A bright start to the day...

Are persimmons available in your part of the world? Have you tried them?
I'd never eaten them until I discovered them at a stall in Townsville's Sunday markets a couple of years ago. The stall holder had actually brought them down from her farm at Ravenshoe on the Atherton Tableland. (Note to self: We must plant a persimmon tree at Tarzali.)

Luckily for us, the farmer does this every week during the persimmon harvest season in autumn.
I love them. They are like a cross between an apple and an apricot with a dash of something nutty or buttery. And because they're bright orange, I imagine they're full of goodness like pumpkins, but sweeter, and without the acidity of citrus fruit.

Right now, they're my breakfast fruit instead of pawpaw. Yes, I always like to start my day with something bright. Why not?


When we were in Japan last year, we saw persimmon trees covered in fruit wherever we went. They looked gorgeous. So bright and cheerful. And this little Japanese house is The Hut of the Fallen Persimmons.

I usually eat my persimmons raw, but the recipe sounds rather delicious.

Heavenly Persimmon Ice Cream Pie

I/2 litre vanilla ice cream, softened
2 cups persimmon pulp
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups whipped cream
1/2 cup slivered almonds
Spread ice cream in a biscuit crumb pie shell and shill in freezer. Combine pulp with the 1 1/2 cups sugar, salt, spices and vanilla. Fold in 1 cup cream. Pour mixture over ice cream in pie shell. Cover with foil and freeze 4 hours. Remove from freezer and garnish with remaining 1/2 cup of whipped cream and almonds..

A grandmotherly brag...

For those of you who have been keeping track of Lilly, she is growing up so fast. Here she is on Magnetic Island, where her other grandparents have a holiday house.

She is so full of life, and full of beans, talks non-stop, runs non stop. And LOVES books.

Am I pleased about that? You bet. And you should hear the way she says 'Hello, Nan!' on the phone. So loud, so cute.

Comfort reads

Do you have a comfort read, a book you return to if you’re feeling a little rundown or under the weather and you feel the need to retreat into a comforting past? I remember my editor telling me that she’d recently curled up with the Narnia Chronicles for comfort. I know, in the past, I’ve dipped back into the Anne books.

Today, I found myself reaching for Mary Norton’s “The Borrowers”, a gorgeous children’s book about tiny people – Pod, Homily and Arietty Clock, who live beneath the floorboards in an English country house. They’re responsible for all those things that go missing that we’re all familiar with – disappearing hairpins, needles, keys, thimbles, coins, matchboxes… these things become their furniture.

The book is just delightful. I remember how much my daughters loved it when they were young and when I’d finished, I searched google to find out more about Mary Norton and discovered a book of short stories for adults… so I couldn’t resist ordering it. I love having things to look forward to coming in the post.

Surprises are nice too. This week I received copies of Claiming the Cattleman’s Heart in Lithuanian. That’s a first in this country for me, as far as I know. My books have now been translated into 25 languages. That’s such a nice thought.

What are your comfort reads?

A stolen week...

We stole away to Tarzali for a week and it was gorgeous. Clear, crisp autumn days, wide blue skies with just a few fluffy clouds – and fabulous sunsets.

E took the photo here. Every evening was different and beautiful.

We laid paving stones, watered plants, harvested pumpkin and citrus fruit. I finished writing my Mother’s Day novella and I read another fabulous book – Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda.

This was one of those books I didn’t want to end, even though I still read rapaciously to get to the end. Isn’t it fabulous when you find a book like that – one that immerses you completely in the characters, draws you into its world and utterly entrances you? This book is set in Paris -- and the characters are all misfits and their story is difficult and simple, complex and romantic.

Tarzali was a little like that, too. We didn’t really want to come back. On the last night, we sat out under the stars to enjoy our pre-dinner drink and we put little coloured lanterns on the stones steps we’d made, and it was just magic.

That night I was so conscious of leaving – of blowing out the last candle on the veranda, of the last sip of wine, of the last track on the CD, which happened to be Shiver Me Timbers on a compilation one of my writing friends gave me.

But the next morning, as we were having breakfast, the builder the plumber and the electrician all arrived. Things were happening. At last! It was time to go!

Now, a little office tidying is in order, to get the feng shui right, before I start on a new writing project.

Name that rooster...

The photo was sent in a batch of email photos. As I love birds and I'm a romance writer, I couldn't resist sharing this one.

I think the rooster's name is Sylvester, after Georgette Heyer's wonderful hero, (not the comic strip cat!!)

I'd love to hear other suggestions for his name.

High Society Weddings

Who doesn't love a royal wedding?

I can remember playing "princesses" for hours as a child. My princesses and their ladies in waiting were frangipani flowers. Did you know that if you turn a frangipani upside down it becomes a beautiful ballerina in a tutu, or a princess in a pure white gown with a lovely slender neck and neat little head?

No wonder I loved the chance to create my own Princess Isabella. But of course, I couldn't let her sit around, twiddling her thumbs, in a white ball gown. I had to send her into the Outback, and not to somewhere pleasant, such as a comfortable cattle station homestead.

Fleeing for her life, poor Isabella ends up in the true wilderness of the Northern Territory, where she stumbles upon Jack Kingsley-Laird, a widower, retreating from life.

If you missed this story, don't despair. (You were about to fall into deep despair, weren't you?)
Now, Princess in the Outback has been reprinted in a special By Request edition with Liz Fielding's An Ordinary Princess and Barbara McMahon's The Tycoon Prince.

You can find out more details about each book on the Mills and Boon website. Or read an excerpt from Princess in the Outback on the Past Releases page of my website.

