Good morning, Readers!

Well, 2014 has ended.  Where did the time go?

Looking back, it's been a hell of a year.

January saw a small milestone on my Facebook Page.  I hit 200 likes.  I know it doesn't seem like much, but it's a big deal for me.  I didn't even know I knew 200 people!  Not only that, I'm just some unknown writer from Ottawa, trying to be heard in a vast sea of voices.  That 200 people have heard me at all is something astounding.  I still feel so very fortunate for it.  Perhaps 2015 will be the year when I see my efforts rewarded even more.  I'm sitting at 273 likes right now.  Fingers crossed that I reach 300.  If we managed 400 before 2015 is over, I will celebrate in true style (with a good book and a glass of fine whiskey).  January was also the month I started Silver Stag Entertainment, a geeky YouTube channel for geeky people.  Right now, we have only one regular show - Nights at the Round Table - where we discuss speculative fiction books and films, but I do have plans to expand the programming in 2015.

In March, I acquired a new look for my business card of which I am very proud.  I don't think I'll ever change it.  I also started a painting in March.  I'm quite proud of that painting, actually.  It even looks like the subject... a little.  I started and finished another painting in May, and I quite like it too.  I am looking forward to doing more painting in 2015.

I finished that painting in April, and gave it to its intended recipient in May during Ottawa ComicCon.  This year's ComicCon, incidentally, was crazy.  I had so much fun, and it was so lovely to have readers returning for more of my stuff.  I spoke to so many wonderful people, both new readers and old, and it was just so, so, so, so lovely.  Alas, I am not sure I will be able to make this year's ComicCon.  I am on the waiting list for a table, and my fingers are crossed, but prospects are not great.  I am very sad about it, as chatting with readers is one of my most favourite things in the world.  Send me positive energy, guys!  Here's hoping I get in!

July was a fantastic month.  I returned to Australia to see my sister marry a good man.  Hanging out with family was lovely.  I am poor, and Australia is far and expensive to get to, so I am not often travelling there.  It had been six years since I had last hugged my mother.  Australia, incidentally, has some of the most stunning landscapes.  I complied some of my favourite photos of my trip on an album on my Facebook page.  You can see them HERE.  Alas, it no longer feels like home (and never really did, if I'm honest).

September, I changed up my workout routine and added weightlifting to my schedule.  I was and am anxious to get myself strong enough to participate in the various obstacle course races that have been popping up like crazy.  They look like awesome fun, but I need to be able to haul my own body weight around.  Alas, I cannot yet, but I will!

I released participated in Can-Con again in October, and was on a truckload of panels.  I loved it, as everyone was undoubtedly very lovely and fun.  There is a fantastic speculative fiction community here in Ottawa, and I am so pleased to be a part of it.  The Winter Wolf on schedule in October and the launch party was awesome.  I would like to thank everyone who came out again.  You really made my night and I'm so thrilled you could be there for me.  I love you all.

December saw me finally finish the first draft of Human.  The stupid paranormal took me all damned year to write.  It was the most frustrating write I have ever done and I am very happy that it is over.  I also started my next novel, a historical fiction set in Roman-occupied Britain.  Unlike Human, I am absolutely loving writing Daughters of Britain.  Celtic Studies is a subject that is very close to my heart, and I get to spend three months in that world... even if it is a fictionalised version of it.  I'm really excited about this story, and can't wait to show it to you all.  SQUEE!

What a year, right?  It's been wonderful and sometimes very hard.  I am glad that it is over, and sad at the same time.  I am also really looking forward to 2015.  At the start of every year, I'm always thinking, 'This could be it.  This could be the year I make it.'  Every year, as it turns out, it's not the year I make it, but I get closer, and that is very important!

Now, looking forward to 2015, there isn't that much I would do differently.  I plan on continuing to do what I do every year - train martial arts, weightlifting, writing, editing, publishing, querying, hoping, crying.  I do have two 'resolutions' however:

• Play more video games.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I haven't had much time to play, to unwind and relax.  So, in 2015 I am scheduling time, damn it!
• Paint more.  This was also my resolution for last year, and I got two paintings done in the year.  I'm looking to increase my output, please and thank you!  I actually have four paintings planned... and they're all gifts.  Sigh.  One day I will paint something to sell...

Have you made any resolutions?  If so, what?  It's always fun to see the plans of others.  That way, we can all cheer each other on.

Seriously, though.  You all made 2014 something really special, and I am really, really grateful to you all.  So, I wish you an incredible 2015, with much love and laughter, light and joy.  See you all next year.

