-
The Joy of Pride
I’m an introvert and suffer from social anxiety. I don’t generally go out of my way to attend events where there are lots of people, especially when I don’t know them. But one of the things I will always do when I can is attending Pride. This year was my second at Sunshine Coast Pride Festival’s Fair Day as an author, and although it was exhausting, it was also inspiring, humbling and amazing in equal measure. Now that I’ve recovered from the inevitable introvert hangover that follows from attending an event like this, I wanted to share some thoughts on why Pride events are still important, even though we’re evolving…
-
Author Blog Hop – Writing My First Novel
I am excited to be participating in a new blog hop initiated by author A.E. Radley, along with a host of other lesfic authors. I can’t wait to see what topics this blog hop throws up. The first one is Writing my first novel. A great first topic to break the ice with. Plus, it really made me go back and think about what it was like writing my first novel, which one it actually was and how it all came about. My very first novel, written and published, was Crush, which became the first book in the Girls of Summer series. It didn’t start out as a novel though. It…
-
My new library card
I’ve been meaning to get one for years, but today I finally relented and applied for a library card. A few reasons, I suppose. Firstly, libraries are such great resources, and as an author, I should be supporting them much more than I have been. Secondly, I’ve started to sell a few of my ebooks to libraries via Overdrive, so I wanted to check out how it all works. (BTW, my books are available via Overdrive, but it depends on your local library’s catalogue, so you may need to ask your local libary to stock them). The kicker for me, though, was a conversation I had with my wife last week about…
-
The Invisibility Cloak of an LGBTIQ YA Author
I’m preparing to give my very first author reading in a few weeks, which means I’ve been spitballing ideas on what to talk about that won’t bore the pants off people and maybe, hopefully, even convince them to buy a book or two. After asking for advice from friends, thinking about the books I write, and reading a good friends brand new blog, I settled on my theme for my pre-reading talk. Invisibility. Invisibility is a superpower for those of us who are introverts. It comes in particularly handy for those of us who write in tiny niches, which LGBTIQ YA stories certainly are. On the one hand, we wish…
-
How catching a mouse taught me a lesson about writing
My wife yelled out “Got’im!” in the middle of the night a few days ago. No, she wasn’t dreaming. I was though, until that moment. She’d been listening to a mouse run around our bedroom until finally, it found the food we’d left for it in the trap she’d set. She’d heard it go off while I was apparently blissfully unaware until her shouting in her moment of triumph woke me up. Before I go any further, I should explain we purchased a trap that wouldn’t harm the mouse, so we could release it later, which we did, and that trap forms part of the story below. I just wanted…
