Featured post
A new lease of life for my books
As you know, I was bitterly disappointed when Satalyte shut up shop as it might have meant the end of my admittedly short career as a publi...
About Me
- Satima Flavell
- I am a writer, editor, reviewer and dance teacher based in Perth, Western Australia.
My books
Buy The Talismans
The Dagger of Dresnia
Want a copy? Contact me at satimafn(at)gmail.com
The Cloak of Challiver
Available again as an ebook soon!
Mythic Resonance
Buy 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
Follow by Email
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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Book review: Drowned, by Therese Bohman - Therese Bohman is a Swedish editor, columnist, and author. She has written three novels to date, and her work has been shortlisted for the Nordic Council L...2 hours ago
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"REMEMBER SCARBOROUGH!" by Penny Dolan - *The bit marked “History” in my head is a bit of a muddle. It feels full of significant images that get added to, or overridden, or shuffled about somewh...
3 hours ago -
THUMBNAIL THURSDAY THINKS DEATH IS FUNNY, OKAY? OKAY? - I'd watch the movie. That's all I'm saying. Unless it had Adam Sandler in it. That shit's worse than death. But other than that... [image: 0162] *"N...9 hours ago
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Writing About Later, Now: Harder Than It Used to Be - I have a piece in the Los Angeles Times today about the difficulty of writing science fiction in today’s world, and no, it’s not just because one has to wo...13 hours ago
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Solicitation (and Plagiarism) Alert: Legaia Books / Paperclips Magazine - *Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware* When the late, unlamented Tate Publishing & Enterprises went belly-up a few months ago, I started hearing f...
15 hours ago -
James Abel - James Abel is the pseudonym for Bob Reiss, an accomplished author and journalist who has written extensively on the Arctic. He lives and works in New York ...
18 hours ago -
Birth of a Book: The Writing Stage: Writing the First Draft - *By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Part of the Early Stages of a Novel Series * This series has been discussing the early stages of writing a novel. We sta...
19 hours ago -
Worldcon 75, Part 2 - Thursday through Saturday were good days for me at Worldcon. But first, congratulations to all the winners of the Hugo and associated rewards! You can see ...19 hours ago
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Alice Walker: Writers [on Writing] - *Meditation has been a loyal friend to me. It has helped me write my books. I could not have *Possessing the Secret of Joy *(about a woman who is genitally...
20 hours ago -
On nuts and nerds - For decades the English-speaking world has been wondering where the word nerd came from. The Internet is full of excellent essays: the documentation is c...20 hours ago
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Lookie, Lookie, Lookie - I don't know if you remember but some weeks ago I came across a mushroom 'farm' in a box - and, of course, I had to 'invest' in it, didn't I. It's been sit...
20 hours ago -
Non-advice for Writers - Shortly after my third novel was published I started work on a fourth. I’m proud of all three of my books but I could see a steady progression of improveme...21 hours ago
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Do you qualify for a free sample edit? - I offer a free sample edit to writers who a) have a completed manuscript that they are serious about having edited, and b) have a narrative that I feel is ...21 hours ago
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A Smugglerific Cover: Avi Cantor Has Six Months to Live by Sacha Lamb - In which we reveal the cover for the sixth – and final – story in our 2017 season of Gods and Monsters: Avi Cantor Has Six Months to Live by Sacha Lamb! ...21 hours ago
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Kew in the archives - Explore documents about Kew, and find out more about the history of the area...22 hours ago
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Scaffolding, Red Lobster, Bowling Banquet, Recipe by Request, - They have finished erecting the scaffolding on our tier and are now in the process of building the wooden formers to hold the concrete. Hopefully that wil...
1 day ago -
Ruben by Bruce Whatley reviewed by Jill Smith - This is an amazing book. A children’s picture book is hardly a true description. I love every detailed drawing, every feature that Ruben abides in. Everyth...1 day ago
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Positively Teenage survey: How Positive Are YOU? - I’ve created a survey and I’d love you (10-18 year olds) to take it, please! It gives me lots of info about how you’re feeling about being a teenager and g...1 day ago
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12 Unusual And Achievable Productivity Hacks For Writers - One of the most searched-for terms that lead writers to this blog is ‘productivity hack’. It seems all you Bang2writers want to get things done … and DONE ...1 day ago
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Neolithic Orkney - Life in Skara Brae - Skara Brae might look like a cozy little village at the end of the world, but it was in fact part of a net of settlements and stone settings in the area, ...
