About Me

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Perth, Western Australia, Australia
I am based in Perth, Western Australia. You might enjoy my books - The Dagger of Dresnia, the first book of the Talismans Trilogy, is available at all good online book shops as is Book two, The Cloak of Challiver. Book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. I trained in piano and singing at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. I also trained in dance (Scully-Borovansky, WAAPA) and drama (NIDA). Since 1987 I have been writing reviews of performances in all genres for a variety of publications, including Music Maker, ArtsWest, Dance Australia, The Australian and others. Now semi-retired, I still write occasionally for the ArtsHub website.

My books

The first two books of my trilogy, The Talismans, (The Dagger of Dresnia, and book two, The Cloak of Challiver) are available in e-book format from Smashwords, Amazon and other online sellers. Book three of the trilogy, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation.I also have a short story, 'La Belle Dame', in print - see Mythic Resonance below - as well as well as a few poems in various places. The best way to contact me is via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/satimaflavell

Buy The Talismans

The first two books of The Talismans trilogy were published by Satalyte Publications, which, sadly, has gone out of business. However, The Dagger of Dresnia and The Cloak of Challiver are available as ebooks on the usual book-selling websites, and book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. The easiest way to contact me is via Facebook.

The Dagger of Dresnia

The Dagger of Dresnia

The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans

The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans
Available as an e-book on Amazon and other online booksellers.

Mythic Resonance

Mythic Resonance

Mythic Resonance is an excellent anthology that includes my short story 'La Belle Dame', together with great stories from Alan Baxter, Donna Maree Hanson, Sue Burstynski, Nike Sulway and nine more fantastic authors! Just $US3.99 from Amazon. Got a Kindle? Check out Mythic Resonance.

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Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong,  Australia

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've Lived - Sydney

Places I've Lived - Sydney
Sydney Conservatorium - my old school

Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier
Blue Lake

Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day
From Kings Park

Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland

Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland

Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Night

Places I've Lived: Perth by Night
From Kings Park

Inner Peace Blog

Inner Peace Blog
Awarded by Joanna Fay. Click on the image to visit her lovely website!

Versatile Blogger Award

Versatile Blogger Award
Awarded by Kim Falconer. Click on the pic to check out her Quantum Astrology blog!

Fabulous Blog Award

Fabulous Blog Award
Awarded by Kathryn Warner. Click on the pic to check out her Edward II blog!

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Sunday 16 September 2007

Another test to try

Here's a meme that's doing the rounds (I got it from Simon Haynes who had it from Anysia.) I've blogged my weakness for doing tests before - I've even signed up for Hey Cupid (and Cupid is the last deity I want to notice me, thank you!) because of the entertaining range of tests the site offers.

This one, however, is a bit more serious in intent, albeit good fun to do. Go to Career Cruising and sign in with the username: nycareers and the password: landmark. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questionnaire.

What did they come up with for you?

My results, obtained after three rounds of questions, demonstrated yet again that the things I like and am good at don't make any money – unless you're very, very good and very, very fortunate. My top three? Ha! Historian, Anthropologist and Writer.

If all the people with MAs or PhDs in history or anthrop had jobs in academia those departments would have ten or twenty or a hundred times the number of staff. As it is, such graduates can be found in working in offices and factories; as bus drivers, mail deliverers and in all sorts of other jobs that are, by and large, quite uncongenial to their personalities. Of course, with another year or two of training they can become teachers or librarians, but I'm sure if they'd wanted to be teachers or librarians they wouldn't have signed on for a higher degree in the first place. It's a sad fact that a higher degree in the Humanities only sets you up to be an academic. If you can't get an academic job you have to do something else altogether.

With writing, it's just as hard. A degree in creative writing will not guarantee you publication. Nor will many years of starving in a garret while you learn the craft of putting stories together. Here again, there are only so many books published in any given year and there are so many good writers about that it really does boil down to luck when it comes to attaining that elusive goal – getting published. And sadly, the performing arts are just as bad or worse.

My list of 40 possible occupations included lots of things that I've had to do in the many and varied jobs I've had, such as ESL teacher (#9) Critic (#11) Researcher (#16) Technical Writer (#20) Archivist (#32) Dancer (#35) and Print Journalist (#40). I've only incidentally taught in scho0ls (teaching crops up again and again on the list in various guises) but I taught dance for over 20 years and in the process had to be a Special Effects Technician (#13) Casting Director (#30) and something of a comedian (#6). In days long past, I trained as an Actor (#7) and a Musician (#21). I even have some training towards being a Foreign Language Instructor (#15). Mind you, there are a few things on the list (#5 Political Aide, #18 Artist or #23 Criminologist) that I can't picture myself doing under any circumstances but by and large Career Matchmaker is as good a vocational guidance test as I've ever done. It showed me yet again that like many people whose gifts lie in the Arts and Humanities, I'm a jack-of-all-trades. I take consolation from the fact that most published writers have the same kind of story to tell.

Now, all I have to do is get a book or two finished and start taking tickets in that Publication Lottery!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cool! My top 4 were writer, foreign language instructor, historian, translator. A little further down the list I got magician, pet groomer (that figures), animal breeder, curator and clergy (!).

Satima Flavell said...

Hey, you're supposed to be a writer! That's reassuring:-)I can see you as most of the others as well. Being an animal breeder or a pet groomer, however, doesn't mean you'll want to wear a dog collar:-) And of course, with your talent for wordsmithing you must have a bit of the magician in you. Probably quite a lot, if truth be known. Keep up the magic!

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