Satima's Blogspot: Once I thought...

About Me

I'm an experienced writer and editor of both non-fiction and fiction.

Editing - non-fiction

Much of my editing work comes from academics, especially PhD students, but I also research, write and edit other non-fiction work, especially reviews, biographies and family and local histories. I pride myself on having a broad general knowledge, and have edited in areas ranging from the arts (both performing and visual) through to Physiotherapy, Law, Business Studies, IT, Women’s Studies and even an occasional Engineering effort.

Editing - fiction

I am a well-practised beta-reader and critic of speculative fiction and am currently a sub-editor for The Specusphere, an e-zine for the Speculative Fiction community. Historical fiction and high fantasy are my specialist sub-genres, but I’m delighted to edit or proof-read books in most areas of fiction writing.

My experience

From a background in the performing arts, principally dance and music, I switched to writing in these areas in 1987. I have written reviews and feature articles for various prestigious publications including ArtsWest, Dance Australia, Music Maker and The Australian. A decade or so back I was bitten by the fantasy bug and I have just about written the million words they say you have to write before you are any good. Any morning now I will wake up to find that I’m as good as some of my favourite authors. (Well, I can dream, can’t I?)

My bits of paper

I hold a BA in Religious Studies, an Associate Diploma in Performing Arts (Dance) and the certificate of the Federation of Australian Astrologers. For what it’s worth, I also have a Certificate in Rural Studies – I’m the only person I know who’s been both a ballet teacher and a pig farmer!

And how did this strange combination make me into an editor? Click here to find out!

Fun things

In my spare time I enjoy Family History, Astrology, Yoga, Meditation and Belly Dancing. Although I regard these primarily as hobbies these days, I occasionally offer workshops in meditation and I will write astrological reports to order.

Reading and reviewing

*Heir to Sevenwaters Another winner from Juliet Marillier! Reviewed on The Specusphere.
*Tender Morsels - an extraordinary first novel from Margo Lanagan, dark and beautiful.
*The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. A WOW factor of great magnitude characterises this trilogy, composed of The Blade Itself, Before they are Hanged and The Last Argument of Kings.
*The Siege of Arrandin by Marcus Herniman. You will never see such lovingly detailed world-building elsewhere!
*Awakening by Lara Morgan. An impressive fantasy from a new Aussie author. Reviewed on The Specusphere.
*Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan. An original and intriguing fantasy of Elizabethan England.
*Dreaming Again edited by Jack Dann. A fascinating anthology of some of Australia's best spec-fic writers.
*Black Ships by Jo Graham; a well-told riff on the Aeneid. Reviewed on The Specusphere.
*Hal Spacejock Book IV: No Free Lunch by Simon Haynes. Another screamingly funny story from this entertaining author.
*Escape by Sea by L.S.Lawrence. An exciting adventure story for the YA market, set in the era of the Punic Wars. Check out my Specusphere review.
*The Accidental Sorcerer by KE Mills. This is Karen Miller in disguise so the writing is top-class. She just gets better and better!
*Take Charge by James Hansen. A really neat little book on how to use apostrophes correctly. I loved it! Follow the link to read my review.
*Dragonscarpe by Pat McNamara, Michal Dutkiewicz and Gary Turner. A beautifully illustrated, coffee-table sized high fantasy novel. Delicious! Follow the link to my Specusphere review.
*Dreamsongs by George R.R. Martin. A fantastic restrospective of the Great Man's work. The link takes you to my Specusphere review.
*Winterbirth by Brian Ruckley. A most promising first novel of the blood and thunder variety. Reviewed for The Specusphere.
*The Riven Kingdom by Karen Miller. One of the best reads I've had in ages. The link leads to my Specusphere review.
*Shakespeare by Bill Bryson. The first thing I've read for ages that I didn't have to review, so I can just relax and enjoy Bryson's vivid, witty writing.
*Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier. One of the best YA books I've read in many a long year. Follow the link to my review on The Specusphere.
*Warprize and also its sequel, Warsworn by Elizabeth Vaughan. The first two books of a romantic fantasy trilogy, the first from this author. Reviewed for The Specusphere.
*The Awakening Book One of The Triumvirate by Bevan McGuiness. An attention-grabbing first fantasy novel. Reviewed for The Specusphere.
*The Elves of Cintra by Terry Brooks. The second in his Genesis of Shannara Series. Reviewed for The Specusphere.
*Dr Whom by A.R.R.R. Roberts. An amusing spoof not only on the TV series but also on Lyn Truss's classic work on punctuation, Eats, Shoots & Leaves. Reviewed for The Specusphere.
*Feast of Souls by Celia Friedman. An intriguing idea underlies this one - what if magic had a cost, and that cost was a person's life force? Reviewed for The Specusphere.
*The Illustrated Bede by John Marsden with translator John Gregory and photographer Geoff Green. This work really places the Venerable Bede in his setting and historical context.
*The Art of Awareness by Eric Harrison. A superb meditation handbook by one of Australia's leading teachers.
*The Weighing of the Heart, an Anthology of Emerging Western Australian poets. I have a sonnet in this one but I am put to shame by some of the other wonderful poets whose work is represented!
*Eagle of the East by LS Lawrence. A super historical yarn for the YAs, especially those of the male persuasion. Reviewed for The Specusphere

