Shahkara – Page 3

Killing two eagles with one stone

admin Authors, Books, Creativity, Queensland Writers Centre, Shahkara, Urban Fantasy, Writing Tips/Events November 6, 2012November 13, 2012 11 Comments

KILLING two birds with one stone is always magical and often goes hand-in-hand. For example, why mop the floors unless you’ve already locked up the caterpillar and his muddy shoes? Or why destroy a demon unless you also crush his coven and lair (after all, if you don’t, another heart-devouring creature just takes up residence there).

So it was satisfying to return from Sydney yesterday, having achieved two complete missions: I attended the inaugural GenreCon at Rydges Parramatta AND visited the State Library of New South Wales where my kick-butt heroine Shahkara fights off warriors and demons within its sandstone walls, while searching for the illusive Death Lantern (Book I of the Heart Hunter series, due out with Clan Destine Press next year).

Friends and fellow authors Sandy Curtis and Dean J. Anderson joined me on our jaunt to the State Library, where we were delighted to be given a free tour by the enthusiastic and dedicated Rosie. She took us through many of the rooms of the original library, the Mitchell Wing, and shared with us its fascinating history. Highlights included Shakespeare’s Room (check out Cookie Monster and I sitting on a chair made from wood from Shakespeare’s garden) and the delightful statue of Trim, Captain Matthew Flinders’ cat. It was fascinating to see the scenes of my book come to life before my eyes as I trod the library’s marble floors – and then sussed out the entrances and carparks for Shahkara’s appropriate get-away.

The best treat was yet to come – and it wasn’t even my stone! The incorrigible Dean J. Anderson met with Publisher Lindy Cameron that night and accepted a contract with Clan Destine Press for his riveting Dark Urban Fantasy novel (title yet to be revealed). Yay, Dean! This is exciting news for a Bundaberg Writers Club member who has worked very hard and been dedicated to the craft of writing for some years now. I can’t wait to see his book published late 2013/early 2014.

Finally, GenreCon surpassed our expectations. This professional event delivered the latest industry info while stirring our creative juices. There was also a lot of fun and laughter, like when Daniel O’Malley kissed Kate Eltham during the Great Debate. It was fab to catch up with old and new friends – and we’re all looking forward to another fabulous GenreCon gathering in Brisbane next year.

How did you spend your weekend? Was it writing novels, scrubbing toilets or fighting off demons? Maybe you’d like to share how you wish you’d spent your weekend? I hope it’s a great week for everyone.

When Publishers land and offer you a book contract…

admin Authors, Balor, Books, Creativity, Shahkara, Urban Fantasy, Writing Tips/Events August 24, 2012February 16, 2013 25 Comments

Breaking news! My gutsy Shahkara and her page-turning adventures have finally found a publishing home – within the talented ranks of Clan Destine Press (CDP). Shahkara, the first book in my newly-dubbed Heart Hunter series, will be released in print and e-book formats by May next year.

Okay, it’s not really breaking news since it’s almost a week ago that I was offered my shiny, three-book contract, but I was without internet for nearly a week while I was wining and dining with My Publisher and some awesome authors at the Gold Coast and attending RWA Conference workshops and parties. So, I haven’t been able to e-spruik my news until now (Cheryse dusts a couple of extra days beneath the speckled, loungeroom rug).

So I’m now a Contracted Author and I have to admit that I am bubbling with delight. I did not think that a publishing contract would be this magical. I thought that after so many long years of writing and buried manuscripts, of waits and rejections, that being published would be an anti-climax. It wasn’t. It is my dream come true – a dream that dates back to the tender age of seven. Okay, I still have a whole TARDIS-full of other characters and stories that keep bouncing off my grey matter, but at least this one story I can now share with the world.

How did the contract happen, you ask? Well, I’d been so sick with the flu that I didn’t even know if I’d make the conference or not, and then I only found out a couple of days before that my prospective publisher Lindy Cameron (aka CDP) would be visiting the Gold Coast. So when Lindy, my friend Jacque and I sat down for coffee, I was a little gob-smacked when she very matter-of-factly announced that she loved my manuscript and was offering me a three-book contract.

Yes, I had been waiting for a publishing reply from Lindy. I had submitted my Shahkara MS to her 10 weeks earlier following a successful pitch at Bundaberg WriteFest – but since that same solicited manuscript had been languishing at another large publishing house for 19 months, I’d begun to wonder if Shahkara would forever remain locked in digital despair.

So there I was, trying to swallow down my post-flu coughs, and Lindy suggests we all head to the nearest bookstore to discuss Shahkara cover options. I do recall her jumping when I released a belated squee (which she may have thought was a fire alarm) but then we scampered off to QBD to run our fingers over dozens of glossy and embossed covers. “It’ll be a wrap-around,” Lindy says. “All CDP covers are wrap-arounds. What do you think of this one?” After 20 minutes at QBD, we were sparking on all eight cylinders and I had a very visual idea of what my Shahkara cover might look like, come next year.

