Coleen Kwan

Winner of the Entangled Under the Mistletoe Hop is Joye, who will be receiving copies of Real Men Don't Break Hearts and Short Soup.


Winner of the December Escape Party is Beckey, who will be receiving copies of Short Soup and When Harriet Came Home.

Available at Amazon, iTunes, or Kobo.

December Down Under is all about summer, beaches, and eating good food, and Short Soup has all of this plus a childhood friendship which suddenly starts to sizzle. Add two sets of well-meaning parents, some poignant memories, and a generous dash of steamy tension, and you have the perfect recipe for holiday reading.

Short Soup is one of six December releases by Escape Publishing. To celebrate our new releases, all six authors are throwing a December Escape Party and giving away some lovely prizes.

I am giving away ebook copies of Short Soup and When Harriet Came Home, another of my contemporary romances. For a chance to win both books just leave a comment below including how you can be contacted should you win!

Each December Escape Artist is hosting her own giveway. Visit them for chances to win more prizes:

I had a lot of fun writing this story. For a chance to win a copy of this book see my giveaway in the Entangled in Mistletoe Blog Hop (where 50 other Entangled authors are also giving away some great prizes)!

Or buy this book at Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Kobo, or BooksOnBoard.

To celebrate the holidays I'm giving away a copy of my first Entangled Bliss book,

Ally Griffin is horrified to learn her new landlord is none other than the infuriating playboy Nate Hardy—the man she blames for getting her jilted at the altar six years ago. Plus, now her ex-fiancé is back in their hometown of Burronga, Australia, to marry his beautiful new bride…for real this time. Everybody’s treating Ally with kid gloves, as though she’s still heartbroken, but she’s just fine, thank you very much.

Nate Hardy is tired of his high-flying city career and bachelor lifestyle and is looking for something more real. The last thing he needs is to find himself undeniably attracted to Ally, the woman with whom he never saw eye-to-eye. But is he even capable of what Ally wants and deserves?

As Ally tries to pull her life out of the rut it’s fallen in, she doesn't count on Nate stirring up her emotions. A short-term fling with the resident bad boy is practically irresistible, but only if she can guard her heart…

I'm also giving away a copy of my other December release, Short Soup, a contemporary romance which features sun, sea, food, and hero and heroine of Asian descent.

For a chance to win both books please leave a comment below and how you can be contacted if you win!

From Monday 10th Dec to Friday 14th Dec readers can visit each participating author's blog to find out more about the books and a chance to win some prizes. Winners will be announced on Saturday 15th December.

I will be giving away a copy of SHORT SOUP, a contemporary romance novella set in a small Australian coastal town with protaganists of Asian descent. Here's the blurb:

Toni Lau was always the good girl. She studied hard, forged a career, and married the ‘perfect’ man. But then her life unravels, and suddenly she’s divorced, jobless, and emotionally bruised. A trip to her hometown for some R&R sounds like just the ticket—until she runs into her childhood friend, Dion Chan. He’s changed, and the friend she thought she knew isn’t as laid back as before. Nor is she impervious to his charms. Suddenly the boy she grew up with is lighting all sorts of inconvenient desires in her, but she knows the heat between them can only be temporary, because Dion isn’t into serious relationships.

Dion has been secretly in love with Toni for years. When she finally starts noticing him, the timing couldn’t be worse—she’s a major distraction just when he’s everything to prove to his father, but he can’t resist exploring their mutual attraction. Despite their sizzling chemistry, he won’t put any demands on Toni. Her future lies in the big city, while he has his hands full revitalising their parents’ restaurant. Can he convince her he has the recipe for happiness?




Other Escape artists participating in the party are:

Rhian Cahill, New Year's Kisses

Bridget Gray, No Strings Attached

Caitlyn Nicholas, The Danger Game

Jenny Schwartz, Drawing Closer

Serenity Woods, Summer Fling

My second steampunk romance, Asher's Dilemma, goes on sale 7 January. I love the moodiness of this cover!


Ever since he awoke one day on the floor of his workshop with a brain-splitting headache, Asher Quigley has been haunted by fleeting visions of a beautiful woman everywhere he looks—a woman he's sure he knows, but can't recall. In spite of this he has finished his most wondrous invention yet, one that will literally make history: a time machine. But before he can complete his exacting calculations a bizarre accident causes the device to be activated, with him inside! He awakes to find himself in his lab, eight months in the past, and suddenly he remembers her…

Asher knows that something in the near future causes Minerva Lambkin, the woman who turned down his marriage proposal, to be erased from existence. And he's sure it has something to do with his device. Alone in a familiar world where he doesn't belong, he'll have to find a way to destroy the time machine to save the woman he loves from extinction. Even if that means erasing his own future.

33,000 words

Feeling the squeeze...

Part of an exhibition at Sculpture by the Sea

It's been a busy few weeks for me, and the next couple of months look set to be even busier.

Early December my first book for the Entangled Bliss line will be released! This is the first in a series of contemporary romances set around a fictional town in the Southern Highlands of NSW. This book has taken me quite a while to get into good shape, so I'll be really happy when it finally arrives.

Also in December I have a contemporary romance novella, "Short Soup", coming out with Escape Publishing. This romance is my first featuring an Asian heroine and hero, although the setting is your typical Australian coastal town.

