Archives for December 2009

The Fruitful Kiwi

Litopia, which is a podcast and a community I have really come to appreciate, is running a week highlighting podcasters- and one of them was me.

I had a delightful chat with Peter Cox- and tried my best to sound as grown up as possible. 😉

I hope to be involved with them again, and I think the interview came out quite well.

This is my last post before Christmas- which for me will involve BBQs, sun and homemade trifle. I hope where ever you are, and however you celebrate the holiday season, you are with people you love.

I will be doing a yearly wrap-up in the great tradition of every person and blog online. 2010 is going to be an exciting year, and I hope you will join me on the ride.

Secret Agent… not so secret now

My lovely, enthusiastic and successful (hello… Ace deal!) agent Laurie McLean of Larsen Pomada – who now also represents Tee Morris for fiction- spoke to Kimi over at Tale Chasing. She may or may not mention me 😉

The podcasting sphere is full of lots of opinion by writers, but getting the thoughts from an agent is pretty unusual. So head on over and have a listen.

Is there anybody out there??

I’ve mentioned before how lonely it can be writing (except when you have a energetic collaborator like Tee Morris but that’s another story for another post) so it is always nice when people send in voicemail, emails- or go that extra mile and review my work.

Recently two lovely ones have been posted over at Random Pimpage and View from Valhalla– and they are for the most personal of my stories (so far at least) Weather Child.

This is a story set in an alternate New Zealand and is, according to some reviews on itunes, seriously creepy. It is a rough first draft that I hope to get a home for after Geist has made its debut.

Here’s some of the things said that really made me smile

“Seriously just like I expected out of Pip great characterization you really were able to feel like Lily, Faith, and Jack were alive you get drawn into them and when the bad bad things happen to them (and yes some serious evil is laid down) you genuinely get pissed for them. It’s a great story great characterization and a hell of a ride. Let’s not forget the smooth sultry tones of the Lovely Miss Ballentine doing the narration” – Random Pimpage

“Weather Child is a beautiful and deeply personal story. Ms. Ballantine has drawn from her own family history to flesh out some of the characters, and it is an investment that is palpable. I love a well done historical fantasy, and Weather Child is very well done indeed. This is a story that exudes pain and sorrow, but never loses faith in the possibility of redemption.”- View from Valhalla

So yes – what you think makes a difference to me. It encourages me to write and podcast because it says that I am reaching other people. And that is what creativity is all about for me.