carolryles

I've passed the (theoretical) half-way mark in my first draft. This past two days, I've felt as if it's losing direction, so I've been going through past scenes and and looking for ways of finding my way again. I've found a few surprises I missed during the writing process, and now know exactly where to go next. It's exciting and I just want to sit here all day writing until it's finished. Every spare moment is spent either tapping at the keyboard or writing in my head. First drafts have never felt so magical before...



A little bit of unedited wordage: ( Read more... )

A huge thanks to all the people who have sponsored me. I am totally awed by your generosity.

Tons and tons of dialogue last week. Needs work, I know. But this week, I feel like I'm getting somewhere.



An excerpt here: ( Read more... )

Well, you know, it feels like writing a ton...



Plus: 600 words on a short story, 2nd draft.

That's 2,490 so far. Almost half a weeks worth of 5000 per week...



Here's a snippet from today's effort...

Rook scaled the wall with ease, despite it being twice his height. He was almost over when the seat of his pants caught on one of the metal spikes that ridged the top, making him lose his footing. Acutely aware that the things were meant to maim intruders rather than keep them out, he had no choice but to cringe at the sound of tearing fabric and let himself tumble into the hawthorn hedge. It certainly wasn’t the most elegant entry into Mathias Prowd’s estate but, so long as he remained unseen, there was no point in wishing for a better one. Flinching against thorns, he wormed his way deeper into the hedge, then curled up on his side and waited.

If ya want to sponsor my words for the Clarion West Write-a-thon, take yourself over to here XXXX

This time last year I was newly arrived in Seattle, jet-lagged and barely settled into the Clarion house that was to be my home for the next six weeks. I had my daughter's laptop with me and 500 words of a story I'd started the day before leaving Australia. I didn't bring any of my other stories. I wanted to start with a blank slate, leave all my old writing habits behind, discover new ones. I was ready to absorb as much creative energy and as much wisdom as my tutors and fellow-Clarionites could offer. I told myself I'd write a story a week. Stay up all night critting, if I had to. I was prepared to welcome criticism and accept it as the useful tool that was offered to me, not so much to show me what was wrong with my work, but to show me how to improve it.

Thank you to everyone involved in CW2008. You all helped me do that.

And so another year has come around and CW2009 has just begun, along with the CW 2008 Write-A-Thon. This morning, the first draft of my novel was up to 36,785. Tonight I'm at:



At the end of the Write-a-thon I plan to be 30,000 words further down the track. I'm also planning to raise $100 for CW to help give something back to the organisation that has done so much to improve my writing skills. If you're feeling generous and would like to sponsor me, you can do so at the Paypal link here. 0.0333 cents per word will give me $10 per sponsorship. 10 sponsorships will give me $100 dollars. This just a suggestion though. I'm grateful for whatever you can spare.

All money raised will go to Clarion West (Seattle). And for every dollar I make, I will donate a dollar out of my own money to Clarion South (Brisbane) up to the value of AUD$100

And don't forget to let me know if you sponsor me, so I can thank you.

Huge thanks to those who have donated money so far. I'm halfway to my goal already.

PS: Please forgive typos. I've gotta go work :)

The 2009 Clarion West (Seattle) Write-A-Thon runs from 21st June to 31st July, shadowing this year's workshop. I've committed to writing 5000 words per week for this event, and getting as many sponsors as possible, and will do my best to raise at least $100. All sponsorships will go directly to Clarion West.

For every dollar I earn I will also donate a dollar out of my own money to Clarion South (Australia) up to the value of AUD$100.

If 10 people sponsor me for $10, I will make my goal. So far, I have two sponsors (huge thanks and hugs), which means I am 20% there already. The words will officially begin on the 21st June, but till then, I've been practising, completing 10,000 words in the past two weeks.

You can sponsor me using Paypal here.

During the Write-A-Thon I will update my LJ regularly with my progress.

Clarion West is a live-in, intensive writers’ workshop run yearly for six weeks in Seattle, Washington USA. It was one of the best of my life experiences and I came away full of ideas, renewed enthusiasm, and a journal full of new writing techniques. I met a wonderful bunch of people in a beautiful city. For me, the Write-A-Thon is an excellent opportunity to contribute to the fund raising required to ensure the continuation of these workshops in both Seattle and Australia.

I first learned about Clarion West in 1999, when I read about it at Critters. Going to Seattle then became a goaldream, along with my dreamgoal to improve my fiction writing (I was a compulsive journal writer before that). But first I wanted to wait till my children were older. Last year turned out to be the best possible year and June/July were the best possible months, with kid’s exams over and done with for the semester. Then of course, it was summer in Seattle and I could not ignore the prospect of getting in some mountain hiking on the weekends! I didn’t count on breaking my foot a week before I was due to leave. As it turned out, there was no hiking for me on that trip, but lots of writing and just as much fun.