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

How are you doing?  I'm feeling a wee bit sore today.  Last night, I headed out for a weight session with the small crew of lifters that have formed from my Kung Fu school.  It's the first session since classes ended in the middle of last month, and I was not prepared.  Still, they're a great group of people and it was fun hanging out with them.

Also, I am the weakest of the bunch and that makes me sad.  I just have to keep reminding myself that my goals are slightly different to theirs.  I don't have to be the strongest in the room, I just have to be strong enough.  I'm getting there too.  I can press 20lbs more than I could two months ago.  It's not great, but it's not bad, and it's really nice to see improvement.

I also feel a tonne better for having done something active.  I haven't really since training ended (walking to work doesn't count), and it's had me feeling terrible about myself.  It's funny the difference I feel about my appearance after just one session.  Even though nothing has really changed, I've gone from thinking I look like a fat slob (and feeling like one too) to thinking I look alright.

Training begins in the middle of January, so I have one more Monday night session I can attend before I get back into my regular exercise routine.

Before I apologise for boring you all with workout stuff, I'm going to take the time to speak to my fellow writers about it.  Writing, as we know, is a solitary, sedentary task.  We sit for hours alone, in silence, and moving nothing but our eyes, our fingers and our massive, massive imaginations.  While it is at times exciting and fulfilling, it isn't good for us.  It really, really isn't.

Despite my grumblings about being around mobs of people and how uncomfortable it makes me, humans are a social animal, and I am no exception.  I have noticed recently that I get a little crazy when isolated for long periods of time.  I also get a little crazy when I haven't been training in a while.

Training is both my social life, where I get to hang out and work with people I love and admire, and I get my exercise.  Efficient!  It is keeping me healthy on two fronts - psychological and physical.  Both are absolutely necessary for everyone, but especially for writers because our profession is so lonely and sedentary.

So, I've changed my mind.  I'm not really going to apologise for talking about it a lot.  Training is an important part of my life.  It's almost as important as writing in terms of personal fulfilment.

What about you, Readers?  Is there anything you do that means a whole lot to you?  Is it something that other people easily understand, or are they likely to roll their eyes at you and think you shallow?

Let me know in the comments!

I'm off to watch the 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Christmas Special, then on the regular stuff.  Have a great day!

Ciao.

PS - here is a nerdy funny to start your morning:

Good morning, Readers!

Well, that's another Christmas done and dusted.  It was over far too quickly, in my opinion.  Still, it was absolutely wonderful while it lasted.  My little brother came up from Toronto for only three days, alas, but it was an awesome three days.  He's a great person to chill with, but we're very different... and also very similar.  He's much more of a people person than I am, and loves being in busy places with good food and good drink.  He reads quite a bit, and loves video games so much he's made a career out of creating them.

I am the same in almost every regard except the whole people thing.  I love good food and drink, but being around a bunch of strangers for an extended period of time is not my idea of fun.  Thus, in most situations when I am content - quiet evenings with a good book, or with a small group of beloved friends or family - he's usually bored.  In situations where he is having a blast, I'm usually cowering in a corner wishing for my bed.  And a good book.

Still, we're similar enough that he knows what to get me for Christmas.  We both love to read and love to play games.  This year, he spoilt me...

I can't wait to get stuck into this series.  It'll be the one I play following Skyrim, I think.

I got him the first two books in The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson.  I am still enamoured with that series, and apparently my brother's peers have been gushing about it too.  So now he has no excuse not to read them.  I'm curious as to what he thinks of them, as the other two people in my circles who has read the first book were not all that fussed.  I happen to think it's brilliant, so I push the series on everyone I know.  Including my brother.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day saw me spending much loved time with my much loved and lovely family.  I met my uncle's boyfriend for the first time, and I have to say, I liked him immediately.  He's an absolute riot.  I do hope to see more of him.  My cousins are all wonderful people and have been doing wonderful things.  Another uncle recently got married to his long time partner, and she's now officially part of the family.  That made me obscenely happy... not that she wasn't before, but now it's all official.

I have to say, my family is such an awesome group.  I look forward to Christmas every year because they all gather and are all so lovely and merry and fun.

Boxing Day saw my brother and I headed to the cinema to watch The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies.  He had been told that it wasn't good, so was pleasantly surprised.  I was surprised he was surprised.  Having seen the other two, I was curious as to what he was expecting.

For my part, there was not enough Bard the Bowman.  Bard was my favourite character from the books.  No, that had nothing to do with him being a killer archer (read here: it had everything to do with the fact that he is a killer archer).  I think Luke Evans did a wonderful job with him and I really wanted to see more of the character than I got.  Oh well!

