ceLEStial books

Thanks to the marvel that is Twitter , I have 'met' several wonderful writers in recent months. One of the most responsive of these has been Tamara Boyens . Her novel, Under Dark Sky Law , looked like something that I would enjoy reading.  It was a little bit tricky to find a hard copy in Australia (I don't own a Kindle....maybe I should), but the author herself helped me find a vendor.  Given that I would, ideally, love to finish a writing novel that's worth reading one day, it makes sense to share some of my reading adventures along the way. I don't get to read nearly as much as I would like (children + full time teaching), but it's one of the most important activities I engage in. It feeds my soul and helps me learn more about good writing.  The last book I read before this one was Kindred by Octavia Butler. Gorgeous! But I feel that because novels such as Kindred have received a lot of attention and reviews (as they should!), it's bette

In February this year I was sitting on the lounge, just zoning out, when the beginnings of a new story burst into the dark corners of my mind.  It's a science fiction story, which makes sense, given how much I just love speculative fiction. I've never written speculative fiction before, largely because I know that it's a lot harder than it might sound and I may very well lack the skill to do so. I spent about a week madly fleshing out 12,000 words of chapter planning and summary. The story from start-to-finish was all laid out. After that, I started writing the first draft. The first draft is sitting at around 22,000 words now. I'd made a good start overall. Though what I have needs a lot of work, of course. Term two hit. Any other teachers out there understand what I mean by that. I mean that for two weeks, every single class I teach had a half yearly exam that I then needed to mark and provide feedback for. Following those, the reports for every class were due.

SOCIETY'S ISSUES AND LESBIANS: WHY IT IS TIME TO BE MORE KIND TO THE CAST AND CREW OF THE 100           I have resisted the blogging universe for quite some time, despite having far too many opinions and a love of writing. The recent death of Lexa (played by Alycia Debnam-Carey) on The 100 , as well as the resulting backlash, has left me feeling as though I need to weigh in. So here I am, a 30 year old high school teacher who gets far too attached to fictional characters: writing my first blog. Like most of the other fans out there, I felt my heart break as Clarke kissed Lexa at the very moment that Lexa's last breath passed her lips. It was too soon. They had only been together for moments. It was Tara dying again. It was Xena dying again. It was a fifty other characters 'turning straight' or turning into rampaging stalkers. It was far too familiar. The characters have been so well written and so beautifully portrayed that I couldn't help but let t