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G'day, Mates!

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Robinne Weiss

Robinne Weiss

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Greetings from an American ex-pat in New Zealand! Following my husband here ten years ago, I thought getting a job would be easy--it is Clean, Green New Zealand after all, and I was an environmental educator/heritage interpreter. Not finding any jobs on arrival, I started my own business and spent some brilliant years doing school outreach as The Bug Lady, and paying the bills with interpretation consulting (mostly writing tight, dry, committee-approved text for interpretive panels). After ten years I was bored, and about to start screaming at clients who refused to consider any ideas that fell outside the box. So, here I am, a full-blown midlife crisis and three novels under my belt at the tender age of 45! Still trying to get an agent for those novels and convince myself that scrapping my 25 year career in interpretation was the right thing to do...Aw, shit! What have I done?!
 
You know when someone says "what have I done," that it's going to be a good story.

Welcome, and we're here to help.
 
Damn. Maybe I should write a memoir, huh? Actually, with poisonous snakes, pythons, eagles, owls, bats, giant spiders, and evil rats in my background, I've been tempted...

Thanks for the support!
 
Robinne Weiss said:
Greetings from an American ex-pat in New Zealand! Following my husband here ten years ago, I thought getting a job would be easy--it is Clean, Green New Zealand after all, and I was an environmental educator/heritage interpreter. Not finding any jobs on arrival, I started my own business and spent some brilliant years doing school outreach as The Bug Lady, and paying the bills with interpretation consulting (mostly writing tight, dry, committee-approved text for interpretive panels). After ten years I was bored, and about to start screaming at clients who refused to consider any ideas that fell outside the box. So, here I am, a full-blown midlife crisis and three novels under my belt at the tender age of 45! Still trying to get an agent for those novels and convince myself that scrapping my 25 year career in interpretation was the right thing to do...Aw, shit! What have I done?!
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Welcome! What genre of books do you write?
 
Each of my three novels is different from the others. The first is YA "entomofiction"--sort of sci-fi, but where the science was biology, so difficult to categorize (and hard to sell...), the second is a chick lit book for adults (not my best effort, but a good exercise for me--I learned a lot, but will probably not try to sell it), the third is a YA fantasy, and I have high hopes for it. My original plan on becoming a writer was non-fiction, actually, but once I opened the floodgates, these stories just started spilling out...still trying to figure out what the best genre is for me. So was that a confusing enough answer?
 
Robinne Weiss said:
Each of my three novels is different from the others. The first is YA "entomofiction"--sort of sci-fi, but where the science was biology, so difficult to categorize (and hard to sell...), the second is a chick lit book for adults (not my best effort, but a good exercise for me--I learned a lot, but will probably not try to sell it), the third is a YA fantasy, and I have high hopes for it. My original plan on becoming a writer was non-fiction, actually, but once I opened the floodgates, these stories just started spilling out...still trying to figure out what the best genre is for me. So was that a confusing enough answer?
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No confusion here! I understand about stories spilling out.
 
Welcome! We may be kindred spirits, as I too am an admirer of the iridescent exoskeletons of our multi-legged friends. My wife can't understand this, as her invertebrate classification system comprises two phyla: squashies and crunchies. But in any case, 'entomofiction' is something I'd have to read!
 
Hey, Marc! Great to know there's at least a market of one for entomofiction! In grad school (I actually have an MS in Entomology), I used to end all my papers and exams with a scribbled insect poem related to the topic at hand--professors thought I was completely cracked! But it was actually my insect poetry that led an acquaintance to suggest I get a degree in Entomology. Six months later I'd talked my way into a full scholarship--Ha!
 
Blimey, that's a big jump that I wish I was brave enough to do! Mind you, if I had three completed novels to work on, I might feel braver.

Nice to meet you Robinne. I look forward to hearing about how it all works out right for you.
 
Welcome @Robinne Weiss . That's interesting...the 'hard sell of science' in sci-fi. My background is science teaching, mainly physics. I, too setup my own business for a long while, and only recently am taking stock on it all. I published card games for science lessons and became increasingly interested in the toy market. How can I make science concepts appealing for children so that they want to collect the games/stories and delve into a world that they will enjoy - without dictating to them what they should be learning i.e child-led games as opposed to the adult-led ones I was promoting?

It was a challenge and slowly built up a lot of research in this area, including, along the way, a science paper co-published with an academic at Brunel University, and a few talks here and there with many game trials and feedback.

Now, my method is to focus on the fiction side and engineer it around the science then merge it together seemlessly :D (one hopes). You have to experiment with it, naturally :) , to discover what works for your novel. I think I've found mine but I'm still experimenting - I don't think that part will end.

I love how other's try to achieve this objective too.

Welcome again to the colony and hope to read more about your work.
 
Hello and welcome newcomer, I'm interested in reading your work, it sounds intriguing and different.
 
Welcome Robinnie from a Kiwi who lived in Australia for 37 years, now flipping madly between UK and USA... New Zealand is very beautiful, also very expensive and limited opportunities. But also could be a goldmine of inspiration one way or another. Also, very few literary agents, and Oz not much better! You should find a wealth of inspiration and help around here though ;-)
 
Hi there! Kudos on being an environmental educator! I'm an ecologist here in America! Welcome to the colony!
 
Welcome! Don't second-guess yourself on quitting your job. When it's time to go, it's time to go!
 
Welcome! Nothing wrong with writing a mixed bag; you'll find many of us here. Quitting your job leaves more time for focus; something a lot of writers would envy. I'd love to justify more time with coffee, cat and pen.
 
I wouldn't mind more coffee, but the cat snores and steals my chair--I could do without him. Unfortunately, my 'day job' has become hauling the kids to and from school (an hour away) and extracurricular activities, so I have less focus time than I would like...But I can't complain. It sure beats writing by committee!
 
Hello :) I'm interested in anything animalia, and the insects are so much more ancient than us, we're just pipsqueaks to them. Tasty pipsqueaks to the mozzies.
 
Welcome. I've recently returned from two years living in New Zealand. I wrote my second book while I was there but no takers yet. Good luck with yours.
 
Writing Saint said:
Welcome. I've recently returned from two years living in New Zealand. I wrote my second book while I was there but no takers yet. Good luck with yours.
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All these people who have been to New Zealand — the land of mystery and wonderment. And I'm sitting at a desk in southern Maryland.
Is it who or whom?
Who...
Yeah.
 
I've always wanted to go to NZ. One day.
Maryland sounds nice too, but my kids want to see kakapos and tuataras. Got those in Maryland?
 
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