"A brilliant achievement! 5 stars!" - NY Literary Magazine on 'Harcourt's Mountain'. |
"Bloody brilliant" - Fiona Paterson on the short story 'Coming Undone'. (Soon to be published in the upcoming XLP#304 short story anthology.) |
BOOKS, BLOGS AND THE INSPIRED LIFE
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Welcome to my website!
Wondering why I chose that pic for the top banner image? Simple, storytelling is a perfectly legitimate way to have multiple personalities! Writing courses and books on writing always advise one to 'find your voice!' That authentic voice which defines the genre and stories one writes. Stephen King's voice is obvious - Horror. Georgette Heyer - Georgian Romance, Agatha Christie - cosy upper class British murder. To be honest, right now the idea of only writing in one genre gives me the shivers. I'm enjoying writing historical romance, fantasy - no dragons yet, weird fiction, redemptive horror and humour far too much to settle with just one. And besides, I kinda like the different colours of me! LATEST NEWS UPDATE: 27 September 2019 I have a new 'In Progress' page on the website. Feeling inspired! Check it out! There's first chapters, draft chapters, snippets and cover design ideas for books on the 'to-be-written' list. UPDATE: 5 August 2019: I have decided to self-publish! It's a big decision. It means I have to re-edit 'Harcourt's Mountain' and I'm also changing the cover. The book won't be available until then. I'm hoping it won't be too long! Please bear with me! 'Heart of the Mountain' will be out shortly after that! UPDATE: 9 July 2019: The MS for the sequel to 'Harcourt's Mountain' is complete! I am now deep in edit, as well as writing the synopsis and blurb for 'Heart of the Mountain'. UPDATE: 24 January 2019: My short story, 'Runner' reaches the Quarter Finals of the 2018 Screencraft Cinematic Short Story Competition. UPDATE: 1 October 2018: In one weekend, Harcourt's Mountain jumps over 1 405 000 places in the Amazon rankings winning me the BESTSELLING Author Award at Tirgearr Publishing for September! BESTSELLING - best word in the English language! UPDATE: 12 APRIL 2018, My short story, Widow's Walk is selected as a finalist in the 2018 SA Horrorfest Bloody Parchment Short Story Competition. UPDATE: 20 February 2018, My short story, The Man With a House on His Back which features in the anthology, Blue Honey and the Valley of Shadow, reaches the Semi-Finals of the Screencraft Cinematic Short Story 2017 Contest! UPDATE: 23 December 2017: NY LITERARY MAGAZINE awards Harcourt's Mountain the BEST STORY AWARD! UPDATE: 28 April 2017: A short story I wrote, The Man With a House on His Back, for the 5th Annual South African Horrorfest competition is selected and featured in the anthology, Bloody-Parchment: Blue Honey and the Valley of Shadow. It's published by Crossroads Press. UPDATE: 2014: Harcourt's Mountain is nominated for the 2014 RONE AWARDS. (Reward of Novel Excellence). UPDATE: 15 August 2013: THE START OF THE ADVENTURE My first book, Harcourt's Mountain, is signed by Tirgearr Publishing. The reviews have been marvellous! Mostly five stars. It's been an exciting ride including being featured as a guest blogger on other authors' sites, a radio interview about the book. WHAT I'M WORKING ON NOW All those years of daydreaming have given me an unrelenting source of story ideas. My website is littered with short stories and first chapters of novels I'm planning. And I have a file with many story ideas just waiting to be written. I began a second book, The Device Hunter, which is an altogether different animal to 'Harcourt's Mountain', both in genre and temperament! It's in the third draft. I've tucked away to marinade for a while. In the meantime... because so many readers have asked for it, I've also begun the plotting for a sequel to 'Harcourt's Mountain' - Heart of the Mountain, and am working on a book based on a concept of my brother's. I am also just about to self-publish my first book of short stories. It's name keeps changing, right now it's called, 'XLP#304', after one of my favourite characters who is taking on a life of his own. Self-publishing is a whole new experience in the realm of being a writer for me. "Elaine Dodge has a new style that keeps a reader turning the pages and wanting to know what is on that next page." - Shirl Deems on 'Harcourt's Mountain' Follow me on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElaineRosemaryD/ Twitter: @ElaineRosemaryD A little bit about me.
Africa, apart from the two and a half years I was away, has always been my home. Born in Zambia, I grew up in Zimbabwe and am now living in South Africa. Adventure, in some form or another, is in my DNA probably because I did my first round-the-world trip when I was four years old. Who knows where I'll end up! I sustained myself through dreary and seemingly endless maths classes at school by equally endless daydreaming and the hope that one day I'd be 'making movies'. Afterwards, I trained as a graphic designer. My brother and I ran The Artful Dodges for a while. It was a very small design and advertising studio. My brother and his wife headed out on their own adventure at some point and I enjoyed a long stint in one of the country's larger advertising agencies. Once I had enjoyed the dizzy heights of Assistant Creative Director it felt like time for a change. A change of country and profession. Welcome to South Africa! I fell head first into the local and international broadcast television industry. For the next eight years, working for broadcasters like NatGeo Wild, Animal Planet and Discovery, as well as winning the odd international award, it seemed as if my movie-making dream was about to happen. It dawned on me, finally, that it wasn't so much movie-making that mattered, but rather 'telling stories'. And I was, am, passionate about it. So, in November 2011, I decided to chase the new dream and put those stories on paper. Now, in order to sustain my story writing addiction, I am a content creation consultant. Apart from white-water rafting down the Zambezi, I feel most alive when I'm writing. |
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