1 day ago -
Cross purposes: Frankish levantine perceptions of gender and female participation in the crusades, 1147-1254 - Though numerous historians have studied the participation of women in the Levantine crusades during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, few have investig...2 days ago
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Interview: Agent Mark Gottlieb of Trident Media - Literary agent Mark Gottlieb of Trident Media kindly subjected himself to an interview. Here’s an abbreviated bio derived from Mark Gottlieb’s profile at T...2 days ago
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GUFF Post #7-Saturday and Sunday - After partying at the Hugo Losers party, it was a slow start to Saturday at Worldcon. Thank you to WorldCon 76 and George RR Martin for a great party. Satu...2 days ago
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GUFF Post #7-Saturday and Sunday - After partying at the Hugo Losers party, it was a slow start to Saturday at Worldcon. Thank you to WorldCon 76 and George RR Martin for a great party. Satu...2 days ago
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Limited Edition hardbacks - I’m fortunate to have had two limited edition hardbacks of my work published. One is Crow Shine, my collection of horror and dark fantasy short stories f...3 days ago
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Sunday Morning Op Shop Find: Orson Welles - Ain't it a stunner? The Lives Of Harry Lime, complete with non-fiction stories by none other than Harry Lime himself, Orson Welles. I tell a slight fib t...
4 days 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...
4 days ago -
The Midget on the Bicycle Who Woke Me Up - We were turning out of a side road onto a divided four-lane. What I mistook for a kid on a very small, solid black bicycle rode down the side street’s divi...4 days ago
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Latest Brother Cadfael Re-Read: The Pilgrim Of Hate by Ellis Peters - Yet again I'm re-reading some of Ellis Peters' classic whodunnits. This one came off my shelves, but some of them are at Mum's place, including one I rec...
4 days ago -
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Plain Doesn’t Mean Boring - When plain words work, use them. Don't feel that you must use fancy words to elevate your fiction. Choose words that make your story feel real rather than ...6 days ago
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A WRITER'S PROBLEM: HOW TO GET RID OF THE BORING BITS... - I am recycling some old posts which may be of interest to new writers struggling with writing problems... [image: [untitled.JPG]] *The Pr...
1 week ago -
Story Arts Festival 2017 2-10 September - Story Arts Festival 2017 presents a jam-packed celebration of children’s creative literature, authors and writing. You’ll be energized by the sheer creat...1 week ago
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Wish-fulfillment versus Tropes - Recently, I got a review for one of my books, "My Life as an Onion." If you know me, you already know I can be snippy about the kinds of reviews I receive....1 week ago
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Year three of my biography: the first submission - Originally posted on Nathan Hobby, a biographer in Perth: Katharine Susannah Prichard the lavender girl, 1915. A photo from a profile by Sumner Locke in Ev...1 week ago
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Win a FREE copy of my new book! - I'm offering a free, signed hardback copy of my new book *Long Live the King: The Mysterious Fate of Edward II*! All you have to do to win is leave a comme...1 week ago
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SF Book Club @ Avid Reader Books – Angela Slatter - On Monday night, Avid Reader bookstore in West End held its monthly Science Fiction and Fantasy Bookclub. Fittingly, July’s book is set in Brisbane, with a...1 week ago
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Meeting Polish readers on August 4 - It looks as if I will have a chance to meet with Polish readers. On Friday, August 4, at 6 PM, I will meet with readers at Empik Junior. (Oh, I hope tha...2 weeks ago
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August #Write...Edit...Publish challenge -- REUNIONS - *Welcome to the Write…Edit…Publish August 2017 Challenge * REUNIONS [image: Image result for images for reunions]*Families* separated by a multitude of re...2 weeks ago
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Strategies to cut overheads in a shrinking book business make a lot of sense - An inexorable reality of today’s commercial book publishing world is that it is shrinking. Although there have been no obvious signs yet that actual long-f...2 weeks ago
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More for the Cyrano film - Cyrano mentions a hall big enough to hang a galaxy as a chandelier; this is one of the foreground elements in that scene; the balloons might be planets, no...
