June to October 2005

Elsa Neal

Friday 14 October 2005
Creative

I'm BellaOnline's new Creativity Editor!  

Thursday 13 October 2005
Monstrous

I've finished reading Dave Wellington's brilliant Monster trilogy, and I'm delighted to congratulate him on his book deal with Thunder's Mouth Press. Way to go Dave! Monster Island is due for release in April 2006. I highly recommend picking up a copy.

Monday 10 October 2005
Earthquake

I'm reading Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children at the moment, which spans the histories and geographies of Kashmir, Pakistan, and India. It's heartbreaking to think of the devastation caused by the earthquake on 8 October, and the millions of dead, wounded, and homeless. Our hearts go out to all those affected.

Monday 3 October 2005
Bali  

Oh Bali, what have they done to you? Island dining shattered by shrapnel and hate. 

Friday 23 September 2005

A track from the Pet Shop Boys, actually CD (1987) gave me chills the other day. The song was "King's Cross" and the lines were "Only last night I found myself lost / at the station called King's Cross / dead and wounded on either side / you know it's only a matter of time... So I went looking out today / for the one who got away / murder walking round the block / ending up in King's Cross / good luck, bad luck waiting in a line / it takes more than the matter of time..." 

Monday 19 September 2005

I passed my goal for last week's Book in a Week - total 6500 words.  

Wednesday 14 September 2005

It will become very important in the months and years to come that there are books, poems, and even travel articles that describe New Orleans, and other places that have been lost, in great detail. People will treasure that description. As hard as it may be, now is the time to try and remember the tiniest of details and write them down. Memories will start to fade, and you will regret the little things you've forgotten. You might want to start simply by listing the buildings you remember in a particular street, the number of floors in the buildings, whether they were brick, glass, or render, whether the windows had shutters, how wide the street was, whether the streetlights were old or new-style... let yourself heal through the details, then pump those important details into your writing or art - and pass the healing and memories onto others.

Before I was born a place, also well-known for jazz, was destroyed. So much was written with that place as a setting, both before and after it was gone, and those works are vibrant and alive with a sense of place - as well as being important in terms of remembering an important piece of history. 

Those who have seen New Orleans, walked her streets, and lived there, can keep her alive through fiction and non-fiction, and film and other art forms. I wish you strength and inspiration.

Tuesday 6 September 2005

So it was almost a full week before victims of Hurricane Katrina were adequately rescued, while countries like Australia beg to be allowed to help – or at least help to find their own people. I’m very unfortunately reminded of how quickly assistance was mobilised for the Tsunami victims and countries involved, and how much love and compassion poured out for fellow human beings. And the patience and heroism that was displayed on news reports.

I wouldn't be so callous as to call it ironic, but I'm drawn to the parallel between New Orleans and Iraq: in the same week, two horrific situations of people turning on their neighbours out of fear. One happened slowly, the other very quickly, but both left the world in shock, wondering how either could have happened. Is it too much to say that these two human tragedies may not have happened had it not been for the American presence in Iraq? Would personnel and equipment have been available to rescue the Katrina victims? Would there still have been rumours of a suicide bomber amongst a crowd of thousands?

I have one more question. If the purpose of the war in Iraq is to fight terrorism (as we are officially told) and to increase the safety and security of all people living in America - why are the very same people being put at risk with the resources required to rescue those Americans being used to fight a foreign war, a war where the cream of America's youth and future have been sent to kill and be killed? 

Friday 2 September 2005

The following stats were reported in the Australian Society of Authors August 2005 Newsletter (The Publishing Pie, pg 2). I've updated the statistics and added further details from the ABS report on Book Publishers dated 17 August 2005.

Operating profits (before tax) for publishing (incl. education) in Australia in 2003/04: A$152.1 million (updated stats retrieved from the ABS website). Total income for 2003/04: A$1560.6 million. (This figure is compared to the value of the US and UK publishing markets in 2004 at US$24 billion and approximately A$7 billion respectively.)

