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Today was a fun day. My mother and I went to our cousin Michael’s riding school as she will be drawing some of his horses.

Here is a picture.

It was a fun day, I haven’t been that close to horses for a long time - not since I visited my dad’s continually losing racehorse at different stable many years ago. I would like to have a go riding some time. Horses obviously feature in a lot of fantasy stories and I would like to be able to write with more authority on the subject. We got some good photos, the horses of course, but also a few that will help for possible settings, such as the hay shed etc. Although I have already written a children’s picture book dealing with horses, I am sure there will be more to come in the future. Actually I need to look at that picture book and expand it a little because it is slightly under the average wordcount for the kind of book that it is. Once I have done that mum can continue with the illustrations again. I think it will turn out well, but we are both so busy with different projects it might be some time until it is completed.

Tomorrow night I am going to see an Australian group called Sirocco at the Kwinana Community Centre.It should be interesting as they play unusual instruments, and their music (from what I can gather) appears to be inspired my many different cultures around the world. I have never heard of them before but I am sure it is going to be a good night. It will probably be the subject of my next blog entry.

Until then…

Category : Journal

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There was so much build up for three days, and now it is done. I am glad, really glad to be able to start fiction writing again. I feel as if I have a renewed purpose and drive to succeed, that it is only a matter of spending the time and doing the work, and all will fall into place. I know it will be hard, that there will be many rejections yet, but I am determined. What is the cause of these feelings… I don’t know. The poetry chapbook was a successful project and I am proud of the result, but it has kept me from my real goal for some time, and I am ready to get back to what I like to do the most…. telling stories. Sharing with you a world which is a little darker but much more fantastic than real life. An experience, one that I hope you will remember long after you read it. That is my aim, and I hope this blog will give you an insight into the process that goes on ‘behind-the-scenes’ of my writing life. This is a renewal of what this blog was supposed to be, and what I am trying to achieve.

Kind Regards,

Adam Wieland

Category : Chapbook 2008, Journal

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I have finally read “Dragonflight” by Anne McCaffrey which has been on my bookshelf unread for over 10 years - I have so many books (and I keep buying more and more) that my reading list is extremely long, and this series (sadly) has languished somewhere in the middle for quite some time. Now that I have read it, I’m moving book 2 up to fifth place, so hopefully it shouldn’t be another 10 years before I get to visit Pern again. It is a true classic and deserves to have been in print for the last 39 years.

My reading list has only been written down a few times in my life, mostly I have kept it in my head -  a rough order of what I am going to read when, but with the number of books that I have it is quite easy to forget what is there to choose from. Sometimes I find things when I am looking through them and it feels like getting them new again. Not that all the books are new, of course, I have found a great many bargains in secondhand stores, garage sales and the like. So, in order to keep a record for myself I am going to use a section of this blog to keep a running list. It should be an interesting addition to the website and it allows me to comment quickly on each book as I have read it or as it joins the list.

At the moment I will start with the top five:

1) The Mammoth Book Of Best New Manga 2nd Edition - A purchase I made a couple of days ago in Angus and Robinson. It really delivers on its title with 544 pages!!

2) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - I have been looking forward to this one for a while. A Christmas present. Even though I have enjoyed each of the books immensely I have always waited 6 months or so before reading them. I don’t know why.

3) The Poker Club by Ed Gorman - A signed limited edition from CD - also a Christmas present.

4) Peter Jackson - A Film-Makers Journey - A birthday present from last year.

5) Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey - Purchased the same time as ‘Dragonflight’ (10 years ago) when I was a member of Doubleday’s Science Fiction and Fantasy bookclub. The third book of the initial trilogy is also further down my list. 

So, that is my current top five. As I update the list I will work out the books further down and include them in future posts.

ANW

Category : Journal, Reading List

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I have been trying to set up a new business that last couple of weeks, but after a lot of research and some monetary outlay, it appears this new venture is dead before it started. In some respects this is good - I now have more writing time again. I think that I am going to spend more time on my own projects, I might be making a lot less money now, but hopefully, fingers crossed, it will be worth it later. What I am working on now is a better routine, one that allows me a good amount of time in the morning and early afternoon for writing, and leaves the rest of the afternoon and night for my secondhand book selling business. I am trying to increase my productivity in all areas, so that this can be a more successful year than the last couple have been.

