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
Buy The Talismans
The Dagger of Dresnia

The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans

Available as an e-book on Amazon and other online booksellers.
Mythic Resonance
Follow me on Twitter
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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
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Tarot After Dark: Mind, Body, Spirit with Edgar Allan Poe - This piece of literary mayhem is exclusive to Smart Bitches After Dark, but fret not. If you'd like to join, we'd love to have you! Have a look at our memb...2 hours ago
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The Trapezuntine Twenty+ Years’ Anarchy: The Least Known Roman Civil War - For twenty years, medieval Trebizond was torn apart by assassinations, coups, and betrayals that set emperor against emperor. This little-known 14th-centur...3 hours ago
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Slot Online - Kasino link slot gacor terbaik di Rumania menawarkan berbagai pilihan permainan untuk para pemain. Ini termasuk permainan dari pengembang perangkat lunak...6 hours ago
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Unwinding At Panacea Luxury Spa In Columbus - Back in 2023, my friend sent me a Tik Tok from a newly opened spa in Columbus called Panacea that was showing off its luxury amenities. The video showed a ...13 hours ago
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Tony Wirt - Tony Wirt was born in Lake Mills, IA, and got his first taste of publication in first grade, when his essay on Airplane II: The Sequel appeared in the Lake...16 hours ago
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The Collected Tales- Harry Colfer… - This was a book I purchased at a Gold Coast Writers meeting, and now I’m adding it to my ‘C’ books to read. Harry had us all intrigued with his stories of ...18 hours ago
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What’s your literary classic Halloween costume? [quiz] - [image: Woman in a black dress holding an orange pumpkin] What’s your literary classic Halloween costume? [quiz] This Halloween, why not let literature dre...20 hours ago
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Getting Down to Business - [image: Densie Webb's column on the Business of Fiction] Authors, lawyers, and publishers are knee-deep in lawsuits over AI modeling from pirated books. ...22 hours ago
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Mastering Deep Third POV: How to Write Stories That Feel Fully Immersive - All About Deep Third POV First up: NO, deep third POV is not some kind of porno act. Wash your brain out with soap. Outrageous. It is however something y...4 days ago
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Queens and Empresses: When Women Ruled Japan ~ by Lesley Downer - ‘*Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming of age ceremony.*’ Prince Hisahito, September 6th 2025 Emperor Naruhito and Empress Mas...5 days ago
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A Short Story Ian Likes: “Steel Dogs” by Ray Aldridge - Aandred is the Master of the Hunt, servant to the all-seeing Droam, Lord of Neverland. Aandred and his dogs patrol the once-famous island and keep its shor...1 week ago
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Autumn Tour 2025 – The Fjords of South-Western Norway - Another journey, or rather, voyage this year was to Norway via Bremerhaven in Germany. I had traveled along the coast of Norway on the Hurtigruten Tour in ...1 week ago
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In Which I Celebrate Kerry Greenwood With Sisters In Crime! - Today I went to the Windsor Hotel in the Melbourne CBD for an event staged by Sisters In Crime, that organisation celebrating women crime writers. I’v...1 week ago
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5 Ways Repetition Hurts Your Novel - *By Janice Hardy* *How to spot and fix those sneaky repetitions that weaken your prose.* Aside from a great one liner, a declaration of love, or a juicy ...1 week ago
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Guy finally receives his PhD… - I finally got to wear a silly outfit and receive my PhD on Thursday 4th September 2025 at Curtin University. This wouldn’t have happened without the effort...4 weeks ago
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SELECTIVE ZEBRA BLINDNESS - What has gone wrong with Western Medicine? Whatever happened to Curiosity? Why is it, very consistently throughout the Australian medical system (at least ...5 weeks ago
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Surgery day - The day has come. I have surgery, a vitrectomy, this afternoon. To say I’m not looking forward to it is an understatement. I have a few fears. One that the...1 month ago
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Surgery day - The day has come. I have surgery, a vitrectomy, this afternoon. To say I’m not looking forward to it is an understatement. I have a few fears. One that the...1 month ago
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Newsletter 28th July 2025 - Never apologise for loving good stuff Hello fiends! How the hell are you? I hope this finds you as well as possible, despite everything. Remember, findin...2 months ago
