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
-
Adam & Eve: Four Toys for $20! - Oh, hey! This post is rather quite NSFW! You have been warned! This post is being sponsored by AdamandEve.com and they’ve offered us a great discount on to...1 hour ago
-
100 Medieval Words that Mean Something New Today - The words we speak today are more than just tools for communication—they are threads that weave together centuries of history. From the medieval…11 hours ago
-
Coffee Lovers, Assemble! - Recently I was scrolling on Instagram (big shocker, I know) and came across an ad for a cafe passport. In the past couple years I have seen many a brewery ...15 hours ago
-
James Byrne - James Byrne is the pseudonym for an author who has worked for more than twenty years as a journalist and in politics. A native of the Pacific Northwest, he...17 hours ago
-
Authors I follow – Nick Earls… - I’ve been a fan of Nick Earls for many years. He opened the Somerset Literary Festival before it was called Somerset Storyfest. He’s appeared there many ti...20 hours ago
-
Dissecting Voice - Consider this snippet of dialogue: “What’s her name?” “Janet.” “I don’t feel comfortable calling anyone by their first name, especially a woman...23 hours ago
-
Visualising naval networks in the Admiralty China Station records - Explore the communication networks of the British Royal Navy from China in the 19th and 20th centuries. The post Visualising naval networks in the Admir...2 days ago
-
5 Unusual Things I Did To Create My Dream Writing Career - On ‘Breaking In’ To The Industry I don’t like the term ‘breaking in’, which is why I always tell Bang2writers to CREATE their dream writing career. I thi...2 days ago
-
“My fellow Americans” [timeline] - [image: Seal of the President of the United States from Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration] “My fellow Americans” [timeline] Every four years, the incoming ...2 days ago
-
Nope, Not Buying It: How Do We Maintain Believability in Our Writing? - *By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy* *You don't want your readers to think, "Yeah, right, that'll never happen."* My brother-in-law is a nurse, and he can't w...3 days ago
-
The Great Discworld Retrospective No. 34: Thud! - Koom Valley is a fairly unassuming place but it is the site of a series of battles between the Trolls and the Dwarves. The most famous battle was inconclus...5 days ago
-
January Floods by Maggie Brookes - On Boxing Day it was 20 years since the terrible tsunami in the Indian ocean. Remembering our shock on hearing about that disaster, which killed 230,000 ...5 days ago
-
Hectic January - I thought December was hectic. Last minute travel, visitors, Christmas and the lead up to New Year. Alas, January has been hectic and it’s not done yet. At...6 days ago
-
Hectic January - I thought December was hectic. Last minute travel, visitors, Christmas and the lead up to New Year. Alas, January has been hectic and it’s not done yet. At...6 days ago
-
Just Finished Re-Reading Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp. - I seem to be doing a lot of re-reading lately, while there is a pile of review stuff to do. Sometimes I’m stressed out and just want something famil...6 days ago
-
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 ...1 week ago
-
Books Read 2024 - *A Spindle Splintered *by Alix E. Harrow (novella) *All the Light We Cannot See *by Anthony Doerr *A Special Providence *by Richard Yates *The Slap *by ...1 week ago
-
-
More on Traffic (because I am a nerd) - This is serious. I sent this to my local State Department of Transport a few minutes ago: A SUGGESTION TO IMPROVE TRAFFIC FLOWS IN REALTIME – VIA REMOTE CO...1 week ago
-
Photo Parade 2024 - I’ve decided to participate in the annual Photo Parade (Fotoparade) on Michael’s blog Erkunde die Welt (Discover the World) again. My post from last year’s...2 weeks ago
-
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...2 weeks ago
-
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...3 weeks ago
-
Time, what even is it anyway? Newsletter 9th December 2024. - Hello fiends I really am rubbish at this newsletter frequency thing, huh? If it’s any consolation, I’m even worse at keeping my YouTube channel up to dat...1 month ago
-
Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales… Release Day! - Spawn 2: More Weird Horror Tales about Pregnancy, Birth and Babies, is out! You can get both the e-book and paper book at Amazon, at other bookstores, or a...1 month ago
-
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...2 months ago
-
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...2 months ago
-
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...3 months ago
-
PhD Milestone 3 at Curtin University - Yesterday I had the pleasure of doing my Milestone 3 presentation for my PhD at Curtin, which is in its final stages before it goes off to be examined. App...4 months ago
-
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...7 months ago
-
How to Approach Influencers in Your Niche: Twelve Crucial Tips - The post How to Approach Influencers in Your Niche: Twelve Crucial Tips appeared first on ProBlogger. Do you want to connect with influencers in your nic...7 months ago
-
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...9 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...1 year 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 ...1 year 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...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...2 years 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...2 years 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 ...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...3 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...3 years ago
-
-
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. ...4 years ago
-
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...4 years ago
-
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...4 years ago
-
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
-
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
-
Year end holiday greetings - Hi Dhamma friends, It is that year end holiday season again and along with all the negative vibrations going on in the world, we need to recharge our med...5 years ago
-
#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
-
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
-
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
-
#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
-
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...5 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...5 years ago
-
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...5 years ago
-
Brian Wainwright "How I Wish I Had Written That" Award for 2019 - The coveted and prestigious *Brian Wainwright "How I Wish I Had Written That" Award for 2019* goes to the late, great and much lamented *Edith Pargeter...5 years ago
-
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...5 years ago
-
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...5 years ago
-
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...5 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...5 years ago
-
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.5 years ago
-
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...5 years ago
-
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...5 years ago
-
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...5 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...6 years ago
-
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
-
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 ...6 years ago
-
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...6 years ago
-
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...7 years ago
-
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...7 years ago
-
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 ...7 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...7 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
-
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...7 years ago
-
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
-
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...8 years ago
-
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...8 years ago
-
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...8 years ago
-
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...8 years ago
-
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....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 ...12 years ago
-
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 ...14 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
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
Are we all back on deck?
