Nicole R. Murphy's Blog, page 4

Sign up now for some great writing workshops

[image error] WORKSHOPS

Registrations are open now for these workshops to be held Friday 30th  September 2011.  You
can register with chair@conflux.org.au or at the Conflux 7 Registration on the day.  Some workshops are free to members, others have fees (details below).  Payment may be made on the day.

10AM TO NOON

Getting Started in Writing Speculative Fiction

Workshop with Laura E. Goodin.
Launceston Room, Woden Tradesmen's Club
This workshop is for those who would like write speculative fiction, but are only just beginning to write or are thinking about submitting their first story somewhere. Cost: $11 per person (under 18 years free).  You do not need to be a Conflux 7 member to attend this workshop.  Participant numbers are limited for this program item.

All About Blogging

Workshop with Alan Baxter
Yamba Room, Woden Tradesmen's Club
Wikipedia describes "blogs" as a type of website or part of a website. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog."  Perhaps you would like to learn more about blogs generally, start blogging yourself, or learn how to make your own blog more interesting?  
Presenter Alan Baxter is a speculative fiction author and martial arts teacher. Learn all about Alan at http://www.alanbaxteronline.com. This workshop is free for Conflux members (it is not open to the general public).  Participant numbers are limited for this program item.

Revising your novel: strategies and documents you can use to consider your work objectively.

Workshop with Nicole Murphy
Melrose Room, Woden Tradesmen's Club
Nicole Murphy used to be a terrible editor. Spell check. Grammar check. Punctuation check. Submit.  Today, she loves to edit – so much so that she doesn't really like drafting, because it takes so long to then get to the editing. How did she turn it around, and develop the skills that enabled her to sell a trilogy to a major publisher?
In this workshop, Nicole will go through the steps she used to teach herself how to edit, and will give you some key advice and resources in order to help you become objective about your own writing. Cost: $11 per person.  You do not need to be a Conflux 7 member to attend this workshop.  Participant numbers are limited for this program item.

12.30 TO 2.30PM

Staff Fighting Workshop

Workshop with Danny Weir 
Launceston Room, Woden Tradesmen's Club
Learn some of the techniques for using this traditional weapon.
Danny Weir is an instructor in Brazilian JuJitsu and MMA.
Cost: $33 per person.  You do not need to be a Conflux 7 member to attend this
workshop.  Participant numbers are limited for this program item, so sign up at
Registration if you would like to attend.

THE What Writers Must Do To Write Professional Fiction

A Workshop with Jack Dann
Melrose Room, Woden Tradesmen's Club 
Believe it or not, there is a secret to writing professional fiction; and it involves
learning a bit of ancient cartography. (cartis = map and graph = write.) 
This 2 hour intensive with Conflux guest, Nebula and World Fantasy Award recipient
Jack Dann, offers participants a hands-on writing strategy and a unique opportunity
to broaden their working understanding of speculative fiction with a writer of
international renown. This workshop will cover technical and thematic aspects of
historical and fantastic fiction, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, and magical
realism. Participants will learn about writing in the various genres (and the history of
the genres); the essentials of writing cutting edge fiction and the nature of creativity;
the workings of the Australian, British and American markets; how to get an agent (if
necessary) and how to submit a manuscript. But most importantly, they will learn
how to approach the craft of writing. Participants will also be given handouts of "The
Keys to the Kingdom", which Jack wrote for Writers Digest, an updated "Books For
Writers: An Essential List", and other material that Jack has found helpful for writers.
Cost: $55 per person.  You do not need to be a Conflux 7 member to attend this
workshop.  Participant numbers are limited for this program item. 

3PM TO 5PM

Verbal "Jujitsu"

Workshop with Karen Herkes
Yamba Room, Woden Tradesmen's Club
To provide inspiration for writing dialogue, this workshop covers reflective listening
and defensive techniques used by those with something to hide.   This workshop is free for Conflux members (it is not open to the general public). 
Participant numbers are limited for this program item, so sign up at Registration if
you would like to attend.

