Hey, it's a heatwave Down Under - no snow, no freezing weather, just good old-fashioned sizzling heat.

40 degrees Celsius = 104 degrees Fahrenheit 

50 degrees Celsius = 122 degrees Fahrenheit

Hello there!

We live in an alternate universe Down Under, where the weather from the Northern Hemisphere saturates our news, but our own weather hardly rates a mention. Polar Vortexes, Sub Zero temperatures, high winds and destruction - so much more exciting than boring old heatwaves and the consequences. Australian weather? We just accept that it's summer, so we expect ridiculously-high temps, with drought/and/or floods/and/or bushfires/and/or cyclones thrown in. What's new? It happens every year when December rolls around. (Funnily enough, that's when I escape to the Northern Hemisphere, being someone who prefers cold to heat, lol!)

The fact that this heatwave has been in full force for about two months, makes it a bit harder to ignore. So I thought I'd do a post and show you a typical day in Australia during 40 - 50 degree Celsius temperatures (Conversion at top). 

This photo was taken near Brisbane (where I live), on a day when it was expected to reach 50C. I think it only got to 46C. Welooked at the sunrise, and commented - 'Looks like we're in for it!'

So if you're lucky enough to be at the beach on the Sunshine Coast for the weekend, you head to the wonderful Baked Poetry Cafe in Peregian Beach and imbibe a cooling iced coffee - bliss!

Baked Poetry Cafe iced coffee, the best I've ever tasted!

Okay, you can't sit there under the shady trees drinking coffee all day, even if it's 46C, so let's head for the beach! Yeah, yeah, I know, you shouldn't be sunbaking in this heat, but what the heck! You can easily cool off with a refreshing dunk!

If you can't get to the beach, you might cool off under the moisture fans wherever you see one!

But we coast dwellers always remember the Outback, where there's no beach and little water for pools - (they head for the nearest dam)...drought is severe and stock are dying. 

The Australian Outback...always sizzling! A great setting for Australian romances...from Australian authors like Annie Seaton, Jenny Schwartz, Anna Campbell et al...

Our native koala is parched too. Anywhere for a drink! Lucky suburban koalas.


Bushfires always abound in summer, especially in 40C+ heat and in the south where the heat is dry! Queensland where I live is humid.

Victoria, in the south of Australia, has had on-going bushfires for weeks. They're really suffering. Many homes have been burnt to the ground.

And of course, it's not a Queensland summer without bushfires. Here's one on North Stradbroke Island, off the coast near Brisbane.

It was 54C this day!

What about writing? Not easy in the heat...



Too hot to be inside, so the Vannguard Writers Group met at the Coffee Club in the city and participated in a writing exercise at the Wednesday Farmer's Market.



My youngest daughter lives in Townsville, where they've already had their first cyclone scare for the year. Luckily, Townsville was spared. It hit the towns to the south, but not too badly.




At the end of another unbearably hot day in Brisbane, you head to South Bank beach, which is open all year round, well into the night.

Too hot to go home to bed, so you may as well take a ride on the Brisbane Wheel.



Ha ha! I hope you enjoyed my photo essay. And the good news is that it has cooled down a little!

• Speaking of Australia, Australian author and friend, Charmaine Clancy, has just released her third MG novel - Undead Kev. Kev follows on from My Zombie Dog and Dognapped?

And I'm looking forward to seeing the movie, Tracks, where a young woman goes on a 1,700 mile trek across the deserts of Western Australia with her four camels and faithful dog. Drama/Biography/Adventure

And finally, let's all cheer our friend Roland Yeomans up by visiting him after his facial surgery. D.G. Hudson has a brilliant post on Roland's progress and his novels. 

The winter of discontent -- with social media -- is it making us less human? Books...Movies...Great Writing Opportunities

Okay, from time to time I'm going to do a long, rambly post. Take a peek at what you're interested in...and I hope you'll leave a comment...

SOCIAL NETWORKS:

An author friend recently told me that facebook has been throwing her off after about five minutes. I said: "Good!" This is an author whose face appears on my facebook feeds in one long line every time I check facebook on my phone (the only time I use facebook, twitter or google+). My author friend is amazed at how much more writing she is getting done -- she has two books published and is working on her third. Social media definitely interferes with our writing schedules...and lots, lots more.

LIKE DOGGY TALES? SECOND NOVEL BY CHARMAINE CLANCY : DOGNAPPED?, A DETECTIVE MYSTERY : WIN PRIZES : FREE ON KINDLE.SOON!

