Louise Cusack - Diary 2007

Sunday, 16th December, 2007: Yesterday a lot of planning came to fruition with the running of the inaugural "Redland Feast of Writing" which was a great success!  Eleven highly successful authors, one publisher, one agent, and the CEO of the Qld Writers Centre all descended on the Capalaba Library for a three hour extravaganza of Industry Information.  Here's a group shot of the Industry Professionals who generously donated their time to help local authors (and brought books for the lucky door prize - are they great or what!):

The back row from left to right is Jason Nahrung (Horror), Marianne de Pierres (Sci Fi), Rowena Cory Daniells (Fantasy), Anita Bell (Thrillers and Non-fiction), Katherine Howell (Crime), Kate Eltham (CEO of the QWC) and the front row left to right is Estelle Pinney (Historical), Moi (MC), Anni Haig Smith (agent), Anna Cleary (Romance), Jann Webb (Client Services Librarian for Redlands), Prue Mason (Young Adult) and Leonie Tyle who has just taken up a post as a publisher at Random House.  Leonie spoke eloquently about what publishers look for in a manuscript, Anni gave her perspective on what an agent looks for and practical information on how to format and present the manuscript (always hard copy!), Kate informed the audience about the many services the Qld Writers Centre offered it's members and she also spoke about the partnership between the QWC and publisher Hachette Livre to mentor promising speculative fiction authors next year.  Details of that mentorship can be sourced through contacting the QWC. 

After those speeches we broke the audience into genre groups and they each sat with their assigned authors to ask questions and her up-to-the-minute industry information to help them improve their manuscripts and submit them to publishers.  I've put some photos above, the first is of Kate Eltham speaking, then we've got Anna Cleary's Romance Group, Leonie Tyle's Literary Fiction group, Prue Mason's Young Adult group, and Jason Nahrung and Marianne de Pierres Speculative Fiction group  That session went for half an hour then we all drifted back into the main room for coffee and biscuits and the opportunity to network with published authors, publisher, agent, and other local writers.  Towards the end of the afternoon we drew the lucky door prize and the final picture is of local writer Ally Weston receiving her prize!

The feedback has all been positive and local writers have been particularly effusive in their praise of the event.  It took ages to organise, so I'm glad it went well, and lots of credit should  go to Jann Webb and her assistant Julie Holder who handled all the logistics of food, chairs, microphone, brochures etc.  Their attention to detail made a good event spectacular.

I'm really looking forward to next year's!

Sunday, 25th November, 2007: I'm just freshly back from my agent Selwa Anthony's annual seminar in Sydney and I had a fabulous time.  I caught up with fellow speculative fiction writers in her stable: Ian Irvine, Richard Harland, Traci Harding, Kim Wilkins, Jason Nahrung, Nathan Burrage, Amanda Holohan, Josephine Pennicott and non-spec fic writers Kate Morton (who snagged front page of the Courier Mail on the day of the seminar!), Katherine Howell, David Levell and Graeme Hague.  There were great speakers during the day ,and as usual, the awards dinner was a great chance to dress up and have a laugh.  Good food, fabulous company, lots of networking and learning new information.  Plus we get to see Selwa which is worth flying to Sydney for any time!  After dinner we went to the bar to toast the "changing of the guard" (politically speaking) so it was a bit of a late night, but nothing a late checkout and copious amounts of coffee won't fix. 

Here's some photos below - on the left: Kim Wilkins and I / then Sassy Award recipients David Levell, Ian Irvine, Kim Wilkins, Kate Morton and in the front Traci Harding.

Below: Winner of the inaugural "Lynne Wilding Sassy Award for Excellence" Anne Rennie with my agent Selwa Anthony / then Kim Wilkins, Jason Nahrung and I.

Wednesday, 21st November, 2007: Just back from the Show & Tell (speakers agency) Christmas Party at the Avid Reader bookstore in West End.  The picture on the right is of (left to right) author of "Tomodachi" Simon Higgins who did a martial arts display, Helen Bain, the principal of Show & Tell, poet Ross Clarke and myself.  I also had the chance to catch up with Nick Earls, Frances Whiting and a heap of others.  It was fun.

