I can smell the rain

I love this time of the year for a number of extremely important reasons:

1) The smell of rain and the gray skies,
2) The possibility that my road may flood and I won't be able to get to work,
3) The dry, crackled mud that forms on the dirt roads of our farm. I love to crunch this with my toes (it makes the most satisfying crunching sound that gives me a little excitement quiver every time),
4) Weeks of long summer days with no school, and
5) The mushrooms that sprout up in the paddock. I love kicking these over almost as much as I love crackling that mud.

As you can see I'm a girl of simple pleasures lol. 

Writing Manuals

Have just finished Debra Dixon's Goal, Motivation and Conflict - brilliant for setting up your plot and grounding your characters with real motivation and goals. I am using the GMC charts along with Character Profiles to set up my next book.

Am also in the middle of reading Stephen King's "On Writing." He is the master of no-nosense and brings such clarity to the process of writing. I am loving this book.

Have ordered around 10 others from Amazon (I could have bought out that company over the last 3 years) and am looking forward to getting into them.

master of uncreative writing

Seriously not inspired by my experience with this course so far.Academia = stifling. Don't think I will be re-enrolling next year. I think QWC's Year of the Novel may be a better option.

Hurrah for widgets

Finally figured out how to use the good reads widget and found the music one today - so many cool things you can do across all the social network sites and add-ons! How did we live before the net??? I spend hours on here everyday now, researching important things like the guinea pig festival in south america, the strange monkey/rodent thing that washed up on the beach in Coffs Harbour and the trailer for the Mall Rats movie (sounds like I have a thing for rodents lol).

So much useless information to absorb, so little time lol. 

Moving on

Have decided to consign my first manuscript to the back of the draw : / Had 4 requests for the first chapters from major pub houses, which I guess is quite a good outcome for a first ms. I have also learned a lot in the last twelve months, especially since the completion of this first project. This time last year I wasn't even sure if I could write a WHOLE novel - 80,000 words and lots of edits later, I now know I can ; ) Amazing how much you can do produce when you really focus.

Been a bit snowed under the last few weeks and trying to get everthing tied up at school in prep for the christmas hols and itching to get into Prof Fawkesbury's Ingenious Elevator! The gears are turning!

Writing Courses

Looking at doing some more writing over my Christmas break and was wondering if anyone knows a good online course that gives constructive feedback???

The course will have to fit in around my Melbourne shopping adventures though ; )