One perfect day...

Saturday, May 15th... Ben and Jade... here's wishing them happy ever after. Beautiful couple in a beautiful setting...

My mum, my sisters and me...

Back in town...

We're back in Townsville. Packing up and cleaning before leaving Tarzali and then driving for 4 hours is a bit of a saga, so we always reward ourselves with dinner at out favourite Thai. Tomorrow we're flying south for a family wedding. Not one of mine -- a nephew -- and that will be really nice. I'll get to see my daughters again, and my mum and my sisters, and my other grandies and so many others. I'm getting excited. Granddaughter Lucy can tell me all about her audition for Junior Master Chef.

Hope you have something nice planned for your weekend too.

Now... my task for this morning is to calm down and to write. Disciplined R Us.

Happy Mother's Day...

I hope you're having a lovely day either being a mum or remembering your mum.

I've had a quiet but productive day that's included:

1)writing -- I have at last got my hero and heroine on the page together. Often I try to start with them together early, preferably on the first page, the first paragrah, even the first sentence... but this story called for something different. I'm happy now they're in the same room though. Let the new tension begin!!!!

2) 4 lovely phone calls -- one from each "child," all in distant parts.

3) planting sage and escahllots in the herb garden

4) starting to paint our bedroom (which won't be our bedroom after the extensions which are due to start in a month or so). Here's a before shot, and you can see the room is very dark and log cabin-y. It has its own kind of cosy charm, I guess, but we're now committed to painting the whole inside of our cottage white (or rather off white). We're in love with the results so far. The place feels bigger, brighter, cleaner and more like a country cottage than a log cabin. I promise to show after photos, but don't hold your breath. This painting business can't be hurried.

OK, I'm off to wash my hair and have a cuppa with my neighbour.

Sunshine and a first...

We had sunshine all day yesterday and it's sunny again today!!! And would you believe I came down with a streaming cold? As Ned Kelly said, "Such is life."

I've also had news that my 35th book has been accepted and it's going to be called Molly Cooper's Dream Date.

I rather like that. I've always wanted a title that included a character's name. The title has a chick -lit feel, which is understandable as the book is going to be part of the Romance line's Fun Factor mini series. The first book in that series was Jessica Hart's Oh, So Sensible Secretary which I adored. Her story was so light and full of humour, but perfectly crafted while delivering a touching, heart-warming romance.

My book is about a London banker and a girl from Magnetic Island who swap houses and almost the whole story is told through emails and diary entries. (I was going to call it Your Place or Mine? :) ) I had so much fun writing it. It was such a shot in the arm to try something completely different. Of course, it won't be out for ages yet, so I'll tell you more closer to the publication date.

What's out in May?

This month Executive: Expecting Tiny Twins goes on sale. Aren't those babies gorgeous? You could be forgiven for thinking that I was a little twin obsessed, but as I explain here, this story wasn't exactly my idea.

This is Book #2 in the Brides of Bella Rosa continuity, following Raye Morgan’s wonderful launch book Beauty and the Reclusive Prince. The Bella Rosa stories follow on from the previous series The Brides of Bella Lucia.

It’s the first time I’ve taken part in a continuity series and it’s quite a different writing experience. To begin with, the story lines and character details are all decided by a team of editors. Each contributing author is sent a “bible” with the whole set up explained as well as a family tree of all the characters and synopses for all six books plus pictures of the setting and main characters that appear in every book. While writing, the authors keep in touch each other to make sure the setting and story details remain accurate and in the right sequence.

For me, I found that writing a story that was given to me felt quite different from writing one that has emerged slowly out of the depths of my own consciousness. But I think it’s important to take on new challenges, and I’ve already had some positive feedback from a generous fellow author. I hope you enjoy Jack and Lizzie's story and I hope you like the whole series. I think it's interesting to see that the editors are really pushing boundaries in contemporary romance.

Here’s a sneak peek at the opening. It is, of course, a very familiar setting, similar to many of my books, because while pushing those boundaries, each author was still asked to write to her strengths.

Chapter One

She was wearing white, for crying out loud.

