It's school holidays...

and I have all my grandchildren here... so will probably not be here very on blogger often...

This is a pic of Lilly hero-worshipping big boy cousin, Tom. Or perhaps she's just in love with his iphone.

Catch up...

I was sequestered away in a rainforest cabin on the weekend while E had a boys' weekend at Tarzali, (this mostly involves complicated barbecuing of expensive meats). Of course, I was supposed to be writing madly -- and I made fairly good progress, but it was verra cold and dark in the rainforest.  At least I had my dressing gown and slippers.

And I went for a lovely, revitalising walk around the beautiful Lake Eacham. I could not get internet and mobile reception, so I was a tiny bit lonely, but I had a companion in the form of a rifle bird. The brochure said I could put fruit on my veranda railing for the birds, so I shared my apples with them. Mostly with this guy.

This one particular bird -- a Victoria's rifle bird, was very daring and got quite bossy after a while. He'd come and tap on my window where he could see my fruit bowl, letting me know he wanted more, and he'd put his wings up and look quite ferocious when he wanted to frighten other birds away from the food.

As far as my writing's concerned I found when I sat down to write this story (telling myself that I had to hurry) I hit a brick wall. Why? Because I didn't really know my characters and I'd been busy and hadn't had the usual thinking, dreaming musing time leading into writing this book.

So I decided to take another tack with it -- I've been outlining. As soon as I gave myself permission not to write the story, but outline instead, I relaxed and started writing madly. (Which I found rather interesting) So I now have eleven scenes outlined with snippets of dilaogue and little details about my characters' pasts etc. What I think I've actually been doing is "dreaming" on paper. Visualising the unfolding of my story but recording it as well, so that I at least have words on the page.

It's true that no two books ever emerge by the same process (even though we think we have a set routine). We have to keep adjusting our processes to meet the circumstances and context in which we're writing. I'm really glad I have this outline down now and I'm underway with writing the actual story as next week I'll have all five grandchildren here (plus their mothers, thank heavens) and then the other family members will arrive for a Christmas in July style gathering. Should be crowded (14) and fun!

But I'll need my writing outline to get me back on track when it's all over. Wish me luck.

eBooks...

As we're all aware, the publishing world is in the midst of huge change at the moment. I still don't have an ereader, but I'm sure I'll get one in the not too distant future and I can't get on a plane these days without seeing several people using them.

It's very sad to see favourite bookshops closing, but at the same time, I think the news is nearly all good for writers and readers. Books that were only available in rare secondhand stores before are now getting a new lease of life as ebooks.

This morning, I just discovered that my very first book, Outback Wife and Mother (back then, I was in the foetal position for days when they gave me that title -:) first published in 1999, is available as a NookBook.

It's actually rather exciting...

Can you tell an author's sex?

In an interview at the Royal Geographic Society this week, VS Naipaul (winner of a Nobel Prize for literature) provoked fury by suggesting that women writers are 'sentimental' and 'unequal to me'. He also claimed that 'I read a piece of writing and within a paragraph or two I know whether it is by a woman or not.'

Can you? To prove a possible point  this quiz was created. Why not try it?
 
I got 7 out of 10, so I'm not up to Naipaul's standard. The quiz includes a passage of writing by Naipaul as well as an excerpt from a Harlequin novel.
 
 

Meet Lucia and Sparkles...

Our newest members of the family were christened by Lilly (long distance). I did try -- really -- to give them ham and bacon type names, but as soon as Lilly came up with Lucia and Sparkles, the new names stuck. No option.

This is Sparkles doing a Babe impersonation. On friend's advice we put the hose in their pen to give them mud, which they promptly wallowed in.

And this is Lucia (the fatter one) asleep in the hay.

I can't believe I'm in love with pigs.

Never cease to wonder...

What's more beautiful than morning dew on a perfect spider's web?

One daughter's artistry...

Newly engaged daughter, Vicki, (see how smoothly I slipped that exciting news in?) visited us overnight, as she's up this way for her work. It was especially lovely as she woke up here on her birthday morning, yet she'll be home in Brisbane with Matt tonight.

While she was here, she took a wander with her iphone and snapped a few pics. Above is a jug of tree daisies, a gorgeous plant from my mum's garden that I've managed to grow here.

Next is the newest addition to our "farm". Two gorgeous little pigs, which I know I must think of as future dinner, but at the moment I can't resist feeding them granny smith apples.

