Hello from my new blog spot!

I did sort of expect to give a bit more warning than this before changing my blog's URL, but it seemed like a good time to make the change. My flash fiction from Nick Wilford's Overcoming Adversity blog hop will be included in the anthology he's creating, so I figured I should give him a new blog URL instead of one I was planning on changing soon anyway. My old blog address is still there, but from now on I'll be posting here.

I wasn't really sure what I wanted to change to, but this URL features my initials (though my actual name is Patricia, not Trisha), and also the name of my blog. I have a fondness for my initials mostly because my dad makes use of them a fair bit. As a photographer, he's got folders full of slides of me throughout my life, and each of these folders are labelled simply "TWF". He's also sent me postcards from overseas addressed simply to "TWF". My brother is "JWF" (we each have our mum's surname as our middle name), and he gets labelled as such too. Even our email names display as TWF and JWF.

So there you go. That's the reasoning. Now I just hope you can all find me. :)

I have noticed some broken things and have fixed them as I've stumbled across them (blog rolls had to be done from scratch, and one page wasn't working), so if you notice anything else broken, please let me know! Hopefully this will be the last change in...a long time. Maybe ever. ;)

Beginnings blogfest

It's January 9th and therefore time for L.G. Keltner's Beginnings blogfest - for me, the first blogfest of the year! The idea behind this blogfest is to write about some sort of beginning in your life. It doesn't have to be about you, but the way I see it, it should be something meaningful to you. For a better idea of L.G.'s concept, check out her post over at Writing Off the Edge.

As for my beginning? Well, I really do love the story of how my SQUEAKY story got started, so here it is:

It was 2007, and I was at work, wrestling with the library management system. After yet another thing went wrong, I made a litte squeaking sound - the faint chitter of impassioned consternation, I assure you. At that very moment, my colleague turned to me with raised brows and spoke these fateful words:

"What are ya, a mouse?" 

My immediate response: "Yeah, I was a mouse in a former life. And my name was Squeaky McLean." 

And so mouse detective Squeaky McLean was born. And he was just the beginning of a wacko crazy ride (which is still far from over). With the invaluable assistance of my colleague, I began to jot down silly little Squeaky plot points, mostly ludicrous names for characters we didn't even know, and lines they might utter in plotlines that didn't yet exist. We had a lot of notes even before we had a first sentence.

But then things got serious, 'cause NaNoWriMo 2007 was rolling around. It seemed only natural that I should attempt to write Squeaky during that month of madness and mayhem. And that's exactly what I did. The result was a complete Book 1.

Fast forward to November 2008, and the Squeaky universe was still alive and very well in my heart. On November 1st I kicked off book 2, and by November's end I had hit 50k once again. I haven't finished book 2, but I will, and someday soon. Because even now, 6 years later, I still love the Squeaky-verse. To absolute furry little bits.

Thank you for reading my "Beginnings" story. I can't wait to read all of yours as well!

---

On another topic, I got a couple of comments relating to my blog's current background image, and I wanted to show you exactly where it came from:

I took this photo on the walk back to my car from work one day, and I used bits of it (flipped, cropped and mirrored) to form the background image. Unfortunately this kind of thing takes me way longer than it should, because I rely on Paintbrush to get things done. Still, it does the trick in the end.

Waving goodbye to '12 and hello to '13

Hi everyone! It's 11:37am on December 31st, and I'm hiding out in my air-conditioned living room wishing fervently for winter's return to Western Australia. Even typing on this laptop is a bit much 'cause it's radiating heat onto me. So I'll try and be quick about today's post! First off I want to wish you all a very Happy New Year! I hope you all have a great night tonight. I will raise a glass of red wine or two to all of you, my blogging friends, and also to my friend Ally who passed away back in September - it's her 28th birthday today. Happy birthday Ally.

In other news, I'm eager to turn my attention to 2013, which I hope will have a lot of awesome times for all of us. Personally I'm looking forward to the A-to-Z challenge, numerous blogfests, BuNoWriMo, NaNoEdMo, and of course NaNoWriMo. I'm looking forward to stuff I haven't even imagined could happen, too. I'm also thinking about the following:

• I might change the URL of this blog - the farseas is relevant to one particular story of mine, but it's quite an obscure reference
• I'll be changing the look of the blog, though I haven't got a specific plan yet. It won't be a total overhaul
• I'll probably be releasing an actual CD of my music, with inlay and booklet and all, largely thanks to the very awesome collaboration I've been in with a guy called Billy from California
• I want to self-publish a story, and I'm thinking of starting with a novella I wrote for BuNoWriMo one year (I think it was 2011).

