I've promised to try to keep my blog up-to-date, but what do I do when I have nothing to write about? I've had a quick skim around other blogs to see if there are any easy answers.

There aren't any easy ones, but there sure are some interesting and inventive possibilities. Some writers have fascinating hobbies or day jobs (just check out Glenda Larke for a really superb example) and some, like Karen Miller, also have the knack of interviewing other writers as well as sharing their own writing experiences. Still others have hit on the idea of joining forces and blogging as part of a team. SF Novelists is one such. Recent entries include Mindy Klasky on To Spoil or not to Spoil; Jim C. Hines on Secrets of a Good Villain and Simon Haynes on School Visits.

Another goodie in like vein is Writer Unboxed. Here, writers from a variety of genres write about the joys and sorrows of the business as well as offering articles on various aspects of the writer's craft. One of my veryverytop favourite historical fantasy authors, Juliet Marillier, blogs on Writer Unboxed as well as having her own web site

A blog I like to check on every week or so is Call My Agent. The blogger, an Australian literary agent, follows in the footsteps of the inimitable Miss Snark and says she "hopes to shed light on the sometimes shadow-shrouded world of publishing in order to help writers work out how the hell they get published". That's of interest to an awful lot of people, including me:-)

I was over the moon this morning to read an e-mail sent by writing buddy Sonia Helbig to the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre SF group, telling of the success of our friend and fellow group member Helen Venn in the Centre's SF competition for 2007. This competition is an annual event, receiving scores of entries from all over the country. Previous prize winners and commended entries have come from people who have gone on to make names for themselves in the Aussie SpecFic scene including Lee Battersby; Dave Luckett; Karen Simpson Nikakis; Tansy Rayner Roberts; Carol Ryles; Cat Sparks and Lyn Triffitt (now Battersby). Helen herself has been on the short list at least twice before, which just goes to show that hard work and persistence will pay off eventually - if, of course, you are in the right place at the right time. Well, this was the right place and right time for Helen and also for Sonia, whose name appears among the commended authors. A million congrats and big woohoos to both of them and to all the other shortlisters. The full list can be found on Helen's blog

OK, Satima, I hear you ask, WTH are you doing about your writing? Well, I'm pleased to say that the WIP has grown to over 50,000ww in the five weeks since I returned from my wanderings. If I keep on at this rate I should have a decent enough first draft within the next couple of months. I'll keep you posted. I shall try to be more regular in my blogging, too (apologies to those who've been complaining and writing to ask if I'm ill!) but I've been busy getting my head back together after the peripatetic peripeteia of the last few years. Furthermore, my ISP has been speed limiting me too often, and as blogging is a hog for kilobytes I've been trying to be careful. Well, that's my excuse, anyway:-)