New business

It's been a while since my last post, in fact I've only blogged twice in the past year. So what have I been up to in the interim?

Well, I'm no longer a postie. Back in September last year, I got sick of being told I needed to get my times down. I was riding as quickly as I could between letterboxes, without being unsafe, but the time I was spending at each letterbox was slowing me down. The only way I was going to get quicker was to read and ride. That is, read the addresses on the next piece of mail while riding along. It's exactly what new posties are trained not to do, but all experienced posties know it's the only way to get the job done on time. I also got sick of having to ride around cars that were illegally parked on footpaths and get off the bike because people parked their cars right up against the letterbox. And then there were the occasional dogs, always small, snappy ones.

So, I left the postie job and started looking for something better, preferably something where I could use my degree. I also started writing again and published my second novel, more about that later.

By the end of the year and no luck on the job front, I decided it was time I did something to improve my chances and enrolled in a Graduate Certificate course at the University of Southern Queensland. As I've always wanted to be involved in the publishing industry, preferably as a writer, I decided to study editing and publishing. I figured it would probably improve my writing, but might also help me get some freelance work as a proofreader, or editor.

As a result, back in May, Redlands Editing and Proofreading Services was formed, with Donna and I as the owners. You may notice the banner in my sidebar on the right. Here's another copy of it.

Before anyone says the bit to the left of the R looks like a part of a woman's body, it's a fountain pen okay. It never occurred to me that it was anything other than a fountain pen until my 18 year-old nephew saw our business cards.

But what about that second novel? I hear you ask.

Well, I went through the first one recently looking for something to use in one of my uni assignments. In hindsight, it seems pretty amateurish now. I'm already working on books three and four, and four is so much better than the rest that I'm planning on completely rewriting the first three, combining them into one book. The first two are still available at Amazon and Smashwords, but not for much longer. When they do come out again, they'll be under a different name. I'll let you know what it is at a later date.

In the mean-time, if you know anyone that needs the services of a proofreader, send them my way.