A photographic essay exploring the crushing of creativity under the weight of drop sheets and paint trays. (And dead cars). Or in other words, why I neglected this website and wrote NOTHING last year. But I’ve finished the house (yay!) and am determined to let creativity flourish – or at least come up for air – in 2024.
There’s been lots of very serious work going on around here lately, just like in this picture. In fact, that’s me in disguise in the middle, madly tapping away at the first draft of Book 2 in the Mirrabooka Romance series. Having just gone over the 30,000-word mark, I’m calling that halfway! Meanwhile, it’s springtime here on the coast, which means wind, wind and more wind – a bit like Tilly after she’s eaten too many of the revolting, squidgy things she finds on the beach.
We haven’t had anywhere near enough rain, unfortunately, which means everyone’s a bit nervous as fire season approaches. To quote one of our fire station personnel: “We’ve got 1,000 houses and two fire trucks. You do the maths”. Yikes! I’m glad my place is in a fairly cleared area. Even so, I’m doing lots of cleaning up in the yard to lower the fire risk as much as possible. Here’s hoping we get some decent rain soon.
It’s been ‘all systems go’ around here. Mirrabooka Magic (Book 1 in the Mirrabooka Sweet Romance series) has been published both as an ebook and a paperback, and Planet Single is now available in paperback too. Now to write Book 2 of the Mirrabooka series!
I’ve actually written quite a lot of it already, but only in my head. I do a lot of long drives to Melbourne (about seven hours on the road) and that time is perfect for picturing the scenes and listening to the characters interact with each other in my head. When they get too noisy I have to tell them to shut up so I can concentrate on driving. After all that, merely writing it down will be a cinch, right?
I also have another romcom that I’m about a third of the way through, but I’ve parked that one for now. I will get back to it someday, though, I promise!
PS – Do you like The Mirrabooka Magic cover? It’s from The Cover Collection. They do a great job and provide exceptional service Iincluding this 3D marketing image).
I am making progress with Mirrabooka Magic, honest, but in the meantime I decided Planet Single needed a new cover. I found this one at Beetiful Book Covers and thought it was perfect for the genre and the story. Hope you like it!
I’ve also recently discovered Instagram. It’s so much fun! I live in a photographer’s paradise surrounded by beautiful beaches, inland waterways, and unspoilt forests, so I’m enjoying rekindling my love of landscape and seascape photography and publishing the pics on Insta. Tilly also features in my feed – she’s very photogenic too – and even the grumpy old cat gets a look-in sometimes. Come and join in the fun – and if you mention any of my books I promise I’ll follow you. 🙂 Find my Instagram feed here.
My hopes of finishing my romance novel, Mirrabooka Magic, by Christmas were completely derailed by the arrival of Tilly – an 18-month-old rescue dog. She’s an Australian cattle-dog cross, and the ‘cross’ part is anyone’s guess. It’s lucky she’s cute, because it’s taken a lot of time and energy to settle her into our household. She gets very anxious when I leave her, and that anxiety manifests itself in house-destructing tendencies, which has been a challenge. Of course, it’s not her fault that I went crazy and bought a house too, and then had to transport her, the cat, and all my belongings 300 miles to a remote coastal village – but that’s a whole other story.
So is the time I went out to dinner and left Tilly in the house, then came home to find she had jumped up on the kitchen bench, got the lid off a container of cooking oil, eaten it all and then been sick on the brand-new rug in the living room. Twice! When I’ve recovered from the trauma, that and other Tilly exploits may become a new blog post. Now that life is settling down, I’m back to making progress on the romance, so stay tuned for more news about that. In the meantime, here is a picture of my gorgeous bundle of trouble, because she’s just so damn CUTE!