About Me
- Satima Flavell
- 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 Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans
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.
Follow me on Twitter
Share a link on Twitter
For Readers, Writers & Editors
- A dilemma about characters
- Adelaide Writers Week, 2009
- Adjectives, commas and confusion
- An artist's conflict
- An editor's role
- Authorial voice, passive writing and the passive voice
- Common misuses: common expressions
- Common misuses: confusing words
- Common misuses: pronouns - subject and object
- Conversations with a character
- Critiquing Groups
- Does length matter?
- Dont sweat the small stuff: formatting
- Free help for writers
- How much magic is too much?
- Know your characters via astrology
- Like to be an editor?
- Modern Writing Techniques
- My best reads of 2007
- My best reads of 2008
- My favourite dead authors
- My favourite modern authors
- My influential authors
- Planning and Flimmering
- Planning vs Flimmering again
- Psychological Spec-Fic
- Readers' pet hates
- Reading, 2009
- Reality check: so you want to be a writer?
- Sensory detail is important!
- Speculative Fiction - what is it?
- Spelling reform?
- Substantive or linking verbs
- The creative cycle
- The promiscuous artist
- The revenge of omni rampant
- The value of "how-to" lists for writers
- Write a decent synopsis
- Write a review worth reading
- Writers block 1
- Writers block 2
- Writers block 3
- Writers need editors!
- Writers, Depression and Addiction
- Writing in dialect, accent or register
- Writing it Right: notes for apprentice authors
Interviews with authors
My Blog List
-
Hide Your Wallet: March 19th Release Week! - It’s Tuesday, everyone! That means new releases are making their way out into the world. It’s a small week for us in terms of our own TBR piles. However, t...46 minutes ago
-
-
How to Get (Sort Of, Maybe) Murdered By Me – For Charitable Purposes! - The folks at Locus magazine are running an auction of interesting stuff in order to help fund the (non-profit) organization for another year, and among the...15 hours ago
-
Book Review Tiny Timmy #1- - Jill Smith’s Reviews > Tiny Timmy: Soccer Superstar! Tiny Timmy: Soccer Superstar! (Tiny Timmy #1)by Tim Cahill Jill Smith‘s review copyright Mar 16, 2024 ...16 hours ago
-
Big Truths in Fiction - Last month while in Florida during multiple stops on book tour, I wore my “I survived reading banned books and all I got was smarter” t-shirt. How could ...21 hours ago
-
Explore the history of Asia in ten stops [interactive map] - Explore the history of Asia in ten stops [interactive map] Embark on a captivating journey through pieces of the rich tapestry of Asian history with this...23 hours ago
-
Chris Nickson - Chris Nickson is the author of eleven Tom Harper mysteries, eight highly acclaimed novels in the Richard Nottingham series, and six Simon Westow mysteries....1 day ago
-
1 Weird Trick To Avoid Using The Passive Voice In Your Writing - What Is The Passive Voice? The passive voice is a grammatical construction in which the subject of a sentence is acted upon by the verb, rather than perf...1 day ago
-
Just Finished Reading… Of Judgement Fallen by Steven Veerapen. Edinburgh: Polygon, 2023 - This is the sequel to Of Blood Descended, in what I am guessing is the second of a duology, so… probably no more Anthony Blanke mysteries. Which woul...1 day ago
-
"An '80s Tenement Love Story' from Bourbon Penn 31 an Aurealis Award Finalist - It's humbling to see my latest story "An '80s Tenement Love Story" recently announced as a finalist for an Aurealis Award. This is the second time I've ...3 days ago
-
In which I can now worry significantly less about something terrible happening to 126 things... - I spent yesterday in Dallas, at the Heritage Auction headquarters -- I had decided to auction off some artwork and memorabilia to benefit two charities ...3 days ago
-
Stories in Flowers by Caroline K. Mackenzie - Spring is on its way. It has been a long winter (or, at least, it feels that way) and the bursting of buds and arrival of flowers bring welcome signs of ...4 days ago
-
How to Schedule Time for Writing - The post How to Schedule Time for Writing appeared first on ProBlogger. Maintaining Momentum in Blogging Series I find it is very easy to get distracted ...5 days ago
-
The Great Discworld Retrospective No. 11: Reaper Man - As I said in the last entry in this series, it was more than a year before I was able to read a new Discworld novel after buying the hardback of Moving Pic...6 days ago
-
A home: feels like a whirlwind - We’ve been home exactly one week. I was telling Matthew that I haven’t found my groove yet. I’m currently grooveless. Last post was from London. I don’t th...1 week ago
-
A home: feels like a whirlwind - We’ve been home exactly one week. I was telling Matthew that I haven’t found my groove yet. I’m currently grooveless. Last post was from London. I don’t th...1 week ago
