“Parting is such sweet sorrow.” Whatever, Shakespeare!

Yeh, yeh, I do get where Bill was coming from, but with three weeks left until the “big move” I’m allowed to indulge in a little boo hissery!

It’s a shame that moving on with the rest of your life starts with goodbyes, and I’ve been saying a lot of them lately. I’ll miss my Gold Coast friends and family dearly, but of course I’ll be back as often as I can … and I’m looking forward to sharing fabulous Melbourne with visitors!

Ok, enough about that and on with a bit of an update on the writing scene.

“Short Sips: Coffee House Flash Fiction Collection 2” containing my story ‘William’s Mummy’ has been released and is now available on Amazon. This story was inspired by a feeling of identity crisis in my early stages of motherhood. (First time mums across the globe, you probably all know where I’m coming from!) It’s quite a dark piece, as is my wont, but sometimes if you learn to embrace the darkness it’s easier to step into the light.

This week I had another acceptance by the good folk at FutureCycle Press in the US. They’ve picked up another of my shorts, “Don’t Hate Me ‘Cause I’m Beautiful.” It will appear in their 2012 FutureCycle Anthology due for print release in January 2013 (with a Kindle edition to follow later in the year).

Sometimes story ideas come to me by hearing a simple phrase that strikes a chord. In this case “Don’t Hate Me ‘Cause I’m Beautiful” was something I heard in an interview – it was quoted by either a Hilton or a Kardashian girl – can’t remember which, but it set something aspin in my head, and an odd little tale of the darkly-quirky variety was the result. It was a lot of fun to write, so I’m glad it’s found a good home.

I’ve had my last meeting with the GC Speckies. Our theme this month was ‘hard science fiction’. The Speckies gave me some beautiful gifts (see below). The vase was from the group, and the cat picture from Vietnam was from Vacen Taylor, who shares my love of all things feline. Even though I’m headed to the Mornington Peninsula, I have had the honour of lifetime GC Speckie member bestowed upon me. Let’s face it, I’ll always be a Gold Coast girl, and I’ll always be a speckie! I will keep up my monthly micro fiction contributions and am looking forward to the launch of their e-journal next year, which I will be writing some features for.

I have my last Prana Writers meeting next Saturday (I’m determined to secure lifetime membership there too!) and the following week Clan Fraser hits the open road to drive south for new adventures.

I know there is a hip hop and happening writing scene in Melbourne … so watch out everyone, I’ll be heading to a networking event to meet you all soon!

Wish me luck!

Happy writing, happy reading and, as always, happy days 🙂

Rebecca Fraser