Technology Win

I've just spent the past few hours playing around with my new Sony Xperia S and Ubuntu One on my notebook. I've managed to store stuff on cloud for the first time and the syncing between my phone and computer is great (I'm writing this in bed on my phone, testing out the new blogger app).

I spent a wonderful weekend in the Hunter Valley, and along with tasting good wine, eating nice food and treating my girlfriend, I also managed to play with my phone's camera. Check out my skilLz below.

Some of the vineyards had some rather quirky and odd sculptures, but were very cool finds. I've given myself a deadline of two more weeks to finish my final revisions of The Spirit Broker before I begin researching for my next novel.

I'm very keen to get started on the new book but need to remain focussed and patient whilst I finish this one.

Almost there...

Website is back up!

The site was down due to a DNS error which has now been fixed!

Off to bed

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Website is down but work is still being done!

For some reason my website is down, but it doesn't actually bother me that much. I'm still on the final edit (I've given myself the deadline of 4 weeks to get through this), and looking forward to starting book number 2.

I never knew editing could be so...fun

:p

Motivation

What do love, revenge, altruism, passion and madness all have in common? They can all be used as useful motivational tools.

The hero saves the day for love, revenge, a natural sense of altruism and/or passion for a cause. The villain motivation could simply be madness, a misplaced sense of righteousness or plain old evil.

When writing, motivation should always be the driving force. It's too easy to underestimate its importance, and very hard to fix once the work is complete.

Luckily I learnt this lesson a while back, but I always remind myself to keep my guard up!!

Nothing worse than reading/watching an antagonist or protagonist do something and then question "why?"

Just a thought!

More posts coming soon!

Update

Had some good feedback on the novel, halfway through reading it (AGAIN!!) and finding even more typos and things to alter.

But I'm really enjoying this read through, as it's been so long since I worked on the novel, everything is fresh. Some pages have put a smile on my face, and I'm glad to spend this much time honing this piece of art. Like a samurai sword, it wil be worked and reworked until it is ready.

It will all be worth it in the end!!!!


P.S. Ren and Stimpy FTW. Watchinf old episodes on Youtube. I used to (and still do) love this show!

BOOYAH!

I’ve been away for a short while due to a lot of things happening in the real world. I’ve just finished a bunch of fairly important exams (to enable me to practice law in Australia). So there was a lot of studying to do and not much time for anything else!

On the up side, I now have my life back, summer is starting in Australia, and I finished proofing and editing The Spirit Broker last night. There will always be words to swap around, erase or paraphrase, and there will always be more AND less to say on virtually every page. But for now, I am done with it.

The next stage now is writing up a 2-3 page synopsis and sending out query and covering letters to agents, sample chapters, and when requested the whole manuscript. I bought the Artists and Writers Handbook last year and have already highlighted and tabbed the contact pages of agents & publishers who look like they accept this kind of stuff. So I’ll be targeting them all over the next few weeks. I just need to take my time and get things written and presented properly.

Other than the above, here are some things I have found interesting recently:

• Australian Senator Nick Xenophon not only has a badass name, but he is also a real life badass. Really impressed with him taking the decision to use his parliamentary privilege to publically name a Catholic priest accused of sexual abuse many years ago. "Innocent until proven guilty", yes. But where the safety of young and vulnerable people is at a serious risk, I’m all for erring on the side of caution. Well done Senator.

• I popped into court yesterday to have a quick look at a Supreme Court case in which a former $3,000 a night “high-class” escort is suing the estate of a deceased billionaire. This is because he allegedly promised her gifts and trust funds up to a worth of $10m. Managed to see her get cross examined by one of the country’s best barristers. Very cool.

• Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Played the original a decade ago, and this is just as awesome. Check it out!

More to come soon as I get back online and start the next phase of being a writer-who-is-trying-to-become-a-published-author!!!!

P.S. the next novel is in the works too. Here’s a hint of things to come:

I'm still alive!

Updates coming soon!