Or you can buy it here.

Oh My God, I Might Have To Smile

Yesterday I went to another library talk, but this time I was in the audience rather than out the front. I was listening to a woman writer from Cairns – Letizia De Rosa, who has written three books – Antonio’s Niche (about her Italian father’s struggle to survive in Naples during World War2), Conversations with My Mother (philosophical musings about being a woman), and Oh My God, I Might Have To Smile (a collection of Letizia's thoughts and quotations).

Letizia was inspired to start writing after her two babies died and she is also a very effective and inspiring public speaker and she has created her own publishing business Sorrentini Publishing.

Quite a woman.

I think it's important for writers to band together and support each other even when we write in very different genres and for quite different audiences. Our local library has always given me fabulous support. They've even added Claiming His Family to their Book Club reading list.

And it was great to see libraries and service clubs here all supporting Letizia -- a true woman with altitude.

I wanted to share with you a quote I loved from Oh My God, I Might Have To Smile.

The answer to life is focus, fortitude,

Fun-filled responsibility,

Happy thoughts, honest reflection and

The company of genuine friends.

dark moments

I'm at that point in my current story where the slow build of a warm and sweet romance must be torn apart.

Ouch.
Can you feel my pain? I know once I get into it I will probably quite enjoy the drama and the emotional tension of this "dark moment", but right now, I'd just like to leave my couple kissing and kissing and getting all steamy...


Oh, well...
Meanwhile, E is still away at Tarzali. Apparently he excelled himself in his culinary efforts on the weekend. He steamed a duck and then smoked it over Nerada tea leaves and his guests were so impressed they left with the carcass, to turn it into some clever kind of dip, which they then invited him to their place to enjoy. Don't country folk have fun?

See what I'm missing out on by staying back in the city, chained to my computer, and obediently tapping away? Let's hope my muse rewards me with loads of inspiration today.

A year in the country...

This year, we were supposed to be spending a year in the country.

At one stage, we were planning to spend a year in the north of Scotland. Both of us have Scottish heritage and I love books set in the Scottish north and we had it all worked out. We'd even picked our cottage -- a lovely keeper's cottage at Portmahomack. A year with the four seasons! I was so excited.

But then I was attacked by doubts -- after all we had our own cottage in the country in the north of Australia. Surely, we should spend a year there first. So that was plan B. To add a spare room and dining room at Tarzali and live there for a year.
But we hadn't accounted for builders.
We have a builder, who has already done some work for us and understands our "vision," so we've been patient -- incredibly patient, while his commitments to other jobs take precedence.
Hmmm...
E's up there at the moment chatting with him... and long story short, we at last have his promise that out modest project will be completed by the end of May.
So, that's the new plan... to start our year in the country in June. At least it will be lovely and cold. Yes, when you've lived in Townsville for 30 + years, you can put both those words in the same sentence.
Will keep you posted. Meanwhile, I have to finish my Mother's Day novella.

LOVED this book...

Have just come back to say I have finished The Rose of Sebastopol by Katherine McMahon and as the publishers promised, I did absolutely LOVE it.

It was wonderful, stunning, so rich in historical detail and characterization and plot that I want to give a copy to all of my friends.

It's one of those books I feel privileged to have read and I've just voted for it on the Richard and Judy book club.

Go Rose go!

Secrets of the Bestselling Sisterhood

Now that I’ve actually put my hand up to take part in a workshop at the Romance Writers of America conference, (gulp!) I’ve been looking through my notes from past conferences and I thought it would be rather stingy of me not to share them.

Please note: these are entirely my perceptions of what these great names were saying. If there are mistakes, they are my mistakes.

One of the most fascinating workshops I attended was Secrets of the Bestselling Sisterhood, conducted by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Patricia Smith and Jayne Ann Krentz.

And here are my notes – extremely patchy, (you’ll have to connect the dots, I’m afraid). I missed stuff because I was too busy pinching myself that I was actually in the same room with these three stars of romance.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips

One size does not fit all

Protect the work! (Your work) Protect it from what you’re hearing (industry gossip, well meant advice etc) – you don’t have to follow one way of writing.

Protect yourself.

Dealing with others

Don’t get too caught up with contests, reviews, amazon etc.

You cannot please everyone. Liberate yourself and please yourself.

Find your own path

Craft is not the top priority

Readers want to be sucked into the story.

Patricia Smith

Write with absolute sincerity –follow your own imaginative vision of the world.

Celebrate universal and timeless values – courage, loyalty, honour (The Odyssey is a good example)

Embrace issues that go beyond culture – good versus evil. Go beyond the current social issue.

Create characters who embody powerful ideals about human beings.

Be willing to create characters who are very different from yourself. Feminine, quiet women can write strong, fierce characters.

Jayne Ann Krentz

Respect your writer’s voice

The only sin is to have a flat, boring voice. That equals forgettable.

Readers always go back to a memorable voice.

Voice is not just style. It’s also your world view, your code of ethics and your understanding of right and wrong.

Persistence

Retail therapy

Ask someone else what they remember most about the story. What emotional punch?

Buy a kitchen timer When you can’t work, set yourself a time limit. You can’t get out of the chair for 45 minutes.

JAK’s best piece of advice ever…. You can’t run this career if you’re scared all the time. And.. The best ideas often come out of the act of creating rather than out of thin air.

Finally her war cry… ‘Guts, ladies, guts.’

I hope that perhaps one little phrase or idea here gives you something to think about... And thanks, in their absence, to 3 great authors.

