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It’s official – we are now in our new house. We bought it two months ago, and the last 60 days have crawled by as we waited for settlement day. Well, that was last Friday, and yesterday we moved in. I am mostly unpacked after going hard at it all day yesterday, with help from my man and my mother (bless her!)

I’m also slap-bang in the middle of a new Superromance, which is not ideal timing, but I plan on getting stuck back into the writing tomorrow – I have a pretty tight deadline on this one, so I need to really be very bossy with myself. I’m hoping that being in my new, beautiful surroundings will inspire me.

For your interest (if you are interested!) here is the view outside of my temporary writing head quarters:

Once we’ve done some wall paper stripping etc, there will be a bit of shuffling of room purposes, but for now this is my view – along with a couple of my favourite things, unearthed while unpacking. The monkey was bought from a little shop in Paris last time we were there – I love his slightly melancholy, quizzical expression – and the typewriter is a gift from my mum. This little assemblage reminds me of a scene from one of the early episodes of The Simpsons where Montgomery Burns has a room full of monkeys with typewriters working to write the next great American novel. The best he gets from them, however is “It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times.” Always makes me smile, because sometimes, as a full time writer, I do feel a bit like a monkey at a typewriter!!!

The second is the view across our new pool. The garden is gorgeous and rambly, with tonnes of fruit trees and a clear patch aching for me to start a veggie garden. So many things to do!!!

Next book out from me is September, a Blaze called Hot Island Nights. I’ll post a little more about it when we get closer. In between, I will have the Romance Writers of Australian conference in Sydney. So, good things ahead.

Cheers for now,

Sarah

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First up, a couple of good things to celebrate –

She’s Got It Bad won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice for Best Blaze of 2009. Yay! Was lovely to know that the reviewers in there at RT like my work. Thanks Romantic Times for the support and encouragement.

Secondly, we bought a house. It’s cute and needs a bit of work but has awesome gardens and a swimming pool. Of course, we’re moving in at the beginning of Melbourne’s winter – so we might not be giving the pool a work out for a few months yet! Although the way this winter is shaping up, maybe we will. The weather has been straight out weird and too warm lately…

As well as those two lovely things, I am loving the fact that this month Brenda Novak’s Diabetes Auction is on again. If you weren’t aware of this auction, go take a peek. It’s awesome! So many great things from so many great authors on offer – critiques and autographed books and assessments from agents and publishers. It’s a fantastic opportunity to buy something cool and useful while helping out a great cause.

This will be the third year that I have offered up a couple of lots for auction. The first is a critique of the first three chapters and synopsis of a romance novel. This will involve line by line reading and notes as I feel necessary, suggested edits and email conversation/discussion with the winning bidder. I’ve done this twice before and found it enormously good fun and really rewarding from my end – I can only hope my two winners felt the same way!

The second lot on offer from me is a full signed set of my published books to date, barring Can’t Get Enough (because I am down to my last book!). That’s quite a bit of reading/shelf filling – fourteen books in total, I believe. If you’re looking for my backlist, it’s not a bad way to buy! And the proceeds all go to a very worthy cause.

Before I sign off, I’ve had a couple of emails from people asking what’s coming up next now that Her Best Friend has had it’s day in the sun. I have a Blaze due out in September, Hot Island Nights, and another Super in November, Best Laid Plans. Then another Super in February, tentatively titled The Last Goodbye. My titles often get changed, so don’t get too attached to that one – I certainly won’t!

Until next time, happy reading!

Sarah

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My latest Superromance, Her Best Friend, is well and truly out there at the moment – in bookstores, on the shelf, right now if you’re in North America and hankering for a copy of my latest book. I’m not going to go into detail about what it’s about, instead here’s a link to the page for this book in my BOOKS section. That will give you the blurb and an excerpt and some information on Behind The Scenes of the book.

What I will mention, however, is that one of the stars, albeit inanimate, of Her Best Friend is the old cinema that Amy and Quinn are restoring in rural Daylesford. I have long had a love affair with Art Deco architecture and furniture design. The curves, the geometrical shapes, the clean lines – I don’t know what it is, but I absolutely adore it. So when I had to invent a theatre for Amy to restore in this story, it was a no brainer for me that it would be Art Deco.

As I’ve mentioned on a number of blogs, there are some great Art Deco cinemas in my home town of Melbourne. One of my favorites is The Astor in St Kilda, piccies below:

Going to the Astor is an Experience. It’s grand and magnificent and a little shabby around the edges – perfect! Plus they have the best choc-top icecreams in town, bar none. Anyway, when I was writing Her Best Friend I imagined my own version of The Astor, on a smaller scale more suited to the rural town of Daylesford. The Grand Picture Theatre became so real to me as I was writing that I think it’s going to be a bit of a rude awakening next time I visit Daylesford – what, no Grand in main street? What’s going on!!!

I suppose the most important thing about The Grand is how much it means to Amy, the heroine in Her Best Friend. Her great-grandfather build the cinema in the Thirties and Amy was deeply moved when she heard the misery and longing in her grandfather’s voice when he told her as a little girl about how he was forced to sell the cinema. Ever since that day, Amy has had the burning ambition to buy back The Grand and restore it to its former glory. A folly, perhaps, but she’s determined to do it – and Amy is one determined lady, once she sets her mind to something.

I hope you all enjoy this book. I had a great time writing it – imagining The Grand, and creating Amy and Quinn and their warm, loving friendship and shared history. There’s something very nice about two old friends finding love and happiness with each other.

Until next time, happy reading!

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I’ve just received word that Home For the Holidays was selected for the Dear Author/Smart Bitches’ DABWHA tournament. I’m not 100% sure I understand how this tournament works, but I do understand that it’s lovely and incredibly flattering to be amongst so many fantastic authors – as well as being a bit scary! A big thanks to Jane and Sarah and their respective sites for thinking of me for this year’s comp, and to anyone who nominated me. I will watch with interest to see what happens. You can check out what’s happening here.

What else is happening, you might be wondering? Well, excitingly (it’s always exciting when a book comes out!) Her Best Friend is an April release. It’s available now on Harlequin’s early release program over at eharlequin, and will be in stores in April. This is another best friends falling in love book – kind of the mother of all best friends falling in love books, since it explores all the ins and outs. Plus there’s a love triangle in there as well. I set this book in the small Victorian town of Daylesford. It’s an old gold boom town, which means that back in the day there was money around so there are a few very impressive buildings on main street. Then the gold went away and ever since then Daylesford has been known for the mineral springs (Hepburn Springs) just a few minutes drive up the road. It’s a very pretty little town – heritage shopfronts, lots of deciduous trees that put on amazing displays in autumn, a lovely lake, an old nun convent that’s been converted into an art gallery. While I didn’t touch on it in the book, Daylesford also has a strong gay population, with the rainbow flag flying on many businesses, and there are some absolutely fantastic cafes and boutiques as a result. It’s a great place to go for a weekend away – and a great place for Amy and Quinn to have grown up. I hope you all enjoy this book – it’s got some good fun bits in it and a fair amount of longing and angst and passion. But that’s what unrequited love is all about, right?

Lastly, before I sign off, I have been invited to present a session at the Williamstown Literary Festival. For those of you not in Australia (or, more specifically, Melbourne), Williamstown is a suburb in the city’s west. I’ll be presenting with my buddy Joan Kilby, a fellow Super Romance author, and we’ll be talking about getting started with writing a romance novel and all that that entails. I’ll be honest, I’ve always been a bit nervous about public speaking, but doing it with Joan will be fun and I love talking about writing. So it’s all good. (gives nervous laugh). I’ll put up a link to the Festival website when I have one.

Until next time, best wishes to everyone.

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We have finally moved into our new place – just a rental, but still, our space – and I have had the pleasure of having a house guest for our first week. My aunt was going away and asked if we would like to dogsit for her, knowing that we have been toying with the idea of getting a pooch of our own. We figured this would be a great way to find out if we are grown up enough to look after another being – a sort of try before you buy idea, if you will. So, last Friday, we went to collect Miss Molly, my aunt’s miniature fox terrier.

Miss Molly is small, perky and very well trained. She’s also very licky, very jumpy and so damned cute it sometimes hurts to look at her. Best of all, for the whole week we had her, she curled up beside my workstation every day while I tapped away at the keyboard, snoozing in the sun and occasionally giving me a nudge or two to encourage tummy rubs (of which there are apparently not enough in Miss Molly’s universe. I tell you, she’s insatiable. Would probably just spend 24 hours, 7 days a week having her tummy rubbed if she had her way).

