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Archive for the ‘A writer’s life’ Category

Reading endeavours

Posted in A writer's life, Creative passion, Paranormal romance, reading, Regency romance, Romance fiction on March 25, 2026| Leave a Comment »

I have finished listening to Well of Ascension. I was a bit teary at the end. Old Brandon did a slight of hand at the last minute and caught me by surprise. It was a great series. Thank you Brandon Sanderson.

With my partner, Matthew, we are listening to Dead Lies Dreaming by Charlie Stross. We have motored through the Laundry Files and this book is a bit different. It’s not first person point of view and it switches point of view sometimes a bit quickly in the audio book. I miss Bob though.

I’m reading a couple of books as well, currently on Emma Grey’s Pictures of You. And I have a queue of other books some started and some not.

I’m trying to keep a record of what I am reading and listening to, as during the year I lose track and end up wondering if I have read anything at all. So I’m trying to do less doom scrolling and more reading fiction. I must admit that hasn’t been easy the last few weeks, what with traveling and world events.

All this uncertainty and chaos upsets me and I’m sure other people too.

The Gentleman Magician draft is over 21,000 words. It’s going to be a novella so I hope to finish it this week. But tomorrow, is a sewing day. I’m helping a friend make a Regency bib fronted gown. I want to make one for me as well.

Here is a picture from the weekend at the Australian Romance Readers Romantic Rendezvous. It is quite appropriate. I’m trying not to laugh.

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Interview with Chris Andrews

Posted in A writer's life, author interviews, Creative passion, Interviews, tagged , , , , on March 24, 2026| Leave a Comment »

A writer buddy, Chris Andrews, invited me to discuss what my top five books that influenced me.

To check out the post click here.

Many thanks to Chris for conducting the series. As I read through them I note everyone is different.

I’m now home for a little bit after lots of travelling about. We saw Evior on Saturday in Sydney. My feet hurt as there was no seating. However, the concert was amazing.

Next trip is to Ourimbah for Books and Beyond on April 12. Drop in as it’s free.

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Sometimes writing is a struggle

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, Creative passion, revision, Trying to focus, tagged , , , , on March 18, 2026| 3 Comments »

I wrestle with feelings of inadequacy a lot of the time. I doubt myself and I definitely have imposter syndrome. When I studied for my PhD I had these feelings. But my supervisor told me he had imposter syndrome too and that most of the academics at my faculty did.

Thoughts like: Why am I bothering? No one cares! You aren’t good enough? Stop kidding yourself. You can’t write good stories.

Naturally, I don’t like this negative self talk. Just like I don’t like telling myself I look bad or old or fat. I’ve been doing that for years. My youngest daughter says it’s body dysmorphia. I look at photos and think, hell I looked good back then, but I thought I was fat, ugly, old. Hahaha!

I had very low self esteem growing up and I have fought long and hard to get where I am. You know the drill, one of many siblings, dysfunctional home life, child abuse and so on.

You think at aged 65 I’d know better. Sorry to disappoint. However, I try very hard not to let these negative thoughts win. I focus on what makes me happy and I write stories because I like to do that, I enjoy it. Well most of the time. It is not always easy to sit down and write. Inspiration doesn’t always come when you want it, even when you know the story you want to write. I think that’s where the negative talk comes in, when it is not easy. The evil part of my brain starts telling me to just go watch some screen, or go shopping, or do other things like craft. Believe me I feel negative feelings about my craft too. I can pick holes in anything I make and I know where I could have done better.

I just have a weird brain.

