All I want for Christmas...

Ok, so it is a loooong way to Christmas. Thank goodness. Just trying to get over the Easter celebrations. But the song '"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" popped into my head. Why?

Well my computer, that's why. It's been a with me for 7 years and as you know technology has come a long, long way in 7 years. I'm doing what I can with it, the most important being word processing - I can write my stories. BUT internet is slow (dialup) and the poor thing is struggling. It stops and crashes when I am on the internet for too long or try to do more than one thing at a time (yes, I'm impatient) and all my family can hear is me cussing from the study. F'en thing.

So all I want for Christmas is a new computer.... I think I'm going for a Mac this time around. But can I wait for Christmas? I'm getting more and more pissed off...huhumm...annoyed with this computer every day.

So fairy godmuse, if you're listening, can I have a brand new sparkling Mac please? Pretty please?

Happy Name Day to me!

I'm named Eleni after my paternal grandmother in the tradition of Greek families. In the Greek Orthodox world, the name day for Eleni is May 21st. So is Konstantine. So I can have a double celebration -- hmmm hmmm double the food! *grin*.

Saint Eleni (Helen) was Emperor Konstantine the Great's mother (both depicted in the picture). She was reported to have found of the Holy Cross of Jesus. More info here.

For more about namedays, you can read here!

So Happy Name Day to all the Elenis, Helens, Elenas, Konstantine(/a)s, Kostas out there. Na heromaste tin yiorti mas. (Wishing us joy for our nameday). Hronia pola (Many happy years)!

Yia :)

RWA Roadshow success in Adelaide

Yep, it was a great day yesterday at the SA Writer's Centre. The Romance Writers of Australia's first Roadshow was a success in my most humble opinion and judging by the smiles, the enthusiasm and the laughter, I think everyone who attended thought so too.

Our wonderful speakers included RWA's president Anne Gracie, Marion Lennox, and local gal Trish Morey. Other local authors were Elizabeth Rolls, Claire Baxter, and Anne Oliver. Aren't we lucky to have such talented writers in our midsts!

The day was full of fantastic information, workshops, wonderful discussions about writing......and food....of course. And we were not exactly a quiet group at our dinner. I'm sure other patrons at the restaraunt wondered who the hell we were. LOL!

We Adelaide writers are indebted to Trish, who did a wonderful job of pulling it all together. And the SARA group (South Australian Romance Authors) felt honoured to have contributed some help for the day. So if you are in WA and have been wondering if you should attend - I recommend you do so.

Hip-Hip-Hooray: what a glorious day!!

Yia :)

TBR Everest Pile

Yes, as the title implies my TBR (to be read) pile is as tall as Mt. Everest. Seriously. If I mount up every book I have in my physical TBR pile and every book on the list of to obtain via library/bookstore, I’m not kidding it’s that freakin’ high! And more are added daily. There are just too many authors and books that I want to read, and others I want to read for research. Where’s the pause button?!!!

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved to read. It’s something I inherited from my Ma. Thing is, even though I tend to write fantasy/paranormal, I read across the board. And that’s a good thing, it helps me when I’m writing not to subconciously imitate who I’m reading (hopefully!) and try to keep to my own voice. Having said that, I think everything you read, influences you to some extent. But I digress. So I go from reading a fantasy author like C.E. Murphy to a crime author like Lisa Gardner to reading a category sweet romance author like Barbara Hannay to reading a graphic novel by Frank Miller to a non-fiction book like ‘Race to Dakar’ by Charlie Boorman. Vast – you bet!

But how do I pick what to read next? Sometimes it’s deadlines – eg have to return this book to the library, so I gotta read it. But most times it’s my mood. And I’m not talking happy/sad here. Just the mood for what type of book I want to read – am I in the mood for a high fantasy, an urban fantasy, a horror, a historical? I browse through the pile until I think – aha, that’s it. (Sure, it’s haphazard and I’ve realised that’s how I write too. I have no set time, no set days, I just do it when I can and it works for me.)

Seeing all those books has made me feel abit overwhelmed. So I’ve gone to the ‘one-to-two books at a time’ approach and not worry about the rest of the pile. Just enjoying the book of the moment. So I’m tackling the TBR One. Book. At. A. Time.

So what’s on my TBR list-(here’s a snapshot in case you were interested – of course in no particular order:)

• Artemis Fowl – The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer
• The Sheikh’s Conveninet Virgin by Trsh Morey
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (loved the BBC mini-series)
• The Third Victim by Lisa Gardner
• Hood by Stephen L. Lawhead
• Claiming the Courtesan by Anna Campbell
• Night Embrace by Sherrilyn Kenyon
• The Darkest Kiss by Keri Arthur (actually I have to pick up my order from the bookstore)
• Diamonds Down Under series by various Australian and New Zealand authors
• Star Dust by Neil Gaiman
• The Inner Gentleman by Alli Kincaid
• The Quickening series by Fiona McIntosh

And many many more....

So how do you manage your TBR pile? Is it piling higher and higher? Any tips you want to share?

50K in 30 Days Challenge

Yes, I'm a glutton for punishment. As mentioned in my previous post, one of my goals is to prepare for a 50K in 30 Day challenge. That's 50,000 words folks. Hmmm... I have not written 50K in a long time and certainly not in a month, but I think I need to devote some time to just WRITING and not editing the story. So this has come up a great time, really. Honestly. Truly

Nuh, I'm just nuts! *grin* That's OK. I'll do what I can. Still have to decide which story I want to work on.

The challenge has been set up by fellow writers who are also member of the Romance Writers of Australia. It's been inspired by NaNoWriMo (which is an international writing challenge in November). But June is our month. So come and visit us at our blog.

May goals

OK have been thinking about this a little more and by the end of May, I would like to have achieved the following:

1. edit to the end of part 1 of Alpha.
   
2. work on website design.
3. prepare for a 50K in 30 day challenge starting in June.
4. Of course, attend the RWA's Roadshow.

oh and yes, get some more sleep!

Fingers crossed.
Yia!