HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL.

Dogs, Cats, Possums & Tigers

We had a bit of a drama here last night.

As nobody else was at home, I'd settled myself in front of the television to catch up on one of my favorite shows, "Bones". The two working dogs, Tiger and Nig, were tied up on the veranda, Mickey was inside with me, and the two cats, Dixi and Rambo, were curled up in their chosen spots. All was quiet and peaceful...

Until 11pm, that is.

Tiger started carrying on like a lunatic. He's been doing this at the same time almost every night for the past couple of months, and it was driving me crazy. Our resident brush tailed possum and her offspring would come across the veranda, down the rose bush beside the water tank and drink out of Tiger's water bowl while completely ignoring the manic dog that could easily have eaten them both. Tiger would bark, whine, jump, run to the length of his chain and quake with fear. One brave cattle dog!

Last night, enough was enough. I raced outside with a rolled up newspaper to make the dog behave. I could hear hissing and spitting going on. He'd bailed up, not the possum this time, but one of the neighbor's cats. I went back inside and grabbed a torch.

When I went back out, Tiger wouldn't let me get near the cat. I thought it must be a nasty feral cat he had backed up against the house.

At this stage I must say, our house is up on stilts because we live on the flood plain. We're at least 5 feet up. No problem for a cat or a possum.

But my torch light didn't find a cat or a possum. It was a tiger snake. No wonder the dog was going insane.

I couldn't believe it. A tiger snake!

I shifted the dog around to the other side of the veranda and tied him up where he'd be safe and I got a shovel. It was no use. I couldn't wield the shovel in one hand and the torch in the other. There was no way I could kill the snake. [Snakes are protected out here and I normally wouldn't go after one to kill it, but sorry, this one is too close for comfort. It has to go.]

The snake took one look at me and disappeared down a slit in the floor boards - and I do mean a "tiny slit". That was a bit scary. If it could get into a tiny space like that, it could get into the house.

Anyway, I thought it was gone and tied Tiger back up where his bed was. He was still shaking and nervous, but I told him everything was okay and that the nasty snake had gone.

I went back to watching television, then not half an hour later, Tiger was carrying on again and looking up at the rose bush that's growing up the veranda post. It had to be the possum this time because tiger snakes don't climb trees. It definitely wouldn't climb a very prickly rose bush.

Out I go, once again, with the torch. And this is what I found...

Click on the photo for a close look.
It's sitting there, curled happily around the rose bush, coming down from the top right hand side of the photo, facing the camera. No doubt it was wondering what I was doing flashing bright lights in its face. I couldn't get a closer shot. It is a deadly snake after all. I've had one lunge a few feet at me, so they can jump forward fairly quickly when they're in a bad mood. Tiger snakes only have 2 moods - aggressive and insanely aggressive.

Now I feel really bad about yelling at the dog to shut up and not be such an idiot about a harmless possum having a drink.

This snake has been terrorizing the dog for weeks. Poor Tiger.

Now, when I see where the snake was sitting, I realize how close I must have been to it every night when I went out and rattled the rose bush to show the dog that there was nothing in it.

Lesson 1: Don't assume your dog is a fool.
Lesson 2: Tiger snakes really can climb trees.

We still haven't caught the snake. We'll have to find it. We can't risk having one of the dogs or cats, or one of us killed.

Tiger spent the night around the other side of the veranda with Nig. Out of harm's way.

So...

Round 1 goes to the snake.

But, this fight ain't over yet...

Stay tuned.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

Hi everyone!

It's evening here on Christmas Day and I've finally found a quiet moment before it all starts again for the evening meal.

I wish you all the happiest Christmas ever, the best festive season, celebration, holiday, or however you wish to celebrate this time of the year.

May you all find, love, peace, happiness, hope, and strength and inspiration to carry you forward into the coming new year.

Cheers

Brittany

Poetry Review

I'm really thrilled with this review from Coffee Time Romance.

This is a site I hadn't seen until Julie at Eternal Press emailed me and told me about the review. There's heaps of great stuff on this site - as well as reviews. Do yourself a favour - as Molly Meldrum would say - and surf on over there for a look around.

Oh yeah... don't forget to check out my review and the review of Sally Odgers' poetry too.