-
Filling in the gaps: acquiring legislation from the Controller’s Library - In late November 2023, we uploaded to legislation.gov.uk the first batch of 7,000 items of historical legislation digitised from the Controller’s Library...1 week ago
-
‘The Noble Salvidge’ in conversation with Will Yeoman at York Writers’ Festival - On April 13th I will be attending the York Writers’ Festival and appearing in conversation with WritingWA’s Will Yeoman. It looks like a really interesting...2 weeks ago
-
Trip to Brazil 2024 - Landing in the Megalopolis of Sao Paulo On February 7th I flew to Sao Paulo, Brazil to start a 17 day teachi...2 weeks ago
-
#2 - WEP Get Together - March 2024 - Hello fellow WEPpers and friends! Welcome to the second WEP Get Together! *Starting in April, we go bi-monthly. * The WEP team decided to keep in to...2 weeks ago
-
Book Excerpt - 'From Superman to Spawn: How Hollywood Got Rich While Creators Got Poor' - The following is a work in progress. It is a chapter from my forthcoming book, From Superman to Spawn: How Hollywood Got Rich While Creators Got Poor.The b...3 weeks ago
-
New chat on the Lovecraft Ezine - I had a great chat with Mike Davis of the Lovercraft Ezine. We talked about about social media for creators, about small-town horror, about my books, and...3 weeks ago
-
3 “Easy” Steps for Cutting Words from Your Manuscript - *By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy * *Deleting words from your novel is easier than you think.* *Before I dive in, I'm guest posting at Writers in the Storm ...4 weeks ago
-
Royal Travel: Two Months at Edward II's Court - Unlike later centuries when the monarch spent most of the year in and around London, and went on progresses in the summer when the city got too hot and sti...1 month ago
-
Photo Parade 2023 - A bit of fun at the beginning of the new year. I’m following several German travel blogs, and that way came across the annual Photo Parade (Fotoparade) on ...2 months ago
-
Happy Public Domain Day 2024, the end of copyright for 1928 works - My annual reminder that January 1st is Public Domain Day, and this year copyright has ended for books, movies, and music first published in the U.S. in 192...2 months ago
-
The White Horse Band - Live Blues/Rock - 31 March 2023 Hi All, Time for some LIVE Video Music from me… (as opposed to my original stuff)…. I got into a blues/rock band for a one off gig at ...3 months ago
-
Konrath Thanksgiving - Black Friday - Cyber Monday Kindle Bundle Sale - *Get all of my ebook box sets on Amazon Kindle for 99 cents each, November 23 - 28.* *THAT'S 33¢ PER BOOK!* Almost my entire backlist of fifty-four ebooks...4 months ago
-
Questions from year 9 students - Recently – actually, not very recently but I somehow forgot to write this sooner – I did what has become an annual online Q&A with the Year 9 girls at Bedf...4 months ago
-
On Ohio, and the novels, and the new class - Just small news here. The new class is finished in first draft, and I’m now (and for the first time ever) doing the complete course bug-hunt and clean-up B...5 months ago
-
Big disruption hit book publishing before AI showed up - Publishers Weekly recently hosted a stimulating and smart online session about AI and publishing, thanks to the organizing and moderating skills of Peter...5 months ago
-
Flogometer 1180 for Christian—will you be moved to turn the page? - Submissions sought. Get fresh eyes on your opening page. Submission directions below. The Flogometer challenge: can you craft a first page that compels me ...7 months ago
-
Storny Weather - I've just been out fixing up the damage from last night's storm. This is pretty much the first time I've been able to spend much time outside and do any...7 months ago
-
#347 - I've been querying agents for the last 6-months and have over 50 rejections. I'm not sure if my novel isn't very interesting/sellable or if my query let...7 months ago
-
Parody - The other day, for the first time in a very long time, I heard the Barbie Song. So, being me, I decided to parody it, in hour of Alianore Audley and *The...7 months ago
-
Parody - The other day, for the first time in a very long time, I heard the Barbie Song. So, being me, I decided to write a parody. Hope you like it! *Hiya, Ali...7 months ago
-
To Live and Love - To live and love for the both of us Ten years ago today I made that vow I've struggled in the decade since Not always knowing exactly how Ten years you've...8 months ago
-
“It’s Random” – a random scribble - “Why am I even here? It’s random. No Divine Thing. No actual “purpose” except what we make of it. I haven’t made anything of it except to be restless, to a...8 months ago
-
#MemorialDay, remembering a female patriot ancestor - *© 2022 Christy K Robinson* We are taught stories about heroic men who gave their lives to bring independence and liberty to their families, friends--and...9 months ago
