Current location:	Tropical Dragon Lair
Current mood:	chipper

Missed me?
No, I didn't think so *grin*.

I've been flat out like a lizard drinking since my trip to Brisbane to see WotW - still feel the slightest twinge of disappointment that I didn't get to meet THE MAN, but then I console myself that I did meet Jeff Wayne, and did some serious retail therapy in the factory outlet stores, which makes me think about the factory outlet MALL being constructed out of the shopping centre close to where I work which they hope will be fully functional in April next year. Boy will the bank account get seriously dented then!

Work-wise things have been very busy - I'm so booked up with editing this month that I've actually taken a couple of days off my day-job this week, and will take a couple off next week as well, just to make sure I meet the authors' deadlines. That's the great thing about where I work - as long as I don't take time off when things are busy (and we have a reasonably stable cycle of quiet-busy throughout each month) the boss is okay with me disappearing for a day or two.

I just finished reading the second book in Kylie Chan's trilogy - Red Phoenix and I didn't want to smack Emma (the main character) once! In the first book I kept wanting to whack her upside the head because she was always shouting and yelling and losing the plot every two minutes, but now she's settled down considerably. I'll definitely be buying the third book. I am totally intrigued to know how it turns out.

Sadly, the little satellite bookstore in my local shopping centre is closing down. Mind you, their parent closed down four months ago (it was in the shopping mall that's being redeveloped for factory outlets) so you'd think they would have moved all their stock etc into the satellite just to keep going, but no. All they did was send over the shelving so it looked more like a proper bookstore. And now they're closing because they're not making enough money! Where's the logic in that? There's a young lass from Minnesota works there and we've been chatting quite a lot because nearly every Saturday for the last couple of months I've been browsing their "5 for $20 or $5 each" stand outside the shop and finding some real gems.

However, last Saturday I was in the other shopping centre I frequent - Stockland Earlville - where I also buy my books and noticed that there are now FOUR sections along the wall for SciFi/Fantasy - WOO HOO! Everything else is being squeezed to the back of the store - great stuff!

My writing has been at a standstill because of all this editing work but I've decided to keep November an editing-free-zone so I can concentrate on the novel and some shorts I'm planning on submitting to an anthology.

Speaking of anthologies - the Tropical Writers anthology 'Mangoes on Fire' is launching on November 3 - I've put a bit of a blurb on my website for it. Click on the image of the book cover on the home page: www.tropicaldragon.com.au

So, that's what I've been up to for the last month.