Posted on

#WriteRoundOz w/ Author – Charlotte Nash

I’m dropping in on Charlotte Nash and her resident lizard  in Queensland

ImageImage 1

Hi Charlotte,

Thank you for letting me park my rig … 

… half up on your kerb? (Hmm, not much room in this street) 😉

What’s that I see written on your ‘welcome mat’, Charlotte?

Beware the Lizard! (we have one that lives under our stairs – he’s got three legs and I love him)

 

 

The one thing I really miss in a caravan is my HUGE refrigerator. If I looked in your refrigerator right now, what would I find?

Water bottles, fruit, and lots of left-overs, awaiting the next cull!

Downsizing my life into a 24 ft caravan meant leaving lots of things behind in boxes. What (or who!!) would you have trouble leaving behind if you took off in a caravan?

Actually that sounds heavenly. ‘Stuff’ makes me anxious – I love a good clear-out! In fact, I’m in the middle of one right now. Please mind the boxes.

(Ouch!)

Do you REALLY have room at your house to park a fifth wheeler caravan and do you mind visitors? Oh, sorry, you don’t have to answer that one!! 😉

I’m in a block of flats at the moment. I figure I’ll blame someone else 😉

 

Country curiosities…

My latest novel, Season of Shadow and Light, has a strong horse theme. (I love what horses can teach us). If you were an animal what would you be?

I love horses, too, and spent most of my childhood riding. To actually be an animal, though, I’d pick something with wings. Probably a parrot, like the New Zealand alpine Kea. They’re pretty mischievous – suits me.

You’re cooking and your food is going up against the best cooks from the CWA (Country Women’s Association). What would be your winning dish?

My secret fudge. Or custard tart. Or lemon delicious. Or pumpkin scones – Flo’s got nothin’.

 

About you…

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Remembering how hard it was for the last project. You tend to forget, then panic because the next first draft is bad.

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

Work in Progress!

 

Fun Favourites…

Favourite place in Australia: Great Keppel Island

Favourite holiday destination (anywhere): Sunshine Coast.

Favourite movie: It’s a toss-up between Aliens, Watchmen, Bridesmaids and The Prestige.

Favourite quote: “The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion.” — John Lawton

 

If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

Would you like to see my stamp collection? Oh, what, you’d rather talk? That’s cool. *grin* (I can’t juggle – it’s probably better we talk)

 

Here is how you can find out more about Charlotte:

CRYSTAL CREEK

Aspiring doctor Christina Price has worked hard to rise above an upbringing filled with neglect and the assumption that she would never amount to anything. She promised herself she was never going back – could never go back – to Townsville, where she’d been bullied and betrayed as a young teenager. But when a twist of fate lands her on practical placement in a clinic on the Townsville army base, she must confront past hurts if she wants to succeed and, just maybe, find love.
Captain Aiden Bell is used to hard work, and to the life of an army officer: base-hopping and deploying overseas. His career has taken an emotional toll that he hasn’t dealt with, until meeting Christina stirs memories, desire – and hope.
At Crystal Creek, can facing your past give love a chance?
Posted on 21 Comments

#WriteRoundOz w/ Posie Graeme-Evans, Novelist & Producer (+ giveaway)

posie officeOkay McLeod’s Daughters fans.

Look where I am!

We can thank Posie Graeme-Evan’s for the McLeod’s Daughters series and, as I consider myself the lost McLeod Daughter, I’m happier than a butcher’s dog to be dropping in (fictionally-speaking) on Posie at her home in the picturesque Huon Valley, Tasmania. As well as her many TV successes, this multi-talented Australian treasure is also a brilliant novelist. (I had a wee fan girl moment a couple of years back. Here I am about to eat Posie, I think. But she was delightful… Short of stature, but delightful. 😉Posie S&S 2012

 

Posie, Posie, Posie, thank you for letting my park my rig outside your …

Dairy-come-chook-house.

Yes, really; when I first saw the farm, the old ex dairy, now my office, had 200 chooks in residence. Last year, Andrew (my very clever husband) took that smelly little shed and turned into the nicest office I’ve ever had. And when this photo (left) was taken, I’d just barrowed all that gravel to make that path, too!

posie paintingBy the way, this painting (left) was my Christmas present last year – “Heartland” by my dear friend, painter Stephanie Tabram.; just to remind me of the original inhabitants

 

And what’s that I see written on your ‘welcome mat’, Posie?

