Category: A Novel Adventure

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Uh-oh! Ouch! Heeeeeelp!

IMG_0625Uh-oh! I have to admit to Googling extract vs excerpt today and still being no clearer. So, rightly or wrongly, I am making a decision and going with … excerpt – if the passage is to be read, and extract  – if the passage is to be written or included in another document.

There!
Decision made.
Well, that one at least.
I’m not so reckless with all my decisions, and certainly not when it comes to deciding, out of the 140,000 words that is House for all Seasons, which part I should extract for a reading excerpt (and I definitely don’t want to bore people to death with one that’s all wrong or too long).
So… Readers? Authors? I need your help.
Authors: What advice do you have?
Readers: Who have you seen do readings and how did they do it? Do you enjoy them?
Should authors do the reading themselves, or use someone else? How long should the reading be – time wise – and from which part of the novel?
  • The beginning?
  • Something to tease (leaving them wondering)?
  • Something thought-provoking?
  • Something that defines a character perhaps?
I suppose one might need a couple of different excerpts to cover different situations when, for example, the audience is mostly writers, or, as is the case for me come March, it is a group of seniors. (Seniors Week at Coffs Harbour library.)
Any thoughts or previous experiences appreciated.
By the way –

It seems not even Merriam Webster Online can decide which one I should be using.

1ex·tract

a: to draw forth (as by research) <extract data>

b: to pull or take out forcibly <extracted a wisdom tooth> Ouch!

c: to obtain by much effort from someone unwilling <extracted a confession>

2ex·cerpt

: a passage (as from a book or musical composition) selected, performed, or copied : also ‘extract’

 

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My Kleenex Cover Moment

HFAS front cover working

Here it is. And my reaction is crazy: crying, dizzy and shaking (so much I can’t type).

Is this weird or is it because it is just so wonderful — the cover and the significance of this achievement … this dream come true.

Thank you Larissa Edwards and the Simon & Schuster team. You are the best in the business with a beautiful boutique way of conducting that business. It makes you very special and I am very grateful you loved my book so much.

 

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They must be crackers!

SAMSUNG DIGITAL CAMERAOn her blog, Helene Young asked recently, “What do you love most at this time of year”. http://www.heleneyoung.com/2012/12/whats-it-to-you/ and I left a comment that was probably a bit ba-humbug.

I’ll explain why…

If you were to come to my house in December you would be completely underwhelmed by tinsel, fake snow and festive glitter; no tree (hate plastic and I refuse to cut a real one anymore); no gifts (I prefer ‘just because’ gifts throughout the year).

I am not a Christmas person. I do appreciate the tradition and the meaning, and I remember as a child thebaa humbug excitement of waking up to a Christmas tree cluttered with parcels, but these days, I am older, wiser … more frugal! (Besides, December/January also happens to be the busiest of time for my B&B. No rest for the wicked, as they say!)

I’m not all ba-humbug, though. I am really just more of a NYE girl—always have been; and no, not for the reasons you are thinking! It is not the partying, the champagne, the countdown. And it’s certainly not the fireworks.

Since 2001 I’ve boycotted fireworks. (I’m probably the only one who cheered when they banned crackers and cracker night years ago!) Since then, I’ve never understood why we have to spend so much money sending hundreds of thousands of dollars into the sky for a single night’s entertainment when we have people living in poverty, volunteer emergency services personnel who should be paid in gold … Okay, I’ll stop. You get my point!

Why am I writing this now?

Remember the Black Christmas bushfires that burnt for almost three weeks from 25 December 2001 across New South Wales? It was the longest continuous bushfire emergency in NSW history. Low rainfall across winter & spring 2001 combined with a hot, dry December created ideal conditions for bushfires.

On Christmas Day, strong westerly winds fuelled more than 100 bushfires across NSW, creating a plume of smoke that extended across Sydney. This plume of smoke did not clear for some days as the bushfires continued to burn, creating some of the worst pollution that Sydney has ever experienced. **

So I was surprised (and a little disappointed) that Sydney went ahead with its NYE
fireworks spectacular, despite fires burning Lane Cove National Park, the Royal National Park & Blue Mountains National Park. I thought, they must be crackers! Overall approximately 3,000 square kilometres (740,000 acres) were burnt. 121 homes were destroyed across the state and 36 damaged, mostly in the lower Blue Mountains and west of the Royal National Park around Helensburgh. So intense, Sydney made CNN News and The New York Times, and smoke could be seen from space.

I know the NYE fireworks mean a significant income for the City, and people travel from all over the world (I guess that’s something to be proud of). But as I sit here watching the catastrophic fire conditions of January 2013 unfold I have to hope some of those multi-millions of tourist dollars we’ve collected over the years are going to help those brave souls in the thick of it right now.

As you can see, NYE no longer glitters for me in quite the same way. Instead, the festive season is solitary and very personal moment as I not only look towards the future but also reflect. What I did—what I didn’t do—and how I can be a better person, a better partner, a better friend, a better sister, daughter, aunty…

Personally, NYE 2012 was a time to reflect on a year of such incredible highs and lows and so, when the clock struck midnight a little over a week ago, I added one more thing to the list for 2013…

How can I be a better author?

May 2013 make you a better ‘something’ too.

(Thank *Wiki and Credit: Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC )