So who do I have to thank (blame) for my inaugural blog of last week?
With all the information flowing through the web, I wasn’t really thinking of doing a blog since the whole three people who would read it already know my views on things. And then this persistent person who I’d never met in Real Life told me it would be a blast. I sighed, thought about it, sighed some more and then it hit me – maybe there will be more than three people reading my blog. Perhaps, there will be <gulp> four! Or maybe even five!
So I wish to thank Beany Sparks for inviting (making) me to write a blog and giving me the opportunity to be the next stop in this Blog Hop:
http://www.beanysparks.com/blog.html
You can catch up on some of the previous blog hops here:
Khul Waters: http://khulwaters.wordpress.com/
Ellen Cross: http://vampyangel291197.wix.com/ellen-cross#!blog/c112v
Evi Asher: http://eviasher23.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/my-writing-process-blog-tour/
So the rule of this blog hop is I have to answer four questions. So here goes…
1. What am I working on?
Oh. My. God.
Have you ever heard someone biting off more than they can chew? (Picture me waving my hand furiously).
So my debut novel Loving Jay is released in < gulp> four days. I am ever so nervous but excited at the same time and I’ve been setting up my website and talking to 101 people about it. The book is a wonderful, light-hearted comedy featuring Liam - who doesn’t even know if he is gay or not - falling for lovely, vivacious, make-up wearing, drama-queen Jay. Dreamspinner have been absolutely wonderful by giving me this opportunity to publish, and my lovely, lovely editor didn’t laugh (too much) at my first attempt at a manuscript and helped me whip it into shape. Thanks Liz!
At the same time as nervously chewing my fingers down to the quick, I’m up to the editing stage of my second novel:
The Blinding Light. This one will be out around July/August and features smart-aleck Jake who takes on a housekeeping role for grumpy Patrick, who is blind.
If that wasn’t enough, hot on its tail is my rural m/m novel The Shearing Gun which is set in country Western Australia and features a lot of sheep, along with two hot, sexy guys. <sigh>
I am making my big announcement here, so don’t blink: I have just signed my fourth contract with Dreamspinner Press for a novel called Safe In His Arms. Yes – you heard it right! Somehow, I’m going to be able to bring you my romantic, erotic tale of Casey and Lon.
So if that wasn’t enough, I’m also furiously writing my next m/m novel for you all, entitled Shawn’s Law. I love romantic comedies and Shawn is my adorable Aussie bloke who often falls victim to Murphy’s Law. He knows all the paramedics,
emergency department staff and auto-break down service people by name, and seems to have a knack for finding Australian fauna that bite. I’m hoping to have it finished by the end of May, so look for my announcement that it is done. If you don’t see it, you have my permission to bug me about it!
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I’m not a path blazer by any means. I love writing about everyday guys who you could possibly meet down at the local supermarket or at the train station. I write in order to make my readers smile.
I’m different though, because my characters all live in (or near) my home city of Perth, Western Australia. So if you want a giggle and want to know what it's like to live in my wonderful city, pick up one of my books and have a read. There aren’t that many Perth-based books out there!
3. Why do I write what I do?
Easy. To make people laugh.
After the birth of my second child, I fell victim to the dreaded PND – Post-Natal Depression. And it sucked badly! I am determined to never walk that path again if I can help it. So each time I think I’m getting a little morose, I find something to make me laugh. I believe that Laughter (yes – with a capital L) can cure a whole range of things. And if it doesn’t – what harm has it done?
And of course I’m a romantic at heart, so nothing but a HEA will do!
4. How does my writing process work?
With a concept.
A random thought will hit me from the blue and next thing plot bunnies are multiplying like rabbits.
For example, with Loving Jay, I had the pleasure to befriend a guy who is unashamedly gay from the top of his well-gelled hair to the tips of his beautifully polished, blue fingernails. One day I thought, “I wonder what’s the reaction of a ‘normal’ straight guy to this flamboyant peacock when they meet him for the first time? I wonder what would happen if a normal straight guy didn’t even realise he was gay until he saw this vibrant, brilliant man and was wildly attracted to him?”
So I put them both on paper – I gave them names and physical forms, and then I pushed them at each other and sat back to watch what happened. Truthfully, I don’t plan what is going to transpire – I’m along for the ride as much as the reader is.
As a mother to two young children, my writing is fractured, flowing with the wants and needs of the family. My children don’t know I’m in the middle of a very hard love scene, so I’m constantly interrupted in order to make vegemite sandwiches, attend to a bee sting or even just to see what they have drawn (with crayon on the wall). My characters have been wonderful throughout the interruptions – even when they’re going at it hot and heavy, they just take a break and wait for me to return. I find the breaks allow me to solidify my thinking and find that elusive word I was missing.
I am completely jealous of authors who write that they listened to opera in order to get them into the mood for writing their period drama. The background music to my books is usually Sesame Street and Peppa Pig. But somehow, without planning a single thing, my books have developed into being.
So, now that you are all caught up on the news, I hope you will stop by again and visit. Next Monday, we will have another wonderful Australian debut writer participate in the blog hop: Nic Starr. Nic is familiar to many readers as she is prolific with her reviews from her site: http://someonehastosetabadexample.wordpress.com/
She has been writing as well as reviewing, and Dreamspinner will be publishing her first novella in July/August 2014.
Stop by her blog next Monday and meet her so you can tell everyone you knew her before she was famous!