That’s when we spotted the NBN TV cameraman, zooming in on the book-lined shelves. As a journalist, I felt it was pretty much a no-brainer that if a Gold Coast cameraman is filming footage in a bookstore at the same time there’s a national writing conference about to start in the same city, then they’re most likely on converging paths. “Are you here for the RWA Conference?” I piped up. He nodded his head and was soon wanting to know our connection. What else could I say but: “Yes, we’re attending, and this is My Publisher and she’s just offered me a book contract!” A TV interview ensued…

Once we left QBD, there were all sorts of Very Important Publishing stuff to do – like shoe shopping and an exotic lunch. I don’t understand why all Publishers don’t go shoe shopping with their Authors. It’s a lot of fun – especially if you take photographic evidence 🙂 We returned to the resort and there might have been more coffee and discussions of books and publishing. Oh, and maybe a photo shoot.

Lindy didn’t stay for the conference. She’d only flown to the Gold Coast to deliver Rowena Cory Daniells‘ hot-off-the-press The Price of Fame novels to her (and offer me a contract). The rest of us author types toddled back to the RWA conference (where I unexpectedly was asked to stand on stage and be applauded for securing my first book sale *uncomfortable twinge*) while Lindy flew on to BrisVegas for more Very Important Publisher stuff.

The moral to the story? Even if you’re sick, make sure you attend all writing conferences scrawled in red on your calendar. You never know when you’ll have a successful pitch or when a Publisher might fly in and offer you a contract. In fact, maybe the Gold Coast marketing gurus could fashion this concept into a tourist attraction: Stay at XYZ resort and meet with your favourite Publisher… it could catch on!

So, my friends, I have so much more to share with you re my forthcoming book series and CDP, but suffice to say that today I am just thrilled that my Shahkara series has a home – and that it’s with a very fine stable indeed!

2013 Postscript: Shahkara will be published with the fabulous new title, The Blood She Betrayed, in 2013.

Broken bones fail to shatter imagination

admin Authors, Creativity, Shahkara, Urban Fantasy, Writing Tips/Events February 12, 2012November 6, 2013 10 Comments

It wasn’t a very heroic way to break one’s leg.

If I’d had a choice, I would have preferred to go down while knifing a Kraken sea monster in the raging Pacific, or after saving a toddler from a fire-engulfed home, the burning floorboards giving way beneath my feet. Instead, I’d finished a lovely dinner with a vibrant librarian and she accidentally fell against me in the rainy dark. I crashed to the bitumen, breaking and displacing my tibia plateau (top of the shin bone) and later fracturing my fibula (calf bone).

It set off a series of events: an ambulance rushing me through flood waters and a 15-hour wait in emergency for urgent knee surgery, only for the hospital registrars to discover they didn’t have the necessary parts. I had to wait two more days for the procedure which required sixteen titanium screws and a plate to reattach and secure my wayward tibia. Yes, you should see the snapshots.

Certainly, it wasn’t a run-of-the-mill week for this fantasy author whose daily highlights normally consist of grinding coffee beans and writing kick-arse YA scenes.

Now back home, a little muddled, a little drugged, and pain radiating from a braced leg that’s banned from action for six weeks, I ponder upon this spanner in the works and who authored its arrival. Maybe it was Calliope, muse of heroic stories, trying to impart a message of significance or inspiration. Or maybe it was Eris, the goddess of chaos, just yanking my chain.

Problem is… I’ve always been a great believer in destiny, especially that we can be our own creators when we adopt a little imagination and a lot of hard work, but this spanner had me checking the fine print.

Less than two months ago, my life flashed before my eyes when a Landcruiser and trailer overlooked a road sign and collided with our ute as we were travelling 100kmh along the highway. Our vehicle was totalled, but bro-in-law and I escaped the wreckage, but for slipped discs. Now he swears to his wife (my beloved sister) that it’s safer driving a car than dining out (he’s off the hook this Valentine’s Day).

But was the universe speaking to me? Were these signs that I should write more or write less? Work harder or spend more time with loved ones? Focus less on the trivial or more on the positive?

If my heroine Shahkara broke her leg, she’d allow time for healing, but then return to complete her quest. She’d be back on the battlefield as soon as she could wield a sword.

Maybe I, too, need to pay less attention to “signs” and focus on what’s important: Forging ahead with my goals, even if I require a keyboard and crutches instead of Shahkara’s compass and sword.

Now I think about it, I was darn lucky I didn’t break my leg battling that monster – there’s nothing heroic about drifting along the seabed as Kraken poop.

Fortunately, broken bones can mend nearly as quickly as the human spirit. That’s because it’s goals, like our stories, that keep us feeling alive.