Emotional tension

In July, I'll be giving a workshop in San Francisco with fellow Romance authors Jessica Hart and Barbara McMahon. We'll be talking about emotion, emotion , emotion and its global appeal and one of the sections that I'll be dealing with is emotional tension. For that reason, I have my antennae trained for ways others writers develop emotional tensions.

And tonight (on Australian ABC TV1) will be screened the series final of BBC show Life On Mars. If you’ve ever wanted to learn about writing tension, this is an episode you shouldn’t miss.

For those of you who live in Oz and haven’t been watching the series, it’s about Sam Tyler, who had an accident and woke up in 1973. He doesn’t know if he’s mad, in a coma or has travelled back in time. Throughout the series, he’s been trying to get back where he came from. He believes if he doesn’t get back he will die!

For me, the big draw card besides the plot, is the character Gene Hunt played by Philip Gleinster (I’ve had a small swoon on this blog about him before. E’s not all that happy about how I like this guy so much, but at least he and P.G. share the same birthday. That’s supposed to keep E happy.J)

Last week, we were out but our son copied the episode for us and we caught up with it yesterday (just in time).

Normally, Sam and Gene are detectives solving crimes and hunting down criminals, but approaching their jobs with entirely different perspectives. Gene, a 1973 man, is very un PC and little more than a thug, while Sam is the careful and cautious 21^st century cop with knowledge of all the modern technology, which is frustratingly no longer available to him.

Last week the tables were turned on Gene.

Wow! Talk about racking up the tension!

Gene became a murder suspect. Sam managed against all the odds to discover who actually committed the crime and he saved Gene’s bacon -- or so he thought.

However, in a last minute twist, the baddie (for want of a better term) told Sam that he can’t save Gene. If he tries to help him again, he will never be able to go back to his real time!!!!!

Which leaves Sam with the hugest of dilemmas. This is the stuff that makes a really good story – a choice that is truly difficult, when a character has to give up his long cherished, vitally important goal, or do something self-sacrificing, but very worthy. (I’ve often wondered if Claiming His Family won the RITA because Erin faced the challenge of giving up her very important goal to keep her son Joey, and was prepared to let him go with his father, Luke.)

Anyway, back to life on Mars, I can kind of guess what Sam might choose, but I’m hoping tonight’s episode will answer all the questions the series has raised (we have to at least see a glimpse of Sam in 2007 surely) and still keep me on the edge of my seat.

As a writer, I find the story options open to fellow writers and the choices they make endlessly fascinating

Love this book or your money back

That's the publisher's promise on a big gold sticker on the front of the book I'm currently reading.
The book is The Rose of Sebastopol by Katherine McMahon and it's a historical novel set in the Crimean War.
So far, I'm only 65 pages into it and I'm very much enjoying it. I'm wondering if I'd be game to ask for my money back if I didn't enjoy it. Somehow, I doubt it. (I'm not very bolshi about that sort of thing.) But wouldn't it wonderful to have that kind of publisher support?
My current reading tastes are tending towards historical novels and Young Adult fiction. Two YA books arrived from amazon yesterday and I'm keenly looking forward to reading them, too. One is a romance set in WW2 by Eva Ibbotson. I just adored Which Witch? and used it every year when I was teaching Yr 8. This was pre-Harry Potter and much cleverer, in my humble opinion.

We've just had a lovely weekend at Tarzali, gardening, cutting grass and relaxing. I wish I could share with you how lovely it is to sit on our veranda and watch the soft misty rain drift across the hills and valleys and to see the way the different folds and layers of landscape are brought into sharper perspective or diminished by the ever changing light. Here are a couple of pictures that we took on the weekend, but they don't quite bring the experience to life.
Yes, there's been more rain in FNQ. Wish I could parcel some up and send it to Bron Jameson.

Rita nominations

What an exciting week it's been hearing about friends who've received Rita nominations this year. I've written before about how much I love Kelly Hunter and Anne Gracie books. Both these fabulous Australian writers have scored Rita nominations and believe me, these gongs are so well deserved!
Kelly's was for Best short contemporary with her fabulous book set in Penang, Sleeping Partner, and Anne's is for Best Historical novel for The Perfect Kiss, the final book in her fabulous "perfect" series.

Another very clever Aussie writing friend, (who served me a delicious lunch on the Sunshine Coast at New year) and who's made a huge splash in the romance world in the past twelve months is Anna Campbell, who has two books that are Rita finalists -- Claiming the Courtesan, and Untouched. Wow! Can her feet still be on the ground?

Oh, and I was particularly pleased to see a Young Adult book that I really loved when I was judging my pack of Rita books is also a finalist. Am keeping my fingers crossed that it wins!!!

Much more modest excitement arrived for me yesterday in the form of two new books. Well, one (Princess in the Outback) is actually an old story that's being reprinted. Will tell you more about that when I can show you the cover.
Also received hardbacks of Adopted: Outback Baby, my July Romance release. I tried to scan the cover, but my elderly computer is no longer up to the task.

Oh, and I noticed on amazon that I have a book out in Mills and Boon Polish. Apparently, there are so many Poles living in England now that M&B are selling Polish books in English bookstores. I have no idea which book it is.

Here's what the German edition of In The Heart of the Outback looks like, newly titled You Have Inflamed My Heart.

Meantime, I'm plodding on with the Mother's Day secret baby novella. A secret baby plot always involves a lot of back story, and the trick is working out how much about the past to tell and when. My aim is always to give readers enough information to make them care about the characters and want to read on, but to raise questions in the readers' minds, which will also, hopefully, keep them reading the pages.