Yesterday, I was thinking about how long I’ve been writing. I started around 2000 so nearly 26 years. I didn’t get published until 2013 with Rayessa and the Space Pirates, but I had written a lot in that time. The funny thing is that Rayessa and the Space Pirates had been sitting in my hard drive for years. It originally started as a short story for a CSFG anthology called Elsewhere. I was working at the audit office and I thought it would be cool to have a space auditor and the story was going along very well, but when space pirates turned up, well I couldn’t finish it. So I wrote another story for Elsewhere called ‘Other’ and continued on with Rayessa and the Space Pirates as a short novel. Now, I did submit it to places but didn’t get anywhere so it lingered in the darkness until I went to my first Romance Writers of Australia Conference where several publishers were seeking submissions for ebooks. It was then I realised that my SF story also had a romance arc. So Escape took it and published it and the sequel Rae and Essa’s Space Adventures. I don’t know if I’d call it a success. I did earn royalties and it is my most pirated book judging by the Google alerts.

So, one lesson, don’t throw stuff away. Just because the stars don’t align, they might again in different circumstances. Anyway, time has moved on, the rights came back to me and now I have self-published my previously published books and my new stuff. This doesn’t mean I’ve given up on traditional publishing. I dabble but my life isn’t going to stop. A lot of things need to align with traditional publishing. It’s great when they do but they don’t always. If you try an agent, then they need to like what you are writing, have an idea of where to market it etc. Then, publishers need to like it too…but then there’s the acquisitions meeting where other people weigh in, the marketers, for example. I have had a few turn downs after acquisitions that said the Australian market was too small. With Ruby Heart a senior editor told me how much the liked it but then it didn’t get picked up.

Moral of the story is don’t give up. Haha! But also don’t listen to your negative talk. Write because that is what you live for. Sure, I’m going to give up one day. But right now I have ideas, I have drafted manuscripts that I’m tinkering with or trying to get an agent for. I have been writing for a very long time so I have a backlog. I hope to move some of these this year.

So I’m working on Gentleman Magician – a Cry Havoc novella and I have another novella planned and Book Five to write. Hopefully this year. I’m a bit behind on my plans (yes I made plans) but I hope to get there this year on these.

I have a Regency Romance The Tainted Lady I drafted before 2016. Sadly the market has changed and where I was going to submit that is a dead end. However, I did get some valuable feedback on it from a RWA competition and I’ve started revising it and I know what I need to do to get that dusted. Don’t be surprised if that gets published this year.

I drafted a young adult portal fantasy called Into the Dark Glass, that too is in a state of redraft. My then agent didn’t like it and couldn’t tell me why so in the intervening ten years I’ve been mulling it over and I have a restructure in mind. I tinker but haven’t got far. There is always a new project calling me away.

My Phd novel is currently been shopped around. I finished a revision of that in January.

I have a middle grade fantasy, Grandma Neebs: Through the Pantry Door, which I’ve shopped to Australian publishers and got nowhere. I really like this one because at its core its about family and love. Apparently there is a glut of middle grade fantasy at the moment but this has some horror elements. This will need an illustrator so that will depend on $ if I am to self publish it. Decision postponed.

Also in my hard drive is a feminist SF novella, which I want to revisit and maybe publish. And I have some Blood Crowd short stories that could be a collection if I wrote one or two more stories for it. Picture Vampires in Chicago with werewolves and gangsters. If there is more then I have forgotten.

I don’t write to trends or to the market. Some people do and it works for them. I don’t make a lot of money and recently even reviews are hard to come by. I’m writing what I love and I hope that readers like what I do. That’s what feeds my soul.

Sometimes what gets published has been years in the making. I hope to improve my productivity because I have more stories to write.

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This is where my excuses are lined up

Posted in A writer's life, Australian author, Querying agents, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , on March 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

I had plans.

I disregarded plans.

I am guilty…but…I’ve been travelling and I’m not good with writing while traveling. I maybe wrote a sentence. First trip was NZ, north island, and then work, and then travelling locally with a visiting relative. We had a fab time, Sydney Opera House, Wildlife Retreat, Newport, Tea Gardens and then a steam train ride in Canberra.