Jack Lewis grimaced as the elegant figure descended from the tiny plane while clouds of red dust slowly settled on the airstrip. The same red dust covered his ute, his riding boots, and practically everything else in the Outback, and yet Senator Elizabeth Green had chosen to arrive on Savannah cattle station dressed from head to toe in blinding, laundry commercial white.

Her elegant sandals were white, her crisply ironed trousers, her matching linen top and even her floppy brimmed hat. The only non-white items were her accessories – swanky dark glasses and a pale green leather shoulder bag that clearly held a laptop.

Where did she think she’d flown to? The flaming Italian Riviera?

Jack muttered a soft oath, audible only to Cobber, the cattle dog at his heels. ‘I suppose we’d better go and say g’day.’

Shrugging off an uncomfortable sense of martyrdom, Jack set out across the stretch of dirt, moving with a deliberately easy amble, his faithful dog close behind him.

He was mad with himself for allowing his boss, an eighty year old widow, to bully him into hosting this visitor. Kate Burton regularly tested Jack’s patience by directing her business via long distance phone calls from her top-price-tag retirement home in Melbourne.

‘I owe Lizzie a favour,’ Kate had told him breezily. ‘She won’t be any trouble, Jack. She just wants to rest up and take in the country air, and she needs to retreat from the public eye for a spell. You understand, don’t you?’

You can read more on my website.

A special weekend...

We've had another lovely long weekend with visitors. Last weekend friends, this weekend family. It's still (yes, I'm not exaggerating STILL) raining (worst wet season ever for FNQ) but we were cosy indoors with the fire going.

Milla and Sophie enjoyed watching the misty rain on the hills from the verandah. Don't babies always look scrumptious when they're just bathed and in pjs and ready for bed?

Lilly (the twins' big sister) and I managed to use a little patch of sunshine to tidy up the herb garden. Lilly was v handy with scissors and trowel.

And Lilly and I had a nightly sparkler ritual that was great fun.

I cooked up our family favourites -- bacon and macaroni casserole for the children; caramel rum pie for the adults. But the best meal was when my son Richard (a former chef) helped me make a fabulous ricotta gnocchi with pumpkin and blue cheese from a recipe in this month's Country Style magazine. It. Was. Truly. Divine. Rush out and buy a copy if you live in Oz. I only hope I can reproduce it on my own.

Back to writing tomorrow. Promise.

guineas going for a gander...

We've been keeping the guineas in their cage after one sad mishap with a currawong, but now that they are bigger and able to fly really well, we've started letting them out in the late afternoon under supervision for their green pick.

Dad is very fatherly and watchful and this afternoon a currawong sounded nearby. After one signal from Dad (undetected by us ) the entire flock froze... and froze... and froze... Honestly, we have five photos of them all in exactly the same position.

I know people who have a lot to do with animals and birds will not be the slightest bit surprised, but I can't help marvelling at little but fascinating details like this.

After this, one teenage guinea flew off for an adventure of his own, but then came home to roost. In fact, we think they're big enough and clever enough now to roam free.

It's all in the nose??

Did anyone watch QI last night? (This is a BBC TV show, but I'm talking about the Australian screening on Tuesday nights at 9.30.)

I'm rather addicted to it. It's rather like having a dinner party with very, very clever guests.
Anyway last night I learned that, apparently, we breathe through alternate nostrils -- on an approximately four hourly rotation. When we breathe through one side our visual and spatial functions are enhanced and when we breathe through the other our verbal capacity
increases.

Which might explain why many writers have zones when writing flows quite well
and others when it's like wringing blood from a stone.

This was a bit of a light bulb for me as I had surgery on the outside of my nose a few years ago that caused inside cartilage in my right nostril to collapse. There are times when I can't sleep on my left side, because my right nostril is blocked -- and times when it seems to be OK. Now
I might know why. :)

Now if I can just use that to work out which nostril is working when, I'll know when to get cracking at the keyboard.

I did start a new book yesterday (at last). I'm really looking forward to it, but yesterday was a blood out of stone day. Beginnings can be so tricky. You have to work out exactly where to start and how to grab the reader's attention and how much to tell about the characters and what kind of mood you want to establish, and what kind of world you want to paint, and what's important to know straight up, and...

