Author Archives: Jenny

About Jenny

I'm an Australian writer. My latest obsession is steampunk (what a way to mis-use my history degree!), but I also write romance, random short stories and poetry.

Ideas for Blog Posts

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Last week, I couldn’t think of a blog post and fell back on exploiting Toby … what the heck! He doesn’t mind having his photo taken :) But the fact I had to resort to pet photos to make up a blog post made me think about both topics for blogs and especially those ideas that can generate a fast post on busy days.

For my sort of blog, which is just me being me and sharing what I’m interested in (and I have a magpie curiosity) a neat trick is to use some spare time to build a list of interesting websites, articles and images that can support a blog post. Then when inspiration is low, you call up the list and voila!

Another option is to think about things you know and write them up to share: recipes, gardening know how, car maintenance (ha! like I know anything about that), theatre, whatever. Embrace your inner guru and shine :)

I try not to be rant-y online. But other people make fun and informative, thoughtful posts on current events. Opinions draw people in and spark conversations.

It doesn’t hurt to lure in unsuspecting guest bloggers, either.

If you collect, you can share highlights from that passion. Maybe you collect inspiring quotations or teapots. Photos of teapots would work. Images catch people’s attention.

On the subject of images…take photos of the world around you. People have made great blogs photographing their meals.

And that’s me idea’d out. Do you have any tips for generating posts?

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The Blood Countess by Tara Moss

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One of the best parts of the Australian Women Writers Reading and Reviewing Challenge is the list of reviews by participants (and anyone can participate). There are some wonderful books out there that I suspect I’d never have stumbled across without this challenge. There are also some wonderfully talented authors out there whose work, this challenge has reminded me, I haven’t tried. Tara Moss is one.

After reading some enthusiastic reviews of Tara’s work, I decided to start with The Blood Countess. It helped that the book was available for kindle and at a really good price, under $6, bargain!

The Blood Countess is a fairytale. Orphan girl grows up “different” in a small town. Great-aunt invites her to the big city. Great-aunt transforms her life. Girl has to discover her power (linked to discovering her identity) and use it. There are villains to defeat.

What gives this story life beyond the fairytale framework is the confident yet vulnerable voice of the heroine and the fabulous use of New York as the setting. New York is perfect for fairytales.

Two handsome princes was a nice touch…each with their own issues. As you read the book, you can see Tara setting the scene for future stories.

The style and plot are light, easy to read fun. The world created is appealing. If you like your paranormal romance with a touch of fashion, you’ll adore this first-in-a-series.

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I’ve been interviewed!

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I’m over at Romance Writers of Australia talking about my writing day. It’s nice sometimes to have someone ask you questions about your craft — when I stop to think about it, I’ve learned a lot over the last few years: Editors are human, ideas are endless, the writing/reading community is awesomely supportive, and sitting in front of a computer writing is hard work!

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Toby photos

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If you’re not a fan of pet photos on blogs, look away now!

Toby - the perfect dog!

Wearing my gardening hat - I tried to snap this photo so fast it blurred!

Guilty defiance - Hats are not for eating!

"Oops, now I'm in trouble. Shouldn't have eaten the hat!"

Just quietly, I’ll confess: the photos are because my To Do list is huge and I just froze at the thought of coming up with a blog post, today. Do any of you have fallback ideas for blog posts when you’re tired?

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The Griffith Review

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At the end of 2011 I prepared for the new year by buying a couple of digital zine subscriptions. The Griffith Review was one of them and I received its 35th edition a couple of weeks ago. The theme of this issue is “surviving”. I expected mostly fiction and got mostly fact. It made for some serious, thoughtful reading. There’s lots in this edition, but picking some highlights:

Mara Bun had an interesting article, “The Path to Resilience”. She includes reference to Greensburg, the American town rebuilding itself sustainably after total tornado destruction. The notion of resilience is one that has intrigued me for years. For me (though this isn’t the element explored in Mara’s article) the defining feature of resilience is redundancy. Critical activities/necessities need to be achievable by more than one method.