So this week has involved a lot of writing and then dumping. I keep a dump folder for bits I've written, that I then discard, but don't want to lose, because they might come in handy later. It's rather sad watching my word count go up and then down again. But I think it's been worth it. I feel as if the juggling and pruning is paying off and my story is starting to show through the mist.

Always so much to do. I met two interesting people recently whom I want to interview to help me with background for two different story ideas.

But I must be disciplined and not get too distracted from this book. There's nothing more alluring than a wonderful new idea, when you're stuck in the middle of the WIP.

Breakfast with David Attenborough

I hope you had a Happy Easter!
Yesterday morning, Easter Monday, Elliot and I decided to go out for breakfast. Where we live in the city, we're lucky enough to take a short stroll over a bridge and through a park to find any number of restaurants (although, on Easter Monday in Townsville, not many of them were open!)
Anyway, we went the long way, so that we worked up one or two credit points before we dined out. For me a walk through the park, by the river is just that -- a pleasant little bit of exercise. I enjoy the autumn sunshine, I invariably start thinking about the characters in my current work in progress.
For Elliot, walking in the park is a very different kettle of fish. To start with, fish are on his mind literally! He cannot observe at a body of water without looking for fish. But yesterday his observations were rewarded by the discovery of a baby plover swimming.
When he pointed it out, the screeches of adult plovers all about me registered. Until that moment, they'd merely been background bird noises.
Clearly, at least three adult plovers were very agitated that one their young had forgotten it wasn't a water bird. We watched this tiny little thing valiantly swim to shore (which took some time) but then it had the Titanic task of climbing the steep concrete bank. I was sure it would be exhausted before it reached the top.
The bird was tiny, the bank so steep -- and it had already had a long exhausting swim. Baby plovers, however, are plucky. (I hope that's not an unfortunate adjective to apply to a bird.)
Anyway, it reached the top, but then -- as happens to so many mountain climbers, there was a final, sheer vertical lip that was impossible for it to scale.
This was where Elliot stepped in. Holding my handbag over his (bald) head to protect himself from avenging plover parents (he had memories of being attacked by the spur wings on plovers in his boyhood) he boldly went forward, and rescued not one, but two baby plovers crouched helplessly on the river side of the concrete lip.
One ran off immediately (plovers nest -- rather dangerously -- in grass), but the other, presumably the swimmer, crouched, clearly needing recovery time. We went on to breakfast.
Returning through the park after our leisurely breakfast, Elliot pointed out mother lorrikeets feeding their young in an overhead tree -- another sight I would never have noticed on my own.
The plover family had vanished, so we can only hope they are well and happy.
But I would have been completely oblivious about this huge drama if I'd walked on my own. It's rather nice to have my personal "David Attenborough."

If you are in Sydney...

and if you like the Outback... you might like to check out a wonderful collection of photographs at the Bondi Pavilion Gallery. (Queen Elizabeth Drive, Bondi Beach, Sydney, NSW -- open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day)

It's called OUTBACK BY THE SEA and it is a collection of 24 years' worth of photographs of Australia's largest cattle stations taken by fabulous North Queensland photographer Fiona Lake. It's on display till March 30th.

I can guarantee that the photos are terrific, as I have Fiona's wonderful book A Million Acre Masterpiece, which I keep by my desk and use as a constant source of inspiration for my outback books.

I'm only sorry I can't be there to see the exhibition. Fiona's love of the Outback and the life on cattle stations shines through her work. So if you have the chance, treat yourself to a uniquely Australian experience. Oh, and Fiona will be in attendance, so say g'day from me.

Competition result...

I hope you are enjoying a peaceful and pleasant Easter weekend. I have just made a terrible discovery -- I forgot to draw a winner for The Bridesmaid's Best Man last month. I must admit, I've got rather out of the way of running competitions in recent years, but thank you to everyone who entered this one for my 25th book, either via this blog or by email from my website.

Ta da!!!!!

I'm very pleased to announce that the winner is Eleni of South Australia.

Congratulations, Eleni. A copy of Bridesmaid will be on its way to you shortly.

I've had word from my editor that she will be sending revisions for my latest submission next week -- something to look forward to over Easter. :-) So, in the meantime, I'm trying to get as much of the Mother's Day novella under my belt as I can. I don't like losing momentum on one story, while I stop to work on another. But I know other writers thrive on interruptions.
One thing is certain. After reader feedback from Bridesmaid (mostly very positive), I will definitely be adding an epilogue to this next book. Readers love their happy endings and I must make sure I don't cut this one too short.

And I can promise you that the next two books in 2008 -- Adopted :Outback Baby and Blind Date with the Boss -- both have epilogues!!

A short break

We're heading to Tarzali for a couple of days. Hope to be back before the Easter rush. Think of us intrepidly crossing flooded rivers ( it's hardly stopped raining in North Queensland since December), or noting the growth of trees we've planted, bemoaning the weeds, starting up the brush-cutter...

Oh, and I'll still be trying to maintain my daily word count. I'm writing a mother's day novella at the moment, while my editor reads my latest submission. Two very different settings -- variety keeps me inspired -- although I understand that readers love a writer who gives them the same kind of story over and over.

But I can't resist setting this new story on a tropical island. Here I am, surrounded by islands other people can only dream about. It's only fair I put one or two into books, isn't it?

What we can learn from the movies...

One of the things I love about living in the city is the access to movies, concerts and theatre. I've mentioned before that I belong to a cinema group. This week, we watched the powerful Australian movie September. A very restrained and moving account of a friendship between a white boy and an Aboriginal boy in Western Australia in 1968.