Have also heard that Nathan Burrage (another member of agent Selwa Anthony's stable) has his website up at www.nathanburrage.com and after checking it out I can heartily recommend his "craft" page where he describes how he came to write his novel and become published.  It's a great story!

Monday, 19th November, 2007: Am keeping busy getting through some manuscript assessments and working on Foldworld.  I won't be doing 'casual' manuscript assessment next year, only for my mentoring clients, so I'm enjoying the last of the ones I've got here.  Also enjoying Foldworld, which is growing richer and more detailed with the Renaissance research I'm doing.  Loving that!  This weekend I'm off to Sydney (which should be my last trip away for the year) to my agent Selwa Anthony's annual seminar.  I'm looking forward to hooking up with her spec fic "cabal" down there and doing some carousing.  Should be fun!

Sunday 4th November, 2007: Finished my third workshop with the Redlands Writing group yesterday and I'm really enjoying their enthusiasm and dedication to their books.  They're a talented bunch and I'm really impressed with how hard they're working to get their novels finished by April next year.  I really love working with other writers, and am glad that although I'm not doing manuscript assessment next year I'll still be doing one-on-one mentoring and writing workshops.  There's such a lovely creative vibe and a great energy exchange that happens when a mob of writers gets together.  The Redlands group have all got different personalities and even though some of the work challenges them and they have to breathe through scary parts (like trashing the couple of thousand words that isn't working any more) they hang in there!  Lovely people.

The other thing that's happened this week is me running around helping my baby girl Rachel (now almost 18) prepare for her school formal.  The photo on the left is of her and her boyfriend Joe all dressed up and ready to go.  She had a great night and I must admit to being a bit teary about how grown up she is.  Proud feels like such an inadequate word...

Sunday 28th October, 2007: Just back from Jason Nahrung and his partner Mil Clayton's legendary Halloween party and have photographic evidence of the debauchery!

Okay, to incriminate the innocent: From top left is Alison Goodman and I, Damon and Nicky, Mil with one of her many Geckos, Cherie Curtis and I, three shots of the Piñata attack, and Jason and I before the Chartreuse had delivered it's full effects on the crowd in the kitchen.  As usual a great night with superlative entertainment - Jason's Irish brogue has to be heard to be believed (and even then you don't believe it!). 

Saturday 20th October, 2007: Have just come back from my final Year of the Novel workshop in Townsville and I'm really going to miss those guys!

They worked hard all year and here are some photos of us with the "Tower of words" that had been written that year.  In the back row we have Dave, Jacqui, Bernadette, Margaret, Lynne and Mandy.  Front row is Penny, myself and Graeme. 

We had a lot of fun, I cracked the liquorice whip, and we got to "The End" of the workshop series.  Two of the writers, Penny and Dave typed "The End" in their manuscripts as well, which was red hot.  I hadn't been expecting anyone to finish before December.  But they did and the others are all working away, hoping to finish by the end of this year or hopefully early next year.  The idea of Year of the Novel is that you set that year aside to write, so you don't get distracted with other hobbies etc and it works really well for most people.  Alas, sometimes life intervenes and you can't, but most participants get way more writing done in a YON year than they normally would.  So that's well worth the effort.

 The week before Townsville I had a fabulous time at the Bribie Retreat with the Writers on the Edge group.  Here's a "class of 2007" photo:

Back row (L to R) is Chris, Mark, Sean Williams (the other tutor), Robert, Kate, Paul and Jason.  Front row (L to R) Michele, myself, Nea and Deb.

Sean and I did two-(tutors)on-one sessions with the participants, as well as a group critique and some "noodling" where we pulled writers world-building apart to see if it was logically consistent.  On the second last day we pulled my Foldworld apart and that was really helpful too.  Great to be among such a talented group, particularly as they're all writing speculative fiction themselves.  I took my tarot cards with me and practised on a couple of the participants who were game.  I'm getting quite good at giving readings now, so I enjoyed that as well.  The food was superb!  The late night carousing was memorable.  Then there were the lovely long rambling beach walks each morning where the 'mood' of the ocean was different each day.  I love the smell of the beach and the push and pull of the water.  Really love it.  So I found that quite restorative.  It's been a busy year, and I really appreciated the chance to combine work with something as healing as being by the sea.

