Writing

Writing has been part of my life from early days. I have fond memories of sitting in my bedroom with two girlfriends writing our version of The Monkees immediately after watching that week’s episode – and of course we each got the Monkee we fancied *grin*.

Then I wrote Hawaii 5-O episodes, where Danno always got the girl, but then she got killed or something equally tragic happened and he ended up broken-hearted, yet again.

So the romance side of my writing got off to a very early start. Then I moved to Australia and writing prose took second place to writing computer code. I did that for quite a few years then I decided I didn’t like the way Captain Kirk got off relatively scot-free from his adventures on the Genesis Planet. So I wrote a Star Trek story where Commander Kruge’s consort made a valiant effort to avenge his death. Obviously she failed as Kirk went on to die helping Picard stop Soran from destroying the Enterprise after Riker parked it rather spectacularly on the planet. Hmm, is it obvious I'm also a Trekkie?

I still wrote and studied code for a while – gained a Certificate IV in Information Technology (Software Development) – but then the lure of prose bit deep and I spent a year writing more Star Trek stuff. I look back at it now and have a good laugh but it was all practice for the real thing, which I’ve been working on since 2001. It's in final edit mode and soon I hope to take the next step and send it off to an agent. A big step. A big scary step.

'The Dragon Master' started life on August 31, 2001 as a dream about a minstrel and a lady falling in love but because of their difference in status they couldn’t be together. (See, I was doing it again – I should write soap operas!) Then I discovered the Voyageronline website while researching submission guidelines and realised I wanted to write fantasy.

So I added the dragons and a whole new storyline took off under my fingers.

Two years to the minute from when I started writing I wrote the two magic words – The End – and felt utterly bereft. It was done, finished. What do I do now?

I re-wrote, I polished, I edited, I re-wrote again, I polished again, I edited again! I did that for two years. Then I sent it to a friend for her response. I almost wished I hadn't. But her critique was invaluable. And that is all part of being a writer. Having to rework what you have written until it is so sparkly and gleaming that it stands out in the slush pile and has a much better chance of being picked up by a publisher.

For great advice on writing and the processes of being published, the following author sites have great writing advice and FAQ sections (and once I am published I will have a similar section on my website):

Karen Miller (author of the Kingmaker KingBreaker duology and as K. E. Mills of the Rogue Agent series): www.karenmiller.net

Trudi Canavan (Black Magician, Age of Five Gods): www.trudicanavan.com

Glenda Larke (three trilogies and still counting): www.glendalarke.com

So, keep an eye out for Dragon Master – it may be coming to a bookstore near you any year now.