The theatre was packed an this was the main attraction. A lot of people didn't stay for the second movie, but boy, they missed a treat. This time we watched The Lives of Others, a German film that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film last year.
It is set in East Germany in 1984 (the likeness of Orwell's novel 1984 is quite scary) and it's about a Stasi agent, Wiesler, who must to spy on a playwright (Dreyman) and his actress girlfriend, because the playwright is suspected of seditious intent.

I have to say, I've found a new actor to swoon over in Sebastian Koch, who played Dreyman. I've since watched him in the Dutch movie Black Book and he was dreamy in that, too.

But what I found totally compelling about The Lives of Others was the change that occurred Wiesler as he listens in to every aspect of the playwright's life.

As Anthony Lane says in his article in The New Yorker...

'See him crouched in a loft above Dreyman’s home with a typewriter, a tape deck, and headphones clamped to his skull. Watch the nothingness on his face as he taps out his report on the couple’s actions: “Presumably have intercourse.” '

Slowly, the tables turn. Wiesler listens to a conversation between Dreymann and a director he reveres. He is privy to Dreyman's grief when this director commits suicide. He listens to Dreyman play the piano -- A Sonata for A Good Man and tears stream down his face. Eventually, he steals Dreyman’s copy of Brecht and takes it home to read; he starts to omit details in his official account; and, for some fathomless reason—guilt, curiosity, longing—he lets the lives of others run their course.

It's the step by step transformation of his personality that fascinated me. Wiesler changes from a machine, faithful to the party, to a human with a conscience, facing new moral dilemmas he wouldn't have formerly considered.

I know I write 50,000 romance novels that must steer a fairly tight course, but I found so much to learn about character growth in this movie. I hope some of it translates into my books somewhere.... sometime...

Walking

I have dreadful feet. Actually I have all kinds on inherited problems from the knees down. But at least my feet and legs still work… for which I’m extremely grateful… because I think walking is one of life’s greatest pleasures.

When my first child was a baby, I used to go for long walks every afternoon, pushing her in the pram. At the time, I did it because I’d read in baby books that it’s very stimulating for babies to be out and about, exposed to new sights and sounds and smells. I was so into being a great mum I didn’t think about the benefits for me. Back then, young mothers weren’t jogging with prams to keep fit the way they do now. I’m sure if exercise had been trendier then, I would have been into that, too – pushing the pram up Castle Hill, no doubt.

These days, I do go for walks for exercise. Writing is such a sedentary job, I need to make an extra effort to get moving each day. But although I groan as I roll out of bed each morning, once I get going, I know that walking is about so much more than boring exercise.

I can listen to audio books – my new favourite indulgence, or I can people watch along The Strand. I can dream about my work in progress and I can drink in the beauty of Cleveland Bay and Magnetic Island just off shore.

Best of all, I can just let my mind wander… it’s amazing the thoughts that pop in when I’m least expecting it. Countless story ideas have evolved from these walks.

So no more complaining from me that there are only two pairs of shoes in the whole of Townsville that fit me.

As my dad used to say: “I had no shoes and I complained until I met a man who had no feet.”

Juno

Let me tell you quickly about Juno. I say quickly because I have a young Japanese fellow staying here at the moment and sleeping in my study and I think he’ll be back from a trip to Magnetic Island very soon.

I saw Juno 2 nights ago. I had already heard my friends raving about it and I watched the young script writer, Diablo Cody (pictured) get her Oscar on Monday night and I decided I just had to see this film. You’ve probably all seen it already, haven’t you?

No? Do yourself a favour. It’s a movie any romance fan will love. And I’ll tell you why – because it does exactly what we all try to do and does it so well. It takes a familiar theme – unplanned pregnancy – and deals with it in a totally fresh and innovative way. Isn’t that what editors are always asking for – the same only different?

In this the pregnant mother is sixteen. The prospective father is a high school basketball/running track, guitar playing, slightly dorky but sweet guy.

The dialogue is hip and contemporary and sparkly. The plot turns unpredictable. The ending awww….

What more could you ask for?

A story about translations and serendipity …

Last week I spoke at the handover dinner of a women’s service club and at the end there was the usual question time. During that discussion, I told the audience about my cupboards full of translations of my books. ‘If you know anyone who reads a different language and who might be interested, let me know,’ I told them. ‘I’d be very happy to give them away.’

A woman held up her hand. 'Do you have any in Indonesian?’

Now, Indonesian is my most recently acquired “new language”, bringing the total number of languages my books are sold in to 23. I had copies of A Wedding at Windaroo – not only that, but the Indonesian copies came with lovely bookmarks to match the books’ covers.

And so… my books are now in a classroom at the Townsville Grammar School… but here’s the emotional punch to this story. The school’s young Indonesian teacher died this year, the day before school resumed after the summer break. Her Grade 12 class, who have had her as their teacher since Gr 8, are in shock. They’re, naturally, terribly upset, worried about their final year at school without her – and ambivalent about the subject. And, the unit they’re studying this term is all about romance and relationships.

So here’s hoping the Indonesian version of Piper and Gabe’s story fills a useful, perhaps even a healing role for these students this year.

Random thoughts for unpublished writers…

I have often wondered why some aspiring writers give up very early – often after the first setback, while others plug on for years and years and finally are published. One of my friends, a very successful author now, was unpublished for something like twenty years, another tried for eleven years before she got The Call, another for twelve.

And yet, I also know a very talented woman who gave up after her first rejection. And lots of others who've never actually submitted a manuscript.

Thomas Edison said: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." ~

What is the secret? What determines success versus failure? I think, primarily, it’s a matter of self belief. If deep down you can believe you are a writer, you will plug on no matter how many rejections come your way.