In all, 244 publishing businesses sold 128.8 million books in 03/04. Fiction made up 25% of book sales. 

More interestingly, 5300 people were employed in the publishing industry as at June 2004. Publishers spent 23% of their expenses on salaries, wages, and labour, with an average salary around $50000, while 5.6% of expenses were royalties and fees due to authors. Printing costs made up 23% of expenses. 

It's interesting that more people are paid more to work in the industry surrounding the production of books as a product, than the writers who create the stories in the first place. 

Friday 26 August  2005

I spent yesterday at the Melbourne Writers' Festival together with more than 400 other writers. Perhaps it was the venue, but it felt like a much smaller event than I'd anticipated. Or perhaps I was expecting something more along the lines of the international book fairs.

Monday 8 August  2005

I passed my BIW goal on Thursday, and reached 500 words over goal by the weekend. Total of 4250 words in 5 days. Most of that was achieved working on two short stories.

Wednesday 3 August  2005

I'm hooked on David Wellington's blog-novel, Monster Island. I'm trying not to read it while attempting to meet my BIW goal, but it is very tempting. Dave serialised his zombie-genre novel last year in blog form - posting a new chapter three times a week and allowing himself no re-writes (only correcting obvious typos). Dave is a very brave man. For a novel, Monster Island is very good - for a draft, it is fabulous. He's since written two follow up serialisations in the Monster trilogy: Monster Nation and Monster Planet.

Updated: I've finished reading Monster Island, and it is awesome. I highly recommend it. Dave - congratulations on an excellent, well-plotted story, with memorable characters, and a juicy twist in the tail. Pun intended.  

Monday 1 August  2005

Book-in-a-week has crept up on me again. I'm trying for 3750 words (15 double-spaced pages) in 5 days.

Monday 25 July  2005

On Thursday I watched the footage from the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince book launch. What an awesome build-up and a spectacular event - and to think the fuss is about a book! And a book for children, at that. The idea sends delicious thrills down my spine when I think that these children - with their book-devouring enthusiasm - will be adults, or close to adult-hood, when my book finally reaches the shelves. 

I remember seeing all the adults and children dressed up as characters from the books and thinking how important fantasy and make-believe are for children - and equally how important escapism is for adults. Every now and again we need an opportunity to let go of the things that worry us for a little while. 

Over the weekend my hubby took me to see Pooh's Heffalump Movie. I highly recommend it for an hour of escapism. Imagine living in the Hundred Acre Wood, where there's no such thing as war or crime.

Tuesday 19 July  2005

I completed the "Book in a Week" challenge and reached my goal on Sunday. 

Saturday 16 July  2005

I'm nearly through my first "Book in a Week" challenge. I have 500 more words to write to make my goal of 2500 words in seven days. 

Wednesday 13 July  2005

I've had a number of people ask how many pages my word count equates to. I've just passed the magic 5000 word mark, which is approximately 20 pages of a commercial paperback, or 10 A4 pages single-spaced.

Friday 8 July  2005

My heart goes out to the people of London. My novel now unfortunately seems so sadly appropriate - despite it being set many generations into the future, humans are still fighting each other, and for reasons they've already forgotten. The battles have become a case of retaliation and counter-retaliation. 

Every action has an equal and opposite re-action.

Tuesday  28 June 2005

I had a good writing day today. Words seem to be flowing again. Still have plenty of notes to write on the stand-alone prequels to this novel. But it all helps to keep the muse happy. 

Thursday 23 June 2005

I've been writing tons of notes on areas of this novel, but I can't seem to sit down and do much work on the novel itself. 

Wednesday 8 June 2005

I've started dreaming about my characters again, which is nice. I've missed them. It's much more relaxing than dreaming about spreadsheets and html. And more inspiring.

Thursday 2 June 2005

This novel [my second] has been side-lined while I was working on the Word 4 Writers course, so I've had a long break between Chapter 1, which I completed last year, and Chapter 2 which I've starting working on now (more than six months later!). My word count when I left off was at about 3500 words. 

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