Michael Gaurenda reflected on journalism and ethics in “Informed Consent”. A couple of ideas he discussed were new to me…but then, I’m not a journalist. The first was that victims of tragedy will generally talk freely with journalists, even producing photos, in the immediate aftermath of a devastating event. However, after 48 hours, this changes and they tend to refuse to deal with the media. So, how informed is their consent in that first, vulnerable and shocked 48 hours? The second idea questions whether a journalist tells other people’s stories or his or her own–in the sense that other people’s experience is filtered through the journalist’s (and editor’s) writing. To quote Michael, “The stories I wrote about them were not their stories, but mine.”

Finally, Kathy Marks has a terrible but important article on the sexual abuse on Pitcairn Island. “When Bystanders Fail” discusses exactly what its title suggests: the wilful inaction of outsiders, temporary residents of the island who were unconstrained by family or community ties or by habits of acceptance. This article, after outlining the abuse, raises the ethical challenge: Why did no outsider raise the issue of the sexual abuse of women and children? There is ample evidence that they knew it continued. Why was it left to a 15 year old Pitcairn Island girl to find the courage to speak out, and in so doing, to lose all contact with her family, community and homeland? Do we really live in a society where looking away absolves us of responsibility to protect the vulnerable and to fight evil?

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Valentine Day Fun

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What makes Valentine’s Day fun for you? Well, over at Here Be Magic, we’re hoping a giftcard or two might make you smile. We have two Happy Reading giftcards up for grabs. The contest begins Feb 10 (New York time) and ends 8 pm on the red hearts and chocolate day, itself. What could be more fun than the chance to share happy memories or your plans for this Valentine’s Day? And yes, this contest is open internationally!

 

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Staying cool

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Well, I could be talking about the weather — which I’m not — but in fact it’s about some stupendous news …

Carina Press has accepted “Courting Trouble” for publication, probably some time late this year!

Wild excitement!!!

You hear a lot about professionalism, behaving with decorum, but honestly, how can you stay cool when you’re this excited?

So I’ve broken my twice a week blogging rule to share the news.

“Courting Trouble” is a sequel to “Wanted: One Scoundrel”. It’s steampunk, again set in Western Australia during the goldrush years and it was fabulous fun to write … though the revise and resubmit from Deb required lots and lots of thinking. All paid off though, because the story now sings!

I truly can’t believe how lucky I am. To have had Angela James edit “Wanted: One Scoundrel” and now Deb Nemeth guide me through “Courting Trouble”. Somewhere along the lines I must have picked up some great karma :)

Soon as I’m down from Cloud 9 I shall update this website to reflect that “Courting Trouble” will be published! Yes, darling, we are going to the ball!

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Art

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I read (well, more like, quickly scan) Art Daily regularly. This is a great free newsletter. It arrives in my email inbox and I see what’s happening in the art world. The other day, Art Daily mentioned 1000museums.com and I clicked across to have a look at the site. It sounds really good. It supplies high quality prints of works in various museums & collections from around the world. You can even buy the prints framed. This sounded like a great deal. Who wouldn’t like to hang a nice Claude Monet reproduction on their wall?

Water-Lilies-and-Japanese-Bridge-(1897-1899)-Monet

But then I remembered I’m an author and how difficult it is to fund the creative life. Should I really spend my few art dollars on a reproduction or should I track down work I like by a living artist (you know, one who still needs to feed himself) and buy that instead?

The painting is Water Lilies & Japanese Bridge, one of my favourite Monet paintings. The colour in the original painting is breath stealing, so perfect, clear and serene. Which raises a final point about reproductions: Can they ever capture the magic of the original?

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Savage or Civilised? by Penny Russell

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For all its wealth of well-researched detail, Savage or Civilised? Manners in Colonial Australia by Penny Russell is a subtle book. It opens with mention of Norbert Elias’s notions of manners and power, and this theme underpins the history. The reader isn’t hit over the head with discussions of power, but the reality of the turbulent colonial period is evident. Power was constantly shifting and with it identity, social status and security.