Monday 1st October, 2007: I'm preparing for my Bribie Island retreat with The Edge writing group where I'll be working with Sean Williams (the other tutor on board) so that will be fun.  Then when I get home I turn around twice and head back off to Townsville for my final "Year of the Novel" workshop up north.  I've really enjoyed that series, they're a great mob of hard working enthusiastic writers.  And speaking of enthusiastic writers, I've just finished my second workshop with the Redlands writing group (through the Redlands Libraries) and they're all fired up to finish their novels in 12 months. 

There's such a lovely energy around writers, I'm incredibly lucky to get to work with them so regularly.  Not to mention going off on retreats.  Compared to the days when I sat at home week after week writing, this is really varied and I find I have a lot more energy available when I get to my own work.

Nothing nicer than loving what you do!

And for the animal lovers out there, he's a photo of the koala I found at my house.  I arrived home one day and got out of my car and thought, "What are these coffee beans doing on the driveway?"  Then just as I going on to think, "They're a bit big to be coffee beans," (they were koala poo) I realised I could smell a distinctive furry gum leaf scent and I looked up to find this guy at just above eye level (in the wrong sort of tree).  Later he moved to the palm tree out the front, so clearly he was having a confused day, but hopefully he found the gum tree in the end!  It's just fabulous to live in an area where native wildlife come right into your yard.  Seriously cool stuff.

Friday 21st September, 2007:  Not sure why, but straight after my writing "holiday" life intervened and now my assessments are banking up.  Sigh...  I really don't like being late with things, but I had no idea that life was going to intervene, so I guess you just have to do the best you can and move on.  Now my assessment turnaround is up to 90 days!  The price of being popular :)  I still love it though, helping other writers hone their work.  It's a lot of fun.

Oh, and I was on a panel at the Brisbane Writers Festival recently with Marianne de Pierres and Rebecca Moesta (chaired by Gary Crew) and it was a lot of fun, teasing and jokes, but some serious information imparted about world building.  I really love listening to other writers, to hear about their process.  We all write differently, but it's great to hear new things and try new things to see if there's something in there that might work for you!

Thursday 13th September, 2007: I've just spent two weeks on a "Writing Holiday" at home where I did nothing but work on Foldworld - no assessments, no workshops, (one library talk at Chermside snuck in), just editing.  One of the main characters wasn’t working throughout the whole half of the novel I've written so far and I had to “re-cast” him and rewrite every chapter he was in plus create three new chapters.  I've no idea how many new words I wrote, but many, many old ones were rewritten.  I didn’t eat properly, in fact the only decent meals I had were ones my 17 year old daughter made (she clapped her hands to get my attention at one point and said, “Have you eaten anything today that wasn’t brown?” ie coffee, biscuits, crackers).  Far too much coffee, no exercise to speak of, no television or reading.  The only things that were ‘maintained’ were personal hygiene, wearing something I wouldn’t be horrified by later if someone came to the door (standard rule of mine) and the laundry.  No matter how stressed I get there are always clean clothes and clean towels in my house. My kids know if they open the cupboard and there are no towels we’re at Defcon Four and they should phone Grandma and ask for an intervention.  There’s no way you can sustain that sort of pattern, and the only reason I let myself get that immersed was because it was just for two weeks.

It sounds scary, but I really, really loved it (which is probably exactly what heroin addicts say…).  It reminded me what it is to live and breathe a story and I'd forgotten that because I've been fitting in so much other writing "stuff" around my own writing.  So it was a satisfying experience, but probably one I won't try to repeat in the near future.

Thursday 2nd August, 2007:  Nearly spring!  Not really, but I need to tell myself that so I can cope with the trauma of winter.  Not sure if I've mentioned it here before, but I was a bear in a past life and when it gets cold my natural reaction is to hibernate.  So these last weeks have been particularly challenging, and I'm reasonably sure that if I didn't have kids I would have spent most of my time in bed with a laptop.  But it's over now.  The big bad winter is gone and those of us who are particularly terrified of it can now sneak out from behind our doonas and let the sun warm our minds again so they function properly.

