Editing Marks

Imagine if your manuscript came back with some of these editing marks all over it.

Weird Fact Wednesday: Email Lowers your IQ

I’ve decided that every blog needs a gimmick. Mine is going to be weird fact Wednesday. Can you out-weird-fact me?

Fact 1: According to a study quoted by the August NZ Readers Digest Magazine (p.14), “…email can drop your IQ by as much as ten points.” Apparently, it has to do with a disorder called “infomania” where “people become addicted to checking their e-mail and text messages…”

Hands up everyone who gets withdrawal symptoms if cut off from the Net?

Mr & Mrs Smith

Movie Roundup (a.k.a "What I did on the plane instead of sleeping")

I saw Mr & Mrs Smith and thought it was fabulous. It had just the right blend of action, comedy, romance and drama to keep me interested all the way through (despite the fact that only one side of my headphones was working and only if I held it tight against my ear). I mean what other movie has lines like, "Are you still alive, honey?" So if you haven't seen it, go to it. You won't regret it. And I promise I haven't been paid to say that...

I also saw three (yes, three) other movies, and they were all good but Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie definitely came out number one.

Conference Photo

Here's a photo from the conference I attended in NZ. From left: Helen Kirkman (HQN), Frances Housden, Ruth and me, all glammed up for the Awards Dinner.

Craving Beauty in SF

This is what friends are for! :) Check out Yvonne Lindsay (Desire's newest author - look out for her book next year) and Frances Housden (Intimate Moments author) holding my book in a bookstore in San Francisco. :)

Konnichi Wa

Greetings from Japan. I'm back and aside from cleaning out the spam that infiltrated this blog during the weekend (grrr), I'm uploading some promised photos. Enjoy!

Heads up

In my continuing quest to drive everyone crazy figuring out what timezone I'm in, I'm off on a jetplane again. Next time I post, it'll be from Japan. Catch you in a couple of days!

Vlogging

I heard on the news last night that blogging is so last year. Apparently, the hot new thing is vlogging. What, you may ask, is vlogging? The word is made up of video + blogging = vlogging. And that's just what it is - people broadcasting their thoughts via video rather than writing them down in a weblog.

I was an innocent to all this until yesterday but I typed the word into Google and came up with hits galore. Here's one that links to an article in Wired magazine which explains the new trend.

Now since I'm such a trendsetter, you might imagine that I too may go into the brave new world of vlogs. Ar....no. The idea of looking presentable every single day is just too much to contemplate. I'm at peace with the fact that I'm a writer and as such, I write. But it does bring up an interesting question - will vlogging draw a different kind of author/audience than blogging? What do you prefer?

I was on tv!

Well kind of. TVNZ did an interview with members of RWNZ during the time of the conference, and at the end of the video clip (for the 6 o'clock news no less), the fabulous Barbara Clendon read out a happy ending from a book and the book was...drum roll please...Craving Beauty! Here's the video clip if you'd like to have a look at my moment of fame by association.

Update on The Piano Man

Remember the Piano Man, the young guy who was found wandering along a beach in the UK and wouldn't talk but could apparently play the piano like a virtuoso? Here's an update. Warning: do not read if you want to retain the sense of mystery his story first created in millions around the world.

Conference Report

I'm back from the conference and what a conference it was! We had loads of awesome speakers and workshops, as well as a ton of spot prizes. In exciting news, I got to meet Pamela Morsi, whose book Simple Jess is one of my all time favorite reads - not only is she a great lady, she's a brilliant speaker to boot. But despite all those wonderful things, the best moments of the conference for me, came from meeting old friends and making new ones among both readers and writers. Because when everyone else thinks I'm nuts for talking to the people in my head, romance readers and writers know that I'm perfectly sane. :)

Conference!

I've written the workshop, matched the shoes to the outfits and (almost) packed. From tomorrow, I'll be attending the RWNZ Conference and I can't wait. Now, you may not understand my excitement until you realize that I've spent two years living surrounded by rice fields.