Here's the CW 2008 group with one of our wonderful instructors, Cory Doctorow:

Yesterday I came within an inch of having my foot run over by a 4WD turning in front of me on a pedestrian crossing at an intersection. It approached from behind me when I was already on the crossing . This was in a shopping centre where the speed limit was 15km/hr. Before I stepped out onto the crossing, I'd looked behind to see if anything was coming, but the 4WD didn't have its indicator on, so I thought it was going to go straight.

Since the completion of the Mandurah Line, I've been using public transport and shanks pony more often, especially when heading off to the city. In Seattle last year, I was amazed how cars stop for you when you stand and wait at an intersection. Clearly people know their road rules over there. In Perth, however, 25% of cars don't even bother stopping at pedestrian crossings.

If there is no walk/don't walk light at the traffic lights, then you've got a long wait ahead of you, because most drivers do not seem to know the WA road rules...

3.10.2 Intersection traffic control arrows

Red light with green arrow:

This means you may not go straight ahead, but you may turn in
the direction of the arrow, if it is safe to do so. Remember, you
must give way to all pedestrians crossing at the intersection.

And if you're on a suburban street, don't even expect anyone to follow this rule, unless you want to end up skittled...

3.14.2 Turning

The rules when making a turn are as follows:

(snip obvious stuff)... Turning vehicles must give way to pedestrians;

A few weeks back, I was totally amazed when listening to a radio talk back show where the presenter was suggesting that a way to reduce traffic holdups in the CBD was to get rid of pedestrian crossings. Seriously, they were blaming Pedestrians for the city's peak hour traffic problem, and little old ladies in particular!!

What's the first thing you find to eat after spending 5 days in the wilderness?

There's lots of linky interest over at the Aussie Spec Fic Carnival at Ticon 4 Part 1 and Part 2.

And a windy day at the Hooker Glacier near Mt Cook, NZ. The terminal face is way over to the left out of the picture and those are icebergs floating in the lake. The wind was ice cold. Icy, ice cold:



And here's the glacier but it's covered in grey rubble so isn't very pretty. The terminal face is that darkish grey line slightly below centre of pic. The glacier itself extends back, following the foot of the snow-capped mountains. You can see the line etched in the hills where the glacier used to be. Global warming, both natural and man made:

How We Cheated the Flames is an horrific, first-hand account of survival in Victoria's bushfires by senior writer of The Australian, Gary Hughs. I cried when I read it and cried again when I saw the destruction on TV.

Melbourne is on the other side of the continent from Perth. There's nothing I can do, except not forget the victims and help out where I can.

And if, like me, you're too late to contribute to Grant Watson's Bushfire Relief Fanzine you can always buy a copy or else dig deep for the Bushfire Appeal Fund.

The folk in Victoria need all the help they can get.

My KSP buddy and good friend Satima interviewed me here about writing and life. Satima has a knack for asking thoughtful questions as can be seen here on her blog. Scroll down for other interviews with Lee Battersby, Sarah Parker and others.

Here's a picture taken in front of trees draped with aerial ferns near the foot of Mt Shrimpton near Makarora north of Wanaka. It rains a lot here, but we were lucky enough to get a clear day for this walk up the mountain.

The Routeburn track was the first long hike I'd done for years, and the also the first hike I'd planned with an entire family. We all carried a fair share of the food, but when it came to choosing what to take, our priorities were: lightweight, ease of preparation, healthiness, taste.

So we started out with a bottle of Vitamin C because fresh fruit and veges are okay for short walks, but add too much weight for long ones. As it was we were already traveling and staying in motels, so we didn't have a lot of time for shopping or cooking beforehand. So here's how it worked for us:

Breakfast: Single-serve instant porridge, the type that comes with milk powder and sweetener already added. Although it's meant to be microwaved, it tasted fine if we just poured enough boiling water on it to make a thick paste), then added hazelnuts, flaked almonds, sultanas and chopped dried apricots.

Morning Tea: The teens had choc and trail bars, adults ate dried fruit and nuts

Lunch: Tortillas are great because they have a long shelf life and pack flat. We filled them with tuna (sachets are lighter) and cheddar cheese. When the tortillas ran out, we dipped into the vita wheat biscuits. Then ate dried fruit if still hungry.

Afternoon Tea: If we arrived at hut in time for this, the teens would eat two minute noodles and hot chocolate (pre sweetened with powdered milk already added), while the adults ate dried fruit and nuts again.