She was an utter delight and I loved having another heartbeat in the house while my man was at work. So… apparently we might be up for dog ownership. How about that! The next question will be what kind of dog? But that’s a whole other can of worms…

Before I sign off tonight, it would be remiss of me to not mention the fact that my latest release, Her Best Friend, is now available at eHarlequin as part of their early release program. Just go to the Super Romance section and click on the button for April, and my book should be in there. An excerpt and Behind The Scenes info will be added to my site shortly, I promise, but in the meantime there should be an excerpt at eHarlequin…

Until next time,

Sarah

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Okay, we’re well into the New Year – a whole two and a bit weeks – and I’ve already been tardy on the blog updates. I’m going to blame the fact that I’ve condensed my life down to a single small bedroom in my mother’s house – and, really, I think it’s a pretty good excuse! Last time we moved home from New Zealand (yes, we’ve moved countries before. Nuts, huh?) we moved back into our own home. But we sold our house a couple of years ago, and this time we came home to…nothing. Our furniture has therefore gone into storage, and we have wedged ourselves and our five suitcases full of clothes into my mother’s spare bedroom.

She’s been incredibly generous, rearranging her house for us, smiling bravely while we invade her space. I’m sure she’s secretly dreaming of a time when she won’t come home and find my shoes kicked off in the living room or a coffee cup abandoned on the coffee table, but she’s doing a damned good job of pretending she’s enjoying the company and my cooking while we’re here.

How long will this limbo last, I hear you ask? Good question! We currently have our eye on a house. It doesn’t go to auction until late in February. If we miss out on it, we have decided to rent and look for somewhere to buy at our leisure. If we get it…well, then we’re opening up a whole new can of worms because this place needs some serious DIY love and tenderness. But we’ll get to that when we get to it…

On the book front, I am finishing revisions on my latest Blaze, due out in September, I believe. It’s called Hot Island Nights and is the story of Elizabeth, a somewhat prim, somewhat repressed English woman who finds herself in Australia at the beachside community of Cowes on Philip Island, trying to resist the lures of local hottie Nathan. Nathan isn’t all he appears to be, however – or, more accurately, he’s a lot more than he appears to be. Hi jinx ensue. I’m looking forward to the cover art on this one, let me tell you!

On the release front, Her Secret Fling is in bookshops RIGHT NOW. So if you’re one of those people who likes a hard copy book and not an ebook, you need to grab it before it’s replaced by next month’s crop of Blazes. I’ve had some great reader letters on this book and I’m tickled pink that people are enjoying it. It’s had some nice reviews around the blog sites, too.

Okay, I’m going to dive into revisions for the day. Until next time!

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I hope the festive season brings much happiness, laughter, love and contentment to you and yours. Have a great time!

Sarah

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Okay. It’s official. Her Secret Fling is now available over at Harlequin, even though the rest of the world won’t be selling it until January. Gotta love that early release program!!

I’m sure I’ve blogged about this book before, but I’m going to do it again. What the hey! Her Secret Fling is one of those “hate at first sight” stories – you know, the one’s where your first impressions are turned upside down once you get to know each other. I have to say, I had an enormous amount of fun writing the dialogue for this book – Poppy and Jake don’t give each other a lot of quarter when the gloves come off, which gave me license to have a good time. I love banter between romantic leads – His Girl Friday is one of my all time favorite movies because of the zingy back and forth between Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.

The idea for this story grew out of me wondering what would happen when a one night stand is forced by circumstances into becoming something more. Poppy and Jake think they’re all about physical intimacy, but then Life intervenes and suddenly they’re dealing with intense emotional intimacy as well. I should probably warn you that I cried a little while I wrote bits of this book. I know, I know – Home For the Holidays has been getting lots of comments about being a tearjerker, and I promise I’m not on a tear-jerker rampage. But I really wanted to push these people into a corner and force them to get past their preconceptions. And I hope the sad bits will be worth it for readers in the end.

I’ve had a lovely time chatting to readers over at various blogs recently – Romconinc and The Season, and of course over at the Blaze authors blog. I’ll be there on the 5th giving away two copies of Her Secret Fling, so pop over and have a chat if you’d like to go in the draw.