It's an undoubtedly beautiful place but seriously lacking in its ability to provide meaningful face to face contact with other romance writers (or readers come to think of it). So, while I'm talking a mile a minute with friends I haven't seen for a couple of years in some cases, why don't you tell me something about the places where you live or have lived? I'd love to know who's reading this blog, where. :)

I'll be back Sunday with a conference report so start posting!

Tim Tams & Gossip Mags

Today I broke down and bought a gossip magazine, tantalized by the words such as 'cad', 'secrets' and 'drama' on the bright, flashy cover. It makes me feel guilty that I'm contributing to the coffers of paparazzi who 'torment' celebrities with their telephoto lenses, but oooh what fun it is to rifle through these pages, accompanied by deliciously decadent black-forest fantasy Tim Tams and my internal monologue as to the veracity of what I'm reading. I mean, how come these 'insiders' are always at the right place to hear the right things, like Star X speaking to her mother about Personal Issue Y???? And yet, I read on...

I'm back!

I'm back in NZ after a whirlwind trip to Fiji, sleep-deprived but otherwise functional, which is a good thing because this weekend is the annual Romance Writers of NZ Conference!! I'm incredibly excited about attending, as this'll be my first chance to mingle with so many other writers in over two years. Now, I just have to go and finish my notes for the workshop I'll be giving. But obviously that's not as important as matching the right shoes with the right outfits! ;)

Bula!

I'm zipping off in a jetplane again, folks. Where am I going? Well it's a place of white sand beaches, blue, blue seas, palm trees, and endless summer. Need more? It starts with an F and ends in an I! I'll be back in a few days, so until then, don't do anything I wouldn't do. ;)

Roarke

I just read JD Robb's Survivor in Death and Origin in Death back to back and boy oh boy can that woman write! I love the stories but most of all, I love the characters and the fact that they're so real I occassionally have mad thoughts of challenging Eve for Roarke (now that's what I call a hero). Okay, I know she'd kick my butt and probably laser me in the eye but it would almost be worth it. Almost. Except that of course, I would never ever do anything to damage the love story between the two. That's part of the reason I love series' - following the development of a relationship, seeing it mature and change as time passes. It's also why I'm so excited to be writing paranormals which will in a sense, be linked, allowing me to go beyond the happy ever after and more. I can't wait!!

Adulthood

Why is that we always turn into children when we come to stay with our parents? Is this phenomenon isolated to me? Or have others experienced it? Come on, share. Promise I won't tell your parents ;)

Photos from KL - Butterfly Garden

Photos from KL - Chocolate Shop (yum yum)

Photos from KL - Royal Palace

Photos from KL

As promised, here are some photos from my recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Books, Writing & Gold Shoes

How do you feel when you read a really, really good book? As a writer, sometimes I get an attack of the 'I'll never write anything as good as this' but that's rare. Most usually, I'll be inspired by the joy I found in reading, my need to create being fed by the experience. Other times, I'm made incredibly happy by finding an author who has that unique ability to take me away, to make me believe in the world they've created, to draw me in so deeply that I forget everything but getting to the end. That for me, is the ultimate reading experience. What about you? How do you feel after reading an awesome book?

And on the writing front, under no circumstances is anyone to tell my editors that I've been lazy for seven days in a row. My fingers are starting to itch from the need to write but what am I to do when certain parties who shall not be named drag me off to shop? Everyone needs a pair of spangly gold sandals don't they?

City of Sails

We had a picture-perfect landing in Auckland yesterday. First, we saw dawn up in the air - I can't even describe the beauty of the colors. It was just amazing and I was glad to be awake for it. Then by the time we came down from the clouds, the sun was blazing and the world below was crystal clear. Blue, blue water, bright green islands, lots of sailboats in the tributaries and out on the sea. We could even see the horses racing about in the paddocks below! I think it might be one of the most beautiful approaches I've ever experienced.

Thanks to everyone who posted while I was AWOL. I'm back online now so regular posts will be forthcoming once more! :)