When the stars align and the internet plays nicely I sometimes have a quick look through my Twitter feed.
Recently I seem to have lost interest in much that’s said there, haven’t actually tweeted/retweeted/liked anything for a long time, in fact a lot of unfollowing has happened as I’ve got fed up with the thoughts of some users…..but now and again something piques my interest and I click through to read some replies.
Rightly or wrongly (depending on your point of view) Poor ‘1000 cases a day’ Gladys & Mr ‘not my prime minister’ M (NSW Premier & Australian PM) are really being lambasted over recent events. Lets just say some of the words ‘spoken’ make interesting reading,
Anyway seeing a recent tweet from a Scottish knitwear designer had me thinking about when I’d heard someone else talking about self publishing to keep hold of creative control. (I’ve removed all the other usernames mentioned in the tweet)
After all these years The Golfer and I don’t feel the need to be in each other’s pocket all day every day. Unlike many retired couples who do spend their days together we’re happy to amuse ourselves knowing each of us value that ‘own time’.
While we’re here in Bowen this (below) is where he spends several mornings a week hitting a little white ball, trying to get it to land in a hole in the ground half a mile away…..yes a slight exaggeration but listening to him recap his hole by hole adventures you’d think it was instead of just up the way a bit😊
Meanwhile I’m enjoying the delights of this little town
One of them hearing a talk at the local library earlier this month by visiting
Australian author Annie Seaton
I’d already read several of her novels so enjoyed sitting there for well over an hour while she entertained us with humorous snippets of her life, where ideas for her novels come from, early treatment by publishers, how hard it was to ‘fight for’ what she had in mind – covers and book titles being changed – to retain creative control (Australian words & terms changed by international publishers …eg the very Australian word bast.rd….changed to ars..le…..turning derogatory into vulgar …….certainly not what she wanted in her novel) and now self publishing as a means of having that control.
She has managed to reclaim the rights to several of her books, ‘editing and rewriting’ where necessary to return them to their original state and was happy to tell us they were selling in larger numbers than with the previous publishers.
This is her latest book
Hidden Valley
Book 4 Porter Sisters series
Linking to Life the Week hosted by Denyse at Denyse Whelan Blogs.
Photos will enlarge – just tap/click or use the 2finger slide
Still Waters 
I think i would have enjoyed that talk.
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It was a interesting hour for sure Helen
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Sounds pretty idyllic that trip away from Victoria, where you’ve getting into the local swing of things – both you and the Golfer. Will it be hard to tear yourself away and return to your home? As someone said recently, can you travel that far with the restrictions?
Across the ditch, I’m restricted as well, since Delta slipped through a barricade from an MIQ hotel… However, a little dicky bird for today, revealed I could get a food delivery as “priority assistance” door opened. No idea if I will get everything that I ordered online, a hellva lot of brands and product choices limited – and I refused to pay what looks like price gouging so bought a different product…coming Sunday evening.
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Not sure where my original comment went but…..we’ve been coming up here since 2008 so just fall into the same routine each time. Yes it’s a wrench to go home however soon it’ll be too hot (and humid…..tropics) up here for me so down south we go hoping our spring/summer comes along soon after.
I haven’t needed to shop online so far, it’s a boon for those who need to so good luck getting your order filled even if some items could be like likened to lucky dips 😊
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That sounds like a wonderful outing. One I would have enjoyed.
I do hope our libraries can reopen soon.
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It was a great morning EC, interesting as well as fun. I got to meet local book lovers as well as the ‘star of the show’. And I’m sure if we were still at home I’d be pining for my book fix.
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Don’t tell me you have put up with shot by shot golf descriptions!
As you know if we read an American book, we accept their word usage and of course it is the same for UK books. Unless it is something particularly obscure, the default should be Australian English for locally written books, unless the author wants otherwise.
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I only get replays when I ask how things went Andrew 😊.
I, like you accept (and understand) english language in different countries is not the same,
Unfortunately for many authors who want to be published o/seas it appears the publisher is ‘allowed’ to alter language if they feel their readers won’t‘understand’ the local lingo.
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F agrees with Andrew. One of the mind-broadening things about reading international literature is discovering their idiom and phraseology, exploring the nuances of meaning that a different way of expressing something might add to your understanding of another culture.
Anyway, we love the look of the golf links – not surprised the golfer enjoys following a white ball around there.
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I agree with your thoughts on international literature……..most well read readers are aware of differences of speech relevant to the characters nationality.
But the thing is F – these books are set in Australia featuring only Australian characters. The international publisher declared that o/seas readers wouldn’t understand the Australian ‘phraseology’ so changed words and phrases. Australian females don’t call a handbag a purse but purse it had to be……a miserable old bastard (naughty naughty can’t use that word in US) was changed to arsehole (certainly not used lightly in Australia) which altered the whole meaning of the relevant passage.
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So interesting. You put a purse inside a handbag. The word bastard can be used harshly here, but it is not in the phrase a miserable old bastard. A miserable old arsehole is much worse. But for American readers, wouldn’t it a miserable old asshole, which sounds less worse to our ears. Begorrah, getting our common language right for everyone is not easy.
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…or even a ‘cheerful bastard’…. The B word has a completely different meaning to the A word which I reserve for my most despised and unreasonable adversaries. In NZ handbag is big, and purse is exclusively for money/cash (like female version of wallet).
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I was so pleased to discover your blog and read of your visit to my library talk at Bowen! You really ‘got’ the gist of my talk! Bowen library are always so supporitve and it was such a lovely audience. Enjoy your travels!
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How lovely to see you Annie. Yes I (and I’m sure all the others there) enjoyed the talk you gave. I remember hearing similar remarks about publishers and the ‘hold’ they have over authors when Tony Park visited my Probus club a few years ago. Almost a do or die situation but you’ve certainly given it a shot and decided the other alternative is the way to go.
Have you returned home yet or decided Qld is a little bit safer – we’ve extended our stay until October, things hopefully will have calmed down a bit by then.
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Interesting to hear those things in author events, isn’t it? I chose to self publish because I didn’t really like the options available to me to trad publish. Not saying I’d never do it, but for now my stuff is my weird happy place and I don’t have to justify it to anyone.
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What I find interesting Vanessa is that it doesn’t seem to matter what genre is written or how successful an author is it’s give and take on both sides. Self publishing is obviously a better option for those without another person going in to bat for them
Thanks for dropping in and commenting
Take care
Cathy
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Libraries are the best aren’t they?! I’m a library tech so I would say that. Unfortunately all our libraries are closed here in Sydney. Sigh. Happy reading.
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I’ve not read any of Annie’s books but know of her of course and how lovely to go to an author event. I always find them so refreshing and nourishing Cathy and it sounds like you enjoyed it.
As for the self-publishing thing I certainly know many who self-publish because it’s faster and – particularly in the Australian market – they can make as much as they might going through a traditional publisher (unless they were to become very successful!).
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How lovely to see you back and yes to separate activities and interests in retirement. Loved your post and author events are always fun when you can get there. Thanks for sharing the post for Life This Week. Loved reading yours. Next week’s optional prompt is Self Care Stories. Hope to see you there too. Denyse
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