Posts By Robert Cristante
Website Note, Birthday and Update
See those changes on the website, COVID-19 stop my creativity, computer had a fit of sorts, nostalgia of getting published, pleasure for the internet, with my father’s cancer scare, then his death and the seven weeks at Australian Italian Festival…
What I missed? Okay, it is a teaser.
As you might see, my webmaster and I are working on this website and doing our best to cope with the changes that are coming. It is a slow process and I hope all of my followers will follow as I work with the webmaster, who at this moment is working each day as humanly as possible. As I have just noticed, it is my website’s 11th birthday. Just so you know that COVID-19 had disrupted my entire year in 2020 and also the world. It also disrupted my surprises for last year’s 10th anniversary. However, if I can humanly do it, the surprises involve two surprises. I have a few plans to get started, which will come soon. Just watch this blog or the home page.
There were two years prior to 2010, where I played with websites and they were non-plume, which in fact has given much help with how I could tackle with websites, however I did have old school knowledge of HTML and other coding. From 2010 to 2015, I was paying no one to do the website as for those five years I had some technical problems with my computer. The short stories I sent to small press were giving rejections, well I had many since 2013. I had a tough time between 2015 and 2016, with another computer disaster, which I made the choice to get my website managed. In fact, I should have done that in the beginning, and now I only concentrate on the blog and the webmaster to do the rest. During this time of making sure everything was going well, someone had scammed me with everything taken and I had to change things across this website, my review site, bank, and my computer. It was a sad time, and my trust of people over phones has been, and even now, is not on good terms.
Luck would have it. I had a short story, accepted by an Australian small press and published. Since then, I used luck with my planning and it was in 2018; I bought security for my website. With COVID-19 has played with the stress levels of everyone on this planet; the only thing that saved me; was the internet which the cost hasn’t changed for me. Well, there is always a cost. The cost is not as much as I thought. I believe I would have gone mad if it was not for the internet. Netflix, YouTube, Facebook, and a good few Zoom meetings, I would have gone stir crazy. If it wasn’t for these four things to keep me sane, another big scare come. As Halloween 2020 arrived, my father had become sick. I had to deal with the worse thing: that any person on this earth is seeing a father wasting away with the worse cancer in the body. Pancreatic Cancer!
The moment I knew it was cancer was a long time since I had to come to terms with it. Not only that, my mother and sister. I had to make sure they were okay without them knowing that I was looking after them. They surprised me they were “a sort of okay” with the Cancer but in reality it was a day at a time phase which we all looked at as a day with our father and mum as a husband. It was mum that I worried about more than myself. My three nieces were also another thing I had to look after and my thought were for them – having family problems already for two years, which disrupt a family on both sides could be hard to take on their shoulders. It was one day at a time and even though it was a tough fight for my father; he did not feel no pain at all. For the Doctor who looks at my father had said that three months was the time we had with him. Two weeks after the diagnosis, he went to do the first chemo-radiation treatment and three days later was in hospital. After that he went to visit the doctor for that had given the diagnosis and said he did not want to do any more treatments. From 5th November 2020 to 26th February 2021, we all got to see him through Christmas and a few family birthdays, and then he went to hospital.
Even now, I still feel the strength I saw my father had during his time dealing with his coming death, he had the courage to go to the funeral services in my town where my sister works at, and ask for a plot for himself and for my mother, my sister and I. This he did before Christmas. He said that he did not feel any pain at all when mum would ask him. He even made sure of the pallbearers agreed to do it before he died. He made sure he had done those two things on a plot for the cemetery and six pallbearers to carry his coffin. He had always worked hard and even planned his wake as well. He had a loud voice, spoke loud and couldn’t hear. His sense of humour to the end of life may sound macabre. But my father had 12 days in hospital and died on the 10th March 2021. After getting to choose the coffin for my dad, I made a joke of it, and after nine days, we buried him.
Since then and now, as the financial year closes, I have been busy with the Australian Italian Festival. It just now that I had been writing something from last year, but it kind of gone by so quick that I missed weeks of doing something on my blog. Thus, here I have come back to re-blog my year so far with some good news on my writing side to relate that I am editing my first draft of The Ducelord Chronicles:- First Book – The Saga of Twins – This title might change as I work on it. Also working on the coming soon – Just sitting at my computer desk… Writing, with this title may change, as well.
As well as doing the editing of the first book, I’m on my second book of the Ducelord Chronicles. Just keep watching the Ducelord Chronicles on the menu on the right side of the menu next to my name or on the bottom right side. As I sign off, happy writing, making, creating anything that is your hobby, then do it. Enjoy what you love. Remember, keeping busy at these times is a plus. To get a vaccine to prevent some symptoms of COVID-19 is best to have. I will get my second shot on Friday. I see a silver-line in this COVID-19 cloud because of the COVID-19 vaccination getting delivered is also a promising future.