3 weeks ago -
A year on, the man gone. - It’s the smile I miss, the simplicity of acceptance without the need for speech, his eyes that cut to the soul and still his smile came - the way the sun r...3 weeks ago
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HOW A STORY CAN CHANGE A LIFE - On my own path to my passionate purpose, I discovered that every failure, every setback, and every depression was actually a call to step forth into an ad...
3 weeks ago -
#291 - Questions: Will beginning each part of my book with a stanza be a total turn-off for agents? Not including it in a response to a request for pages would be ...3 weeks ago
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Nature, Emotion and the Supernatural - Last Monday I dropped the kids to school and escaped into the mountains. This was the view. The mountains remind me of waves. I find this view beautiful,...4 weeks ago
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Another new podcast story - A reprint this time, at The Overcast, of one of the original stories from my Angel Dust collection, “Almost Angels”. J.S. has done a really nice reading – ...4 weeks ago
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How to Craft an Outstanding Guest Post - Last week, I explained why guest posting is so valuable (and not just for link juice). Then, one of our regular contributors, Ali Luke, wrote about how t...5 weeks ago
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Revolutionary War ancestors - *Revolutionary War ancestors, who are 5th great-grandfathers, or 7 generations removed.* *Paternal ancestors: * *Capt. Jared Robinson,* 1740-1826, 6th R...
1 month ago -
Living in the West - Moving from a place I lived forever wasn’t easy but I knew I would love it here in the West and I do. In Michigan, my view was houses with lawns of green g...1 month ago
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For James Vance, and his family - I read James' Vance's work before I met the man. He was a playwright who had discovered comics and wrote a graphic novel called KINGS IN DISGUISE, set in ...2 months ago
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2017 Ditmar Winners Announced - Over the Queen’s Birthday weekend, spec fic fans gathered for Continuum 13: Triskaidekaphilia. Continuum is always a great convention, and this year it was...2 months ago
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Children of the Shaman Goodreads giveaway! - I am giving away three paperback copies of my first novel, Children of the Shaman, in the new edition by Kristell Ink, absolutely free! The giveaway opens ...2 months ago
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“They Paved Paradise …” - Somewhere in the world, there are some actual car parks that are beautiful. Absolute stunners. Picturesque. Ecological. Perfect. Here’s one: I jest. But as...2 months ago
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Writing about the Crusades and talking about a "meddlesome priest" - The Middle Ages are in the news again, so here is a roundup of recent news articles. We start with three good reads from historians talking about the crusa...
2 months ago -
The Lion of Wisdom Meditation Center - The new Meditation Center on the hill Hi Friends, Since leaving Brasil I have been staying at the new, Pannasiha, 'Lion of Wisdom' Meditation Center, a f...
2 months ago -
Contranyms: Words that mean two opposites - I asked for examples of "contranyms"-- a word with two opposite meanings. Here are some friends contributed: Fast= quick to get away/ Fast like "he was ...2 months 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...2 months ago
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The ancient parish of Aghallow and the territories of Muinterbirne and Largie in county Tyrone, 1609/10 - My main objectives for studying the Manors of Kinard [later known as the Caledon estate] and Ballymagran are to determine the geographic extent and to tr...3 months ago
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Film Review: The Royal Shakespeare Company’s film of The Tempest. - (Reviewed by Frances, president of the Shakespeare Club of Western Australia.) The importance of special effects in *The Tempest* was certainly recognised ...
3 months ago -
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (by Henry Fielding): Not quite a review - I've finally finished this. Although it took me a long time, it was surprisingly easy to read. Bear in mind that it was published in 1749, and I expected t...4 months ago
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Amazon Author Pages: Build Your Presence in the USA, the UK, Germany, India, and beyond - Let’s Get Visible (IV) How to Sell Your Book No Matter Who Published It (7) . Through its Author Central program, Amazon provides a great opportunity to ex...4 months ago
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Ebooks Sales Slowing? Yes and No - *Joe sez:* This blog originally appeared in 2010. It's extremely prescient about the future of ebooks, but that isn't the reason I'm reposting it. I'm repo...