However, I’m now at home for a little bit, except I’ll be in Sydney on Sunday for the ARRA Romantic Rendezvous event at Rydges Central in Albion street. More information here. Tickets will be at the door now. There are panels as well as book sales. Do come along and meet some great authors. I’ll be on a panel too.

April 12 I’ll be in Ourimbah for Books and Beyond.

With the state of the world as it is, wars, particularly Iran, it’s not easy to stop doom scrolling and think happy thoughts. Book sales plummet, naturally. Uncertainty hits book sales hard, I believe. Cost of living increases and so on. On the other hand, writing (and reading) can take your mind off things or in other words let you escape. So now I’m home and settled in my brain, I shall get back onto Gentleman Magician and stop dilly dallying around. I know I can finish it quickly as I’ve had the story in my head for weeks, working out the kinks.

I have a bit of personal admin too. Boob squashing appointment -booked, spa afternoon-Thursday, screen door installation tomorrow etc. A newsletter to write, books to read…

I dabbled with TikTok but I’m going to delete my account. I can’t do it justice. I think it’s a great tool but I want my creativity focus to be on writing. Besides most of my followers are dodgy blokes who tell me I’m beautiful or bots or scammers and there are a few genuine people there and some great advice and stuff with book tok. I can still experience all that but my content sucks!

On the book writing front, I’ve been working on The Tainted Lady, a Regency romance, and I think I worked out what to do about Richard. He needed more, he needed an impediment to his own happiness. I had some great feedback on the beginning from a Romance Writers of Australia contest. That one is nearly there and as my target markets have closed, this might end up being self published.

I’ve been shopping my PhD novel. A couple of rejections so far. However, I think all the work I needed to do for that one is done.

I have two more things on the back burner, a YA portal fantasy, Into the Dark Glass, I need to finish the restructure of that one and may add more world building and characters. The other was a reverse harem regency romance, called Louisa’s Choice, which is also all in my head, but not all on paper. If only my body was as productive as my brain!

Anyway, it’s time for me to leave you to it. Below is a not very good photo of me on the deck at the Wildlife Retreat Hotel at Taronga. I think my seven year old granddaughter snapped me.

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I had a really good idea for a blog post

Posted in A writer's life, Travel, tagged , , , , , on February 26, 2026| Leave a Comment »

But time caught up with me!

Instead of something thoughtful, you get the ‘hello I’m back from New Zealand’ and no I haven’t written any more Gentleman Magician.

Rather than a trip of my own, I was driving my sister around to her relatives and then to some places she wanted to go. Bonus for me was that my friend Wendy came for the sightseeing part.

It was nice for me too to see Kylie’s family. She lost her husband just over a year ago to lung cancer and it’s been hard on her. So seeing everyone again was nice as it wasn’t with a palliative care and funeral attached to it.

We visited Kaeo, which I’ve never been to before and that farm we stayed in was very picturesque and comfortable. I met a friend in Mangonui, nearby and that was a treat for company and location. Sightseeing consisted of Hamilton-for the must see Hamilton Gardens. I pushed Kylie around in a wheel chair so I got a work out. My sister has COPD so doing all that walking wasn’t going to be fun. Hobbiton was booked out for most of February so we couldn’t get there. We think there might have been filming…who knows. Next we popped down the road to Rotorua. I did a bit of walking looking for free bubbling mud pits but to not avail.

The big thing we did there was a Maori Culture evening at Te Paa Tuu Here (it’s written differently but my keyboard is not cooperating.) This was really good. What is fascinating is that this it the third time I’ve been there. Previously it was called Tamaki Maori Village. And that was the Pophiri (welcome), village tour looking at Maori crafts, passtimes etc, Kapa Haka (Maori singing and dancing traditional songs) and then the feed, a big hangi, with dessert etc. I went the first time 23 years ago, after a recommendation from a Maori in law. Then I took Matthew about 12 years ago. My son went about two years ago and he told me it was different now. The food is high end, Maori food inspired canapes, entrees and mains. And that is what we found. It’s quite pricey but we all thought it was worth it when you factor in all the people and the amazing food. When we got to the village part, we got some tea made from native Kawakawa I think, and a canape or two. Then we did mini workshops, poi, sticks, history, haka. And more canapes. The last one was a kumuar crisp, with venison and blueberry chutney on it. So good.