Mind your Medieval Ps and Qs

Workshop with Gillian Polack
Melrose Room, Woden Tradesmen's Club
Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were Sir Gawain,and your host's
wife invited you into her bedchamber while her husband was out?  Do you have an
appropriate insult for enemy knights who seek to dishonour your king?  Then look no
further – Medieval P's and Q's with Gillian Polack will teach you all you need to know
about fine courtesies, foul oaths and witty repartee in the Middle Ages, so that next
time you speak to the Green Knight's wife, you won't lose your head.
Cost: $16.50 per person.  You do not need to be a Conflux 7 member to attend this
workshop.  Participant numbers are limited for this program item.

"FROM HERE TO THERE1 and back again!"

Workshop presented by Margi Curtis and Leigh Blackmore
Launceston Room, Woden Tradesmen's Club
This experiential workshop will focus upon the many ways in which we access
altered states of consciousness, how they have featured in our favourite SF and how
we may access them for inspiration as writers and creators of our art.
After discussion we will experiment (in a gentle and natural way) with a range of nonordinary states, using relaxation, breath, music, chant, rhythm and guided
meditation.  
This workshop would not be suitable for anyone under 16 years of age.  This is a
clean and sober event. We may be lying on the floor so please bring a cushion or
yoga mat if you have one. Some provided.
Margi Curtis & Leigh Blackmore are writers, artists and practitioners of magick,
regularly offering workshops on many aspects of occult knowledge and mystery and
its relationship with the creative process.  Margi has a Masters of Creative Arts, a
Graduate Diploma in Transpersonal Breathwork and is studying Fine Arts.  She
identifies as a witch, writer, artist, musician and activist.  Leigh has a Bachelor of
Creative Art(Hons) and is an author, editor, musician and ceremonial magician.
Cost: $11 per person.  You do not need to be a Conflux 7 member to attend this
workshop.  Participant numbers are limited for this program item, so sign up at
Registration if you would like to attend.

Not doing much at all…

So I've got a chest infection and it wasn't bad enough for antibiotics. Instead, it's been all about rest, keeping warm, hydrated and steaming. Last night, thought I was on the verge of getting over it. Not so – still annoying.

So I'm well and truly caught up with my tv watching. I've done some good reading too – can HIGHLY recommend Glenda Larke's The Last Stormlord.

It's been pretty good timing – I've got no deadlines at the moment, and I'm at the end of a project, so spending several days in bed isn't a big deal. Excerpt for the housework. That's not looking good…

But I'm really looking forward to a good night's sleep again.

Geo-restrictions and e-books

So this is in the name of research for an article I'm writing.

I would like to know – have you ever tried to buy an electronic book and been unable to because of the country you live in? How often does this happen to you? What genre of books does it tend to happen in? Do you have the same issue with self-published books?

Comment below, please. I'll leave this open for a couple of days.

The importance of having a life

Right now, I've got the lifestyle that most writers dream of. No job. No kids. There's hubby, and sure his health problems mean the burden of all the housework and cooking and stuff falls to me, but there's just the two of us and it's just a small three bedroom villa so really, no biggie.

So basically, I've got all the time in the world to write. I've even got time to do promotional stuff. I can set a target for the week and if I achieve it early I can either go onto other things or slack off and have time with friends and family. And yet, I still have too many ideas – funny that.

However, I've been feeling for the last few months like I'm falling into a bit of a rut. I can go for DAYS without leaving the house. The only interactions I have with the world are via the computer or the television. And it occurs to me the issues I've been having with the plotting of my novella are related to all of that.

The well is running dry.

I've been doing things like going to talks at the writer's centre, doing more crit groups and so on, but that isn't enough to make up for the fact that my life is dry and unchanging.

Then came the weekend just gone. Hubby and I had to scrimp and save, but we got time and finances in order to go down to country Victoria to attend a special little girl's second birthday, and to meet her brand new sister. Oh, and to see their parents, who are friends.