I also have to say that, thanks in large part to Martin Freeman, Thorin's death was far more affecting on screen than it ever was in the book.  I cried when Kili and Fili were killed in the book.  This time I cried when Thorin died.  They were silent stoic tears, however, as my brother was sitting beside me, and for some reason I always feel foolish for crying in front of my siblings.

My brother had to head home that evening so we hung out the rest of the day and I saw him off, feeling a little blue.  To the rescue came Jen and Eric, who hosted an epic Lord of the Rings marathon.  It was awesome.  Good food, good people, great movies.  I got to play in Middle Earth a little while longer and it was fabulous.  I arrived home late on the 27th feeling awesome.

I spent most of yesterday in bed recovering from the holidays, and now I'm back at work.  Like every year, it seems, I have eaten too much for my own good.  I feel fat and slobbish and gross.  And if I take another bite of something sweet, I'm going to throw up.

The feeling never really lasts all that long.  I will go back to training, back to my routine and back to my old eating habits and everything will be good again.  I can't wait for this training break to be over.  I always get so antsy when I've been away from training for too long.

Right, today I have to write the first eNewsletter of 2015, so I should dash.  But first, it's back to my Welsh lessons.  Let's see how much I have forgotten!

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

I am spending much needed time relaxing with my family, but I wanted to take some time and wish all of you the cheeriest of holiday wishes, and the best for the coming year.

Much love!

Ciao.

Good morning, Readers!

So, I'm a bit all over the place this morning.  I have just finished watching a video of a young man who stood on the street blindfolded with a sign that reads: "It trust you.  If you trust me, hug me."  And he just stood there with his blindfold on and his arms stretched out.  And people hugged him, and it was silly and joyous and touching and for some reason, I cried a bit.  Don't ask me why that made me so emotional.  I don't know.

Also, that young man was fined by the police for disturbing the peace because he had attracted such a large crowd.  If the comments in the video are to be believed, this was in Turkey.

It seems I'm a little bit emotional at the moment.  I suppose it's the holiday effect... or something.  Or maybe my wires are crossed funny.  I'm opting for the latter, as my thoughts have been all over the place for the past few days... all right, fine... weeks.

Ahem.

Moving to another thought, writing has stalled; not because I have hit the dreaded wall that is writer's block, but because it's the holiday season, and there are parties and things that need my attention.  Also, it's the holidays.

I don't feel bad for taking this break away from tapping away at my keyboard.  Because it's the holidays.

Did I mention it's the holidays?

Also, despite not actually sitting down to write, I am still working on the novel.  A lot of writing is done internally, in the mind, away from prying eyes.  So often when a writer is sitting or lying still, or merely walking around with that dazed expression we so often wear, we're actually working hard.  Our minds are turning over scenes, examining them, finding the best perspective, working out the dialogue, the emotionality, the players, characters and motivations.

For example, I met a character yesterday.  He's a lovely young man; a Roman born in Gaul who has an unhealthy obsession with the 'barbarians' who live around him.  He is such a sweet, eager boy, the kind that watches the world with a sense of wonder, and feels that everything foreign is magical.  He is now a pivotal character, without whom my heroine will not get very far.  He does some really heroic things and I am so very fond of him.  I met him in one of the quieter moments, when I had some time to erase reality and disappear into 70 AD Gaul.  I'm really pleased to have met him.

Also yesterday, and a little bit this morning, I sorted out the motivations of another character, a Batavian (Germanic client kingdom in what is now The Netherlands) man who had formerly fought for Rome as one of the Germanic Auxilliaries attached to the Legion XIV Gemina.  The Batavian Auxilliaries, by the way, were the crack team of the Roman armies.  They were badass.

I've done my research, y'all!

Anyway, this character is a good man, son of a good man )who was twice arrested for treason against Rome (falsely as far as we know)).  The saying 'the world quakes when a good man goes to war' describes this man's father absolutely.

In any case, I was having trouble with this character, because the Batavians were proud members of the Roman army, holding positions of great honour.  Thanks to the appearance of not working, I've managed to get it all straight.


I suppose it's hard for people who like to look busy to understand that moments of stillness are times of intense work for most creative types.  They are, trust me.

Right.  I've babbled on long enough about nothing in particular, so I should leave it here and go dream some more.  It's a half day here at the office, being Christmas Eve and all, so I'm off at midday.  That means no writing today either.

What?  It's the holidays!

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!

