AKA: what happens pre-launch. Twice in the life of a single book, there are times when the brain goes completely feral: the instant you finish a novel … I call it *writers’ trench coat syndrome* when your brain doesn’t know what to do with itself and you are pretty sure nothing makes sense. It’s not … Continue reading Authorial Doom Spiral
be kind
The things we do.
Every day we do things. Things we don't even think about. We just do them. They're not usually a conscious thought, but learned or repetitive behaviours. Cleaning your teeth for example. It's second nature to most of us because we were conditioned to clean our teeth every day.I was thinking today about the frailty of … Continue reading The things we do.
NYE 2025
It's time for a recap of 2025. As much as I want to say the year was bullshit - it wasn't like that the whole year. There were wonderful parts of the year and some of the shit had wonderful aspects. It's easy for us to focus on the bad things, but we don't know … Continue reading NYE 2025
Christmas Eve 2025
It's Christmas Eve morning. The desserts are chilling in the fridge - waiting for tomorrow. Gregory the turkey is defrosting in the fridge veggie drawer. At some stage today he will be on the bench because I keep my fridge colder than most people. Or, I'll adjust the temp. But the joy of Christmas in … Continue reading Christmas Eve 2025
Nothing stays the same forever.
This evening, I was sitting on the couch watching 'Taken' (the TV show not one of the movies) and it occurred to me that I was sitting on the couch watching a show and I wasn't stressed to buggery about birthdays and Christmas looming. I wasn't bothered at all.I remember a time (years of it, … Continue reading Nothing stays the same forever.
Anthology opportunity via Margot Kinberg
It might be summer.
Today might be summer. Can't vouch for tomorrow and it definitely was not summer yesterday. Such fun. Every day we play 'guess the season' in the valley. In other news, the first round of edits are done. Now I know why my lovely editor refers to [IRL] as 'the one with all the hyphens'. I … Continue reading It might be summer.
December 2024
December started pretty quickly, don't you think? October was the slowest month on record and November flew by! I decided I want to finish the third novella in the Fates Entwined: Spellbound Bookshop Trilogy - this month. I had written one chapter prior to that decision.Why wouldn't I add more stress to December?2K a day … Continue reading December 2024
Is it a milestone?
I've reached the age of having my glasses around my neck on a lovely beaded thingy. It's mostly to stop them flying off my face and getting kicked across the ground. They're expensive and I've already got two scuff marks on them. So, glasses keeper it is then. While I was at it, I got … Continue reading Is it a milestone?
Author Interrogations: Stephen Johnson
Kia ora,Welcome to a new interrogation! Get comfortable and settle in … got a cuppa? Who are you?I’m Stephen Johnson, an Australian who has lived in Auckland for 35 years. My fiction journey started at 61 when I fled a media career to drive a motorhome around Europe for seven months. I wanted to escape work. … Continue reading Author Interrogations: Stephen Johnson
Cat Connor 