Deadline distractions – and a winner!

Posted on October 28, 2010 by Bron

Whoosh – that’s the sound of the weeks flying past as I sit glued to the computer, mostly disconnected from the internet, working hard on the next book. I’m so sorry that it’s taken me ages to draw the winner for my birthday giveaway!

Thank you everyone, for all your lovely comments and your suggestions for settings for books – I now have a bad case of wander-lust! Must plan a nice long research trip (or 4!) for next year sometime 🙂

But without further ado, the random number generator picked the number 7 – and the 7th commenter is: SN! I’ll send you an email, so you can pick your choice of prize 🙂

As mentioned, I’m concentrating on writing at the moment, and not doing a whole lot else! My agent and publisher have seen the first three chapters of the new book and are happy with it, so it’s full steam ahead for me. I have got rather more than 3 chapters, but not in shape yet, so there’s still a long way to go. However, now that I have the characters fleshed out in my mind, plenty of ideas for the plot, and we’ve got a good start, I’m hoping it will flow very well from here.

Giving me a time frame to work to is the news that my surgery, to replace the aneurism affected internal carotid artery, is scheduled for Dec 16th. Becuase I’ll have to come off anti-clotting and blood-thinning meds some days before the surgery and go on to a heperin drip, I’ll be admitted to hospital on the 10th December.

If I work very solidly on the book, all going well I’m going to try to have it finished before I go into hospital – or at least, before the surgery, since I’ll have almost a week of sitting around in hospital before that! I’m not sure if it’s doable, but I’m aiming for that, as it will be a weight of my mind to have it out of the way before the surgery, and I’ll be able to take the recovery period a bit easier without pushing myself to write.

So, that’s the plan! I’ll be disconnected from the internet a lot during these next few weeks, to focus on writing, so if blog posts are fewer than usual, please forgive me!

Posted in Book news, Life | 4 Comments

A (very) small distraction

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Bron

I’d just sat down with my breakfast this morning, and opened my photos folder to select some photos of my recent trip to post, when Gordon, who’d set off with the dogs a few minutes before for a morning walk, appeared at the window. Curled up in his hand (the other was holding the dog leads) was a small ball of fur. He’d found it at the bottom of a tree – cold, probably in shock, but alive. Because it’s head was tucked in, we assumed young possum, and I took it inside, found a box, wrapped a hot water bottle in a towel, and placed the little bundle of fur into an old woollen hat.

A little later, after we’d done some Googling and it had had a chance to warm up, I fed it some diluted milk with a touch of honey, which it seemed quite keen on:

Sugar Glider

It’s actually not a possum, but a sugar glider, and therefore rather more grown than a similar-sized possum would be. It wasn’t injured, from what I could see, other than an infection or some damage to one eye.

So, I’ve had a bit of a busy day with this small visitor, liasing with WIRES, the wildlife rescue service, making sure it stayed warm, feeding/hydrating it, and finally handing it over to a friend and ‘neighbour’ – she lives about 10km away – who is a wildlife carer. And I still haven’t sorted out the photos to post, or drawn the winner of the Birthday Bonanza blog! It’s late now though, and I’m heading to bed shortly. Tomorrow is another day…

Posted in General | 1 Comment

Birthday bonanza

Posted on October 9, 2010 by Bron

My sister and I are back from our trip – we had a great time, but more on that in a forthcoming post, when I will have some photos to share.

This post is about some other good news: in a lovely piece of timing, I had an email during the week from the fiction editor at Woman’s Day magazine, to say that my short story will be in the issue that will be out this coming Monday, October 11th – which just happens to be my birthday!

Add that to an inspiring trip away and some great location research, and I think it calls for a celebration giveaway, don’t you?

For a chance to win a signed copy of the UK edition of Dark Country, OR, if you already have Dark Country, then a $20 gift voucher from a bookstore of your choice, simply comment in this post, and tell us a) what you thought about the short story, OR b) what place in Australia you’d love to see as a book setting (you don’t have to have been there yourself – this is open to international readers and armchair travellers!)