And finally in January my steampunk romance, "Asher's Dilemma", releases. Once again Carina Press have come up with an incredible cover!

As well as preparing for my upcoming releases, I'm also madly trying to meet a few writing deadlines as well as working on a project with my writing group. Oh, and also preparing for Christmas and school holidays.

So, yes, I've been feeling the squeeze...

I always enjoy visiting this Aboriginal cave shelter. It lies in the slope of a hill overlooking a grassy meadow. The stencils along the back wall depict hands and weapons. The roof of the shelter bears the smoke of many fires, while the floor is soft ashy sand. The people who used this cave would have hunted game in the surrounding eucalyptus woodland - wallabies, possums, wombats, goannas, and snakes. For water there's a nearby gully which only fills with water during storms, but a permanent river runs further down the valley.



It’s a peaceful, meditative spot. When I’m here it’s easy to imagine people gathering together in the shelter and lighting a fire to cook their hunt. Afterward, as the night draws in, I can see them sitting around the fire and exchanging stories, perhaps about the day’s hunt or myths about the Dreamtime. From these early beginnings storytelling evolved to become an intrinsic part of our culture. The people who sat around those fires passed their tales on through oral means, while my stories exist as a series of magnetised dots on a hard drive, but I like to think I share a connection with these early story tellers.

Some writers love nothing better than to pop on the earphones and crank up the music while they write. It energises them, gives them inspiration. I’m the opposite. I can’t write with distractions like music or TV on. But sometimes listening to the right piece of music can help set the tone for a particular scene.

 I needed some mood-setting music when I was writing a pivotal scene in my first contemporary romance WHEN HARRIET CAME HOME. In my scene it’s night time and my hero and heroine, Adam and Harriet, are at a quiet lookout, dancing together under the stars. Music plays from Adam’s car. But what song were they dancing to? I wanted something emotional to match the scene and eventually found an evocative song by Melody Gardot called ‘Our Love Is Easy’.


I have to confess straight up that I’m not a fan of jazz, but I happened to catch a TV interview with singer-songwriter Melody Gardot and was intrigued by her story. An horrific accident put her in hospital for a year and left her with serious injuries, one of them making her hyper-sensitive to both light and sound. During her recovery she learned to play the guitar and began writing music. Her music has been described as ‘a blend of cocktail jazz and torch song’, and her singing is rich and soulful.

After I listened to ‘Our Love Is Easy’ several times, it made writing the scene in my book much easier and hopefully improved the emotional punch too. If you like smooth, cool jazz, or even if you don't, take a listen!

Does your character like risotto or paella?

Before I start writing a new book, I like to do a lot of planning. I write a lot of description of my main characters—what they look like, what their childhood was like, what their hopes and dreams are. But it’s only when I start writing the story that I start to find out more about them. Do they like reading? What kind of books do they enjoy? Would they be the kind of person who owns an ereader, or is it dead trees all the way?

The other day I was writing a scene in which the heroine cooked dinner for the hero. In my initial draft I had her cooking risotto, simply because I couldn’t see her cooking a roast lamb, for instance. But when I reread the scene, risotto didn’t seem right, so I changed it to paella. Paella suited her much better, I thought. Paella was spicy, messy, robust. It was her. Now it made no difference to the scene whether she cooked risotto or paella, and the hero would have enjoyed whatever she made, but it made a difference to me. It’s this level of detail I wouldn’t have thought of in my initial planning. Only when I came to write the scene did I realise that she was a paella girl.

By writing the first draft I discover so much more about my characters, their motivations, and their conflicts. The characters, who before were just a list of words in my plan, become real people. My first draft is messy, laden with clichés and mistakes, missing important scenes, lacking the right pace, but it’s also where my characters start to breathe and (hopefully) behave like real people, even to the point of preferring paella over risotto.

VRoig

I'm happy to report that I've recently signed a three book contract with Entangled Publishing for their Bliss line! My first book is slated for a November release, with the next two coming out in 2013. This is the first time I've sold books based on their synopses, and it made me realise how important it is to write a good synopsis!

It's also the first time I'm writing to contracted deadlines, which comes with its own new pressures. I'm tracking my daily word count now to make sure I don't run short of time. I also need to factor in time for holidays, editing other books, and promotion. Time management has become even more important.

Entangled Bliss publish uplifting, heartwarming stories. The focus is on family, home, a strong sense of community, and ultimately happiness, but the tone can be anything from snarky to emotional to nostalgic and everything in between. See Entangled Publishing's website for the latest Bliss releases.

Whenever I receive a revision letter from an editor, I experience a moment of panic. The revisions seem so drastic, so difficult. I can't possibly see how I'll manage them or get them done on time. I think part of the problem is I'm too attached to the manuscript I submitted. I've laboured over it to the point that in my mind this is the final product, not to be tampered with.

But I've learned that the panic is only momentary. My manuscript should be dissected. And words are just words. I'll survive if I cut out a few thousand. I can write a few thousand new ones. And once I jump in and start shoving things around, I see how right my editor is, how spot on her comments are, and I begin to breathe easier. I can do this. It's only words.

Entangled Publishing launches their Bliss imprint on Saturday 25 August! Read about this latest line of books and the titles out this month.

The weather can't make up its mind at the moment. Last week we were battered by gale-force winds that whipped the sea into a churning washing machine.