-
Mother’s Day Celebration (for a week!) - Originally posted on IFWG Publishing: We publish a fair bit of horror in many sub-genres, and celebrating Mother’s Day shouldn’t be exempt from our itinera...9 months ago
-
A tale of two titles - I have done something notably foolish. Which is perhaps nothing new, though the circumstances on this occasion are unusual. To whit, I am publishing two bo...11 months ago
-
Poem: If Wishes were horses - A team of horses racing toward me Brown like the uniforms of soldiers fortressing me around Speckled like a found family, salt of the earth Whit...1 year ago
-
another review for the Christmas Maze - *The Christmas Maze by Danny Fahey – a Review by David Collis* Why do we seek to be good, to make the world a better place? Why do we seek to be ethi...1 year ago
-
-
-
Children’s Rights QLD Ambassador - Children’s Rights QLD appointed Karen Tyrrell (me) Ambassador for Logan City, ahead of Children’s Week, 24-29 Oct 2022. I’m an award-winning child-empowe...1 year ago
-
ANWERING THE CALL: LESSONS FROM THE THRESHOLD - NEXT STORY SANCTUARY "Anwering the Call: Lessons from the Threshold" Sept. 20, 7 pm eastern $30 Online Whether you're starting a project, a school year, ...1 year ago
-
The Green House, Chapters 1-4 (Revised) - [Dear Reader: Having refined my intentions for this novel based on a lot of recent thinking about life and art, I have restructured and revised the first f...1 year ago
-
Publishing Contracts 101: Beware Internal Contradications - It should probably go without saying that you don't want your publishing contract to include clauses that contradict one another. Beyond any potential l...1 year ago
-
Tara Sharp is back and in audio book - SHARP IS BACK! Marianne Delacourt and Twelfth Planet Press are delighted to announce the fifth Tara Sharp story, a novella entitled RAZOR SHARP, will be ...1 year ago
-
Website Update - My website www.stephendedman.com has been updated, with details of my latest books; please check it out!2 years ago
-
Non-Binary Authors To Read: July 2021 - Non-Binary Authors To Read is a regular column from A.C. Wise highlighting non-binary authors of speculative fiction and recommending a starting place fo...2 years ago
-
ATTENTION: YOU CAN’T LOG IN HERE - Hey YOU! This isn’t the forum. You’re trying to login to the Web site. THE FORUMS ARE HERE: CLICK THIS The post ATTENTION: YOU CAN’T LOG IN HERE a...2 years ago
-
I'M INSIDE A SHORT STORY!! - Ok everyone, you have to read this very short short story. Firstly because it is good, (check out the Bligh story within it too), but also because I'm ...2 years ago
-
Grandmother Dragon Forever - It feels like centuries since the last time I wrote something for the Dragon Cave. Only something of great importance would drag me out of my retirement...3 years ago
-
-
What communicates power? - Well, I have to say, I wasn't expecting to get this far behind on my reports on the show, but the launch month was very busy, and then the next month turne...3 years ago
-
The Legendary Game Pac-Man Has No Meaning. - [image: The Legendary Game Pac-Man Has No Meaning.] The Legendary Game Pac-Man Has No Meaning. Let's take a look at how this word came about. Actually, P...4 years ago
-
Readers Notice and They Care - Readers care about story details and they care about characters. Both last night and this afternoon I had conversations with readers upset about the way au...4 years ago
-
Review of Verdi's MacBeth (WA Opera) - *Our president, Frances Dharmalingham, has written a critique of a recent visit to the opera: Verdi’s ‘Macbeth’.* At Christmas 2018, my family’s gift to ...4 years ago
-
Breakout 3: tips for engaging your audience - Tips for engaging your audience: how to improve presentation, public speaking confidence and presence on stage, no matter how small the stage is. Present...4 years ago
-
The Trains Don't Stop Here - It's been a long, long time since my last blog post. One of the main reasons for this – apart from life being way too busy in general – is that, in my dwin...4 years ago
-
Portrait of a first generation freed African American family - Sanford Huggins (c.1844–1889) and Mary Ellen Pryor (c.1851–1889), his wife, passed the early years of their lives in Woodford County, Kentucky, and later...4 years ago
-
Revisiting the Comma Splice - One of the difficulties as an editor, particularly when working with fiction, is to know when to be a stickler for the rules. For some people this is not a...4 years ago
-
New releases - SFFBookBonanza - StoryOrigin - SciFi and Fantasy Book Sale - New Releases – Jul 2019 The latest and greatest new releases in Science Fiction and Fantasy books! New releases July 2019 99 cent sale - July 22nd - 28t...4 years ago
-
Assassin’s Apprentice Read Along - This month, in preparation for the October release of the Illustrated 25th Anniversary edition of Assassin’s Apprentice, with interior art by Magali Villan...4 years ago
-
STOLEN PICTURE OPTIONS TELEVISION RIGHTS TO BEN AARONOVITCH’S RIVERS OF LONDON - *STOLEN PICTURE OPTIONS TELEVISION RIGHTS TO BEN AARONOVITCH’S * *RIVERS OF LONDON* *London, UK: 29April 2019*: Nick Frost and Simon Pegg’s UK-based ...4 years ago
-
A Movie That No Writer Should See Alone - Really. REALLY. Trust me on this. particularly since this film, ‘Can you ever forgive me?’, is based on a ‘True story’ – and too many writers will see too...5 years ago
-
Review: Trace: who killed Maria James? - [image: Trace: who killed Maria James?] Trace: who killed Maria James? by Rachael Brown My rating: 5 of 5 stars Absolutely jaw-dropping, compelling readin...5 years ago
-
Dance Photo Shoots - Photo Session Planning & Preparation Have you ever wanted to do a photo shoot for dance but have been a little unsure about how and what really happens? ...5 years ago
-
On Indefinite Hiatus - (Which I pretty much have been from this site for a while already, but for real now.) You can find most archive content through the On Writing page, and li...6 years ago
-
2017 Ditmar Winners Announced - Over the Queen’s Birthday weekend, spec fic fans gathered for Continuum 13: Triskaidekaphilia. Continuum is always a great convention, and this year it was...6 years ago
-
Writing about the Crusades and talking about a "meddlesome priest" - The Middle Ages are in the news again, so here is a roundup of recent news articles. We start with three good reads from historians talking about the crusa...6 years ago
-
The One and the Many – every Sunday - My first serious girlfriend came from good Roman Catholic stock. Having tried (and failed) to be raised as a Christian child and finding nothing but lifele...6 years ago
-
A Shameless Plug Ian Likes: Bibliorati.com - A little-known fact is that I once had a gig reviewing books for five years. It was for a now-defunct website known as The Specusphere. It was awesome fun:...7 years ago
-
Book Review - Nobody by Threasa Meads - Available from BooktopiaThe subtitle for this work is *A Liminal Autobiography*. Liminal: 1. relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process. 2...7 years ago
-
A whole 'nother year-and-a-bit - Well, we have let this blog slip, haven't we? I guess Facebook has taken over from blogs to a very large degree, but I think there is still a need for blo...7 years ago
-
2017 Potential Bee Calendar – & ladybirds and butterflies - Bees on flowers – all sorts of flowers (& bees) – and lady birds and butterflies. There were hundreds (literally) of photos to choose from. This is a small...7 years ago
-
What is dyslexia? - *" **The bottob line it thit it doet exitt, no bitter whit nibe teottle give it(i.e ttecific lierning ditibility, etc) iccording to Thilly Thiywitz ( 2003)...8 years ago
-
Rai stones - *(Paraphrased from Wikipedia)*: Rai stones were, and in some cases are still, the currency of the island once called Yap. *They are stone coins which at th...10 years ago
-
Cherries In The Snow - This recipe is delicious and can also be made as a diet dessert by using fat and/or sugar free ingredients. It’s delicious and guests will think it took ...11 years ago
Favourite Sites
- Alan Baxter
- Andrew McKiernan
- Bren McDibble
- Celestine Lyons
- Guy Gavriel Kay
- Hal Spacejock (Simon Haynes)
- Inventing Reality
- Jacqueline Carey
- Jennifer Fallon
- Jessica Rydill
- Jessica Vivien
- Joel Fagin
- Juliet Marillier
- KA Bedford
- Karen Miller
- KSP Writers Centre
- Lynn Flewelling
- Marianne de Pierres
- Phill Berrie
- Ryan Flavell
- Satima's Professional Editing Services
- SF Novelists' Blog
- SF Signal
- Shane Jiraiya Cummings
- Society of Editors, WA
- Stephen Thompson
- Yellow wallpaper
Blog Archive
Places I've lived: Manchester, UK
Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia
Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia
Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW
Places I've Lived - Sydney
Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ
Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier
Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA
Places I've Lived: Perth by Day
Places I've lived: High View, WV
Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK
Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland
Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA
Places I've Lived: Perth by Night
Search This Blog
Wednesday 28 May 2008
Hal Spacejock Download
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 |
Posted by
Satima Flavell
I am sorry about the kerfuffle with my Sunday post, which I have deleted. In it, I had tried to praise my children - subtly, so as not to embarrass them or sound like a besotted idiot of a parent - and someone took severe exception to what I'd written and posted a response that was nothing short of vitriolic. If it offended one person it obviously had the potential to offend more, so I deleted the entire post and its comments.