The cow is not in. (just for those very bad writing days)

 

I miss my HUGE refrigerator. If I looked in your refrigerator right now, what would I find?

When I’m writing? Not enough of anything (especially if Andrew’s busy on the farm, too.) We find ourselves making omelettes very late at night.

(All those chooks obviously come in handy!)

 

Downsizing my life into a 24 ft caravan meant leaving lots of things behind in boxes. What (or who!!) would you have trouble leaving behind if you took off in a caravan?

Cats x 2.

Whose home would you like to visit in your van and why?Posie author pic

Taking a liberty here… Quite like to park on site when Edward 1 was building Caernarfon Castle (we stayed in one of the Bath Tower there last January). Would have liked to be invisible and sit in on one of the site meetings. The place is huge! And built so fast!

Do you REALLY have room at your house to park a fifth wheeler caravan and do you mind visitors? Oh, sorry, you don’t have to answer that one!!

Jenn…. You’re welcome anytime : )

(Just need to get brave enough to get Barcoola onboard and cross that might sea that separates us, Poise. But we will do it. We will!)

 

Country curiosities…

My latest novel, Season of Shadow and Light, has a strong horse theme. (I love what horses can teach us). If you were an animal what would you be?

When I was a kid I had an imaginary animal friend; a black puma. Splendid! However, now I’d quite like to be a Shire Horse. So dignified and patient and loveable (I’ve never done these three very well, but I continue to aspire!)

 

You’re cooking and your food is going up against the best cooks from the CWA (Country Women’s Association). What would be your winning dish?

My mother’s Cheaters Cheese Souffle (it’s based on a scaffolding of stale bread and never falls down!)

 

About you…

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Hard! Goodness gracious, why would you ever think writing is hard! (Gaaaar! What is that sound, what does it mean??) Sigh. When you just have to keep going and there’s no escape and it takes over every single thing that you do, waking and sleeping. Then there are the bad days…

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

“She Ground Her Teeth.”

What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?

“Goodness, you’re tall. Does that bother you?”

Answer: Not at all (yeah, yeah I know; but next life I’m coming back very tall, and very willowy)

 

Favourite Fun 

Favourite four: kinds of clouds; thunderheads, mares’ tails, snow, stormPosie Ridgeline party

Favourite place in Australia: the ridgeline where I live in Tasmania’s South. Sunny afternoon, mates and kids. All good : )

Favourite holiday destination (anywhere): The North of the world, faaar North

Favourite quote: “Never trust a sword to a man who can’t dance” (Thankyou Dad.)

 

If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

I’d sing. Or make scones.

(Or put the McLeod’s Daughter’s series one in the DVD and stop singing! 🙂 wild-wood-9781925030341_hr

WIN – Wild Wood

WIN a signed copy of Wild Wood. Just leave a comment below. If you have a favourite McLeod’s Daughter character, do share. My fave is Claire.

 

You can find Wild Wood  buy links HERE or go straight to Amazon

Posie’s Wild Wood  novel is every bit as wonderful as The Island House.

About Wild Wood

“Of time and fate only one is real. In 1981, in London just before Charles’ & Di’s wedding, Jesse Marley will find that out.”

Jesse Marley calls herself a realist; she’s all about the here and now. But in the month before Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s wedding in 1981, all her certainties are blown aside by events she cannot control. First she finds out she’s adopted. Then she’s run down by a motorbike.

In a London hospital, temporarily unable to speak, she uses her left hand to write. But Jesse’s right-handed. And as if her fingers have a will of their own, she begins to draw places she’s never seen, people from another time—a castle, a man in medieval armour. And a woman’s face.

Rory Brandon, Jesse’s neurologist, is intrigued. Maybe his patient’s head trauma has brought out latent abilities. But wait. He knows the castle. He’s been there.

So begins an extraordinary journey across borders and beyond time, one that takes Jesse to Hundredfield, a stronghold built a thousand years ago by a brutal Norman warlord and passed down to the noble Dieudonné family, a clan honored and burdened with the task of protecting England’s dangerous northern border in the fourteenth century. Jesse holds the key to the castle’s many secrets and its connection to the mystical legend of the Lady of the Forest.

Somehow Hundredfield, with its history of darkness and light, of bloody battles won and lost, will help Jesse find her true lineage. In a world where the tales of old are just a heartbeat away, there are no accidents. There is only fate.