My wordcount yesterday was dismal, but I know this happens with every book, so I'll stop complaining and just get on with it.

If you're interested, this is what the QI website says about the show.

Quite Interesting - or 'QI' to its friends - could loosely be described as a comedy panel quiz. However, none of the stellar line-up of comedians is expected to be able to answer any questions, and if anyone ends up with a positive score, they can be very happy with their performance. Points are awarded for being interesting or funny (and, very occasionally, right) but points are deducted for answers which merely repeat common misconceptions and urban myth. (Alan Davies has turned this aspect of the game into somewhat of an artform.) It's okay to be wrong, but don't be obviously, boringly wrong. In this way, QI tries to rid the world of the flotsam of nonsense and old wives' tales that can build up in your mind. QI not only makes us look more closely at things, it encourages us to question all the received wisdom we have carried with us since childhood. Think of the program as a humorous cranial de-scaler.

Writing about emotion...

One of the most important ingredients in a romance novel (in any fiction really) is emotion. And one of the reasons people like reading fiction is that they can feel all kinds of emotions without suffering any of the consequences.
In fiction we try to reproduce the emotional impact of an experience. Our narrative comes alive and is made vivid and moving through significant detail. As every liar knows, details and colour make a story sound true.
‘I’m sure I paid that bill. I remember the guy standing in front of me in the line was wearing a vest and he kept on yapping about his granddaughters.’

(It's convincing, isn't it? How can he not have paid the bill when he remembers so much??)

Emotion is usually experienced as a physical reaction, so if you simply write, “she was afraid’, you will keep the reader at a dispassionate distance. However, if you give physical details --

e.g. Her heart was pumping so hard it felt too big for her chest.
Her fingers were too weak to dial the phone.
you allow the reader to share the experience.

So... in the interests of showing emotion rather than telling, I started making a file some years ago, so that I didn't always fall back on the same old ways of describing these emotions and their accompanying sensations. I made notes from a library book on body language (I'm afraid I’ve forgotten title and author).

This year, at our retreat in Sydney my writer friends and I took this a step further. We took four emotions (anger, fear, attraction and joy) and we made two lists. On one side we listed the (external) physical signs that show a character experiencing an emotion (clenching fists, slumped shoulders etc) and in the other column we listed the (internal) physical sensations that the point of view character might be experiencing (sick in the stomach, lightning in veins etc).

At our most recent North Queensland romance writers gathering, we extended this list further and added sorrow. We also added more details to the lists I already had (without looking at the earlier contributions first) and we had a lot of fun. Better still, we now have a resource that helps us find the best way to describe how a character might be feeling or behaving at certain times in our stories. (Great minds and all that.)

It's worth trying in a group if you're lucky enough to have writing friends close by. We all learned heaps and we're inspired to be more original and precise in our writing.

The fabulous resource that inspired this exercise for me was Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway.

A between books hiatus...

I'm still painting.

As my sister commented in an email, it is rewarding because you do see immediate results (although that first undercoat always looks a bit grim.) We're in the dining room now... and... on the writing front, I'm waiting to hear what my editor thinks of my new ideas. Very soon I'll have to dive into a new book.

Yesterday, I made a Tessa Kiros recipe -- honey cake with chopped rosemary in it and lemon icing with rosemary flowers scattered over the top. It's ages since I've made icing, however, and it was a bit runny, so I've had to borrow someone else's photo. Mine looked almost like that, but you could see the brown cake through the icing. In painting terms, it looked like a first layer of undercoat. :)

Honey cake sounds rather romantic and Winnie the Pooh-ish, doesn't it? And it is rather yummy, so once I've perfected it, I'll pass on Tess K's recipe.

A wander at dusk...

I think I love this place best in the late afternoons when the hills are shadowed and velvety and the sun sheds a special light before it finally disappears. On a stroll two evenings ago, we enjoyed these sights...

Our pumpkin haul...

Native violets... (scattered with grass thrown by the ride on mower)Our cutting. It's an old railway track and it forms the main drive into our place., and as we follow it, we see lots of...Tree ferns...

If we gave this place a name, I think it might have to be Tree Fern Cottage, although I don't think it's quite right as we've never gone ahead and named it. Funny thing -- I have all sorts of fun naming places in my books, but I can't quite get it right in real life.

