_And a Happy New Year to you all! Hope you had an enjoyable Christmas and a relaxing break for those of us who are lucky enough to have a break. I wish you every success for 2012 - may it be a prosperous year.

Okay, so first to the Writing news:

I'm twelve hours away from sending two excerpts + synopsis to The Crime Writers Association (UK) Debut Dagger competition. Why 12 hours? My wireless internet is SO MUCH faster at 4AM, plus it's off-peak.

I'm reworking the full manuscript of "The Isthmus" at present, and will spend about one more week on that before I revisit the outlines of "Hells Bells" and "Black Kite" in the Max Murdoch series. Then it's STARTING the book proposal, and working on a 25-word and < 300-word pitch for both The Fatal Span and The Isthmus - got to get that "elevator pitch" going.

It's a blistering hot near 40C here at Nairne today, the second of three really hot days and I'm hoping NOT to hear the Country Fire Service truck sirens. The Summit is closed on Total Fire Bans (like today), but that won't stop me mentioning the fantastic number of butterflies - painted lady, common brown, and two others I don't know - that have amassed on the Summit (and local areas) in the last few weeks. They are AMAZING!

And the birds: a stubble quail and a bronze pigeon that scared the living daylights out of me when they took off, a bird that I think is an immature shrike thrush - but I'm not certain of this one as it seemed too big, a fantail in my face (gorgeous), an immature eastern spinebill feeding upside down on the correas (did I mention MtB has an astonishing display of rock correas?), and the usual gang of thornbills, wrens, yellow faced honeyeaters, babblers (a heap of fun), black-faced cuckoo shrike, yellow-tailed black cockatoos demolishing the banksia seed pods.

Happy Writing
Bo
x

Hi All! Back again, after a few busy weeks at work and with writing.

Writing news:

Sent "The Fatal Span" (TFS) manuscript away to the Minotaur "First Crime Novel Competition" - at last! The results don't come out until March 2012, so I'm taking a break from that story (after an intensive 18 months' work) and revisiting the "novella." You guessed it, it's expanding even further as I work more with the characters and has that inevitable look of "novel" about it. I've realised I can do more (stories) with two of the characters, in which case the original ending must be altered or there'd be an impossible amount of explaining to do. This is a fun story to write, and I really DO enjoy the creative part.

So I'm preparing this plus TFS for a UK competition - keeps my hand in and forces me to write "The Dreaded Synopsis (which, I must admit, no longer holds the stark terror of previous years). Then it's time to get off my butt and start on the (Equally Dreaded) Book Proposal, write a report for Arts SA on my visit to Varuna (that I will forward before Christmas) and work on some specifications for my job at work. School finishes today! (It DOES interfere so with one's writing...) 

Joined the rest of the Crime Writers of SA group on Sunday at the Feathers Hotel (Glynburn Road) for a Christmas lunch. We had a fabulous time and the food was magnificent. Thank you Chris and Peter for organising it.

Bird news: Two wonderful visitors to the (back garden) bird-bath on Sunday: Mr and Mrs Superb Blue Wren! WOW! They've been whistling and trilling quite a bit in the last week and have previously checked out the bath (it was too low, so they nicked off - nooooooooooo!) They have to slot in between the New Holland Honeyeaters ("Clogs") and the Blackbirds ("Bill #1, #2, #3....#n"). The larger birds drink out of the pedestal bath out the front.

Seen at MtBS (Mt Barker Summit) last weekend: Fantails, wrens, currawongs, butterflies by the zillion, yellow-tailed black cockatoos, thornbills, golden whistlers, yellow-faced honeyeaters (2 kids playing), white-browed babblers (heard), and a bird that I have NO IDEA what it is - a baby golden whistler, maybe? An immediate investigation required...

And birthday greetings to my Aunty Gwen: 90 last Sunday!

Happy Writing
Bo
x

PS  And a picture of the amazing Austrostipa Elegantissima at MtBS