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The prodigal son, egotistical maniac and stubborn woman walked onto the page...

1/11/2012

In the last few days I've been struggling with three characters I'm working with. At times I want to yell at them: "I created you! Do as you're told!" but then I get this reply:

Prodigal Son: "You know I have to find my birth mother. I have to know who I am."
Egotistical Maniac: "What? And that's given you some right over my life? Screw you. I'll do what I want."
Stubborn Woman: "That's not my story I'm trying to get you to tell. It's my story, you're just the means by which it gets told."

How did I get myself into this situation?

Garth Elliott makes his publishing debut

10/6/2012

In recent years, sales of e-books have started to soar thanks to the release of Amazon's Kindle, Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Sony's eReader, to name a few. Many publishing houses and authors alike had their reservations about the success and (undoubtedly) profitability of e-publishing. As more and more people started to prefer the convenience of carry their ten favourite books on a single device in electronic format over lugging ten printed books with them, it became clear that e-publishing is the way of the future.

A sense of achievement

29/1/2012

I experienced a sense of achievement and excitement with the relaunch of the official Family Secrets website. Some of my blog followers will be familiar with my animation series. For the past three years I've been fortunate to work with a very talented group of people to bring the series to life. As the first season came to a close in December 2011, the time had come to breathe some new life into the series' official website. Over the past month, the site has been redesigned, the content updated and some more back story made available. Today, at 2 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC/GMT + 10), the new site was officially released.

Rewrites - A writer's nightmare

6/1/2012

Halfway through the first draft of the second book in my science-fiction series, I realise that a particular plot line just isn't working. It was struggling along like a bicycle rim on a gravel road. The solution?

Another year, another attempt

6/1/2012

As I was updating my other site (www.family-secrets.net) I came to the realisation that it has been over a year since I last made a blog entry. Ashamed to admit it, I can offer numerous excuses for my absence, ranging for a hectic work schedule in 2011, other priorities, enc. Fact of the matter is that I simply ran out of things to blog about. You'd think that after more than 20 years of writing, I would have a plethora of topics to discuss. The lack of topics isn't the problem. It has more to do with a desire to write something meaningful and intelligent.

When life gets in the way

12/8/2010

I was looking at some new site templates, and realised it's been over 2 months since I've blogged. It wasn't a case of the novelty having worn off. Instead, it is one of those things that plagues any writer - life and all it requires from us prevented me from sitting down and doing some actual writing. So what has life been dishing out to stop me from putting pen to paper (or in this digital age, fingers to keyboard)?

Sorry, Sir. We can only sell works of local authors

14/5/2010

We recently decided to replace our DVD player with a Blu-Ray home theatre system. It was with great excitement that we put it all together, turned the radio to our favourite station and connected our television.

Then came the moment of truth. We popped one of our favourite DVD's in and sat back to watch it. But wait - Error reading disk. What?! Popped the disk in the old player. It works fine. Okay. Not the disk. Tried the new blu-ray player again. Error reading disk. Alas, our Zone 4 blu-ray player will not play DVD's from other zones. Time to call the manufacturer. And the response? "[Manufacturer] appologises for any disappointment this caused. As the player is manufactured for Australia, it will only play Zone 4 disks."

Imagine walking into your local library or bookstore and be told that they are only allowed to stock books from local authors.

Beating the dreaded Writer's Block

4/5/2010

You finally have enough courage to sit down in front of your computer and writer something. You're not sure what quite yet. You know you want to write, but can't seem to think of a single word to write. All you've got is a blinking cursor on the screen.

You're not alone in this experience. Even the most experienced writers suffer from this affliction. It's one that comes and goes. It can strike at any time. It's the dreaded Writer's Block.

How does one overcome this demon that can strike fear into the writer starting out?

Excitement is in the air!

7/3/2010

One of things any writer looks forward to, is the day their work becomes available to the public. Sometimes that 'day' isn't as clearly marked on the calendar. Other times, it is, but we just fail to notice. Other times that date creeps up on us and is upon us before we know it.

I should now - it just happened to me with my animation series, Family Secrets!

Why it's been so quiet around here lately

27/2/2010

I realised that it's been a while since I've posted anything on my blog. Alas, it's that thing that regularly interferes with the ambitions of a writer. Yes, I'm talking about Life.

I've never been one for new year's resolutions nor am I a staunch believer in astrology. According to 'those in the know', 2010 was the year for me to concentrate on things I've been putting off for a while and a year to concentrate on my career. The big question was: "Which career?"

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