Alan Baxter's Blog, page 126

Seriously, don't fuck with the community

I've just been catching up on this situation, so I'm a bit behind on time, but I wanted to add my voice to the outrage. It seems we have a plagiarist in our midst. Now, I can't even begin to imagine the point of plagiarism. Are some people so insecure that they want to see their name in print but can't risk using their own words? Are they just so keen to see their name as a published credit that they'll use any means necessary? Well, yes, it would seem so. But what kind of pleasure or sense o...

The Top 50 Australian Blogs for Writers by Copywrite updated again

I seem to be on elastic between 11 and 9. What am I on about? The Copywrite Top 50 Australian Blogs for Writers list has been updated again. The first time it came out I was in at number 9, the next one I'd dropped to 11, third time around I was back up to 9. Now it's been updated once more and I've returned to position 11 on the list. The weird thing is that the blogs in all the places around me change all over the place. Maybe I'll just try to claim positions 9, 10 and 11 as permanent...

Conflux report # 6 – now with added pics

I guess this will be my last Conflux 6 related post. It has a rhyming title, it's the 6th post for Conflux 6, everyone is bored shitless of me going on about Conflux already, and so on. However, people wanted pictures – let it not be said that I never give the people what they want. So here's a quick pictorial rundown of the con.

This is the tremendous Karen Herkes – she organises cons like Batman beats up thugs:

(Pic: Cat Sparks)

This next pic is one of my favourites from the whole weekend...

Conflux report # 5 – Monday

I'm home from Conflux 6, exhausted but exhilirated. What a great con it was.

Today I was on a panel all about Twitter, blogging and all things internet promotion. It was an interesting and lively panel that consisted of myself and Nicole Murphy (who has just sold a fantasy trilogy to Harper Collins – yay Nicole!) While there were only two of us on one side of the desk, the audience was very much informed and involved and we had a really interesting chat.

Before that I went and listened in on a ...

Conflux report # 4 – Sunday

I was up at an ungodly hour this morning. Well, I wasn't actually, it just felt like it. Then right off the bat at 10am I sat on a panel all about publishing options in this brave new world. I've rattled on enough on this blog about those things so I'm sure you can all imagine some of the things I was talking about. It was a really interesting panel and slightly bizarre when I found myself sitting next to Jim Minz, Senior Editor of Baen Books. Also on the panel were Chris Barnes, Felicity...

Conflux 6 reoprt # 3 – Saturday

I'm so tired and the clocks go forward tonight so I'm losing an hour. And I have to be making some kind of sense at 10am (9am!) tomorrow on a panel about publishing options. So sorry, not much of an update today.

I had the early kaffeeklatch thing this morning which was basically sitting around drinking coffee with a bunch of nice people that were kind enough to come and join me. Thanks guys, if you're reading.

At lunchtime I was on a panel with Jack Dann, Richard Harland, Sean McMullen and...

Conflux 6 report # 2 – Friday

So it's been busy but I'm going to try to keep up with these updates. I had my first "professional" engagement today at 10am, a workshop called Write The Fight Right. It was a 2 hour workshop where I talked about what really happens in a fight and what makes a written fight realistic and exciting to read. There was a good group of people that came along and took part, we did some basic martial arts exercises to explore the nature of footwork and range and how hard it is to hit someone that...

Conflux 6 report #1 – Arrival

So, I've made the short (by Australian standards) drive to Canberra for Conflux 6. I've mentioned previously all the bits and pieces that I'll be doing here. Here's the run-down again if you're interested.

I'm staying at the Marque Hotel, which is where the Con is being held. Look, here's my room:

Not too shabby really. I was pleased to see it had a balcony. Until I saw the balcony.

That's a view left and right from the room. Isn't Canberra beautiful? I think my view is the roof of a carpark...

International Blasphemy Day

I write about magic and monsters and demons and all that stuff. I love the fantasy, horror and sci fi genre and the ideas it plays with. I'm happy to admit that there's an awful lot out there that we can't understand and all kinds of things happening that defy rational explanation. I don't mind if people believe in some kind of higher power, magic or guiding force in the universe. There's no proof for it, but there's no proof against it either. In my opinion the only intellectually...

Reviews, word of mouth and Super Users – Part 2

Ever wondered how you're going to get your erotic werewolf scifi mysteries noticed by readers? Following yesterday's guest post here by MCM about how to make reviews work for writers, today MCM picks up where he left off and talks about how to make use of the long tail and work your way up through niche reviewers. You can find the article on the Novelr website here.

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