It was very close, and indeed two people had nominated the same hero by another name, so we resorted to the random draw option.

And the lucky winner is Louisa Cornell! Yay, Louisa!! Send me an email with your postal details and Christine will send FORBIDDEN your way

Thanks to everyone for their wonderful suggestions and a huge thank you for Christina for being a stellar guest

Mum and Me!

My elderly mum (she’s 88!) is visiting from Brisbane. She was unwell at the start of the year and couldn’t be in Cairns for the launch of Border Watch. I missed having her there as she and Dad were so integral in developing my love of books and writing.

Today we had coffee at Glaskins Gallery. She met Garry Glaskin who, as always, was busy hanging artwork. Karen made us a lovely coffee and cake, and we soaked up the ambience.

Mum probably won’t make it north for the release of my next book either so it was special for me to be able share the afternoon with her.

Christopher's paintings

Garry and Christopher rearranging the latest arrivals

Clovelly Cemetery - Views to Die For

New meaning to 'Hard Stand Storage'

Still Looking for the Party in Coogee...

A Good Haul for Dinner

See you all in Coogee

He came across this site yesterday and it provided me with the most entertainment I’ve ever had on a yachting site.

http://www.australiatrade.com.au/Shipping/Import/Boats.htm

If you’re in any way boating inclined, or  just in need of a good laugh, click on the link You will need to wade through a bit of heavy going, but once you hit the main channel  you’ll rip along. (Sorry about the bad puns but the wind’s in my sails now…)

The humour is as much at the expense of the convoluted import restriction imposed by Australia as the way the article is written.

If sailing isn’t your cuppa, then pop over to Australian Outback Romances and Mysteries . Bron Parry and Fleur McDonald are chatting about being finalists in the 2010 Romantic Book of the Year award (the R*BY).

Now back to editing for me Sydney is only days away – yipee!!

Yesterday we had a visit from a friend whose son is currently doing his second tour of duty in Afghanistan. Harry mentioned that they can send a two kilo parcel over to the troops for free. His wife was making Anzac Biscuits to put in a care package that will contain all sorts of other treats as well.  Apparently Anzac Biscuits keep really well and the troops love them – still!

It got me thinking about the origins of the humble snack so I did some research on the web. They date back to World War 1 when wives, mothers, girlfriends and organisations like the Country Women’s Association baked food to send to the troops. Since the average sea voyage from Australia to Europe took upwards of two months, the food needed to last. It seems a basic Scottish recipe was adapted and the humble Anzac Biscuits was born.

Below is a recipe I’ve copied from the Australian War Memorial site. Hope you enjoy it.

And while you’re eating them, remember the men and women still serving our country who find a small slice of Australia in the ragged shape of an Anzac Biscuit!

Popular ANZAC biscuit recipe

The popular ANZAC biscuit is a traditional, eggless sweet biscuit.

The following is a original recipe provided by Bob Lawson, an ANZAC present at the Gallipoli landing.

Ingredients

• 1 cup each of plain flour, sugar, rolled oats, and coconut
• 4 oz butter
• 1 tbls treacle (golden syrup)
• 2 tbls boiling water
• 1 tsp bicarbonate soda (add a little more water if mixture is too dry)

Method

1. Grease biscuit tray and pre-heat oven to 180°C.
2. Combine dry ingredients.
3. Melt together butter and golden syrup. Combine water and bicarbonate soda, and add to butter mixture.
4. Mix butter mixture and dry ingredients.
5. Drop teaspoons of mixture onto tray, allowing room for spreading.
6. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool on tray for a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks.

Source

Recipes taken from Robin McLachlan, Anthea Bundock, Marie Wood, Discovering Gallipoli: research guide (Bathurst, NSW: Times Past Productions for the Australian War Memorial, 1990)

Ok, ok, so I’ve always been obsessed with water and swimming. I think it has something to do with being tossed in a swimming pool when I was six months old

A friend sent me these photos of the latest resort to open in Singapore. Gives new meaning to a ‘wet edge’ pool!

Now I’m going to have to scheme a side trip just to see ‘Sky Park,’ in the Marina Bay Sands development, for myself. Anyone got any stories or photos to top this one???

Come and join us and have some fun with Fast Fiction

Use no more than 55 precise words to write a story and go into the running to win one of three books. Some fabulous entries have already been posted!

Last weekend, business was brisk in Brissie so I had to take what I was given. I should have realised there was something odd about the car when the girl leant across the counter and, in a husky voice whispered, ‘It’s the silver SV6  on bay 8.’

‘Huh?’

I smiled politely wondering if I’d made a mistake on my booking and was about to be driving a removalist van. No such luck. Parked proudly in Bay 8, silver paint shimmering in competition with the shiny chrome wheels, was a ‘muscle’ car. Its nose dipped low to the ground, colour-matched skirting flared round the doors like aerodynamic wings. Tinted windows screamed ‘look at me.’  The spoiler (or do they call that thing a damper?) completed the image of a bank heist getaway car.

I must have stood still too long, looking dumbfounded, because the nice man doing the checks asked if everything was alright.

‘Yep,’ I replied. ‘I guess I’m about to find out what it’s like to go from 0-100 in 10 seconds.’

He snorted as he walked away. ‘More like 6 and look out for the revheads at lights.’

Four hours later I brought it back with a smile a mile wide. I’d had more fun than I believed possible getting to 60 k/hm from a standing start. Who knew I’d enjoy leaving the boys in the hotted up Lancers in my shiny dust

It’s been an interesting week and I’ve loved reading other people’s take on the process. A huge thank you to Robb for giving so generously of his time and wisdom!