The entertainment was really good too, some great singing. Then we went for the feed. There were green lip mussels, and as I don’t eat fish I got a substitute for the white bait. The mains had hangi vegetables and stuffing, some lamb, we had waygu beef rib, and roast duck and hangi lamb. Then dessert. On the bus home I was quite full. I ate way too much!

Anyhow, it is great to see this venue still operating and being taken over by young people. Well done guys.

We booked a boat trip on Lake Taupo but unfortunately when we got there, it was too windy and it was cancelled so we headed back to Rotorua. We stayed in and drank wine and ate cheese. Wendy and I had a great feed in EAT STREET too.

Now I’m at my desk, intending to so some writing. Earlier I cleaned out the pantry due to a weevil infestation. And I practiced some bookbinding. One of them ended up in the bin! However, there is sewing to do and other craft things.

Not only didn’t I write during my trip I didn’t walk as much so I’ve trying to walk everyday since I’ve been back. However, more social events might interrupt these good intentions.

I am also trying to read more and I’m keeping a log. I’m currently reading Pictures of You by Emma Grey.

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January update 2026

Posted in A writer's life, tagged , , , , , , on January 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »

The new year is done. The many January birthdays are celebrated. The cake is eaten.

I’ve been doing grandma stuff with my youngest granddaughter. She went back to her mum yesterday. As a result of all this activity and due to spending time in Sydney with granddaughter, not much writing got done. Yeah.

My wall planner fell off the wall. This may be ominous. I have not sat at my desk until now to spy on my desk planner either. However, it is a long weekend in Canberra this weekend and I have good intentions!

World politics tend to distract me. I listened to Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum. I passed the link onto my partner and friend. I tried talking about it to Matthew (partner) but burst into tears. Basically, Carney summed up what has been brewing in my gut for a while. The rules-based international system is broken. It’s not coming back. We need to do something different. I listened to Macron and to Von Der Leyen’s speech and Trump’s. I’m going back to listen to a few more. It helps me to know that other world leaders are planning and taking action.

But you couldn’t write this stuff. This is worse than a bad dystopian SF novel. But I have hope, even though uncertainty is really gut wrenching.

Appearances

Meanwhile, I am looking at events…

Some of my books are for sale at Cancon this weekend at Epic at the CSFG table. I’ll be doing a shift at 12 noon on Monday so I’ll be there.

I’ll be at the Romantic Rendezvous in Sydney on March 22nd. Link to info and tickets Here.

I’ll be at Books and Beyond on April 12 in Ourimbah, on the central coast.

I’m hoping to get a table at the Geek Expo in Canbera during July but I’m currently hunting up expression of interest forms.

September I will possibly be at Books and Beyond again.

And for some reason I have three events 10 October, Once Upon a Fairy Tale indie book event in Campbelltown.

Hopefully I’ll have a stall at the Goulburn Steampunk Victorian Faire on the 17th. Noting certain as of yet, but I’ll be there in any case.

Books in Sight, Canberra Rex, on 23rd October

I shall post again if anything else comes up. I’ve put in for things.

Travel

In between everything else, I am travelling a bit. NZ in Feb, then in March doing a tour with a visitor from the UK, I’d like to fit in a trip to Singapore for at least a month and possibly to Adelaide in April. I was hoping to go to Canada with my sister in October but I have a lot going on then.

Writing

Matthew has three big projects this year so that will limit travel somewhat. But it also means I will be encouraged to write also.

Meanwhile Gentleman Magician is at just over 12000 words.

Reading

I’m going to keep a spreadsheet of my reading this year. I don’t read enough these days. I listen to audio books more.