Hello there! Today I'm helping a good friend launch her second book. I absolutely loved her first children's book, My Zombie Dog, and have read drafts of her new book, Dognapped? Charmaine is a careful author -- she sends her drafts to fine editors, she conferences with professional book cover firms -- even though she's scarily talented in the visual arts department. The result is a professional self-published book...delightful.

So today I proudly present Charmaine and Dognapped? And there's prizes...and a narrow window of opportunity to get it FREE on the 22nd and 23rd May!!

Celebrate the release of Charmaine Clancy's new book and win prizes!

Dognapped? A dog show detective mystery featuring Kitty and her mischievous miniature schnauzer, Spade. In this adventure, they unravel the mystery of the missing dog -- simply lost, or something more sinister?

A lost dog

A stolen dog

A mysterious will

It all equals murder!

Meet twelve-year-old Kitty, friendless bookworm and amateur sleuth. All Kitty wants is to gain her mother’s attention, spend time with her miniature schnauzer Spade, and avoid Miss Perfect, Jessica Jones. 

Kitty’s world turns upside down when she finds a lost dog, and she needs Jessica’s help to find the owner, hunt down a dognapper, and solve a murder.

Introducing Kitty Walker and her mischievous dog Spade in the first Dog Show Detective Mystery.

Dognapped? is a mystery novel perfect for curious girls aged 10 -12yrs. There are funny and cute canine characters, but also an element of danger! 

To celebrate the release of Dognapped?, Charmaine Clancy (author of the popular kids' horror novel, My Zombie Dog), is giving away a Kindle Fire! (Kindle Paperwhite if winner resides outside the US - Amazon won't ship the Fire to non-US countries). That's not all, one lucky runner-up will receive a $25 Amazon gift voucher!

There are two ways to enter:

1. Purchase your copy of Dognapped?, then fill in the entry form below. You'll be asked for your receipt number from Amazon (it will be on the receipt Amazon email you - keep a copy of your receipt as proof of purchase if you win). Dognapped? will be FREE May 22nd and 23rd, and yes you can still enter if you downloaded your copy FREE! 

or

2. Blog about this competition or about Dognapped? (you can review, talk about or interview) then fill in the entry form below. You will be asked for your blog post link in the entry form. If you'd like to review the book, Charmaine will send you a free review copy, simply email: charmaineclancy@gmail.com. 

If you blog and purchase the book, then yes, you get two entries.

Too easy! This competition runs from now until 7 July 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

• I hope you will purchase Dognapped? -- could be a great gift for a young girl on her birthday, or start your Christmas shopping now!

Visit from a favourite blogger - Paula Roe Writing Workshop, Pain-free Plotting (even for Pantsers).

Hi friends and visitors!

I've not found a spare moment to blog as I've been delighted to be hosting a visit from a favourite blogger friend and editor, Nas Dean and her lovely husband Rajesh, from Fiji. This of course entails much driving around, showing them our paradise.

Nas and Rajesh on Noosa's Main Beach

Yes, the same lovelies who insisted my husband and I house-sit while they went to the States last year. What a time we had in Fiji...and what a lot of writing I got done in such inspirational surroundings. My first novel, set in Fiji and in its final edits, is about to be subbed to Harlequin Escape (in Australia). I'll let you know how I go...

Meanwhile, Nas' main reason to visit was to attend the Australian Romance Readers convention, an international event, which is being held in a hotel about 3 minutes from my Brisbane apartment. This convention brings together romance readers, authors and publishers and provides opportunities to talk about all things related to romance fiction.  This year will feature heavy hitting award-winning authors Kristan Higgins, Anne Gracie and Rachel Vincent as keynote speakers.

Yesterday, I attended a Pain-free Plotting (even for Pantsers) workshop by Paula Roe with Nas and my writing group friends, Charmaine Clancy and Jillanne Harrison. Awesome time at the Carindale Library -- and it was FREE! 

Nas, Myself, Charmaine, Jillanne busily plotting

Paula Roe and Nas

Paula used the Hero's Journey as the basis of her Pain-free Plotting workshop. Note our colourful sticky notes above. Most of us are familiar with the Hero's Journey pattern of narrative which originates (as far as I know)  from Joseph Campbel's The Hero With a Thousand Faces in 1949. 

Most, if not all stories, follow this structure (even Harlequin romances!) up to a point. Paula is a visual teacher, and the way she had us plotting our hero's journey using different coloured Post-it notes for Act 1, Act 11 and Act 111 of our story made it just that little clearer. Those around me all decided we had the elements covered -- up to a point.

As Paula said, even if you're a pantser and rush headlong into your story after getting that fabulous story idea, the Hero's Journey checklist is a very useful tool to use when editing that first draft. 