I tried to take a pic of our guineas roosting. They look so cute, all six of them lined up on a branch in their pen, but if I get close enough to take a decent pic, they fly down looking for food.

Autumn in the countryside

'Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness' is how the poet Keats described autumn, and even though we live in the tropics and don't get the lovely colour changes of more temperate climes, we do (on the Tablelands) have the mist...

... and mellow fruitfulness... this year, in the form of macadamia nuts

and pumpkins.

I know pumpkins are only baked into sweet pies in some parts of the world, or they're called something different. We have an abundance this year and so there'll be lots of pumpkin soup. Here's a fabulous recipe from Jamie Oliver, perfect for a cold night.

Pumpkin Soup with Coconut, Chilli and Curry Spices

Ingredients Makes 3 - 4 portions

1 average sized organic Hokkaido pumpkin,cut into chunks (deseed but don't peel)

1 large potato, cut into chunks

1 medium onion, sliced

750ml chicken or vegetable stock

200ml coconut milk

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 heaped tsps of curry powder (or curry paste)

1 - 2 small red chillies, sliced

A little olive oil

Croutons to serve

Method

1. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and gently fry the onions, chilli and garlic till soft.

2. Add the pumpkin and potatoes to the pan and sprinkle with the curry powder. Fry gently for just a minute or so.

3. Pour in the coconut milk and stock, cover, then simmer gently till potatoes & pumpkin are cooked (mine took about 10 mins).

4. Allow the soup to cool down a little then pour into a blender and blend at high speed till smooth and creamy.

5. Reheat a little if necessary and serve with some fresh croutons which have been fried in a little olive oil and butter and sprinkled with herb salt.

I know I've been a slack blogger...

I blame the work in progress... yes, the painting that never ends. (That's undercoat. The room looks much nicer now, I promise)

and I blame the nonstop rain,

but at least I've handed in my revisions.

Happy Easter

I hope you're having a very happy weekend. Ours is happy enough, although it's still raining outside and we're still painting inside, (and E's not well). I can't show you our progress 'cos I left my photo converter USB in Townsville and I can't get another one till the shops open.

Meanwhile, there's plenty of chocolate -- in our case, chocolate Lindt bunnies. And aren't these painted eggs beautiful?

Off to cook bacon and eggs for breakfast.

The Road...

At my son's insistence, I've just read Pulitzer Prize winner, The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It's a very grim end of the world story and I guess you couldn't find a book more different from a Mills and Boon, but I have very eclectic reading tastes, and I do love beautiful prose, which this book has in spades, despite its disturbing subject matter.

Richard had told me ages ago that he thought the last paragraph of this book was one of the finest passages he'd ever read, so that certainly kept me turning the pages.

But in truth, I found myself hooked from the start, reading with a kind of fascinated awe, applauding the heroic characters (father and young son) and desperate to see what would happen next and how the book could possibly end.

As one of my writer friends said: "I couldn't put it down. I wished I'd never picked it up."

I asked myself why people want to write and read books like this. Why choose gloom when there are so many feel good stories? I wondered if perhaps reading a dark book makes our return to the real world all the happier. Perhaps we're filled with gratitude that we're better off than the characters in the books. Another son (Andrew) told me that studies have shown that people who listen to heavy metal rock (noted for its dark and morbid themes) are actually surprisingly happy (i.e. happier than most) in their real lives.

On the other hand, some feel good fantasies might leave us feeling envious of the characters and dissatisfied with our lot. As a child, I'd emerge from an exciting Enid Blyton and feel very jaded about my boring little life in suburbia. It didn't stop me reaching for another, of course.

The Road did remind why some of the best romances take their characters to very dark places before they achieve their happy endings. As adults, I guess we choose books to suit our mood. I know that our little romances have helped many people in times when their lives have been particularly dark. One reader told me she read my books after 9/11 to help her calm down. Another read them beside her husband's hospital bed.