Perhaps the writers who gave up had memories of past failures that held them back. Most people operate out of personal history, but when you’re aiming for an important goal like publication, you have to operate out of imagination rather than memory.

I remember being astonished that I actually knew deep down that I could write these books. I’d never had that kind of self-confidence about anything else. I had no idea where this certainty came from, but I could imagine becoming an author and seeing my stories on the shelves in shops. That belief, that vision was, without a doubt, the one thing that kept me going when I got rejections (and yes, I had four rejections) or bad feedback from competitions I’d entered. (I had my share of bad scores, too) I had my husband’s support, which was wonderful, but if I hadn’t also believed in myself, I wouldn’t have kept going.

Henry Ford said: Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right.

On this subject of self belief, let me give you an example from the Olympic Games.

Until 1954, it was believed that humans couldn’t run a mile in under four minutes. Doctors, athletes, coaches… everyone… believed it was physically impossible. And then on May 6th in 1954, an English athlete called Roger Bannister ran the mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.

Since then, 20,000 people have run the mile in under four minutes – even schoolboys. What has changed? People’s thinking has changed. Not their bodies. Their thinking. They now believed it was possible.

OK… back to those aspiring authors who gave up. Another possible problem for these writers is that they have spent too much time comparing their progress with the progress of others. It must be very discouraging to see other people being published when you’re still getting rejections. It can be discouraging for published authors to see their friends winning awards or making bestseller lists.

But the thing is, the going isn’t quite so tough, if you keep your focus on your personal goal. You have to accept that each of us has a different path and keep your focus on your stories, your characters and your love of writing.

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals.

OK, that’s my sermon for today. I’m actually on deadline, so I’d better slink back into my cave.

Just remember, you've got to believe in yourself and that means not paying too much attention to what's happening to everyone else. Now go for it!!!

I have a thing about birds...

I didn't realise how much I love birds until I looked around at all the art work in my house and saw how much of it was.... birds... in all shapes and sizes, colours, textures. And then I saw this photo this morning and I had to share. Isn't it just gorgeous? I loved it more than the cuddly polar bears etc.
Maybe that's why I married a guy who looks a bit like Big Bird?
OK... I'm ducking:-)
Back to my deadline.

Tickled my funny bone...

I was researching for a talk I have to give to a local Soroptimists club. The topic is Go for Gold and it needs to be motivational, so I was looking at various quotes to do with gold and stumbled on this.

I know humour is very personal. I tried to tell it to Elliot and he didn’t think it was funny, but I’m no stand-up comedian. Here it is anyway…

“The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating...




...and you finish off as an orgasm.”

George Carlin, American stand-up comedian

New Mills and Boon Collection

Erin and Luke, who starred in my RITA winning book Claiming His Family, are in the spotlight again. This time their story has been renamed Their Outback Marriage and it is the launch book for a brand new series -- a special Mills and Boon Collection being produced in conjunction with Eaglemoss publications.

Don't you just love that cover? That scene of Erin and Luke in the rain is my favourite scene in the book.

Each edition in the series brings readers a hardcover book (sequentially from the Romantic, Sexy, Medical, Intriguing and Historical lines) as well as a magazine with a short story (My story Chance Encounter is in there), as well as interviews, discussion of the main scenes in the book, and other stories of interest to romance readers, as well as a small gift. Floating rose scented candles come with the first edition.

So, wow! This is all a tad exciting. I think I'd love this collection for myself. I remember when I was v young, I used to subscribe to Princess magazine, which came all the way from England. I would go each month (week? fortnight?) to the newsagency to collect my new copy. It was full of comic book stories -- Sally the Circus Ballerina and The Diary of Sue Day are the two I remember. And there'd be gifts -- like a plastic headband with daisies, or a pop-together necklace.
Looking back, I'm sure this was the primary school equivalent of being an M&B fan. :)

This month the new M&B collection is being trialled in five locations in Britain and hopefully that will be successful and it will be launched nationally in the northern hemisphere's autumn. I believe the plan is to also bring the series overseas in the future. So fingers crossed ...

You wouldn't believe the rain we're having here in NQ. My editor rang from London last night and I was busy being professional, but when I told her about the rain, I don't think she really "got" it. Later, I wished I'd opened the door and held the phone outside so she hear the racket of the rain thundering down.
Anyway... it's actually much more serious than the photo up the top suggests. People all over the state are being forced to evacuate. It's reminding me of the 1974 floods. That was the summer of Cyclone Tracy in Darwin and the Brisbane floods. I remember lending all my baby equipment to a mother and baby evacuated from Darwin to Townsville. And my mum in Brisbane took in masses of washing for flood victims.
And to think, a few months ago, we were in the grip of drought. Dorothea McKellar certainly got it right...

I love a sunburnt country
A land of sweeping plains
Of rugged mountain ranges
Of drought and flooding rains

OK, enough about the weather. Here are the answers to yesterday's quiz. How did you go?

1. Henry James
2. Ernest Hemingway
3. Tracy Sinclair
4. D.H. Lawrence
5. Lorna Read
6. Anne Mather
7. John Folwes
8. Anne Weal

Classics versus romance

I thought I'd share with you a quiz that I took along to the library talk the other day. It was originally passed on by Presents author, Kate Walker.

I know passages of Mills and Boons are often read out of context. One of my friends has confessed that she used to go to dinner parties where part of the evening's entertainment was to read some of the more passionate passages from an M&B to accompaniment of hilarious laughter.

I've had excerpts printed in the paper that were a tad embarrassing.