Clovelly Beach

Waverley

Magnolia



Peach

Spring is just around the corner!

It's time for another Six Sentence Sunday. These sentences come from my current WIP. My heroine, Toni, has just returned to her hometown after a long absence and bumps into her old childhood friend, Dion.


“Still doing that bean counting stuff, huh?” The corner of his mouth twitched.

Her back stiffened. “I’m a qualified CPA now,” she couldn’t help saying.

“A qualified bean counter, then.” He lifted his eyebrows.


Visit Six Sentence Sunday for other authors!

Another six sentences from Asher's Invention:


“Do you regret the night we spent together?” He didn’t know why he asked that question, but he had to know the answer.

She paused an interminable while before speaking, “No, I don’t. I wanted to savor what little time I had with you.”

He wheeled round. “You mean, before I found out what had been going on behind my back.”


Check out other Six Sentence Sunday entries.

an untrained eye

A week or so ago I was feeling drained and irritable. With the release of my latest book, I think I’d OD’d on marketing (even though I didn’t do all that much it felt like I did). There are so many avenues of promotion and not enough time or will to do it all. I can’t keep up with the deluge of emails from Yahoo groups which flood my inbox. Facebook often baffles me. Twitter is a fast-moving river that leaves me stranded.

I am an introvert. It’s not natural for me to stand on a soap box and trumpet myself or my books. I’ve never sought the limelight (the opposite, in fact), yet since becoming a published author, albeit of modest success, I’ve become something of a narcissist as I obsess over my popularity or lack thereof. And I dislike that. I don't want to become a 'me-me-me' person. So I am now on a strict diet, avoiding all checking of rankings and stats and reviews. I’m also concentrating on what I value most—writing. I’ve started a new story, something a little different, and I’m enjoying it. Writing makes me happy. Like a bowl of warm porridge on a cold winter’s morning, writing fuels me and makes me feel satisfied. My new story reminds me why I’m doing all this in the first place. I have my doubts about the marketability of my latest story but it’s rescued me from my malaise, and that’s the most important thing. They say one of the best ways to market your work is to write another book, so that’s the marketing strategy I’m going with. It’s also good for your sanity.

As I write this I realise the irony of what I'm doing: drawing attention to myself by saying I don't like doing that! Maybe this post should remain in draft mode, but then again maybe not.

My Triberr tribemate Mae Clair tagged me for the Next Best Thing Challenge. Mae's paranormal romance, Weathing Rock, comes out in October and sounds like a fascinating read.

So, onto the ten questions of the Next Best Thing Challenge!

What is the title of your book or WIP?
Asher's Invention.

Where did the idea of this book come from?
From reading and day dreaming.

What genre would your book fall under?
Steampunk romance.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
This is a difficult one.

For this Six Sentence Sunday I thought I'd post some lines from my contemporary romance, When Harriet Came Home:

Adam Blackstone. Almost unrecognisable. Ten years ago he’d had smooth, boyish good looks,designer clothes, and a sports coupé—but now! Now his dark hair was close-cropped, he drove a truck, wore work boots, jeans and a plaid shirt, and he looked rugged and gritty as sandpaper. The prince had turned into a woodcutter. Even his eyes seemed different—still grey, but with tiny creases at the edges and a dark sombreness lying in their smoky depths.

Check out other posts at Six Sentence Sunday.

I'm giving away a copy of Asher's Invention at Romacing The Book and at Book Lovers Inc. To enter head on over to these blogs and leave a comment.

For my first steampunk romance I wanted the setting to be gritty and industrialised. I wanted it to be brooding, uneasy, filled with cross-currents of tension. Victorian Manchester seemed an obvious choice. In the 19th century Manchester became known as ‘Cottonopolis’ as it rapidly became the centre for cotton and textile-processing. This rapid urbanisation went mostly unplanned, and resulted in untold human misery. Huge slums quickly developed, which were largely ignored by the more well-to-do populace because they were out of sight.


Outside visitors to the slums were often shocked at the conditions:
“On reaching them one meets with a degree of dirt and revolting filth, the like of which is not to be found elsewhere. The worst courts are leading down to the Irk, which contain unquestionably most dreadful dwellings I have ever seen. In one of these courts, just at the entrance where the covered passage ends, there is a privy without a door. This privy is so dirty that the inhabitants of the court can only enter or leave the court if they are prepared to wade through puddles of stale urine and excrement.”

The River Irk mentioned is one of several rivers that flowed through Manchester. Rivers and canals were used to transport raw materials to the city and goods for export to the rest of the world. The waterways were also heavily polluted by industry and the growing population.


‘Above the bridge are tanneries, bone mills, and gasworks, from which all drains and refuse find their way into the Irk, which receives further the contents of all the neighbouring sewers and privies.’

These places were definitely not for the faint-hearted, but they made for an intense, atmospheric background to my story.

To find out more about steampunk, Asher's Invention, and my writing process, check out my interview at Basia's Bookshelf.

I'm at Steamed! blog today talking about a Greek inventor and a famous chef.

My steampunk romance, Asher's Invention, goes on sale today!

