Til we meet again

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This blog will be suspended for a while.

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Bye for now, and thanks for the support!

 

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Just - Can't - Do - It

I've tried a couple of times recently to write romances - full-on, full-blown, hitting-all-the-spots romances.

And I simply can't do it.

The one plan was to write a trilogy about how three sisters find love in middle age. I began writing about the first sister, and quickly realised that her burgeoning relationship wasn't nearly as interesting as how she was going to solve some of the problems at the school where she worked.

Then I began writing about a woman with a Secret Past. She opens a shop in a small seaside town, and her landlord is a physically attractive, but difficult sort of guy. "Woah! Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw ahoy!" I thought.

But no. The landlord quickly proved himself to be a morose, supercilious pain in the wotsit. My main character was quickly reduced to wanting to kick him in the shins. Such childish violence is not going to lead to romance, right?

So I'll stop attempting to make my characters fall in love. Perhaps it would make for a much more interesting story if they simply loathe each other.

In the meantime, here's a reminder of my recent novella, Not For Ever.  It's an ebook available on Amazon and Smashwords. I think it manages to be light and funny, despite the main characters not having much luck in the love department.

An Academic Affair - now in PDF

My novella, An Academic Affair, is now available in a variety of formats, including PDF and plain text, via Smashwords. It's a fun, quick read about Leigh, a lecturer living in Cape Town who makes the classic mistake of falling for a colleague before she even knows him properly. It's sure to make you laugh in some places - and groan in others!

Writing, running, walking

I’ve been thinking lately about good health – how to achieve it, and how to hold onto it. It seems clear that writers, like all desk-bound workers, need to put in some effort to overcome the drawbacks of their sedentary work. There’s plenty of information around that indicates how bad for you it is to sit all day.

Writers’ guru Joanna Penn, along with Dr Euan Lawon, has even written a book about this issue. It’s called The Healthy Writer, and covers a whole range of topics, including how Joanna herself cured her back pain and migraines. I haven’t read it yet, but I want to! It’s available at all the usual online stores and you can read more about it  here.

Me, I love my couch heartily, am addicted to chocolate, and quite fancy all things sugary. So you can probably deduce that apart from cutting down on the chocs, I need to Take Action. I’ve considered following the “Couch to 5k” running plan. As the name shows, it’s designed to take you from slothfulness to running five kilometres, or three miles. It seems perfect for unathletic types like me.


At this point, I think some sort of walking plan would be better. Either way, I hope to develop some fitness. Any improvement will be a near-miracle. I’ll keep you posted.

Hissing distractions

I live in the woods, in a healthy eco-system that includes snakes. On these colder autumn days, they enjoy sunning themselves on the roof tiles, which must feel heavenly to a cold-blooded creature. Below is a pic I took yesterday of a boomslang (literally, 'tree snake') on our roof. It's probably a female, since she's darker than the lighter, brighter green of the males.

It's quite hard to concentrate on writing with all this wildlife about! But I'm doing my best...

New looks

I've just been reading a blog entry by Meg Reid in which she predicts the book cover design trends for this year. It makes for interesting reading. Hint: florals, sans-serif fonts, and "big book" designs are hitting the shelves as we speak.
 
And perhaps sparked by the Autumn Equinox here in the southern hemisphere a couple of days ago, heralding all sorts of shifts, I've changed a couple of my covers. I'm thrilled with the new looks for Reality Show and for Jilly Moves On.

Thanks to James of GoOnWrite.com for the cover below. Hopefully I'll be able to show you Jilly Moves On next time...

The Opposite of Hate: A Reading List

I found this reading list by Sally Kohn while browsing around: called The Opposite of Hate, it's a list of books that celebrate diversity in a variety of ways. You'll find it on the website of PEN America, who state that their mission is to "unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible".

Wonderful!

6 favorite book titles

1. Evil in Carnations by Katie Collins - part of the Flower Shop Mystery series.
2. Zombies in the Academy by Andrew Whelan, Ruth Wilson, Christopher Moore (eds).
3. On Human Stupidity by James Paul Gee - actually, his publishers wouldn't let him call the book that, so it's titled The Anti-Education Era instead.
4. Losing my Virginity – Richard Branson 
5. Wishful Drinking – Carrie Fisher. Great title for a memoir.
6. Look Back in Hunger – Jo Brand. Funny, talented person.