PS I got my hair done today. Totally pink. It looks floofy in this photo.

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Happy New Year!

Posted in A writer's life, am wrinting, Australian author, Trying to focus, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 1, 2026| Leave a Comment »

I’m up reasonably early on the 1st of January. I managed to sleep later than normal. Yay!

Happy New Year! May 2026 fulfill your hopes and dreams.

I hope for peace and good sense to prevail the world over. I want to be optimistic for the future of the world. Being a science fiction (and fantasy) aficcionado and Star Trek fan, I have had faith in Humankind and that we will move beyond wars and famine and that we will survive into the future. However, I admit that that faith has been shaken of late.

I hope for me that I can find that optimism again. That my faith in us will be restored.

Now for more mundane things.

I have to admit I piked on staying up until 12 and left the party around 10pm. We had a family get together.

Now I just don’t want to eat more food! Everything was delicious but now I have to think about the waistline. I wish it was called the wasteline and I could watch myself waistline waste away but alas…

This morning, I took my blood pressure reading before the meds kicked in and well that’s not good is it? I thought cutting back salt was going to help there but health wise I’ve been a bit over the place. Next in the queue is a blood test scheduled for next week. I’ve been having sleep disturbances between 1-3 am most nights lately, which is very annoying. Nothing too serious except I feel like my head is in a paper bag most of the day. Aching and tingling in the fingers and toes, so much so that I have to get up and take painkillers at night, tired, fatigued, etc. I have sub-clinical Hashimotos and I have these flare ups where I gain weight, go through the fatigue, sluggishness etc and then when I’m tested they say my thyroid is reading normal. This has been going on for 10 years, since I was first diagnosed (confirmed through blood test and identification of antibodies). The other not so interesting thing is the inflammation where my partial knee replacements are. At first I thought they were loosening and the specialist thought not. However, he is monitoring six monthly, unless I have extreme pain. Each day I’m noticing it is harder to move around and my knees are stiff and sore. So after this post is done I’m going for a walk. Best thing to get the joints warm.

The new spectacles after surgery were a bit hard to deal with at first. Multifocals and two very divergent eyes now. Left eye is still seeing blurry but better than when I first developed a full thickness macular hole in August. I can report that my eyes and brain are getting used to the new glasses but when I take them off my eyes/brain go what the hell!

I have received print versions of The Prudential Light. My daughter-in-law picked up an issue with one of the Chinese characters in the book. Two missing strokes that were wiped when I did ‘remove background’. I have replaced that image with a new one and uploaded new versions everywhere. I had to redo the hardback versions because I had matt finish on the cover instead of gloss and I had gloss finish on the other hardback versions. Paperback is matt finish. That was completed this morning.

There are four different sets of Chinese characters in the book, drawn by a friend, who is a scholar of Chinese art. Modern Chinese characters have been simplified and the ones in The Prudential Light are meant to be traditional and hopefully ones in use in 1840s. As for the pinyin version, I cannot tell you if I have stuck to the Cantonese pinyin or strayed to the Mandarin. Brain is not functional. Pinyin is the romanised version of the word to help with pronunciation. Cantonese and Mandarin are two different languages but use the same characters.

Yesterday I posted my writing to do list. I also reorganised my working space. (I’m laughing because I’m on my couch with the lap top on my lap). I bought and assembled a hutch. I wish I’d taken before and aftershots. I’m camped out in my bedroom for another nine months I guess while my grandkids are living here. While I had a desk, I had a great big mess there. Along with my day job work space and my imac working space, there was just a junk yard of crap, scribbled on manuscript pages, pens (which I could never find, other desk junk. With a hutch I can lift things up, put them where I can find them. I’m so pleased with it now. I have so many pens and I threw away the ones that don’t work. So diligent of me.

