Introductions

Hi everyone!

I'm a British gal currently living in Southland (heck it's cold in this country, I really miss double glazing and central heating...) and as I missed out on NaNoWriMo last year (the first one I missed since 2003 *sob*) because I was moving over to NZ, I was pleased to see the Antipodean version going on here!

I've had quite a few things published and finalled in the EPPIE Awards this year. I'm a reviewer for an online review site and occasionally for a newspaper, and I'm currently doing in-depth critiquing on an urban fantasy novel, which is a lot of fun as I *love* reading UF but couldn't write it myself!

I write genre fiction - mainly historical and paranormal romance, some of which is pretty spicy!

I read a LOT - currently I'm halfway through 'The Other Queen' by Philippa Gregory (IMO not as good as some of her other Tudor books). I love reading detective books (Laura Joh Rowland's Sano Ichiro series is my new fave) but could never write one. The only thing I won't read is sci-fi, but everything else is fair game!

Looking forward to 'meeting' you all :)

http://glitterburn.livejournal.com/

Hi, autiotalo. I deleted the duplicate posts. :)

Welcome! Congrats on your success so far. Not only is it great to have you on board for SoCNoC but I've just learnt what 'Antipodean' means.

I write historical stuff as well as others and generally avoid reading sci-fi, too.

You'll find good company here from other poms and other southlanders. :)

No Excuses. Just Write.
WIP - Freeing the Flame: 0/66 scenes of rewrite #2.
Eve's Vineyard: 2,158/6,000 (Sept Zing Thing)

Hi autiotalo, glad to have you with us, especially because you missed out on NaNo last year. Have fun and I hope you enjoy the Kiwi version - oh and BTW, I'm also English. I've been here for over 5 years now - and yes, I still miss double glazing and central heating :-)

Have fun and happy writing.

Andrew Chilton - http://kapiti.geek.nz/

Hey autiotalo, welcome! SoCNoC is definitely a good alternative to NaNo, and for those of us down here in NZ the weather is usually pretty dim so it certainly seems a little easier than when the weather is lovely in November heh.
Hope you enjoy the site and the company as well.

WIP: Ayden: 70,096/95,000 (estimated total).
Rough Editing: Lifelines: 104/104 pages.

J.C Hart

Oh goody another living in Southland, now there are three of us, that is members of Kiwiwriters.
You sound like you are really into your writing and reading, you are with fellow beings here.
Ugh, yes it is cold at present. It SHOULDN'T BE, not yet we are still in Autumn. Normally mild up till the end of May, but here we have snow on the mountains in April and big frosts at the start of May.
I remember Socnoc last year in June typing in fingerless gloves and a scarf on. :)
Welcome to the forum, what part of England are you from?

http://gay_belle.livejournal.com

The Zing Thing: "The Makeover."

'Southern Scriber.'

Hey, thanks for the welcome! I'm drinking a hot chocolate and nervously eyeing the little button on the Woosh thingy as it keeps conking out (maybe this is why I ended up with soooo many duplicate posts yesterday - Kerry, thanks for deleting them!)

Part of my chilliness comes from the fact that our coal range exploded on Anzac Day (I like to tell people we were renacting the Battle of the Somme, complete with explosions, mud (or rather soot) and flying shrapnel!) but all joking aside it was well scary and now we have a hole in our chimney and I swear I saw frost on the dining room floor this morning...

gaye-belle, sometimes I wonder if there are only 3 people in Southland! LOL it's certainly very quiet down here in Invercargill :)

I'm a Midlander by birth (from near Birmingham) but lived in Swansea and Edinburgh, and for the last few years before coming over here I lived near York.

My colleagues at work keep telling me how it SHOULDN'T be this cold and USUALLY it's warmer, etc, but then I'm thinking the Antarctic isn't too far away so no wonder it's a bit chilly...

http://glitterburn.livejournal.com/

ha I can tell you are a real storyteller by your description of the 'blowout'.
I live out of Invers, but I swear I can see Antarctica from here, but maybe it is only Stewart Island, or even Bluff. :)
I have to drop my husband off at the airport by 5.45 am tomorrow, so am not looking forward to frost and fog on the way in. So early night for me. ):

http://gay_belle.livejournal.com

The Zing Thing: "The Makeover."

'Southern Scriber.'

I saw your nick and was exited to see another Finn.

...

And then you're not. Which is cool. I swear I had some other point to make but it seems not. Oh yes, where did you come up with your username?

