A great weekend at the Scone Literary Long Weekend!
Author: Leonie
Writing in 2015 (So far)
It's been a year of writing lots of stuff so far. This year seems to have been my year of having too many ideas - although I'm yet to be convinced that having too many ideas is actually a problem if you're a writer. Earlier this year, Frontier Resistance (Book 2 in the Frontier Series) … Continue reading Writing in 2015 (So far)
Hypocrisy Apparently Rules
I'm sitting here in my chair, after just reading a news article entitled Tony Abbott says Australia will accept more Syria refugees but within current intake... The news this week has been full of images and stories about the enormous humanitarian crisis involving refugees fleeing violence in the Middle East - primarily Syria. The stories … Continue reading Hypocrisy Apparently Rules
Hugo Awards Fallout
I've been watching the Hugo Awards Twitter Feed with avid interest today. In a previous post I wrote about my frustration with some of the nominated stories, and of course there's the massive controversy over slate voting. Twitter has been going off today (it's today in Australia, just to clarify things) with #HugoAwards trending vigorously. There … Continue reading Hugo Awards Fallout
Natural
This afternoon I decided to bake a loaf of bread. We often bake bread, so it's nothing particularly unusual, but as I was tipping in the flax seeds and the sunflower seeds, I was struck by the label on the sunflower seed packet. It said (in big letters) Natural Sunflower Kernels. It struck me as hilarious, and … Continue reading Natural
Reading Is Like A Smorgasbord
I'm in quite a number of groups on both Facebook and Goodreads. Some are writers groups, others are genre specific. I write speculative fiction, currently science fiction, and I've been pondering the myriad of sub-genres in the world of speculative fiction and the place of YA in current speculative fiction reading and writing. There are … Continue reading Reading Is Like A Smorgasbord
NSW Writers Centre Speculative Fiction Festival
I headed off to the NSW Writers Centre Speculative Fiction Festival yesterday. It was a chilly morning when we left the Upper Hunter at around 5am, but we made good time, and arrived just before the registration time of 9am. It's always a bit of a guessing game travelling to Sydney from here. On a … Continue reading NSW Writers Centre Speculative Fiction Festival
Injustice
This last week I've seen something I never thought to see, enacted into law in Australia. In the last few years, the two major political parties in Australia have, in subsequent governments, increasingly penalised asylum seekers and refugees who arrive on boats. They've sent them to Nauru, Manus Island, and placed them in long term … Continue reading Injustice
Frustrated
It's been a frustrating week. This year, for the first time, I purchased a supporting membership to World Con. For those of you who might not be into science fiction and fantasy, World Con happens every year, somewhere in the world, and is the place where the Hugo Awards are awarded, and much science fiction and … Continue reading Frustrated
The Stigma of Mental Health Issues
Recently I saw a post on Facebook that said "When cancer takes a life we blame cancer. Depression is a disease. Don't blame the victim for losing the fight." I've been thinking about it quite a bit. Partly because mental illness has touched our family, and partly because I've just submitted a story to the … Continue reading The Stigma of Mental Health Issues
Leonie Rogers 