Tales for Canterbury – in print! (via J. C. Hart)

I just had to re-blog this because it is so super exciting!

There we have it peeps – Tales for Canterbury Anthology is now out in print. Check out JC Hart’s blog post to see the detail! How much awesomeness is that!!

I must admit… it’s going to be a bit strange holding published work of mine actually in my hands, and it not being a scrappy printed draft that I am searching for mistakes, typos, and another eventual nasty edit.

So, if you want to put your money to a fabulous cause, and receive a beautiful book full of amazing short stories in return, then swing by and pick up a copy. You won’t regret it.

Happy reading!

 

In case you missed the announcement, the paperbacks have arrived from the printers! And according to Anna, they look very shiny If you’ve pre-ordered a copy, then it should get to you in the next week or so. If you’ve been holding off, why not head over and place your order now? Poor Anna has to package and post them all! My tongue is safe from all that envelope licking, though I wish I could help out. Like you, I am eager to get my hands on … Read More

via J. C. Hart

 

Nurturing creativity

I was talking to my Dad the other night about this exact subject, and felt that it was relevant to talk about it here as well. There is so much that I could say about on this subject, but I’ll keep it short.

My siblings and I were lucky enough in our childhood to be raised by parents who celebrated creativity. Every creative endeavour that we undertook was nurtured, grown, and raised to maturity by us and our parents. We are incredibly lucky. Our parents told us that we could do absolutely anything in the world that we wanted, and that it was up to us to make that happen. They never dreamt of us being ‘realistic’ and becoming an accountant, lawyer, or doctor. No, they encouraged us to ask the questions, to think right outside of every realm, and they knew that we would choose the right things that made us happy.

Each one of us is now working in our own creative endeavours. My brother is an organic gardener, and builds sustainable housing. My sister is at Art School, creating her life away. And I have done the whole design thing, the painting thing, and music in the past … and I now sit here tapping away on my computer dreaming up new worlds to mentally play in – 90 odd thousand words at a time.

I am one of those people who believe that every human being is born with an artist inside each of us. I think that this is because of the learning and development that our brains undergo as we grow.

I have met some truly incredible people through creativity. Some are from my tertiary education days, and are still in my life now. But even more so, I continue to meet these creative people. Do creative people recognise other creative types and draw them to themselves? I think that they probably do. This simple act of surrounding yourself with like-minded people nurtures your creative soul. I talk to other creative people about things that they are working on, their thoughts and opinions on different things, and just life in general – every single day. No, I am not kidding. This is because I no longer have my parents to help nurture my creativity every day. Now I have people surrounding me that help me with that, on a day to day basis – just as I help them. And the foundations of our friendships – apart from the creativity we share are: encouragement, love, laughter, celebration, and being who we are.

There are those people who profess to not have a creative bone in their body. But if that really is the case, then how do they ever think outside the square, or how do they come up with solution focussed ideas that they supposedly use in their corporate worlds.

Creative people don’t see the world as a black and white object. They see world in swirling shades of grey. They see colour. And they use those variations in their everyday lives to nurture their creativity. They ask the questions like: “Why does it only have to be black and white?” “Why do I have to do it this way?” and finally, they ask the question, “Why not?” (Oooh, I think Edward De Bono would probably be quite proud of me right now!)

This is a really interesting presentation by Sir Ken Robinson. He said something that really rang true in me:

“We don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it, or rather we are educated out of it.”

I thought that this message is something that everyone needs to hear – regardless of if they are a creative or not.

 

Officially published… walking on sunshine

Life changed significantly for me yesterday afternoon. At 2.57pm, I officially became a published author. Yeah, I know – how amazing is that?! After how many years? Too many, but I have never had any regrets over those years either.

I have the feeling that I am walking on sunshine at the moment, and it hasn’t abated since I checked my email yesterday afternoon.  I almost feel as though anything could happen now, and that there are beautiful, big, and bright writing horizons ahead of me. I’m sure that all writers feel like this when they finally get something published. It’s a pretty epic emotion.

