Resources

Welcome to the Resources page.
Here you will find SUGGESTED READING which is a list books that I've found fascinating and inevitably life-changing. All offer insight into the nature of reality and how we choose to be in the world. Below that are WRITING NOTES in which I offer food for thought about writing. These are curiosities - my personal opinions with which no one need feel obliged to agree.

SUGGESTED READING

Eben Alexander Proof of Heaven
Colette Baron-Reid Uncharted
Mike Dooley

Infinite Possibilities

Leveraging the Universe

Manifesting Change
Amit Goswami

God is Not Dead

Quantum Creativity
Pam Grout

E-Squared

E-Cubed

Thank and Grow Rich
Amy Herring Essential Astrology
Paul McKenna The 3 Things that will Change Your Destiny Today!
Anita Moorjani What if This is Heaven?
Joseph Murphy The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
Florence Scovel Shinn The Game of Life and How to Play it
Michael Talbot The Holographic Universe

Writing Notes

2022-10 October

Submitted by YL Wigman on Fri, 10/28/2022 - 23:15

I’m in the early stages of writing my fourth novel, as always both exciting and frightening, in about equal measure. Bringing the lead women to life is the biggest wall to scale, and by the end of writing each novel, they have to feel like real people to me.

Character development is critical to a novel’s success, I believe. I’ve found that, when reading a story, if I can’t relate to any of the characters, I lose interest fast.  For an author, the challenge is to make them interesting…and flawed!  No-one is perfect in real life, and overly virtuous personalities are unlikely…not to mention boring, if not outright annoying. Characters have to stuff up somewhere in the story, but not too much – they have to be relatable on some level for you and I to nod our heads and commiserate. That’s life, eh?

While I’m here, just a follow-up about Closeness, which has proved popular with readers.  So much so that last year Bella Books nominated it for a Golden Crown Literary Society Award in the Romance Short Novel category – a vote of confidence, thanks BB team!  You can find the GCLS here: www.goldencrownliterarysociety.org  In April, I was notified that Closeness was a finalist, which I was thrilled about.

At the GCLS Awards ceremony in July, Closeness didn’t gain a ‘Goldie’, but I’m chuffed and proud that it made the finals.  I’m happy to say it’s been a favourite with many.  And ‘tickled a few pickles!’

Thanks, my friends. Keep in touch. YLW.

P.S. ALL messages answered, asap

 

2021-03 March

Submitted by YL Wigman on Tue, 03/09/2021 - 01:00

It’s with considerable pride that I announce the publication of Closeness by Bella Books in sunny Tallahassee, Florida. They’ve done a particularly fabulous job with this one, sporting a gorgeous cover design by Kayla Mancuso. Bella Books have recently set up their own media site  www.bellamediachannel.com  where we can read about books, authors and all sorts of interesting related stuff. I wrote an essay for them to post about how I use astrology to create and develop characters, which is a worthwhile read.

This novel is very queer—hardly a perfectly straight person in sight. It has contemporary and historical elements that I thoroughly enjoyed writing, especially about women’s suffrage in Australia and the United Kingdom. The story holds attraction, obsession, romance, passion, betrayal, retribution and reconciliation…not necessarily in that order! It also has some spooky woo-woo events that add an intriguing quirkiness to what is, essentially, ‘a good yarn’.

Let me know if it ‘tickles your pickle.’

Be hearing from you. YLW.

2020-05 May

Submitted by YL Wigman on Wed, 05/13/2020 - 04:54

 

It’s been a long time between missives! I won’t give 2019 more than passing mention because of a series of personal events that graduated from bad to the other side of awful. In between, I did get some writing done. In fact, it kept me occupied for a good deal of the time in a thankfully healing way.

Consequently my third novel, Closeness, has gone to Bella Books in Florida for editing and publication either late this year or early 2021. Publishing is a process that requires considerable patience—nothing happens fast enough. This coming novel is less paranormal, more romance, and not even remotely ‘thriller.’ It’s a distinct change of pace from my previous work and held its own challenges. I can only hope that readers all over the globe will enjoy it. That’s the plan.

In these ‘interesting’ times of physical restriction, at least we have stories, be they books or films or TV shows that through technology keep us in touch with the zeitgeist and communities everywhere. Here on the third rock from the Sun, we are all in this together. Stay safe, be well. YLW.

2018-10 October

Submitted by YL Wigman on Sun, 09/30/2018 - 19:48

It is spring Down Under, with longer days and warmer nights, the birds and bees and blooms doing what comes naturally. I prefer writing in spring and summer when I can close down the house, crank up the air-con and hibernate through the heat until it passes – lovely!

I have caught up on some TV shows like Killing Eve and Call the Midwife, both of which were entertaining in very different ways.

I found Killing Eve mesmerising for its unexpectedly subversive dynamic between Eve (the investigator) and Villanelle (the assassin). It messes with your head when the murderous bad girl alternates between being endearingly sweet and deliriously vicious as she ‘does her job’, i.e. creatively killing people. At the end of Season 1, the only way Eve manages to stay alive is by playing on Villanelle’s penchant for women (her singular weakness, it seems) long enough to slip in the knife, to betray her. In terms of queer visibility, do we really need another psychopathic lesbian on film? Admittedly Villanelle has a certain charm, but seriously? It’s been done.

In wild contrast is Series 6 of Call the Midwife which finds Patsy and Delia ‘riding off into the sunset’ together at last. I have enjoyed watching these two nurses wrestling with the perils of being queer in the 60s. The plot and script were very respectful and gentle with the development of their story and its final denouement. It’s a pity we won’t see more of them, but ‘happily ever after’ always means the story’s end. No real nurses were harmed in the making of this queer sub-plot, yet it reminds us of the many who struggled to stay sane, find love and maintain decent relationships, no thanks to ignorant folk. And yes, I did once know two such nurses who, despite the naysayers, came through love intact.

Is any queer visibility a good thing, or can we afford to be a tad more discerning these days? Happy spring/autumn, YLW.

2018-07 July

Submitted by YL Wigman on Sat, 06/30/2018 - 02:18

‘Struth, there goes another year...nearly. Mid last year, I caught a jet plane to Europe and visited much loved relatives, a journey long overdue. Thereafter, it took an inordinate amount of time to conceive and gestate the gist of my next foray into writing. However, I did get my ducks in a row before Christmas, ready to start in the new year.

Since, I have been planning, plotting and writing, which is why I haven’t posted for so long. The art of creating a cogent novel is to succumb to an intensely jealous beast that insists on one’s passionate and undivided attention. Meanwhile, the distractions and necessities of everyday life compete for said attention. Consequently, this ‘note’ will be short, no more than a wave of the quill to indicate that I am currently engaged in the singularly peculiar act of transferring a vivid imagination into compelling prose.

But before I get back to my scribbling, do go and see Disobedience at the cinema. I read Naomi Alderman’s book earlier this year and can recommend both it and the movie version—well worth your time. Keep reading... keep smiling! YLW.