~October/November 2011
I mentioned in my last update, the death of Sandra Hyde (writing as Sandra Hyatt.) A Trust has been created by her family, in her memory, to continue her legacy of generosity and kindness by furthering the career of an emerging writer.
Money raised by the Trust will form an annual education grant, awarded to an aspiring NZ-based romance writer to enable them to attend a national or international writers conference, to improve their craft and progress their writing goals. Sandra knew from her own experience that attending such conferences is an important step on the road to publication.
If you wish to be part of Sandra’s legacy to future writers, you can make a contribution to the trust by:
- Direct credit to the Bank of New Zealand, Sandra Hyde Memorial Romance Writers Trust – Account Number 02-0400-0092688-00
(For International Transfers – Sort Code 02-04-00 Swift Code BKNZNZ22)
-Cheque (within NZ) made out to the Sandra Hyde Memorial Romance Writers Trust and posted to: 191 McNicol Rd, RD5 Papakura, Auckland.
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~August/September 2011
August is conference month for romance writers in Australia and New Zealand and I was lucky enough to attend both conferences this year. I had the great pleasure of gushing over Susan Wiggs in a hallway (Note to self: learn to do this with aplomb) and meeting delightful Harlequin Mills & Boon editor, Lucy Gilmour, as well as meeting the wonderful Megan Crane/Caitlin Crews and renewing friendships with many other authors I rarely get face to face time with. There's nothing quite like a good old girlie/writer talk over coffee or a few glasses of wine. I am so blessed with my friends. Plus, I adore Melbourne, although, as usual, the conference programme was so full that I didn't have enough time to dawdle around the city. Will have to make another trip I think!
Sadly, at the Romance Writers of New Zealand conference we lost a very talented writer and good friend, Sandra Hyatt. Due to an undetected congenital arteriovenous malformation, she suffered a cerebral hemmorhage and passed away on the last day of conference. It was a very sad day but the RWNZ committee and conference organisers really stepped up to the plate and continued to bring attendees a wonderful professional format throughout the entire weekend. So, August has definitely been a month of highs and lows for me.
Throughout September I will be working on my newest contracted manuscript. I'll be participating in another continuity during the latter half of 2012 and I can't wait to get stuck into my story. After that, I have a Billionaires and Babies book to write as well. It's so good to be busy!
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~May/June/July 2011
I've been very remiss in the blogging department, however I do post updates every few days on what's happening in my world on facebook. Please, do pop by to my author page and "like" the page to keep fully up to date.
Okay, the last few months have been a bit of a blur of writing and family things. My girls are busy with the current winter netball season and I love watching them play. I actually forget my kids are on the court, I get so wrapped up in the game, except for when one gets hurt and then, boy oh boy, does my stomach drop. This year I'm team manager for my oldest girls' squad and they're a great bunch of girls. Their coach is seeing the benefit of her time with them as they recently promoted to a higher grade for the next round of competition. Going to be some serious nail biting on the sideline, that's for sure.
I'm still busy knitting. If you want to see the fruits of my endeavours, do join Ravelry.com (it's free) and I'm on there as NZYvonne. I have a gorgeous scarf pattern that I've yet to try, with some yarn I purchased at Debbie Macomber's yarn shop in Port Orchard last December. It's just as well I live almost half a world away or I'd just about be living in that store, it's so gorgeous!
Writing wise, I'm busy plotting for a Billionaires and Babies book which is due out next year. I've recently delivered the second book in my new family saga series. Those first two books will be released in February and March 2012. It's conference time and RWA National is currently happening in NYC as I type this. I'm very disappointed I can't be there but I will definitely be at the RWNZ conference in Auckland in August (still fence sitting over the RWAustralia conference as our exchange rate isn't looking too pretty at the moment, darnit!)
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~March/April 2011
It's good to be busy but sometimes it means I do get behind with updates, which invariably means I get a little behind on updating this site. Bad, I know, but I'm sure you'll agree, the books come first. I'd like to remind everyone to please "like" me on my facebook page to get the most up to date information on what's happening with my writing world. And speaking of my writing world, Judd's story is in with my editor and his sister, Nicole's, story has been contracted together with another book with Harlequin Desire, both of which will be out in 2012! Exciting stuff, and to add to the excitement my editor emailed me two days later to ask if I'd like to participate in another continuity with Harlequin Desire. Of course I said "yes!" Looks like the busy-ness isn't going to let up any time soon and I kind of like things that way.
As New Zealand heads further into autumn I have taken out my double pointed knitting needles again and I'm busy knitting socks. I love the sense of satisfaction you get when working on projects that can be completed (and worn!) in a very short period of time. I have quite a lovely stash of coloured hand-dyed merino wool that I'm working through but I find it oh, so hard, not to keep ordering more. Is there such a thing as a wool-magpie?
April sees the release of BOUGHT: HIS TEMPORARY FIANCEE, and I was thrilled to see that the story garnered a 4.5 star review from RT Magazine. I was also trilled to see the cover and see USA Today Bestselling Author featured above my name! A career milestone, that's for sure.