For anyone who may not know the Hero's Journey steps, or who didn't click on the link above, they are below. I found it useful to think of a favourite story as we did this exercise--The Hunger Games is a good example that most of us probably know. I can easily visualise these steps...modernised with some Roe-isms and Covey-isms.

ACT 1: (The Setup) Pose a Plot Question.

1.  The ORDINARY WORLD of the hero--establishes the characters in their everyday lives--this may take pages, or just be a simple sentence. Can also be told using backstory, but don't clutter the beginning of your story with too much backstory. 

2.  The CALL TO ADVENTURE--showing an extra-ordinary character in an ordinary world, with the potential to embark on a quest. 

3.  The DENIAL of the call--a crisis point. Here you establish their external goal. Usually transplanted into another world. 

4.  ...followed by ACCEPTANCE--character fully focused on his/her external goal...then your hero walks through the door...into ACT 11...

ACT 11: (Where the story unfolds) 

All about tests--failing them, learning, failing some more...finally passing them.

5.  Hero enters the NEW WORLD/LEARNS THE RULES,

6.  ...then ALLIES/ENEMIES are revealed, 

7.  ...followed by FAILING TRIALS, 

8.  ...then the hero reaches the POINT OF NO RETURN. He/she wants to go back to his/her ORDINARY WORLD, but cannot.

This is the Midpoint of your novel. If your midpoint is saggy, problematic, as Paula said, your hero may not have come up against enough obstacles, or his goal may need to be revisited.

9.  There's no going back, so the hero is now FAILING, 

then finally PASSING TRIALS. This reveals your hero's resilience, yet he/she is not perfect.

10. Then we have TIME OUT/HERO'S MASK IS REVEALED--to him/her self. This is usually portrayed through Internal Dialogue, but not always.

11. GUT PUNCH TIME! OMG! The reader asks--is that really going to happen? It is not totally a Black Moment, but it seems like it. How will the hero act under pressure?

12. NOOOOOOOOOO! At the beginning of your story, you asked a question...now the reader wonders if this is the answer! But of course it isn't!

The reader is left hungry for more...can't put your book down at this stage. So...the stage is all set for ACT 111.

ACT 111: (Climax/Resolution) It's a wrap! You must answer the original plot question asked at the beginning of your story.

13. THE ROAD BACK -- I wanna go home, cries the hero! He/she tries to leave, to go back to their ORDINARY WORLD.

14. TIME OUT -- again. Revelation. Decision time. The 'Ah-ha!' moment.(Internal dialogue...thinking...lull in action.)

15. PLOT CLIMAX/FINAL LESSON -- the gut-wrenching personal Black Moment for the hero. Boo hoo!

16. RESOLUTION -- Wrap up. Everyone's happy (at least in a romance). The hero returns. Others are affected by the changes in the hero. 

Paula recommended Michael Hague for some excellent articles regarding plotting. He is a very successful Hollywood screenwriter. 

Of course I learnt a lot more at Paula's workshop, but I'm sure you're worn out by now! Do visit Paula's website. She has some yummy stuff for writers.

• I hope you enjoyed The Hero's Journey. Do you use this pattern of narrative, or do you follow another method? I know there are several others, but I think, to a certain extent, most popular fiction follows The Hero's Journey. Do you agree/disagree?

RomanticFridayWriters are Driven to Murder in March. We want 1,000 words of prose or poetry on murder most foul. Go to the RFW Challenge Page for more details. Sign up soon! You'll see the linky here or on the RFW website.

Insecure Writer's Support Group Post - exploring your creativity within a writers' group.

Aren't the months whizzing by? First Wednesday of the month again, so it's time for Alex J Cavanaugh's IWSG. Here we are to post about what we're insecure about re our writing, or post something that will help our writing buddies out there.

I'm not at home, so have no access to all my stuff, and I know I promised to continue my 10 sneaky tips for writing that novel quickly, but something else is burning on my mind today...

Perhaps the best tip I can offer to give your writing career a boost, or get it started in the first place, or to give you that encouragement you need in the face of rejection is to  - JOIN A WRITING GROUP. Not any old writing group, but one that is just made for you. 

It can be problematic finding a writing group, finding a critique group, finding even a critique partner - all these things are fraught and need to be a good fit, otherwise they detract from our writing career. So today I'll give you my experience of joining a writing group. You may take away something helpful and that is all I ask.

I am a proud member of the Vannguard Writers Group.