Here's the blurb:




And an excerpt:




England, 1870s

Never in her worst imaginings had she thought it would come to this. Minerva tilted back the drooping feather of her hat and wiped a raindrop from her nose. All day the rain had been unrelenting. The draughty third-class train carriage had rattled and jolted all the way down from Manchester. She couldn't afford a hansom cab from the station, so she had walked, and now she shivered on the porch of a fashionable Kensington villa, waiting for her door knock to be answered. Mizzle and murkiness surrounded her. A chill had settled deep in her bones. A chill that had started days ago. Raising her gloved hand to knock once more, she started back as the door silently swung open. A tall, cadaverous manservant peered out at her.

Minerva drew herself upright, conscious of her unprepossessing appearance. "Is Mr. Quigley at home?"

The servant assessed her in a blink of an eye, pausing only a fraction before granting her entry. "Who shall I say is calling?" he asked as he led her into the front parlor.
"Tell him it's Miss Lambkin. Miss Minerva Lambkin." She had debated the wisdom of giving her real name--more than likely Asher would refuse to see her at all--but she would not resort to pretense. Either he would see her or he would not. If he did not...

The man retreated and left her alone in the warm parlor. With a sigh, she set down her carpetbag, took off her sodden cloak and drew closer to the crackling fire. As she peeled off her damp gloves and rubbed her hands, she surveyed the graciously furnished room, her curiosity mingling with a feeling of suspense. She noted the walls hung with striped silk, the black walnut settees richly upholstered in rose damask, the fireplace carved from the finest Italian marble. Asher Quigley was no stranger to wealth these days.

Another six sentences to share from my steampunk romance, Asher's Invention which goes on sale June 25! Here, Asher and Minerva are talking about the invention he’s worked on for many years, and which Minerva’s father stole from him.

Asher bit his tongue. Never would he admit to her how many hours he had slaved.

He shrugged. “I’ve dabbled in it on occasion, when I have some spare time, which is not often these days.”

“You’ve no wish to prove your theory correct?”

“The only theory I’ve proven is that men will do anything for money.”



Visit Six Sentence Sunday for other writers' contributions.

I've been tagged for 'Lucky Seven' by my writing friend Whitney E-K! Lucky Seven involves going to page 77 of your current manuscript, counting down 7 lines, and then posting the next 7 sentences on your blog.

My 7 lines come from a Victorian historical (with steampunk elements) which I recently completed.


But now she’d transformed into something else, some shameless creature with primitive, insistent urges. Or perhaps it was Julian who was the cause. Perhaps she’d always carried these latent feelings buried deep within, and it was only Julian who could bring them to the surface.

The idea perturbed her. She screwed her eyes shut, but still Julian’s image floated in her mind. His bronzed body was a thing of beauty, the sculpted lines of muscle, bone and sinew a hymn of virility.

She must get away from him.

Stop by at Night Owl Reviews romance blog where I'm talking about The Allure of Steampunk. There's also a chance to win a copy of my book, Asher's Invention.

I'm taking part in Six Sentence Sunday.

Here are my six sentences from my soon-to-be released steampunk romance, Asher’s Invention. In this scene, the heroine, Minerva, has just met her ex-fiancé, Asher, for the first time after five years.

In the intervening years his chest had filled out, his shoulders broadened. Dressed in his velvet-trimmed coat, brocade vest and silk cravat, he cut a dashingly handsome figure, though he was no slave to fashion, as evidenced by his unfashionably long hair and lack of sideburns. But all lingering youthfulness had been stripped from him, and he seemed more cynical and aloof than his nine-and-twenty years warranted.

Had she done this? She and her father? Were they responsible for the tautness of his lips, the adamantine glint in his eyes?

Snelvis

It's officially winter here in Sydney. Some people hate the cold season, but I love this time of year. It's perfect for a hermit like me - crisp morning walks, warm fires, lamb shank soup, and curling up with a good book. It's also soccer season for my son, which means muddy boots, smelly shirts, and rugging up on Sunday mornings.

I'm also looking forward to the release of Asher's Invention later this month. This is my first steampunk story, and I loved writing it, as it was such a departure from the contemporary romances I'd been focussed on up till then. I had so much fun that I wrote a sequel, and luckily my editor liked it too. Asher's Dilemma will be coming out in January 2013!

I'll be doing a bit of a blog tour to promote Asher's Invention. Blog stops include:
My next contemporary romance (title TBA) is scheduled to be released in October by Entangled Publishing's Indulgence line. There's been a lot of excitement about this recently launched imprint, and some truly amazing success stories. Liz Pelletier gives some frank information about Entangled's success to date. You can read it here.

Another great post on line editing from editor Gina Bernal at Romance University. She does a great job of dissecting the first two pages of a manuscript and explaining what doesn't work and how it could be fixed. I find it much harder to spot the flaws in my own work. Wish I had Gina looking over my shoulder as I do my editing!

On Saturday I joined an interesting Twitter chat about Steampunk Down Under. Lots of crazy ideas were exchanged like mad mechanical penguins, steampunk swimming costumes, and steampowered bush rangers a la Ned Kelly. Afterwards I hunted down some inspirational pictures on the internet.

Steampunk Penguin Professor by Bendragonx

Obyekt

And I just couldn't resist this steampunk kangaroo:

Andrew Whitehouse

Local steampunk events coming up: the Winter Magic Steampunk Parade takes place in Katoomba on Saturday 23 June 2012.