Kept writing, keep social distancing and most important is too, keep safe.
Pre-release of The Three Tales of Kings
The Three Tales of Kings will be pre-release on Wednesday 22 July 2020, will be my first foray in eBook publishing. It will be available through Smashwords. There is three short stories that are based in Ducelord; is the centre of the Universe.
Ducelord is a world where Light and Darkness fight for power and dominance.
The Three Tales of Kings…
The first short story is called Lazuli and Kabuli which is set in the Western Hemisphere where two nations fought for land and one will fight for love.
The second short story is called The Dragon King is set in the Eastern Hemisphere, twin sons need to accept their place in a world where dragons are coming.
Within the mists between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, The King of Notting is being called; only one from Earth hears the call to help the Land of Notting.
Coronavirus and Silver Lining
Corona Beer Virus was my inside-joke but it is not a joke at all. It started in 2019 and it has travelled all over the world in a matter of three months like the bushfires in Australia. It was scary for those who had fires in the southern states of Australia. And now with Covid19 has halted many services and many of millions even billions across the whole world has become a warzone of a virus that is the cousin to Sars.
I never thought that of all the services that felt like a norm would cripple my life as it did and still does as I get around in my mind and said this to myself – Nature is telling us something. Not much of a church-goer or strictly religious – I have a certain type of faith and spirituality inside of me. I believe everyone has a good understanding of their own faith and spirituality. I am more concern in the mere common sense that is in these strange times and I mean in this dark real world there is a silver lining. What silver lining? It is really hard for the number of deaths that have so far occurred and those that have been infected and those who don’t know if they are infected. There was a moment that I felt a sore throat and went to my GP and just stay home and wait it out. Of course, I did stay at home and got better, lucky it was just the normal sore throat that a capsule of L-sync worked.
Easter came and went, however, I had two check-ups with specialists and I just could not even have any energy because of my health issues. With all the news about Covid19 and messages saying Stay home stay safe was a bit like a spider climbing the wall. In fact, watching a spider climbing the wall was fascinating to watch for a short while instead of thinking about being isolated. Stay 1.5 meters away from people was the most daunting of the provisions of social distancing, sterilise your hands or wash hands with soap; I know that all over the world the governments are helping us with these precautions because of our safety.
I know this seems to be the hardest part of the history we all live in but it is serious and Nature is telling us all to wake up. This is a sign(for me) that we as common people across the world should be getting together and talking about our planet. Since the beginning of the coronavirus, it made me think that even Coronavirus can put all nations who believe in God, to stop and think about – staying safe and staying alive. Another silver lining that sparks one-word, HOPE. If there is any hope left in this world we live in is to believe in the scientists who are busy with finding a vaccine for Covid19. One thing without naming a leader of a wealth of business is trying to buy the vaccine for money. This is so wrong full stop. He should be helping the world like the scientists who are working to find the vaccine to make us all be protected from such a virus. I really hate profiteers from a crisis such as this Covid19 has reeked the world.
I’m trying to put an optimistic outlook after this crisis goes away. Why? We NEED to look to after this crisis because it will be the new norm. I’m trying to establish that once the restrictions of cafes, shops and social distancing lower, our greetings may be the bow of the head to say hello, an elbow hit and etc. It should be a slow process but we will get back to social outings but the number might be small of a certain number, maybe fifty people at a gathering in nightclubs, restaurants and cafes. Then the numbers increase and everything will go back to the way it was but with minor restrictions which I believe should be ingrained in our minds. A minor restriction like if someone is sick should stay home for 14 days and if it gets bad to seek medical advice.
As Anzac day has passed without a march, to light a candle was all we could do. For me, it just brought me back to three years ago where I stayed home and enjoyed the life I had. Last week, I flew off the handle so to speak, it just another condition I call to this evil virus has restricted to the point I needed to have my eyes checked. I have markings within my retina that are similar to pulling the glad wrap until ripples that look like wrinkles are near the retina in the eyes. I have been at least four years without a checkup but the restriction is for only emergencies. The eyes are not a thing to play around with. I could go on without a checkup, but I call this emergency. Anyway, I make it short, I did get to see the optometrist and I needed to change the lens to the frames of spectacles.
It is just the 6th of May, 2020 and its almost my tenth year on the online world. Watch out for more as I start to reminisce about the first flash fiction I was accepted and published for the love of anthology collection. Here I’m contemplating again in a different way of publishing by self-publishing three short stories that are about 14500 words without counting a title page, a blank page, copyright page, sub-title page, contents page, introduction page and biography page in 32 pages as an ebook. Also thinking about the physical book option (34 pages long adding a blank page and the back cover page, where the blurb is written) once this virus passes. Keep safe and plotting/plodding on.
