AussieCon only days away

There is no better way to celebrate one’s birthday than to pack and prepare for one’s first WorldCon. Our sister Kris is already in Melbourne, but Shane and I will not fly down to meet her until Tuesday. I am so looking forward to catching up with and making new friends, going to panels and sampling lots of Melbourne food, especially Peking duck and Korean barbecue.

Now for a Shahkara update: I finished the structural edits on the MS and I’m now going through a pile of about 200-plus bits and pieces of paper with little reminder notes like “change Kallee’s hair colour” or “make Shahkara more emotive on page 42”… stuff that I thought of when I was rewriting the story, but didn’t want to go back and change them straight away in case it suffocated my creative flow. Closer and closer. I wish I could work on my MS every day, not just weekends and holidays… Not many authors get that wish, so I had better be grateful that I can write on my weekends.

George stops by for coffee

My dear friend and neighbour Steph turned up on my doorstep this afternoon with an early birthday pressie – a Breville BarVista coffee machine! She’s away at a medical conference for a week and didn’t want me to miss out on my daily cuppa while editing Shahkara. During the past month, we’ve become accustomed to making good coffee with her beloved machine, George (it gained its name from the George Clooney Nespresso TV commercial so my machine is now George II). Mmmm, the aroma of coffee is already calling. Sorry… have to go!