So, a couple of days ago I was called aggressive.  I blinked.  Then scoffed.  Then thought about it.

I have been described as many things.  "Full on" was my favourite description.  Intense is another.  I have been called cold and I have been called mean (by a giant man-baby who couldn't logic his way out of a discussion, so instead of conceding that I may in fact have a point, he resorted to name calling).  I suppose I was being aggressive.

We happened to be discussing a bill that some jerk from the states wanted to introduce.  The bill straight up says that women need to get permission from a man in order to get an abortion.  Let's not go into it, because I will lose my temper.  The point is, during this discussion, I was labelled aggressive.  At first I was all confused.

Then I realised that it probably looked like I was being aggressive because I don't sugar coat my opinions.  I don't preface them with an apology.  I don't concede points if I don't agree with them.  In short, I'm a terrible diplomat.  I'm afraid I'm not very good at walking on eggshells on some issues.

And then I realised something else.  I have started writing Daughters of Britain, and at that point I was writing the character Mederei.  She is a ball of incredibly powerful rage and is always close to flipping her lid... which she does fairly often.  To be fair, she had it rough.

There is no doubt that I was channelling her a bit.

This isn't to say that I'm normally very obliging and demure.  I'm not, particularly if I see injustices.  I will speak out, and I will be blunt.  I try to be nice usually, though.  I seem to have an issue with being overly blunt (though I have a theory that much of that has to do with gender expectations.  I digress).

I've written before how writing tends to affect me.  I have a tendency to go through an emotional roller coaster along with the characters I write.  I've had nightmares, I've randomly burst into tears, I've laughed out loud at (seemingly) nothing in public places.  It's weird.  It's really, really weird.  I guess I'm a method writer?

In this case, Mederei is an angry, angry young woman who has very little empathy for anyone except her sister.  Her only concern is killing Romans; as many Romans as she can.  That's all she wants.  That's all she cares about.  She doesn't really care that there are good Romans out there, or that those poor people fighting in the auxiliaries aren't even Roman or want to be fighting for Rome.  If you are on the other side of the battlefield from her, she will destroy you.  And she will enjoy it.

I would feel terrible slaughtering people, for the record, but I do feel myself getting angrier than normal, and a little less caring.

So, I will beg forgiveness in advance for being particularly grumpy for the next three months.  I may also get weepy and all about family.  Just so you're forewarned.

I'm off now to do things.  Grumpily.

Ciao!

Dear Santa,

I know it's probably not really being a good person to ask for things for myself, but screw it, I'm going to anyway.  If I can spin any positive light on this list, it's that I want these things so I can make other things to share.  If that is agreeable, I shall begin my list.  If it is not agreeable, I shall begin my list.

Ready?  Here we go:

• Elgato Game Capture HD, so I can finally start my SMC Awkwardly Plays series.
• Wired Xbox controller, so I don't have to change batteries so darn often.
• A whole whack of canvases in different sizes so I can paint stuff for people... and to sell.  Because art!
• A whole whack of paints (giant jugs of the stuff, please).
• A publishing contract, please.  You know.  Because that's totally something Santa does.

So there it is, my Christmas wish list.  It is surprisingly short, actually.  I really expected myself to come up with a ridiculously long list of things.  Apparently not.  I'm not as greedy as I thought, I guess.  Go me?

So, I did end up writing Friday.  Those of you who follow me on Facebook or Twitter will know that I didn't quite make the usual 2 000 words, but I did make my minimum of 1 500 words.  I had planned on writing that extra 500 on the weekend, but time ran away with me and I never managed to sit down to write.  That's alright, though, since I'm not technically behind my desired word count, even though I feel like I'm behind my desired word count.

Today, I fully expect to get no writing done whatsoever.  It is the annual office Christmas luncheon, which is mine to organise.  I am certain everything will be fine, but I'm still stressed about it.  Of course, there will be wine, so I may be answering the phone slightly tipsy.  Don't give me that look.  As if I would do that.

Granted, I would do that, just not at work.

In any case, I may be too busy cleaning up after, and the party may go over time and so I can't really comfortably schedule any writing time today.  I will try and squeeze some in.  I've been having those really awesome moments where scenes from the book will play in my head.  It was a rare occurrence with Human and I'm really enjoying it happening again.  This probably won't be the last time you hear how much I'm enjoying whatever 'ism' I happen to be experiencing.

So now I'm off to continue with my Welsh lessons, and then it will be time to party.  Yay!

Have a fantastic Monday everyone.  I shall see you all tomorrow!

Ciao

PS - have some funny that's funny because it's awful: