Starting a new book...

Last week, I had a week away from my computer. Mr H and I travelled south to Noosa where we were joined by family members, including little people, which was just lovely and so important to us.

Noosa has always been an important holiday spot in my family, as my parents had their honeymoon there, many moons ago.

The honeymoon was just nine months before I was born, actually, and just getting to Noosa was quite an adventure for them, catching a train from Sydney to Brisbane and then continuing north to the very top of the Sunshine Coast. 

Noosa was, of course, a very different place in those days. They stayed at the Laguna Hotel and Mum has told me there were no doors on the hotel rooms, which opened onto a verandah.

Despite this daunting prospect, the natural beauties of Noosa must have been even more stunning then than they are now and after my parents settled in Brisbane, we returned, as a family, to Noosa, or other parts of the Sunshine Coast for many happy holidays. 

When Dad retired, he and Mum bought 3 weeks timeshare there and now I am the lucky owner of one of those weeks, which is why we go back regularly.

By coincidence, two of my writer mates were also on the Sunny Coast last week and we met up at the Spirit House for amazing, amazing Thai food in the most gorgeous semi-tropical garden setting. (I think Thai might be my favourite exotic cuisine) My friend Marion Lennox has taken some of my favourite photos of my husband and me and she provided us with another nice one this time, bless her.

To cap the week off, my daughter Emma, who lives in Brisbane, put on a lovely Mother's Day brunch for her mother-in-law and me. So yummy and elegant, with eggs benedict and croissants and blini with cream cheese and smoked salmon. And cake and champagne! Very special.

I felt very spoiled and came home refreshed and ready to dive into writing a new book. Unlike my last few books, which have all been set up here on the Atherton Tablelands, the characters in my new book are friends in their late fifties who live on the Sunshine Coast, so it all feels a bit strange and different at the moment, even though it's an area that I'm very familiar with. But it's good to push my boundaries and the stories involving these characters will certainly spread farther afield (quite a long way, actually). :)

Perhaps I'll tell you more as the story warms up. In the meantime, I'm getting ready for quite a busy time launching The Summer of Secrets. I'll be back here soon with extracts and deleted scenes, with the schedule of libraries I'll be visiting with Helene Young and Christine Wells, and a chance to win an early copy!

So keep an eye out for future blogs.