Well, our warm weather has gone the way of – I don’t know what. It’s disappeared for a few weeks, anyway. Although it was warm today, there’s definitely a chilly breeze now.
It’s getting close to Halloween. Now, I know Australia doesn’t officially do Halloween like the US, but about 10 years ago, we got introduced to it by our neighbour and I thought it wonderful how families come out and stroll through the streets together – just for one night. Unlike in the US, it’s not dark here, but early evening, so it’s not too scary for kids. But even after our neighbours moved out, we continued the tradition and I’m looking forward to this year’s. We’ve got some new things and I’m going to be cheeky and add stuff about Hidden Heritage out the front of our house. Might get some people interested enough to buy it.
The other thing is I have a new keyboard. We were doing some things around the desktop and noticed that the ends of the existing cable for the keyboard were bare, so can’t have that – not when I rely on the desktop for work as well as writing. So, I have a new one and it has a completely different feel and sound and there’s no “end” button! Haha So, I’m learning about the keyboard all over again.
Updates
Okay, the only thing that’s changed is that I noticed that Heart of Deception needed tweaking, so I’m partway through that. We’re at the pointy end of writing our Otherworldly Origins novellas, though, so it has been put on hold until the end of the month. I should be able to finish tweaking it by then. Then I’ll run it through the kindle to pick up anything else before republishing it – with a tweaked cover – yes, we did want a darkish cover, considering Marek’s work, but it did turn out a little too dark. Stay tuned!
Grow Write
Yes, our writing group is still going. We are currently working on our 2027 anthology and hope to have that out later next year. We had a great time writing our last one in 2025 and I know I’ve had fun gathering stories for next year’s.
Bushland Castle Productions
Otherworldly series
Bushland Castle Productions are currently in the second series of a group of five series related to Otherworldly topics. So far, the Emergence series has been published and the Origins series is currently being written and edited.
These are all separate novellas with an interweaving element. Emergence had a reaper.
Otherworldly Emergence
Yes, they’re completely out there! All 12 ebooks and paperbacks are available online and the best place to buy them is at www.bushlandcastleproductions.com/book-shop. Every book is listed there.
Otherworldly Origins Series
This series builds on the Otherworldly Emergence series. Some of the stories relate to the ones in the Emergence series, but some don’t.
This series is about the first of a kind. Like, the first of a creature, the first of a power, the first of a magical element. Something that has never been seen before.
The Otherworldly series are not the only publications Bushland Castle is working on. They also have a memoir series they are currently working on. The first series of that is titled “Living in Australia in the 70s”. This is for those of us who were late teens between 1970 and 1980.
They also produce Low Content journals aimed at aiding writers in whatever style in which they write.
Bushland Castle Productions also provide an author support platform. This includes workshops, twice weekly catchups online, write-in sessions on Discord and a whole heap more assistance.
So, visit www.bushlandcastleproductions.com for further information on their products and their street team – known as the Town Criers. If you’re interested in being an ARC reader for any of the series, Town Criers are always needed.
Finally, the last thing Bushland Castle Productions have is the Finding Elara podcast. This podcast features special guests who discuss their goals and achievements and answer questions about their creative works and how they came to do what they love.
Seasons 1 – 3 are available and season 4 is in the planning stage. So, stay tuned.
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
I think I need to write about all the inspiration this program gave me.
NaNoWriMo is an event, created by an American, where authors and writers are encouraged to write 50,000 words in the month of November. Bang, novel written.
I got introduced to this in the early 2000s and I have to say this has kickstarted my writing adventure. I know everyone calls it a career, but I call it an adventure. I get to meet new people and see new places and have new experiences every time I write a story.
Now, this came soon after I ended a 20-year hiatus where I only wrote procedure manuals for my fulltime job and played DND. I don’t know why it lasted so long, but it did.
I have to thank a small group that I won’t name for that end, because we got involved in writing fanfic in the Babylon 5 universe. No, I didn’t get paid for it, but it woke my thirst for writing – or should I say it “rebirthed” it (going with Babylon 5 references here).
Anyway, after that, my writing started to take off and when I was introduced to NaNoWriMo, one of the first things I did was break most of the rules – which I found out was quite acceptable.
But out of NaNoWriMo came Dark Dimensions, Heart of Deception and a few other series – including the original characters that Jordy and Rafe of Not Your Normal Heroes are based on. Nina, from Hidden Heritage, met with Ben, Phil and Rocky through NaNoWriMo.
In the traditions of NaNoWriMo, I still write a complete story before launching into editing. I really don’t know how to write otherwise.
NaNoWriMo was a brilliant way to kickstart your life of writing. It gave authors and writers the support of other, like-minded people, and you received a certificate if you reached the goal of 50,000 words. And while it was supposed to be one brand new novel, some of us, as I said, broke that mould. I know when I wrote Nina’s first story, that was the second story that I wrote that year and it was also the same year I wrote 25,000 words in one week. I still don’t really know how I did that.
After NaNoWriMo’s untimely demise, a new version 2.0 came online. It was a barebones version of the original and whilst I no longer participate, I hope they help a lot of people meet their goal of successfully writing at least one novel per year.
