Over at the Egoboo blog, my friend and colleague Helen Venn has written a post listing links to websites that list ideas for prompting creativity in writers.

I know a lot of writers find prompt-based exercises useful triggers to spark their creativity, but by and large they don't work for me. I just finish up writing the beginning of something that could be a novel but I haven't the faintest idea where it's going, so it just fizzles out when the buzzer goes.

However, the one time a prompting exercise did work, I started the Talismans Trilogy, the first book of which, The Dagger of Dresnia, has just been released by Satalyte Publishing. It's is a classic ‘traditional’ fantasy with a medieval setting, complete with elves, battles, love scenes and the odd dragon! Isn't the cover gorgeous? It was created by the very talented Marieke Ormsby. By the way, you can read the full story of how I came to start The Dagger of Dresnia here. (It's all Lee Battersby's fault!)

Now I am planning a proper launch for my 'baby'. It will be officially launched at Swancon, Western Australia’s annual Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, on Easter Sunday - 20 April - at the Ibis Styles Hotel, 15 Robinson Avenue, Northbridge. It’s not necessary to be at the convention to go to the launch – you can just turn up in the hotel’s foyer at 1.30 PM. Fittingly, Lee Battersby will be MC, and many other writers from WA and interstate will be there to help me celebrate. There will be cake, and three lovely lady writers to cut it.

For more on The Dagger of Dresnia, click here. And if you want to be among the first to own a copy, you should then go to http://satalyte.com.au/book-store/page/2/