I’ve been in
hiding a bit lately. Not from the online world so much – but in the actual
getting out and about kinda way, especially with writing related stuff. Life
has been full to the brim of well, you know, life stuff. Simon’s illness has,
of course, put a big fat stop sign on my writerly social life. Yes, I did just
say (or write) that. My writerly social life.
I’m
ridiculously lucky in that I’m one of the few writers I know who HAS a writerly
social life. Most writers spend weeks, months or even years tucked away in
front of a computer, all alone without anyone who can really commiserate with
what it’s like to be living in a made-up world, with friends that only really exist
in your head. I know many writers who may work on something for years without
knowing if it’s any good; they don’t have a group or a writing partner to
bounce ideas off. Not only do I belong to a couple of different groups, but I
have a Kylie Fox. And it doesn’t get much better than that! But, as I said, I’ve
had to dip out a little bit lately.
This week, I
got back into it.
 |
| Isobelle and The Little Dude |
On Tuesday, my
littlest boy and I had coffee (actually, it was hot chocolate, a milkshake and a
frappe) with the always-inspiring Isobelle Carmody. The Little Dude is only
four, so Isobelle’s awesomeness kind of blew straight over him, except to say
he thought she was very, very cool (“she thinks I’m so cute, Mum.”) His oldest
brother however, was deadly jealous. For me, the awesomeness is right there,
plain to see. I’ve met Isobelle before at one of her events, but it was lovely
to catch up quietly this time. She’s been one of my biggest inspirations; and
definitely one of my writing heroes. Her Obernewtyn Chronicles were the first
big fantasy series I read and her stand-alone, Alyzon Whitestarr will stay with
me forever – it was one of those stories that inspired me to follow my dreams.
Isobelle has also been a great support, giving loads of encouragement to me along
this writing journey from very early on. She signed her latest collection for
me (Metro Winds) and I, in turn, signed copies of Arrabella for her. Do I
really need to say how that felt?!
On
Wednesday, when I’d normally get together with the Bittern Writers, my partner
in evil, favourite friend and collaborator on the Arrabella books – Kylie Fox –
and I got out and about and went book shopping instead. Between us, we took
home a huge haul from Notions Unlimited Bookshop in Chelsea, our new favourite book
shop. Notions is full of genre goodies, a bookshop that specializes in horror,
science fiction and fantasy. Exactly our kind of thing. I picked up titles that
varied from a childhood favourite: Watership
Down to the recently awarded Vampire Novel of the Century (Horror Writers
Association): I Am Legend by Richard
Matheson, and Danse Macabre, which
is quite possibly the only Stephen King title I didn’t already own. Seriously,
I have no idea how I missed adding that one to my collection over the years. My
to-be-read pile now exceeds my bookshelf space, so dammit, I think we need yet
another one *sigh*. |
| Not a bad haul for the week, huh? |
On Friday
night, I made it to my first Sisters in Crime event in what seems like forever.
I became a national co-convenor of this fantastic organisation last year, but
due to the whole life-getting-in-the-way thing, haven’t been able to make it to
all the events. Last week was Law Week here in Victoria, so Friday night we got
to listen to two of our most successful female ex-cops battle it out when
Sandra Nicholson interviewed (interrogated?) ex-police commissioner Christine
Nixon. If that wasn’t enough for one night, we got a double dose when Vikki
Petraitis had her way with thriller writer Jaye Ford and another ex-cop turned
author, Y.A. Erskine (who, in real life is named Yvette, and is super-duper lovely).
I love Sisters in Crime events, besides being in a room full of like-minded
crime buffs, some of my favourite people – who I normally only get to hang out
with online - are members.
The writerly
week wasn’t quite over by Sunday, when I got to catch up with the monthly group
of writers I belong to; Clan Destine. This diverse bunch takes turns each month
to host our events in our homes where we workshop extracts from each other’s
latest novel or short story. We’re all published authors in some form or
another (some of the others are you know, kind of famous – but being a
clandestine group, they’d have to kill me if I mentioned their names...) so the
critiques and workshopping that goes on here is of a really high standard. Besides
that, they’re way too much fun to catch up with, and I always come away feeling
inspired with a need to get down lots and lots of words.
Phew. This
week: not so much planned except catching up with the Bittern Writers on
Wednesday and playing nurse again as Simon has fallen in a bit of a heap. Oh
yeah... and that novel (Arrabella Candellarbra and the Questy Thing to End All
Questy Things-2) needs to be written. Deadline is looming closer
every day - but more on that one later...
