Peddling Poisons and Dealing Drugs

My Critique Partner, Fiona Gregory will be doing a tutorial at the Hot August Nights Conference on Peddling Poisons and Dealing Drugs. Sounds fascinating doesn't it.

Fi has been a pharmacist for a number of years and can tell you some interesting stories from her career. She's blogged over at the Bootcampers 101 blog. Go on over and have a look.

Those of you attending her workshop are in for a real treat! Good luck Fi - you'll do great.

~Yia!

The Hobbit news

Apparently The Hobbit is still waiting for to be greenlit by the studio. Here's Peter Jackson talking about it at Comic Con.

It would be great to see - eventually.

For someone who thoughtwouldn't post blogs this week, I've been doing a lot of short ones. Hmmm... procrastination? Nuh, just a break. I'm busy editing.

Yia!

Romance Writers of Australia - Blog & Twitter.

Recently launched was the Romance of Australia Official blog. Here you will find abit of extra information, news and discussions.

And there is also a Twitter account @RWAus

It was thanks to the RWAus web team that I finally opened a Twitter account. Bringing me into the year 2009. And I'm one of the team's Tweeters.

Who would have thought I would say that in a blog post when I started it in February 2008. I didn't know what Twitter was, let alone a Tweet.

Finished editing for the day and trying to decide what to do next.

Yia!

Art on my website

This is a stock image used in the banner of my website.

Like my short, sharp and shiny blog posts?

:)

Another 3D tattoo

sourced from here.

Shhh, I'm not really here.

Yia..

Busy editing....

I'll be busy this next week getting ready for the conference and doing some study, so I may not post often.

Here's a little something for the writers out there:

Yia...

Fantasy art

From Photobucket....I wish I could do that.

Writing competitions at the 101ers

Harlequin Romance author Nikki Logan talks about writing competitions over at the Bootcamper 101 blog. And she should know about them and their usefulness - she did sell a book from one competition. Check out the post here.

Also check out Nikki's great website A Romance with Nature. Not only is she an author, but a conservationist and she has great links on her website to both writing related sites and conservation sites.

~Yia!

On Twitter

Yep, I caved in and have now got a Twitter account. You can find me at on there as @ElenisKafe.

My name was too long and I thought well since I call this blog my Taverna, the twitter account can be the coffee break (Kafe in Greek).

I'll see how I go with it. Tweet, Tweet ;)

~Yia

So much for plans

Have a cold, so I haven't done all of what I had planned to do for the remainder of the week.

Oh well....best laid plans and all that.

~Yia!

Thanks Trish!!

Thank you to Trish Morey for having the lovely gesture of including me in the dedication page of her August/September release 'The Ruthless Greek's Virgin Princess'. I got chocked up with emotion - it's such a huge honour.

Trish is a powerhouse writing for HM&B under the Presents line (aka Sexy in Australia). A fellow SARA member, she is so supportive to fellow writers, and does so much for the writing community.

And she has the most wicked sense of humour.

Efharisto Trish. Mwah!

~Yia

What a week - & it's not over yet

I have had one of those weeks where you have hardly time to think, let alone write. Study, writer's meeting, spending time with Master 5 & family have all taken time.

Today, I went with Master 5, Mister almost-1 and their Mama to the South Australian Museum. The attention span of a 5 year old is different, as what it is they are interested in. Bones yes, stuffed animals yes, sea creatures yes, sparkly minerals yes, but anything cultural, not really. I'm really pleased that he was interested as much as he was. They have some online galleries here.

After lunch, we went down the Mall (aka Rundle Mall). As a kid they never had all the stalls for the school holidays. The Clowns, Castles & Carousels school program - there was probably more, but we saw a face painter, a colouring in competition, boat carousel - all for free. Very good idea to keep the kids entertained. We stopped and listen to teenagers busking (another great thing I love about Rundle Mall, the buskers), and Master 5 was intrigued by them singing and playing instruments. He stopped for about 2 songs worth - woohoo!

It was a lovely day. Abit fresh but sunny. Luckily this was the day we chose as it has been raining in Adelaide this past week.

So pretty busy week - but I still want to do some more study, and do some editing. The conference is 4 weeks away, so I need to finish off my final edits, as well as ready my pitch. Gulp!!

But I think I'm due for a nap....

Yia!

Torchwood: Children of Earth ---*spoilers*

Oh my goodness. What a ride this mini-series was. Five nights of packed action with me going 'no!', 'wow', 'holy crap'. Oh yes, I do have an extensive vocabulary.

I loved the arc, the story, the race against time, and the absolute anguish of these characters. It was bloody brilliant. No wonder Torchwood: Children of Earth was a smashing success as reported in SFX.

If you haven't watched Torchwood series, do so. Season 1 took a little getting used to - the style more than anything. I got more into it as time wore on and it was the latter half of the season and then season 2 that stood out more for me. The characters are not cardboard cut-outs. And the ending of season 2, oh goodness.

