I live pretty close to a licorice and chocolate factory. This place makes the yummiest chocolate-coated licorice evah and also has become quite the tourist attraction with guided tours that take you through the process.

Mmm, licorice.

Since, I am feeling in a celebratory mood today, I may just go treat myself. And while I'm there, I could purchase an extra pack to go with the August contest prize.

Would that be a good idea?

Labels: Australian life, chocolate, contest

No secret that I'm a nut for word books (another of those obsessions!) Picture me at the RWAust conference. A bookstall, table after table stacked high with a glorious smorgasbord of books. I spot a section with thesauruses (thesauri?), ones I don't have on my bookshelf, with shiny bright new covers. Mmm, shiny. Picture me, several hours later, bellying up to the concierge's desk.

Me: "Could you point me toward the nearest post office."
Concierge: "Yes, but we can handle your mail for you."
Me: "Even this--" I point to fat stack of recently purchased books "--load of books?"
Concierge: "Not a problem, madam. We'll box them up and charge it to your room."
Madam: "Perfect. Thank you."

Smiling, Madam returns to the bookstall.

Fast forward twelve days. I have returned from RWNZ conference. I have remembered the two boxes of forwarded books. Which, strangely, haven't arrived. Slightly worried, because I don't have the particular concierge's name and I can't locate my copy of the receipt I signed when handing the considerably valuable cache of books over, I call the hotel. Very helpful hotel people find me the concierge by description alone (Amber; her name was Amber!) and I'm told that the boxes were returned undelivered but have been redespatched.

Whatever, they arrive two days later.

I love new books. And word books. Funnily enough, I don't use them much when I'm writing. But I love looking up the different word choices just for fun and I love finding new words. At the moment (well, not right at THIS moment, but at night, while watching ridiculously addictive TV shows) I'm flipping through Roget's Descriptive Word Finder. And finding all manner of new and unknown words, which is what prompted today's post, which may become an ongoing Wednesday Word feature...or not, depending on whether I remember or not.

Today's word: lickerish adj. Which could mean:

a. sweet, black, as in pertaining to liquorice.
b. something you would like to lick (which may also pertain to liquorice).
c. tempting, enticing, appetising (which could also pertain to liquorice).

Which do you think is correct?

And now I'm feeling a yen for liquorice...

Labels: Conference, RWAustralia, Wednesday word, win books

If one has an obsessive nature *cough*, then one should not prod said nature by watching audition shows for Idol. I don't want to be watching this series. Really, I don't. But I watched the audition shows and now I Cannot Stop. Intervention necessary.

Some time ago -- we're talking years -- we decided that the next big house improvement had to be the kitchen. Then came the drought and the kitchen was put on the back-burner (cooking pun, heh.) This year it rained, the crops are growing nicely, the sheep are fat, and the kitchen is back on. In fact we're supposed to be doing this in October/November which means I need to make some decisions pretty damn quickish. And let me just say new kitchen = big hairy truckloads of decisions. Whimper.

So. We have a design plan. Happy with that. But I still don't know which of the neutral colours for the cupboards (antique white? calico? moleskin? classic beige?) Or what sort of splashbacks. Or paint colour for the walls. And kickbacks. Or even if I want white or stainless steel appliances. Let's not even get started on the oven...although I have chosen the fridge. Yay, me. One decision ticked off the list.

Anyone who would like to share kitchen design tips or appliance choice tips, please do. I'm interesting in anything and everything that makes your job in the kitchen more (or less) fun. Things you can't do without, things you wish you had, cool design bits and pieces, anything actually.

All hints = an August contest entry.

Labels: home, kitchen

Labels: covers, foreign translations, The Rugged Loner

I'm back from the conference trip and nowwhere near recovered from the post-Sydney-conference flu which seems to have struck down a good number of attendees. Including keynote Jennifer Crusie. When my head has unclogged some I will report on the conferences. Meantime I have a brief tip for the unwary traveller.

When checking into a hotel room, always -- and that would mean every day! -- check that the bedside alarm isn't set for some ungodly pre-dawn hour. Because finding the off-switch on that strange alarm is damn difficult in the dark. Even the second morning.

Labels: Conference, travelling

I'm in the throes of organising and packing for my trip to the RWAust and RWNZ conferences. I need outfits for 6 parties/dinners and 6 conference days as well as 3 days travelling and 3 days of ultra-casual writing retreat. My natural inclination is to pack a different outfit for each event because my Bronwyn Jameson wardrobe doesn't get out too often. When I open the door to my good-gear closet the rack of crepe and silk and sparklies beg and plead for their turn. Pick me! Pick me!

But I am being ruthless. Everything is doing double duty in Sydney and Auckland. If I spill wine, there's always the hotel cleaning service. First task is choosing shoes. This year I'm taking black boots and silver sandals. All clothes I pack need to go with so I'm packing several black pants and skirts and a stack of bright tops. Oh, and 2 -- possibly 3 -- dresses that roll up into nothing for variety.

Job done...apart from writing what I'm wearing to which event in my PDA schedule. And not succumbing to the temptation to fill the suitcase with one more jacket or an extra pair of cute shoes. On the trip home, I need that extra airline baggage allowance for books.

Labels: Conference, RWAustralia, RWNZ

This weekend I'm going to spend worrying...oops...wondering...about two things. One is the extra layer of conflict I need to add to my September-due book. The other is the workshop I'm presenting at the Romance Writers of Australia conference on writing a page-turner. I have my ideas on what elevates a book to can't-put-it-down status but I'm wondering if I've covered all the angles for other readers. So, while I'm away in a cold, grey part of the state watching son play football and enjoying family togetherness, a part of my brain will be fine-tuning the workshop material. I would love to hear your thoughts on what makes a book a page-turner. For extra incentive, every comment will be an entry in my August giveaway.

Labels: giveaway, RWAustralia, weekend wondering

"We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly." ANON

Or perhaps we come to love because of those imperfections. I know that is the case with me, and in many of my characters it is what one sees as a flaw in themself which draws their counterpart's attention. Because who, after all, wants to love and live with perfection? The ideal of perfection may sound wonderful, but I think it would be very hard to live with and to live up to.

What do you think?

Labels: Quotes

It's August, which means Bought-And-Paid-For Wife is available locally for UK readers. I'm liking the cover (left), which is from Patricia Kaye's One-Week Wife, the companion book in this two-in-one. Which doesn't mean my US cover misses out in the old blighty, nosirree, because it gets an outing on this Kristi Gold/Sheri Whitefeather duo (right).

Which cover do you prefer and why? I have a copy of the 2-in-1 to give away to one lucky reader who comments on any of my blog posts in the month of August.

Labels: Bought-and-Paid-For Wife, giveaway