This is why I live in Brisbane.  I would not survive further south.  And I must say I'm looking forward to my weekend in Townsville coming up so I can thaw even further.  But I'm guessing it will probably take until September before the slowing effects of winter are completely gone.  I'm looking forward to that.  Really looking forward to that.  And I hereby give permission to anyone who hears me whining about the heat of summer to give me a good talking to!  (oh how quickly we forget).

In writing news, I'm making headway on Foldworld, which is great.  I love that story.  No news yet on who's buying Wicked Little Mermaid, but that's the story when you're submitting to publishers.  You wait.  Patiently.  And I am.  Plenty to keep me busy.

I've started another series of Novel Writing Workshops with writers in Redlands (where I'm the Writer in Residence) and am thoroughly enjoying that.  They're a great bunch, really creative and extremely talented as well, which is helpful!  Plus I'm doing other one-off workshops along the way on Craft of Writing (three of those) and a World-Building workshop over the next couple of weeks.  So it's a busy life, but I'm spending most of my time with writers which is great.  I was whining to a girlfriend once that all my socialising seemed to be with writers and I needed to get a life outside work.  She said all hers was with accountants.  I stopped whining then.  Writers are fascinating people to talk to - they've always got so much happening inside their minds.  Can't complain at all about spending the majority of my time among them.

Sunday 24th June, 2007: Well, I'm just back from my Romance Writing Retreat at the beautiful Rowan House in Maleny.  Here's a picture from the back deck:

And here's our Retreat group below: Pam in at the front in pale pink, and from left to right at the back there is me, Babette, Zoe and Andrea.

We're smiling because Rowan House is a fabulous venue.  The views for a start.  You can see all the way to the Sunshine Coast beaches, and the hinterland (where Maleny is) is simply gorgeous.  Prue and Kerry Mason, who own Rowan House, somehow manage to keep the 4 acre gardens picture perfect all year around and there's always something flowering.  Inside the house is full of fresh flowers, from simple daisies to the striking Bird of Paradise, all taken from the grounds.  And the food... don't start me on that.  Gourmet doesn't begin to describe.  From the freshly baked bread and squeezed juices at breakfast to the soaked-in-brandy pudding for supper, we were spoiled. 

In fact, Prue had to kick me out Sunday afternoon.  The thought of returning to an empty house and the prospect of making my own dinner had me dragging my heels :)

So, lovely hospitality, talented and fascinating participants, and the satisfying feeling of helping other writer's hone their stories.  Oh, did I mention I got paid for it?  Doesn't get better than that!

Had to add another photo - Pamela's husband Paul took them for me and he caught a moment here (on the right) between shots which really encapsulates the fun we had.  I love it when a group who don't know each other can click in such a short period of time.  In on Friday and out on Sunday, but we packed a lot in.  We had two hour workshops each morning (Character, Conflict and Sensual Tension) and one-on-one sessions in the afternoon, as well as some time to write of course.

The upshot of it all is that Prue and I had such a good time with the Retreat that we're going to plan more.  Another Romance Writing Retreat and also one focused on Fantasy Writing later in the year.

So anyone who's interested to attend, do shoot me an email: mail@louisecusack.com so I can send you some details.  And here's a last pic of the five of us working.  As you can see, it wasn't even cold enough in the sunroom for the fireplace today, but yesterday we had it cranked up and we were toasty!  So it was incredibly comfortable, and for a cold-frog like me, that's important!

Thursday 21st June, 2007: Went to Jason and Mil's book launch on Tuesday night and it was great!  A few photos below.  First one below is emcee Kim Wilkins doing the official launch. Mil Clayton is on the left and Jason Nahrung in the middle.  Their novel "The Darkness Within" began it's life as a series of chapters they wrote to each other while they were courting (Jason in Brisbane and Mil in Melbourne).  Jason took the novella they ended up with, and over a couple of years honed it into a novel which has now been published by Hachette Livre in Australia.