Margery Blandon is an eighty-year-old widow. She lives by herself in the same modest inner-city worker’s cottage her late husband brought her to after their marriage. She has the same daily and weekly routines she’s followed for years, but Marge’s world as she knows it is under threat. Judith, her daughter, is determined to move her into a nursing home, not for Marge’s well-being but for her own selfish needs. Marge’s eldest son, Walter, an ex-boxer left with permanent brain injury, supports her efforts to retain her independence, but he has ulterior motives too. And Marge suspects her second son Morris, who hasn't visited her in years, might have committed a crime.

The inner-city Melbourne suburb Marge lives in is also turning against her as the tide of gentrification laps at her fence posts. The house next door is flattened and replaced by a gargantuan McMansion. The neighbours she’s known for so long are slowly succumbing to dementia and old age.

Amidst all this upheaval, Marge slowly begins to suspect that everyone around her has been lying, or at least withholding the truth. Is her daughter trying to kill her? What does her old neighbour and lifelong nemesis know about the truth of her marriage?

The back blurb of this book states that the author has written a ‘darkly humorous portrait of a family’. It was certainly dark, but not humorous for me. In fact, it was quite a disturbing read. The helplessness which Marge experiences as she is let down first by her physical and then her mental incapacities made for uncomfortable reading, perhaps because her struggles were so accurately portrayed. The deceptions of those around her, who were meant to support her, made it even harder to read. At the same time, Marge is not always a sympathetic character in that she seems to have wasted her life, squandering opportunities for friendship and never experiencing anything approaching joy.

The novel does end on a more upbeat note, but I was still left feeling a bit depressed at the thought of  all those elderly people out there who are passionately (perhaps unrealistically) opposed to being sent to a nursing home and yet are ultimately let down by their frail bodies and minds. If this was the author’s intention, then she definitely succeeded.

Fellow Carina author Rachael Johns tagged me for the Lucky 7 meme game. I've been away for a few days but better late than never.

The Lucky 7 rules are:

• Go to page 77 of your current WIP
• Go to line 7
• Copy the next 7 lines (sentences or paragraphs) and post them
• Tag 7 authors and let them know.

Here's what I got from the latest category romance I'm working on:

Jacinta stared at Holly. “Kirk’s wife was Lex’s ex-girlfriend?”

“Yes...” Holly squinted at her, the scowl evaporating. “You didn’t know?”

She didn’t know about any of Lex’s past girlfriends. She hadn’t wanted to know because it hadn’t been important, but now...now she couldn’t help wondering. Had Lex been in love with this girlfriend? Was that why he resented Kirk? The idea of Lex being in love with someone else brought a cramping pain to her sides.

Conscious of Holly’s curious stare, she quickly tried to compose herself. “Er, no. Lex doesn’t really talk about that kind of thing.”

As I'm late to the party, I'll skip the tagging.

I haven’t been writing steampunk for very long, and I’ll admit it’s difficult to be precise about what is and isn’t steampunk. I’ve found various definitions of the word, but in a nutshell steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction and speculative fiction set in an era of steam-powered technology.

Strictly speaking a steampunk story doesn’t have to be set in the nineteenth century but even if it isn’t it should still have that Victorian feel to it ie. an atmosphere that is gritty and industrialised. Jonathan Green’s Evolution Expects is set at the end of the 20th century but still conveys a very Victorian feel—the British Empire is still ruling the waves and Queen Victoria (fuelled by her steam-powered wheelchair) is about to celebrate her 160th birthday. Some steampunk stories are more historical fantasy, such as Agatha H and the Airship City which takes place in a European setting of no discernible era.

A steampunk story can include the supernatural or paranormal, from vampires and werewolves to monstrous golems. eg Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate Series, Cindy Pape Spencer’s Photographs and Phantoms.

Steampunk is closely associated with a certain ‘look’ or aesthetic. Think of everyday items made from 19th century materials like brass, copper, glass, rubber. Machines and gadgets use cogs, wheels, levers, dials. Nothing is sleek or shiny, everything is engraved or adorned in some way.

Characters put the ‘punk’ in steampunk. They can be orphaned pickpockets, mad inventors or scarred aristocrats. They can be rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, nobles or peasants, but in some way they are marginalised from the rest of society, and it’s their differences that propel the story.

I think by its very nature steampunk lends itself to romance, suspense and adventure. Pitching eccentric characters into a cauldron of technological change, social upheaval and straitlaced Victorian values raises intriguing possibilities limited only by the writer’s imagination.

I’ve had great fun writing my steampunk novella, Asher’s Invention. It began as nothing more serious than a break from the contemporary romances I’d been writing, but the idea took hold of me, and I knew I had to finish the story.


Five years ago, Asher Quigley broke his engagement to Minerva Lambkin, believing she was an accomplice in a scheme to steal his prototype for a wondrous device. Minerva swore she was innocent, though the thief—and Asher’s mentor—was her own father.


Now, sheer desperation has driven Minerva to Asher’s door. Her father has been kidnapped by investors furious that he’s never been able to make the machine work. Only Asher, now a rich and famous inventor in his own right, can replicate the device. He’s also become a hard, distant stranger far different from the young idealist she once loved.