4 months 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:...4 months ago
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Recommended reads of 2016 (part two) - Following on from my previous blog post about my favoured reads from the last year or so, which was my first blog post for some time, here is part two. I h...
5 months ago -
Just when you think the world couldn't get any madder... - CAMRA, the highly successful consumer organisation that has for *decades* promoted Real Ale has decided that it needs to be 'revitalised'. The project grou...6 months ago
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Book Review - Nobody by Threasa Meads - Available from BooktopiaThe subtitle for this work is *A Liminal Autobiography*. Liminal: 1. relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process. 2...
6 months ago -
What is a 'Wapentake' - English counties were divided into smaller administrative units. Normally, these are called 'Hundreds' but in the former Danelaw, they are called 'Wapentak...7 months ago
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Goodbye and good riddance, 2016 - Yup, it’s been dead air for a while around here. Let me share with you the round-up for 2016. In the last 12 months I’ve finally recovered from 2 herniated...7 months ago
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A whole 'nother year-and-a-bit - Well, we have let this blog slip, haven't we? I guess Facebook has taken over from blogs to a very large degree, but I think there is still a need for blo...
7 months ago -
2017 Potential Bee Calendar – & ladybirds and butterflies - Bees on flowers – all sorts of flowers (& bees) – and lady birds and butterflies. There were hundreds (literally) of photos to choose from. This is a small...8 months ago
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My talk about fact-checking - The Editors Guild recorded my talk about fact-checking last night and posted it to their YouTube channel, so you can watch it here: Unfortunately, there we...9 months 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 learni...
11 months ago -
Gaming and selling cards - Over the Easter weekend I held a card stall at a gaming convention, an alternative to running a game as I had been unwell and didn’t have time to write it....1 year ago
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The future of Australian higher education - From GetUp! "The Turnbull Government is inviting students, parents, employers, higher education providers and peak bodies to consult on its proposed change...1 year ago
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Moving to a new site - visit Dive into Worldbuilding, the Blog! - New Blog Address: http://dive-into-worldbuilding.blogspot.com/ Friends, I've now been running Dive into Worldbuilding as a show for five years (!), and f...1 year ago
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What is dyslexia? - *" **The bottob line it thit it doet exitt, no bitter whit nibe teottle give it(i.e ttecific lierning ditibility, etc) iccording to Thilly Thiywitz ( 2003)...
1 year ago -
Maken Melodye on #WhanthatAprilleDay16 - Goode Friendes and Readeres of thys Litel Blog, Yt doth fill my litel herte wyth gret happinesse to invyte yow to the thirde yeare of a moost blisful and p...1 year ago
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Our Love is On the Right Track- Song & Video from my new "solo" project - *Our Love is on the Right Track**A great sentiment for Christmas, **but also a romantic song & video for you all, the first from my new "solo" music and v...
1 year ago -
THE WINTER CROWN and a bit of news. - I am hoping to get back to proper blogging soon. There have just been so many things going on and so many deadlines to make that I have let it lapse for a...
1 year ago -
Free to Use Dancewear for Photo Sessions - As many of my Facebook and Instagram followers already know, I have been asked a few times if I can supply dance wear for photo shoots. This was not someth...1 year ago
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Cooking the Books – Susanne Bellamy - Welcome to Cooking the Books! Today’s guest is author Susanne Bellamy whose new release, Second Chance Love, is the third standalone book in the Bindarra C...1 year ago
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Review: Angelfall - During my …hiatus, while I didn’t blog, I did conduct *ahem* research for future blogs… lots of research. In the process I got somewhat accidentally obsess...3 years ago
Favourite Sites
- Alan Baxter
- Andrew McKiernan
- Bren McDibble
- Celestine Lyons
- Guy Gavriel Kay
- Hal Spacejock (Simon Haynes)
- 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
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
From Kings Park
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Friday, 15 May 2015
Guest Post on Kim Cleary's blog
Friday, May 15, 2015 | 
Posted by
Satima Flavell
Check it out at
http://kimcleary.com/high-fantasy-and-satima-flavell/
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2 comments:
Will try and get there later. Time seems to have disappeared lately. Never have any.
Yes, I'm finding the older I get, the shorter the days become!