The fact that one of my stories is out there and published with some pretty incredible writers warms my heart even more. Last night I read a couple of the stories in the Tales for Canterbury anthology, and I was blown away by the talent that’s in this collection.

What is even better is that 34 writers came together and donated their stories to this anthology to raise money for Red Cross Christchurch Earthquake Appeal. None of the writers are getting paid out of this… and all of the proceeds head directly to Red Cross for them to help those in need in this devastated city, which is going to take years to rebuild, and even longer to emotionally recover.

Putting something like this collection together takes up massive amounts of time and love, and Cassie Hart and Anna Caro have completely dedicated themselves to the cause of getting this anthology compiled to raise money for the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal. Both Cassie and Anna have struggled with maintaining their own levels of writing while this anthology has been under way. It has been a huge commitment. In terms of pulling something together that is this big as quickly as they did is truly incredible. To them I raise my glass. They are amazing women.

If you would like to know more about the incredible authors featured in it – please visit Tales for Canterbury. And what we would love even more is if you bought a copy over at Random Static Publishing.

 

OmmWriter: the revolutionary way to Write

My dear friend Kim Koning thought that it was high time I hooked into a little something called OmmWriter. So, I took on her advice, and downloaded the free version that they had released for PC, named Dana I.

I had reservations about it to begin with, because it didn’t have all of the flashy lovely stuff that I like to play around with when I’m writing like font control, and formatting. It took over the entire screen so I couldn’t keep an eye on incoming emails, or check facebook or twitter easily. Whenever I typed something on the keyboard, I could hear the key sounds. And OmmWriter played this tinkly music in the background that wasn’t really my cup of tea. Don’t even get me started on what my initial thoughts were on the funny screen themes.

But guess what? Suddenly I had produced about 500 words of a random short story in the space of about fifteen minutes. Wow, I thought. I hadn’t been this productive with writing for ages, and suddenly I was pulling out fiction that I had no idea was even in me.

All of these things that I had initially thought were drawbacks in this software, were actually hugely beneficial. This was suddenly the perfect space for distraction free writing.

OmmWriter provided me this incredible focus with writing, and after a while I didn’t even hear the music anymore, and I was totally immersed in the Zen zone of organic writing. No emails to respond to. No one messaging me. No urgent facebook status update to dream up. It was a beautifully calm Zen writing space that I could delve into and potentially write my life away in. It was a wonderful revelation. My eyes were no longer getting sore from staring at a white screen for hours, and the key stroke sounds actually made me feel incredibly connected to my work. And I also discovered that I could turn off the Omm music, and play my own.

So if you are a writer, and you want distraction free writing without all the flashy sexy stuff, then download OmmWriter. It’s amazing, and the productivity you will feel is incredible. You will never regret installing this software. I have since upgraded to the full version, and even though it has a few more features, and more screen backgrounds, it was worth every penny of the donation that the OmmWriter developers ask for. Dana II rocks my little writing world.

So… writers… go forth, and get yourself Omm’d up. You’ll never ever regret it.

 

Literature in death

Some of my own artwork I released for Jacqui's unveiling in 2008

As I sat down to write this morning, I opened my email, and a reminder came up on my computer reminding me that today is my friend Jacqui’s birthday. Today, she would have been 41 years old, had she not died three and a half years ago.

I once wrote this book called The Mediterranean Source. I could not have written it without Jacqui. In fact, I needed her so much throughout this book, that I dedicated the book to her. The fact that she had passed away before I wrote it, is beside the point. The truth is, she was with me the whole entire time. Without my memories of her personality or her love of life – I don’t think I could have transferred those things into The Mediterranean Source.

I finished writing the book fairly quickly, and now it is sitting in my dusty literary drawer, waiting for me to pull it out for its final structural edit. The last edit is planned to start in mid-June… less than a month away. Does this scare me? Hell yes. I started writing this book just after Jacqui’s 38^th birthday, and it was done and dusted long before her 39^th. Now that I have put it away for a couple of years, I am ready to let it go – finally.