3-D Writing, Part 3

3-D writing is the art of surrounding readers with your story, pulling them in and making them a part of it rather than just a reader. Dialog, Description and Despair are three key facets: the three Ds of 3-D writing. The last key:

Despair

No, I’m not referring to what the writer feels as she struggles to get the dialog and description perfect or when yet another agent rejection letter appears by e-mail.

I’m talking about the characters’ emotions coming off the page and surrounding the reader in 3-D. Whether it’s despair, anger, anxiety, love, fear, euphoria, or murderous rage, getting the reader to internalize the character’s emotion is critical. Great dialog and perfect description is bland and boring without emotion. Telling the reader how the character feels doesn’t do the job.

Thousands of articles, books and blog posts have expounded on the standard writing advice of ‘show, don’t tell.’ It’s more than good advice. It’s what makes a story come off the page. It’s also often misinterpreted and repeated by some like a mantra without ever explaining what it means and when or how to use it.

Let’s visit Laurie in the pub again. Here are the two of the same examples used in the previous article on description.

Version 1: Laurie sat at the bar, depressed. She glanced occasionally toward the door. Then he walked in. He was tall, handsome and well-dressed, and caught her eye immediately.

Forget the description. Look for the emotions. They’re all there in black and white. She’s depressed. She’s expecting or anticipating something or someone, but she’s not very excited about it. When he walks in, her mood changes to interest. How do we know all this? It’s obvious: the writer told us so.

Version 2: Laurie hunched over her martini and played with the olive. She didn’t know why she bothered; no one interesting ever came in this pub. Yet each time the door opened, her eyes flicked toward the entrance. When he walked in, ducking slightly to clear the door, she sat up a little straighter. She’d never seen him around before. His perfectly tailored suit accentuated the broad shoulders and trim waist underneath. Laurie turned slightly, keeping her eyes in his general direction but trying not to be obvious. His sun-bleached hair contrasted with his surfer’s tan. A yacht. Maybe he owns a yacht. “That’s the life for me,” Laurie thought as she met his gaze full on.

Here we know she’s depressed, hoping for something but not excited, and then her mood lifts considerably. But the writer didn’t tell us that. So how do we know? The writer surrounded us with her actions, very minor ones, and her thoughts. Her mood comes off the page, especially when it subtly changes to interest.

Once more, with feeling.

1. Laurie sat at the bar, depressed.

Or:

2. Laurie hunched over her martini and played with the olive.

In the first example, the writer tells the reader she is sitting at the bar (action) and that she is depressed (emotion). In the second, the writer does not tell us this, but merely shows Laurie to us. We can see her. We can see what she’s doing. We can read her mood. We’re in the bar with her. I think I’ll have a beer and watch her a little longer. She’s kinda cute.

1. She glanced occasionally at the door.

Or:

2. No one interesting ever came in this pub, so she didn’t know why she bothered. Yet each time the door opened, her eyes flicked toward the entrance.

The writer can tell us what she is doing (glancing at the door occasionally), or he can keep us in the bar, sipping on our beer, watching Laurie as she flicks her eyes toward the entrance when someone walks in. But not only are we in the bar watching her, now we are in her head, hearing her thoughts in our minds. Neighborhood pub, the usual crowd of people we find dull and uninteresting. Wait. Laurie finds them dull and uninteresting; we’re just reading a story, remember? Too late. We’re in the scene and inside her skin.

1. He caught her eye immediately.

Or:

2. Laurie turned slightly, keeping her eyes in his general direction but trying not to be obvious.

In the first example, after the writer told us the man was tall, handsome and well-dressed, the writer proceeds to tell us the effect he had on Laurie. In the revised example, we are still in the bar watching her, and inside her head intuitively understanding what she is thinking and feeling. 3-D.

All of the second examples surround the reader with Laurie’s emotions by conveying her thoughts, her feelings, and her state of mind. They stay in Laurie’s POV rather than stopping the story to have a narrator describe what the man looks like. They pull the reader much more closely into Laurie’s POV, so close it almost feels like first person, but it remains in third person the entire time.

The second versions set the reader down at the bar next to Laurie, or pull the reader into Laurie’s head. The reader not only sees what Laurie sees, hears what Laurie thinks, but feels what Laurie feels. The writer doesn’t have to tell us. We see it, feel it, experience it first-hand.

When the man walks in, we are carried along with Laurie’s emotional swing from despair to a high state of interest. We even get a clue of her motivation. Does Laurie seem bored with her life, looking for some excitement, maybe a bit of a gold digger?

Wrapping up

Use the three Ds to make your writing 3-D. Capture the right balance in dialog, description and despair (and all the other emotions your characters experience), and you’ll surround your readers with a few hours of entertainment.

Instead of flinging their Kindles across the room, they’ll keep coming back for more.

Robb Grindstaff is the managing editor of an international English-language daily newspaper, currently living in the Washington, D.C., area. He is a thirty-year veteran of the daily newspaper business. His newspaper career has taken him from Arizona to North Carolina, Texas to D.C., with a five-year stint in Tokyo.

He fell in love with Australia on dive trip to North Queensland a few years back, and has vowed to return. So be forewarned.

With a career in writing, editing and marketing journalism, he has turned his experience toward fiction, and writes commercial and literary novels and short stories. Sample chapters of two of his novels are available at http://tiny.cc/CarryMeAway and http://tiny.cc/HannahsVoice. He also does free lance fiction editing. You can find him wasting time on Facebook at http://artist.to/robb.grindstaff.writer.