D.A. Cairns's Blog, page 23

Celebrate the Small Things: A Long Awaited Flash

Some time ago - I deliberately decided not to remember - I launched my own short story e-zine. The prime reason for doing so was to create another marketing avenue for my novels. I have tried a plethora of tricks to draw attention to myself, and my work, and to gain followers, but when most of my family and friends have not been able to find the time or the willingness to do it, the results have been unsurprisingly poor.
Square Pegs E-zine was another idea for increasing my exposure. I also, as a veteran of sending stories to various print and online publications, wanted to offer a short story market with a difference. Very simple guidelines which I present in text and video formats, a condition (not a fee) of publication, which is that the writer has to follow me, and a reward for publication (not cash) other than what most markets offer which is 'exposure': a free copy of one of my novels.
I'm very happy with the product, but far less happy with the outcome. I listed with Duotrope who have contacted me twice already to make sure I am still active. I have received three submissions and published one, although the author has still not indicated his preference of which of my novels he would like. (Indicating clearly that he doesn't want any of them - ouch!)
I've put some of my own more 'celebrated' stories in the e-zine: a couple which have been published multiple times since I wrote them.
This morning, I awoke to find a submission to Square Pegs in my inbox, and it made me happy. I like the story. A tight little tale with a sweet touch of irony at the end. I will publish it as soon as the author adheres to all of the submission guidelines, but in the meantime, I will just feel happy about it.
Also happy this week to hear from Forge journal who have accepted my alternate history story The Death of Issac for publication in the October edition. This will be the third time they have published a story of mine.
I'm chipping away, working on staying thankful when sometimes I feel quite the opposite.

Women's fashion, milk and cars?

I’m based in Darwin now, but still doing the same job: teaching English as a Second Language. I now work with international students who are a completely different kettle of fish from the adult migrants I previously taught. My class is mostly comprised of Taiwanese students, with a couple of Koreans, and a young man from Hong Kong, and a young lady from Spain thrown in to disrupt the flow of conversation in Mandarin.
Today we were working on the phrase ‘I’m surprised by…’ As we’ve been tackling present perfect tense, I asked the students to think about what has surprised them about Australia since they moved to Darwin. None of the students have lived in Darwin for more than a year, some for only a few weeks. Their answers to the question were very interesting so I thought I’d share some of them with you, in no particular order.
Since coming to Darwin, what has surprised you? How many people sit on the grass, or on the ground.How early the shops close.How big the houses and the land are.How cheap cars are.How cheap milk is.How behind the times women’s fashion is.How many traffic lights there are on highways.How bad pork smells.How relaxed people are.The bad behavior of Aborigines.
 Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Celebrate the small things: My legs work

The incidences of me missing buses has decreased dramatically thanks to the Bus Tracker app about which I have previously raved. However, there are occasions when I still miss out. Like this morning for example, when I arrived on time-meaning before the bus was due-only to discover that I had left my towel and headband behind.

I considered my options. 

1. Go to the gym for my first ever pump class without a sweat towel and my headband.
2. Run home and grab the items and run back to the bus stop.

Option 1 would mean having to hire a gym towel because if you don't have a sweat towel they don't let you train. Option 1 would also have meant using the aforementioned hire towel more frequently than I would have used my own towel because my headband absorbs most of the perspiration produced from my chrome dome.

Option 2 meant running the risk of missing the bus, and generating additional pre-workout sweat and muscle fatigue in the process.

I took option 2 and missed the bus by three hundredths of a second. So I walked to the gym. It took half an hour, but I arrived on time for the class. After the class which hurt quite a bit-in a good way-I walked to the bus stop, but decided a fifteen minute wait was unnecessary. As I had walked to the gym, why not I thought, walk back. And that is what I did.


My legs were a little shaky immediately after the pump class, but certainly more than capable of carrying me home. Today, I am grateful for healthy, fully functional feet and the similarly robust legs to which they are appended.

A lounge, a bed and a manuscript

I started sending out query letters for my manuscript, Lovesick, at the end of June. As every writer knows, the sending of query letters and the waiting for responses is a tedious and somewhat angst ridden process. One day I am filled with glorious visions of publishing contracts and modest advances, while on other days I worry that no one will like it-not exactly that no one will like it, but that no one will like it enough.


So far, I have received two rejections and three offers of joint venture contracts. I rejected the latter. I was offered traditional publishing contracts for each of my last three novels, and in the case of the most recent, A Muddy Red River, I had a number to chose from. When I read words like 'we think your manuscript is well written, raw and engaging, and we believe it deserves to reach general readership, but...' I immediately think the editor who wrote such words is full of you know what. Words of praise ring hollow when accompanied by offers of joint venture publishing deals. Such offers say 'we like your work, but we don't think we can make any money from sales of it so we want to make money off you (the author) instead.'

One day. I will tell the story of a catastrophic (slight exaggeration) joint venture deal I signed up for, but for now, I'll just say this: I believe in the quality of my work, and I am not going to pay anybody anything to publish it. Therefore my wait continues. In the mean time I have begun work on novel number six, entitled Scorpion's Breath. I'm currently working on chapter 6.


In the famous words of Monty Python's Flying Circus: and now for something completely different, it has been approximately four weeks since I sat on a lounge or sofa, or even in an armchair, about four weeks since I drove a car, five weeks since I slept in a double or queen sized bed, and also thirty five days since I had a hug. There's no need to tell you what I miss most of all.

This is my life, I chose it and I'm living it.

Photo sources:
https://www.writersonlineworkshops.co...
http://www.godlywriters.com/prepare-y...

Celebrate the Small Things: Retired from Cooking

It's not that I can't cook. I have a small collection of recipes that I do well, and I can handle meat and veggies with no problem. Once upon a time I even liked to have a weekly dabble in cooking something different, from a cook book-although the results of these experiments were mixed.

Back in the day, I didn't mind sharing the cooking duties. My fiance and I decided that 3-4 home cooked meals and the rest in take-aways and left-overs would be just the right mix for us. These days, it's just me, and I just don't want to cook. Even if I had a stove and an oven, which I don't, I still wouldn't cook. I've become a big fan of Lean Cuisine microwave meals, and I still love take-away food. Not junk like McDonalds. I'm talking about Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, Mexican etcetera.

Microwave meals are cheap, tasty and if the boxes are to be believed healthy. For between $4 and $6 I can have a satisfying meal after just 6 minutes in the nuclear oven. When I started eating these meals, I found the portions were too small and I would occasionally double up, but now my stomach has adjusted to smaller serves which is great except when I eat out and I can't finish the big meal for which I paid, and over which I salivated.

My system now prefers small meals, so when I order take-out, it will usually provide two meals not one. For example, if I spend $20 at Prickles Mexican, I get two dinners for $10 a pop.
In order to satisfy my penchant for variety, I'm working my way through the menus at my local take away restaurants and sampling all the different varieties of microwave meals in the supermarket freezer.



You might think I'm missing out, but I'm as happy as Larry. I don't know who Larry is, but I'm thankful for cheap, convenient and tasty food.

The Joy of Soap

I am a Neighbours fan. This long running television show is very well known in both the United Kingdom and here in Australia where it is produced, and although not as popular as it once was, it maintains a legion of fans who live for their daily dose of this most celebrated soap opera.

There are of course many things Neighbours could be criticized for, and even fans join in sometimes, but there must be a reason why it has survived for over 30 years.

The thought has occurred to me numerous times over the many years I have watched the melodramatic lives of the residents of Ramsey Street, but of late it has made me laugh. Convenience. Father Jack arrives at the coffee shop on his way to church and asks his ex girlfriend, Paige if she wants to join him. Guess what? She has just finished her shift and she would love to. Gary breaches his AVO by not only approaching Cooper over the assault of his daughter, but threatening him. Guess what? Ramsey Street's resident cop, Mark, is there to stop any escalation and arrest Gary.

If someone gets hurt, Ramsey Street resident, Dr Karl will be there to assist. If someone breaks the law, or is in trouble Mark will come to the rescue. Jarrod 'Toadfish' Rebecchi lives in Ramsey Street and he's a lawyer so guess who makes his legal services available whenever, wherever and to whomever?

Ah, convenience. Imagine if life was like a soap opera. In real life, no one could handle the drama load dumped on the actors by the scriptwriters, and the good guys are not always around to help, but just for a moment, consider such a life...or not.

Celebrate the small things: Anytime Fitness

In the previous volume of the book of my life, the last few chapters were marked by a lack of emotional stability and physical exercise. Moving to Darwin has not made any immediate impact on the former, nor had it improved the latter situation until very recently.

My search for peace continues, and I must confess to being a tad naive in thinking a change of location would facilitate any alterations to my state of mind. I understand the theory of peace, and I know where to find it, I simply haven't managed to take hold of it yet.



Exercise, on the other hand, is an easy shift. I enjoy exercise. I simply had to make time, and work out how to work out. While I was searching for my own place, and figuring out the intricacies and vagaries of the bus system, I was doing a lot of walking, and at the end of most days I was beat. I was rising at Sparrows and getting home late, so there really was no opportunity to tune the machine which is my body.

I pass a couple of gyms on the way to work and into town, so I decided to check them out: primarily I mean cost, but also the atmosphere. I'm not a gym person, and I didn't want to be surrounded by a crowd of beautiful, albeit sweaty bodies. I maybe 48 years old, but I am still a little self conscious, so if I felt like I didn't 'fit', or I sensed a repellent vibe, then that gym was not going to be for me.