Another great Australian author to publish her story with Dreamspinner in July is Michelle Rae. Please stop by and be introduced to her as well: http://www.moralfortitude.com/
With all the information flowing through the web, I wasn’t really thinking of doing a blog since the whole three people who would read it already know my views on things. And then this persistent person who I’d never met in Real Life told me it would be a blast. I sighed, thought about it, sighed some more and then it hit me – maybe there will be more than three people reading my blog. Perhaps, there will be <gulp> four! Or maybe even five!
So I wish to thank Beany Sparks for inviting (making) me to write a blog and giving me the opportunity to be the next stop in this Blog Hop:
http://www.beanysparks.com/blog.html
You can catch up on some of the previous blog hops here:
Khul Waters: http://khulwaters.wordpress.com/
Ellen Cross: http://vampyangel291197.wix.com/ellen-cross#!blog/c112v
Evi Asher: http://eviasher23.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/my-writing-process-blog-tour/
So the rule of this blog hop is I have to answer four questions. So here goes…
1. What am I working on?
Oh. My. God.
Have you ever heard someone biting off more than they can chew? (Picture me waving my hand furiously).
So my debut novel Loving Jay is released in < gulp> four days. I am ever so nervous but excited at the same time and I’ve been setting up my website and talking to 101 people about it. The book is a wonderful, light-hearted comedy featuring Liam - who doesn’t even know if he is gay or not - falling for lovely, vivacious, make-up wearing, drama-queen Jay. Dreamspinner have been absolutely wonderful by giving me this opportunity to publish, and my lovely, lovely editor didn’t laugh (too much) at my first attempt at a manuscript and helped me whip it into shape. Thanks Liz!
At the same time as nervously chewing my fingers down to the quick, I’m up to the editing stage of my second novel:
The Blinding Light. This one will be out around July/August and features smart-aleck Jake who takes on a housekeeping role for grumpy Patrick, who is blind.
If that wasn’t enough, hot on its tail is my rural m/m novel The Shearing Gun which is set in country Western Australia and features a lot of sheep, along with two hot, sexy guys. <sigh>
I am making my big announcement here, so don’t blink: I have just signed my fourth contract with Dreamspinner Press for a novel called Safe In His Arms. Yes – you heard it right! Somehow, I’m going to be able to bring you my romantic, erotic tale of Casey and Lon.
So if that wasn’t enough, I’m also furiously writing my next m/m novel for you all, entitled Shawn’s Law. I love romantic comedies and Shawn is my adorable Aussie bloke who often falls victim to Murphy’s Law. He knows all the paramedics,
emergency department staff and auto-break down service people by name, and seems to have a knack for finding Australian fauna that bite. I’m hoping to have it finished by the end of May, so look for my announcement that it is done. If you don’t see it, you have my permission to bug me about it!
2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I’m not a path blazer by any means. I love writing about everyday guys who you could possibly meet down at the local supermarket or at the train station. I write in order to make my readers smile.
I’m different though, because my characters all live in (or near) my home city of Perth, Western Australia. So if you want a giggle and want to know what it's like to live in my wonderful city, pick up one of my books and have a read. There aren’t that many Perth-based books out there!
3. Why do I write what I do?
Easy. To make people laugh.
After the birth of my second child, I fell victim to the dreaded PND – Post-Natal Depression. And it sucked badly! I am determined to never walk that path again if I can help it. So each time I think I’m getting a little morose, I find something to make me laugh. I believe that Laughter (yes – with a capital L) can cure a whole range of things. And if it doesn’t – what harm has it done?
And of course I’m a romantic at heart, so nothing but a HEA will do!
4. How does my writing process work?
With a concept.
A random thought will hit me from the blue and next thing plot bunnies are multiplying like rabbits.
For example, with Loving Jay, I had the pleasure to befriend a guy who is unashamedly gay from the top of his well-gelled hair to the tips of his beautifully polished, blue fingernails. One day I thought, “I wonder what’s the reaction of a ‘normal’ straight guy to this flamboyant peacock when they meet him for the first time? I wonder what would happen if a normal straight guy didn’t even realise he was gay until he saw this vibrant, brilliant man and was wildly attracted to him?”
So I put them both on paper – I gave them names and physical forms, and then I pushed them at each other and sat back to watch what happened. Truthfully, I don’t plan what is going to transpire – I’m along for the ride as much as the reader is.
As a mother to two young children, my writing is fractured, flowing with the wants and needs of the family. My children don’t know I’m in the middle of a very hard love scene, so I’m constantly interrupted in order to make vegemite sandwiches, attend to a bee sting or even just to see what they have drawn (with crayon on the wall). My characters have been wonderful throughout the interruptions – even when they’re going at it hot and heavy, they just take a break and wait for me to return. I find the breaks allow me to solidify my thinking and find that elusive word I was missing.
I am completely jealous of authors who write that they listened to opera in order to get them into the mood for writing their period drama. The background music to my books is usually Sesame Street and Peppa Pig. But somehow, without planning a single thing, my books have developed into being.
So, now that you are all caught up on the news, I hope you will stop by again and visit. Next Monday, we will have another wonderful Australian debut writer participate in the blog hop: Nic Starr. Nic is familiar to many readers as she is prolific with her reviews from her site: http://someonehastosetabadexample.wordpress.com/
She has been writing as well as reviewing, and Dreamspinner will be publishing her first novella in July/August 2014.
Stop by her blog next Monday and meet her so you can tell everyone you knew her before she was famous!
Another great Australian author to publish her story with Dreamspinner in July is Michelle Rae. Please stop by and be introduced to her as well: http://www.moralfortitude.com/
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