Monthly Archives: October 2011

Part Two of the Interview with Me!

Part one is here, written by Rani McDonald.

There are a number of perks that come with successful Blogging. Talk us through those.

Yes there are perks but they don’t come for free… well technically they do come for free but it’s a lot of work. I get tonnes of review books, even more emails from people wanting to send me books, which I’ve been forced to decline. So yeah I get a lot of free books, I get a lot of event invites, I guess I’m also privy to a lot of information. I guess another major perk is networking. I mean… I would like to think I’m a pretty good networker!

There are a lot of people out there that are in it just for the perks, how do the publishers distinguish them from the genuine literary lovers?

Totally. Word of mouth. ...

Me interviewed! (So more of me rambling, essentially :P)

Hey kids! Something a bit different and special today: part one of a two-part interview with me by a lovely girl from uni, Rani McDonald. Read more for insights into blogging, writing, reading, books and everything related! Part two will be up tomorrow.

 

The Girl Most Likely

 In a world where the internet is fast becoming the nerve-centre of society and blogging is the new darling of the media, I sat down to talk with rising star Megan Burke about her blog, the Melbourne literary scene and her new manuscript.

It’s 11:04am on a brisk spring morning in Melbourne and I’m running late. I rummage in my bag as I walk, locate my phone and shoot off a quick text explaining. Before long there is a bleep! bleep! and a reply comes back, ‘That’s ok! ...

Absence

Hell-o! *Peers* It's been a long time!

Pardon me just dropping off the face of the Internet. It's been a very long few weeks!

Essentially, I was just snowed under with finishing up uni work, and taking extra shifts at work.

Boring, yes. But it also meant that most nights I didn't get into bed til midnight or later, and was up at 7am.

Somedays - and this is the big shock - I didn't even turn on my computer!!! Shock horror I know, especially coming from someone who lives on their computer!

But I can finally breathe - well, sort of, as I have a killer flu and lost my voice the morning I was supposed to babysit five kids under 10 and a 7 month old, fun times! - until the end of November when my new degree starts!

Snap-shot of updates from the last ...

Guest Post: Steven O’Connor on The Writers’ Curse

Invited to write a guest post on the writing, editing or the publication process, I thought I’d talk about that bump in the road all writers know: the rejection.

Like most published books, my one and only (and, sigh, very close to my heart) young adult thriller, EleMental, was rejected quite a number of times before it was finally published last year.

But what writer can boast of actually possessing a favourite rejection? For I do. My favourite, without a doubt, has to be: ‘Your book is satanic’.

This assessment wasn’t directly served to me; a very nice gentleman who runs a local independent publishing house passed it on. Up until then he’d been considering publishing my book but needed financial backing. It was this hoped-for backing that had determined it ‘satanic’.

We’d even had preliminary discussions about the cover artwork (a very exciting ...

I Love Liane Moriarty

So as everyone knows I LOVE LIANE MORIARTY and tonight I was pretty BESIDE MYSELF to be seeing her. In Person. Up Close And Personal. In The Flesh. (And a variety of other fun cliches!)

After a somewhat rocky start (few wrong turns here, banked up traffic there) I finally made it and sat in my car outside the venue half an hour early (*cough nerd cough*) before going in.

AHHH. She was wearing a long-ish skirt, a cool looking top with an asymmetrical neck line and these awesome boots.

It's a funny thing, meeting someone you've idolised for so long. Will they be as awesome in person as in your mind?

WELL LIANE WAS JUST AS AWESOME.

So, I got to the venue (so cute! The same place as Cath Crowley's Graffiti Moon launch) and there she was! It took all my might not ...

Interview with me in Bookseller + Publisher Magazine

I've been sitting on this for a few weeks now and can you imagine how hard it has been to NOT tell you?

Very hard, is the answer!

I am very excited to be able to tell everyone to go check out October's Bookseller + Publisher magazine as there's a feature in there by the lovely Andrew Wrathall interviewed myself and Steph of Read In A Single Sitting as well as a couple of publishers.

It covers blogging as new media and a little of the relationship between publishers and bloggers.

Look! Look! I got the pull quote! HOW VERY EXCITING AND AWESOME!

As a side note, I don't know how many of you noticed but the top bar has been changed from "Ramblings of a Book Nerd" to "Literary Life: Ramblings of a Book Nerd" as it was this article that made me ...

Literary Photos

I'm in a visual mood today kids!

Enjoy this collection of literary photographic treats (and be sure to check out Bookfessions! What a great site!).

 

 

 

Guest Story: A. S. Patric’s ‘Paradise River’

Hey Lit Life-rs! I have a treat for you today!

To celebrate the launch of the Rattler and other stories, A. S. Patric has very kindly given us one of his stories to read!

So sit back, grab a cuppa and enjoy...

PARADISE RIVER

Lincoln Wallow didn’t believe in being as busy as a beaver. He was well known to be as lazy as hell, truth be told. That didn’t stop him dreaming of living in the best dam house on the River.

Guest Post: Patricia L. O’Neill on Discovering Secret Histories (Plus win her trilogy!)

Have you ever discovered a secret about someone that changed the way you felt about them?

Suppose everyone said a person was a major dirt-bag, but you stumbled across some information that proved that the dirt-bag was really a hero. Wouldn’t you want to tweet that to the whole world?

That’s why I wrote The Hatshepsut Trilogy.

Hatshepsut was ancient Egypt’s famous female Pharaoh, and she’s the most misunderstood woman in history, IMHO.

I first heard of her in history class, where they told us that she was a power-hungry usurper who stole the throne from her young nephew. Although she became one of Egypt’s greatest rulers, after she died, her nephew had his revenge. He destroyed all her monuments and tried to erase her from history, which was punishment for her audacity in daring to rule over men. To me, the whole lesson ...

Competition: Flesh and Blood

The second title in this exciting supernatural series, featuring our world, but not as we know it.

With the Ring of Sorrows still missing, and the covenant between othernaturals and mortals broken, Chrysabelle's life outside the realm of vampire nobility is about to take another downhill slide. She's vowed to help the outcast Malkolm find a way to lift his curse, but that means returning to the home city of the vampire who's trying to kill her. The breaking of the covenant has also activated an ancient organisation designed to protect mankind - the Kubai Mata.

And when Kubai Mata Thomas Creek comes to Paradise City, Chrysabelle finds herself torn between the need to save Malkolm and the desire to stay on the path of light. Finally fulfilling her vow to Malkolm proves devastating for Chrysabelle. If she survives, what's left of ...