I’ll randomly draw one winner from the commenters on Sunday, 17th October.

So, let’s hear where you’d like to see a book set – I know where my current book will be inspired by, but there’s still a book to write after that, and after that…. 🙂

Posted in Contests, News | 15 Comments

Location research

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Bron

I love spending time with my sisters, and we don’t get to do it enough. My younger sister Andrea arrived yesterday, and for the first time in a long time we’re having a few days together where we can do what we want. We’ve had time together in Sydney several times a year for the past couple of years, but being together when I’m in hospital, or recovering from hospital, is not the same!

Last night the Scrabble board came out, and we had a couple of great games – especially the second one, which started with me picking up a 7 letter word, and included Andrea having two more during the course of the game – one on a triple word score!

This morning – once we’re properly up, moving, and organised! – we’re packing up the car and heading west for a couple of days. The book I’m currently writing is set in a fictional area, but inspired by mid-north-west NSW, so we’ re off to do some location research.

Yes, yes, I know that many women, having a few days away with their sister, would go find a beach, or a resort, or a spa, or even the city lights… but I’m dragging my sister off to small towns, National Parks, dirt roads, rugged bush, open plains, and probably nary a cocktail in sight. (Although I’m sure we’ll see plenty of cockatoos!)

We’re going to base ourselves in Inverell, and I’ve booked a cabin in a caravan park there for two nights. Inverell is only a couple of hours drive from here, but we’ll go a long way around, looping through some other small towns and wilderness areas on the way. Tomorrow we’ll probably do a day trip, heading further west, perhaps as far as Moree, and then north up towards the Queensland border, then back south again to Inverell.Travelling back on Friday, we’ll again take a longer loop, perhaps around through the Torrington State Conservation area.

I’m looking forward to the trip – but must go and get organised and pack some things, otherwise we’ll never get on the road! I’m taking the iPhone of course, so there may be some mobile blogging over the next few days; we should get phone reception fine in Inverell, but other places maybe not.

Posted in General | 3 Comments

Spring

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Bron

Spring has sprung, the grass has riz,

I wonder where the froggy is?

Small green fog

The frog is on the branch..

But there’s a bird! Oh, good, it lost its chance…

(My apologies to Ogden Nash!)

Yes, Spring is here, and our patch of bush is busy with activity. Down at the dam in the evening the frogs and insects are loud and cheerful. Birds flutter around the house during the day, and I love watching them, especially the fairy wrens – although they move too fast for a decent picture! The wattles have been out for weeks, brightening up the scenery with their yellow buds. We have at least three types of wattles in the immediate vicinity – there’s plenty of black wattles through the bush, a low-growing one in front of the house, and a graceful Guyra wattle over by the dog run. Nothing quite says ‘Spring’ in this part of the world as much as a flowering wattle against the blue sky:

Guyra wattle

Another sign of Spring is the reappearance of slithery things – I saw the first snake of the season a couple of days ago. But we didn’t bother it, and it slithered away peacefully.

Things continue on, quietly busy. I’m currently doing a major clear out and declutter in our sunroom, hoping to finally transform it into a workable office/craft space for me. It’s not finished yet, but progress has definitely been made!

I haven’t heard a date yet for my surgery, so that’s all still up in the air, but I do have something great to look forward to – my sister is coming to visit next week! We’re planning to head west to Inverell and that district and spend a couple of days there, so I can research the area that is the broad inspiration for the fictional settings in my current book. I’ve been through that area numerous times before, but not with a writer’s eye and a story in mind. It will be fun to go with Andrea, and to have someone to bounce ideas off as we travel. Other than getting together in Sydney when I’ve had surgeries, we haven’t had a relaxed holday, just the two of us, for a lot of years, so it will be a fun few days, I’m sure.

Posted in General, Life, Photos | 2 Comments