However, I think this quiz illustrates rather well how any passage of writing taken out of context can be misleading. It also shows that romantic passages in all kinds of literature are a challenge to write. And, well, I'd be interested to hear what else you think it shows...

Here's the quiz. You're welcome to have a go at guessing the answers.

CAN YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE?

1. He glared at her a moment through the dusk, and the next instant she felt his arms about her and his lips on her own lips. His kiss was like white lightning, a flash that spread and spread again, and stayed.

2. He felt her trembling as he kissed her and he held the length of her body tight to him and felt her breasts against his chest through the two khaki shirts, he felt them small and firm and he reached and undid the buttons on her shirt and bent and kissed her and she stood shivering, holding her head back, his arm behind her.

3. K's mouth sought A's this time, with passion and urgency. To her amazement, her inhibitions had been burned away in the hot flame of desire. Her fingers dug into the bunched muscles of his back, raked through his hair. She fumbled with the buttons on his shirt, frantic with the need to touch him, to feel his body against hers without any barrier.

4. And as she melted small and wonderful in his arms, she became infinitely desirable to him, all his blood-vessels seemed to scald with intense yet tender desire for her, for her softness, for the penetrating beauty of her in his arms, passing into his blood. Softly, with that marvellous swoon-like caress of his hand in pure soft desire, softly he stroked the silky slope of her loins, down between her soft warm buttocks, coming nearer and nearer to the very quick of her. And she felt him like the flame of desire, yet tender, and she felt herself melting in the flame.

5. He was pure energy, fire to her water. His love consumed her, seared her, cauterised all her past wounds and set her free. She was a bird now, rising to some dizzying peak, and she could feel but not see.

6. His chest crushed her breasts, his flanks tangled with hers in the rough bed of straw. She could feel the heat of his skin penetrating his clothes and hers, and the strong masculine scent of him in her nose and her mouth, male and intoxicating. She thought afterwards that he had intended to pull away from her. There was a world of difference between a kiss, given and received between two totally upright adults, and this totally intimate embrace.

7. How long they looked into each other's eyes, he did not know. It seemed an eternity, though in reality it was no more that three or four seconds. Their hands acted first. By some mysterious communion the fingers interlaced. Then C fell upon one knee and strained her passionately to him. Their mouths met with a violence that shocked them both; made her avert her lips. He covered her cheeks, her eyes, with kisses. His hand at last touched her hair, caressed it, felt the small head through its softness, as the thin-clad body was felt against his arms and breast. Suddenly he buried his face in her neck. We must not . . .we must not . . .this is madness.

8. She saw his head bend to hers, knew he was going to kiss her, and found herself powerless to stop him . . .unwilling to stop him. Even before his lips pressed gently on hers, she had closed her eyes in mute submission. His first kiss was like the match flame that ignites the swift conflagration of a bonfire sprinkled with petrol. For a few seconds only his mouth moved lightly on hers letting her keep her lips closed, but making them quiver with the shock of an almost forgotten sensation. Then, abruptly, the arm around her tightened, and she felt the fierce heat of desire blaze up, not only in him but also in her.
She tore her mouth free. 'No. . .no. . .'

Your choices are:

John Fowles - French Lieutenant's Woman

D.H. Lawrence - Lady Chatterly's Lover

Tracy Sinclair - Proof Positive (Silhouette 1989)

Ernest Hemingway - For Whom the Bell Tolls

Anne Mather - Duelling Fire (M&B 1981)

Anne Weale - Passage to Paxos (M&B 1981)

Henry James - Portrait of a Lady

Lorna Read - Love's Pursuit (Sapphire 1982)

I'll post the answers later.

Valentine's Eve...

As I mentioned earlier, Nicola Marsh has been running a fabulous Valentine’s promo on her blog with different author guests every day. It’s my turn to be there today, answering questions and giving away a book, along with RNA prize winner, Kate Hardy.

This month there’s also plenty happening at the Harlequin Romance author’s blog – an interview with Nicola, a special Valentine’s Day post from Irish author Trish Wylie and an in depth report on the special Mills and Boon Centenary party in London by Fiona Harper. I’ve already seen some of the photos of this party – fab to see all the authors in their bling. As for semi clad waiters… definitely something to check out.

I’m doing my own Valentine’s Day stint today at my local library today. I’ll be talking about romance writing, giving away books and generally having fun chatting with readers.

And in Australia it’s Sorry Day. Our Prime Minister will be formally saying sorry to the Aborigines for the way they have been treated by white people – most specifically for the stolen generation. Young Aboriginal children, mostly half-castes, were taken from their parents “for their own good” and brought up in white families or in institutions.

I'm very glad that our PM is finally saying sorry, even though it's 41 years too late.

The joy of distractions...

With our daughter still home on university vacation we were put under great pressure last night and gave in. We watched Grey’s Anatomy. Actually, I’d been intending to watch it for ages. After all, it’s the most watched television show and as a creator of popular fiction I should keep abreast of trends etc.

Then again, there are often really great shows on the ABC on Sunday night and I have to say that after only one viewing, the jury on Grey's A is still out in this household. Sure Dr. McDreamy is very dreamy. And I love the Japanese doctor. I know it only takes three consecutive viewings of a soapie to get hooked, so I may succumb yet. Will see.

Meanwhile, the fourth book in Susan Wiggs’s Lakeshore Chronicles arrived today and I can’t wait to read Snowfall at Willow Lake. Susan W writes the most wonderfully warm and real, funny and moving single title books -- very close in tone to the Romance line, but with the greater character detail and plot complications that you would expect from a much bigger book. I learn so much from reading her work and like most writers, I crave inspiration.

