Christmas Shopping

It's done! All my Christmas presents are bought and wrapped and hidden away. Such a relief. I start my Christmas shopping in July and usually like to have it squared away before December, so I've just squeaked it in.

I love giving presents, and love planning what to get everyone so I (hopefully) can give them something that makes them smile. So for me shopping in advance lets me contemplate each and every gift - no last minute rush.

This year I am giving lots of books - no surprise there. The Hub is the exception this year - he's getting some (very) expensive rope for his rock climbing instead. Probably the first time he won't have any reading material under the tree. But for everyone else, mixed in with the toys, cds, sporting gear etc are books.

Lots and lots of books.

Motivational Monday

Plotting isn't like sex, because you can go back and adjust it afterwards. Whether you plan your story beforehand or not, if the climax turns out to be the revelation that the mad professor's anti-gravity device actually works, you must go back and silently delete all those flying cars buzzing around the city on page one. If you want to reveal something, you need to hide it properly first - Colin Greenland

Selling Synopsis Finalists

Congratulations to Marilyn Forsyth, Clare Jude, Eloise Shannon (twice!), Christine Taylor and Allison Withers who made the final round of the Selling Synopsis contest. Their synopsis entries are now with Laura Bradford of the Bradford Literary Agency for their final judging. Best of luck!!

Competition was a lot stiffer this year - I entered the same synopsis I entered last year and scored an almost identical score but dropped 6 places in the rankings. Like my High 5 I seem to have split the judges with very high scores from two judges being counter-balanced by a low score from a third. Considering I would rather go to the dentist than write a synopsis (in fact, I remember setting aside 2 weeks where I set the goal of writing my synopsis, and it took me the full two weeks to do so), I'm pretty happy with that.