Busy, busy, busy

Have a ton of writing to do in the next few weeks - have to revise a short story for submission to an anthology that I really love and would just about faint to be included in! Also have to prepare my pitch for Professor Fawkesbury's Ingenious Elevator, which I have to deliver to the amazing Kristin Nelson in August at the RWA conference. And here I am writing my blog instead - lol. Ok, back to work.

Kimet Mehmet (Rahmatullah Alaihe)

Lost my dear grandfather last weekend and so have not been on here lately. Has been a very difficult few weeks and I will miss him always. No matter what, he always loved his grandkids and was an inspiration and hero to us all! We could never thank him enough for the things he sacrificed and the hard work he did to give us a better life in this country - god love him and keep him until we can be together again.

2011 NQ RWA Writing Roadshow

Have a fantastic weekend with the NQ Romance Writers and all our Roadshow guests and attendees. Saturday was packed with great sessions delivered by Helene Young, Barbara Hannay, Kelly Armstrong and Anne Gracie followed by a very fun conference dinner (at which Helene's husband Graham was of course the star! haha).

Sunday saw our group unwind and talk writing with Anne at The Lime Tree Restaurant at Trinity Beach. Great food and even better company! Look forward to being apart of many Roadshows in the coming years and helping to bring such wonderful talents to the Far North.  And now I'm exhausted but still typing away!

 Above: NQ Romance Writers - (B) Helene Young, Barbara Hannay, Havva Murat, Alice Honsa, Shannean Moncrieff, Noreen Allan. (F) Becca Quin, Mervet McClintock, Bernadette Rowley and Lilian Begelhole

Whimsy Glass up and running

I've finished the first two mirrors to be churned out of my glass studio and have also worked on a label design which I think has come along nicely. Going to be selling my work through Fairies and Jewels (the antique shop) in Mareeba. Hopefully others will be as taken with my glass work as I am. It's really fantastic to be able to create something you can be proud of and that others will enjoy : )

My favourtie part of Shift

So I've done the rounds with 'Shift,' and while it scored some great remarks in the RWA Emerald comp (One judge scored it 34/35 and one 33/35), I'm not hanging my hopes on it being published any longer. Am busy with my next novel which I hope to pitch at the RWA conf in August, but I thought I would post my favourite part of Shift on here as a farewell to it haha. So here is the Epilogue (Yes, I like endings).

The mist swirls around me as I pass through the shadows of the trees. The early morning light fights to penetrate the swirling clouds, but cannot win.

It’s freezing this far up the mountain; I shiver and reach to pull my shirt closer around my body. I have forgotten my shoes again and my feet have turned to ice. The sting of the dew has numbed my toes - but I keep moving.

I reach out and touch the heavy iron gates and trace my finger along the snaking tendrils of hair.

Circe smiles down at me. I know her secrets now. I am no longer afraid of her.

A low voice from somewhere behind the gates drifts over me.

Marcus.

I try to push the gates open, but they won’t budge.  I look back up at the face of the sorceress with the eagle’s body. Her smile has been replaced by a menacing scowl. The gates burn my hands and I release them with a gasp, and stare down to watch the blisters form on my palms.

The low voice calls something I can’t make out, and I peer through the gates again, careful not to touch them.

And then I see him.

Marcus is sitting on an old garden bench under a huge flowering tree. His back is to me, and he has his arm around a girl with long red hair - my hair.

Is that me? Am I dreaming again?

“Marcus!” I call through the unyielding gates.

He doesn’t hear me, he doesn’t turn around.

But the girl does.

She turns slowly to look at me and smirks, as her hair changes colour. The red drips away, revealing long black tresses, and her eyes glow fiercely at me. She puts her arms possessively around Marcus, and pulls his head down onto her chest, covering his ears with her hands.

“Marcus, what’s going on? Look at me!” I yell, but he still doesn’t hear.

The girl throws her head back and laughs at me, pitilessly. Her black hair tumbles down her back, and writhes like a million serpents.  Her skin is pure bronze and glows in the pale light.

I grab the gates again and shake them furiously. They burn into my hands, but I ignore the pain in my desperation to get to Marcus. I scream his name out, again and again, until Serena emerges from the mist, a scowl on her face.

“Keep him away from the Seer!” She commands the raven haired girl.

The girl complies, and pulls Marcus towards the house, throwing me an arch look over her shoulder as they disappear into the mist.

“You should have listened to me, Seer! You don’t belong here - you don’t belong with him!” Serena calls out cruelly, before fading into the mist like the others.  

My heart tears in half, and I collapse in front of the foreboding gates, wanting to pull them from their hinges and reclaim what’s mine,  powerless to do anything but weep.

Whimsy Glass Studio Progress

Have started my first two mirrors in my new glass studio and after some serious cuts to both hands and feet I am happy to have made lots of progress.

The Original Pattern that I drew.

Whimsy glass studio (I plan to build a workshop surrounded by stained glass windows when I get the time ; )

  Poppy mirror - main features are cut from stained glass

 

Poppy mirror - mirror tesserae are used to fill in around main cut glass features. 

 Now all I have to do is grout and seal the project.

RWA Emerald Award 2011

I finally got the results back from the Emerald Award (national writing comp run by Romance Writers of Australia) and I was lucky enough to come in 8th place - I never even hoped to get through to the second round so this was a huge bonus. There were some great writers amongst the final twelve and the top three are now judged by an American Editor. Great competition and well worth the effort.