ETSY SHOP - See my new POSTERS for SALE

 

ETSY SHOP

 A3 POSTERS of illustrations from my fantasy chapter book The Gribble's Gift which shall be self-published in 2019. Each are $10.00

G0002 -Veeleeta in Tanglemire Forest

G0001 - Twisty tree where someone or something hides

G0003 - Veeleeta and Fly Snails

G0004 - Veeleeta overlooking her village.

G0005 - Hanging village of Pooreena through the day.

G0006 - Hanging village of Pooreena through the night.

G0007 - Ebony meets the deceptive Selenites

Posters of My Illustrations

They have finally arrived. I have been drawing some illustrations for my book The Gribble's Gift which will be self published in 2019. I decided to get some A3 posters (350grm) printed and here they are. When I have my website set up I shall sell them through it for

$10.00 each .

 

Botanical Bazzar

I was soo pleased to be able to display my models at the Botanical Bazaar at the Paradise Parklands at Nerang, Qld. Aust.

It is the first time I have displayed my work even though this is the fourth year the show has been on. I was soo amazed at the numerous exhibitors and the amazing ideas that people have to help humans and the planet we live on.

I was soo pleased with the reaction I received concerning my miniature models. Soo many people were also interested in my illustrations and the story I have written (The Gribble's Gift) which shall be self published in 2019.

The Gribble's Gift novel

UPDATE - 2020

My novel is so close to being published I can taste it - I am just making sure the colour of the front cover is exactly how I would like it. SO in preparation for its release I have started a new Facebook Page especially to let people know the why's and how's of how my novel came to be a real life book. Please click on this link to take you to the Facebook Page - The Gribble's Gift,

Hello, This is the title for my first, of three, children's fantasy adventure novels. I am self publishing this book and it is soo close to being published after eleven years. YAY!

I allowed life to get in the way but I have knuckled down this year and have only two more images to draw. While I wait for the front cover to be illustrated (by someone else) I decided to have my manuscript edited just one more time just to be sure. An author only has one time to catch a persons interest. There can be no mistakes. It is not like I could go back to people and say, "Sorry about the mistakes. I have fixed them now. Do you want to buy my book again?" The answer would be NO!

Illustration for Book

I know I have been amiss when posting to this blog but I do have an excuse, I have been drawing the illustrations for my up coming fantasy novel that I will be self publishing. It will be called The Gribble's Gift.

I have spent weeks making the cover - see below. I just have to add the words that pepper the cover of a book.

The front, the spine and the back of my book The Gribble's Gift.

My Last Edit

I have been home a few days and been busy but I thought you might like to see where I had been.
I went to Heron Island. It was a two hour boat ride off of Gladstone, Queensland and it looks like this.

If you look to the right and turn the corner then walk past the Research Station there is a bush. Next to that bush I finished my first four chapters of my story. How COOL is that!



This one of the many photos I took from the glass
 bottom boat. When I can I'll put a few more on.



Horror of Horrors

Horror of horrors I have too many words. I am up to my 14th chapter in my last edit and now I find I have too many words!

I suppose the problem is that all this time I have been keeping my chapters separate and now I am adding them together, like a rolling train, as if they were a book. It is only know that I can see a word count.

I have kept records of word counts before but of course that was sort of ten edits ago! I couldn't see the point. I just wanted to write my story and delete words if necessary latter. It is NECESSARY!

I have over 50,000 words and I still have 13 chapters to go!

But don't panic I haven't done all this work just to let words get in my way.

UPDATE - 27th March 2012

I have completed deleting words from my story. I've deleted 18,021 words which means I have a total of 79,707 words left. Still too many.

I have now reprinted the new version and have started again. I want to make sure that the story still flows and if possible delete a few more words.

I have just completed the 1st chapter and was able to get rid of another 260 words. Annoying though because I had to get rid of the floating blue dots.

I did actually find deleting this many words extremely upsetting and I do feel that some of the subtle things I was telling the reader are now gone and so, IF I am able in the future, I would like to print an un-cut version of my story.

I can only hope that I will be able to even if I have to pay for it myself. It is the only thing that keeps me going, well, plus the fact that I know if I don't get rid of these words no one will publish the book.

I Sat Upon A Rock

I sat upon a rock and came up with a new beginning for my story. It all started the night before. I was walking back to our tent late at night. It was the 26th of February 2012. The wind was howling through the she oaks, the shadows were everywhere when suddenly the world seemed to stop and sounds seemed to switch off.

