After getting Mma ready for the day, I spent a couple of hours in the garden, weeding. The seeds from the rotten Roma tomatoes that we've been throwing onto one of the garden beds have germinated, giving us  over twenty tomato seedlings. Yaay! We're going to nurse them and grow them into bushes - hopefully, they will keep us well supplied with tomatoes in winter, supplementing what I have in

Pic from my latest batch of garden photos Many thanks to my readers and friends who commented, emailed me directly or skyped me after reading my first post after a long hiatus. I was very sad to hear from Po that many bloggers who she used to read had stopped blogging. Having spent months unable to write or blog, and even longer contemplating whether I should even keep trying, I can

So the prodigal friend is back. When I first moved to Phokeng, I had so many good intentions about business  and creative life, friendships ( both offline and online) as well as this blog and my Facebook and Twitter accounts. I was going to take care of Mma while also making the house into my new home amd keeping up with my business and creative projects. And I was going to keep up with my

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Today began early: I was at the regional hospital at 6.30 to join the queues to collect Mma's 2-month supply of chronic meds. The nurses offered a lecture on the management of cholesterol and diabetes. We also had a question and answer session. I was sitting next to two women who've had the condition for a while. One woman has had diabetes for 17 years, so she was happy to also share some tried

One politician that I really liked, Roy Padayachie, passed away while on a trip to Ethopia. I first met Padayachie in 2005, when he was deputy minister of the Department of Communications and over the years I interviewed him on telecommunications issues.  I found Padayachie very sweet, kind and easy to relate to. To me, he wasn't just a  politician; he was just this really nice human being I

For all my South African readers, I hope your 5-day weekend was very nice and restful and that you had an opportunity to spend time with family and friends. Here's an update of what I've been up to: 1. Books 1-6 that I worked for a client in 2011 have been provisionally approved by the Department of  Basic Education. Yaaaay! I'm the publisher, not the author, on the books, so no huge royalties 

Tomorrow is the launch of Tselane and the giant, my retelling of the folktale, on Amazon. Woohooo! The past couple of days have been good and I took my time going through tasks, which meant less stress. I'm glad I've slowed  down a bit - my body feels much better and hopefully, my creative output will also improve. I went into Joburg to meet with the publisher client and we've set some

By Pamela Moeng I receive numerous emails from various writing related sites. You may or not be familiar with the ones I use, and you may have your own. A list of my favourite ones follow, and I'd appreciate a heads up on any site not mentioned that Storypot readers have found useful. Of course, feel free to warn us about any sites that aren't particularly useful for writing purposes as well. •

I finally found a mall where I enjoy shopping in Rustenburg, the town nearest to Phokeng. This morning I went to Waterfall Mall and it was a painless, even enjoyable experience. Usually I shop in the town proper, but it so noisy and crowded there that I end up getting what I need and getting as fast as I can. But Waterfall Mall was all quiet  and peaceful. I realise weekends are usuallybusy, but

By Pamela Moeng The writing life these days is hectic. I was forcibly removed from my Blackberry on the Thursday before Easter, and since then keeping up with emails and blogging has been tough. A genre hopper, the most recent I've turned my hand to is the book review. I've written four in the past few weeks, one published on the web through a book review blog called Katalina's Playroom,

I've been feeling fractured lately. I know part of it is that I'm not completely settled in Phokeng, with most of the things that help make me comfortable and relax enough to create still in Joburg. I also don't have a proper home office in Phokeng. As a result, I haven't established a rhythm of life and work and creativity that works for me yet. Yesterday I felt worse - I had a long list of

As you know, a recent workshop with a client raised my interest in South African copyright law. So I was very happy to hear that the Professional Editors’ Group, Gauteng branch will be hosting a morning event on Copyright to be held in Parktown, Johannesburg on 21 April 2012. The presentations will start at 9:30 and end by 12:45. Their invitation says: As editors, we need to understand legal

Last night I attended the opening of my friend Alison McKay's exhibition called 365 South Africa, where she showcased the paintings that she created in 2011.  The 3-week exhibition is taking place at the Art Space gallery in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Essentially, Alison painted a painting a day from the 1st January to 31st December 2011. The paintings depicted an event covered in the news during

An old friend unknowingly validated my decision to retell and publish old Setswana folktales. She SMSed me to ask me if I still remembered the story of Tselane and the giant, and if so, can I retell it to her? She says she's the official storyteller to her nieces and the they are having so much fun she needs more stories for variety. Of course I was happy to send her a copy of the story. We'll

Check out the interview I did with Alexander Zoltai of Notes From An Alien. We talk about why I decided to selff-publish, my experience of the self-publishing process, lessons learnt and if I would still submit some of my works to traditional publishers. Click here to read the interview.

I had a great end to the week. I  signed a contract for one of my essays to be published in an anthology by a very well-respected indie publisher. Being able to cite them among my credits will be great for my career. I'll keep you posted on developments and when the book is published, we're going to have some fun with give-aways. The book is to be published in print, BTW. Meanwhile, can I just

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Waking Up  Grandma is  now on sale. Woooohoooo! Summary: Waking Up Grandma tells the story of old Mrs McKay, who falls asleep anywhere, anytime. Her grandchildren, Kevin and Nicole McKay, take advantage of it and pull a lot of pranks on her while she's asleep. The results are hysterically funny to the twins. But is Grandma having as much fun as they are? Waking Up Grandma teaches children

By Pamela Moeng As a newbie in publishing, my manuscript circulating with page proofs didn’t incite any emotion. As someone who has spent several years and many hours on more than one WIP aka Work in Progress, those three little letters tell a big story. The WIP closest to my heart right now is entitled No Perfect People Allowed. NPPA as my publisher  (Damaria Senne Media) and I refer to it has

I've just come out of an all day strat planning meeting with my publisher and the session was well worth the time I invested and the resources that they put in to make it happen.  Issues  that we covered included what makes a good publisher, qualities of a good project manager, stakeholder, author and self-management. The session that kept me wide awake though was on copyright. Some of my

Today is a quiet, wet day in Joburg and I'm enjoying it. It's the kind of day that prompts me to stay in bed and just drag my laptop there to work without having to leave the bed's warmth. Feels like a treat. I'm finally admitting it: moving part-time to Phokeng has been very good for me. It has forced me to pause and evaluate my life. Not the big picture, which hasn't changed much, but the

I recently learnt that, according to a new Amendment Bill  in the Copyright Law of South Africa, a publisher needs to ask for permission to publish a version of a South African folktale. My first thought when I heard this was, "but most folktales are passed down orally, so who do we have to ask for permission?" The complicated answer is that you would get to ask the community where the folktale

Check out this post on Rebecca Emerich's blog, where I chat about researching, writing, editing, publishing and promoting books at the same time. Thank you Rebecca for hosting me.

Check out this interview I did with Rachel Pearce. where you'll definitely learn new things about me. You'll find out what my favourite mythological creature is ( not werewolves or vampires:-), and why I prefer ninjas over pirates. Enjoy!