Some of us in our favourite hats for our 'hat' writing exercise

I've been a member of the Queensland Writers Centre for sometime. A great resource for writers and just across the river, a 5 minute walk for me. It offers the most amazing courses/workshops/seminars all year round, and as selling short stories is my bread and butter, I decided to attend a Short Story 4-week course earlier in the year. The course was fabulous, but the best thing was that we were a group that jelled right from day one - not everyone of course - but about 8 of us didn't want the comaraderie to finish, so we decided to keep meeting at the same time as our regular courses - each Wednesday from 10.30 - 12.30. As our wonderful tutor was called Meg Vann (who is the incoming CEO of the QWC), we called ourselves Vaanguard Writers. Boy, are we an interesting crowd!

Paul Smith turned up one day in full  gangster garb as he's written a detective novel (and has been a  Private Investigator).

We have been meeting for 6 months or so now. Our major mission is a collaborative project of writing a fantasy novel. We have each taken part in creating the world, and have chosen our characters to place within the world. When our group meets, we devote half of our time to our project and the other half to writing challenges which may/may not be related to our novel. But all improve our creativity. We usually have writing homework and post them up on our Facebook group page, linking to google docs.

Jamie got right into the spirit of things when Charmaine organised  a hat challenge, which she wrote about  here...

What else do we do? We encourage each other to send our work out there - we regularly swap competitions and opportunities and try to send work out there every week. 

We are a diverse group and have much to teach each other. We also bring along special activities to spur our creativity. Before we broke for our school holiday period last week, I brought along an activity which took us into the Queensland Art Gallery, right next door to where we meet in the State Library of Queensland.

The instructions were:

• Choose a painting
• Decide whether you're the painter, a character in the painting or an onlooker 
• Write in first person present tense about what is happening...

I chose Tintoretto's Risen.  I am the sleeping  Roman soldier asleep in the bottom left of the frame. 

Jillanne chose John Faed's Annie's Tryst. 

Charmaine got quite carried away with her story which resulted in murder, mayhem and Gothic characters...

Raelene's The Eviction led to a powerful story from the little girl's POV.


So you can see we have a great time working on our craft at  Vannguard Writers Group . Watch out for our novel - should be out this century!

I hope I've encouraged you to explore your creativity, as that's what writing is primarily about.

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ANNOUNCING ROMANTIC FRIDAY WRITERS NEXT 2 CHALLENGES - OPEN TO ALL WRITERS OF PROSE AND POETRY:

This challenge is to celebrate the shared birthdays of your hosts, Denise and Donna. Perhaps you share an October birthday too? 

Have you ever been to a birthday party that was so extravagant it actually made you jealous? Create a story or poem in which a character goes to a birthday party that is completely out of his/her  league. This especially includes the present that you got this person. Totally inadequate :).

Get penning your 400 words of prose/prosetry now!

The Linky will go up today at Romantic Friday Writers.

CHALLENGE NO 47 - Friday October 19

It's Halloween!

Another FW/RU Challenge

We’re looking for chilling stories of ghosts and haunted locations – and maybe even love from beyond the grave. 

A romantic element is essential, but we’re looking for stories with a thrilling edge of fear to add to the romantic tension building between our Hero/Heroine.

Have fun with this one! 

Don't forget the Romantic Element!

Let your head go! 

You can write up to 1,000 words of prose/prosetry!

The Linky will go up on October 12 at RomanticFridayWriters.

Spring has Sprung Down Under and a writer's thoughts return to the Brisbane Writer's Festival and Tall Stories and little ships...

Oh! Beautiful Spring! What better time to hold the Brisbane Writer's Festival - 5 days of writerly fun and games to welcome September. But you should have been there for the official opening... 

Germaine Greer likes to visit writer's festivals as she's written a book or two, and she might be able to sell a few. So someone thoughtfully asked her to open proceedings. They failed to note the evil look on her countenance for which they will forever rue the day. I saw it as I was lining up to have my copy of Peaches for Monsieur Le Curé  by Joanne Harris, the most popular book of the show, signed.

Clutching Joanne's book, I rushed to the opening where I'd planned to meet my blogger friend Charmaine who has recently become a Queenslander. Up there on the podium, I could see Germaine sussing up the crowd in that way she has, nodding her head, shaking her head. I knew we were in for a tongue lashing, as always. 'Just watch this Charmaine honey. You're in for a wild ride!' I said as I nudged her in the ribs, waking her from her bored napping.

Germaine creaked to the podium.