Anyway, on I read, travelling down the road with these unnamed characters... and I found the ending surprisingly uplifting. I haven't read any discussions of this book, but to me it seemed like a metaphor for our lives... we trudge on, often burdened by trouble and hardship, doubt and fear, but if we keep the faith and hang on to our code of ethics we find that even the worst that happens can still bring relief and reason to hope. I don't think I want to see the movie of The Road, where the awfulness of the post apocalyptic world will be blown up into huge graphic images, (even though I was very impressed with the young boy actor when he starred in Romulus, My Father). But there's a most definite feeling of redemption in the book's ending. And yes, the last paragraph is a stunner.

Miscellaneous...

First of all, the above is evidence that we really have been painting at Tarzali. All the furniture is still piled in the middle of the room, and those walls used to be pale green with dark green trims. We're painting everything off white to open the whole place up and make it feel much bigger, and hopefully, to enhance the country cottage feel.

Back in Townsville, I went to the hairdresser yesterday, and yes, she found paint in my hair. But for those who were worried (thank you) I am writing again, adding some male viewpoint (at my editor's request) to my latest submission. I'm pleased to report that she's v happy with my first attempt at a romantic comedy. I'll tell you more about that soon.

On the way home from Tarzali, we called in at Innisfail's Feast of the Senses, where we lunched from paper cones filled with local seafood. The most popular stall was made up of huge trestle tables covered in vividly hued plies of lush tropical fruit. We brought home sugar bananas, late season mangoes (from Mareeba) and mangosteens, a fruit I hadn't tried before that's delicious -- a cross between a lychee and a lemon sorbet.

Now I just have to get as excited about my next story as I was about my last. I love the feeling of anticipation and "let's go!" that takes hold as a new idea gets its claws into me.

not a lot to report...

Instead of having an exciting time in Thailand, we're at Tarzali painting the inside of the house. Today we've painted the kitchen ceiling and we've undercoated one and a half walls. Exciting, huh?
Our saving grace? Audio books -- today a Minette Walker mystery. Where would our lives be without story tellers?

Surprise Discovery...

My first novella Charlotte's Choice was republished in 2007 as part of Mills & Boon's centenary celebrations. I never knew, so it just shows that an occasional wander through amazon.com can bring pleasant surprises. Sometimes.

I might order myself a copy.

Oh, and I'm back from Sydney. I escaped Cyclone Ului, but so did the rest of Townsville. Will tell more soon.

A trip to London...

If you'd like to dip into what it was like to be at this year's Romantic Novelist's Association's annual awards lunch in London, go over to Fiona Harper's blog.
Apart from seeing a pair of mega-glamorous red shoes owned by Penny Jordan and modelled by my editor, Meg Lewis, you'll find out about some lovely new books. (Avert your eyes to the reference to eating guinea fowl.) I'm off to The Book Depository next. I especially like the sound of the winning book Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by Lucy Dillon, as well as The Nearly Weds by Jane Costello.
When the abandoned strays from a local dogs' home are matched with brand new owners, it turns out it might not just be the dogs who need rescuing. Rachel's aunt has left her a house, a Border Collie and, despite knowing nothing about dogs, crowded kennels. But since her life has collapsed she's not sure she can deal with any more lost souls.
Zoe's ex-husband has given their children a puppy. The kids are in love, but she's the one stuck training Toffee the impossible Labrador. She's nearly at the end of her tether -- until Toffee leads her to a handsome doctor...
Meanwhile Natalie and Johnny's marriage hasn't been easy since they started trying for a baby. But is a fridge-raiding, sofa-stealing Basset hound like Bertie really the child substitute they're looking for? As the new owners' paths cross on the town's dog-walking circuits, their lives become interwoven. And they -- and their dogs -- learn some important lessons about loyalty, companionship and unconditional love ...

a mixed bag of a week...

It's been a busy week... I had a birthday last week, which involved a certain amount of celebrating. Plus... I had a deadline. Book sent off last night. Fingers crossed as it's a total experiment.

But also, last week, our little twins ended up in hospital with pneumonia. I'm pleased to report that they're well on the way to recovery now.

Oh, and also... E and I were were planning a trip to Thailand, leaving next weekend. We were going to a cooking school in Chiang Mai and I was planning to set a book there (of course), but we've cancelled it because of all the political unrest and demonstrations and terrorist threats etc.

So now I have to dream up a new idea for a book...