2019 That Was
First, as you guessed from my last post, I am on fire so to speak. With a long rest from the Australian Italian Festival, it is one very roller-coaster ride where one gets overwhelmed with the goings-on and after all the Italian pride I have in my blood has subdued to celebrate it with proudness. It was this process in looking at pictures and looking at the history of the Australian Italian Festival that brought my thoughts to writing, I’m thinking of a series of posts about writing. Different posts about planning, writing, the business of writing, story acts and such; this will be in 2020.
January to August
As posted above my only thought was the Australian Italian Festival; looking at photos and reading original reports from 1995 to 2018. Each day I read the reports put to note about it and scanning photos for the historical book. It was a complex task to sort the historical writing and photos to put the book together.
During or sometime during May 2019, I looked at a story I wrote and made sure it was appropriate for the guidelines of a small press in Australia was correct, then making sure that it was correct for consistency plus there were no errors in it. Sent the short story in and before I knew it, the story was accepted and I needed to sign a contract online, which I did straight away. In truth, the short story I sent; I thought, an rejection was coming. Luck had a part in the editor who read the short story because it must have been a good day. I would not be lucky next time because I know how much time I wrote that short story. It was left in a drawer or folder in my computer gathering into age or byte. The thing was the story had potential that I knew of and had hoped to sell it and more so when it was sold here in Australia.
At July, I found that I was working day and night on the Australian Italian Festival 25th Anniversary Special Edition. It was such a hectic month that the end week of July and the beginning of August leading to the festival was mindblowing that my mind needed a rest. I felt I was on cloud nine. I was amazed that the historical book was just in time for the festival. Even during the festival, I had two people ask for signing the historical book. Just a little plug this book will also be available in the new year.
In the interim of August, I was resting and rejuvenating the body but as they say no rest for the wicked, I started cleaning my office cupboard and desk and it ends as such I need to buy filing cabinet with two drawers and another two filing drawer cabinet that will fit under my desk. So a storm is in my room where its an office and a bedroom all in one. It’s like a tardis, well blue is the colour of my bedroom/office. Well, a storm is not the case as I have an air conditioner on at a cool breeze of 18 degrees celsius and it has ice throwing out its vents and like an asteroid, the ice turns to spit of rain. New air conditioner!
And I’m in December, with Christmas at the heels and then New Year Eve also around the corner. So here that was 2019 and only two things done this year and it looks like my other projects that were to come out, will be out sometime next year. One last thing, with so much happening next year, you’ll have to come by and see.
Happy Holidays to all cultures of the world and celebrate it whichever way you like it, and also, remember this, have a safe holiday. See you in 2020.
Jittery Jitters! Australian Italian Festival.
Jittery jitters! Yeah, it is my time clock has been wound up. Time has passed so fast and it is complete and is being printed as I write this. What am I talking about? I have been working so hard, that I’m in the zone of being… Heck, I am getting very jittery and the stomach-churning with happiness and anxious for the coming weekend. As I get close to the date of sale of this Historical Book that is the tip of the iceberg, is a small and yet big task I had to do.
Under some stress since my last post, I had completely forgotten to say what I was working on is really big that is and has been a part of my heritage and to be proud of what it is to be an Australian Italian. Yes, when I was young I hated the terms people put to Italians or any person from different cultures in a cerian terminology that defame the person who is proud of their culture. I really hated it until I saw what I had to overcome to be proud of my culture. Being Australian was something inhibited by my part of my Italian heritage, I also felt torn.
It was in 1995 that open my mind in the right frame, it was the inaugural event of the Australian Italian Festival in Ingham, North Queensland, now it is truly out, laugh out loud! This is where I was born and breed. The place where the Australian Italian Festival has been running until now, which is its 25th year. Here is the reason I have held so much time in compiling and writing this Historical Book, over the last four months.
I know about 500 hours of work, every day, seems so much, however, it is an exhilarating ride that I found it so much, interesting in knowing how a non-profit organisation works. Getting into the background was simulating for a writer and an author like me. It also helps with the world-building for a writer. I know I haven’t mention world-building and such but that will come in later posts. Here I am trying to say that without knowing the history of anything that is an event or an organisation seems pretty lost. Since I found it interesting in knowing the Australian Italian Festival as a non-profit organisation in itself is the reason why I wrote the History of the Australian Italian Festival 25th Anniversary Special Edition for free as a volunteer.