One of my writerly colleagues Penny Epel, recently said, “To me, the energy of the Soul and Spirit doesn’t dissipate, it just changes form.” What a beautiful and encouraging way to look at this process.

I guess that in a way, this is the same sort of change that this manuscript will go through. While it was in Jacqui’s memory that encouraged me to write it, it will undergo some serious form changing once it goes through the last edit, and then perhaps, one day, it will hit someone else’s shelf in its complete form.

To me, Jacqui will always live on in this book. And for others, she will always live on in our memories. And just perhaps, her memory will live on in some way from readers reading my work once it’s published.

Beautiful woman, beautiful life. Never stop embracing it, for time is a valuable commodity.

 

Good fiction

Well, I wanted to have a really good rant about finding dirty rancid coffee cups, and I even wrote a lovely big blog post about it, but then felt that it probably wasn’t appropriate for the public eye. (Sorry people – if you want to read it, you’ll have to email me.)

In other news, I have been reading some pretty amazing literature lately. But what exactly classes these books as amazing? I am going to highlight the main things that I consider as key aspects of good fiction. I know that there is so many more aspects out there that no doubt I have missed, but this will have to do for now.

Character:

Believable characters are a key factor in this great writing endeavour. This helps create a believable world for the reader. But you don’t want them to be so believable they are boring. Writing good characters does not mean that you have to give them boring day to day lives. It just means that you need to be realistic with them, and their emotions or how they will react in certain scenarios.

Setting the Scene:

The books that I have just read are both incredibly different to one another. One is an epic fantasy, while the other is a romantic comedy. While one is set in fictitious milieu, and the other is city based in the world as we know it, they both set a good scene. In the fantasy novel, the scene is relatively realistic to what humans know. (In fact, it reminded me a little of New Zealand with its extreme scenery, e.g. Mountains/Sea/Plains all in the same immediate area.) The other book is set in a city where I have spent a lot of time in my life, so I know it intimately.

Theme:

Understanding what the writer is actually trying to say in the midst of all this fiction is a great way to bring readers right into the story. With one of the books that I have just read, the main character works for the Family Violence Unit of the Police department. Reading this, really helped me to understand what people actually go through when they are engaged in family violence. Previously, I have always thought the ‘Oh yes, that’s terrible’ sort of thoughts… but by reading this book – it gave me a greater understanding of the dark problem that walks among our everyday lives.

The other book’s theme was about the clear divide between good and evil, and their own belief systems. If you are raised to believe something your entire life, without knowing anything else, then you actually just don’t know any better. This book really brought to the forefront of my mind that people’s beliefs are their own, and while we may think that it is up to us to educate them, they are the only ones who can open their minds.

Of course there are many other things that make up good fiction, like voice, writing style, and all that jazz, but I think for the moment I have probably said enough. In summary, I would probably say it is the author’s seamless ability to draw you right into their world with their characters.

Hmm… perhaps I should start assessing my own work with these things. Food for thought.

If you want to read these books that I have talked about, I have reviewed them over at Parchment Leaves and Just One More Page. One is Son of Ereubus, by J.S. Chancellor, and the other is Barefoot, by Michelle Holman. I highly recommend both books.

Happy reading and writing.

 

Inspirational things

For many years I have collected and saved things that I find inspirational in my life. In fact, I think I might be an ‘inspiration’ hoarder. There are things like this all over my house that I just need to look at and find something that makes me happy within them. These are things like photographs of my grandmother who was an incredibly talented violinist, my grandfather’s war medals that I have the miniatures of, candles that I light when I am writing, artwork, and of course there are many, many books.

