I'm not sure the source of this list(*) - it's saved into my phone - and since I found it I've been working on focusing on the different types of rest:
The above photo was taken on the day of a family destination wedding. Everyone else was staying near the venue, we needed to get home for Jade, our dog, who was home alone. We left a tiny bit earlier than we needed to, pulled over at a beach we used to visit as twenty-somethings, changed in the car/carpark (as we did as twenty-somethings) and spent 30 mins on the beach. * @Ninetypesco may be the original source of the list - I have clearly got it from somewhere else as the version I have is slightly different. There is a second list of nine types for rest which I discovered when I tried to find the source. More on that later...
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2021 - the gift that just keeps giving. And taking away from my writing. Five days after my last post - Misty - our 12+ year old doggie with a liver tumour and a difficult to treat ear infection died suddenly. We've been working through her bucket list since her July appointment, preparing for her full cancer recheck in December. We knew her time was limited, we just didn't realise how soon we would lose her. It was a week before our beach holiday (the pet friendly rental) and it took a while to get over the shock. The photo below was a bucket list day trip, keeping the problem ear dry, but letting her get her paws wet. Heaps of fun. (She did end up coming on holiday with us, after Pets in Peace returned her ashes and plaque, paw print and lock of hair - it didn't feel right leaving her home) Writing wise - I'm working on a contemporary romance and a bit of a left field fictionalised non-fiction book (cryptic, I know). I'm not as far along as I would have liked on either project, but for the first time since I started my writing journey, I took time away from writing, the computer and went on leave. The combination of the day job (in a hospital in COVID times) and losing Misty meant I wasn't in a place to write. And I don't think you can underestimate the disruption of a "working-from-home" hubby to creativity. It's hard to get deep into the romance when there's a Zoom meeting happening behind you. (Does confirm though that workplaces are the same everywhere) Sadly, I've also just cancelled this year's attendance at the Romance Writers of Australia conference, which was rescheduled to December. We have hard border closures, and while I can get to conference, my friends/roomies can't. The borders will reopen just after conference, but looking at the modelling, it won't happen before. So now, I'm looking forward to 2022 in Perth. I'll leave you with a photo of this morning's sunrise. 4.36am and I was just about to leave home to run with my running group. The remnants of yesterday's storms were out over the bay and the colour was way more vivid than the photo shows. Summer is nearly here...
A while ago, Danielle, Elaine and I went to a writing retreat unlike any we'd done previously. There was great food, peace and quiet and a challenge to think differently about our writing. Tangled up in Blue was born. Fast forward to September last year, and another rural trip, this time to the towns where the book was set, and our stories were written and ready to be integrated into a single timeline. Tangled up in Blue releases Spring 2020 in print and ebook, and Danielle, Elaine and I are very excited. July-August-September is what I call my "refilling the well" season - I have a big day job conference that I work towards all year, then the annual Romance Writers of Australia conference and I fit in a writing retreat as well. So heaps of travel, food and friends. It's frantic - I had a one day turn around between the day job conference and the RWA conference - essentially tipped my suitcase contents into the washing machine, onto the line, and then back into the case. My highlights: Catching up with my two buddies Nikki and Dan - both in Perth during the day-job conference and a week later at RWA. We've done a bit of work together (all online) so it was nice to catch up for real. Shared a special moment in relation to that project and wished this Moet bottle was for real. Romance Writers of Australia - Melbourne 2019 conference - was awesome as always. As I have developed as a writer, my workshop needs have changed and now I am more likely to be in an editing workshop, a self-publishing workshop or a specialised topic, rather than general romance writing. Every year, I come home with lightbulb moments, and energised by spending time with my writing buddies. This year the weather was attrocious - hail at 10am, windy, so I didn't get out much, but I did get to the Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the National Gallery of Victoria. While the warriors were the focus, the complementary artwork - both sculpted and painted - was breathtaking. My last trip was a visit to the beautiful Bunya Mountains for a writing retreat. I've connected with a new group of Brisbane based writers and we are now annual retreaters - but with a difference. We use "Varuna rules". So we travel up together, have dinner together, and generally ignore one another during the day while we work, and again after 10pm. (If you're interested in Varuna and how it structures retreats, check the Varuna webpage for their residency FAQs).
This year, I was lucky enough to share with two other writers who've been working with me on a combined project and we spent the weekend sharing our manuscripts for continuity. It's fascinating how the stories have come together in our "shared world" and I cannot wait to get these works ready for publication. Awesome house, awesome views, awesome wildlife. Bunya Mountains is pet free for visitors, so its been a long time since I'd visited, and I wished I could have a week up there - the house was well set up for it. The only downers were the threat of bushfire, made worse by the howling wind, and the loss of writing time from the drive - It's a bit too far for a 3 day working retreat - so next time it might have to be four days. But all in all, a productive and fun weekend. One of my favourite romance reading pleasures is a linked continuity or series, so when I saw the call for submissions for Gumnut Press's Paw Prints of Love Anthology, I knew I would be submitting.
