Dreams (ain't they grand?)

When I first went to uni (college for you 'Mericans), much of my tuition was paid for via scholarships and grants.  I was very grateful for those people and foundations who enabled me to gain a higher education.  So impressed was I, one of my greatest dreams was to start a scholarship fund, should I ever find myself with a million dollars.

Back then, the idea that I would ever have a million dollars, much less one I could spend on something like a scholarship fund, was mildly ludicrous. But since when should ludicrousness ever stop one from dreaming?  (After all, I also dream of getting a nice, memorable kiss from Richard Armitage.)

In the early stages of my dreaming, I even researched what it would take to create a scholarship foundation.  To register as a charity, I had to fill out this paperwork and that paperwork, and fill these forms and pay those fees and jump through a bunch of red-taped hoops that laid a very wet blanket on my plans. Bummer. A goodly portion of my funds would go towards something other than scholarships.  That put a damper on my plans.

Ah well, it was just a dream, so I ignored those issues by tucking them firmly away in the back of my head, and dreamed instead of bestowing scholarship cheques on everyone who applied for one.

I thought, should I make my scholarship a specialist one?  Should I create a scholarship for fans of Science Fiction and Fantasy?  Or should I create one for writers?  How about those who were not great scholars in High School, who only just got into college by virtue of sheer luck (and high test scores)?  For that class of student, scholarships are harder to come by, than, say, your 4.0 student. That would be groovy.

And so, the fantasy goes.

Then, while researching ways to fund my own grad school, I came across crowdfunding as a way of funding education.

Crowdfunding for education?  B R I L L I A N T !!

A dream that had been a long shot, suddenly became a very real possibility.

1.  Goodbve registration of a charity and red tape and other legal restrictions.  I can donate as a private citizen.
2.  Goodbye needing a million dollars before I can contribute to this dream. I can get going for only $5K.
2a.  Forget hundreds and hundreds of dollars, as I originally thought a scholarship handout would ahve to be.  I can bless a student with a mere $25.
3. Given enough capital, I can contribute to hundreds, if not thousands of students, thereby enabling so many, many people!  The more capital I've got, the more people I can fund.  (Okay, a million dollars would be nice.  Invested wisely, with a 4% withdrawal rate, I could either fund ten thousand students per annum with Funds of Significance, or I could share it out among nearly a quarter million students with smaller amounts. In perpetuity.)

Do you know how earth-shatteringly wonderful it is to realise that a once-distant dream is now a very close reality?

Wow.

Such wow.

Many delirious happy.

So yeah. Once I get sufficient capital, I'll start crowdfunding education as a way of paying forward the generosity of those who funded my own education through scholarships and grants.

My dream is coming true!

Wanna help?  Go crowdfund someone who needs tuition money.  Wanna help me in my dreams?  Go buy my novella "As Good As Gold".  And then when future novellas and novels come out, go buy them as well.  The income from my writing will fund my capital that will provide continuous income which I can devote towards future crowdfunding scholarships.

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Her Grace is a strong proponent of higher education, not only for increasing income opportunities, but also for the sheer joy of learning.  This is why she's indulging in an MFA at the moment, and hopes to pursue a MS in Astronomy next.  P.S.  Richard, if Her Grace succeeds in this dream, will you come give her a kiss?

Randomosity for Crab Fest

Yesterday was full of other people's birthday parties.  Today was Crab Fest, so I spent the day painting parasols, sampling the wares from Margaret River and eating crab.  Therefore, yesterday's Randomosity is a day late.

Stuff that interested me this week:

Swinburne University offers a class in Astrobiology, as part of their Master of Science (Astronomy) course.

Melissa Hunter makes really cool videos, like Adult Wednesday Addams.  Very cleverly done.

I'm making a One Block Wonder quilt, using a Whack'n'Stack technique (hexagonal kalideoscope). They take some rather busy fabric and turn out something quite beautiful.

I think microloans are a good idea in that they help people in developing third world nations get ahead, thanks to the wealth of first world nations.  We should do more of this.  Kiva is one such microloan site. MicroLoan Foundation Australia caters to us Down Under.

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Her Grace has been dwelling on some Very Big Dreams lately. All she needs is the capital, or the time, or both.

Motivated by Other Peoples' Success

State of the Union: so, currently I have one novella out for your reading pleasure. (Please leave an honest review, if you've read it.)   I've got another one with my editor (a tale for another time).  I'm editing a full-length Regency Romance novel at the moment and have a full-blow Fantasy Trilogy out with beta-readers.

Love letters from my Guilty Conscience.

I've got a lot of work to do.

Yet what have I done this morning? Perused Facebook and Twitter.  My flists and feeds are full of other professionals, sharing their professional successes and pictures of their cats.

Every time I read social media before I've done Proper Work for the day, I get a good dose of Guilty Conscience.  I shut down the social media and I dig in to whatever project I'm scheduled to work on that day. (Today: editing my WIP.)  Yes, this happens Every. Time.

I guess it's good that I don't get too sucked in to the glittering world of social media, and I am getting some work done.  After all, isn't that how all my successful peeps out there got successful?

Okay, sometimes I do get too sucked in. I read more, and more.  This peer has this book out, that peer has a cover reveal, the other peer just got a starred Kirkus review...  Then I look at my own efforts and heave a great big sigh. It can be depressing seeing so much success out there, and so little happening in here.

Then I realise that I'll never have that sort of success if I don't go Do Something.

And that thought alone is enough to drive me to close down those open tabs and get yWriter up. Works every time.

What pricks your Guilty Conscience?


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Her Grace sometimes wishes she could tap into her motivation more often without relying on social networking. Still, it's good to keep up with the industry.  Meanwhile, here is a picture of her cat, lasers fully charged:

Going for a Trot

My current Work-In-Progress (WIP) is a Regency Romance.  So naturally, there are a few horses about, especially as my characters do a bit of travelling.

Going for a trot is much better than having the trots.

So, how long did it take our travellers to go from one place to another via horseback or carriage?  Many factors come into play: the condition of the roads, the condition of the horse, the pace or gait of the horse, the distance, the weight pulled, etc.

If an experienced rider is on the back of a conditioned horse, going at a sustainable trot, he could make about twelve-sixteen kilometers in an hour.  My Hero needs to go a distance of about twenty kilometers one morning. A trip that would take just under two hours (factoring in increasing fatigue for both horse and rider which will slow the pace somewhat towards the end).

Coming back, he rides in a carriage drawn by two horses with a few other passengers. The average speed of a horse-drawn carriage is about 8-10 kilometers an hour.  That same distance would be a good three-and-a-half hours thereabouts, depending on road conditions and other factors, like toilet breaks for the passengers.

In the 21st Century, with our highly-engineered cars, our paved highways and other conveniences, sometimes we forget just how difficult travel used to be.  Today, that same distance my hero traveled two hundred years ago would take only 33 minutes "at current traffic rates" (midnight in London), if Google Maps is to be believed.  Also, his backside would be in much nicer condition, having reclined on some nice, heated leather seats, as opposed to being punished on the saddle of a trotting horse.

Have you traveled a great distance via horse or horse'n'carriage?

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Her Grace does not miss the days of inconvenient travel. That said, there is not much more comfort squeezing into the teeny-tiny seats of a budget airline.

Randomosity for the middle of Bunuru

I found this stuff fascinating this week:

Not everyone believes in four Seasons a year.  The Noongar believe in six. After having lived on their land for fifteen-plus years, I completely agree with them.  North American Season marking does not apply in Australia.  Even so, we change our Seasons at the beginning of the month, not on the solstices/equinoces.
So yeah. It's gonna be hot for a little while longer during Second Summer.

That corset is giving him
tremendous lift.

Hercules was a cross-dresser?  Yep, sure was. For some reason, this delicious tidbit of info doesn't get mentioned too often in school.

The Granite Youth Symphony plays some lovely music for you.  Can you believe they're all under the age of 18?