Now the ending of COE, again not what I expected. And really the two characters that have kept me going with this series left standing - good old (literally) omnisexual Cap'n Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper. I wonder if there will be more to this series or if they will just have Jack meeting up with the new Doctor...

Torchwood is a spin-off from Doctor Who, with the character of Jack. In fact it's an anagram, and when Doctor Who was being relaunched, to keep it quiet they used the name 'Torchwood'. Clever, eh.

So back to COE. We have children suddenly stopping all at the same time in the street, all around the world. Then they speak in unison 'We are coming'. Next is 'We are coming...back'. OK so these aliens, have been here before. In fact they have been named the 456 (the frequency they used back in 1965). Then 'We are coming tomorrow'. But of course they mean to London and to a specifically built environment they transmitted details for.

The fact that they have visited before sets off in motion a kill order for Captain Jack, and just when they find good news in the team (that Gwen is pregnant), they realise that Jack has a bomb in him. Now Jack can't die - but still can he escape being blown up from the inside out?While not much remains, he does return, gruesomely though quite quickly.

See Captain Jack was there in 1965 when these aliens had dealt with Earth before. And what did they want then - 12 children in exchange for an antivirus to a nasty flu. This time the 456s want 10% of the children of the world. Not much eh? And what do they want them for - they're used as drugs. So the 456s are alien junkies. And the British government wants

to cover their past dealings with them.

Lots of dodging authorities, getting caught, people dying including Jack's lover, Ianto. But the saddest was the sacrifice Jack has to make for the sake of the millions of children - his own grandson. And he has to live with it for an eternity. Absolutely crushing. So Jack leaves Earth leaving a very pregnant Gwen with her husband Rhys. For the last part of day 5 I couldn't stop the waterworks - sensitive soul that I am.

I really hope to see Captain Jack and Gwen again.

Fantasy art - Chris Howard

I've always admired the visual arts and the ability of artists to create fantastic looking worlds. I came across this blog entry by artist/author Chris Howard, which shows how he used the iPhone's Brush app to create the below image. Fascinating.

You can find Mr Howard's art portfolio here.

Reward books

I have finished my current reward book, Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Book 3 of The Twilight Saga). I know there have been people who have been critical of these books, but like Harry Potter for younger readers, these books have brought the tween/teenager age group back to reading. So I'm all for that. I personally enjoy these books showing the angst of a teenage girl in love. Questions are thrown up if not by the central character but by other characters to make her think if this is the course she wants to be on - to be with a vampire. 

So the next reward book is..... drum roll.

The Flame and The Shadow by Denise Rossetti.  It is Book 1 of the Four-Sided Pentacle series. It has the most gorgeous cover art. 

Here's a little teaser of the book taken from Denise site:

"There cannot be one...without the other.

   Some are drawn to the light. Some are drawn to the dark. Some desire both.

   Grayson of Concordia, known on countless worlds as the Duke of Ombra, is a mercenary, a sorcerer of shadows whose soul is consumed by darkness. For Gray, the savagery in his heart is manifest in an entity he calls Shad. He has long resisted Shad's enticements, but when he's hired to kidnap a grieving fire witch, he seizes the chance to restore his soul—no matter the cost.
   Devastated by a shattering loss, Cenda's fiery heart has turned to ash. Doggedly, she has worked to master her powers and go on living, knowing she can never be whole again. When she encounters Gray, though, her will is no match for the dark fascination he exerts. But Cenda's newfound love and passion may not survive the terrible discovery of his betrayal..."

Denise is another Aussie writer, whom I was privileged to meet at the RWAustralia conference in 2003. It has been a pleasure watching her success grow.

~Yia

Reading Challenge

I've been doing the monthly reading challenges for Harlequin community users. Not very successfully I might add. Oh, yes, I am reading more than I have for awhile, but my reading for one book seems to be in fits and starts at the moment. I read a couple of chapters of one book, then go to another. Currently I have 4 on the go. But at least I'm reading, right?

Well I've reached 42 books for the challenge so far this year and this month, for the first time, I read all the books in the challenge. Woohoo! It's here I'm not sure if non-Harlequin community users can see it though. So I managed to get 10 books done this month (some have been lingering for a long long while though), and covered the letters for the word, Fatherhood.

I'm using these challenges to keep myself reading, get my TBR down (the never-ending battle) be aware of the market out there, as well as reading in a range of types. This month, I finished an autobiography, a graphic novel, some short stories, a Nocturne Bites, four HM&Bs, a non-fiction book, two paranormal romances, a children's and one crime.  And each book I read helps Harlequin's pledge to donate one book to the National Centre for Family Literacy.

So you if you are on the Harlequin community boards, it's never too late to sign up for the challenge. 

~Yia