Manners expressed these shifting power relations and people’s discomfort with the uncertainty of the time.

Penny Russell uses individual stories to explore the changing realities and the raw expressions of power that manners attempted to both sugarcoat and validate – the dispossession of Indigenous people from their land, the harsh lives of convicts (slave labour), the fortunes made and lost. The result is an interesting and very readable account of the Australian colonial experience.

I like the acknowledgement that manners went beyond behaviour to be tangibly expressed in clothing. Thus, costume was a major signifier of social position and of threats to the status quo — something Penny Russell discusses on the goldfields and in ladies’ cycling costumes and the new etiquette of that technology.

She discusses the impact of transportation technologies on manners — whether ship, rail or trams. All presented challenges of association, and therefore, of privacy, distance and identity for their users.

I’d have liked some discussion of communication technologies’, such as telephones and telegrams, impact on manners and customs, especially since Penny Russell relies so heavily on older communication forms of letters, diaries and newspapers as her primary sources. How was the disruption of telephones dealt with by different parts of society? The party line sounds infamous as a source of gossip and nosiness when you read old novels.

The book is wide ranging in time and social groupings, but still its narrative is coherent and  well argued. I enjoyed it.

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Recent Discoveries

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Is this a lazy post? Maybe, but you might find the odd gem. These are things I’ve discovered so far in 2012 or things it’s taken me till 2012 to understand. So here goes:

Inkjoy pens by Papermate. Love, love, love the easy writing. Very nearly as effortless as they promise. Wish I’d had them back in the day for writing exam papers :)

Reviewing. Thanks to the Australian Women Writers 2012 Challenge (the challenge is to read Aussie Women Writers’ work, not to become an Aussie Woman Writer, so relax, no need for a sex change or emigration to take part) I’ve discovered I enjoy reviewing. Sometimes it’s a bit scary trying to find the right words to describe my experience of a book, but on the whole it’s fun and the Challenge has expanded the sort of books I’m reading this year.

Thinking about losing weight is not enough to actually lose it. *sigh* Why do I have to relearn this lesson all the time? It may be time to wave a forlorn goodbye to ice cream … or maybe just make it a once a week treat? I don’t want to be rash here. No edging out on a limb and committing to exercise or anything like that!

When it’s super-hot I become fifty percent less productive, even with airconditioning. This is ridiculous! It also explains the ice cream over-consumption bewailed in the earlier point. I may have to chain myself to the air conditioner till I’ve reached the word count for the day, and then, simply collapse in front of said air conditioner.

A’kin lavendar face mist is “bliss mist”. Honestly, no calories and heaven. Of course, I could just spray my face with the ironing spray bottle, but where’s the fun in that? :)

You can buy clothes online! Did you know this? I’d forgotten. I bought a coat online a couple of years ago, but then pretty much returned to shopping in stores…you know, interacting with real people. However, with the weather being so hot I couldn’t be bothered moving (yeah, even the lure of air conditioned shopping malls couldn’t make me face the shimmering-with-heat car parks), so I had a little explore online and went with a denim skirt from Ezibuy. Very convenient – if the darn skirt fits! The skirt’s not exciting, but it does have pockets (I’m such a fan of pockets…why do people even make trousers without them?).

Dry roasted almonds are delicious! No extra oil or salt but lots of flavour. No one tell me anything bad about them. I’m counting this as a good new addiction :) and so much easier than trying to eat fresh coconut! My hands still hurt hitting that damn thing with a hammer to crack it then prising out the flesh with a butter knife. I’m sure there’s an easier way, but I don’t know it :(

Watching three hours of TV is exhausting when you’re not in practice. Summer TV (and really TV all year round, let’s be honest) seldom has shows I really, really want to watch, but yesterday, oh joy, oh rapture, new episodes of NCIS LA began here in Australia! So there I was, Mythbusters, NCIS LA and Hawaii-5O. I now have square eyes! (Didn’t your mum ever threaten you with that? along with, if you look that way when the wind changes, you’ll look that way forever!)

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