Author FAQ

KAY-l'n.

(Technically, since it's actually anglicised from Kalinovsky, it should probably be KALL-in, but it's not. Them's the wonders of language evolution, at least in my family.)

I've gone by the handle of damselfly since I can no longer remember when.

Damselflies are amazing critters, and there's a wealth of mythology about them (or more usually about their cousins, the dragonflies, which they closely resemble. The main distinction, apart from their smaller size, is that the damselfly can fold their wings back when at rest, which the dragonfly cannot).

Also known as mosquito hawks, they're fierce predators in their ecological niche, and that's what gave rise to the blog's tagline, "hunting on a humble scale". I work with words, and while that can be a powerful thing in its own sphere, it's not in the same sphere as, for example, splitting the atom.

I've been writing for as long as I can remember.

I recall writing a story in primary school — The Life & Times of a Tea-Bag, I think it was called — about a tea-bag called Fred. I think I concentrated in excruciating detail on the process of being boiled alive. (Clearly, I had a macabre imagination.) I remember inheriting an electric typewriter from my grandparents one summer and punching out several novels on it. (I don't recall finishing them, particularly. That part probably came later.)

I did give up writing, for a spell, while I was studying for my undergraduate degrees. But I'm happier, and more stable, when I'm writing on a regular basis, so I never could stay away from scribbling for long.

No, but thanks!

The incomparable Les Petersen came up with the cover art for Shadow Queen and, while I have thanked him for making my book such a fabulous cover, we have not actually met in person.

I can't remember precisely how long I was a member of the OWW.

I can say, unequivocally, that it helped, in a variety of ways.

The workshop was the first place I discovered not only other aspiring writers, but other aspiring writers of like mind, who were writing in my (or similar) genres. It was where I first offered my work for constructive criticism, and the first place I was given a chance to offer my own feedback on others' work — which is just as valuable a learning curve, if not a more valuable one, than receiving feedback on your own work. It was where I first started breaking down writing into a conscious craft, as opposed to something I'd been doing by instinct and experimentation. It was where I started learning about the publishing industry, and its vagaries and realities, and where I learnt about Clarion, and thus about Clarion South, and Clarion South was where I learnt more about critiquing, and the publishing industry, and the craft of writing…

I'm not currently a member of the OWW because I've been spending all my time writing novels, not short stories.

Because of my writing process, and because I prefer to receive feedback on a first draft in its entirety, the OWW doesn't work for me when all I'm producing are novels. (If I were a faster writer, that might be different…) For short stories, where I can post the entire story (and for those writers who are comfortable receiving feedback on a chapter-by-chapter basis on their novels), it's a brilliant site. The critiquing system is well thought out, and its filled with a great bunch of people, and provides access to a wealth of writing knowledge. For that reason I haven't ruled out renewing my membership at some point.