Welcome to my newsletter. Here are some highlights from the past couple of months.
Writing - Picture Books
Reading - Writers Groups
Life - Cooking Fails
That kitten picture book I told you about last email has filled me with inspiration and over the past two months, I've written and published six more picture books!
I now have a six animal themed picture books in the This & That series.
Cute animals, fun rhymes and an inappropriate poo.
What more could you want in a picture book?
And the seventh picture book is a stand-alone, inspired by the fabulous woman I see every morning while I clip a colourful flower in my hair.
Digital collage art, more fun rhymes and maybe another poo.
Writing can be a lonely pursuit so it was wonderful to connect with some local authors for lunch a couple of weeks ago. It's so much fun to talk writing with other people who speak the same language. I'm also having fun reading through my new friend's books.
I've been reading Lisa Ireland for years. I've followed her from rural romance to women's fiction to dual timeline. In fact, I remember hand-selling one her books to a random stranger in Kmart before I met her. And no, I didn't work in Kmart - I was shopping too. Do you rave about books to random strangers in shops, or is that just me?
I binge-listened to a bunch of Sarah Peis steamy contemporary romance audiobooks earlier this year. I'm busting for the latest in the Sweet Dreams series to come out in audio.
I finished beta-reading an unpublished fantasy manuscript this week for my friend Jennie Del Mastro. And yes, I read it via text-to-speech because I'm obsessed with audio.
I'm right in the middle of listening to Amy Rose Bennet's latest Regency Romance. I was nearly Up All Night with a Good Duke but I had to hit pause and get some sleep.
Next on my list is Wildflower by Lea Darragh whose rural and contemporary romance books I will read with my eyes as they aren't in audio yet.
Are you in any groups of like-minded people? What do you bond over? Reply and let me know.
Blueberry Pan-Scramble
Find awesome recipe for blueberry pancakes and follow directions to make batter.
Dollop blobs of thick batter into electric frypan over the heating element so they all cook at the same time.
Check pancakes, note no bubbles, put lid on frypan.
Check pancakes again because you noticed a funny smell.
Swear.
Turn off electric frypan.
Quickly wash regular frypan that was sitting in the sink, soaking after last night's dinner.
Turn on gas stove and place regular frypan on burner.
Scrape the uncooked tops off the burnt pancakes and flick into pan.
Attempt to shape into pancakes.
Give up.
Poke until cooked then place on plate.
Dollop second batch into frypan while thinking "surely I can fit one more in to finish the batch"
Realise that you shouldn't have and you now have one massive pancake instead of five smaller ones.
Let the paranoia overwhelm you and attempt to turn the pancake before it burns.
Oops. Too soon. Swear again.
Poke until cooked.
Serve this layer of fruity lumps on top of the other layer, garnish with yoghurt and maple syrup.
Eat top layer while exclaiming "It might look bad but it tastes great".