I do have this small angel ornament that my mother gave me once, that I particularly like. She sits on the shelf in my library, and she’s blowing a kiss. I’m not sure why I’m so drawn to this little figure. I can’t decide if it’s because of the glitter on her wings that reminds me of magical fairy writing dust, or if it’s the fact that she is always sending me love. Whatever it is, I like it, and it inspires me, (even if I did accidentally drop her once, and broke her leg. Yeah… I still feel guilty!)

Inside my computer, I have even more things that inspire me electronically. There is music, random photographs, quotes, friend’s book covers that are about to be published, arty images, and videos of inspiring people. I often like cruising around my computer’s hard drive and rediscovering all these amazing things, but it can be an incredible time waster.

So while I was sick, I decided that a few of these things should probably be shared, and hosted in the one spot so that I stop cruising around my laptop for hours on end. I felt that the best place would be on my new website, which is now properly up and running (although there are a few more things that need fixing in there.) So I created an Inspiration page there so that everyone can feel inspired.

I think that there are amazingly inspirational things everywhere that we all find uniquely inspirational to us as individuals. I am always on the hunt for more that can inspire me, and as artists, I think we all are – whether it be a line spoken, a painting, or even a lyric. These are things that inspire me, and things that I save to muse over later. If you know of anything that I could be interested in then please send me an email. I would love to see whatever treasures you have… especially if it helps inspire my writing.

 

Fever induced craze

Firstly I would like to apologise for the lack of blogging over the past week. I have been struck down by the flu, and a fever induced craze that has rendered me absolutely useless in the writing department. Even reading and watching TV is a hazard at the moment, just in case it brings on another throbbing headache to match the aches and pains already ripping through me. So, I guess that I had better get this over and done with as quickly as possible before some sort of verbal atrocity comes tumbling out of my mouth.

On Saturday I was trying to write a modern day fairy tale of sorts… but reached about 150 words and gave up due to my lack of focus. I just couldn’t commit to it to save myself. I ended up chatting to my critters online though, and every once in a while I would have to retreat to the sofa to rest. I eventually pulled myself together for a cocktail wedding on Saturday night… drugged up on painkillers, drank a lot of fluids, and very reluctantly got my party dress on for the evening. I didn’t really have a choice about going or not. It was the wedding of a really good friend of mine, who has done more than support me in my writing endeavours over the years, and I knew I couldn’t not go, since she has been planning this wedding for as long as I have known her. I managed to do my friend duty for a couple of hours, and then we got out of there.

So… officially no writing done except for this blog post… not exactly progressing my way to achieving my goal of finishing this novel by the end of the month, but however, goals can shift as swiftly as the wind. I’ll get there eventually.

So, that’s the extent of my update for the moment. It’s not much, I know, but at least it’s a little something. On the upside… I think I am starting to see light at the end of this hazy tunnel.

 

My writer’s journey: Part II – The Nom de Plume confession

Today I am going to take my well-worn mask off because I think it’s high time that I came out of my closet, and told my readers and writing circles. I’m going to tell you a story.

Once upon a time when I was a very young writer, I delved into the literary domain feet first, and it was in this realm that I tried to hide. I hid the secret life of writing from everyone in my real life, because this was my world. The only person who knew about this world was my husband, who thought that I had gone stark raving nuts. But I needed this sanctuary that I had created.

It was a form of escapism from the real and terrifying world that I was exposed to. There was my day job, which had political stresses in it, friendships that were on rocky ground, and my family life that was literally falling apart around me. The most solid relationship I had ever known (my parents) had disintegrated before my eyes, and there was nothing that I could possibly do about it. This action, in turn caused me to seriously question my own relationship with my husband. Why? Because their relationship was built on the same foundation that I built mine on: trust. And suddenly all of that shattered, and blew my world to smithereens.