I'm doing that in Sydney at gorgeous Coogee.

This sounds so interesting... to me...

Sometimes I like being intrigued by a book for a while before I actually dive in and buy it. A book that's been calling to me lately is Devotion by Dani Shapiro.

Shapiro's newest memoir, a mid-life exploration of spirituality begins with her son's difficult questions-about God, mortality and the afterlife-and Shapiro's realization that her answers are lacking, long-avoided in favor of everyday concerns. Determined to find a more satisfying set of answers, the author seeks out the help of a yogi, a Buddhist and a rabbi, and comes away with, if not the answers to life and what comes after, an insightful and penetrating memoir that readers will instantly identify with. Shapiro's ambivalent relationship with her family, her Jewish heritage and her secularity are as universal as they are personal, and she exposes familiar but hard-to-discuss doubts to real effect: she's neither showboating nor seeking pat answers, but using honest self-reflection to provoke herself and her readers into taking stock of their own spiritual inventory. Absorbing, intimate, direct and profound, Shapiro's memoir is a satisfying journey that will touch fans and win her plenty of new ones.

Here's what people are saying about it.
"Courageous, authentic and funny, Devotion is Shapiro’s exploration of her own relationship with faith."
— BookPage

"Shapiro’s journey is a deeply reflective one, and her struggles are as complex as they are insightful, philosophical, and universally human."
— Booklist

What makes Devotion most compelling is its willingness to explore the elusiveness of certainty.
—Time Magazine

"I was immensely moved by this elegant book, which reminded me all over again that all of us – at some point or another – must buck up our courage and face down the big spiritual questions of life, death, love, loss and surrender. Dani Shapiro probes all those questions gracefully and honestly, avoiding overly simple conclusions, while steadfastly exploring her own complicated relationship to faith and doubt."
– Elizabeth Gilbert , author of Eat, Pray, Love

And here's Dani's very cool question and answer set up.

Debut Australian author

I've just been "down the hill" to a fun night in Cairns for the fabulous launch of Helene Young's exciting, debut book 'Border Watch' published by Hachette, Australia. This was held in Glaskins Gallery at Trinity Beach, which was beautiful, a perfect venue for a book launch. (Well chosen, Helene!)
Of course this gathering also involved meeting up with other Far North Queensland writers, which is always terrific, and we went out for dinner after the launch for a proper catch-up.
Here's Helene, making her gracious launch speech to huge applause.


Far North writers: Christine Barker and Shannean Moncrieff from Cairns and Noreen Allen from Ravenshoe. And below, I'm with Becca Quinn from Mareeba.

Helene had plenty of Cairns' supporters.

And this is the beautiful view behind us as we head back to the Tablelands.

Now back to my looming deadline.

Writing rules...

One thing I've learned about writing: there are no rules. Every writer has to work out what's the best writing regime or way to plot or to write dialogue, or whatever. Nevertheless, aspiring writers are always looking for information about how other writers "do it" and the UK's Guardian has listed rules from an interesting range of famous writers.

These rules (below) are from Hilary Mantel, winner of the Man Booker prize for her historical novel Wolf Hall (which I haven't read yet, but have heard people raving about), and her thoughts really struck a chord with me. I especially liked: Write the book you'd like to read. (Although I have to admit I'd be writing single title if I followed that suggestion to the letter). Hmmm... food for thought.

You can read the other writers' rules here.

Hilary Mantel
1 Are you serious about this? Then get an accountant.

2 Read Becoming a Writer, by Dorothea Brande. Then do what it says, including the tasks you think are impossible. You will particularly hate the advice to write first thing in the morning, but if you can manage it, it might well be the best thing you ever do for yourself. This book is about becoming a writer from the inside out. Many later advice manuals derive from it. You don't ­really need any others, though if you want to boost your confidence, "how to" books seldom do any harm. You can kick-start a whole book with some little writing exercise.


3 Write a book you'd like to read. If you wouldn't read it, why would anybody else? Don't write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book's ready.