Despite their troubled past, Asher agrees to help Minerva. He still harbors his suspicions about her, but their reunion stirs emotions and desires they both thought were buried forever. Can they rebuild their fragile relationship in time to save her father and their future together?

The Marketing for Romance Writers group is holding two marketing classes.
How to Plan a Blog Tour on 31 March
Introduction to Triberr on 27 April

To attend these classes just join the MFRW yahoo group here.

I have to admit I picked this book purely because of the title and the cover, both of which intrigued me.

Misskaella Prout is a witch living on Rollrock Island. She has a special connection with the seals that visit the island. The other islanders shun her, but everything changes when the men realise she has the power to turn seals into humans, and not just any humans, but beautiful, bewitching women. Every man hungers to have one of these seal-women for himself, happy to pay whatever price the witch demands. Even married men desert their human wives and children, forgetting them as soon as they leave the island. Soon the island is inhabited only by the men and their sea-wives, and Misskaella, who grows ever richer.

But the sea-wives are unhappy. They long to return to the sea in their seal forms but cannot because their husbands have locked away their seal coats. The sea-wives bear the men children, but only the sons are kept. The daughters don’t thrive on the land and must be returned to the sea to be reared by the seals. The witch knits blankets out of sea weed, which the sea-wives use to comfort themselves. The sons collect sea hearts, their mams’ favourite food from the sea. Eventually the unhappiness of the sea-wives grows too much, and everyone must pay the price.

Ms Lanagan’s writing is lush and evocative, and the images her prose conjured were powerful and haunting. Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy the story as much. This was such a dark and disturbing tale with a rather uncomfortable subtext. I really felt for the unhappy and lamenting sea-wives. Their trapped existence moved me, but at times I wished they would be more proactive. The husbands, although they are enchanted by their wives, don’t seem too bothered by their growing unhappiness, and ultimately it is left to the boys of these sea-wives to act on their behalf.

Although this wasn’t a story for me, I was impressed by Ms Lanagan’s skill in telling it. Readers who like dark, fractured fairytales will enjoy this book.

I've recently received the gorgeous cover for my June release Asher's Invention:

And in other news, I've sold a contemporary romance to Entangled Publishing's Indulgence line. No release date as yet, but I'm pretty happy.

I'm over at Maggie Nash's blog today talking about book buying habits. Click here to read it.

Thanks, Maggie!

Show, don't tell. I'm constantly struggling with this one, but movies can often provide good examples of how to show without telling.

Recently I watched Crazy, Stupid, Love, and right near the beginning of the film is a scene of a teenager babysitting a girl. The teenager mucks about with the girl, chasing her around the living room, where the girl accidently knocks over a framed photo. There's the sound of glass breaking. The teenager tells the girl never mind, she'll look after it, and the girl bounces off. Alone, the teenager picks up the photo. It's a picture of the married couple she's babysitting for, and the glass has splintered down the middle. Slowly, the teenager slides her hand across the glass to cover up the wife's image.

It's a really short scene, but it shows so much:

• The  teenager isn't too grown up; she's still just a big kid
• She has a crush on the dad
• She's rather sweet and naive

And of course the splintering of the glass down the middle of the photo echoes the previous scene where the married couple are having one of those awful 'date night' dinners where they have absolutely nothing to talk about.

In fact during this dinner the wife (Julianne Moore) tells her husband (Steve Carell) she wants a divorce. The audience doesn't see this bombshell being dropped. All we see is the couple driving home after the dinner and the husband choosing to roll out of a moving car rather than talk to his wife about their marital problems.

Those opening scenes are so cleverly done. I loved the movie (though I have no idea why there's an extra comma in the title).

Today I'm reposting a great infographic from copyblogger's post 22 Ways to Create Compelling Content When You Don't Have A Clue


Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.

My fourth review for the 2012 Australian Women Writers Challenge:


Reading this book was like drinking a mug of cocoa in the depths of winter — warm, cosy, and satisfying. Elm Tree Road is the second book in the series which started with Cherry Tree Lane. It’s the kind of English historical saga I used to devour as a teenager. ETR is the story of Nell, the second of three sisters who are forced to run away from home because of their brutal father. Nell is pregnant by her lover, Cliff, and they plan to run away up north and get married. Renie, Nell’s younger sister, is going with them, but Mattie, the eldest sister, must somehow fend for herself.

So Nell finds herself moving far away from her hometown to Lancashire and married to a man who becomes less lover-like with each passing day. Alone, isolated, and impoverished because of her husband’s niggardliness, Nell endures her hardships, hoping better times will come for her and her family. Set in the 1910s, this story reminds us of the limitations upon women’s lives even at a time when technology was increasingly changing society. Nell is a product of her times. Even though she’s experienced the sharp end of women’s lack of autonomy, Nell herself says of running a house — “That’s a woman’s main job.” But when forced to she’s also capable of defending herself, showing her determination not to be cowed by any man after the harsh treatment of her father.

Nell endures hardships and tragedies with stoic endurance. When she does something illegal (but perfectly understandable) at the midpoint of the story, I kept waiting for some kind of punishment to fall on her, but it never does (or maybe it will in a later book).

I read this book very quickly because of its indefinable page-turning quality. This is an engrossing, heart-warming story which I’m sure will please Ms Jacobs’ legions of fans.

