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Archive for October, 2013

2013-09-26 12.24.55

From Richard:

I’m surprised at my writing. Strangely enough, it all started when I had some casual work at a wool store, some thirty six years ago.
At that time I was reading a book called ‘Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle Maintenance.’
I remember I had been given the task of opening about five hundred bales of wool in preparation for a wool sale. This involved the removal of three wool bale staples from each bale, opening a bale flap, folding it back and affixing the flap with one of the staples, the other two staples then deposited into a sack that hung round my waste. A monotonous, mind numbing job, right.
Wrong, the job gave my mind time to wonder/wander and I thought back to that book, the gist of which was logic e.g. if the head light on your motorcycle isn’t working you need to trace either backwards from the light i.e. is the bulb blown, no, are all the wires correctly joined yes, is the alternator functioning, yes, then, if the remaining wires are all affixed the problem lies in your ignition switch, alternatively, if you go the other way, you turn on the ignition and does your horn work, yes, the switch works, are all the wires attached yes, then does the alternator work yes, are all the wires affixed yes, then your bulb must be blown.

Anyway, this thought process strangely enough, stayed with me and I think on many things using this process, that is, to get from a to z you have to go through the rest of the alphabet.
So, characters and scenes must also have a logic, a way of marching to the conclusion.

Of course, all this may seem simple to all other humans out there, I only know my mind.
Does yours work the same way?

I wonder and yearn to know

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the cliffs

Writing with my brother, like everything else with my brother, means we get to fight, make things up, and out-do each other with our exaggerated tales of triumph and adventure.

the authors

It’s how our Cracker and Gilly Mystery Series came into being…

forbidden photo

And recently we had the opportunity to revisit the scene of many of the adventures about which we write…the cliffs, the rocks, the secret caves, Professor Bromley Floss’s mysterious shack…

the shack

My brother still likes to climb around the cliffs…

the explorer

But my daughter is a tad more nimble than the authors…

climbing the cliff

Ah, we remember once when we were young…

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Meet Tombay…

Tombay is a character in our Cracker and Gilly Mystery Series for middle grade/young teen readers… his personality shines through, don’t you think, from his cheeky grin to his proud and loyal stature.

Tombay illustration

And Skelly, dastardly baddy that he is, aboard the Pirate…

Skelly and Pirate

Today I’m pleased to introduce our talented illustrator, Denita. I knew we lucked out bringing her onboard but it wasn’t till I saw the quality of her work that I realised just how lucky we are…

Denita drawing

And that’s the secret I guess…a little bit of luck, coupled with tenacity, knowing what you want and how to search for it…or, for those of us of a more biblical bent, ask and you shall receive…

But…and it’s a big but…I’ve been searching for an illustrator for a while…a talented artist friend agreed to work with us…but never delivered….another artist friend didn’t have the time…and some artists were plain out of our budget.

What I didn’t realise was that our newest team member was right under our noses all along and neither she nor I realised it…till now…and that’s where the luck came in. Circumstance, coupled with timing, coupled with luck….

I look forward to sharing more of Denita’s work…and, if we’re lucky, she may even share a few tips and tricks…

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