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~January/February 2011
Oh my, 2011 is already flying past me. Sometimes I'm afraid that if I blink I'll miss the entire year! January is usually our family's holiday month, and we like to head away camping for about ten days or so mid month. Well, the best laid plans of mice and campers were very thoroughly put asunder by some very severe weather. It's not a huge amount of fun camping when there's a river of water running through your tent because the water table has come so high that there's no where for the water to drain to. Regrettably, we had to cut our camping holiday short but with only one fine day in seven we were pretty relieved to get back home safe and sound and relatively unscathed. Here's hoping next year's camping will have more settled weather.
One thing I've done a lot of in recent weeks is read. I always make time to try and read a bit every day, I tend to get a bit cranky if I don't, but lately I've been devouring stories by a wide range of authors and I've really been enjoying myself. For me, there's nothing quite like getting lost in an awesome piece of writing and escaping for a while.
February looks set to be busy for me as I'll be busy completing a manuscript which is currently scheduled for April 2012. At the moment I'm working with the title "Judd's Story." You'd think with all my imagination that I'd be able to come up with something better than that, hmm? Anyway, the book is due to my editor mid March so I definitely have plenty to occupy my time with.
In the meantime, I'd like to wish all my readers a very Happy Valentine's Day and wish you all the best for fabulous times, and even better reads, ahead!
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~November/December 2010
This month has been busy with writing and completing my latest work in progress as well as planning and celebrating our eldest child's 21st birthday celebrations. Thankfully, both have gone off very well and now its time to turn our thoughts to a wee bit of travel. I'll be in Seattle for a few weeks and I'm looking forward to revisiting some of the places we saw during our last stay there as well as finding some new ones to explore (weather and snow permitting, of course.)
In the meantime, I'm busy with my new proposal which is due in the New Year and I'm looking forward to plotting out the bare bones of some new stories for my readers.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my US readers who celebrate the holiday! And, happy planning an shopping for those who celebrate Christmas! Here in New Zealand it's already gearing up to be a warm one.
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~October 2010
So far not a lot is happening in October for me aside from family birthdays and celebrations and lots of writing! At the moment I'm busy with line edits on my continuity book for April next year as well as working on writing the first book in my new contract, which I'm hoping will be scheduled in the latter half of next year. The book will be a reunion story with some very bitter and some very sweet memories to overcome.
I'm eagerly awaiting to see how well FOR THE SAKE OF THE SECRET CHILD fares with readers. I know from some who've received the book already through Harlequin's reader service that they've really loved the wrap up story in the WED AT ANY PRICE trilogy. It certainly has reviewed well. Here's what Pat Cooper, from Romantic Times had to say in her 4 1/2 star review:
Recovering from a nearly fatal car crash, Benedict del Castillo arrives at Parker’s Retreat to recover away from the prying eyes of the media. He comes face to face with the woman he shared a weekend with a few years earlier. Mia Parker is stunned when she crosses paths with the man she privately considers her worst mistake, the father of her son. Ben believes being with Mia and her son is a way to live up to his family obligations and to have the woman he’s never been able to forget. The satisfying wrap-up to the Wed at Any Price trilogy is a steamy romance wrapped in a family drama.
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~August/September 2010
Wow, where to begin. August saw the 16th annual conference of Romance Writers of New Zealand, which coincided with RWNZ celebrating 20 years since it's inception by Jean Drew, writing as Jean Adams, our founder. I always love attending romance writing conferences for several reasons, usually the chance to catch up with so many of my online writing buddies being foremost in my mind. But this year RWNZ's conference committee put on an amazing collection of speakers and while I loved the catch up time with my mates, I was spoiled for choice for workshops and speakers at the conference. My total and absolute highlight was hearing Christopher Vogler speak on THE WRITER'S JOURNEY. I've always been wary of this, I don't know why, maybe because of the sometimes spiritual content of the journey, maybe not, maybe because I thought it might test me in ways I didn't want to be tested, maybe not. Either way, I am so very glad I attended Chris's full day workshop. Seriously, I think I could listen to him speak on writing every single day and still get something new out of what he has to say. I have a photo that was taken of the two of us during the Awards dinner, which you can see on my gallery page. Entering into the sprit of the 'Sparkle and Shine' themed dinner, he's wearing a black sequin covered beanie. What a star!
September has seen me busy polishing up three book proposals for my editor. I'm waiting to hear back whether the pitch is successful and whether or not I'll be progressing those stories further. And, in other exciting news, my THE TAKEOVER continuity book has been accepted and has been retitled to BOUGHT: THE TEMPORARY FIANCEE.
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~May/June/July 2010
The past few months have been very busy for me and I've been remiss in keeping you updated on my activities. Just a reminder, please look me up on facebook and friend me if you want daily/weekly updates on what I'm up to.