Our view -- always so peaceful.

And the last touch of autumn. It's been a lovely, family orientated week, as last weekend we were in Brisbane for my mum's 85th birthday. Grandkids, Tom and Lucy, played us a concert on piano and cello as they've just completed their music exams and still had their pieces up to scratch. So clever! Matt cooked us amazing meals.
But now I have a book to write by the end of July!!!
Head down, fingers on keyboard...ready, set, go!

NQ Roadshow...

Phew... it's been a big week, but I'm pleased to report that our Roadshow was deemed a fabulous success by all involved. I couldn't begin to give a blow by blow account of the workshops, so instead let me show you pics. First -- the wonderful table of prizes organized by our group's fabulous members Shannean Moncrieff and Mervet Mcclintock. (the table is graced by a scarf I brought back from Italy. :)

 And here's a shot of the room. On the floor you can see the goody bags, again stuffed with fab surprises by Shannean and Mervet.

 Our speakers were the amazing Anne Gracie (left) and  brilliant Kelly Hunter (right, in those boots!!!) as well as our local stalents, Helene Young and myself.


Here's a shot of Helene with Bernadette Rowley from Townsville, who was our illustrious MC.

This is Shannean and her crew, who ran lucky seat prizes and a raffle that raised over $500 for the Royal Flying doctors.

And these serious faces show how thought provoking the speakers were. Havva Murat, our hard-working registrar is in blue in the middle.

And then, of course, after all the hard work, there was a dinner at night where Anne Gracie flirted with Helene's husband, Graham.

And here's our lovely, fabulous group --
Back row: Helene Young, me, Havva Murat, Alice Honsa, Shannean Moncrieff, Noreen Allan
Front Row: Beeca Quinn, Mervet McClintock, Bernadette Rowley and Lilian Begelnole. My new dream is to see everyone of this wonderful writers published!!
  Thank you, everyone!

Three little visitors...

And their parents came to "Nan and Pappy's farm" for the weekend...

They helped Pappy dig worms to feed the baby guinea fowl.

And they toasted marshmallows in the fire.

They enjoyed splashing in the new bathroom, running around in the dark with glowsticks... eating huge helpings of bacon and macaroni casserole and drawing a beautiful portrait of Nan and Pappy.

An eHarlequin Discovery...

A Google Alert aroused my curiosity and sent me to eHarlequin where I discovered that a book from my backlist, The Pregnancy Discovery, is being re-released in June 2011.

I wrote this book in 2000 while I was living on Magnetic Island. As it's not listed on amazon, I'm assuming that this is for the NA Reader Service -- a direct mail only release, and it won't be on the retail shelves, so I'm very pleased to see that it's available at eHarlequin.
I was always disappointed that this book had not been available in America as it has my one and only American hero, Sam Kirby, and it has sold very well everywhere else in the world. This is a message in a bottle story and I'm rather fond of it for lots of reasons, and I hope it finds some happy American readers. Check it out and read an excerpt here.

And Jupiter aligns with Mars...

We've had such incredibly clear, crisp, beautiful weather recently that it's been a crime to stay indoors. On Friday morning we got up at five thirty (only 5 degrees C and that's incredibly cold for us in May) and saw the four planets -- Venus, Jupiter, Mercury and Mars aligned in the eastern sky for the first time since 1910. As an added bonus, we saw the sun rise over Mt Bartle Frere, Queensland's highest mountain. Just gorgeous.

In this photo you can only seen two of the planets - Venus and Jupiter, I believe. If you click on it to make it larger, you should also see Mercury, a smaller planet off to the right. Red Mars was there too, below these, but he didn't show up in the photo -- because of the sunrise, I guess.

After breakfast, we drove over to Mareeba to collect turf from Barron River lawns. We want to start lawn regrowing, now that the plumber has finished his earthworks, but I'm so mad that I didn't take my camera. It was the start of the Mareeba to Chillagoe wheelbarrow race and we drove through Mareeba just as the procession of Wheelbarrow Teams started. It was a fabulous atmosphere with teams from high schools and businesses and charities, as well as the police. They were dressed up too -- as the Flintstones, as bumblebees, as rock stars. great fun and a great money raising event. All of Mareeba were on the streets to wave them on, including all the school children.