Problem is, I can't really start reading now as I have a very scary deadline looming fast and I’ve been terribly distracted over the summer.

So it’s head down now and Sophie and Noah’s story may have to wait. Sigh…

Urban drama...

OK… I’ve said that this blog is about a writer’s life in the city and the country, but I haven’t actually recorded much detail of my time in the city. I guess that’s because I spend most of my time chained to my desk or hanging out with family.

But yesterday I experienced some urban drama…

I live in the heart of Townsville, which is a growing city, getting busier and more beautiful every day. I have a coffee shop (great takeaway cappuccinos) across the road and a supermarket three hundred metres up the street. In the style of many inner city dwellers, I shop almost every day, just taking one bag and getting what I need in small batches. Apart from my early morning walk, it’s about the only exercise I get – a pleasant enough diversion.

Yesterday afternoon, we were planning for a family barbecue on the rooftop of our apartment block. Elliot had been out to buy beautiful fish and seafood to barbecue and it was my job to get the salad ingredients, plus grapes and chocolate for dessert.

Mission accomplished, I was walking back down the street, my mind in another country (thinking about my WIP). I was aware of a shadow behind me and I assumed the person would pass me, but no…

Without warning, my purse was snatched from my hand.

I confess, I screamed. Passers-by in the peak hour traffic saw what happened. I knew I didn’t have a hope of catching the tall, young male who was racing away in the opposite direction with my purse. And, of course, I thought immediately of all those cards I would have to replace – license, Visa Card, Medicare etc. Not the $50, which was what he wanted.

But those thoughts came and went in a flash. Two young men from Coles were already racing after the robber. A man told me that his wife’s handbag had been stolen by the same fellow an hour earlier. People jumped out of cars to offer witness statements. And two young police officers arrived (one male and one female.)

Long story short, I was very lucky. The guy was caught, I got my purse back. I thanked the young men from Coles who chased him. I gave the police the information they wanted and thanked them. The young man was arrested and driven away in a paddy wagon.

So then afterwards... I was left with a few things to think about. First, it was pointed out very gently by well meaning bystanders that I was partly to blame because I'd been holding my purse so casually in my hand, rather than tucking it away in my shopping bag. So yeah, a measure of guilt set in. And from there, it wasn’t such a great leap of the imagination to understand how other victims can be made to feel guilty, almost as if they invited the crime committed against them – especially women who are raped.

But I felt a degree of compassion for the perpetrator, too. I wondered about the young man. What had driven him to such a desperate act in broad daylight and in peak hour traffic? Two hundred years ago, our ancestors were sent to this country for something as trifling as stealing a loaf of bread.

I know what he did was wrong. Very wrong. And he might be a hardened criminal. And I know justice must be seen to be done…

But I felt sick watching that paddy wagon drive away.

Another Celebration!

Congratulations to Kate Hardy who has won the U.K. Romance Novelists Association's annual Romance Prize. Kate, who also writes wonderful Medical Romances, won this prize for her Modern Heat novel, Breakfast at Giovanni's. Isn't that a cool title?
If I understand correctly, Kate received the award at a slap up lunch in London yesterday and she will now be able to proudly display the Betty Neels Rosebowl on her mantlepiece for a year.
And how lovely for Kate to be winning this highly prized award during Mills and Boon's centenary year. There's another fancy cocktail party in London this month to celebrate the centenary. And of course Mills and Boon books are garnering more than usual attention from the British Press -- some good, some not so great -- and much of it filtering through to the Australian press.
As you can guess some of the email loops are also jumping and buzzing as people express their reactions to some of the less complimentary remarks directed at M&B.

I have always suspected that the reason M&B has earned its questionable reputation is because it's rather like Hollywood -- commercially successful and so very well known.
Ergo... everyone feels entitled to leap to assumptions.
I've been guilty of remarking at times that a film was "too Hollywood" (meaning too formulaic), or had a "typically Hollywood ending" (too over the top warm and fuzzy).
I love all kinds of movies from Art House foreign films to B grade movies
made in Hollywood. And I must confess that I make such generalised comments
even though I know that many Hollywood movies are unique and restrained and
groundbreaking and beautiful.
When an art form is deliberately commercial (everyone knows the pressure of
the box office) and the products are deliberately packaged as being all the
same (who can tell one M&B from another by the cover?) and the product is
portrayed as being mostly about sex, the general public (and the press) are bound to make
assumptions.
I think we just have to live with this. I'd love to see different titles and
different covers on our books, but I wouldn't like it if the sales dropped
off and I can only presume that the marketing people know what they're doing
when they package M&B the way they do.
What do you think?

My 25th Book!!!

I guess it's a measure of how distracted by life and family I've been that I haven't mentioned my cause for celebration. The Bridesmaid's Best Man, which was on sale on the UK and North America last month and is on sale in Australia and New Zealand this month, is my 25th book!!!!

Last year when I was in Sydney, London editor Sheila Hodgson presented me with a lovely pin to acknowledge this and now, belatedly, I'm planning a competition to celebrate.

You can either post here that you'd like to enter, or if that's a bit daunting, you can send me an email to barb n elliot @ bigpond.com (no spaces). Put BRIDESMAID in the subject and you can be in the draw to win a signed copy of this latest release or another book from my backlist (Because you've already rushed out and bought Bridesmaid, haven't you?)

I've had some nice feedback about Sophie and Mark's story. I hope you enjoy it, too.



P.S. I hope placing this address like that won't bring me endless spam. If I notice a problem, I'm afraid I'll have to think of something else. I'm totally inundated with spam from my website's email address and I'm sure I've missed some mail from readers. Sorry if you were one of them.