May saw me travel to Australia and the exquisitely beautiful city of Adelaide to conduct a one day seminar with the fabulous Anna Campbell. Anna and I hadn't worked together before but spent quite a bit of time emailing back and forth about what we were planning to achieve in the workshops together. We had a fabulous time working together (I do recall hearing mention of Laurel and Hardy at one stage!) and the seminar attendees were a fabulously creative and responsive bunch to work with. Major kudos to the South Australian Romance Authors group for putting on a fabulous day and for being such wonderful hosts. The gorgeous Trish Morey took Anna and me sight seeing the day after the seminar and I have to say that I cannot wait to go back to Adelaide to experience more of the beauty and history it has to offer. And cheese. And wine. Seriously, if you ever go to Adelaide you must go to the cheese shop, Udder Delights, in Hahndorf. Fabulous place. Have I said "fabulous" much? Seriously. It was!
June and July have me very busy working to meet deadline on my current contract. The book is to be titled, BOUGHT: THE FAKE FIANCEE, and will be book four (April release) in THE TAKEOVER continuity coming out with Silhouette Desire January-June 2011!
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~April 2010
April has been an awesome month for me. Busy writing, as always. Had to retweak parts of my continuity outline but those changes have been given the green light and I'm raring to go. Just a few interruptions along the way with doing AAs (final read through of edits before the manuscript goes to production) on two of my trilogy books, and the workshop day for Romance Writers of New Zealand's Kapiti/Wellington Chapter. The workshop day was fantastic, as were all the fabulous people involved in its organisation and attendance. I had a wonderful time and got to get to know awesome new Super Romance author, Zana Bell, a little better, as well as enjoyed hearing Mills & Boon Historical author, Victoria Aldridge, speak. She's a wonderful speaker--intelligent, insightful and humorous--and now I can't wait to get hold of her books. As to Zana? Well, check out her website and you'll see how clever she is. Not only writing for category romance, she's also published in historical work as well as young adult fiction.
April is an anniversary month for me, with this year marking five years since that life changing first sale call. Too often we (as least, I) get caught up in the here and now and what needs to be done and by when, and we (I) forget to sit back and see just what we've achieved in the past few years. This month has really brought it home to me as I've received no less than 15 different foreign editions for several of my books. I always find those moments so incredibly humbling. There is not a day that goes by that I'm not grateful that I can do what I love most to do--write romance.
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~February/March 2010
February passed me by, with the exception of my birthday, in a total blur of writing. I have to say I love writing. Absolutely love it. What I don't love is writing in 98% humidity in a small office with my door closed (for silence and privacy) and 26 deg Celsius sticky heat. Bleuch. Thankfully, now it's March, and I still have a great deal on my writing plate (yay!) the humidity has dropped markedly and while we're still enjoying the gorgeous clear blue and sunny days, the temperatures and humidity levels are more comfortable. Oh, and at night we can sleep again because it's cooler.
I'm hugely excited about the upcoming continuity for next year, but in the meantime I've realised I have a few titles out this year and that's so exciting. If I remember back to 2005, only five years ago, at this time I was still unpublished. Now I have 18 contracted titles (16 books and 2 online titiles) to my credit. If you'd have told me then where I'd be today I probably wouldn't have believed you. I would have wanted to, but it would have been stretch even of my imagination.
Next month I'm presenting workshops at a one day seminar, hosted by the Wellington Chapter of RWNZ. For more information, send your query through the contact us page on the RWNZ website. Then in April, I'll be in Adelaide presenting workshops at Romancing The Novel, hosted by the South Australian Romance Authors and Romance Writers of Australia. For more information, see HERE.
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~January 2010
Holiday month! Yay!
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~October/November/December 2009
Well, October passed in a bit of a blur, as did November. I've been very busy reworking outlines for my Mediterranean trilogy, THE HEART'S TRUTH, which is now scheduled for August/September/October 2010! Not just reworking outlines, but also writing Book 2 in the trilogy. This went to my lovely new editor at the beginnig of December and I'm currently awaiting her line edits on the first book in the trilogy. On top of that, I have the line edits to do for MAGNATE'S MISTRESS FOR A MONTH, which is Book 2 in the SUMMER OF SCANDAL mini-continuity (books out in June/July/August 2010.) Hmm, I seem to have had a plethora of Mistress titles lately.
The weather here in Auckland has edged it's way into spring and now summer, although if the precipitation and wind we've experienced lately is any indicator we may not be on course to enjoy a long hot summer like the last one. For myself that doesn't bother me. My office faces east and gets the morning sun full bore through my window, which makes working in here on a summer's day extremely uncomfortable. I'm planning to look into airconditioning in the next week or two. It's not something widely used in homes in New Zealand but I have a feeling I'll melt in here this summer, with Book 3 in THE HEART'S TRUTH trilogy due to my editor by 26 February.
In November I took a trip to Queenstown to research that Book 3. The story is set on the shores of Lake Whakatipu and in Queenstown itself and I needed to get a feel for the area. It was absolutely fantastic. If you want to read about my trip, check my blog HERE. I'm very keen now to get to work on that story, the characters have been real in my mind for ages and now I have the setting consolidated in my mind as well.
In the meantime, I wish all my readers a wonderful and festive Christmas time and hope your New Year brings you delight, health and happiness all year long.
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