ANW

Category : Journal

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For the last couple of hours I have been creating a mock version of the chapbook using the poems that I have already written, and it appears that I am a lot closer to finishing it than I realized - There are only 12 pages left to fill. That is reassuring to know, because the deadline is getting closer, and I am trying hard not to panic and write inferior work just to get it done in time. I have already been guilty of it once with one of the poems I wrote last month, and upon realizing it I threw it in the bin. No one is going to see that one in its current state. I am much happier about a poem  called ‘Four-Part Harmony’ that is one of the stars, perhaps the best one in the chapbook so far.

There does seem to be a theme of ’The Arts’ running throughout the works, and that is also one of themes of the art exhibition where I will be selling it (at least the theme of my mother’s paintings there.) It wasn’t exactly a conscious decision, because some of the poems are a couple of years old. I guess it shows that it is something I have been preoccupied with for some time now. Anyway,  I have ideas for at least another 4 poems and a science-fiction flash fiction piece, all of which fit the theme. If I fill up all the remaining space I will have to consider adding more pages to the chapbook. That will make the book more expensive for me to get printed, but I want to give those who buy it good value for money. I have decided to sell it for approx $10.00 Australian. I think that is a fair price.

Tomorrow morning I will start another draft of a poem, probably about painting, I have had the idea for some time and I have a feeling that it will turn out well - hopefully with the same emotional impact as “Four-part Harmony” Thank you for taking the time to read this. I will continue to update this blog over the coming months as I near the completion of the project.

Category : Chapbook 2008, Journal

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Just a quick progress report.

I have been watching a lot of tennis on TV the last couple of weeks. One of my old writing friends referred to this time each year as ‘The Australian Open black hole’ in regards to my writing. It has been a great tournament with a lot of upsets. One of the best that I have seen, but I am disappointed that Federer lost his semi-final tonight. Although I have been paying a lot of attention to the tennis, I have made some progress in the writing of the chapbook - I should have the final draft of a poem completed tomorrow, and another should follow soon after. Once they are done I will work on a new flash fiction piece, probably science fiction or fantasy. I don’t feel that my horror writing would fit with the tone of the other contents already chosen for this chapbook, so none will be included.

Thankfully I now have more time to complete the project, as I went to ’snap printing’ and they gave me a better quote on putting the ‘book together  -$256  Australian for 100 copies.  They also said it would only take two or three days, which gives me a few extra weeks to finish writing all the new content. I’ve also been looking through the directories on the computer for some special things to include, articles, short stories etc which only a small number of people have previously seen.

I will post again soon with more details.

Regards,

Adam.

Category : Chapbook 2008, Journal

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The last week or so I have been very busy preparing for my grandmother’s 80th birthday party. A lot of work was needed on the house and the garden to make it alright for the event, and it left me little time to do anything else beside my daily work. Thankfully the birthday has passed and I can get back to my writing. It is scary to think that it is already the 16th of January and I still have so much to do. I only have two or three poems completed and one that is in an early draft - so if I don’t get a move on now the chapbook will not be finished in time. One thing that has been annoying is that I have had a couple of what I believe to be great novel ideas, but they just have to stay in my notebook for the time being, I can’t get distracted by anything else. Poetry is fun, but it is also hard work, at least I find it hard, as I am used to much longer formats. The chapbook will not be all poetry, there will be one or two flash fiction pieces and maybe an essay or article. I like the idea of there being a lot of different things included - it makes it more interesting to read… and for me to write.

Category : Chapbook 2008, Journal

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I want to begin by wishing all of you a happy and successful 2008. I know a lot of my readers of this blog are writers, or aspiring writers, and I especially hope that this can be the year that you break out, make your first sale, finish your novel, sell your script or are successful in whatever your goals are for 2008. 

Category : Journal

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This will be a long one folks, sorry. It will actually be more like three or four posts combined, so I apologize if it turns out a bit disjointed.