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"Lady Killer" reprinted in Masque & Maelström Volume 1: The Reluctant Exhumation of Edgar Allan Poe. ed. Jessica Augustsson - It's a chill and a thrill to have 'Lady Killer'—originally published in the Aurealis Award winning anthology *Bloodlines *Ed. Amanda Pillar and reprinted...2 months ago
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Rhythms of love, nature and culture: Beyond the Humming Downs by Ellen Starsmore — a debut novel review. - I received a free ARC and provide this honest review, intended to inform readers about the novel and give enough information to assist them to decide if th...2 months ago
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Joon, Big Red and the Unicorn – a picture book - Joon is a keeper in the Timeless Forest… Joon is a keeper in the Timeless Forest, tending to all the trees and plants. When a fire threatens everything t...3 months ago
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Teaching Schedule in 2025 - Please click the Travel and Teaching Page for Bhante Rahul's teaching schedule in 2025 August 29 to September 1st. Labor Day weekend retreat at the Lion...7 months ago
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This feed has moved and will be deleted soon. Please update your subscription now. - The publisher is using a new address for their RSS feed. Please update your feed reader to use this new URL: *https://problogger.com/feed/*8 months ago
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A Little Piece of Alternative History - Elizabeth, Duchess of Norfolk, is a good height for a woman, but not tall – only her headdress make her seem so. As a recent widow, she is clad entir...8 months ago
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Breaking the Silence - Over the past many months, I have watched the stories circulating the internet about me with horror and dismay. I’ve stayed quiet until now, both out of ...8 months ago
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Happy Public Domain Day 2025, the end of copyright for 1929 works - This is 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...9 months ago
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Titles - This is a bit of a technical post, provoked by reading a certain novel. In England, pre-Tudors, there was only ever one Prince. The Prince of Wales, when...9 months ago
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About Holly - There is no way to soften the blow of this and Mom never liked euphemisms, so I’m just going to speak plainly. Mom died due to complications from cancer on...10 months ago
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WRAP UP OF HORRORFEST POST, OCTOBER. - Hi all! Thank you so much for posting to WEP's Horrorfest in October. I'm sure everyone enjoyed reading the entries. So good to see so many of the 'oldi...11 months ago
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Introducing Maneyacts Media - At Maneyacts Media, we specialize in professional video recording for events, seminars, and competitions. With a diverse selection of standard and PTZ (pan...11 months ago
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A personal thought on the passing of publishing legend Tom McCormack - The passing of publishing giant Tom McCormack makes me recall the interaction he had with my father, Leonard Shatzkin, from the very beginning of Tom’s p...1 year ago
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Henry of Lancaster and His Children - The close bonds which Edward II's cousin Henry of Lancaster, earl of Lancaster and Leicester, forged with his children have fascinated me for a long time...1 year ago
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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...1 year ago
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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 ...2 years ago
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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...2 years ago
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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...2 years ago
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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...3 years ago
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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...4 years ago
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Grants for Writers Masterclass Online - Grants For Writers Masterclass Online Winner of 6 grants, author Karen Tyrrell shares her secrets to Grant Writing for Australian writers and authors. ...5 years ago
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UPDATE ON WORK IN PROGRESS... - *THE FUGITIVE QUEEN * *(title may change!)* The initial draft of this novel has been finished at slightly under 150,000 words, so not quite as long as the...5 years ago
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Productivity - If you're looking for a post on how to be more productive in your writing, this is not it. However, if you're looking for a discussion of how we conceptual...5 years ago
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HOW TO UPGRADE YOUR LIFE - Stories end. New stories begin. It's fascinating -- the great and small adventures of every day. Honor the place where you're rooted. What stories are f...5 years ago
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Geoffrey Chaucer - [image: Geoffrey Chaucer] Geoffrey Chaucer *Geoffrey Chaucer* turned into born in 1343, the son of John and Agnes (de Copton) Chaucer. Chaucer was descen...5 years ago
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#332 - Question: I wrote LOST IN LA as a retelling of Pretty Woman with “modern” social issues, but I don’t know whether to focus on the characters, the fake rel...5 years ago
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Travelin' Man: a new Song & Music-Video from me - There's also a bit of my tongue-in-cheek, philosophy for living in the lyrics - *life should be about the journey, never about arriving. * It's also on Y...5 years ago
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NaNoWriMo 2019 - November 1, or the start of NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month is just around the corner. Basically, NaNoWriMo is about writing a 50K work novel i...5 years ago
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Day 1: Harlequin Presentation - Sue Brockton – Publishing director Jo Mackay – head of local fiction, HQ, Mira, Escape Kita Kemp – Publisher Mills and Boon (ANZ) Nicola Caws – Editor...5 years ago
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#Mayflower400: They that in Ships unto the Sea down go - *Music for the Mayflower* *A guest post by Tamsin Lewis * I direct the early music group Passamezzo [www.passamezzo.co.uk], an established ensemble kno...5 years ago
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Book review: The Heat, by Sean O’Leary - Jake works nights as a security guard / receptionist at a budget Darwin motel. The job suits him: he has an aptitude for smelling out potential trouble, an...6 years ago
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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...6 years ago
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Review of Bell's Much Ado about Nothing - Bell Shakespeare's *Much Ado About Nothing* 2019-07-07 reviewed by Frances, our president. A group from the Shakespeare Club went last week to see the B...6 years ago
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The Girl from the Sea launches: 31 July 2019 - Some of you will already know that my new novella, The Girl from the Sea, is launching on July 31. This book is the prequel to Children of the Shaman an...6 years ago
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Six Things Writers Need To Stop Worrying About - Some things don't change. When I got my start in this biz, way back in 2002, writers had to get a lit agent to get a publisher, then they did what their pu...6 years ago
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Story Goal, Story Question, and the Protagonist’s Inner Need (Story Structure Part 1) - This is the first article in a series exploring the elements of story structure. Part 1 looks beyond the topics of three-act and mythic structure to a revi...6 years ago
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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...6 years ago
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Want Booksellers to Stock Your Books? - Booksellers in your community will help you sell your books if you approach them with good sense and a professional approach.6 years ago
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The Scarred King by Rose Foreman - "From the moment he could walk, Bowmark has trained for a fight to the death. The Disc awaits him: a giant bronze platform suspended over a river of l...6 years ago
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Gratitude, therefore God? - I recently saw a video where a prominent TV personality was interviewing another TV personality who is a self-proclaimed atheist. The interviewer explained...6 years ago
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It's the End of the (Fringe) World As We Know It... - I didn't get to the Fringe World Awards because I was volunteering at another venue at the time, which is also the reason I saw almost none of the shows th...6 years ago
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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...6 years ago
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Catching up on books I've read - Recently I've been looking at some of the books I've enjoyed over the past year or so – and in the process, it's made me realise just how many I've read! M...6 years ago
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The November Tour Press Release - *Peter Grant is coming to a bookshop near you. * Meet Ben Aaronovitch on his epic tour of Great Britain to celebrate the publication of his upcoming, new ...7 years ago
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Review: Red Harvest - [image: Red Harvest] Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett My rating: 5 of 5 stars An absolute classic featuring the most literate and technically clever of the...7 years ago
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Consultation on the PSI Directive - The European Commission has launched a consultation into the operation of the Directive on the Re-use of Public Sector Information, which runs until 12 Dec...7 years ago
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New story at Giganotosaurus - “The Wanderers” – the furry fantasy I wrote for my kids about a couple of fox people who go off in search of the end of the earth (and then have to find th...8 years ago
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First comes painting, Then comes sketching - While enjoying my new acrylics hobby, I started a painting and decided I wanted to include a dragon statue in one of them. There was, though, a hurdle I ha...8 years ago
