during the organisation of the Historical Novel Society of Australasia Conference happening in Melbourne in the first week of September.
One of the nice things for me about this conference, has been touching base with writers in Australia and New Zealand because, to date, most of my professional relationships have been with European and American hist.fict and hist.fantasy writers.
Kelly is appearing on a panel about why we authors write about far-flung shores, why we bypass our homeland in favour of other places.
Kelly accepted my invitation to appear on Desert Island Books and I leave you with she and her rather wonderful list.
Earlier this year, I was asked to join a panel of authors to discuss exploring stories beyond our national boundaries and why we chose to write about times and places far from Australasia.
I’d never really navel-gazed about my predilection for twelfth century Europe. To me, it just was. When I wrote about Venice, Lyon or Constantinople, bells rang – sounds ranging from soft tintinnabulation to reverberating tocsins, and that was all that was required.
Yesterday, a bleak, grim winter’s day, when the sun forgot its way and the cloud sulked low to the hills, and my husband and I brewed a winter virus, the postman rang twice.
We all chase dreams. Some more than others. But the writing dream is one that comes with its own issues. In this honest and revealing post, Gordon Doherty, writer of spectacular Roman and Byzantine fiction explains how the profession of writing really tested him!