Happily I can report that Anytime Fitness has afforded me a free 14 day trial of their facilities. The gym is not packed. It doesn't smell. It's cool, and the staff are very helpful and friendly. Three days into my new regime, I feel comfortable there, and I am learning how to use the various machines. My arms hurt, but I am very happy and grateful to be once again partaking of regular exercise. I feel better already.

A Little Shade

Even though every time I open the app it says it has stopped working before it opens, NT Bus Tracker has become my best friend in the Territory. It tells me where the nearest bus stop is and which buses are arriving and when. Initially I was using the timetables provided on the website, and at the bus stops themselves, but this app kills the competition. With its assistance, I have been successfully navigating my way around Darwin with very little down time waiting for a ride.

However, it is on the subject of waiting to which I now turn my attention and ergo, your attention. In the hierarchy of bus stops, there are major stops and minor stops. The former appear on the timetables, the latter do not, but they are all on the app.


The major bus stops have seats and shelters which is very nice because it's hot here. I mean the weather is hot or hotter, and the sun invariably beats down upon the earth, and all of us who wander it, during the dry season. (The benefits of shelters in the wet season are potentially less significant for obvious reasons.) The minor stops have a sign. That's it. No shelter from the sun and nowhere to plant one's sweaty bottom.

Occasionally the dear little minors have trees which furnish the steaming traveller with shade, but many, dare I say most, have no shade and no seats.

And that is the extent of my problems in life at the moment. How blessed am I.

Celebrate the Small Things: Fit for a Granny

I gave myself two weeks to find a permanent abode in Darwin. The shared accommodation I had pre-booked was comfortable, but neither cheap or convenient. I needed my own space, and I needed something closer to work, but in the short term the house in which I had a bedroom, and shared every other, was fine, and my hosts and fellow guests were lovely people.

Last Saturday, I looked at three one bedroom units before buying a newspaper and lunching at Subway. There were some private rentals advertised in the property section. Private was what I really wanted because it would be cheaper, including low or no bond, and I wouldn't have to deal with agents.

To cut a log story short, I called about a granny flat in the suburb of
Parap, was told it was still available, that I could come and see it immediately, and was given directions from the city. I had a good feeling about it as I traveled via bus and foot to check it out. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was perfect for me. A fully furnished granny flat including crockery and cutlery for a lower price than I was prepared to pay. Only ten minutes from work and from Darwin city by bus, air conditioned and with a pool, I had found my new home. My host kindly offered to pick me up and bring all my stuff from A to B, I paid him a week's rent in advance, and seven days later, I am all settled in.

I'm super thankful that I found this place which ticked all the boxes. Now all I have to do is stop wishing away the days until I can see my loved ones again. Live in the moment, Dave. Live in the moment.

If the hat fits...

Stereotypes are an interesting thing: a necessary evil perhaps. I'm really keen, wherever I go and with whomever I talk to, to be a champion for open-mindedness. I often challenge people who put others in boxes and attach simple labels to them. I don't like it because I think it's unfair to judge people when we have such limited knowledge and experience. They guy who told me 'hated' all Chinese people because he'd had a bad Chinese cab driver is an example of the narrow minded prejudiced which I detest.


Many non-indigenous Australians believe that Aboriginal people are lazy drunks. They'll make exceptions for their sporting heroes, but generally hold a very dim view of indigenous people.

Not having much experience with them, I have tried to keep an open mind and be positive about this most disadvantaged group of Australians. I'm aware, of course, of their significant problems with alcohol, their over-representation in our jails and their low life expectancies, but indigenous people with public profiles don't have these problems and present themselves as positive ambassadors for their people. I have great sympathy for the Stolen Generations and I have gained a greater understanding and deeper respect for Aboriginal culture.


Before moving to Darwin, I was aware that there would be more Aboriginal people than I was used to in Wollongong. What has surprised me and disappointed me is how many drunk and disorderly indigenous people I have seen. In the streets, in parks and on the buses, a majority of them have fit the negative stereotype. At any time of the day, they'll be hanging around in groups, drunk or drinking, talking loudly and arguing among themselves in their native language. Many of them don't wash and they smell awful.


These experiences have disturbed me, and I have felt not only uncomfortable at times, but also intimidated. I've been humbugged for money and cigarettes frequently, and I feel quite sad about it. I'm seeing and hearing a lot of stereotypical behaviour which, as I said, I find really disappointing. They are many tourists in Darwin at the moment, and I wonder what they make of the behaviour of the first Australians. If I'm struggling with it, I wonder what messages our visitors are receiving and sharing with their family and friends.

I came to Darwin hoping to find some evidence to destroy the negative stereotypes of indigenous Australians. I'm still looking.