Note: It isn’t necessary to read Cherry Tree Lane first. I didn’t, and still enjoyed Elm Tree Road.

Generally I enjoy the editing part of writing. It’s a chance to correct mistakes, to flesh out characters, to add the missing nuances. Editing allows the critical, analytical left brain to take over and fashion something solid and meaningful out of the messy first draft that the creative right brain has produced. I like editing, but it feels as if I’ve been mired in editing for weeks now, and it’s a bit like eating your favourite meal five nights in a row. After a while you just want a change.

I’ve been working on edits for my steampunk novella coming out in June, Asher’s Invention. They’ve been relatively straightforward. But I’ve also been editing the sequel to Asher’s Invention and trying to make it as near to perfect as I can before I submit it. As well, I’m working on a third manuscript after a revise and resubmit. So I’ve been in editing mode for many weeks and feeling the pinch. What can I do to stop it feeling like a chore?

1. Don’t put pressure on myself. Unless my editor needs work returned by a certain date, don’t put a deadline on finishing my editing.

2. Do something else writing-related. I’ve started planning a new book. I don’t know if that’s what I’ll write next, but it’s giving my right brain a workout. I’ve also written a book review and a guest blog post. And I’m currently halfway through a great writing course which is giving me lots of food for thought about my edits.

3. Do editing in small blocks of time. Work on the edits for 2 hours then step away from the computer and don’t even think about writing.

Looking at the points above, I think No 1 is the most important. I’m constantly reading about how authors should be putting out a new title every 4 to 6 months for maximum exposure. I read about prolific writers like Maya Banks who last year wrote 8 to 10 books and professes to be a one draft writer who hates doing detailed plotting, and Rachel Aaron who increased her daily word count from 2K to 10K, and it's easy to feel I'm not pulling my weight.

On the other hand this post at The Creative Penn suggests writing fast is overrated. The comments on this post prove that every writer is different, and so am I. I’d like to write faster, and I’m still going to aim to improve my daily word count, but not at the expense of enjoying the whole experience.

A few articles that caught my attention recently while surfing the internet:

More than once recently I've tried buying ebooks only to be denied because of my geographic location. This seemed so absurd to me. For a while there I thought it was something to do with the Parallel Importation Regulations (because the authors I was trying to buy were Australians), but apparently this is not the case, as Tim Coronel explains in his article Why can't Australians buy the ebooks they want?

It appears Australians are also paying more for their ebooks than customers overseas, according to Crickey E-book prices in Australia and overseas.

Self-published author Dr. Debra Holland reveals the costs she incurred in publishing one title in this post . By far the biggest expense was for her editor, but that's money well spent IMO.

And finally on the lighter side, check out Medieval IT Helpdesk for a chuckle.

There are some books that make me sniffle, but in a nice, pleasurable way, because I know that whatever the setback it will be temporary and by the end of the book everything will be set to rights. And then there are books that make me want to cry out to the author, "Nooo, that's too sad. How could you do that?" Usually it's the death of a character that triggers this response, but it is the way the author builds up to this event that stirs the emotion so fiercely.

I'm still recovering from reading Anna Quindlen's Every Last One, even though it's been a couple of days since I finished it. This was such a harrowing book for me it gave me nightmares. Quindlen doesn't indulge in grisly details, but that makes her writing even more resonant and suspenseful. Definitely not a book for lazy weekend reading.







Other books that have made me cry in the past:
The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons - a sweeping love story set in Russia during WWII. So much suffering in this book, but it was the escape of the hero and his brother-in-law from a POW camp that had me choking.

The Twisted Sword by Winston Graham (book 11 in the Poldark series). My attention tends to wander when a book goes into long descriptions of a battle, but this book had such a gripping, intense description of the Battle of Waterloo where a much-loved character meets his end. Again, it's the events leading up to the death that make it such a powerful piece of writing.

After all that suffering, I need a break, so I'm re-reading Barbara Pym's Jane and Prudence.

When CEO Cameron McCormac cajoles pretty Peppa Grant to attend a dreaded family Christmas party with him to deflect attention away from his love life, he thinks he’s picked up a children’s entertainer, but in reality Peppa is one of his employees, a voice talent at his recording company. By the time he realises his mistake, it’s too late as they’ve already spent a sizzling night together, and before long they’ve embarked on a secret affair.

Both Cameron and Peppa have been hurt in the past. Cameron is still struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife, and has decided the only way to protect his heart is to avoid emotional entanglements. Peppa has been dumped by her boyfriend after their dream of having a child ended. As the affair with her boss hots up, she knows it’s only a temporary fling, but she reasons it’s a good way to heal her broken heart. And besides, Cameron is irresistible.

The romance between Peppa and Cameron is sweetly depicted. At times funny and moving, their interactions rapidly move beyond the purely physical as they both realise the hidden depths and hurts buried within the other. Peppa fears never having the family she dreamed of, while Cameron is still haunted by the death of his wife and finds himself unable to connect with his extended family. 

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

I have to confess that Cameron was not a very nice guy at times. His coldness when he told Peppa in no uncertain times that he wanted nothing to do with their baby made me want to clock him over the head with something. Yes, this guy had a lot of growing up to do (and his aunt wasn’t doing him any favours either), so when it finally dawned on him that he was being a callous d*khead about everything, it was gratifying to see Peppa make him go through a lot of grovelling.