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More Cabinet of Oddities News - Back in 2015, I was lucky enough to be part of an amazing collaborative event put together by the talented Dr. Laura E. Goodin. The Cabinet of Oddities, a ...8 years ago
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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...8 years ago
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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:...8 years ago
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10 New Youtube Videos for Medieval Lovers - Volume 2 - We found 10 more new videos on Youtube about the Middle Ages. *Rediscovered: Medieval Books at Birkbeck * This video introduces University of London - Birk...8 years ago
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2016 Wildflower Calendar – Long List - This is the ‘long list’ for a potential 2017 Wildflower Calendar. They are pictures from suburban Perth, in conservation areas, parks and verge gardens. ...8 years ago
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And Father Dragon said "let there be a planet...." - *Lo and behold, Dragon made a planet!!* Oh, I'm so very proud of myself so forgive me if I brag a little bit - way too much. I'm in the process of learn...9 years ago
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The Stars Askew - release imminent - Pre-order at Booktopia Just a short post to let you know that I am still alive and writing poetry over at the poetry blog. I also wanted to mention that...9 years ago
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The Tame Animals of Saturn - It's done. It's in the world! Often, the journey to publication is itself worthy of a book - though it'd be a tiresome book indeed. Still, I'm happy. I co...9 years ago
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Children learning English as a second language with dyslexia. Lese-rechtschreibeschwache Schüler/innen und Englisch in der Schule. - *"Legasthenie/LRS und Englisch als Fremdsprache* Lese-rechtschreibschwache Schülerinnen und Schüler bekommen in der Regel auch Schwierigkeiten in Englis...9 years ago
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Prompts, Anyone? - I'm a great fan of writing to triggers or prompts so when I was delighted came across something useful on poet Katy Evans-Bush's blog, *Baroque in Hackney....11 years ago
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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 ...13 years ago
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Al Milgrom’s connection to “Iron Man” - Via the Ann Arbor online newspaper - I felt it was worth repeating as a great example of Marvel doing the right thing by a former employee and without the ...15 years ago
Favourite Sites
- Alan Baxter
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- 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
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- SF Novelists' Blog
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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

Sydney Conservatorium - my old school
Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier

Blue Lake
Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day

From Kings Park
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

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What is Success?


Another post copied over from my old WordPress blog.
Over at her Year in America blog, my friend Fiona Leonard posed the question, “If you knew you could not fail, what would you do?”
I thought for quite a while about this before posting a comment, trying to identify how I define success and what anchors me in my undertakings. I came to the conclusion that it’s not the lure of success that motivates me, but my passion for the thing I’m doing.
I’ve had many interests over the course of my life: in fact, in a post about a year ago I described myself as being “artistically promiscuous” as a girl, since I loved so many things. I studied piano, singing, speech and drama and several forms of dance as well as a full trencher of school subjects and all the peripherals that go with being a music student – theory, harmony, aural training, history and form of music…my days were full from wake-up time at 6.00am until I collapsed into bed at about 9.30pm. I loved all those activities (or at least most of them, most of the time!) and did not want to give any of them up.
Until, of course, they became too difficult. This happened first with piano. I was a student at Sydney Conservatorium, and I was well aware that although I had above average ability in music, I was never going to be much better at it than I was then. It had become a hard grind. I pushed myself through the required two hours of practice each day, but each session was a struggle. My teacher, Raymond Fischer, told me I was at least three years away from being ready to sit even the simplest diploma exam, and I realised I just didn’t have the enthusiasm to last the distance. Possibly, with a lot of effort, I could have done what my parents hoped and expected I would do – go on to Teachers’ College and become a specialist music teacher in a high school. But the prospect of having to face four or five classes a day for the rest of my life, trying to interest a mob of teenagers in a subject that had already lost its juice for me, was utterly unthinkable.