That incident upset me and I needed cheering up. Who better to do that than Hal Spacejock? I am sure most of you are familiar with Simon Haynes's zany hero (although maybe "hero" isn't quite the right appellation in Hal's case) whose space adventures with Clunk, his long sufferering robot sidekick, have already delighted thousands of readers in this country. Overseas readers have had to send to Australia for the series (now up to its fourth course) and of course that's added expense for them, but now they can download the entire first book Hal Spacejock, No Free Lunch, from the author's web site. Go get it here if you haven't already.
That incident upset me and I needed cheering up. Who better to do that than Hal Spacejock? I am sure most of you are familiar with Simon Haynes's zany hero (although maybe "hero" isn't quite the right appellation in Hal's case) whose space adventures with Clunk, his long sufferering robot sidekick, have already delighted thousands of readers in this country. Overseas readers have had to send to Australia for the series (now up to its fourth course) and of course that's added expense for them, but now they can download the entire first book Hal Spacejock, No Free Lunch, from the author's web site. Go get it here if you haven't already.
Saturday 17 May 2008
My family - and a new toy
Saturday, May 17, 2008 |
Posted by
Satima Flavell
I'm blogging a day early this week because this time tomorrow I'll be winging my way back to South Australia for four weeks. It's my daughter Billy's birthday on Tuesday and I'm also hoping to catch up with my friend Annalou while I'm in Adelaide. Then it's back to Mount Gambier for three weeks to spend time with my sisters Erica and Anne. It's Erica's birthday on 7 June and I want to be around for that.
I'm sure I'm not alone in finding that family has become more and more important to me as I get older. With both siblings and children, one has many shared memories and these form the basis of the ties that bind, I think. After all, we often have nothing else in common with other family members. That's certainly true in my case, at least. But then, how many people does one meet, family or otherwise, who love things as diverse as Shakespeare, Astrology, Family History, Meditation, Yoga and reading and writing fantasy? I don't know many people who share even two of those interests with me. That means I move in a variety of circles, most of which never intersect. Family is one of those circles, and an essential one.
I'm going home with an extra item of luggage - a brand new laptop! I was lucky enough to get it for only $490 after cashback (for which I have to wait six weeks or more) and by going into overdraft I was just able to grab it while it was going. It's an Acer Aspire 5315 with an Intel Celeron CPU 550@2.00GHz. Not that such facts mean a lot to me, technophobe that I am, but the nerds among you will no doubt have strong opinions as to its worth:-)
At the Shakespeare Club today we read Acts 1-3 of Cymbeline. I read Imogen for the first time ever. She is a lovable character: feisty, excitable and utterly devoted to and faithful to her husband, although one wonders why: Posthumus comes across as rather unlikeable. It's an incredibly complicated plot. Even more complicated than my WIP!
Apropos, the newest outline of book one of The Trilogy is taking shape. Perhaps I'll have it finished for next time I post. Then I just have to write the durned thang. A mere bagatelle.
Thanks for looking at my new website! When I return to Perth in mid-June I'll prepare posters to put up at the universities for second semester and also get some business cards printed. But right now I'd better go and pack, because tomorrow will be busy. There is a meeting of the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre's Specfic group tomorrow morning, after which I shall have to hurry to the airport.
