Plays, Stones, Lattes & Science Fiction

It's not getting any less busy around here. In fact, I think it might even be busier than before.

How does that work? I thought things would settle down and be a bit less manic after the True Blue Aussie Review play finished. But no... there's still a steady string of visitors coming and going, and there's still a heap more paintings to do for my Phoenix art exhibition. Quieter after the play? More time for writing?

Not so.

These days the only writing time I'm getting is when I go down to the Idyl Book Cafe to do my Gypsy Stone Readings. Between readings I set up my laptop and put in a little quality writing time. What can be better than that? Sipping lattes and writing science fiction. Not bad at all.

It is only one day per week, but that is one whole day per week of writing. That's more than I can manage at home at the moment. Stolen time's the best, isn't it? It's almost a guilty pleasure. An indulgence. All the sweeter for the taking.

[Insert maniacal laughter here]

Oh, that's right. Full moon tonight. I might have known. It brings out the worst in me... or perhaps the best. Who knows?

Catch up soon.

Brittany K.

All Things Domestic

OK now, that's five loads of washing done. Beds used on the weekend have all been stripped and the sheets washed. All the other domestic stuff has been done. I've hired a scary movie for tonight. Now... to write...

Great...! I'm no longer in the mood.

Don't you just hate that!!!!

I took up the challenge for November to create a novel in a month and ever since I signed up... not a jot have I written - except for Plurks, Twitters and Blogs.

I haven't got writer's block. I'm just finding that I have so little time to sit here and get the work done.

It's so frustrating that ordinary, boring, domestic life gets in the way of creativity. Oh if only I had a maid...!

Catch you later.

Brittany K.

Competition Winner

Congratulations to:

MS. PRISS

You have won a free ebook copy of
Sword of Anubis.

If you've already read that story, please feel free to choose another title from Eternal Press and I'll have that ebook sent out to you as soon as possible.

Thank you to all who entered my competition.

If you liked Sword of Anubis, keep an eye out for Shadow on the Crystal coming out next month.


Cheers

Brittany Kingston

New Blog on the Block

Hey, all you writers and readers!

There's a brand new blog on the block.

Surf on over to:

http://eternalpressauthors.blogspot.com

and catch up with all your favorite authors and editors
- including yours truly -
at Eternal Press.

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

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