Tuesday, January 20, 2015 |
Posted by
Satima Flavell
Wow, time gets away from us over the Christmas-New Year period! January is waning and it's hard to believe that it's over a month since I last posted. And it's not as if I've been busy or active in any productive kind of way. I'd love to tell you that I've been adding the finishing touches to The Cloak of Challiver, but I'd be lying. It's still with an editor friend for final critiquing before I send it off to Satalyte Publishing.
What I have been doing is lazing about, reading a little, watching TV, playing on Facebook, writing a few emails (but I'm still less than half way down the list of annual newsletters from folk I love to stay in touch with at least once or twice a year) and going out socialising to celebrate the holiday season. Truth to tell, I'm getting lazy in my old age. Besides, summer in this part of the world (Perth, Western Australia) is HOT. Very hot indeed. Days are rarely under 30 degrees Celsius, and not infrequently the mercury rises to over forty! Good ice-cream weather.
Part of the problem is that everything except socialising stops for December and often January too, so my usual activities have been replaced by social outings. I had a lovely afternoon last Saturday, for instance, with friends from the Shakespeare Club of Western Australia at the home of one of our members. But keep-fit classes have started again now, and I'm teaching theatrical dance at the annual Summer School of Trinity School for Seniors. Several new ladies are trying the class out, and I do hope they like it enough to sign on for first term. The problem there, of course, is that they are new to dance and might find it hard to slot into the existing group, yet there aren't enough of them to start a second class. We'll see what happens next month!
Only a few more weeks until belly dancing and yoga start up again, too. Maybe by then I will have exercised off at least part of the three kilos that have suddenly appeared on the scales due to cake, mince pies and lack of exercise. But right now, after just a couple of keep-fit classes I feel heavy, weary and achy all over!
I think I'll just go to the fridge and get another ice-cream ...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
8 comments:
Naughty girl, keep away from the ice cream. You shouldn't even have any in the fridge. Three kilos? I would be pulling out my hair.
Seeing as I weighed 83 kilos three months ago another three haven't made much difference to my fitness or appearance. I will lose it fairly easily once all my fitness classes get going again. However, I retain water so I always look kind of bloated, and diuretics don't seem to help much. :-(
We don't use kilos so had to convert. That is heavier than I am, I am surprised. Don't think diuretics are much use, can't take them any more anyway, get cramp.
I drink a lot of water because I'm prone to cramps and migraines, but I think the real culprit is coffee. I've cut down on it in the last week or two and I think I'm a bit less bloated. It could be contributing to the overweight as well since I like lots of milk in coffee. No sugar, though.
I haven't had milk or sugar in coffee since I was a kid. Nor do I drink a lot of water, but I do drink a lot of decaf coffee every day. As for cramps, which I get more of from taking a statin, I eat a banana every day and take quinine pills too. If I have cramp, which is luckily not often now, I drink some tonic water. I don't get migraines often either any more, seem to have more or less grown out of them. The worst one I ever had was from drinking fully leaded coffee in Portugal. The caffeine really did me in there.
Yes, I've learnt to drink decaf, too. A 'real' coffee tends to make me buzz these days, so I only have one when I know I need to be a bit 'up'.
Now I'm on medication for hiatus hernia, I can handle more caffeine than I did and often drink regular coffee at the bowling alley. It's that or none.
Sounds like we're in a lot of the same clubs, health-wise, Jo!