 Last Sunday I was involved in a chat that I helped organize for the Australian Horror Writers Association. Our special guest was Don D’Auria from the Leisure Horror imprint of Dorchester Books.  You can read the transcript of it here. The element that really stood out to me was:

[Marty] If you come across a book that is good but you just don’t have room for it in your publishing schedule, what do you do? Do you just reject it?

[GuestSpeaker] Marty, that’s a painful question. If something is really, really great, I buy it even if I have no room for it. But for every new author I buy I have to cut an existing one.  

I never thought about it like that before. For every new writer that is published, a previously established writer will lose out. Ouch. It shows why first novels need to stand out, because they have to be good enough to take the spot of a known entity. It also shows the struggle that veteran writers are involved in to stay in the game.

It is a bit like the election, which I am glad to say was a Labor victory. I couldn’t stand another three years of the Liberals, the last three have been hell with them controlling both houses of parliament. I voted Green in this election with my preference going to Labor. Plus I voted for the Greens in the Senate. I thought their vote would be higher this year, but I think people wanted the Liberals out so much they put labor first even if they would usually put a minor party in first position. I hoped that the Greens would hold the balance of power but it doesn’t look like that will happen. Sure, Labor need the greens vote to pass anything, but they also need Family First and Nick Xenophon, both of whom I dislike. Well that is not completely fair to Nick Xenophon - actually it is not fair at all really because I hardly know anything about him.  I disagree with him on the gambling issue but otherwise he seems genuine in wishing to help his state and I agree with the bulk of his answers on his faq page. I just hope he is not another Brian Harradine 

It was sad to see the Democrat party die in this election. I have a fondness for them because they were who I voted for in my first election, but they lost my support for various reasons since then.I still check their policies (like I do of almost every party) before I cast my vote. I was really annoyed to miss some of the election coverage because I had a community theatre show on that night. Hi-De-Hi has gone really well. It is a light enjoyable show perfect for the slot just before Christmas. I might be a horror writer, but there are some times for laughter and fun, and this show has it in spades. It also seems to be making quite a bit of money for the theatre, and it is a show that I am proud to be a part of. It is  enjoyable because it is basically contains the cast of two previous shows that I have been involved in (’Dad’s Army and ‘Joseph’) The whole place is very much like family. I’ve seen the same people fairly regularly for around five years now.

The play does however take up a lot of time, and that is the only negative. I have a couple of days break now, which is great, but unfortunately I have tax and health care forms to fill out - which will most likely stop me from doing any writing for at least two of those days. After that though I should have a lot more free time. The short story that I am working on, a dark fantasy, is going really well, and after that I have plans for maybe one or two more short stories and then I will return to novel work.

I expect next year to be a good one for me. I have momentum and a lot of work ready to be sent out, plus some interesting projects to work on and try and get published. Along with the novel length projects I will also have my first chapbook of poetry ready to be released next year.

So thank you for reading this long post. The next one will probably be sometime in mid December, unless of course anything important happens before then.

Kind Regards,

Adam Wieland.

Addition - I actually wrote this into my notebook after coming back from the show Sunday afternoon. Since then I have completed my Tax (it only took one day - Yes!) and am back to work running my ebay secondhand book selling business and spending time on my writing and poetry. 

Category : Journal

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It was so hot today. Still is at 10:34 pm as I write this. Was at the theatre today for a rehearsal, and the heat was almost unbearable. 37c and I was wearing a long sleeved shirt and what could best be described as a real estate jacket. At least my part didn’t require a full suit. I just hope it is cooler when the shows start in a couple of weeks, but it still going to be hot. It always is under the lights, and there is never enough air. The Matinee shows are the worst, I’ve been to them as an audience member during summer and considered leaving early. If I ever won lotto I would certainly pay to install better air conditioning.

The actual show is going much better (it should with less than two weeks left) , although I was having sound problems today as I am now going through the main speakers and not my own amplifier. A couple of times my levels were way off and near the end I lost sound completely when one of the cast started using a different microphone. There are still 4 rehearsals left and one of them is a double -  so there will be time to sort that out.

I am sure it will all turn out OK. It always does…  somehow.

Category : Journal

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