On the left is a photo of me (in the red jacket) clutching my copy of "The Darkness Within" and chatting to Michael and Denise Rossetti (I've known Denise for quite a while through Romance Writers of Australia).  On the right is the wonderful Miss Kitty Conquest who entertained us with a fabulous burlesque routine.  There'd been lots of chatting to that point, but once Miss Kitty stepped onto the stage we were captivated.  It was a great act and so unusual for a book launch.  Jason and Mil certainly get points for creativity!

I caught up with heaps of EnVision writers, Alison from my Logan City workshop group, Rachael who I am mentoring, old and new QWC staff, Fantastic Queensland mainstays and of course Ron, and the boys from Pulp Fiction bookstore.  Excuses if I've forgotten anyone.  But it was a great night, lots of booze, food, great music and over 200 guests, so I'd say "The Darkness Within" has been well and truly given a good push!

On the home front I've been working on Foldworld and preparing for my Romance Writing Retreat this weekend in beautiful Maleny.  I'm hoping Prue has the fireplace cranked up to high, as it's pretty darned chilly in Brisbane.  Can't imagine what it's going to be like in the Hinterland.  But I've got fluffy slippers and I'm not afraid to wear them!  Even in the day (there won't be any photos of that).  But I am hoping to bring back some snaps so will post them when I get back.

Happy writing until then!

Tuesday 12th June, 2007: Just back from Townsville, having tutored my third "Year of the Novel" workshop for the Qld Writer's Centre.  They're a great mob of writers up there - really enthusiastic and despite having busy lives, trying to make time to write.  I socialise with them on most visits as well, which is fun.  It's nice to get to know people 'outside' the workshop setting, to get an idea of their lives, their passions, their problems.  That certainly helps me from a mentoring perspective.  And while I was up there this time I checked out the Museum and all the artefacts from the Pandora which sunk in the Coral Sea 200 years ago (searching for the mutineers from the Bounty).  I found it incredible that tiny delicate bottles and china would survive that long.  It's really a testament to the scientists who recovered the items that they're in such good nick.  I was completely fascinated, wandering from one exhibit to the next and before I knew it I'd spent hours there.  I'm sure that info will turn up in a book sooner or later though - I'm a strong believer in following your interests, even if you're not sure why at the time!

Then last Thursday night I met a whole new bunch of people at the State Library Awards Dinner.  It was quite a swanky function and I had a new red cocktail dress, so life doesn't get much better than that!  I met Kate Hall who's administering the John Oxley Library Fellowship (which Martin Buzzacott won this year - Martin was the CEO of the Qld Writers Centre while I was their Writer in Residence).  Kate was lovely, and a very helpful contact as I met her in the carpark - she directed me on my quest through the labyrinth of the new State Library building to find where the dinner was being held.  Once there I bumped into Brisbane author and UQ lecturer Veny Armanno who's also tutoring Year of the Novel (in Brisbane) for the QWC, and he introduced me to Greg Bain, the General Manager of UQP (University of Queensland Press) who are publishing Veny's new book in October.  Greg's wife Helen runs Show and Tell, the speakers organisation I work with.  So there was lots of chatting, laughs and later some seriously good food and entertainment.  I would have loved to have stayed after the awards were presented for some more 'networking', but an early flight out to Townsville the next morning meant I had the Cinderella thing happening.  Still, it was a great night and I'll certainly be lining up for it next year.  If you haven't been to the new State Library yet, do take the time.  It's simply gorgeous and with all the dollars government is spending nowadays, it's fabulous to see some being allocated for a place that honours books!

Wanted to give a heads-up.  I'm doing a Romance Writing Retreat in mid June, so if you might be interested in that, the details are here.

Wednesday, 30th May, 2007: Have been busy this month doing lots of workshops - 2 Craft of Writing workshops at the Logan Hyperdome Library where I worked with 35 writers over two weekends.  Got to catch up with some of my "Write That Book" workshop series from last year (Mickey, Tony, Hazel, Joan, Geneve, Wendy and Marilyn) as well as meeting lots of new Logan writers.  So that was fun.  I also did a Craft of Writing workshop at the QWC, so this month its all about the craft!

While I was at the QWC I had some professional photographs taken (they wanted some, of their tutors, to use for promotion) and met a lovely photographer Richard McLaren who you can find at http://zouchai.com.  I'm not the best subject (of all the jobs to do with writing I find photographs the hardest) but he really put me at ease and we ended up with some nice shots.  I'll put a couple here so you can see.  The one on the left is the one the QWC liked the best,  I kinda like the middle one because it looks more like me, but the end one is interesting as well.  I like the way Richard has used light and in fact he also used some of the QWC staff to try and get me to relax my shoulders!  Kath had to stand behind him and tell me jokes so I'd loosen up.  It took a while but the results were okay.  And each time I have to do the photo thing I get a little better at it (at least that's what I keep telling myself - I'm getting better all the time!  Gotta love positive affirmations).

So if anyone is looking to have their photo professional taken, Richard specialises in author portraits.  He works at all the writing festivals and has a great portfolio.  Plus, he's just a nice bloke.

On the writing front I've revisited "Foldworld" which I wrote 60,000 words of a couple of years ago and then set aside.  My head wasn't in the right place to write it.  I needed something light and funny and that's where the Mermaid book came in.  But Foldworld has been calling so I've dragged out what I've written and gone over it and sent it out for critique.  In the meantime I'm still writing "Beauty is the Beast" and loving that.  It flows out so easily, which is just a joy.  I'm still loving working at the Capalaba library and we had a Mad Hatters Tea Party there recently where I got to wear my fairy wings and wave my fairy wand.  That was fun.  Apart from that I've been writing, assessing, preparing and delivering workshops and when I'm not working I've been watching lots of movies.  I think I'm in an "input" cycle at the moment, gearing up to really lose myself in a story and have heaps of "output" but I need to fill my head with images and story first, if that makes sense.

Sometimes I really am baffled by the creative process, but so long as it keeps working...

Wednesday, 9th May, 2007:  Have just finished "Frantic" and had to get on here and let you guys know it's an incredible read.  I literally couldn't put it down, and the only reason it took me a couple of days to finish  was because I made myself leave it at home when I went out!  Masterfully written.  No wonder this book sold into five overseas countries before it was even published in Australia.  Great characters, terrific suspense and moments where I had to look away to say "Wow" because I completely hadn't expected the twist Katherine had just thrown at me.

This is the best twenty bucks you'll spend this year.  Definitely, buy the book! 

Saturday, 5th May, 2007:  Have just come back from Katherine Howell's book launch on the Gold Coast (for her debut novel Frantic) and it was fabulous!  I linked up with Anne and Joanne from my Express Year of the Novel group last year.  Here they are with Katherine getting their copies of Frantic signed (Joanne on the left and Anne on the right):

And again with Leigh Redhead (with the red hair - easy to spot) who launched Frantic, and was signing copies of her latest Cherry Pie:

I also caught up with Kate Morton (below on the left in red) while I was there, and as there were four of Selwa Anthony's authors in the one room (Selwa is our agent) we thought that was a photo opportunity as well:

So it was a wonderful launch with lots of Katherine's friends, Ambulance officers (who are also friends!) and writers in attendance.  Champagne all round.  You get the idea.  Should be more of them :)

Friday 27th April, 2007:  Must stop apologising for not getting in here often enough.  I'm a busy girl, that's what happens.  I've had three away-from-home weekends out of four: a retreat in Maleny at historical Rowan House (photo on right) which was incredibly fabulous.  So fabulous in fact that I'm going back in June to do a Romance Writing Retreat there.  Prue who runs Rowan House is a wonderful human being, and she makes an awesome champagne cocktail to boot!

Then a weekend away to attend my girlfriend's engagement party in Bundaberg.  That was fun.  Then up to Townsville for my second "Year of the Novel" class and a "Craft of Writing" workshop on the Sunday.  Now I have a cold  - must be because I don't have anywhere to go this weekend :)

Still, I do like travel, and writing is a solitary business so it's great to meet interesting people (which of course writers always are) so doing workshops is a plus.  Am hoping to catch up with more of my own writing in May.  That's the plan, anyway.

Tuesday, 13th March, 2007:  Another month has flown by and I've been working away on Beauty is the Beast and loving that.  It's so good to have a fast start with a novel.  My Mermaid is with Selwa (my agent) who is weaving her magic with finding just the right publisher to launch my watery little Venus onto the world. 