Throughout history, Lefties have gotten a bad rap.  But there may be advantages to being left-handed.

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Her Grace comes from a family with a high proportion of southpaws and ambidexters.

Ash Wednesday

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday (also known as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday).  We had pancakes for dinner, even though my faith and my household don't really observe Shrove Tuesday (or the rest of Lent, for that matter).

Despite our lack of strict observance, I do use the time for reflection.  

Can one say, "Happy Ash Wednesday"?  No? Didn't think so.

Ash Wednesday is the First Day of Lent, the forty days before Easter.  Oh, we celebrate Easter! Easter Hymns, Easter Service on Sunday, etc.  Yes, we even go for the Super Long Weekend, here in Australia.  I wisely took the few days off after Easter, because on Friday after, it's ANZAC Day. (More on this later, as this is an even more reflective holiday than Ash Wednesday. Downright sad, sometimes.  Ne'er you mind that I'm using such important holidays to score nearly two weeks off from work.)

So, back to more serious stuff:  I like using the time of Lent for reflection.  I believe not enough people do this, which is why I'm mentioning it here.  Go reflect.  It's scary, but worth it.

It can be a difficult thing to hold a mirror up to oneself and admit one's flaws.   Last year for Lent, I went on a Selfie Spree.  Normally I don't photograph myself unless absolutely necessary.  While selfies are usually considered a selfish pursuit, I used them to have a good, honest look at myself.

Who was I?  Who did I want to be?  What was reflected in my face?

As writers, we're concerned with character development arcs.  Sometimes it's good to take those writerly skills and apply them to ourselves.  Who are we, if we were a character?  What are our strengths, our weaknesses?  What are our goals and motivations? What are our obstacles?

As writers, we tend to throw obstacles in the paths of our characters.  As humans, we do our best to remove our obstacles--assuming we know what they are.

Thus, I reflect.

You ever know someone with an annoying characteristic--something they say or do, some mistake they make over and over?  Have you ever said, "Why on earth don't they change?"  

They might not be aware they are doing it.  We are creatures of habit, we humans. We get into a pattern and a certain part of our brain turns off.  It's not until we stop and consciously question our actions that we can see what we truly do, and can change if we so desire.

I've changed a few things about myself based on last year's reflections.  This year I shall continue to reflect and continue to improve myself.

After all, I am a Romance author and we love our HEAs.

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Her Grace has pulled up her socks, girded her loins, shifted into gear and got her act together. Also, it is Cadbury Creme Egg season.

Any Time But Now

I am not into contemporary romance.  It just doesn't sing for me.

I love historical romance. I love futuristic romance. I love otherworld romance. Anything, anytime, anywhere but here.

Maybe this is because I read for escapism.  Historical fantasy paints an idealised picture of romance in a different time period, safely glossing over the majority of social woes, disease, war and more. Futuristic and otherworld also aim for a more idealised portrayal of worlds that don't exist.  Worldbuilding in these categories can be done well enough for readers to suspend their disbelief.  Ignore the ubiquitous poverty and rampant chauvanism of Regency. Forget the disease and war-torn Mediaeval. Bypass burnt-out humanity in the future.  Get to the good stuff--love never dies.  We're all in it for the HEA.

With contempo, everything has to be as real as the author can make it. Anything that's not honest and real feels fake. You can't get away with tweaking the worldbuilding.  And I love me some good worldbuilding, larger-than-life.

Also, I think the dialogue may have something to do with it.  Contemporary dialogue simply isn't romantic enough for me.  "Hey, Baby," might be a commonly-used pickup line, but it doesn't do anything for me.  If anything, I find it a bit of a turn-off.

So give me romance in some setting other than the Here and Now. Take me to someplace I can never go. Thrill me. I live in the contemporary world every day. It can be a bit tedious at times and downright disappointing.

Sometimes I just wanna escape.

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Her Grace has always wanted to visit Narnia.  Ever notice how a wardrobe and a TARDIS are similar?