I’ve also put up my planner on the wall. Time to commit to writing on the planner and getting some work done on the books I want to write. While I have a kind of full and hectic schedule for writing new books, I have some that are already written and I have to find time to tweak/revise them and send them out for submission. If I have no luck getting an agent, I guess they will be self published too by the end of the year. I was also wishing I could fit a nice epic fantasy series in my schedule too. I also mulled the idea of retiring Dani Kristoff–where I write paranormal romance with sorcerer’s and werewolves and witches under that name. It might be my lack of promotion but they are not as popular as the Dragon Wine series and Cry Havoc. Another novel I want to write is a sci fi romance that has been in my brain since the early days. So that might fill the Dani Kristoff slot in my schedule.

Who knows…the future is yet to be written.

Best wishes to all.

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Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Posted in A writer's life, Creative passion, epic fantasy, reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , on December 30, 2025| Leave a Comment »

I’m a long time coming to this series. I can’t tell you why. No particular reason.

Back in 2008, I met Brandon Sanderson at Devention 3, the World SF convention held in Denver Colorado. He’s not going to know me from Adam though, but I recall chatting him and Patrick Routhfuss. Later on at the convention, Tor announced Brandon was going to finish the Wheel of Time series.

I had given up on Wheel of Time by then so I hadn’t read Brandon’s ending. That’s not to say that I won’t return to Wheel of Time but I’d like to start from the beginning and that takes time and commitment. Wheel of Time was inspirational to me. Reading the Wheel of Time taught me that back story can be fascinating and having bad things happen to your characters can be a good thing. Basically something I pursued in the Dragon Wine series.

I have met fans of the Mistborn at Supernova a few years ago, who cosplayed Vin and lovingly made vials for metals powders and hand made their cloaks.

Recently, I felt it was time to stick my nose in. I’m cheating a bit, because I’m listening to the series. I’m about half way through Well of Ascension. I am loving this series and there are a few reasons for this.

I find it inspirational. I want to go away and plan out a thoroughly in depth world, with magic systems and a cast of characters who are individualized and create a plot that is intricate and attention grabbing. Listening to this story inspires me to write something because I’m feeling it in the story.

Brandon Sanderson is clever. His magic system in the Mistborn series is to die for. I really love how he uses it–in hindsight it’s probably quite simple but it is an awesome backbone to the story telling.

Similar to the Game of Thrones books, there is the front story, the politics, the struggle and then there is the real threat lurking in the background. The one the audience is screaming ‘Look there!’ but the characters don’t know, or only one does.

I like the fact that Vin is a great female lead. Well done Brandon! I don’t know how it ultimately ends. I can guess, I suppose, but I’m going to finish the series. It is my guilty pleasure. It makes chores and drives fun because I can listen as I do things.

Since that time I first heard of Brandon Sanderson, he’s become something of a legend. He broke Kickstarter and made us all wonder. He has a great fandom and that’s fabulous. I read an article about him during the year about how he writes. What I want to know is how can he write on the couch, with a laptop on his lap and not get RSI, a sore back, a sore neck…is he superhuman?

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The Prudential Light-launches tomorrow

Posted in A writer's life, blurb, new release, Steampunk, strong female lead, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

The ebook is loaded on all the platforms.

I’ve started the process for print production. Just in time because Frauke, the cover designer is taking off on holidays! There will be a paper back version, a hardback version and a large print accessible version (mostly for libraries).

We have updated the blurb. I saw ‘we’ because Matthew Farrer did the hard yards. I send him my thoughts and he turns them into blurbs.

New and updated blurb

A book of manners, magic and mayhem

Aunt Prudence Wainwright, famously daunting dragon lady of the Hardcastle family, has set herself to writing her memoirs. But which Prudence will have her story come out?  