The teams have had two cold nights camping out on the road and they won't reach Chillagoe till today, so it's been quite an adventure. Meanwhile, for me, it's time to get my head down again.

But the sky's clouding over, so that's OK. :))

Why they call this the Misty Mountains...

Views from Cloud Cottage at 6.30 am

Nostalgia reigns...

Last week, I mentioned my little sister's birth on the day the Queen came to Sydney. Here she is in my mother's arms. Shortly after this, we moved to Brisbane (as my bio, which I can never get M&B to change, states). This was a very pioneering step for my parents, as their entire Australian families were in Sydney. Dad went ahead to find accommodation etc. and this is the photo he took with him. It was taken at my grandmother's house in Penshurst, and we moved to Brisbane shortly after Mother's Day. Nine months later I started school. Yes, Grade One, while I was still only four!!! Which is how I ended up as a high school teacher, teaching Yr 11 before my ninteenth birthday.

Surely the way to a mother's heart....

You know you're Australian...

When this is your view from your bedroom window.

Royal Wedding...

Are you getting into the Royal Wedding mood? I'm working myself into "royal mode" this week by reading Sophie Page's absolutely gorgeous book 'To Marry A Prince.'
You may remember Sophie as Sophie Weston. She used to write the most wonderful romances for Mills and Boon , and under her real name, Jenny Haddon, she's also written a book on punctuation called "Getting the Point" and has been president of the Romantic Novelists' Association in the UK.
'To Marry A Prince' is a perfect contemporary fantasy written in Sophie's bright, clever, - and dare I say sassy - yet very British style. You can read an interview with Sophie, including the interesting alternate England she created for this book, on the Words Wenches' Blog.

I'll certainly be watching the wedding on television. My childhood was dominated by images of the Queen's Coronation. I had the most beautiful picture book with full page colour plates of the entire spectacle -- with the golden coach, the ladies in waiting, the crowded cathedral and that heavy crown being placed on Elizabeth's head. For years, I turned frangipani flowers upside down to become ladies in waiting. And I had sets of blocks and jigsaw puzzles with pictures of Prince Charles and Princess Anne. And the Corgis, of course.
My younger sisters were named Elizabeth and Margaret, and on the day the Queen came to Sydney, my mother was in labour with Margaret, but she insisted on seeing the Queen first, before she went to hospital. So it's almost obligatory for me to be a royal watcher.

However, I do love some of the less reverent souvenirs that are out there at the moment, like these William and Kate tea bags. And this mock up of the Royal Wedding on youtube is a hoot.
One of my friends is going to a wedding party where everyone will wear hats and they'll eat roast beef and Yorkshire pudding followed by jam rolypoly. Another friend is considering hiring a wig of long brown hair. What are you planning for the big day?

Easter sunshine...

I hope you've had a lovely Easter weekend. Our weather has been glorious and we've had a great time. For us, Easter began with the arrival of a new box of little guineas to add to our flock. They'll have to stay in the cage till they're big enough to fend for themselves, but even then, it's a mean old world with hawks and currawongs and dingoes out there. So we'll hope to keep a close eye on them.

Then our guests arrived on Good Friday, bringing with them a beautiful wrasse which we cooked whole in E's special asado barbecue, after the guys encased it in a special flour and salt mould, a little like the clay around beggar's chicken.

When we broke open this casing, the fish inside was delicious.

On Saturday -- an absolutely beautiful, crystal clear day without a cloud, we went to the Yungaburra markets. I loved this sign on an old " junk" stall which I had to share.

And I bought these cute pencil cases for my granddaughters (other people can give them Easter eggs :).

Also, our guests bought me these beautiful gloriosa lilies. Aren't they perfect?

Yesterday, after they left we got back into gardening and painting, making the most of the lovely sunshine.
Today, I started writing again, but I'm not really getting into this story, possibly because the outside is calling to me. Will try again tomorrow. :)
What was your weekend like?

Post revision haze...

OK... revisions have been sent and I'm coming up for air. And I'm whinging, because last week while I was tied to my desk, we had absolutely glorious sunshine and today -- you guessed it -- it's raining again.
Clearly, I'm not meant to do the weeding, am I? But I'm not really in the mood for housework either.