So I turned to writing to get me through this terrible patch in life. Through my writing, I created a novel surrounding orphaned siblings, because that was how I felt. It was as if our parents had died. I guess that in some way, their unified bond with us kids had. But I am pretty damn lucky with my brother and sister – they are amazing people, and if anything, my parents separating have only thrown us closer together as siblings. However, in the writer’s world, I started to feel lonely. I knew I needed other people around me who were writing too. I did some research online, found that I was not alone in this creative endeavour and came across this beautiful creative community at Writing.com. But because my environment was turning inside out, I chose to disguise myself with a nom de plume.

This was the easiest way to keep two very different worlds separated, yet connected through one mind. Mine.

Some of the material that I was putting out on the great Interweb was personal to me, my family, my friends, and my work place. Yes, it was all fictionalised, but I couldn’t risk the association out there. I was on shaky ground. I needed to work through my emotions somehow, and so I chose to write my way through them. Then I threw the pieces out there into the world for critique and feedback from strangers.

And through these actions, I learnt and learnt, and captivated huge amounts of information. Before I knew it, Leigh K Hunt was developed into a real person. She was me, and I was her. She had these incredible friends and connections throughout the world, with some pretty amazing creative people. She still does… I still do.

All these friendships are built and developed on trust and communication. I thought, ‘How can these people trust me, if they don’t even know my real name? I trust them, and I know their names, even their pseudonyms – so why shouldn’t I share mine?’

So – my real name is Kate (Kathryn) Strawbridge. (Sounds ‘desperate house-wifey’, doesn’t it?)

You may or may not want to know how I developed my nom de plume, but I will tell you anyway. Leigh is derived from my maiden name, K represents my first name, and Hunt – well that comes from my ancestors in a very roundabout way. My ancestors were Scottish Highlanders, particularly known for their poaching methods – the Gunn clan. My husband’s ancestors operated a smuggling ring based inDevon,Britain. I chose Hunt, because it represents both lines of ancestry. Little did I know that there was actually a famous poet once named James Leigh Hunt, and by that time – it was far too late.

So now I am out of the closet. You may wonder why I am only just telling this piece of information to the world now… well, it’s partly to do with the fact that my husband encouraged me to do this, and the other main reason is that now my parents’ divorce is formally going through to be finalised. I refuse to hide, anymore.

Yes, I am a writer, and yes I use a pseudonym – just like a lot of other writers. I have taken my mask off, but you can guarantee that I’ll always be the same writer and person that you know, and yes, I will still use my nom de plume. I’m kind of fond of it.

 

The Urban-Fantasy Debate

I must admit, I am starting to get quite confused about what urban-fantasy actually is. Now, this is not an IQ test, and nor should I be questioning whether or not I am writing it at the moment – but I seem to have had a lot of conflicting information.

Someone once told me that urban-fantasy is a fantasy novel set in an urban environment, such as a city that we know – like New York, or even a town. So because of this explanation, I have been called the Talent series that I have been writing, ‘urban-fantasy’.

Then someone told me that no, this is not a true definition of the urban-fantasy genre. Urban-fantasy has other-worldly creatures in it, like warlocks, vampires, werewolves, or stoned fairies hanging out under a Central Park tree in New York.

Do I seriously have to write about stoned fairies in my trilogy for it to be considered urban-fantasy? You have got to be kidding me. That is the major question I have been asking myself since I heard about that definition. Don’t even get me started on when someone told me my trilogy was ‘paranormal’. Nor do I believe that my series falls under the actual ‘fantasy’ banner either, although it could potentially come close.

So many experts but yet they are all ambiguous with their explanations. So after all this confusion, today I have officially turned to Wikipedia, and according to their definition – I am most definitely writing and urban-fantasy series.

Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods. The prerequisite is that they must be primarily set in a city.

As for my ‘supernatural’ elements, they are a far cry from vampires or werewolves, and all that jazz. I’m sure that there are many opinions out there about what this genre actually is… but I’m sorry folks – there is absolutely no way any fairy is going to end up in this trilogy, even if I do actually like them.

So there you have it. My mystery is solved. I officially know what genre I am writing in. (Well… as official as Wikipedia is, anyway!)