Category: friends

Best Novella, books, Burn, change, Fantasy, friends, Kotahi Bay, Maiden mother crone, short story, Sir Julius Vogel Award, Sun-Touched, The Way the Sky Curves

Long time no blog

J.C

Hey there! I know, I know, it’s been a long time since I wrote anything here. Not because I’ve been doing nothing, but because life has been so busy lately. I mean, really busy. We’ve been away several weekends, a wedding, a homeschool camp, we’ve been down with colds for almost two weeks now, and there has been SO much going on. I can’t talk about some of it right now, so you will just have to take my word for it.

Basically, the past month or so has seen a massive shift in where my wee family is headed, and that’s been scary, sad, and exciting all at once. We’ve got what feels like a gazillion balls in the air right now, and I’m as okay with that as I can be 🙂 Doing a lot better than I had expected anyway.

Sadly, this has meant not as much writing as I’d have liked. Stress does that to me. I can anxious and can’t think creatively. It’s coming back to me now, though. I’m a bundle of ideas and am looking forward to putting some of them on paper in the next few weeks.

But first, I have to make it through the weekend! Au Contraire is coming up fast, and I am both nervous and excited about it. I am really looking forward to seeing people I don’t see nearly enough, hanging out amongst other like-minded people, talking geeky writerly stuff, and enjoying a great selection of panels and discussions. And I am nervous as fuck about convening a panel myself! On mythology, with some AMAZING authors, one of whom I’ve been a fan of for a very long time now – Juliet Marillier. I’m going to get to meet her! And then ask her questions! And omg!! How am I going to be able to speak? I just have to try not to stutter through the whole thing somehow…

I’ll also be at the At the Edge book launch directly before the mythology panel – my short story ‘Hope Lies North’ appears in it, and I am super excited to get my hands on a copy – and at the SJV’s on Sunday night as well, where all my books are finalists. I have zero expectations of winning an award myself, but I’m thrilled to be able to be there and cheer on some friends who I am sure will be picking up trophies! Fun times ahead. I am very much looking forward to heading to Wellington for a weekend that should include most of my favourite things (that aren’t my husband and kids, but I guess you can’t have everything right?).

I shall endeavour to update on a more regular basis, and hopefully soon I will have something fun to announce.

Take care!

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Friday, I'm in love, friends, gods, March

Friday I’m in love with…

J.C

This week I am going a little different for my love post, and sharing my favourite artist. I came across Jessica Shaw because she is friends with my amazing sister in law, who gave me one of her necklaces and a print as a birthday gift. I went looking at her other stuff, and fell completely in love with her images and have since built quite a collection…

She creates amazing artworks, and then uses them in a whole range of jewellery at Circle of Wolves. Below are a few of the pieces I own, and I am always on the lookout for more. Whenever I wear one of her necklaces I get comments on them, which is awesome because then I have the opportunity to rave about the artist 😉

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More recently, she has been working on the major arcana for her upcoming tarot card deck, and while I wait patiently for that to be complete, I’ve put an order in for some prints of cards I am in love with. Currently, I only have two prints, Autumn Sprite which my sister gave me, and Persephone (featured image), which I knew I had to have the moment I saw it (these are not from the tarot set, btw).

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If you like her stuff, she does ship worldwide – she also gives fantastic tarot and rune readings, and is in general, just a super, lovely, talented woman.

friends, January, life, Uncategorized

January?

J.C

Well, we’re almost through the first month of the year, and I have very little to report. The three weeks I had booked out as ‘holiday’ quickly become a month, and more – and seeing as February arrives in just a few days, I’ve decided (with a little help from my friends) to officially declare January a holiday month.

This is completely abnormal for me. I don’t do holidays or relaxing very well, but right now, I can’t seem to summon the energy for much of anything else. Which really bugs me. I had big plans for the year, and right now, I can’t be bothered with any of them.

So, it’s time to go back to the Doctor. For me, there is little worse than feeling so blah. I can barely summon the emotion to feel upset, or happy, about anything. It’s like I am in zombieland. I would rather feel something – anything – than nothing. My creativity has entirely dried up, and even when I know doing something should make me feel better, I can’t make myself. I feel like I should hate feeling like this, but you know what? I cant even tap into that emotion right now. I’m living in a world of meh, where everything is grey and the air is dust. There is no joy here. And I need that to change. I don’t feel like me, I don’t feel authentic.

I think I want off my meds. Which scares me a little too, because I don’t want what I was feeling before either, and I’m not really sure what to expect. What comes next? I’ve been on this path since April last year, increasing dosages every 3-4 months as I flatline again, and again. Ug.

Mental illness sucks. But I know I don’t want this place where I’m at right now, and I know that I will try a whole lot of other things to find a way out of it, to find a place where I can feel joy again, because I want to be present in my own life, living it, not just walking through it in a daze. My family deserves that, and I deserve that too.

I AM okay. There is no need to worry about me, and I tell you that honestly. Life is a journey, and I will keep on travelling.

Book mail, friends, publishing, writing

The best mail is…

J.C

IMG_20150307_143226468Book mail!!!

Yesterday I had the absolute joy of receiving a lovely package from my friend and children’s author, Zee Southcombe. I have known her for some time now and have really enjoyed watching her progress as a writer, and seeing how she has thrown herself right into being an Indie author. She’s way more gutsy than I am, and a total inspiration.

IMG_20150307_143255751Anyway. Back to the book. Yesterday I got a copy of her debut release, a wordless picture book entitled “What Stars Are Made Of” along with some extra goodies. Zee is multi-talented, as she is not only a writer, but an artist as well (yup, totally jealous. One day my skills will improve!).

There is nothing I love more than having signed copies of my friends work. When I get a bookshelf I’m going to proudly display them all on a special shelf.

If you’re in Auckland, or happen to be there on the 21st of March you should check out the book launch for her second release “The Caretaker of Imagination”. It’s got pirates! You can find more details about the launch here.