Is it possible that for a few moments, as you read this, you can pretend it’s already Monday (29)? I’ve been tagged for the Blog Tour Award (I wonder what I’ll win?!!) and I was given that date. But, I write on Saturdays and I didn’t want to do another one so I’m using my creative license to stretch time just a tad. If you disapprove, just stop reading now and come back on the appropriate day.

I was tagged by Claire Bell, a poet and writer, who has a delicious way of stringing words together. You can visit her at: mountainbeautiful.blogspot.com
She’s asked me four questions about my writing, which I shall attempt to answer below.

1.What are you working on at the moment?
I’ve got two things on the boil.
The first is book two of The Flight, tentatively named, “Dragon-friend”. (I guess the title is a clue that it’s a fantasy.) As my readers will tell you, it’s taking forever to get done. I made the silly mistake of doubting myself. I should have finished the set before publishing “Beast-speaker”. The thing is, I had so much trouble getting anyone interested in it, I thought: What’s the point of writing the lot if no one will print the darn thing? Of course, now I’ve got book one in print and as an e-book and, who’da thunk it, people liked it and now the pressure is on to get book two out.

The second is an historical novel based on a true crime that took place in the mid-north of my state, in 1861. It’s the book that was recently rejected. I’m trying to get a better start to the thing. I always had a few doubts about the opening but, for the life of me, couldn’t think of a better way to get the story rolling. I thought, perhaps, I’d been working with it for so long that I was seeing problems that weren’t there. NOPE! Always trust your gut instinct. So, I’m working on the problem now and I’m fairly confident I know what I need to do. It’s a story that I’m passionate about, so I’m not giving up yet.

2. How does your work differ from others in the genre?
My fantasy novel is what I call “fantasy-lite”. It’s not set in medieval times with armoured knights, castles and so on. There are no wizards or witches or gnomes or giants etc. It is set on another world, where water is as precious as gold. Some people have the ability to commune with animals; they’re called “Beast-speakers”. Some of those animals are dragons. Other than that, my work is unique because I write from my world-view, with my personality and flavoured by my experiences, opinions and quirks. I haven’t tried to copy anyone, although many writers have certainly inspired me with their creations.

As for the historical work: as far as I know no one else has written a novel about this story. There are only a few paragraphs in a few historical reference books, and a small booklet put out by a local amateur historian with a legal background. I have done an extensive amount of research on the subject and have come to the conclusion that the four Indigenous men who were hung for the crime, were most likely innocent. The fleeting references in the historical books all take it for granted that they were guilty.

3. Why do you write or create what you do?
Because that’s what I am: I’m a story-teller. I could wax on all philosophical about the yearning desire to craft a thing of beauty using words, but the short answer is: I’m being what I was created to be. It’s taken me most of my life time to give myself permission to do this seriously, instead of dabbling and dancing around the edges. It’s much more difficult than I expected it to be but, also, I’ve seriously underestimated how satisfying it can be.

4. How does your writing/creative process work?
I have no idea. It involves a lot of staring at an empty computer screen. Lots of day-dreaming. Lots of reading, both for research and for pleasure (and asking, “Why can’t I write like that?”). Lots of cups of tea (used to be coffee before the medication ruined that for me). Lots of writing the most unbearable, boring, ridiculously bad prose you’ll ever see in your life-time, with lots and lots of rewriting before it becomes reasonable. Lots of conversations in my head with the characters, who are often the most egotistical, pushy, stubborn … (Deep breaths, old girl. Calm down.) I think the most important parts of the process are i) I put my bottom in the chair, I turn on the computer and I try, and ii) I don’t give up.

I’m now tagging Nola Passmore, who hails from sunny Queensland. She has a lovely sense of humour and the most adorable cavoodle called, Holly. Nola will be writing her blog on Monday, June 7 but you can visit her any time: http://www.thewriteflourish.com.au