Dinner: Freeze dried dinners. Back Country brand isn't bad, is quick and easy to prepare, and claims to have all the nutrients you need. The spiced chicken dinners, spag bog, roast lamb and fruit trifle were the best, we thought. The teens refused to even taste the beef dishes. But they kept us full and at the end of the walk we all felt fit and healthy and still full of enough energy to want to turn around and do it all again. Plus, there was very little rubbish to carry home with us.

Back in Queenstown we headed to Pog Mahone's Irish Pub for our best meal for a week.

Heading towards Howden Hut:


Water was plentiful. We drank straight from streams and hut water supplies with no problems at all.

The brochure says to expect at least a day's worth of rain on the track. Out of five days, we were lucky enough to get only an hour...

On the track towards Harris Saddle. We didn't take Dedmans track. It looked deadly:



There's the track in front of me: all uphill. It felt like forever getting to the top of those mountains:



My pack contained: a waterproof jacket, thermals, spare shirt, spare trousers, sox, undies, beanie, gloves, sleeping bag, basic toiletries (enough for 5 days), very small towel, loo paper, tissues, wet ones, 5 plates, 5 cups, cutlery, 1/5 of all our food, a pair of flip-flops, sunscreen, water, contour map, compass, 2 fleecy jumpers, teatowel, writing journal, pen, small first aid kit, rubbish bag (we had to carry all our rubbish out again). Phil and the teens carried the billy cans, torch, spare stuff etc. We didn't take tents. We probably should have in case we got stuck out overnight. We probably should have taken a small emergency burner as well, but didn't because the huts had gas stoves. Next time we will, just in case.

My new pack was great, with most of the weight carried by my hips. It didn't drag my shoulders down at all, though I needed the double hiking sticks to take the pressure off my knees when I climbed uphill, which was good because it gave my arms a workout as well.

The adults were pleased to announce they burned up a total of 8 kilos of fat between them on the Routeburn. The teens kept themselves fuelled up with Mars Bars and trail food.

Some trees in NZ are just made to be sat in:

Okarito is not on the main tourist map. The turn off is just after Franz Joseph Glacier, but most people drive past it to the much more popular Arthur's Pass. We decided to stop at Okarito because it had Kayaking and kiwis. I'm glad we did, because it's one of NZ's best kept secrets. With a population of 30, the night silence is broken only by the pounding of waves on a not too distant shore.

We slept well at Okarito and played well also. Thanks to the kind folk at Okarito Nature Tours we spent half a day on our the most peaceful kayak trip ever.

The kayaks were good quality and easy to row. We were fitted out with maps, insect repellent and life jackets and told to look out for the white heron (kotuku), a rare bird that frequented the area. We saw our first heron within minutes of setting out. Such is the bird life here: prolific.

Starting out on the main lagoon:



Hanging a right at a small tributary and heading upstream with the tide:



And into rainforest alive with cicadas and birdcall:

Not a huge amount of writing has gone on this week. I started out by playing with my week 2 Clarion story, bringing it up to scratch so I can submit it somewhere. Hopefully it will be ready by the end of next week.

I've got to hand in 5,000 words of my novel next month as part of my yearly report for my PhD. I've decided to rewrite the prologue. Not something I really want to do in the first draft stage, but I want to hand it in, so I've got to fix it. That means that, although I've written nearly 1000 new words today, none of them adds to my final word count. So until the prologue is rewritten, the tally remains at:



And so it will stay for the rest of the weekend.

Here's a picture of some misty mountains taken from high up on the Routeburn Track. We took 4 1/2 days to walk this 34km track, overnighting at all four DOC huts so as to experience every section if it slowly and fully.






Snaffled from my CW buddie, spitkitten: A New Spec Fic Market...

On March 1, 2009, Brain Harvest: An Almanac of Bad-Ass Speculative Fiction will begin its intrepid voyage, bringing you the best speculative short fiction we can find.

Brain Harvest will publish on the web and on your mobile device. We've noticed that a lot of reading is happening in non-traditional ways (hey, we see you, over there, glued to your iPhone or Blackberry. If you've got ten minutes, we've got the best SFF you can hold in your hand).

We pay "pro-rates" (5 cents a word) for stories 100 - 750 words.

We will be opening for general submissions on February 15, 2009. Please do not submit before then--we'll delete everything dated before 2/15.

Go to http://www.brainharvestmag.com/submit for full guidelines.

So there we were at 9:30pm, standing in a rainforest with moreporks calling into the twilight, near Okarito (pop. 30), South Island, New Zealand. The air was filled with the drone of an entire army of mosquitoes. I felt sure I was immune. I had, after all, dressed myself from head to toe, including gloves, long sleeved jumper, a good layer of strong insect repellent and mosquito net over my face. I didn’t count on the little buzzers being capable of drilling through my nylon hiking trousers. I should have worn my thermals, but it wasn’t cold enough for that. Worse still, I didn’t feel them bite and it wasn’t till the next day, the bites started itching: all seventy-five of them on my stomach and thighs. A week later, they’re still glowing red – a hilarious memento. I’m hoping they weren’t the sort that carried Ross River Virus.

