Back from holidays + diary + Janna update

Hi everyone and my apologies for the LONG silence! I'm just back from a wonderful trip to Russia, followed by several weeks in the UK walking in Janna's footsteps in Winchester, Wilton and Grovely forest amongst other wonderful places. We also went to York. I visited the Richard III museum to an exhibition depicting that 'wicked child killer' on trial for the murder of the princes in the tower. But did he do it? Read Josephine Tey's wonderful The Daughter of Time and then see what you think!
I've hit the ground running, still battling jet lag, but I've just spent a really great day with some very talented students from St Philip's Christian College up at Port Stephens (NSW). One of the teachers has organised a short story writing competition for all their campuses, and I had the delightful task of reading and critiquing their stories, after which I spent a day workshopping their stories with them and also talking about writing short stories and creative writing in general. It was a fun day and the students were terrific. Full marks to their teacher for organising it all. The students will now rewrite their stories (or write new ones) and I'll do the final judging. I'm really looking forward to seeing their work.
Diary dates: if you're in the area and would like to come to anything below, it'll be great to meet you. I'll be at a Childrens Book Council Southern branch lunch down in Wollongong on Wednesday, 1st July. On Friday 3rd we'll be celebrating the reissue of the fabulous Road to Camelot anthology at the Hughenden Hotel in Sydney. A number of authors were invited to contribute stories featuring Arthurian characters (Lancelot, Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin etc) at some moment that changes their lives. I chose to write about Elaine of Astolat who was the inspiration behind Tennyson's mysterious poem, The Lady of Shalott, and also my own trilogy titled Shalott. On Saturday, 18th July the Plantagenet Society is having an open day at St John's Hall in Gordon, with lots of interesting historical stuff including talks on medieval clothing and heraldry, medieval music, and a debate on 'is there any truth in history' which I'll be taking part in along with Isolde Martyn, another historical fiction writer - we haven't decided which side we'll be arguing on yet! And on Sunday, 19th July I'm running a one-day workshop on crime-writing at the Writers Centre in Sydney. This will be followed by a fantasy-writing workshop at the Writers Centre on Sunday, 2nd August. Contact the Writers Centre info@nswwriterscentre.org.au if you want to find out more. I'll also be busy during book week - more about that in my next post.
I finished writing the last Janna, #6 Thyme for Trust, just before leaving on holiday and I'm now waiting for feedback from Gillian Polack, an expert in all things medieval, who checks my manuscripts for me. Once that's done, I shall be sending out signals into the universe: PUBLISHER WANTED!! I'll keep you posted.
Meantime the school holidays are almost upon us. Enjoy!

check out the aussie authors site

Just to let you all know about a new site I've joined: www.aussieauthors.com FYI, this month I'm the featured guest author so do go in and have a look around. At the same time you can check out reviews of The Janna Mysteries and info on other books I've written. You can also read my 'author interview' if you want to know something about me and about how I work.
While you're on site you can also check out the author spotlight section for other author profiles, both national and international, plus book reviews, new releases and a host of other interesting stuff. Enjoy!

WEEKEND RETREAT & UPDATE

Guess you're back at school again, but hope you all enjoyed your holidays and made the most of late summer and a last surf or swim. Brrr ... it's freezing today. Just back from a weekend retreat with the Society of Women Writers, which was great. Lots of listening to writers talking about their craft, and lots of good workshops - including one on magic and fantasy which I was asked to run. We all had fun playing with magical objects and creating fantastic and magical creatures in interesting scenarios. It was at the Brahma Kumaris Centre in WILTON - yes! Can you believe it?? This is Wilton NSW not Wilton UK - but I shall be back visiting Wilton UK shortly, and I can't wait. We're also going to Winchester, which is where Janna needs to find work in #5 (Sage for Sanctuary)and also find shelter during the siege of Winchester. We're going to York too; it also has an interesting past (think Wars of the Roses), a beautiful cathedral and a medieval street to explore.
I'm getting so many questions coming in about Janna and Hugh; you all seem dead keen for them to wind up together. all I can say is ... there's a lot of surprises to come. I'm afraid I'm still waiting for news about future publishing but I really REALLY hope that you'll be able to finish Janna's quest one day.