4 If you have a good story idea, don't assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible.


5 Be aware that anything that appears before "Chapter One" may be skipped. Don't put your vital clue there.


6 First paragraphs can often be struck out. Are you performing a haka, or just shuffling your feet?


7 Concentrate your narrative energy on the point of change. This is especially important for historical fiction. When your character is new to a place, or things alter around them, that's the point to step back and fill in the details of their world. People don't notice their everyday surroundings and daily routine, so when writers describe them it can sound as if they're trying too hard to instruct the reader.


8 Description must work for its place. It can't be simply ornamental. It ­usually works best if it has a human element; it is more effective if it comes from an implied viewpoint, rather than from the eye of God. If description is coloured by the viewpoint of the character who is doing the noticing, it becomes, in effect, part of character definition and part of the action.


9 If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to ­music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don't just stick there scowling at the problem. But don't make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people's words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient.


10 Be ready for anything. Each new story has different demands and may throw up reasons to break these and all other rules. Except number one: you can't give your soul to literature if you're thinking about income tax.

dessert post mortem...

Following on from my last post...

The first two courses of our dinner party weren't quite as rich as I expected. They were an experiment with venison, you see, which none of us had eaten before. I think I could have actually gone for a creamier, richer dessert, (like my family's favourite -- caramel rum pie) but then, I'm a terribly harsh self-critic. You should see me worrying for days and nights on end after I've given a workshop.

Anyhow... I think this dessert would be perfect for lunch, especially in summer.

You make the jelly by boiling half a 375 ml bottle of dessert wine (Noble One is the best, but there are other cheaper options), then adding the rest of the bottle and three leaves of gelatine (that have been soaked in cold water) or half a sachet of gelatine softened in a little cold water. I always add a dash of extra gelatine just to make sure it sets.

When this is served, you top it with balls of watermelon, rockmelon and honeydew and then pile on shavings of a watermelon granita. The granita is made by blending half a diced watermelon with 60 mls of sugar and 60mls of vodka, passing it through a coarse sieve and setting it in a tray in the freezer overnight. When serving, you use a fork to scrape the grantita so it looks like piles of fluffy pink snow. I couldn't photograph the finished effort because it's assembled at the last minute, but I can show this hasty shot of the jellies lined up and ready in the fridge.

Speaking of food, my editor commented that she loved all the foodie references in The Cattleman's Adopted Family, which is now on sale in the UK and NA and online in Australia. Here's what the new Australian cover looks like. I rather like it, even though you need a magnifying glass to find my name.

Another rainy Saturday...

If you're a fan of Harlequin romance, you're bound to love Liz Fielding's books. There a free read of Liz's The Cinderella Valentine. Check it out here.



At our place we're having a posh dinner party tonight, so I've been busy ironing napkins and polishing silver and trying out dessert recipes. (Dessert is my responsibility). As the first two courses are rich, I'm going for something light -- a jelly made with dessert wine, plus melon balls and watermelon granita. I'll let you know if it's a success. Fingers crossed.

Housebound...

I'm having a very quiet few days -- with the the flu -- so am writing in bed which is not nearly as comfortable as it sounds. Now, at least I have medication so my nose is not continually dripping onto the keyboard. Isn't that a lovely image for a romance writer?
Meanwhile, in our second bathroom, we have a delivery ward. One little chick burst out of his shell yesterday -- very strong and noisy and demanding. Another little peeper is taking things more slowly, one gentle peck at a time. Dr. E is in seventh heaven.

What I've been watching...

Elliot's away for the weekend and last night I took myself off to watch Valentine's Day, which I found very entertaining -- although of course I'm always analysing plots and thinking about my current work when I watch those kinds of films.

Also this week, I've borrowed a set of DVDs from the library -- Before Sunrise and Before Sunset -- (starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy) and these films I absolutely loved. They were about a young couple who meet on a train and spend a night exploring Vienna together, sharing hopes, fears, dreams.

The second movie is set in Paris nine years later, (and the actors were actually nine years older) when they meet again and have only a very short time to catch up and... make choices.

Anyone familiar with my books will know how much I love reunion stories, and you can imagine how these movies -- dialogue rich, with minimalist plots and fabulous acting -- had me enthralled. Keep an eye out for them if you haven't seen them.

Also on a different note, if you're wondering about the whole to have or not to have an agent issue, you might find this Novelists' Inc blog post very informative.