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/Whisperingsofthesoul.html

WHISPERINGS OF THE SOUL
BRITTANY KINGSTON
ISBN# Unavailable
September 2007
Eternal Press
www.eternalpress.com.au
E-Book
$2.95
60 Pages
Poetry
Rating: 3 Cups

Poetry is the fruit of the tree of the poet’s life. The poet draws on experiences, and then shares his or her thoughts and feelings with the reader.

Good poetry should evoke some type of emotion from the reader. It can make one laugh, cry, or produce a simple smile.

Whisperings of the Soul does all of these things. It runs the gambit of emotions. There are a few comedic pieces, such as “Move On” and “Grow Old Gracefully”. “A Smile” and “Awakening” are both sweet and simple. Some of the poems are lengthier than others. “Inspiration” and “Shadow Dreams” are both small, yet powerful works. My personal favorites are “Sphinx” and “Darkeyes”, which are a bit haunting and thought provoking.

Brittany Kingston is a very talented poet. She is able to induce sensations throughout her pieces that are keenly felt by the reader. Although the book has a gypsy feeling, there are only a few that specifically relate to gypsies. Ms. Kingston obviously draws from the raw emotions that she has felt throughout her life, which have creatively inspired her. Whisperings of the Soul is a fun, yet moving poetic work.

Bonnie-Lass
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books

That Nasty "P" Word Again

It's that nasty "P" word... yet again!

PROCRASTINATION.

I'm a master at it.

... and while I'm sitting here blogging on - I'm doing it again.

What I really should be doing is editing The Shadow Runners. It's sooooo close to being finished that I can practically see the book on the book shop shelf... and yet... here I sit doing everything but the editing.

I've even done all the office filing. Now that's something I always leave until it resembles the leaning tower of Pisa and becomes near life-threatening to walk past.

I've also drawn pictures of my characters, done some photo retouching for my cousin... all things that could be done after the edits.

These edits are important. This is where I pick up on all the little mistakes - like the "Ienpw" issue I mentioned last time, spelling, grammar, point of view problems - the list goes on. These edits could make or break the book. They could make a reader never want the story to end, or make a reader never want to finish it.

Super-important.

So why am I not doing it.... hmmmmm?

I've fallen into the trap we writers set for ourselves sometimes. The old "when I'm in the mood for it" trap.

Make no mistake, that's a real demon, and it creeps up on us and worms its way into our psyche. How many times have you heard a writer say: I'll finish that story when I'm in "the writing mood". Piffle!

This is where that other nasty little word WORK comes in.

The fun of getting the story down on paper - or computer screen - is over. Now the real work begins. The rewrites, the re-rewrites, the re-re-rewrites, the copy edits, the manuscript edits, the edit edits, the re-edits... It all has to happen, or the novel never gets to publishing standard.

So... here I sit blogging.

OK. Fine. I'll go do the edits. It isn't as if I don't know how. I do know how. I've even made a start. I've edited chapter one.

I even looked at chapter two. Page one of chapter two has a mistake of the "Anubis" kind on it so I ran screaming.

Yeah. I did it again. Ranger is, after all, a "ranger". He can communicate with all animals [a trait that becomes extremely important a couple of chapters later] ...and there, right on the first page of chapter two, I have Jaxxlar telling him [telling him, mind you] what a camorii is and telling him she can communicate. Oh God! Where was my mind when I wrote that paragraph?

OK. Don't panic. I can fix this. A couple of paragraphs is all it will take. Nothing too strenuous.

So.... GET ON WITH IT...

Right. No problem. I'm getting.

I'll just have my shower first, read my email, do the dishes, make a cup of coffee, make a few phone calls.... then... I promise....

Hi everyone.

I've been fooling around and trying to draw my impression of what a herrragh would look like. So here he is... ta-daaaaah.

Well, I'm not all that good at drawing humanoid bodies, but the animal parts look ok. Anyway, it will give you all an idea of what a herrragh is supposed to resemble.



Now, under the heading of "Research and Think BEFORE You Write"...

I also discovered, to my absolute horror, that I've been calling the deity of the herrragh, "Anubis", when the word "Anubis" is only the Greek version of his name. He would have been known as his original Egyptian name of "Ienpw" - pronounced (Yinepu).

