Melbourne Zoo/Supanova - April 2012

(this post contains a lot of photos and will probably chew up a fair bit of bandwidth. But the pictures are cool. So there.)

This is a writing check-in and fun post all in one. I have done some writing this week - around 1,000 words worth - but a death in the family this week meant that a lot of the time I was meant to spend writing and marking assignments was lost (it wasn't someone I was close to but it has been hard for other family members). Ah well, sometimes these things happen and all you can do is try to work around it. As far as my novel goes, I think some scenes are becoming a bit clearer, but others still need work. I am starting (slightly) to break myself of the habit of picking at one section at the expense of finishing the story, but it's a slow process :) I did manage to do a painting last night, though, since I couldn't concentrate on either writing or uni stuff:

I spend most weekends at home either writing or painting; ie. being a desk hermit. Today, however, I set aside my anti-social tendencies and went gallivanting off into the city, more specifically, to the Melbourne Zoo for a friend's birthday party and to Supanova. Here are some of my favourite photos from the zoo:









After I left the zoo, I headed over to the Melbourne Showgrounds for Supanova. I didn't get to spend as long there as I would have liked, but I did get to chat with two awesome authors, Michael Pryor (writer of The Laws of Magic series and the Extraordinaires series, and wearer of wicked top hats) and Ben Chandler (The Voyages of the Flying Dragon series). If you like reading YA fantasy, especially with a steampunk setting, check out their books. You won't be disappointed.

Tomorrow will be spent catching up on assignment marking, since life (or, more specifically, death) prevented me from getting it done during the week, but at least today was awesome :) Anyway, I'm off to slather more deep heat gel into my knee (old karate injury always plays up if I walk around all day) and head off to bed. Adios.

Judgemental Dog has been temporarily usurped by Imperious Meerkat*:

ROW80 Round 2 - 3rd Update

I know I was only going to post on Wednesdays because I figured I wouldn't have enough to say each week to fill out two blog posts, but I had a bit of a productivity rampage over the last few days - both academically and authorly - so you all get to witness two doses of my writerly ramblings. TWO! Aren't you lucky? :P

First, my writing. Since my last update I've added around another 1,500 words to the story (I wasn't drinking this time so I don't know if it will be as good). Most of this was for chapter 5 (even though chapter 2 still isn't finished) but it's better than just staring blankly at my screen. I've also been refining the outline even more (I'm starting to realise I'll probably still be doing this until the last page of the novella is written) to smoothe out some plot holes, inconsistencies and other dodgy bits, as well as adding more little details that I think will enrich the story in terms of the world, the events and the characters themselves. The timeline and research on horse travel etc I did last week has helped a lot.

Second, my uni work. Since I hadn't touched my Literature Review for a while, I was feeling a bit guilty about it, so yesterday I forced myself to open the document, and - after a generous helping of energy drinks - managed to knock out another 1,000 words on that too. I've written another 100 or so today already, bringing my total to about 2,000. I'm a third of the way finished :D But I have some stupid statistical analysis assignment due for my IT Research Methods subject just after the semester break, so I'll have to start working on that soon, even though it will be about as much fun as having my boob slammed in a car door.

Also, due to popular demand, Judgemental Dog is expanding his horizons! You can Like Judgemental Dog on Facebook here. Go on. You know you want to. He can take it. Or, if you're more of a Twitter-er, you can follow him here.

Since this post was a last minute decision, I haven't had a chance to caption a new Judgemental Dog photo, so I will leave you instead with this footage of him watching Inspector Rex on TV...

See how other ROW80ers are going here.

Fear not, I'm sure I'll be back to my usual procrastinate-y ways next week :D

The Judgemental Dog Chronicles - Volume 2

As I promised, my faithful canine companion, Judgemental Dog (known as Rex to those who feed and walk him) is back for ROW80 Round 2! Rather than putting all his photos in one post, I decided to break them up by rounds (otherwise I'd end up with one post that was a complete monster). May good ol' J.D. continue to inspire/intimidate writers with his big brown eyes and sharp white teeth. And you don't even have to be a writer to be welcome in J.D.'s cult; his Furry Highness is happy to give anyone a motivational nip to boost their work, no matter their line of creativity. Writers and artists, musicians and designers... They're all just as juicy... Er, I mean, welcome :D

If you missed out on Judgemental Dog's debut in Round 1, you can get yourself up to speed here.

The Judgemental Dog Chronicles - Volume 1

Because I like taking photos of my dog (much to his dismay), and because I like wasting time in Photoshop captioning things, I thought I would give Judgemental Dog (a.k.a. Rex) his own post, in which all of his LolDog-esque appearances from my blog posts could be brought together in harmony (or some sentimental rubbish like that). Many a time he has provided helpful comments/threats to writers around the world. Perhaps he will inspire/intimidate other writers into getting more work done :)

And for those who want some Judgemental Dog love in the social media world, your favourite condescending canine is on Facebook and Twitter! You can Follow him here, or Like him here.
























The adventures of Judgemental Dog continue in Round 2.

So You Want to Write a Novel

This video has been kicking around on the Interwebz for a while now, but I thought I'd share it here, not just because it's amusing, but because there are so many 'writers' out there who actually think like this.



The more delusional the writer is, the less likely they are to be aware of it :)

Yes, I Now Have a Blog! (woot?)

Though, to be honest, I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to put in it. As a writer and illustrator, I will mainly use it to showcase samples of my works under construction and completed pieces (at least until I get my proper portfolio up and running), as well as updates on the progress of whatever I'm working on at the moment. (and I'd be lying if I said I will never use it to procrastinate from working on said creative works :D)
However, I will also post other random things, such as reviews (on books, music, movies and anything else I feel the need to write about), amusing anecdotes or general observations/questions about life. I don't know how often I'll post - between uni, work and pursuing my creative endeavours, spare time is a luxury I don't often get. All I know is that I look forward to finishing off my IT/Multimedia course so I can spend time on things I want to do/get paid to do as opposed to things I have to do :)
For now, you can view some of my illustrations here:
http://s829.photobucket.com/albums/zz220/RebeccaJFleming/Artwork/
or follow me on Twitter here:
http://twitter.com/DemonicDragon