I've put a photo here of the view from my new room at the Capalaba Library.  I started as Writer in Residence for Redlands last month and have been loving my time there.  The staff are really easy to get along with and the room is big and quiet.  As you can see, I have a view onto a lovely little private courtyard that's open to the weather, so when it rains I can open the door and smell it.  Love that.  I could have my lunch there, and I probably will in winter, but just for now I'm hogging the air-con and happy with that :)

What else have I done?  Let's see... last Friday I gave a talk and sat on a panel for International Women's Day at Corpus Christi College.  Great school, and the school captain Kimberley was so poised and gracious.  She really looked after us.  It was a Show and Tell gig, so I was on with Frances Whiting who writes a really well known column for the Courier Mail, and Josie Santomauro, who writes great young adult books about being a "wog" and being teased at school.  They're both hilarious to listen to, so it was a fun morning.  On Saturday I drove up to Caboolture - or Cabo as we're now encouraged to call it :) - and did a fantasy writing workshop with Transit Lounge who organise activities for creative 15 - 25 year olds.  We had fun with it, and the guys learned a lot.  I really like working with other writers.  There's such a great energy there.  So much creativity.  I'm so lucky to have the balance of quiet alone times to write and being able to get out into the world and meet people as well!

I've said it lots of times before, but the Universe really does look after me!

Tuesday, 20th February, 2007:  Better late than never!  Well, anyone who's a frequent visitor here will wonder if I'd slipped off the edge, never to be heard of again.  No, I've got a better excuse than that. I've had a creative storm happening, so that's distracted me from posting here.  I finished my mermaid novel in a whirlwind of creative energy and sent it to my agent.  Then I planned to have a couple of weeks 'thinking about' the next book before I started writing.  But within the same week as I let the Mermaid go, the Beauty story transformed itself into my mind into something completely different from what I'd planned.  Then the characters started shoving at me to let them out!

Rude, of course, but completely welcomed.  There's nothing nicer than having the beginning of a story fly out onto the page (or the screen in this case).  Historically I've had my major psychological blocks with the openings.  I know what I want to do but the characters are reluctant to step out of the sidelines and get on with it.  This time they practically knocked me over in their hurry to start 'living'.  So I've got a feeling this book will come out quickly in draft.  That's a happy thing.  Draft in the heat of passion, edit methodically at your leisure, I always say. 

Okay, in other news, I've started my Year of the Novel workshop series in the beautiful city of Townsville and here's a picture of me there a week ago, with Magnetic Island in the background:

The participants are a great bunch of writers who I already get on well with, so I'm looking forward to working with them throughout the year as they plan, plot, draft and edit their novels.

I've also recently attended the Aurealis Awards in Brisbane where I schmoozed with all the speculative fiction authors and editors from around Australia, as well as CEO's from Qld Writers Centre, the Brisbane Writers Festival and some US editors.  I had the opportunity to introduce some of my Tiara Gallery participants to other authors and editors, and to catch up with some of my agent, Selwa Anthony's, other authors who were in town for the awards.  The picture on the left is of me with Deb Soukup.  Deb was  a participant of the EnVision series of workshops and she's gone on to become fabulous writers who I'm sure will be snapped up for publication any day soon!

Kim Wilkins was the MC of the night and she did a fabulous job (as usual), standing in for Sean Williams who was stuck with a deadline on his special "secret" project which we will no doubt all hear about when it's completed and his confidentiality clause is no longer in force.

Other news is that I've started my residency at the Capalaba Library where I'm the Redlands Writer in Residence for this year to complete my "Beauty is the Beast" novel.  My room is gorgeous, with a fabulous view of a private courtyard which has two enormous pandanus palms in it.  The courtyard is open, so when it rains I can see that too.  It rained a little yesterday, on my first day there, and that really kick started my creativity.  I don't know what the connection is with water and writing, but it's there!

Hope everyone else has had a good start to 2007.  I'm certainly expecting this year to be a big one for me, in lots of exciting ways.  Hope yours is too.

If you'd like to see what was happening with me last year, you can look back at: Diary 2006