Talk about a major blunder. I never gave it a thought. But when analyzing the situation, I realized that, even though I could leave it as "Anubis", the original space-faring people known as the herrragh who visited earth a few millenia ago would not have referred to their own God by a human Greek name.

Major bummer!

Thank "the Gods" for the search and replace feature on word processors! I guess I'll be using mine a lot over the next few days.



Cheers

Brittany Kingston

Congratulations

Louise Lucchetti

You have won a copy of:

"Whisperings of the Soul"

The correct translation of the Romani words in

"The Gypsy Storyteller" was:

DEBLA = SUN

DOOD = MOON

Thank you to all those who took the time to enter this competition.

Don't forget to keep an eye on this space as I'll be running more competitions on a regular basis.

Yours in love and light

Brittany Kingston

Competition

To celebrate the release of my Gypsy Poetry Anthology, "Whisperings of the Soul" with Eternal Press, I'm offering one complimentary PDF copy to the first person who can translate the following two Romani words from "The Gypsy Storyteller" into English:

DEBLA

DOOD

Hint: The poem "The Gypsy Storyteller" appears on my web site in my POETRY section.

If you think you have the translations, send me an email from the site with your answers in the body of the email and the words "Poetry Competition" in the subject line.

Click this image to surf on over to

Brittany Kingston's official Web Site.

Good Luck!

Brittany Kingston

Safe Journey, Grandma.

Ethyl Storer died in the early hours of this morning, aged 90.

Strange how a life can be introduced and farewelled in one short sentence.

But this announcement makes me sad. Ethyl Storer was my grandmother - my mother’s mother.

It’s at times like these that I feel most acutely, the severing of the ties that connected me to my own family. There is so much I don’t know. So much that will pass before I’ll even realise it was there. Can you miss what you’ve never had? Not really. I can only mourn what might have been – the chance that was taken from me – the glimpse into something that could never be.

I was lucky enough to meet my grandmother twice – not long after I found my way back to my family, after 30 years of searching. However, the situation being what it was, I never had the chance to sit and talk with her alone. I never had the chance to get to know her as my grandmother, or even just as a person. We met as adults with no association other than I was once the daughter of one of her daughters. There was nothing to bridge the gap between us in this life. I have no history with her, no photographs of us together, no memories of visiting Grandma on holidays. Nothing to say we’d even met.

Now she’s gone.

I feel somewhat cheated. I feel disconnected. Here is a part of my history that has been wiped. Someone who should have been an integral part of my life and my children’s lives, has now been reduced to a few words on a piece of paper.

So there it is: the way of the earthly body. We reside within it for a short while, then we leave.

The sun is shining here and it is a most glorious day. Somewhere deep within my senses, I hear a former self, Snaru, say: It is a good day to die.

Yes, it is indeed a good day to die, and, Grandma Storer, wherever your journey takes you, I hope the pathway is a joyous one, full of good memories, laughter and sunshine.

Safe journey, Grandma.

Eternal Press

Hi everyone.

Just wanted to tell you about the exciting new Publishing Company I've become involved with.

Eternal Press

I'll soon have my poetry anthology "Whisperings of the Soul" coming out with them, and I've also joined the ranks of their editors.

Wow!

I'm having great fun.

Surf on over to Eternal Press and check us out.

We've also just started an official Eternal Press Blog, so... go ahead, take a look at what's on the minds of the editors at Eternal Press.

Love and light as always....

Brittany

Two of My All-Time Favourite Singers Together

John Denver & Mama Cass Elliot

[via FoxyTunes / John Denver]

The Dreaded Whymeees

Yes, the other day I caught myself out in a dreaded attack of the whymeees.

We all have those days:- why me? what did I do to deserve this...? You know how it goes.

I used to feel really guilty about having the odd whymeee attack. Now, of course, I recognise it for what it is, acknowledge it, accept it, then move on.

We don't need to torture ourselves over being human.

We all have days when we're up and days when we're down. We are what we are after all.

The trick is not to dwell in the land of the whymeees, for there lives envy, jealousy, self pity, bitterness and all those other nasties that can take a hold of you and turn your view of life sour.

On the other hand, it's rather unhealthy to feel totally positive and up all the time. We are allowed to feel negative emotions, you know. In fact we are supposed to feel them.