*** END SPOILER ALERT ***

This contemporary romance was entertaining, fast-paced, and satisfying. One Perfect Night makes perfect reading!

A year ago on 2nd Feb, I received an email from Angela James of Carina Press which began "I'm sorry I'm unable..." As soon as I scanned those first few words I screwed up my eyes and tried to stop reading. A couple of months ago I'd submitted a contemporary romance to Carina Press, and I was so sure this was another rejection. But then as I skimmed through the rest of the email, I began to read strange phrases like "offer to publish" and "deal sheet", and it dawned on me that it wasn't a rejection but an acceptance!

In the year since I received that wonderful email, I've learned a lot about writing and about publishing. The thing that strikes me the most is that there's not such a big difference between being published and unpublished as I used to think. Before I was published I used to think writers were basically in two separate camps - one for published, one for unpublished. Now I realise that everyone has their own ladder to climb and getting your first book published is just another step along the learning curve. One year on, I'm still suffering from self-doubt, wondering if my writing sucks. I'm still getting rejections, and they hurt just as bad. And I'm still getting to grips with marketing, promotion, and social media. But most importantly my writing has also improved, and not least because of my editor's efforts. Here's hoping my improvements bear fruit this year!

While I work on my writing, my partner is usually downstairs in his home studio working on his music. Technology has brought big changes to music, and now anyone with a decent computer can record and produce their own music. Of course, like writing, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication, even more than writing because the indie music producer has to compose lyrics, play instruments, and record and produce the finished product.

My partner is a perfectionist/procrastinator but has finally finished one of his songs, co-produced a video, and published the song on Bandcamp, a website which enables artists to sell their music directly to their fans. I was surprised at how easy it was for him to publish the song on Bandcamp. No joining fees, a 15% commission, and the money from each sale goes straight into your Paypal account. That's right, as soon as a sale happens you get the money straight away. And they don't withold taxes either. It all sounded a lot easier than self-publishing on Amazon.

I'm so glad he's done it!

Esme doesn’t only believe in women’s rights, she’s also a secessionist who believes Western Australia would be better off being independent rather than joining the federation of the eastern states, and her views are only strengthened when an arrogant and wealthy easterner begins to court her with an eye to marriage and her generous dowry.

I really enjoyed the depictions of daily life in the Swan River colony, including the exotic-sounding Bombaytown. As befits a steampunk story, inventions pop up everywhere — coffee makers, solar-powered stoves, etc.  Esme makes a charming and spirited heroine, independent yet caring, and proactive in opposing the inequalities she comes across in her daily life. Jed Reeve is a great hero who perhaps at times could be more of the scoundrel he purports to be. The romance between these two blossoms at a smart pace, helped along the way by admirers on either side plus the odd dash of heroics. Towards the end the story takes an unexpected twist which I definitely wasn’t expecting, and the final showdown is suitably satisfying.

If you’re looking for an Australian historical romance with a steampunk aesthetic, then you’ll definitely enjoy Wanted: One Scoundrel.

Publisher: Carina Press
Length:  26,000 words

Summer. Holidays. Beach.


(Believe it or not, this idyllic beach is located within a defence weapons range facility.)

After a week of this exhausting lifestyle, I'm back home now and working on the edits of my steampunk novella, Asher's Invention. Luckily they're only minor - I must be improving!

My first review for the 2012 Australian Women Writers Challenge is 'Campaign Ruby' by Jessica Rudd.



Londoner Ruby Stanhope gets retrenched from her investment banking job and in a drunken daze accidentally books a non-refundable flight to Australia. Within days of landing in Melbourne she somehow finds herself as a policy advisor to the Leader of the Opposition (aka the LOO), and when a snap election is called, a hectic election campaign ensues.

This breezy novel has familiar chick-lit staples such as designer shoes and clothes, gallons of wine, a hot and sleazy spunk rat, lesbian secondary characters, and a heroine who manages to spill food and drink all over herself on a regular basis. What sets it apart is that its milieu is politics, and Australian politics at that. Also, the fact that the author, Jessica Rudd, is the daughter of ex-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, gives the story an extra piquancy, especially as political events in the book eerily mirror reality. In Campaign Ruby a long-standing Prime Minister, who’s been in power for thirteen years, is no longer popular with the voters but refuses to acknowledge this. (Sound familiar?) His deputy then moves to depose him, and succeeds in becoming Australia’s first female prime minister. (Sound even more familiar?)

This novel perfectly captures the insanity of a political staffer’s life when an election is on. Along with the rest of the Leader of Opposition’s staff, Ruby bounces from city to city, coast to coast, meeting an eclectic collection of people along the way and getting a crash course in Oz politics, language, and culture. It’s a pity we don’t get more of a picture of all the places she visits because after a while it all becomes a blur (which I suppose is how it is in reality). En route we learn a little of Ruby’s views on certain election hot potato topics, but it’s not a whole lot, and I would have preferred the story to delve a little deeper into her character and what makes her tick.

Apolitical readers need not worry that they’ll be bludgeoned by political rhetoric, as the book barely mentions our main political parties. This novel will appeal to readers who enjoy the circus of an election campaign combined with the Bridget Jones-type antics of an appealing heroine. I would have liked to know Ruby more, but still thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.