I’ll be moving house – and countries! – next week, so it’s going to be interesting times! Until next time…

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Okay, let me get the gratuitous self-promotional plug out of the way first – my latest book is on the shelves RIGHT NOW. Home For the Holidays is a Super Romance and you can find an excerpt on the books page, as well as some behind-the-scenes stuff from when I was writing the book.

Okay, plug over. Phew! Now, onto other matters….

My partner and I are currently in the process of moving countries – New Zealand to Australia, to be exact. We have been in New Zealand for two years and I’m very much looking forward to being back home where I can go watch my nephews play basketball on the weekends and attend my niece’s calisthenics reviews. It will be fantastic to be able to just drop in and annoy my family any old time I feel like it (not sure how they will feel about this, but what the hey!)

One of the things I’m also looking forward to is having our own home again. We sold up before we set sail for NZ, and now that we’re going home we’re going to be doing the old real estate trawl again, dealing with lies, lies, lies from real estate sharks and gnawing our fingers to the bone at auctions. Once that bit is over, however, we will once again have our own space. Yay!

If we don’t like the carpet or the curtains or the wall color, we can change it. What bliss! I have two years of pent-up home decoration just waiting to burst out of me. I’ve even been keeping a little file of ideas, just in case we need to re-model a kitchen or bathroom or garden or patio or whatever. I’ve also been fantasising about setting up my office properly and having all my books around me again (we left most behind in storage, including my beloved Georgette Heyer collection).

So, because I’m excited, I’m going to share a couple of my more whimsical decorating fancies with you. These aren’t necessarily going to make it into our new home, mind, but they’re on my radar right now.

How cute is this wall decal? No idea what room I will put this in, but I adore it because it's cute and a little bit rude. You can find them at Etsy,click on the piccie to be linked to the manufacturer's site.

This is wallpaper. Pretty cool, huh? Also kind of psychodelic. I'm thinking feature wall, possibly in my study. But I might have to work with my back to it with all that color popping out at me! To give you an idea of scale, that image would cover a whole wall - each can of caviar is about the same diameter as the average car tire. Click on the piccie to be linked to the manufacturer's website - they have some kooky/cool stuff!

Okay, admit it – you think my house is going to look like a sideshow at the circus, don’t you? It just might, by the time I’m finished with it. We’ll see!

Until next time, happy reading!

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So if you’re looking for a paper copy (as opposed to an ebook) your time starts now! People who aren’t readers of category romance are always surprised when I explain that Harlequin books are only available on book store shelves for 30 days. Of course, thanks to the internet, they’re around for a lot longer than that these days, which is great for writers, and, I hope, readers.

We’re still thrashing around in the middle of pre-moving-countries mess. I’ve been flat out doing revisions on a stand alone book that I will be start sending out to publishers in the next little while. I must say, it feels very strange to be back at square one again, trying to find someone who likes my voice and my story and thinks they can sell me. But this is what writing for publication is all about, so I am preparing to gird my loins and plunge into the fray… For anyone who is interested, the book is a bit of a departure from my Blazes and Superromances in that it’s written in first person. It’s more chick lit than straight romance, although there’s a very strong romantic subplot (couldn’t live without my romance!!!) and it’s about a woman who embarks on a journey to get healthy when she has an epiphany (of sorts) at her high school reunion and realises she’s put on a great deal of weight.

While I have never been as big as the heroine in my book, I have had my own weight/self esteem battles so this is definitely a book from the heart. And yes, it was uncomfortable writing some of the scenes, as well as very empowering and rewarding. I hope I get a chance to share it with readers. Fingers crossed!!!

Now, onto the very important subject of shoes. While I wouldn’t go so far as to say I have a shoe fetish, as such, I definitely have a thing for shoes (my man would say that thing was a credit card, I suspect!). Anyway, when I can find something gorgeous or interesting or kooky over the next little while, I’m going to post piccies of my Shoe of the Moment. This week’s is actually one of my own, a recent addition to my collection that has had a couple of outings this week.

These boots are made by a Spanish company called Prophecy. Unlike this piccie, which is dark blue, mine are dark green patent leather. Cool heel, huh? Feel free to direct me to your own favorite shoes – I’m always up for some vicarious thrills.

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