A ten point Harry Potter 7 Review with no Spoilers

Well I went got to see Harry Potter 7 five days after it came out. Managed to avoid most spoilers, except for one on Twitter (gggrrrrr TWITTER!). So I decided to do some fun observations with no spoilers:

1. This was the best adaption from the book series so far.
2. Where the heck did they hide Ralph Fiennes nose?!
3. Dobby should have been in more of the movies. He got heaps of laughs and was in Harry's words "brilliant."
4. Daniel Radcliffe at times appears to have a small mouth in proportion to the rest of his face.
5. I lost track of how many times I teared up.
6. I kept thinking how grown up Daniel Radcliffe looked, and then taller men would be in scenes and he looked so young again.
7. Emma Watson nailed it.
8. The scenery was amazingly gorgeous!
9. There is a scene that I thought "I don't remember THAT in the book." (You'll know it when you see it)
10. I discovered what a fan I am as I went 2 1/2 hours without taking a pee!

So there you have it - no telling you what you already know from the book, and the fantastic interpretation that you don't know about.

So if you are going to comment - respect the no spoilers rule. =P

Riding on a wave of inspiration

I love Saturdays. I ride out to Eimeo Beach, thinking about the story I'm currently writing. Scenes flash through my head, dialogue goes round and around in my mind, continuity issues get identified and sometimes new ideas poke their way in. I daydream and somehow manage not to get run over (and I've learnt the trick to avoid getting swooped by the magpies without wearing those antenna looking things from my helmet).

When I finally coast into the carpark, hubby is normally already there setting up the beach (yes I'm a crazy woman who does a 30 minute ride when the rest of her family take a 10 minute drive). I jump in the beach buggy as he sets up the flags, still letting the thoughts from the ride roll around in my head.

We do the stinger drags, throwing back the fish we inadvertently catch and checking for any deadly box jellyfish and irukandji jellyfish (we hae a month hopefully before they hit our beaches). Then I usually get to go off by myself, settle into a chair with a view of the ocean and write for a solid hour - a luxury that I don't get very often at home unless I stay up into the wee hours of the morning.

Then I go get lunch from Nemos Fish Bar. They make the best fish burgers, according to my husband and eldest son and I can honestly say I do not ever remember having a nicer piece of takeaway fish.

After feasting on fish and salad, I laze around with family (also prodding my youngest to finish his lunch, which can be a 30 minute job). This then brings me to an important junction, another hour of writing or reading on the beach. Either way, the lapping waves and idyllic beach setting are a great backdrop. Today is was overcast and my writing groove was on so I opted to keep writing. Once my writing/reading hour is up it's more family time.

When it's time for hubby to start packing up the beach, I get back on the bike for the ride home, which is always quicker than the ride there. Again the stories rolls through my head, along with the occasional blog post,

Next week I'm changing up my routine a bit as I am going outrigging. There's a social out rigging group that is out when we turn up in the mornings so I'm taking advantage of trying something new. Hopefully being out on the water will provide a different inspirational experience (I feel an ocean story brewing) and it doesn't just leave me too exhausted that I end up drooling on my laptop.

Life after NaNoWriMo: A guide for aspiring writers

How are YOUR NaNoWriMo stories going? I see a lot of my writing friends and acquaintances are powering through for the “win” and will no doubt have a great first draft come the end of the month. But then what?


What ever you do – DO NOT QUERY!

I’ve seen the agents on Twitter bracing for the onslaught in December of “I’ve just finished my NaNoWriMo project and I thought I’d query you…”

AHHHHH! When did competing in NaNoWriMo give people a licence to throw query etiquette out the window?

So inspired by a tweet from agent Suzie Townsend here are a few things for you to remember for November and the upcoming months:

November: Don’t forget this is also NaNoAlphaMo. Send it to your alpha reader for feedback and inspiration as you write (I have already done this and it doubled my word count).

December: NaNoReviseMo (love ya work Suzie). Go through your first draft with a fine tooth comb looking for improvements, not just for copy editing but also characters, plot and dialogue. Note December is also NaAgentsBusyMo and not a good time to query in general.

January: NaNoBetaMo. Get your second draft to your Beta Editor for some friendly editing and feedback. I am blessed with a couple of Beta Editors – who I love to bits.

February: NaNo2ndReviseMo. Go through your Beta Editors comments and rework your story into a third draft. Depending on how you work this may be enough revision to have a great novel. But you can keep bouncing back with your Beta & Alpha editors if you think can refine your work even more.

March: NaNoQueryMo! Time to query, but only if you think your novel is in the BEST condition it can be. Realistically it may be many more months into the year before you are ready.

On a personal note from me: my NaNoWriMo went out the window with a phone call – the worst phone call of my life. My friends and blog followers know my dad was ill with terminal cancer. On 1 November at 1.30pm (& 400 words into my NaNoWriMo project) my dad passed away and I basically stopped writing. I dropped everything to race to my mother’s side, some 900km away. While I was away I did write a flash fiction, The first night without you here, to help me deal with the fall out of Dad’s death.

I have started back on my NaNoWriMo project Dirty Rainbow; even though I know I am in no position to “win” this year. I’m rather excited because it’s a Utopian story, something I’ve never tried before.

I want to thank all my virtual friends on Twitter, Facebook and Inkpop who have given me support in the months after we found out about Dad’s cancer and since his passing. It is easy to feel alone at times like this but you all made sure I felt anything but alone.