Negative emotions are our counter-weights. They are our early warning systems and our alert to the possibility that we may in fact be learning something.

Having negative emotions to balance out our wholeness is a healthy thing.

However, if you tip too far the other way, you can become negative yourself and start generating negative energy that can actually follow you around and cause negative things to happen in your life.

None of us want that to happen, and yet, from time to time, we all do it. Congratulations everyone, we're human!

So, folks, take a step back, take a deep breath and take a really deep look into yourself.

Are you harbouring a grudge deep down inside? Are you jealous of a friend's success?

Ask youself, why?

Why am I jealous of my friend? I love that he/she is successful. Why does it make me feel negative when I should feel happy for him/her?

Your answer may be as simple as: Because I wish that could have happened to me. I wish I had what he/she has.

If it is, then own your feeling. Say it out loud. Banish it to the 'dealt-with' basket. That's not to say that you should make light of your own feelings, even such negative ones.

We are allowed to be disappointed, even envious of something we wanted that was given to someone else. But instead of dwelling on that feeling and allow it to gain power over us, look into why that success, or whatever, came to your friend and not to you. And just because it did happen to your friend instead of you, it doesn't mean that you were not worthy, or that you didn't deserve it. It simply means that you travel a different pathway and your own success lies in another direction.

Accept that and move on - hopefully towards your successes.

Look to the sunshine and rainbows of the good times in your lives, my friends, but be really grateful for the dark clouds of learning and enrichment. Cherish all your emotions. Embrace them, feel them, be them, live them. Don't be afraid of them. Be joyful that you can experience them all in their wonderous glory.

Cheers for now.

Brittany

Exciting Stuff

Drawing towards the end of a novel is exciting stuff.

But the end isn't necessarily "the end" of the work.

After you've finished the final chapter - for about the 6th - 10th time - and you're happy with your rewrites, the next step is to get it read by someone who will represent your "reading public".

Hand your manuscript over to someone who is familiar with that genre and enjoys that type of novel.

Then...

Get to work on your next baby.

Don't sit around biting your nails and phoning the reader every day to see how far they've read. You want them to take their time and read it properly.

If possible, get that reader to critique your novel for you.

Some of the things a reader can look for, as opposed to an editor or assessment service, are:

Are the characters likable?
Can a reader identify with them and empathise with them?
Does the book "hook" the reader in from the very beginning?
Is the plot easy to follow?
Are there any inconsistencies in the plot?
Did you leave out any explanations or put too many in?
Do you waffle in places?
Do you repeat yourself?
Does the book have good pace?
Does the climax build satisfactorily towards the end.
Is the ending satisfying and exciting.
If there is a sequel, does the ending make you want to read the second book?

Also ask them, if they see any glaring grammar or spelling mistakes to point those out for you, if they wouldn't mind.

As authors, we know what should be in our novels, and so we read them with our eyes and our minds half closed to some things.

A fresh set of eyes is invaluable.

Once your wonderful reader has written all over your manuscript for you, get to work on the rewrites. Fix up any mistakes, no matter how tiny they may be.

After all, you want that manuscript to be as close to perfect as you can get it.

A manuscript assessment service is a good next step.

A glowing critique from a reputable assessment service can go a long way towards pitching your novel to a publisher.

So, people, go ahead. Give it a go... Write, write and then write some more!

Cheers

New Art Site

Hi everyone.

If you've checked out my photo gallery and art gallery and liked what you saw, head on over to Zazzle and buy one of my greeting cards or postcards.

Just follow the link to the left of the blog.

On the writing front:- Shaddow Runners is almost finished. I completed what I thought was the last chapter only to find that I needed another chapter to conclude everything. I'm really looking forward to writing that. The sequal, Mark of the Condemned, is also off to a good start.

On the home front:- GST time again. Yuk! And... it's no surprise to any of you that it's very, very dry out here. No more water for gardens. I'm going to be busy collecting every drop of water I can from the washing machine, where we wash our hands, the kitchen sink, the shower - everywhere - just to keep my garden alive. Bring on the rain!! Anyone know any good rain dances? I think I'll give a few of them a try.

Don't forget to surf on over to Zazzle and check out my personally designed products for sale.

Catch ya next time!