April Fool's Day and happy Easter

Has anyone played a trick on you today? It's early yet, but I've escaped so far. Hope it's the start of a great month for you all.
My thanks to all of you who are sending in messages of support for the Janna Mysteries and offering to help in whatever way you can. I'm still trying to find an overseas publisher or agent (the economic downturn hasn't helped!)and I'll keep you posted. I also, unfortunately, made a big mistake on the German edition of Rosemary for Remembrance; it will be published in spring next year, not this year.
As well as writing, I've been really busy running workshops (fantasy, crime, writing for children and teenagers, and memoir-writing.) A little bit of something for everybody! I also gave a talk about the historical background of the Janna Mysteries to the Plantagenet Society (it was the son of the Empress Matilda and her husband, Geoffrey of Anjou, who became Henry II, first of the Plantagenet line of the English kings.)
I'll be talking to the Society of Women Writers about my new book, Turning the Page next week. Maggie's story is all about learning how to read and write - you'll find details on my website. It's for primary school students and was published by the National Museum of Australia. The Society is also organising a retreat shortly, at which I'll be conducting a fantasy-writing workshop - and also meditating and listening to other wonderful writers and agents talk about their work. I'm looking forward to it.
Have a great Easter, and I hope the Easter bunny brings you lots of chocolates - yummmm, I LOVE chocolate! Also hope you all enjoy the school holidays with lots of fun times and, hopefully, lots of reading time too!

Janna, and how to help promote the series

Greetings to you all, and once again my thanks for your continuing messages of support for the Janna Mysteries. I truly appreciate hearing from you. One lovely fan has asked what readers can do to help with getting the series published. The only answer really is: buy more books. Tell your friends about the series, encourage them to buy the books and read them. Encourage your school and local librarians to stock the series. Suggest to your teachers that reading the Janna Mysteries while studying the middle ages in history is one of the BEST and most painless ways of learning about life in medieval time! That's because, as Janna travels from forest to farm to abbey to town and in the company with jongleurs and pilgrims and also (finally) with members of the royal household, so readers get a glimpse of every different aspect of medieval life - and it's all historically accurate. (As well as being a good, page-turning read!) So, maybe I can recruit you all as my ambassadors - to spread the word, to get it out there?? And let's see what happens. Many thanks.

update + happy Valentine's Day!

I'm not writing this blog as often as I should - busy, busy writing and doing other stuff - more of that shortly. First up, my thanks to all of you for your continuing messages of support for the Janna Mysteries. I'm on the case, but I'm afraid as yet I have no good news to report. Just wanted you to know that it's heart-warming for me to know that Janna has touched your lives as she has touched mine: together, somehow or another, we shall see her complete her quest!
I have quite a few talks and workshops etc coming up over the next couple of months. Please keep your eyes on my diary (on my website) and, if you're in the area, please come and say hello. It's always great to meet you.
This month's got off to a good start with the launch of Turning the Page, written for the Making Tracks series at the National Museum. I'm now about to write another story, this time based on a photograph not an artefact, for an upcoming anthology. It's a different way of writing but I believe it's something students do quite a lot at school for creative writing projects. I'd be interested to hear how you go about it as I'm finding it quite a challenge! I've just done a 'writing for teenagers' workshop and am now preparing a crime-writing workshop for the Writers Centre in Sydney next Sunday (Feb 22nd) if any of you are budding crime writers?? Meantime I hope you all got a card (and a red rose??) today from someone who really cares. Stay well, stay happy.

Fantasy-writing workshops + Good Reading magazine

I've just had a fun day at Port Stephens, running two holiday workshops for high school students on 'writing fantasy' at the libraries at Raymond Terrace and Tomaree. I told the students a little bit about my books and where my ideas come from, and showed them a powerpoint display of some of the sites I've visited while researching both the Shalott trilogy and also the Jannas. We talked about the conventions of writing fantasy: answering the questions WHAT is the quest about, WHO goes on the quest, and so on. We finished with a series of fun exercises exploring the possibilities of magical objects and magical creatures, and students were then invited to choose one of their writing exercises to read out. Some BRILLIANT writing there, and some wonderful ideas too. Onya, everyone; I hope you enjoyed the workshops as much as I did!
The new (February) issue of Good Reading is now out, and I have an article in it, written about my morning walks and how they help to inspire what I write. I'm often asked about how to get over writer's block, and my answer is always, first up, to go for a walk - without your iPod, best friend, boyfriend. girlfriend or anyone else. (But you can take the dog, if you have to!) I find walking is wonderful thinking time, and often knotty problems in my plots/characters are resolved as I walk about, so that I come back to my computer refreshed and willing to hammer out a few thousand more words!
Enjoy what's left of the school holidays and all the best for 2009.