Got my pen, now where's my plot?

Huomenta Saraste, no I'm not a Finn but I have been there 6 or 7 times! I love Finland and spent a fabulous Christmas with friends up in Lapland (Pyhä) a few years ago. My friend lives in Hameenlinna, just north of Helsinki.

My username is from the song by Dingo, I'm sure you know it! The first time I went to Finland, the musical was being performed in Hameenlinna. I loved the title song, even though I know the word is a bit... depressing, maybe! It's been my fandom name for years.

Whereabouts are you from? Finland is such a beautiful country. Although the language is sooooo difficult!

http://glitterburn.livejournal.com/

Oh you have? Cool. Must have been one of those Christmases with snow, right? Without snow Christmas here is kinda depressing because of kaamos.

Oh yes I know the song, though I do prefer some other Finnish artists. I don't know if it's that depressing, it's kind of romantic and creepy. Brings forth images of ghosts and adventure.^^ Fandom!*giggle*

I'm from Southwestern Finland, born and living now in Turku but grew up in Lieto which is about 20 km inland as Turku is on the coast. I don't think I could imagine living too far from the sea, or trees. Have to have trees. And I also live near a river that's also close to my childhood home in Lieto, just a bit more upstream now.

Yes, Finnish is difficult, or so I've heard. I admit to struggling with the grammar myself but not so much as with Swedish, it was a nightmare to learn at school...

Got my pen, now where's my plot?

Ilta (since it's not really huomenta for you in the Northern Hemisphere!)!

Yes, we definitely had snow that year. It was -50 and the air cracked with the cold. And I saw the revontulet (hope I spelled that right... the Northern Lights)! I'd always wanted to see them, so it was wonderful.

I'm not really a fan of Dingo, just that song in the musical. Most of the Finnish artists I like are the ones my friend likes LOL: Anssi Kela, Poets of the Fall, Nightwish, Nylon Beat, J Karjalainen, etc.

I have been to Turku 3 times ^^ It's such a lovely city. The cathedral is amazing and I also liked the castle and the Aboa (?) museum where you can see the medieval town undergound. My friend's godmother lives near Luostarinmäki. I think I still have some salmiakki I bought in the old pharmacy museum along the river!!

Acually when I first came to New Zealand I thought it looked a lot like Finland. A lot of wide open land and trees. The roads are similar, too, and many of the houses are made of wood.

Turku is quite Swedish isn't it *tries to remember history* I know it was the capital of Finland for a long time. My friend can't speak Swedish at all, except maybe to swear LOL.

http://glitterburn.livejournal.com/

Evening (it's evening around there I think)

I'm still to see revontulet in Lappi. I have been there but it was summer, there were a lot of bugs and I was five so my memory is a bit faded now. But it was pretty.

Nightwish! They're my favorite band. I also like J.Karjalainen and Anssi Kela, their lyrics are just so... I like lyrics with stories in them.

Oh you have? Wicked. Oh yes, Ãboa Vetus. I've been there myself too, should go again one of these days. Were actually going to have another place where you can see the old Turku. They did excavations by the library across Aurajoki a few summers back since they built a new library building next to the old and the excavated part of a house will be incorporated into the linking part between the two buildings.^^ I think it's neat. I hate salmiakki. I tend to shy away from characteristic Finnish food thingies like salmiakki or mämmi. But I do like Karelian stew (karjalan paisti) and Christmas ham.

Well how about that? I'm so going to visit New Zealand if I ever have the money. (And it has nothing to do with the fact of certain films having been filmed there, no...) But after Japan. I have so many places abroad I'd like to visit and so little money. Well for anything outside of Europe anyway.

Turku isn't Swedish! XD Well it has been but not so much anymore. There is the minority of Finn-Swedes but not as much as in places like Oulu or Helsinki. (Hope I got Oulu right, I'm not quite sure...) But that can be disputed I think. There a lot of nationalities here since Turku is also a University city and there's quite a number of exchange students here. We do have Åbo Akademi, the Swedish University where all classes are held in Swedish, here but it's smaller than Turku University. Oh yes, we were the capital until the Great Fire of Turku in 1827 (officially this was done in 1812 but government offices were only moved into Helsinki after the fire.) And then they also moved our University to Helsinki! And we only got a Finnish speaking University here in the early 1900's. I now live in Räntämäki, it's one of the oldest parts in Turku, there's an iron age burial site and a nice wood where they used to go and sacrifice (not people) in the olden days just by the river nearby.