And I got to see things that I either haven't seen in ages or have never seen at all. We drove a new route, down country highways rather than the freeway, and I got to marvel over why small towns have all their hotels on the outskirts of town, and how did Wagga Wagga seem to become the headquarters for transportable home building, and why do they need all those trucks? (although question B probably answers question C).

And then at the lovely home of our lovely friends, we were entertained with the great combination that is country men, fire and petrol. And where else would I have seen one of them dash home and come back with his tractor to push the bonfire in so it would burn better?

And there's something incredibly restful and wonderful about a two-year-old obsessed with bubbles.

And sure enough – on the drive home, the answer to one of the dilemma's I'm having with the novella came into my head – devious, a bit shocking, very cool. And another contemporary romance is spawning to life, with scenes and backstory and plot coming into focus.

A bit of living, out of the house. New scenery, new experiences and the well fills and solutions to problems start to flow again.

So I guess what I'm saying is – there's a part of me a bit jealous of you folks with jobs and family. Cause while it's a pain in the arse to not have the time you want to write, there's also a whole lot of living that you're doing, and with it ideas and inspiration to keep that well topped up.

Note – I'm not so jealous that I'm gonna go have children :) But I have said in the past that I'm probably best suited with not working full time and having a small job so I've got something different in my life, and maybe I need to look at that again.

My novella dilemma

Late last year, around the same time that I decided I was going to write a new gadda trilogy, I came up with the idea of also writing a gadda novella. I saw it as a way to thank loyal readers – give them a little gadda story for free – and also to ensure that they didn't have too long a break between gadda stories.

So last month, I sat down and drafted it and in the process, some other aims crept into my mind as well – I could sell this. It could be an entree into the gadda world – a cheap way for readers to test me and see if they wanted to read more or not. A form of publicity for the other books, as you were.

I had fun writing the draft – lots of shinnigans and some steamy sex – and then put it away to go on with other things.

On Monday, I picked it up again to start revising it and I've now got a problem. The draft I wrote wasn't quite punchy enough so I cut a couple of small things I was doing (no angsting over relationships) and added a new storyline. Now there's lots of tension, and drama, and shinanigans, and steamy sex :)

Only – it's now also a MAJOR spoiler for the Dream of Asarlai trilogy. Now, I know that spoilering past books with future books is kinda unavoidable – I've accepted that as part of the new trilogy. Folks that read it first are going to find out pretty quickly what happened in Dream of Asarlai. Some of those folks will decide to go back and read the first trilogy regardless, wanting all the details and loving the characters. Some will not.

But I'm having issues with it for the novella because of that new aim I had of it being an entree into the series for new readers – I don't want to give away too much too them. I know, it doesn't make sense, does it? Only the storylines I have for the novella at the moment are much more spoilery than anything in the next trilogy.

So, do I come up with a brand new storyline, completely unrelated to both Dream of Asarlai and the new trilogy and not mention ANY of the events of Dream of Asarlai at all? I can do that.

Or do I drop that idea of it being an entree and just go with the original plan – a thankyou to loyal readers. I think they'll really like the storyline that's currently running.

OR do I cut all this thinking about the readers out of my head and either just write a novella that I enjoy or not write it at all if I can't separate myself?

Funny that the shortest novel-style work I've done this year is turning out to be the hardest…

What’s going on?

Been a busy and interesting week here in Chez Murphy – so here's the down and the low.

Started last Friday with the Clayton's Convention. For the past few years, those members who can't make it to the Romance Writer's of Australia convention convene online for several days of inspiration, information and fun. Unfortunately, I only managed to make it to the Friday – had another event Saturday (will talk on that in a mo) and needed Sunday off, but the Friday was fantastic. A chat from Samhain editor Sasha Knight. A FABULOUS workshop by Diane Gaston on filter words – words we don't think about when we're writing but are just gap-holders (I've already used a lot of this in my editing of my contemporary romance). Fun activities, like writing a short story and doing an online scavenger hunt. Friday night, we went into a chatroom and had a fabulous time, talking and joking. It was a great thing and something to consider running alongside Natcons for us SF folks.