Once I thought...

Sunday, November 08, 2009 |

Posted by Satima Flavell |

Edit Post

Over on my writing and editing blog, I’ve just put up a post about how one becomes an editor. I called it “Once I thought I’d like to be an editor”. This sounded vaguely familiar and I soon realised why. When I was a little girl of five years old or so, my father taught me a silly little song that went like this:

Once I thought I'd like to be a cricketer
So down to the park I took a little stroll
To see a cricket match, the first one in my natch
To see how I could bowl.
One young man, he knew the way to bat a bit
He sent the ball so wonderfully high
Right up in the air, you could see it there
It looked just like a stick into the sky!
I stood and watched it, right above my head
‘Come away from under it,’ everybody said
But I knew how to catch a ball, about it I had read
In a little penny book I’d bought.
My eyes were shut and my mouth was open wide
I felt a sort of earthquake; I thought I should have died!
They never got the ball back from out of my inside…
Well caught! Howzat!

Like the old Yorkshire song On Ilkley Moor b'at’at, which I can also still sing right through, this song was part of my childhood. Neither song is much heard today, and more’s the pity, because they are good fun and easy to sing. What favourite old songs can you remember from your early years?

6 comments:

Jo said...: Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do.

You know the rest.

Also Frère Jaques. My aunt had a French boyfriend during the war and I would sit on his knee and he and I would sing it together.; Monday, November 09, 2009
Satima Flavell said...: My sisters taught me Frère Jaques, too. I liked the Sonnez les matines part best:-)

My eldest sister had a boyfriend who was half-French, half-German (And this during WWII - poor guy!) who read me stories. He even copied out one that was in German into French and Enlish versions for me, so I could read the tale in all three languages. He even illustrated them for me. The story was about a bear, very like Rupert, who is still a comic-strip character in Germany, I think. The funny thing is that when I went to German classes as an adult, I found I knew how to conjugate German verbs. The things you learn earliest stay with you, I guess:-); Monday, November 09, 2009
Imagine me said...: I loved songs that circled around like On Ilkley Moor b'at'at and There's a Hole in the Bucket and rounds and silly songs like If Mares Eat Oats when I was a child. I used to sing them to my kids, neither of whom wanted to take part but loved listening to them.; Monday, November 09, 2009
Satima Flavell said...: I heard a sad thing a few months back - that children who are preschoolers now don't know any nursery rhymes! And, it seems, their knowledge of Christamas songs is largely limited to the secular ones such as Rudolf and White Christmas. What a shame to have all those beaut old songs fall away. I think they still learn There's a Hole in the Bucket at school because I've heard kids singing it, so perhaps all is not lost...:-); Monday, November 09, 2009
Jo said...: Well you can't teach carols in school any more, its religion so you mustn't do it!!!

Re There's a hole in my bucket, Matt and I went to see Harry Belafonte some years ago. The show was held in the local arena with a stage set up in the middle. He and a guest were singing this song and laughing so much they couldn't remember where they'd got to, I called out the next line (we were close to the stage) and he asked me how I knew, I said I had seen him sing it before - he picked up on my English accent and came back with a very good sound saying "aren't you a little tired of it by now". It was pretty funny.

Mare's Eat Oats was one of my favourites as a kid, too.; Monday, November 09, 2009
Satima Flavell said...: I've heard others say how entertaining Belafonte is in person, although when he was younger he used to get people's backs up with his contant clinging off at the British and at colonialism. I can understand West Indian people feeling angry but I don't think that kind of talk has any place in entertainment.

Yeah, it's a pity Christmas Carols are being sacrficed to political correctness:-(; Monday, November 09, 2009

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Once I thought...

6 comments: