I have finally finished uploading all of my photos from my visit to Tasmania – here is the link to the slideshow. Looking back, it was a wonderful holiday – very scenic. I think we picked the right time of year to go, as the autumn colours were stunning. I’d like to go back again around the same time next year for a longer period of time. The only think I found really disappointing was the lack of snow – apparently it snowed two days after we left!

Last weekend I went to the Adelaide Zoo, using my membership card for the first time. The weather was nice and the animals were fairly active. I managed to see the giraffes being fed and the Macaw free-flight. I also went to the new Envirodome – they have smaller creatures in there and my favourites were the chameleons and the sea horses.  The new panda exhibit was looking great. I went around the zoo twice and then afterward went shopping in the city. It’s so nice having the zoo so close to the CBD – I had an excellent day. I am thinking of repeating it next weekend, weather permitting. I also want to go to the SA Museum and the Art Gallery – I used to visit often when I was a uni student and now I haven’t been there in a long time.

Work has been very busy – we are coming to the end of another assessment period. Exams are next week, followed by report writing. 3 weeks to go until the holidays!

I have been doing a little bit of writing. I have managed to put a couple of my stories onto my phone so I can read it like an ebook – I also have the ability to write in a notebook on my phone, which I can then email. So, whenever I have a bit of spare time, I am now either reading or working on either SR, CR or J. This will also come in handy when NaNoWriMo comes around this year!

I have been very busy these past couple of weeks and have been neglecting to write very much on my blog.

Last Wednesday, I went to the Adelaide Zoo for the day. I arrived in Adelaide early so I could get a full-day car park. After walking up through the university of Adelaide to Rundle Mall for batteries, I ate breakfast and then walked back to the zoo in time for opening at 9:30. I was at the zoo until about 2pm at which point my feet decided they’d had enough and that it was time to head home.

More photos at Flickr (will open in new window)

On Monday I went to a Mandatory Notification session in town. It was at the University of Adelaide in the Pulteney Tower building – my first time in there upstairs. After we finished, I walked back through the Uni. It felt so good to be in town again, although the day was very warm.

Yesterday was VERY hot 41C (107F) or thereabouts. Fortunately it cooled down today. I have spent the past two days hibernating under the air conditioner, uploading the zoo photos (there were 99 in total, though I took over 700) and working on my novel.

I was all set to make drastic changes to SR in the last week or so but managed to end up with the same effect with just a few smaller changes. I have pretty firmly decided that I want to work through to the end of my current draft, then do one more draft before I try sending it to a publisher. I have some very good feedback from a few friends who are reading as I write and I am keeping a list of things that may require changing. I also need to develop some characters who aren’t so well-developed.

I have also been working on Jewel, a fantasy story that has been in my life about as long as SR. The beginning of the novel is pretty set but the middle is wandering back and forth – it is very much unplanned at the moment. I am just writing scenes as they come to me. The current draft of Jewel is markedly different from the first few drafts I wrote, which were very much coloured by TV shows that I was a fan of at the time.

In other good news, I have already read seven (excellent) books this year. Home for Christmas, All I Want for Christmas and Gabriel’s Angel are romance novels by Nora Roberts – I had a 3 in one book and read it in one sitting. The other four books are Young Adult: Nobody’s Prize by Esther Friesner; Out of the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst; Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr and Dragon’s Keep by Janet Lee Carey.

Tomorrow I am going into the city with my friend K. I need to get a print copy of my academic transcript. I also want to go to the Oxfam Shop, Dymocks (my favourite bookstore) and maybe through some of the shops. I am planning to take my camera. On Friday afternoon I am thinking about going to the Adelaide Zoo – they will be open until 8:30pm and I have never been there so late in the day before. I’ve heard it is very good so late in the day.

~ Jewel