Short Story is up on website

Due to my internet deciding to stop working a few days ago, I couldn’t post my first short story online on the last day of January. So I put it up today instead.

The story is the Jeweller and the Witch, so feel free to give it a read!!

Without getting too deep, this tale focuses on our natural inclination to make others feel how we do; the transfer of emotions. For example, when we’re feeling great, we tend to make others around us feel great too. We are fun to be with, and people feel energized and motivated to be in our presence.

Sadly, on the flipside, when we people are in a foul mood, it also tends to rub off on those around them. Whether they do it intentionally or not, people’s negative emotions are very transferable.

(Ever had that person at work who you avoid, simply because they make you feel depressed? Or a friend whose melancholy Facebook updates are nothing but moaning and complaints?) Just a few examples of how we can seek to share our emotions with others.

I believe that those who seek to make others feel crappy on purpose eventually pay the price for it, and that's what this tale is all about!

It’s not a long story, and I hope whoever reads it enjoys it.

Feel free to comment below if you get the urge!

Neil Gaiman

Last night I saw Neil Gaiman at the City Recital Hall in Sydney, a place I had no idea even existed. It was a great night, with Neil starting off by reading the prologue and first two chapters from his latest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

  

The tale seemed to be written in first person, and started as a very pleasant foray into a middle aged man’s childhood. There were elements of melancholy, nostalgia and the supernatural in it, but only hints. I’ll definitely be buying the book when it comes out in July.

After the intermission the band FourPlay took to the stage. An excellent string quartet with progressive rock, folk, classical and country elements to their arrangements. Like the City Recital Hall, FourPlay was also a new discovery for me, and they were excellent. The cello player has some very cool tapping and strumming techniques, and the other three violinists were extremely melodic and playful.

FourPlay started with a very cool introduction, and then went into a rendition of the Dr Who theme tune (which delighted a lot of geeks in the crowd). After that Neil took to the stage. He spoke briefly about Gerry Anderson, the recently deceased creator of Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90 and Fireball XL5 to name a few. FourPlay then played the Fireball XL5 theme tune, with Neil singing the lyrics! 

His singing voice is basically his speaking voice but louder. It made me smile to watch him perform, as he was enjoying the moment very much.

Neil then read (for the first time ever) the first third or so of his new absurd short story Fortunately the Milk, a tale about a father who goes out to buy milk for his children’s breakfast, but finds himself travelling through the space time continuum provided by an alien spacecraft, landing on a pirate ship 300 years in the past and then being rescued by a speaking stegosaurus in a hot-air balloon who claims to have invented a lot of things, including his own cardboard box time-machine and coconuts.

Phew. After that Neil did a quick (approx 15 minutes) and very entertaining Q&A session and then called it a night!

Finally I bought my two year old nephew a copy of Neil's latest children's book, Chu's Day. It will be a nice bed time story for him.

Money well spent :)

Birthday Gift

It’s my birthday tomorrow, and I’m going to treat myself (and hopefully any people reading this) to something new and a bit challenging. 

I am going to release a new short story on my website on the last day of every month for the year of 2013.

There will be one rule with my stories: they will be short. That’s all I can guarantee.  I hope they will be enjoyable, and offer a glimpse into my imagination.

I am still writing my second novel, but this will be something I’ll do on the side throughout the year. 

It will also be a good reason to get me behind my keyboard more often!

More to come soon :)

Equilibrium

Equilibrium is defined as:

1. A state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced.
2. A state of physical balance.

I’d like to think that my own take on the word is simply “a state of total balance between all external and internal forces.”  I don’t think many people strive for equilibrium, but instead they aim for perfection in certain areas of their lives. The perfect home, the perfect husband, the perfect friend, the perfect job, the perfect body. 

Perfection is not impossible, just not sustainable. If it occurs, it may last for a mere second, a minute, a year or a decade; but I do believe that perfection (or the perception of it) can be achieved. However, in order to reach such a level of mastery, there will be sacrifices and compromises made in other parts of one’s life.

The whole point of equilibrium is that we accept that we cannot have perfection in all areas of our lives, so we must strive for the perfect balance between these areas instead.

For example, my personal philosophy is to look at the “triangle of needs” (I just made this corny term up). The three needs are: health, wealth and relationships.

Every now and then I’ll quickly give myself a grade from A-F for each of those areas, and assess which areas may need work.

For example, a millionaire with a loving network of family and friends, yet also cirrhosis of the liver (caused by excessive alcoholic consumption), could score themselves: health (D), wealth (A), relationships (B).

From the outside, people may envy the millionaire’s financial wealth and lavish lifestyle, and think he has it all. But there is a clear imbalance, as his liver is close to packing it in. 

My belief is, if we can achieve and maintain an average of grade B in all areas we would all be very happy. 

Disclaimer: the beauty of this is that everyone will have different perceptions of what is optimum health, good wealth and good relationships. A man who has recently saved $100 may grade his wealth “B”, an overweight woman who has lost ten pounds in the last month may grade her health (A) etc.

Equilibrium is happiness.

What’s up?!?

I’m about 9,000 words into my newest project. A thriller with supernatural undertones, and moderate violence (just my cup of tea)! I’m really enjoying writing this one, and it’s nice to venture into this knowing that I can, and have written a 93,000 novel before (I CAN DO IT!!)

I recently bought The Australian Writer’s Marketplace – Publisher’s and Agent’s 2013 edition. A great little book with the most up-to-date contacts for…well, publishers and agents within the Australian writing marketplace.

I haven’t sent the Spirit Broker out yet, but after getting the long synopsis and cover letters sorted I’ll be all over it. It’s tough dividing time between writing the new novel and getting the synopsis etc done, as the former is fun, and the latter often feels like admin.

I’m going to formulate a timetable so that I can set out a plan for the next few weeks, as I’d ideally like to get the first few queries out by February 2013.

Another non-writing blog to follow shortly.  

Happy New Year!

I'm not usually a big fan of the first week in January. It always felt like a week-long Monday. But this year there is no drudgery, just a feeling of accomplishment and optimism.

One of my resolutions is to blog more.

I'm looking forward to seeing Neil Gaiman in a few weeks time. He will be talking to an audience in Sydney and reading from his latest novel, The Ocean at the end of the lane. I'll also get a printed preview of the book which should be very cool.

More soon

What to do....

I'm torn.

I'm torn between two (maybe more) ideas that are floating around in my head at the moment. 

Now that I know what it takes to write a novel it's not that simple to just start a new book. I now know that whatever I write next, must be something that I am truly passionate about; I must want to see it through to the end.

I've already started writing another story, but it's not "the one". I think I'm just going to delve into the story I am most passionate about and just write it.

The Spirit Broker was something I wrote in that headspace. Every time I sat down to write I wanted to know what was coming next, it was exciting to me to find out the story as I wrote it. Its currently being proofread by a friend, but I am in no rush to hurry the process. When I submit it, I want it to be the best it can be. 

So, I'm just going to fly into this next book with relentless passion. 

No fear. Just words.

P.S. I think I'll soon open a new area on my website called "Treasure Chest", which will be a collection of short stories that I've written. Watch this space!