These made me laugh out loud...

Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternative meanings for common words.The winners are:
1. *Coffee* (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
2. *Flabbergasted* (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3. *Abdicate* (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. *Esplanade* (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. *Willy-nilly* (adj.), impotent.
6. *Negligent* (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. *Lymph* (v.), to walk with a lisp.
8. *Gargoyle* (n), olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. *Flatulence* (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
10. *Balderdash* (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
11. *Testicle* (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
12. *Rectitude* (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. *Pokemon* (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. *Oyster* (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. *Frisbeetarianism* (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. *Circumvent* (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.

in town again...

We're back in town with a box of incubating eggs and a baby chick taking up residence under lamplight in our spare bedroom. (Don't tell our caretaker.)

All the time we were away I was feeling smug about not using any air conditioning and mentally giving us ticks for all the electricity we were saving...

Until we stepped inside the apartment and saw the place covered in grey mould. It's been a BIG wet season. (Remember, I was boasting about loving the rain a few weeks back?)

I wasn't quite so chirpy about dampness when I was whipping out the Domestos and getting to work, after tidying up at Tarzali earlier that day and a four hour car journey.

But now the apartment is lovely and clean (probably cleaner than it's been for a while) and I have vanilla scented candles. And air conditioning! And last night we had our three little granddaughters and their parents over for dinner. I cooked my son's childhood favourite, chicken stuffed with brown rice and drizzled with honey and we had pancakes for dessert as it was Shrove Tuesday. Lilly told us about the boy at kindy who kissed her and spat on her, while Milla and Sophie had a fine time banging saucepan lids on the floor tiles. Pity the poor people in the flat below us. But they were so good, really.

So this back and forth lifestyle means there's always a constant adjustment to be made, but at least life isn't dull.

It takes me a couple of days to pick up the thread in my writing again. Let's hope it happens today.

Some good advice...

An Australian romance writer has recently sold her first book to Carina Press the new e-publishing arm of Harlequin. This is a great opportunity for aspiring writers and the Carina editors have posted some very helpful info on their blog listing the top reasons a manuscript is rejected.

Whether you're targeting e-publishing or paper print, check it out. Even if you've heard it all before, it's always helpful to be reminded about what mistakes editors dislike and what to avoid.

about to lose power.....

Our power is off today from 9 am till 2 pm. This happens just a little too regularly -- one of the untold joys of country life. As our tanks are primed by an electric pump it means we don't even have water. We're off to Atherton to shop. It's E's birthday and we're having a little dinner party on Friday night, so we may as well get out of the house and buy things now. (Just as well I got up 5 am to start writing this morning.!)

I'm going to lose battery power any sec, but before I dash off -- I want to show you a couple of pics. First, this gorgeous bird house which was our daughter Vicki's Christmas present (It's so fab to have grownup children who buy you cool things).

And also here's our guinea chick -- now ten days old and growing wing feathers. Too cute.

there's one in every holiday snap...

My sister sent me this and I had to giggle. Hope you had a happy birthday, Marg.

Thought for the day...

To understand something you have to love it, because understanding is never a completely disengaged stance but springs from inspiration. (Mark Vernon, English philosopher)

OK, that's a bit deep for a Monday morning -- but it's also very true, especially in regard to writing romance. A lot of people scoff at romance, but they still try to write it because it sells and it's got to be easy, hasn't it?

But unless they love the genre, unless they truly get what it is about romance that so many people love, unless reading it fires up their imaginations, they are not going to be able to reproduce it. So... too often they go back to knocking it.

Great writing advice...

I stumbled across this bit of writing advice last year and it's one that I loved immediately and it's also one piece of advice from the many I've read that's stayed with me.

So I thought I'd pass it on...

One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. ...Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.

-- Annie Dillard from The Writing Life

around the world in February

The Bridesmaid's Baby is in Italy. (Lucy McKenty and Will Carruthers' story.)

The Blind Date Surprise is in Spain. That's the second book in my Southern Cross trilogy, and the characters are Annie McKinnon and Theo Grainger.

And Blind Date with the Boss with Sally Finch and Logan Black is in the Scandanavian countries Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.

Happy travels, my old friends!!