After a year of Arts at Sydney University, I took a year off study to work in the public service and make a rather unfortunate early marriage. It didn’t take long for me to realise that working in an office environment was not my thing, either, and in 1962 I entered the National Institute of Dramatic Art to try my hand at acting. However, during that year I had my first baby and in those days there were no creches at universities, and as I couldn’t find suitable child care, I had to give up my scholarship and quit the course. I was sad, but not devastated, because at heart I’d already realised that this was not my path, either. I loved Shakespeare, but opportunities for specialist Shakesperean actors in Australia were virtually nil at that time, and the thought of spending my time preparing for auditions for TV commercials didn’t exactly fill me with enthusiasm. Several of my fellow students did indeed become professional actors — two of them, John Bell and Anna Volska, even became specialist Shakespereans! — but many more became bartenders, teachers and insurance agents.
I continued to be involved in amateur theatre and to teach dance for another twenty years, while rearing my five children. Along the way I furthered an interest in astrology that had started in my teens, and tried my hand at farming, even gaining a Certificate in Rural Studies to give myself a theoretical base for milking cows, drenching sheep and mucking out pig pens. Actually this was one of the happiest times of my life in many ways, and not the least happy-making part was watching my children growing up close to nature, seeing first-hand the cycles of life that as urban dwellers we see only dimly, as when someone has a baby or an elderly relative dies. In farm animals these cycles play themselves out far more quickly.
Dance was the one thing that never lost its appeal for me, despite my short legs and hockey-player’s build that rendered me unsuited to classical ballet. In my forties I returned to study at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, where I completed an Associate Diploma in Performing Arts (Dance) with the intention of “updating my expertise” so that I could catch up with the latest doings in the dance world, especially in teaching. My forty-odd-year-old body complained terribly and it took three years for me to complete the two year course, but complete it I did, and I was quite proud when I walked across the platform to receive my scroll. Concurrently, I’d started a BA in Religious Studies, which I loved. I complemented it by converting my Associate Diploma to a Dance minor, and also started another BA in Languages. This was in those heady days of the 1980s when all tertiary education was free, so I was merrily undertaking units in French, Italian, English Literature, Linguistics, Psychology and Journalism. However, when I was part-way through this second BA, my second marrriage broke down and fees for university courses came back, so I could not afford to finish it, much less go on to do the masters in Religious Studies that I’d hoped to do. Of course, none of those transcripts actually qualified me to do anything, and I was getting older and becoming less and less employable in a country that has always valued youth above almost everything else. So I turned to my other interests to put bread on the table, and these are the things I still do today – writing, editing, astrology and meditation. And I still love all of them.
Writing fiction, however, is just as heartbreaking as music, dance and acting. The chances of any individual “succeeding” at it are very low indeed. For every thousand manuscripts that are started by hopeful would-be authors, only one or two, at best, will eventually be published by one of the major commercial publishing houses. I frequently become discouraged, and talking to my fellow writers, I realise most of them do, too.
Nevertheless, I will keep up the battle until writing loses its juice for me. And when might that be? If my past experience is any guide, it will be when I know that I’ve reached the limits of my ability, which to me isn’t failure; it’s just a fact of life. I have the good fortune to have better-than-average talents in a lot of directions, but I have never proved to be outstanding at any of them.

But is this a bad thing?
I think not. If it were, I wouldn’t have had the chance to do so many wonderful things because I would have spent my life focussing on the prospect of success in just one of the things I love. I worship all the muses, and while, perhaps, none of them loves me quite as much as she loves her dedicated votaries who have just one talent in abundance, I can nonetheless bathe in all their sacred pools and come away refreshed. And that may be the best gift of all.
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