All my 2013 goals are summarised in the following two pages, though the Goals 2013 page is the main one I'll be holding myself to:

Goals 2013

52 weeks of tasks 2013

I thought my GoodReads friends would like to know that one of the items on my task chart is writing a mini-review of one Grimm Fairytale story per week. The reason for this is that I want to get this damn book read once and for all. ;) It's been on my "currently reading" list at GoodReads for years now!

Right. I think I've said all I want and need to say for 2012. I will say again though, thank you to everyone who has read my blog this year. You guys are awesome!

 Bring on 2013!!

HOBBIT fest! + a page re-jig

Today is the Hobbit Blogfest, hosted by Tyrean Martin and M. Pax, and this is my entry! Yeah, I'm too tired to compose a more proper rousing intro than that today (a kitty woke me up at 3am just so I could help her do a pee, which she didn't need help with at all as it turns out). Anyway, for Hobbit Fest, participants must answer four questions. Below are the questions and my answers!

What is your favourite hobbit characteristic/or the one that you think closely resembles you . . .?
Second breakfast? :)

If you could choose between a scrumptious second breakfast and a perilous unexpected journey – which would you prefer?
Second breakfast! I know, inspired response isn't it? Blame kitty.

Have you ever left behind something on a journey (expected or unexpected) and wished you could have it over and over again? (a pocket handkerchief?)
Yes. I left behind a beautiful Canon Eos camera in the Istanbul flea markets - in a fleeing thief's hands! I'm sure there are other things I've left behind as well, but I can't remember any right now. Kitty's fault.

What is your favourite part or quote from the book that you hope will be in the movie?
"He did not go much further, but sat down on the cold floor and gave himself up to complete miserableness, for a long while. He thought of himself frying bacon and eggs in his own kitchen at home - for he could feel inside that it was high time for some meal or other; but that only made him miserabler." (p.64, 1990 publication)

Thanks ladies for hosting this fun blogfest! I am sure the other entries will be way more energized and entertaining than mine! :P

---

In other news, I re-jigged my "Words & Music" page so that there is way less content, basically just a list of all the books I've written/am writing/may write in future, as it stands currently. I like this a lot better as it's just got the basic info and is much easier to digest. I whittled some of the music section away too, but it's still fairly chunky. I may work at whittling it more in future.

What's in a name?

Two things.

1. I've said it before (elsewhere, probably not here) and I shall say it again: I find it interesting that I can introduce myself as "Trisha" to a perfect stranger, and the very next thing they say to me includes some shortening or alteration of my name that they've taken it upon themselves to give me. In one great example, I was out at a pub one night and met some guy, and here was our very first conversation:

This is what I do when you call me Pat.

Me: I'm Trisha.
Him: Trish.
Me: Trisha.
Him. Trish.

Yes, that is what he said to me. And while he was saying that last line, he was smiling like I was being the dick head.

Have any of you gone through this sort of thing?

Don't get me wrong - most people in my life do call me Trish, and I'm perfectly fine with it if I actually at least know these people from a bar of soap. But I like to think they'll at least wait a whole day (maybe even a whole ten minutes) after meeting me before having their way with my name.

2. I just call myself Trisha on this blog, but I do in fact have a surname (fancy that!). I haven't got it plastered all over this thing, because for some reason I would feel weird about announcing myself that openly to the world. I think it's all part of the whole "I'm not an author, I'm just a writer" thing, and how I'm not really sure whether I will ever rely on pen names or just go with my real name. It's something I think about a hell of a lot, but I haven't come up with any good solutions to the conundrum yet. And just for the record, the idea of using a pen name doesn't sit too well with me either. I'd feel almost presumptuous, like I'm trying to be more important than I am. And yet when my fellow blogger writer people do it, it's totally fine and normal in my opinion!

So my friends... have you any thoughts? feelings? observations? on the above points?