It is a pleasure to do it. Honest and proud to show my Italian Heritage and my Australian birthplace being in Ingham. So I hope any of my visitors here, I hope to see you in my hometown. Sorry for the short time frame but if you are in the area or passing by and wish to come to the Australian Italian Festival, please do. Prices on entry are on the Australian Italian Festival website – just google it.
Come and taste the Italian flavour. Eat, Drink and Celebrate!
Success One
Its been a while since I have posted something because in two parts; one, I am on a project that is close to its finishing but it is only a snippet of what is to be done; and two that is why I am writing this post.
I have been doing what most people do each and every year goal settings and one day about two months ago, I saw a post on my facebook about a submission that is Australian publisher. Before I thought about it, my sub-conscience mind had made a decision which grew in my mind. As the month that came to send in the submission, I looked at the story I wanted for and read it aloud and let the computer to read it in MS Word in the Review tab for speech – Read Aloud. With this and my reading of it made me think more clearly and hear the story I was going to send to the editor of the publisher. This new Read Aloud feature was, even more, better for me but there is another software I use and that is Grammarly. This is why the success of one of my five-year goals has come true.
I am amazed because I did something that I never have done since 2010, that is to forget about sending the short story and thought, never getting accepted for the short story. Once, I did this I was amazed that my story was accepted. Six days ago, I signed the contract and now is to wait for me and the editor to work together to edit for the Fire and Brimstone – A Demonic Compendium of the Wicked, Fallen and Accursed Anthology to be released in October this year.
Oh before I go, the first thing I was talking about is a Historical Book – a snippet of one of my local town’s festival but more important to me, which will be revealed as the time gets closer to August. This will be ready, very soon for August; just watch this space in the following weeks to come, a weekly post.
The months go fast
As I look at my sense of time seemed to have passed by like a time warp, its almost Easter. Yes I know, I missed the new year celebrations update and new years resolutions, but my excuse is that I was doing my new years resolutions. One of them is de-cluttering and making room for more space, when I can use my wheelchair.
Built a new wardrobe, cupboard and desk unit which made extra space with a new bed as my Christmas present. January was filled with building and lost track soon after with my new project which will begin my road to be known in my home town. I can’t reveal anything at the moment, until I can be sure, but I can say this, it is about writing and editing a book.
With this short week, I am just touching base because my mind said website change for Easter, thus here I’m am and next week it is ANZAC DAY which also is another time for catch up and change. The Bunny theme for Easter, one week only – its chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies. I’ll be chocolate out or hyper by next Tuesday.
Christmas around the corner
Yes, it is literally 1 week away from today, I’m on edge of the office chair with a few things that is happening in North Queensland. One – and the most important is a sad point that an uncle in my family has passed for greener pastures or whatever you call heaven. Another sad thing is Nanowrimo was a disaster – written only 5000 words of which, I need to restart from scratch.
There is a secret that I can’t share at the moment but will do so at July – what I can say is that has to do with a book and I’ll be doing some (well a lot of) work on it and helping the community as well. As for the new year, I’ll start this project in the end of January and expect to finish by the middle of July.
Well, its that time again – but before I do say it, I have another book that will be coming out soon and I am just looking at some ways of providing this book as a self publish project. It is going to be a hectic 2019 year. Thus, I going to say a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.
Spring Cleaning
Many days has passed since my last post, and you were wondering; what’s going on in my world? Well, it is very much the same but you can guess by this post’s title. Spring cleaning and since I am running in a normal way – as normal as one can – I still can’t believe, how time runs so fast. Its almost half way through October, before my week of horror starts – thus theme change.
As I’m cleaning my room in the next week, I’m think of next month because its Nanowrimo – write 50000 word novel. It is since 2013 was my last time that I made 50000 words and this year I must make it. I will make it. Why cleaning my room? It is simple an answer, I need the air-conditioner on because next month starts the Australian summer, humid hot and storms and cyclone watch season. It is life for me but I wouldn’t live anywhere else – except for a snow wonderland or cold areas like Tasmania.
Just thought to drop in for a short post to say as I’m as busy as a duck with its head chopped off. HA! I’m sorry for the mind graphic, but it does feel like this, because it is that busy. Just note that I’ll be back in December with a run-down of what has happen – Halloween, Nanowrimo and my life.
Holiday Weekend
Its the Queens’ Birthday or Labour Day holiday tomorrow or today or whatever timezone you live in, here, Australia celebrate it.
It was changed from June to this weekend. And I rather celebrate it in June but it seems fortuitous that I need not worry about it anyway because I celebrate in June anyway. Its her birthday then.
My computer has Labour Day and I really don’t know and not only that I really drawn a blank to which holiday Australia is celebrating.
Anyway, I think a day off is a good thing especially working all Sunday, during this morning till just before midnight. For all Australians here and overseas, enjoy tomorrow.