I'm sure I'm not alone in finding that family has become more and more important to me as I get older. With both siblings and children, one has many shared memories and these form the basis of the ties that bind, I think. After all, we often have nothing else in common with other family members. That's certainly true in my case, at least. But then, how many people does one meet, family or otherwise, who love things as diverse as Shakespeare, Astrology, Family History, Meditation, Yoga and reading and writing fantasy? I don't know many people who share even two of those interests with me. That means I move in a variety of circles, most of which never intersect. Family is one of those circles, and an essential one.
I'm going home with an extra item of luggage - a brand new laptop! I was lucky enough to get it for only $490 after cashback (for which I have to wait six weeks or more) and by going into overdraft I was just able to grab it while it was going. It's an Acer Aspire 5315 with an Intel Celeron CPU 550@2.00GHz. Not that such facts mean a lot to me, technophobe that I am, but the nerds among you will no doubt have strong opinions as to its worth:-)
At the Shakespeare Club today we read Acts 1-3 of Cymbeline. I read Imogen for the first time ever. She is a lovable character: feisty, excitable and utterly devoted to and faithful to her husband, although one wonders why: Posthumus comes across as rather unlikeable. It's an incredibly complicated plot. Even more complicated than my WIP!
Apropos, the newest outline of book one of The Trilogy is taking shape. Perhaps I'll have it finished for next time I post. Then I just have to write the durned thang. A mere bagatelle.
Thanks for looking at my new website! When I return to Perth in mid-June I'll prepare posters to put up at the universities for second semester and also get some business cards printed. But right now I'd better go and pack, because tomorrow will be busy. There is a meeting of the Katharine Susannah Prichard Writers Centre's Specfic group tomorrow morning, after which I shall have to hurry to the airport.
Sunday 11 May 2008
On Mothers Day, The Trilogy, Job Hunting and Editing
Sunday, May 11, 2008 |
Posted by
Satima Flavell
Here in Australia, as in many other countries, it's Mothers Day. The UK celebrates Mothering Sunday in March, which has a much older tradition behind it, but as usual, the rest of the world nearly all followed America. But whenever you celebrate it, I hope you had a good one this year:-) I certainly did, as I had two sons, a daughter-in-law, two grandchildren, a niece and a grandniece to help me celebrate, and since it is granddaughter Cassandra's birthday this week we celebrated that as well. We had a lovely meal that included dear little quiches prepared by dinlaw Narelle, with yummy caramel mud cake and a nice chardonnay to follow. Daughter Billy rang me while we were carousing (very gentle carousing, it was: none of your quaffing ale from a yard glass or shouting "skol" or "slangi") so she was able to speak to her contemporaries as well as wishing me well. It was one of the nicest Mothers Days ever.
After a most useful meeting with my face-to-face writers group this week I have been happily revising the outline of The Trilogy and so far am feeling pretty confident that this, at last, might prove to be The Definitive Outline. Yes, I know, this must be about Mark 72, but don't be impatient. Heck, it's only taken five years!
But something else has been occupying my attention lately, too. Late last year, I decided that I really needed to earn some extra income. It's a sad fact that the Age Pension doesn't allow one to have very much in the way of quality of life. You can almost, but not quite, live on it, and it's a constant struggle to stay abreast of the bills. One has to prioritise very carefully, and for me, the priorities are rent, food, other essentials (such as power and telephone bills) health insurance and internet access. You will notice that I don't run a car. There's a very good reason for that - I don't drive. However, even if I did, and even if someone gave me a vehicle, the fact is that I couldn't afford to run it. And if the cost of living continues to rise, pretty soon now I'll have to decide between health insurance and internet access. I really, really, don't want to do that. So I decided to look for work.
After several months of hunting, I finally found an advertisement for what looked like my dream job. It involved both office administration and writing. It almost looked as though my name was on it, so perfectly was it suited to my experience and abilities. And would you believe I actually got an interview for the first time in this round of job hunting! This was especially gratifying, seeing as there were about 400 applicants. Alas, I was the employer's second choice, and of course a miss is as good as a mile. Jobs like that one being very thin on the ground, I felt the need to retreat, regroup and form another plan of campaign.
Academic editing is one thing I do for extra cash, but I haven't been chasing it in recent years as I've wanted to focus on my own writing and on critiquing the work of other writers. I hoped to find part-time regular work that would enable me to keep writing for three or four days each week while replenishing the coffers, but realistically speaking, it doesn't look as if that's going to happen any time soon. So with a lot of help from my son Scott I have made a web site. Go and have a look here and see what you think. I'm hoping to expand my editing to include writing other than the academic variety: after all, I've been reading and writing both fiction and non-fiction for a long time now and feel I can offer useful suggestions to writers who are a little behind me on the path, especially those who are hoping to self-publish. It never ceases to amaze me how badly edited many self-published works are. I suspect some have never had a blue pencil anywhere near them, and as my mother used to say, if a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing well. Perhaps I can help people present their books just a little more professionally, and without spending a small fortune.
