Category: writing

One week to go!

On By leiossIn achieved, The Beast's Heart, writing, writing goalsLeave a comment

Book cover: The title "The Beast's Heart" is written out in ornate writing surrounded by rambling red roses. At the bottom of the image they are in bud, a little further up in full bloom, and at the top, bare branches. Above the words, and surrounded by bare winter branches is a picture of a fairy tale castle.

On Feb 12 The Beast’s Heart gets its US release, and I’m officially counting down the hours, now.

I’ve got plenty of time to do it, too, because I’ve just kicked off two whole months’ leave from my day job, in which I’m going to do my level best to get the next WIP as close to done as I can. This will also mean I’ll have loads of time for all the little bits of PR stuff that comes with a book release without the inconvenience of having to put on pants and turn up at an office in a state that makes it worth their while to pay me. So: yay for purchased leave! I will be doing all of this in my pyjamas.

Conflux 14: The Unconventional Hero

On By leiossIn A Hand of Knaves, appearances, conventions, Events2 Comments

 

conflux14-finaldateIt’s that time of year again! Yep, Conflux is next weekend.

This con is very dear to my heart – and not just because it’s my local SFF con and always has really strong programming aimed at writers. But it is a great opportunity to hook up with my tribe. If you’re new on the Australian spec fic scene (like I was, once!) it is the best place to connect with people involved in the SFF writing community from across Australia – not just writers, but editors, agents, publishers, the whole shebang.

Anyway, here’s where you’ll definitely find me over the course of next weekend:

Pre-con stuff:

Friday, 28 September

From 6pm King O’Malley’s pub in Civic: Welcome drinks to Conflux 14.

Conflux 14, the Vibe Hotel, Canberra Airport

Saturday, 29 September

9am – Opening Ceremony

9.30am – Hero cliches & how to make or break them, with Ion “Nuke” Newcombe, Sam Hawke & Louise Pieper.

1.30pm – The Unconventional Romance, with Keri Arthur and Freya Marske.

Sunday, 30 September

5.45pm – Launching A Hand of Knaves (squee!)

Monday, 1 October

11.45am – The Book Love Fest

1.30pm – When the dream comes true – what really happens when you get a deal with a big publisher? With Cat Sparks, Sam Hawke, Craig Cormick & Claire McKenna.

At all other times, try the bar first!!! And if you want to know what else is on, all the details are up on the Conflux website!

 

Chatting to Rhianna Patrick

On By leiossIn The Beast's Heart, writingLeave a comment

IMG_20180627_152539_214 (1)So here’s a thing I did this week! I got to chat to Rhianna Patrick on ABC local radio about The Beast’s Heart!

Here I am, all set up in the TARDIS at the Canberra ABC studios (that’s their pod for doing interstate radio interviews). Rhianna was lovely and we chatted for about half an hour about the book and writing and what I’m reading and what else I’m working on.

If you’re interested, the podcast is up on the ABC website at: http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/rhiannapatrick/leife/9920354

Enjoy!

Purple prose

On By leiossIn inspiration, stories, writing2 Comments

Hoboy, do I have a very special treat for you.

I was doing a bit of a clean up in my study this weekend and made a couple of hilarious archaeological discoveries. Here’s the first.

Context: I have none. I don’t even remember writing it. I must have been about 11 or 12. I remember discovering Alfred Noyes’ poem The Highwayman around that time, so that’s a possible source of inspiration.

Enjoy.

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(I think she’s kneeling, not pregnant, in that last pic.)

It’s got everything, doesn’t it? A catchy title, killer cover art, kissing (“for two minutes”), broken ankles, drunk highwaymen, secret forest lairs, murder, egg sandwiches…

Joy of the season to you

On By leiossIn holidays, life, writingLeave a comment

I’m officially on my Christmas holidays as of now. Not being religious, for me this holiday is all about spending time with family, taking stock of the old year and looking forward to the new and taking a break from my day job. It is, however, a time of year when I traditionally do a heap of writing, so wish me well on that, won’t you?

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Whether you’re somewhere cold or somewhere warm (like me), and however you celebrate the end of the old year and the beginning of the new, I wish you a safe, happy and relaxing break, and I hope you get to spend it with people you love.

See you in the new year!

xoxo

Busyness and roses

On By leiossIn A Hand of Knaves, getting published, stuff that happens, The Beast's Heart, writing2 Comments

I’ve had so much going on lately, I feel like I’ve barely had time to stop and breathe (or write a blog post).

First there was the Read3r’z Re-Vu  read through of the proof of The Beast’s Heart, which was WONDERFUL. I could not have wished for a lovelier, more thoughtful, more enthusiastic bunch of first readers. They had so many good questions and so many astute observations and their responses left me in tears of joy on more than one occasion. You can see their individual reviews up on Goodreads (more tears of joy), and I’ll post a link to the review they post on the Read3r’z Re-Vu website when it goes up. But I have to say, this was a favourite moment:

Other busy things:

  • I have finished reading all the subs for A Hand of Knaves!
  • We have launched the Indiegogo crowdfunder for A Hand of Knaves! (Check it out – there is some super cool swag on offer for supporters.)
  • I went to Genrecon in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago. That was just fantastic. Highly recommended.
  • I wrote an article for Hodderscape giving y’all an opportunity to snoop around my writing space.

And…

I have been conspiring with my good mate Shauna O’Meara (who is responsible for the amazing playing card art for A Hand of Knaves) on a new Secret Project involving roses. It has been amusing to find she shares my “get it right” OCD in respect of historical details, to the point where she went to great lengths yesterday to find samples of rose breeds that would have been around in the 17th Century (there is a hint as to the nature of the Secret Project, right there.) Here’s a snippet of our conversation while she communed rapturously with nature…

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Because, you know. Historical accuracy.

The proofs are out there…

On By leiossIn novels, Review, The Beast's Heart, writingLeave a comment

2017-11-18 14.40.24This has been an exciting few days! Hachette Australia HQ held their book bloggers night last Thursday, and this lil old thing got given out, leading to a small social media flurry on my part as people tweeted & instagrammed pics of their copies. I am telling you as a total rookie debut author, I don’t think this will ever get old.

But here’s the exciting part: a group of book bloggers and reviewers from Sydney blog Read3r’z Re-Vu will be doing a read along of their proof copies of The Beast’s Heart from Sunday evening through Monday, and they’ve asked me to join them! Basically, I get to peek over their shoulders and watch their reactions (via whatsapp) as they read it!

Am I looking forward to it? Am I what!

In return, I’ll be giving them some exclusive insights into writing the story plus a bonus playlist of songs I listened to while writing it.

On top of that, the submission window for A Hand of Knaves closed on Thursday at midnight. So now I have a fat folder sitting in my inbox of short story submissions ready  to read. Really looking forward to seeing what’s waiting for me there.

Plus there’s a few other bits & pieces to be getting on with, like a wrap-up of last weekend’s Genrecon and a new article for Hodderscape, not to mention I’ll be starting a new job on Monday. So it’s not like I’m going to be at a loose end over the next few days…