Saturday I headed to the CSIRO discovery centre for this year's Getting The Facts Right presentations. It started last year, as part of National Science Week – a whole lot of sciency folks give short presentations on their fields of expertise, then answer questions so we writers can, as it were, GET THE FACTS RIGHT. Lots of interesting things were learnt. I was really pleased that this year, they did the climate change stuff first – last year they did it last and I walked out of there pretty depressed. However, after we'd been bummed out with how bad the earth could be if we don't do something, they then put the forensic guys on and that is always cool and – well, not uplifting but we did get some pointers on how to get away with murder :)

Roll on Monday and the return to editing. I was up to the point where I needed to read the manuscript aloud, only I've still got a cough that comes and goes and knowing I had a library talk to give on Thursday, was wanting to spare my voice. So I downloaded the manuscript onto my Kindle and had it read it to me. We're just past the half-way mark at the moment and I have to say – my Kindle really likes to swear. Honestly, the emphasis it put on the occasional 'shit' and 'fuck' in the MS is very funny. At the end of yesterday, it read out the first sex scene and that was – weird. I do have to say – if you're not a good speller, this is a brilliant way to check the spelling because if it's not spelt right, the device can't read the word out.

Wednesday became housework day (because I didn't do it on Saturday) and I prepared for the library talk. Then to the CSFG, where we got pretty advanced on the organising for the anthology (which should be going to the printers on Monday). I've taken advantage of my position as launch and printer organiser and thus having an early copy of the anthology have started reading it and it's pretty bloody good!

Here's the invite, if you're interested in coming to the launch:

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At the CSFG meeting, Gillian gave a fascinating talk about her trip to Europe. It was great to see the towns that she visited, and some of the beautiful stuff, but I was more interested by what she was saying about the interviews she did with various writers about how they approach their writing and the thoughtfulness behind it. I'm hoping she'll be writing some more indepth articles on that – they'll be fascinating. That, and then listening to some of the questions and comments from people later, made me realise how far I've come in my writing. A couple of years ago, I used to laugh at what people thought I was doing with my stories – I'm just writing them, I said to myself. I'm not THINKING about all this stuff. Now, I realise that I was – subconsciously, but I was. And the step between thinking you're not thinking and realising that YOU DO is actually a leap in skill level and ability as a writer.

Yesterday, I did a talk at Civic Library. Hubby came along, as did the wonderful Kaaron Warren (who brought her kids as it was a pupil free day in ACT – on a Thursday? Silly education department…) But there were other people there as well – complete strangers. Although one (sorry, forgot name) was a newcomer at the CSFG meeting the night before. A couple took off during the hour, but otherwise I think it went well. I chatted about how the Dream of Asarlai came to be, read from Secret Ones and answered some questions. It was fun.

[image error]

Wow – my hands really DO move a lot when I talk [image error]

So, that's my week so far. I'll finish revising my cont romance this weekend and then I need to decide – one more round of readers, to be on the safe side, or just jump in and start submitting? Next week, I'll start revising the gadda novella. And then I'm thinking I might get out my old sf romance and see if it's worth trying to polish up for submission to publishers.

Worldcon 2012–how I’ll be there, even though I won’t :)

So in a couple of days, it's Worldcon time. This year's Worldcon is in Reno. One day, I plan to attend a North American Worldcon in person – I've heard amazing things about this. This year, however, I went to LA for the RT convention instead and I don't regret it.

However, my name won't be missing from the Worldcon schedule, thanks to the talented and generous Bob Kuhn (an Aussie now living in Boston). A renowned voice artist, Bob and Kiwi writer Mary Victoria teamed up to present two sessions where he will be reading from the work of a range of Australian and Kiwi authors aaaaand – I'm one of them.

SATURDAY 10 am: Angela Slatter, Kylie Chan, Lisa Hannett, Fiona McIntosh and Mary Victoria.

SUNDAY 2 pm: Alan Baxter, Kim Falconer, Helen Lowe, Nicole Murphy and Gillian Polack.

If you're going to Reno, I really do suggest that you get along to one of these sessions (if not both). How many times do you get to hear some fabulous writing read to you by a professional actor?

