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

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Versatile Blogger Award
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Fabulous Blog Award
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Monday 17 February 2014

Busy, busy, busy


February has brought hot weather for all and a heavy workload for me. For the last couple of weeks I have been deeply embroiled in the process of editing my first novel, The Dagger of Dresnia, which is scheduled to come out in April.

I'm not usually on the receiving end of editing, at least not in fiction, so much of this endeavour is made up of new experiences for me! My editor has an eye for superfluous material. When I first look at his deletions of sentences (and occasionally even entire paragraphs!) I am taken aback, but closer investigation almost invariably reveals the extraneous nature of most of the proposed deletions. Sometimes I don't agree and 'stet' them (that means I want them to stay) but at least 70% of the time the work is better off without them. That means that the book's getting a bit shorter, which is probably a Good Thing.

Things we disagree on? My editor would like, I think, fewer - maybe almost zero! - commas, adverbs, adjectives and reflexives, but I'm stetting some of those, too. Here the boot is on the other foot: I think I probably stet 70% of them! So far, we have refrained from coming to blows.

This is, of course, only the start - when we've finished we'll start all over again. However, we're racing through this first pass and if the rest of the editing goes as smoothly, The Dagger of Dresnia stands a very good chance of being let loose less than eight weeks from now!

On top of the editing, I have bitten off more than I could chew in a number of activities. First, it is Festival of Perth time, with its attendant Fringe performances. I had put my hand up to review a lot of shows for Artshub, but once the editing started I sadly had to let most of them go to other reviewers. I also had to pass on a couple I really wanted to do because I couldn't find friends with wheels to go with. My not driving is becoming more and more of a limitation in recent years. Australian society is built around the motor car and people who don't drive are few and far between here.

Furthermore, in a moment of what was probably wildly misplaced enthusiasm, I offered to report on the forthcoming Perth Writers Festival for Artshub, too. I am thankful that a colleague, Ilsa Sharp, has offered to help out. Between us, we should be able give the weekend good coverage. I'm looking forward to hearing such luminaries as Lionel Shriver, Martin Amis and Margaret Drabble speak on matters literary - and of course, to catching up with like-minded friends!

And this week my dance classes start up again, both the ones I teach and the one where I'm a student. I'm looking forward to seeing my 'old' students and colleagues again and to meeting some new ones!

Yup, life is suddenly very, very, busy.

2 comments:

Jeff Hargett said...

It's always interesting to get a detailed analysis or edit. I'm a bit surprised at the notion of removing all commas though. I think the shortened (I presume) sentences would get tedious over the course of a book, but what do I know? I probably use too many. :-) Still looking forward to the release.

Satima Flavell said...

I don't think my editor wants all commas to go, Jeff - just most of them! There are some that are essential, such as those that bracket dependent phrases or clauses, and I will not let those be deleted. There are other places where I'd like to see commas but I concede that many readers prefer lean punctuation, so if a comma can be deleted without changing the sense, I'll usually let it go. So far I've only had cut a few sentences in two, so there aren't a lot of those annoying choppy, short sentences.

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