Words, hundreds of words came streaming into my mind and I could see them writing themselves into a new beginning of my story. Then they switched off, the wind was back, the lights of the campsite were on and I thought, 'Strewth! What was that all about!"

I rushed back to our tent and scrabbled around for a torch, paper and pen but was only able to write down half a dozen words. I knew there were more, lots more but I couldn't remember them. I went to bed. Yes surely if I settled I would remember but no that didn't work. I got up and sat out side but again no the words wouldn't come.
In the morning I went and sat on rock.

Three house later I had a new beginning of my story. The only thing I can put all of this down to was that somewhere niggling away in my sub-conscious was the idea that my story should not start with words.
I don't mean words. I mean words, you now a conversation, someone saying something and so I figured my mind had finally decided that the beginning of my story needed, had to be, MUST be changed and da da there you are. A new beginning. Most extraordinary.

I suppose you might like to know why I was on Phillip Island (Victoria) in the first place. Garry, my partner, is a volunteer flag Marshall for the World Super Bikes and he goes to Phillip Island at least once or twice a year for different events. I didn't go with him last year but this year I needed to get away so that I could finish my story. This I have done! Yay! I'm on my last edit.

If you saw my scribbles over some of the paperwork you would understand why I have to re-read and re-read my work on the computer once I've put it on. I found that some of my so-called last edits still needed three or five goings over untill I was happy with them.

I am extremely pleased to say that I have completely, definitely finished nine chapters out of twenty seven. I am also extremely pleased with my story. I believe that at this time in my life it is the best story I could come up with. Maybe if I keep writting I will be better but I like it and really that is all that matters. I have treated my story the way I treat my models. I write my stories for myself just as I build my models for myself.

I intend to have it finished, with its synopsis by the end of March 2012.

How Is My Story Going You May Well Ask

I am pleased to announce that I have received my story back from having its grammar checked. I am now re-hashing it. I have not seen the beginning of my story for many months and I am glad that only a small amount of it needed to be changed due to the changes in comas and fullstops and added suggestions.
I have twenty seven chapters to go through and I have reviewed them all and I am now waiting to go away for three weeks.
When I review a chapter I am only looking at it from that chapters point of view. When all twenty seven are done THEN I will read the book from one end to the next as a whole. I will then be able to pick out any flaws and see if any of the flows are not working.
When I go away for a few weeks I will be working on the emotion of the total book. I believe I have most of this all sorted but I just want to be sure. I'm very fortunate to able to go and sit down at Philip Island with the penguins for eight days and just read the story out to loud and MAKE sure I have all the emotion and emphasis that I can create at this time in my writing career. I've decided to get a voice recorder so that I can listen to what I am saying just in case I say something I can not remember. I don't like using these machines but I think it is necessary and I should stop being so precious.
I'll let you know how it goes.

I have Finished! Well Almost.

I have finished my story, well almost. When one is writing a story, big or small for that mater, there are so many many things that have to done. I am the type of person, I have learnt, who writes one chapter and when I am happy with it then I write another. When I have finished what I thought I wanted to say I sit down and read the whole story from beginning to end. For myself I have found writing to be like any other craft I do. In this instance I shut my eyes and touch type. When I open my eyes what I wanted to say is there on the page, mostly.
        Anyway I found that the story was pretty well what I expected but then thought 'Well hang on a minute. How are my characters going to get across a field when they are only the size of a person's thumb! How are they going to send and receive messages and more importantly I can not just have them go from A to B with nothing exciting happening. Umm ... I wonder what I could do to them?'
        Another thing I found invaluable was a 'time schedual'. Not for my writing but because I have two groups of characters that only meet up at the end of the story. I needed to know where everyone was in relation to everyone else. This was soo important. Upon creating one of these I found I needed another day with one group of my characters and so I had to create a disaster to delay them. Once this was put in place I ended up with a dilemma. I now had delayed them so much that now they had no time to catch up and be in the right place at the right time! Strewth! I'd done it now!
       I then devised a way to solve this problem and, as my story is being read at this very moment by some trusted friends, I'm sure they will tell me if the solution is plausible or not.
       Now that my story is written it is being read by, as I said before, some trusted friends who are authors themselves. I shall also be delivering my story up to a dear friend of mine who is the smartest man I've every known and he will sort out my grammar. Once all of this info comes back I intend to take myself off for a week and go through my story from top to toe and THEN it shall be finished! That is until an editor gets his/her hands on it. It just never ends!
      Now I am turning my attention to a cover letter and the synopsis.
      I can't wait to start my other story. That I am really looking forward to.