So jump to it and see some of the fabulous talent on offer from the antipodes.

The August Australian Speculative Fiction Blog Carnival

Is now live on my main blog.

Part one: http://nicolermurphy.com/post/The-August-Australian-Speculative-Fiction-Blog-Carnival-Part-One.aspx

Part two: http://nicolermurphy.com/post/The-Australian-Speculative-Fiction-Blog-Carnival-Part-Two.aspx

Go and enjoy!

Send me your blog links!

Today I'm putting together the August Australian Speculative Fiction Carnival, to go live tomorrow. If you've not sent me your links for Australian spec fic related blogs posted between July 15 and Aug 14 - today is your last chance. Email them to nicole at nicolermurphy dot com or they will be missed!

Hello world, I’m fat and that’s fine

This is a blog post that's been growing within me for a number of weeks now and I was tipped over the edge by this article from the Sydney Morning Herald - http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/the-beautiful-mind-of-the-aussie-who-beat-microsoft-20110810-1ilm6.html As I read it, quivering with rage at how the journalist used this man's size to devalue everything else he'd done, I came to the point of no return in my own acceptance of myself and who I am.

I'm fat.

Here are the figures. I'm 41 years old. I'm 156 centimetres high (5 foot 1 inch in the old scale, or there abouts). I weigh 85 kilograms (187 pounds). According to the scales, I'm 25 kilograms over the heighest acceptable weight I should be, which makes me technically obese. This isn't the heaviest I've been – at Worldcon last year, I topped the scales at 96 kilograms.

Now, I will admit that at the moment, I'm not happy with my health – but that's not because of my weight. I haven't exercised in ages, and my eating has tended more toward the bad end than the good, which has flared up my reflux a little. And I need to do something about that. I need to get off the fatty snacks and vegemite sandwiches (which I pile on with margarine) and eat more fruit and veg. I also need to get back into walking, dancing, whatever to shift my body cause all day every day at the computer isn't good for me. This constant cough is a pretty good sign of that.

And you know what? I might actually drop some weight in the process – a few kilos, maybe get down to around 80. And I'll be pretty healthy – even now I know I could go to the doctor and every one of my tests would come back satisfactory. Blood pressure, cholesterol, sugar, vitamins. I'm not a drain on the health system, nor will I be until I'm actually old.

So then the question becomes – why lose weight and get down to that apparently 'healthy' score for me? There's only one reason – societies view of what is satisfactory. In order to achieve that, however, my life is going to have to drastically change. No more alcohol. No more enjoying myself out with friends. Every time I open my mouth to eat, I'll be calculating and depriving myself. I'll have to exercise, hard and often, to excise the calories that won't just fall off me. My life would be miserable and for what? So someone else thinks I'm attractive? That I'm worthwhile? And the worst thing is – for my entire life, I've bought into this shit.

Well, fuck that. Fuck it to the seven circles of hell.

I don't WANT to live that life. I like having a glass or two of wine at night. I like being able to go out with my husband, or my friends, and ordering whatever the hell I want and enjoying it.

And you know what? This belly, this butt, these HUGE breasts are not ugly – they're beautiful. I know this because my husband tells me so every day. In fact, he doesn't like it when I lose weight because my breasts get smaller.

So why the hell have I allowed random, anonymous people that I really don't give a shit about make me think I'm ugly, when the man who committed his life to me thinks the exact opposite?

From now on, I'm not hiding it. I'm gonna be loud and proud. I'm going to celebrate the bountiful curves that the universe has bestowed upon me.

I'm gonna celebrate other things as well. My grey hair, for example. I started going grey when I was 25 and for the past 16 years, I've died the shit out of my hair to cover it. Well, no more. Next time I'm at the hairdresser, I'm getting the coloured hair cut off and I'm going grey, baby. I'm gonna rock that shit!

This is me – this is who I am and I'm choosing to live the life I want, not to succumb to societies expectations of what will make me worthwhile. Don't like me being fat? Don't look.