CM Simpson: Writer & Gamer

This little guy - yep, it's the male - came to visit in our tree. I've since seen him with a little harem of females, but never been able to get close enough to them for a photograph. Watch this blog. Eventually, I manage it. In the meantime, please enjoy the shots I *did* manage to get as he sang (or chirped merrily) in my backyard. He was pretty wary, and hard to get close to, and  He very stubbornly stayed behind a screen of leaves. Occasionally, he turned his back, giving me a clear view of his red rump. And his yellow tummy. Eventually, I managed to move around enough to get this hot. He watched every move, so I went back inside and left him in peace.

An Anthology of Blades will release on January 25, 2014: Axes, swords, knives, cursed, blessed or from the Otherlands, this anthology is all about things that cut, slice, dice or amputate. From a buried blade housing one of the protagonists of an ancient battle, to axes wielded by a barbarian at the crossroads of destiny, all the short stories and poems contained in this anthology have one common theme—they are some kind of blade. An Anthology of Blades will be available from Kindle, Kobo, Smashwords, CreateSpace (in both large and small print), DriveThruFiction, and OmniLit, as well as all outlets to which Smashwords distributes, which include Barnes and Noble Nook and iTunes. Country Rush will release on March, 22, 2014: Country Rush is the first book in the Bookstore Romances series which centers around the characters who work in, or pass through, Highway's Book Emporium, a bookstore in a city very much like Melbourne or Canberra. When Taylor...

An Anthology of Blades , the sixth in The Simpson Anthologies series, will be released next week. Here is its new cover. Cover for An Anthology of Blades Axes, swords, knives, cursed, blessed or from the Otherlands, this anthology is all about things that cut, slice, dice or amputate. From a buried blade housing one of the protagonists of an ancient battle, to axes wielded by a barbarian at the crossroads of destiny, all the short stories and poems contained in this anthology have one common theme—they are some kind of blade.

Progress Report: Week 3 January 2014 We have no air conditioning, and only bought fans yesterday (Friday, 17 January). On hot days (you know, those over 30 degrees Celsius), not only do I have trouble functioning, but the computer does, too. This week has been 39 degrees Celsius and up, with the last week being in the 40+ mark. Not a lot has been done and I am behind. Today (Saturday, 18 January), I have managed to keep both the computer and myself cool, in spite of it being over the 40-degree mark. Stuff is happening, but slowly. Here’s what I’ve achieved this week. Overview New words produced: 3,599 Old words revised: 0 Works completed: 0 Works revised: 0 Covers created: 0 (1-3 variations) Works published: 0 (2-3 release platforms) Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 0 Tier 1 Tasks Annual13: Added 481 words Annual14: Added 3,118 words Publishing Tasks Anthology7— An Anthology of Blades : completed cover, formatted for Smashwords, A...

Terribleminds Flash Fiction Challenge Response: The Invisible Bookshop Very excited to be able to take part in the first terribleminds flash fiction challenge of the year. Written on January 13, 2014, for the terribleminds flash fiction challenge due midday, January 17, 2014, this piece explores more of my Otherworld setting. I’m beginning to think, this setting and the pixie-dust setting might be one and the same. I’ll write some more to work it out. We had to randomly roll two words, which made up our title, and then we had 1,000 words in which to write a story. This piece is exactly 1,000 words long. The invisible bookshop stood on the corner of Pattinson and Lane. It was not a secretive place, tucked away in an alley or down a side-street. It stood proudly where all could see—or where all would be able to see, if the shop itself was visible. Most of the time, it looked like a big, blank corner of wall, with no windows and no door. I loved the place. As if ...

   I am currently reading through the rules update that came through late last year, so that I can tweak the already released Acts into line. After that, I will write the final scene in Act II and then compile each Act into a downloadable PDF and place it in a separate post AND on the Babes in London page on this blog. You have not been forgotten. EDIT FEBRUARY 24, 2017: APPLEMANS: Apologies for replying here, but I've responded to each of your comments made last week twice. I have no idea why my responses aren't showing up for you - or for me, either, for that matter - so I'm putting it here. Because of your interest, I have recommenced writing Babes. It'll be slow, only about 1,000 words a week, but it'll be done by the end of the year. The latest updated post is at: https://cmsimpson.blogspot.com.au/2017/02/update-babes-in-london.html , and there will be weekly updates each Friday. I'll be reposting this edit on each of the posts ...

Progress Report: Week 2 January 2014 Apologies for the late post - internet outage. Week 2 was a very busy week, this week, with changes at the day job and the continued evolution of routine at home. Life is getting more balanced, and the writing continues. Overview New words produced: 2,683 Old words revised: 0 Works completed: 11 (11 for longer works) Works revised: 0 Covers created: 0 (1-3 variations) Works published: 0 (2-3 release platforms) Works submitted: 0 Competitions Entered: 0 Tier 1 Tasks Anthology13: Added 330 words Anthology14: Added 2,353 words Publishing Tasks Reworked blog schedules for both my blog and the publishing blog. New Arrivals The following ideas arrived this week: Chapbook1G-J: About a cat in different locations. Chapbook20B: more science fiction from a muddy world Poem267—Dragons from the Story Leap: a dragon acrostic Poem268—Purity Falls: about the loss of a knight; Poem269—The First Hit: about a ...