It's a competitive field and I'm probably never going to get rich from editing. It would be nice, though, to earn enough to raise my standard of living by a notch or two. Wish me luck. Please.
After a most useful meeting with my face-to-face writers group this week I have been happily revising the outline of The Trilogy and so far am feeling pretty confident that this, at last, might prove to be The Definitive Outline. Yes, I know, this must be about Mark 72, but don't be impatient. Heck, it's only taken five years!
But something else has been occupying my attention lately, too. Late last year, I decided that I really needed to earn some extra income. It's a sad fact that the Age Pension doesn't allow one to have very much in the way of quality of life. You can almost, but not quite, live on it, and it's a constant struggle to stay abreast of the bills. One has to prioritise very carefully, and for me, the priorities are rent, food, other essentials (such as power and telephone bills) health insurance and internet access. You will notice that I don't run a car. There's a very good reason for that - I don't drive. However, even if I did, and even if someone gave me a vehicle, the fact is that I couldn't afford to run it. And if the cost of living continues to rise, pretty soon now I'll have to decide between health insurance and internet access. I really, really, don't want to do that. So I decided to look for work.
After several months of hunting, I finally found an advertisement for what looked like my dream job. It involved both office administration and writing. It almost looked as though my name was on it, so perfectly was it suited to my experience and abilities. And would you believe I actually got an interview for the first time in this round of job hunting! This was especially gratifying, seeing as there were about 400 applicants. Alas, I was the employer's second choice, and of course a miss is as good as a mile. Jobs like that one being very thin on the ground, I felt the need to retreat, regroup and form another plan of campaign.
Academic editing is one thing I do for extra cash, but I haven't been chasing it in recent years as I've wanted to focus on my own writing and on critiquing the work of other writers. I hoped to find part-time regular work that would enable me to keep writing for three or four days each week while replenishing the coffers, but realistically speaking, it doesn't look as if that's going to happen any time soon. So with a lot of help from my son Scott I have made a web site. Go and have a look here and see what you think. I'm hoping to expand my editing to include writing other than the academic variety: after all, I've been reading and writing both fiction and non-fiction for a long time now and feel I can offer useful suggestions to writers who are a little behind me on the path, especially those who are hoping to self-publish. It never ceases to amaze me how badly edited many self-published works are. I suspect some have never had a blue pencil anywhere near them, and as my mother used to say, if a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing well. Perhaps I can help people present their books just a little more professionally, and without spending a small fortune.
It's a competitive field and I'm probably never going to get rich from editing. It would be nice, though, to earn enough to raise my standard of living by a notch or two. Wish me luck. Please.
Sunday 4 May 2008
Not before time
Sunday, May 04, 2008 |
Posted by
Satima Flavell
A thousand apologies for my long silence. I came out of retreat to find that I had overbooked myself, editing wise, and had a long list of things to do, all on tight deadlines. I’ve just spent a desperate fortnight shuffling jobs.
They weren’t all paid jobs. It was Specusphere time (see link in my profile) and the whole team of volunteers was frantically getting things ready for the publication date of 1 May. On the last day of April I was up until 3.00am, writing, editing and uploading. It was with a long sigh of relief that I finally fell into bed. But when I checked the site next morning it all looked very worthwhile indeed. Our doughty Editor-in-Chief, Stephen Thomson, had also had a late night and an early morning, getting the front page in order so all our new uploads could stand up and be counted. There are interviews with K.E. Mills, Sean Williams, Paul Collins and Tony Plank; two film reviews and no fewer than ten book reviews, plus fiction, poetry and features including my report on Swancon. I’m very proud of the fact that I wrote the editorial, too – the first one I’ve ever written! Amanda, Astrid, Stephen and I are now eagerly watching the hits mount up. It’s obvious that we have regular readers lying in wait for each edition to go live.
As well as handing out kudos to rest of the editorial team, Stephen Thomson, Amanda Greenslade and Astrid Cooper, I’d like to mention my wonderful reviewers. Bobbi Sinha-Morey and Joan Malpass are two regular contributors: Bobbi specializes in reviewing fantasy-romance and Joan is especially good with children’s fantasy. Both have written film reviews as well as book reviews. I am proud of them and our other reviewers. E-zines can’t survive without volunteers, so if you love Speculative Fiction I would urge you to offer your services. The Specusphere is always looking for new blood, as are many other e-zines.