I can't even swear in Swedish. I can swear in German and French though, and in English, but not in Swedish. And I can say 'I don't speak Swedish' in Swedish. XD

Oh my, I ranted, sorry!

Got my pen, now where's my plot?

Yep, you are 9 hours behind us at the moment. The time difference really boggles my mind!

Next time I visit Finland I must go back to Turku and see the excavations you mentioned. I did archaeology at uni so anything to do with history is fascinating to me ^^

Salmiakki LOL well, the first time I met my Finnish friend, she gave me a box of salmiakki. Her English isn't as good as yours and she was very shy, her bf did all the talking but she gave me these little black sweets and I tried one... you can imagine I had a O_O face!! But I kind of got used to it after a while.

Karelian stew is lovely ^^ My friend's mum is from Karelia. I also LOVE juustoleipä. I could eat that stuff all day. And cloudberries! I've never seen them anywhere else but in Finland. So yummy! And I forgot their name, but those little pies with mashed potato inside them.

You like LOTR? Was that one of your fandoms? (I am so nosey LOL) I want to go to Japan too ^^ I have a big crush on a Japanese actor and would like to see him on stage. Oops, I sound shallow now!

Turku always seemed very lively when I was there. It's nice to have a mix of people. Iron Age burial site, how cool! There is a place outside Turku, I forgot its name, it's a reconstruction of a medieval/pre-industrial village... there is an Iron Age burial site there, too. I didn't know there was one actually inside Turku itself!

As you are studying German, do you find it similar to Swedish at all? A while ago I went to Denmark and Danish was similar enough to German that I could work out some of the language. A Dane told me that Danish, Swedish and Norwegian are very close languages, a Dane can understand a Swede but will think a Norwegian is drunk. And no one can understand the Finns LOL!

No worries about ranting, it's fun to chat with you ^^

http://glitterburn.livejournal.com/

Juustoleipä. *shudders* I simply won't eat it. But I do like Aurajuusto (a kind of blue cheese done here, it has a nice flavour.) I'm trying to rack my brain here for Cloudberries but I'm drawing out blank. Hmm, will remember later what they are. Pies, you mean kalakukko? Did it have fish in it too? Oh no, it's not kalakukko, you mean karjalanpiirakka! Yes, I don't eat those either. XD Have issues with weird Finnish food. But I'm trying.

Lotr was my first ever fandom and first ever novel I read at the tender age of ten.^^ I don't actually read fanfic for it or anything, it's somewhat special to me that way. (OK there was this one I've been reading but it's so in tone and the characterization!) Otherwise I'm all manga girl.

Oh oh, Kuralan Kylämäki! Yes, I've been there. I actually don't live that far from there either. The burial site near me isn't that much 'in Turku', I'm about 6km from the centre so... But you've been to Turku so you know what kind of place it sort of is.

I'm trying to suppress my Swedish so badly that I can't answer that question. As for Danish, to me it just sounds like Swedish with a German accent. I actually just saw a TV show about languages and this man explained how Danish, Swedish and Norwegian could actually be regarded as dialects of the same language but are seen as languages due to the political history of the countries. Yes, no one understands us poor Finns!

Got my pen, now where's my plot?

Hi autiotalo

I'm also a Pom, although I was lucky enough to settle towards the warmer end of the country :)

Good luck with the southern winter. I've endured a few Scottish and many Yorkshire winters, but here I've never ventured down to Southland. Maybe I'm getting more sensible with age.

The furthest south I've been here was Queenstown or Alexandra (whichever is further south) working on LOTR.

Thought I'd give you a wave as a fellow Southlander -- and I feel your pain on the lack of central heating here in NZ! I returned from almost two years in the UK last year and you guys are right clever when it comes to heating. We might as well be living in caves! (Although Dunedin is worse. NEVER believe a Dunedinite when they assure you Invers is colder because it's closer to Antarctica. AT LEAST WE'RE NOT IN A DAMP VALLEY! And I am familiar with both Invers and Dunners as I've lived long periods in both cities...)

Ohhh, York. [sighs] I always wanted to live in York. I couldn't secure a job there (although I was offered one in Harrogate) and actually ended up in Oxfordshire instead. I do miss the public transport the most. I MISS THE UNDERGROUND. And the trains. ;_; All I ever did was shout at them and sulk on platforms when they were late, but now I don't have any at all? Very sad...