Melanie Tomlin, Author at Melanie Tomlin

Supanova, Here I Come!

April 8, 2016

Supanova is just around the corner (April 16–17), at the Melbourne Showgrounds. This will be the first ever pop culture event I’ve attended, and it just so happens I’m going there as an exhibitor. That means I’m there for the entire weekend, and hopefully will have a bit of free time to wander around and check out all the celebrities that will be on-site.

Team Mel consists of myself, my son Kyle and a good friend of ours, Mei Teo, who designed the covers for the first two books in my ‘Angel Series’. You can check out Mei’s blog here and her YouTube channel here. Between the three of us my table will be well manned.

Constructive Criticism vs Constructive Feedback

March 10, 2016

If I had to choose one term to discuss that sets my teeth on edge, it would have to be constructive criticism!

Can someone please explain to me what is constructive about criticism? According to oxforddictionaries.com, one definition of:

Constructive is, ‘Having or intended to have a useful or beneficial purpose.’
Criticism is, ‘The expression of disapproval of someone or something on the basis of perceived faults or mistakes.’

When put together, aren’t those two words — constructive criticism — an oxymoron? (Or am I being a moron?) Regardless of my moronic status, nobody likes being criticised, myself included.

The Fruit of My Labours

February 25, 2016

The other day I was silently bemoaning the fact that for so much effort I’ve had so little (financial) reward. Then I thought of the numerous fruit trees in my backyard. It was at least three years before they started to produce a good harvest. Being a ‘successful’ author is much like that. Just as you need to tend and nurture your garden, in order for it to bear fruit, you need to tend and nurture your writing … eventually it should bear fruit. Well, that’s what I’m hoping. I must admit that I am rather impatient and eager for that ‘success’ now, but the fruit tree analogy has put things back into perspective for me. Of course, ‘successful’ is a very subjective term. For me, it means earning a modest income that would enable me to quit my day job, and be no worse off financially than I am now.

Fantasy and Sci-Fi (Speculative) Super Sale!

February 18, 2016

Sale on from Feb 17, 2016–Feb 21, 2016

Welcome to the Fantasy and Science Fiction (Speculative) Super Sale! All books below are priced at $0.99 USD or FREE. With over 89 authors participating in this event, you’re bound to find something you like.

Oops, I Made a Mistake!

February 11, 2016

Oh dear, I made a mistake. It’s the type of mistake that only hurts you, and no one else. It’s a mistake I don’t wish to repeat … let me elaborate, as I usually do.

I’ve been really busy lately. I had to:

make sure Angel’s Kiss was all set to be made available on NetGalley for the month of February
work on preparations for attending Supanova in Melbourne (Apr 15-17). If you haven’t already done so, check out the business card holders I made to take to SupaNova
finalise the Kindle Touch and Cover Competition that I’d been running
reformat Angel’s Kiss — I disliked the large first line indent in the paperback
update the cover for Angel’s Kiss — reduced indent size meant reduced page count, which meant the original spine was too wide
work on the third, fourth and fifth Angel Series books. The sixth one can wait for now … there’s only so much I can do!

To top it off, I still have my day job to go to. When I’ve sold my first 100,000 books I’ll think about scaling back the day job.

And the Winner Is …

February 3, 2016

… but first, a word from our sponsor. That would be me!

Just kidding! 🙂

All eligible email addresses were entered into a random list picker, courtesy of Random-ize. As I wanted to add a couple of screenshots, I masked the majority of the email address of each entrant, but left enough detail so that each one was unique. I still needed to be able to identify who the winner was!

Make Your Own Unique Business Card Holder

January 29, 2016

Okay, so this is a bit different for me, though it does show that I am creative in more ways than one.

As I’ve booked a table at the Indie Zone in The Alley for Supanova Melbourne (April 15–17), I thought I’d need some business cards to hand out. My dilemma was finding something nice to display them in. I searched the Net for a number of hours, looking for an inexpensive and unique business card holder, and couldn’t find what I was looking for. So I thought to myself that maybe I could make one, and searched for ideas. Bingo! Lisa Minckler, at You Made Me Ink! used an earring box to make a unique business card holder back in 2012.

Imagination Land

January 14, 2016

Or why books are great…

I love my imagination! It serves two purposes. The first is to give me almost all the material I need to write my stories, and the second is to enable me to visualise the characters and worlds from other authors’ books that I read.

An author creates a story to take us on a journey, but it is the reader’s imagination that brings the story to life. Watching something on the television, or going to the movies, we’re spoon-fed someone else’s vision of what the characters/places in our favourite books actually look like. I can’t recall my imaginings of a character having ever matched the TV show/movie character representation. Sometimes that spoils the show for me, especially if they’re quite different to how I imagined them.

Why Am I Sad at This Time of Year?

December 24, 2015

It’s almost the end of the year and I am sad. Why am I sad? Okay, prepare yourself for a tirade as I explain why I’m sad.

Note: If you are easily offended, perhaps you should stop reading this article now …

Over the years political correctness has spread like a virus to infect all avenues of our lives. In most cases it’s been a good virus, but in some — this one in particular — it’s plain awful and wrong.

I live in Australia, which is a predominantly Christian, English-speaking country. Here are some statistics to support that claim, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics website, for the latest census in 2011:

Win a Kindle Touch and Cover!

December 22, 2015

To celebrate the upcoming release of the second book in the ‘Angel Series’ — Angel’s Curse — I’m having a little giveaway!

Subscribe to my newsletter for a chance to win a Kindle Touch and Cover (for the Kindle). Existing subscribers please note that you will be automatically entered into the draw.

Entries close on 31 January 2016 11:59pm AEST. A random-picker website will be used to select the winner, and the winner will be announced on, or before, Sunday 14 February 2016 — provided the winner’s eligibility to enter has been verified.

Page 9 of 10
←
1
...
8
9
10
→