Paid work included final editing of a PhD thesis for an architecture student, the first I’d done in that discipline. I enjoyed the work, but when I agreed to do it I’d forgotten that The Specusphere’s May edition was going up at the same time! To make matters worse, I am engaged in a series of house-sits at present, which, since I don’t have a laptop of my own, means that I have been using web-mail and other people’s computers – a deadly combination. Downloads failed, attachments didn’t attach, mail disappeared into cyberspace or else arrived in duplicate or triplicate. I should’ve read my ephemeris before starting on this last fortnight’s work! I probably would have stayed on retreat.
Speaking of which, the retreat was excellent. Vipassana meditation forces one to face oneself, which can be pretty scary, but, as Akiro Kurasawa, one of the greatest of film producers, is quoted as saying, “To be an artist means never to avert your eyes”. Learning not to avert one’s eyes from the unavoidable pain of life is one of the gifts of Vipassana. Being in silence for a lengthy period of time is in itself very confronting. It forces us to look at the constant inane chatter that makes up our thought streams and then to look beyond it. Then, as TS Elliot said at the end of his Four Quartets:
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
The retreat was a gift, and now it’s time to make use of its fruits. As well as some hints of deeper insight, many writing ideas arose and as a result I’ve drafted still another outline of The Trilogy. I have still to hear the comments of my peers and betters – which reminds me that I have heaps of reviewing to catch up on next. I’d better get on with it!
They weren’t all paid jobs. It was Specusphere time (see link in my profile) and the whole team of volunteers was frantically getting things ready for the publication date of 1 May. On the last day of April I was up until 3.00am, writing, editing and uploading. It was with a long sigh of relief that I finally fell into bed. But when I checked the site next morning it all looked very worthwhile indeed. Our doughty Editor-in-Chief, Stephen Thomson, had also had a late night and an early morning, getting the front page in order so all our new uploads could stand up and be counted. There are interviews with K.E. Mills, Sean Williams, Paul Collins and Tony Plank; two film reviews and no fewer than ten book reviews, plus fiction, poetry and features including my report on Swancon. I’m very proud of the fact that I wrote the editorial, too – the first one I’ve ever written! Amanda, Astrid, Stephen and I are now eagerly watching the hits mount up. It’s obvious that we have regular readers lying in wait for each edition to go live.
As well as handing out kudos to rest of the editorial team, Stephen Thomson, Amanda Greenslade and Astrid Cooper, I’d like to mention my wonderful reviewers. Bobbi Sinha-Morey and Joan Malpass are two regular contributors: Bobbi specializes in reviewing fantasy-romance and Joan is especially good with children’s fantasy. Both have written film reviews as well as book reviews. I am proud of them and our other reviewers. E-zines can’t survive without volunteers, so if you love Speculative Fiction I would urge you to offer your services. The Specusphere is always looking for new blood, as are many other e-zines.
Paid work included final editing of a PhD thesis for an architecture student, the first I’d done in that discipline. I enjoyed the work, but when I agreed to do it I’d forgotten that The Specusphere’s May edition was going up at the same time! To make matters worse, I am engaged in a series of house-sits at present, which, since I don’t have a laptop of my own, means that I have been using web-mail and other people’s computers – a deadly combination. Downloads failed, attachments didn’t attach, mail disappeared into cyberspace or else arrived in duplicate or triplicate. I should’ve read my ephemeris before starting on this last fortnight’s work! I probably would have stayed on retreat.
Speaking of which, the retreat was excellent. Vipassana meditation forces one to face oneself, which can be pretty scary, but, as Akiro Kurasawa, one of the greatest of film producers, is quoted as saying, “To be an artist means never to avert your eyes”. Learning not to avert one’s eyes from the unavoidable pain of life is one of the gifts of Vipassana. Being in silence for a lengthy period of time is in itself very confronting. It forces us to look at the constant inane chatter that makes up our thought streams and then to look beyond it. Then, as TS Elliot said at the end of his Four Quartets:
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
The retreat was a gift, and now it’s time to make use of its fruits. As well as some hints of deeper insight, many writing ideas arose and as a result I’ve drafted still another outline of The Trilogy. I have still to hear the comments of my peers and betters – which reminds me that I have heaps of reviewing to catch up on next. I’d better get on with it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)