But there's always cooking. I recently read Promises to Keep by Jane Green. Jane is my auto-buy at airport bookstores and I bought this book on my trip to Sydney. If I'd known it was about someone dying, I may have had second thoughts. I just grabbed and ran, but I have to say, Jane handled the subject very deftly and still manged to deliver an uplifting ending.

And... a bonus of the book was that each chapter ends with a thoroughly tempting recipe. I've already tried her Spinach and Chickpea Coconut Curry. As we have visitors coming for Easter, I want to try this Almost Flourless Orange Cake with Marmalade, which I've copied for you. Sounds yummy, doesn't it? To discover the other recipes you'll have to buy the book, or visit her blog.


Almost Flourless Orange Cake with Marmalade
1 orange
3 eggs
1/4 cup plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup marmalade
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (350 F) Grease an 8 inch springform pan and line it with greaseproof paper.

Put the orange in a pan, cover it with water, and simmer for an hour (or nuke in microwave for about 25 mins) until soft. Cut the orange in half, remove pips and puree in a food processor.

Beat the eggs and sugar until pale and thick. Fold in the flour, baking powder, almonds and orange puree. pour into the tin and bake for an hour.

Melt the marmalade in a small pan then pour through a fine sieve, pressing to get all the juice out. Spread the rind free juice over the cake.

When cool, sift icing sugar over the cake. Mix whipped cream with the orange rind and serve alongside.

Revisions...

I have my head down trying to address my editor's revision suggestions, which I know will make my current ms much better. But sometimes hacking your work to pieces and rebuilding it again can be very hard. Not that I'm precious about my work -- it's more the mental gymnastics involved. Writing a first draft is fun -- mostly. I write instinctively a lot of the time and hope for the best. But afterwards, fixing up a book can feel like a very difficult maths problem. Don't ask me why -- it just does. And at these times I feel like Winnie the Pooh, a Bear of Very Little Brain.
But I haven't forgotten my lovely blog visitors. Some of you are probably wondering when I'm going to show pictures of the inside of our house, as you know we've been working on it for years, slowly changing a six by six shed into an unashamedly romantic country cottage. I promise I'll have pics very soon.

 But here's a taste.This is a photo I showed last year when we busily painting. (We're still painting, actually. E's just finished the bathroom.)
Below you can see what this window looks like now with furniture in situ. I promise the photos in future will be more exciting than this. :)

Would you believe, we still don't have our ensuite bathroom plumbed? Everything's just sitting there, looking gorgeous, and waiting to be used. It's been so wet this year the plumber hasn't been able to dig up the ground to sink pipes and pits, or whatever. But we're booked in for the first week in May. Too late for our Easter and May weekend visitors. (sigh) But before my Roadshow visitors. Phew.

Update...

I have at last updated my website. I'm sure you'll be very pleased to know that I've moved on from 'Happy New Year', and I now have details about my new release Rancher's Twins: Mum Needed.

If you're Australian, you're probably shaking your head over this title. As you know, we don't have ranchers in Oz. We have cattlemen. And we don't have moms. We have mums. My publishers have made a concession to this by changing one of these words in the title for the English and Australian releases, as you can see in the covers below...

Aren't the different approaches to marketing interesting?

The story is partly set in America and my heroine Holly is American, living in New York. By calling Gray, my Australian hero, a rancher... this story can be marketed in America under the Rugged Rancher's logo, which is rather cute. Who am I to argue with marketing?  

I think Gray and Holly's story is actually a bit deeper than the title suggests. My idea for it was born in Coogee last year at our writer's retreat, and I had some wonderfully helpful conversations with Anne Gracie, who is very experienced in teaching adult literacy. I won't say too much more as I don't want to add spoilers. You can read an excerpt here.

Romantic Times had nice things to say... This heart-warming tale is filled with memorable characters grappling with an emotional situation. Hannay handles the transition from mourning to romance gracefully. Four stars.

Speaking of reviews, Molly Cooper's Dream Date  also scored a wonderful, oh-my-goodness review from Cataromance

There's something about roses...

You'll have to forgive me for being excited about growing roses.
I know these aren't spectacular or special, but after living in the dry tropics for so long, it's a novelty to be able to grow temperate plants.
We have so much rain here, however, that this climate is still not suitable for a lot of rose varieties.
I do love having flowers in the house.
When I was growing up, my mother had a lovely garden (actually, she still does) and we always had vases of flowers in our bedrooms, as well as the living areas.
Friends who came to play were v impressed.