Posie’s website is just gorgeous (can you tell I really am a fan?) and you might be surprised to know what other fabulousness Posie once brought into our lives. (I’ll Hi 5 you if you can guess! Hint! hint!)

Facebook: Posie Graeme-Evans Author Cygnet

Posted on 10 Comments

#WriteRoundOz w/ Kylie Kaden

Kylie Kaden collage

I admit…I am also a Kylie Kaden fan. I LOVED Losing Kate and I love that Kylie and I see eye-to-eye—literally speaking. (Not a usual occurrence when one is almost 6 feet tall!)

 

I had the pleasure of meeting Kylie at a conference a while back. Now I am ‘At home with author extraordinaire–Kylie Kaden’ from glorious Queensland.

Kylie, Thank you for letting me park my rig on your…

… bike/scooter/weed covered drive!

Great to have you, lovely Jenn (and apologies in advance for the cacophony of noise you will hear billowing from the windows at around 5am. I still haven’t found the mute button for my kids.) No alarms needed at my B&B!

What’s that I see written on your ‘welcome mat’?

‘My house was clean yesterday. Sorry you missed it.’

I miss my HUGE refrigerator. If I looked in your refrigerator right now, what would I find?

Hmm. Some left-over stir fry, my stash of Coke-Zeros, some Toy Story squeezy yoghurts, and a cheap Sav Blanc to get me through the witching hour!

Downsizing my life into a 24 ft caravan meant leaving lots of things behind in boxes. What (or who!!) would you have trouble leaving behind if you took off in a caravan?

They’d have to be dog-friendly parks due to our new family member – Rusty the Spoodle.  No great sentimentality about anything non-living (other than my children’s baby books!).

(Dac the one-eyed Dude says “woof” to Rusty.)Dac corindi

Do you REALLY have room at your house to park a fifth wheeler caravan and do you mind visitors? Oh, sorry, you don’t have to answer that one!! 🙂

We have a double car port and a weedy footpath – all yours (see previous condition about noise pollution from my house though). Love to see you if you need a stop in Brissy and don’t mind sticky floors!

Country curiosities…

My latest novel, Season of Shadow and Light, has a strong horse theme. (I love what horses can teach us). If you were an animal what would you be?

A dolphin. I hate hot weather unless I’m in water.

You’re cooking and your food is going up against the best cooks from the CWA (Country Women’s Association). What would be your winning dish?

I make a mean carbonara (but all credit goes to the calories).

About you…

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Plotting. Editing. Self-promotion. (So…everything but the writing bit?).

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

The Accidental Author.

What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?

Never imagined I’d be interviewed by anyone! I’m pretty boring really.

Favourite Fun 

Favourite place in Australia: Mooloolaba.

Favourite quotes: ‘If you can’t handle me at my worst you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.’ Marilyn Monroe.   And ‘Just keep swimming’ Dory.

If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

Get my three year old attempting to dance to Gangnam style. Far funnier than I’ll ever be.

(Oh, I doubt that, Kylie!  Thank you for joining my #Write Round Odyssey.)

 Hang on! Below Kylie’s contact info you will find a book giveaway

Author Website: www.kyliekaden.com.au

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/KylieKadenAuthor

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/KylieKadenAU

Sample Chapters of Losing Kate:

Amazon Buy Link

 

Missing You Kylie KadenHere’s the blurb of Missing You!

Missing You is a tantalising love story and a seductive suspense novel: ‘Our lives were built around the strength of a kiss between strangers. Yet seven years on, look where it led us . . .’When Aisha met Ryan she fell hard for his good looks and easy charm. Why worry that he didn’t want children or a 9 to 5 job? Nothing and no one would come between them. But with the birth of their high-needs son, Eli, their extraordinary love is shackled into an ordinary life, their passion blunted by responsibility. Until Ryan can’t take it anymore. Then, following a mysterious phone call late one night, Aisha leaves four-year-old Eli in the care of her elderly father Patrick – and doesn’t come back. As Patrick struggles with the grandson he barely knows or understands, his frustration with his missing daughter and absent son-in-law quickly turns to fear. Particularly when blood is found in Aisha’s abandoned car . . .

You know you want it.

WINNER ADVISED. GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED.

Just leave a comment below.

Maybe tell us who or what you have been missing. Winner chosen (random draw) in two weeks.

(And before you go, I have a big 3 x book giveaway coming up with the release of Season of Shadow and Light in May, so subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss out.)