Will it be the maiden aunt who lived quietly in a small village, bringing up her niece Milly and sewing and embroidering to her heart’s content? Maybe it will be the outrageously-dressed, old busybody whose battle of wills with her niece, Jemima, unfolded in Ruby Heart? Better yet, the doughty old warrior hidden under the lace and brocade, who fought off villains with her hatpins and umbrella in Emerald Fire?  Perhaps it will be the family matriarch featured in Amber Rose, prim, dependable, astute at procuring baked goods and deft at baby wrangling, who is at times a tad flirtatious with the older gentry?  Or will these memoirs reveal yet another side of Prudence that the rest of the Hardcastles have yet to see?

With the family’s magical gifts running through her veins, there will be plenty to astonish her relations: adventures, abandonment, heartbreak, secret loves, and dangers. But with new babies on the scene, marriage proposals, battles with rogue magicians, and the very past she is recalling bursting back into her life in startling ways, how will she ever find the time to finish writing!

I’m very excited to see it out there in the world. I can’t wait for feedback, truly. It might be a bit different from the other books in the series.

I’ve started work on The Gentleman Magician but I’m getting lots of ideas for Book 5 so much so that I found it hard to sleep last night. I’m going to be playing around with tropes and cliches. I’m currently contemplating a title too.

Some pre order links but it is also listed on Google Play Books, Barnes and Noble.

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In editing hell

Posted in A writer's life, author appearances, Creative passion, Editing, fantasy, Fashion, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 16, 2025| 1 Comment »

I’m back and well life has been busy, with travel, with writing, day job and just stuff.

My eye continues to improve from surgery and next month I’ll see about a new set of spectacles to see if that helps. I’m over the horror of it and the doom saying about what happens if they other eye goes. Not point in fretting.

The Prudential Light is back from the editor. She’s a damn fine editor that I had at Pan Macmillan and she freelances and has worked on the dragon wine series with me. For me, The Prudential Light was a bit ambitious, two different historical timelines, a lot of birthdates, event dates to keep straight. However, I’m nearly there and the ed has taken a feather duster to my prose and worked on the plot tension. There are unfortunately (or fortunately) less baked goods in this story.

I expect The Prudential Light to be out early December, maybe earlier but next stop in the proofreader and you can’t rush the proofreader.

I’m behind on other things. Newsletters, BAS statements, blogging and social media. As much as I hate to admit it, I only have so much energy.

Appearance wise, I was at Books and Beyond in Ourimbah in September. It was such a fab event. So many keen readers and it looked so pretty, even though from the outside it looked like the car park of a Mitre 10. I’ve put in an expression of interest for next year, so fingers crossed they let me come back. I also had a stall at the Goulburn Steampunk and Victoriana Fair and that was a fab event. We are taking the whole family next year, or as many as we can muster. I made two bustle dresses for this event. One took me a very long time. Did I not say I’ve been sewing lately? Sometimes, I. have to write before I allow myself into the craft room.

A very difficult fabric to work with. All that pattern matching.

Me with pink hair. I’ll be sporting that colour next week in Pokolbin.

This dress was an adaption of the plaid dress patter. I had less fabric to work with so bought the Apricot satin for contrast and bustle. It is a lighter dress for the heat and the bustle is not as overly engineered.

UPCOMING APPEARANCES

First up, next week, I’m at the Meet Your Next Book Boyfriend at the Mecure Valley, in Pokolbin.

Tickets are available here. $50 for full day $22.50 for half day. Apparently, the gardens next door have an amazing Christmas display so come along and check it out. Link to Tickeboo here.

Next March, I will be in Sydney for the Australian Romance Readers Romantic Rendevous, March 22, 2026. at the Rydges, in Surry Hill. Tickets are now on sale. There will be panels, an author lunch and the signing in the afternoon. I’m only doing Sydney this year, but the event is happening in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Perth. Check out this Trybooking link.

The good news about this event is that I’ll have The Prudential Light with me. I’ll be putting up a preorder too on Benenti.

I have other appearances coming in in Canberra and elsewhere. I’ll update you all. Now to head over and do my newsletter, which is also long overdue.

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