Back in 2007, when I first joined Romance Writers of Australia, I subbed two shorts to the Little Gems competition. The first, a futuristic, was published in the anthology. The second, a contemporary, just missed the cut. My new writing group all agreed - my futuristic voice was much stronger than my contemporary voice - so I started writing futuristic, with the occasional dabble into the world of contemporary. In 2019, my submissions to publishers are almost always contemporary - because futuristic is such a niche market that its difficult to sell. I'm still working on my space operas and alternate futures, but only to self-publish. One day... But back to the 2007 short that didn't make the cut. It has a move to a new town, there was a sexy stranger who had rescued a dog that had puppies, there was sweet romance. So when the anthology call came, I knew I had to dig it out. A month later, it was unrecognisable. There was still a move to a new town, still a sexy stranger, still a litter of puppies, but everything else had changed. I added 5000 words, a bad boy on a motorbike, macrame, a cruise ship and a heap of emotion. I sent it off, knowing that even if it didn't make the cut it was a much better story. The photo above is me signing the contract for Rescued Hearts to be included in the Anthology. Note the Romance Writers of Australia pen. Without RWA there would be no contract, so this is my official signing pen. And the moral of this story:
Rescued Hearts, in the Paw Prints of Love Anthology, will be published in print and e-book in 2020. A friend and I decided our work staff room (servicing 100 people) would be a perfect place for a Tiny Free Library.
We started on 19/3/17 with 3 books and the first two weeks were a bit disappointing, in that nothing moved. Then, I swapped one book out, and another from home in. It was as if this one change had given people permission to use the library - we had a few donations and loans began in earnest. Six weeks after we opened, we now have books moving in and out every day, and I find myself fascinated with watching the library, and talking about books with the people I work with. I am loving the Tiny Free Library, and the only downside - I now have all these titles that friends have recommended and not much time to read them. One of the highlights of the year for me is receiving "the Christmas letter" from my distant friends and family, so I can keep up with what's happened in their lives. But, if you're like me with no kids or grandkids to share, the Christmas letter tends to be pretty much the same every year.
So in 2016, I decided to set myself a challenge - tell the story of my year in Haiku. For those that don't remember, Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry with 3 lines and a 5-7-5 syllable pattern. It generally involves nature, and a sharp contrast/unexpected statement in the last line. Here's some of the Haiku that made it into the letter, which was posted this week. Fingers crossed the family don't think I've lost my marbles. About the Christmas season in general: Hot sticky weather Westfield carparks overfilled Frustrations explode About my furkids: Naughty puppy digs Old dog relaxes in shade How soon is dinner? As I said in the letter: there is no plan for Hubby and I to give up our day jobs in 2017 to write poetry. It sounds so simple. yet it isn't. (Read: I'm not very good at it) Do you like haiku? Does anyone want to comment, using haiku? I'd love to see them. Imagine its five years into the future, and for whatever reason, you haven't seen the writers in your writing group for five whole years - no contact at all. Your reunion is on 13th May 2021. Tell them how your career/life is progressing.
The first time I did this, at my writing group's annual retreat, it was an incredibly powerful experience. I took all the manuscripts I'd done work on and a few ideas from my ideas file, decided who my publisher would be, made covers for those books, and arrived at the reunion with "copies" of my books and wearing a ring no-one had seen before - the reward for all my hard work. And, you know, that was the single most motivational experience of my writing career to date. For the first time, I could "see" my book. Others in the group had retired to write full time, or had dropped their hours to work on their writing. There were trips to Tuscany, life-changing adventures and a whole heap of other dreams and aspirations. You know what? Everyone in our group who visualised publication that night, has achieved it. What started as a bit of fun ended up being a very potent goal setting tool. The next visualised reunion is May 13th 2021. What will I have achieved by then? Recently I watched a really interesting TED talk about Procrastination that talked about the results driven Captain (steering my ship) and his not very helpful (and unwanted) offsider, the fun monkey.
The talk gave me a couple of lightbulb moments: 1. This is me... Although on reflection my fun monkey is more of a 10% fun, 90% other things that need doing (like weeding gardens and dusting skirting boards), but despite the best efforts of the Captain, sometimes the fun monkey steers my ship. 2. The difference between procrastinators that do get stuff done and those that don't is a deadline. And again, this is me... In all parts of my life, not just writing. I need more deadlines/timelines. 3. Listening to a TED talk during what could have been writing time - who was in charge there? Probably the fun monkey. Anyway, if you're not supposed to be writing, or working or whatever, and you'd got a free 15 minutes, here's the link to the talk: Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator Enjoy! I'm sure you've heard me say it before - I'm a Taphophile - a lover of cemeteries. But the term sounds a little...disturbing, so I went hunting for something a bit less creepy. Here's some I came across:
Lots of people ask why???? I love the history, the tributes and the way nature, no matter how hard you try, always wins out. Like the stone above. In 1914, this monument was standing, but over 100 years (and three more burials) later it has fallen and is now being reclaimed. Here's a few more of my photos from my writing group's visit to Balmoral Cemetery. |
Fiona Greene AuthorWhen you set out on a journey and night falls, that's when you will discover the stars." Archives
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