But, so far, so good. If I don’t come down with a raging fever (which I'm told is highly unlikely because, due to an eradication program, NZ hasn't had a case since 2007), I reckon the skirmish was worth it. We were in the rainforest for a good reason. We were out to catch sight of a wild kiwi :) Not just any kiwi but a species endemic to Okarito of which there are only 300 left, though fortunately, due to a rescue program, their numbers are increasing.

According to our two enthusiastic guides from Okarito Kiwi Tours, we had a 90% chance of sighting a kiwi. The birds were tagged and the guides had tracking equipment. So we headed out at sunset, careful not to make any disturbing noises such as tramping on gravel or chatting or coughing or laughing at badly concealed gastrointestinal sounds. The secret to finding kiwis (apart from electronic tracking) is to let the kiwis think they are alone. Eventually, they come out foraging.

About two kilometres down the track, we heard the kiwis before we saw them. First the male, calling loudly and shrilly and then the female, sounding much like an anxious bullfrog with a squeaky voice. We could here her foraging in the bush, tramping through the grass, one step at a time. Then the guides trained their infrared lights into the bush, and we could see her – a real kiwi, foraging. I’d always thought kiwis were magpie sized, but was surprised to see they are as big as your garden-variety chook.

Unfortunately I couldn’t take a photo, because kiwis are nocturnal and, naturally, camera shy. So here’s a nice picture of one and a bit of info at wiki.

A few more hours in the bush and we sighted another kiwi, foraging as before. But it wasn’t until we’d turned around and walked most of the 2km back home again, that we reached the evening’s highlight: yet another kiwi in the bush – a curious female. We stood in darkness, a line of a dozen weary people on a bush track at 11:30pm, with the Milky Way in all her splendour glittering above us. I wondered why the hell we didn’t just go to a zoo. As if in answer, the kiwi burst out of the bush and made its way towards me, stopping six inches from my boot. I was too excited to even breathe. The kiwi was checking me out. Then she cruised down the length of the line, as if to say, I know you’re there, you can’t trick me. I guess she was used to visitors.

All that waiting and all those mozzie bites were suddenly worth it.

It's been a great year, starting my PhD in creative writing at the same time as my daughter started her undergrad degree in Biomedical Genetics. Hugz to my other two children for their high school achievements -- the promotion to academic extension science, the work getting through year 11 exams. And hugz to all three for wanting to accompany me on the BIG HIKE, which is less that a week away. For me that's a huge privilege and what better way to start the new year?

And hugz and kisses to my ever-patient husband who doesn't have a blog or a website or a facebook and puts up with my evenings and early mornings shut away writing, and the days when the house looks like teenagers have partied in it for months, with cat hair on his guitar chair and rabbit poop on the carpet and the dog with ADD.

Then there was the trip to Seattle, and the 6 weeks at Clarion West which taught me more about writing than I ever taught myself over the past ten years when I squeezed it in between getting an English degree and Honours and everything else that life demands, not forgetting the dreaded migraines.

I've met a wonderful bunch of new friends, both online and in real life. And I'm forever grateful to my writing group buddies for all the wonderful critting they've done for me this year: Satima Flavell Neist, Helen Venn, soniahelbig, callistra, Annette Backshall, Jo, Joel Fagin, James Hanson, Yvonne and Karen. It's been a pleasure critting their stories and novels in return.

Plus all my Clarion West buddies, Caren Gussoff, Pamela Rentz, Maggie Croft, Chris Reynaga, Eden Robins, Kira Walsh, Douglas Lucas, Rajan Khanna, Jim Stewart, An Owomoyela, Carlton Mellick, Shane Hoversten, Tracy Harford, Kristin Jantz, Theresa DeLucci, Pritpaul Bains, Owen Salisbury. These writers are the most wonderful people I could have ever shared a Clarion house with and hugz to them all. If only Seattle wasn't so far away. I can't wait to see their stories and novels in print.

And although I haven't submitted any stories to publishers this year (or the year before), that doesn't mean I haven't been writing them. Soon I'm going to be sending out again. That's one of my new year's resolutions: Look after my stories. Get them out there. SUBMIT.

And as for the other new year's resolutions, I've conveniently forgotten them already.

And it's nice to see the online return of Ticonderoga Publications with Ticon4 with new fiction by Sue Isle, Patty Jansen and Matthew Tighe, new reviews and non-fiction.

Lastly but not leastly, snurched from jaylake: a Steampunk diving suit. Steampunkers really do have a sense of humour. Let's hope there's more steampunking in 2009!