She berated her Queensland audience (with a few notable exceptions of exceptional writers from more academic climes - there was Joanne Harris from the Empirical UK, after all.) Joanne didn't mind rubbing shoulders with the colonials Down Under. After all, they were sending her books to the top of the best seller list as Australians, even Queenslanders, like to collect books! They look so pretty on the shelves, don't they, and a pile of print books comes in handy for that extra chair or keeping the fire going if you run out of kindling. Germaine was probably thinking - how dare those rednecks buy Joanne's books, but not hers! She had Queenslanders in her sights alright.

'47% of Queenslanders can't even read the newspaper,' she smirked, dodging the odd rotten tomato and raw egg. This was too much! She'd been discussing percentages with Mitt Romney again! 47%! This is where the US/Aussie alliance is worrying! Where do they pluck these figures from? The entrails of chooks?

'But doesn't she live in Queensland?' asked a bemused Charmaine.

'Yep. Work it out. That's why she's nuts, innit?'

That's when the screaming from the masses began.

'Fair go, mate! We didn't muck out the cow bails early to listen to this s*i@t!' yelled an irate granny in dungarees and headscarf, (she must have already read Peaches for Monsieur Le Curé) sitting two seats from me.

'Get orf!' yelled the farmer type in an outsize cowboy hat next to me, jangling his bridle and flicking the spurs he'd somehow managed to smuggle past security. I pulled my head in before I lost it.

'Get back on your horse, cowboy! 47% of Queenslanders can't even read!  Fancy holding a writer's festival here for you yobbos! It's a disgrace!' the Female Eunuch screeched.

That was too much! As one the crowd surged towards the podium, clutching their tablets with their hieroglypical alphabet figures they'd been etching earnestly, taking notes as the guru spoke, chipping away, chipping away. They'd show her! They did so know how to read and write and they had the pictures to prove it!

Ms Greer watched the ominous crowd nearing her safe place. Not big on negotiating skills, she continued to hurl insults - 'peasants!', 'great unwashed', 'your lives will be brutish and short!' These were difficult concepts for the great unwashed to grapple with, so they began hurling their tablets at the shrill dame until she stopped her foul haranguing.

'To the river!' an American sailor (where did he come from?) began the chant which was picked up by the Aussie seamen, all on shore leave with nothing to do but read, then the farmers, then the schoolteachers, then the housewives, then...everyone! I feared Germaine was about to be levelled. Great burly arms held her aloft and down to the river we went, chortling hideously.

The peasants quickly crafted a wicker basket and raft from bullrushes that grew profusely by the banks of the mighty muddy Brisbane River. There's a time when brawn is needful over brain. They raised her supine intellectual aging female form onto the sailing craft and launched her into the river, along with a couple of bottles of water and a packet of muesli bars and the cowboy's hat to protect her from the fierce Queensland sun. Just let her try drinking that river water! Although it's not as murky as the Yarra! She didn't have a prayer. No one broke a bottle of Veuve Clicquot against the boat as Charmaine and I snuck up and grabbed it already and ran up to the Pineapple Lounge bar. No one wished her 'bon voyage' as this was a foreign language, far too difficult for the illiterate masses to enunciate.

'Silly old bugger.' I'd know that voice anywhere. The old silver budgie, Bob Hawke, past and most popular and okker of Prime Ministers, was standing on the river bank chuckling, then crying, as Bob is wont to do. 'Come and have a beer, Bob,' we yelled as we rushed up the hill. This was going to be some party!

I was a little sad for Germaine though. I hope she sailed to more serious, more academic climes like Sydney or Melbourne, where the folk aren't quite so unwashed and really love to read their newspapers except when they're owned by rich-as-Croesus female miners who also have a thing about the great unwashed. You just try washing in the Brisbane River, Gina my girl!

You might wonder why you didn't read about this assailing of the great Female Eunuch herself at the Brisbane Writer's Festival, but the little hieroglyphic tablets are all we have this side of the border and they weren't up to the reportage, especially when they were in pieces on the podium. There were some letters we've not learned yet. And why publish a story when nearly half of the population is illiterate? Maybe when Germaine floats into Melbourne, The Age will pick up on it. Or the Sydney Morning Herald. They love an anti-Queensland story as we keep licking them every year at the Rugby! Brawn over brains again!

'Ah, only in Queensland,' they'll sigh in their upper class accents.

Two bright sparks, Charmaine and I. grabbed our Veuve Clicquot and watched proceedings from the safety of the
Writer's Pineapple Lounge overlooking the Brisbane River (as Queenslanders are wont to do...)

This is a fantasy brought on by the hot Queensland sun. There is a 'germ' of truth in it! But we sure had a mighty good Writer's Festival. More from the Ministry of Truth later...