Writerly Things & Stuff

Friday, 4 March 2016

When Life is Stripped to the 'Bare Necessities', what are they?

I was scavenging through my house today looking for items I could give to a friend who is organising a container of relief goods to send to Fiji to help with their recovery after the recent cyclone. The brief is 'whatever you can spare. They have nothing.' What would I really be grateful for if I ever found myself in that situation? Besides the obvious -food, clothing and linen. Kitchen utensils? Absolutely. Pots. Sharp knives. Some odd things came out of my bathroom cupboards - like shower hats from hotel stays (could be used to cover food, carry water), a couple of brand new ordinary toothbrushes - (we both now have dentures). A pair of tweezers and a pair of scissors. Then I thought of the sewing box and all the odds and ends collected there over many years. Buttons, elastic, pins and needles and thread of course. How would you feel to be given a needle and thread so you could mend the only garment you might have been left with? Or dig out a splinter or even sew up a cut? Most households have a myriad of such items excess to actual requirements.
Please find a collection point near you and give whatever items useful for basic survival that you can spare.
Food and medications will be the first things Red Cross and the Relief Authorities will ship in but...
if you were like the folk in Fiji and suddenly found yourself with nothing, what item would you be most grateful for? What would become your greatest treasure?
I think mine might be a sharp knife.

Monday, 14 December 2015

Atlantean Crystal Saga published at last!

I finally have the complete 'Atlantean Crystal Saga' up on Amazon ready for Pre-order.

Book. 1, Crystal Warrior, is the revamped version of 'Through All Eternity', which was my first ever attempt at publishing 3 years ago. Hopefully, I've learnt a bit since then but mostly I am happy to have it published under the title it had from inception.

Book. 2, Crystal Dancer, has not been published before.

Both are Past Life Travel/Erotic Romances. (Past Life travel works like Time Travel). They start and end in modern times with the characters re-living an ancient lifetime which has enormous relevance for who they are today.

These stories will transport you to places you might never have imagined you'd visit - the end times of Atlantis in Bk.1. and the time of the great Biblical Flood in Bk.2. Together they are an epic read.

'Who are we really?' Or more to the point perhaps, 'Who have we been?' - And could it affect who we are now?

WARNING! These stories are Erotic Romance and contain Explicit Sex scenes.

Crystal Warrior, Bk.1 in Atlantean Crystal Saga.

Crystal Dancer. Bk.2 in Atlantean Crystal Saga.

Thursday, 10 December 2015

Coromandel Peninsula, NZ - Place of Magic

Pohutukawa Flowers, New Leaves and Silvery buds.

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been born in New Zealand and able to claim these glorious islands as my home. So much of our land is still as ruggedly beautiful and serenely unspoilt as Nature made it and there are many places within our shores to grab your heart and make you gape in wonder.

But for me, the most magical part of 'God's Own' is the Coromandel Peninsula with it's miles of rugged coastline, bush clad hills, gold mining history and summer beaches. Coromandel is about sunshine, holidays, fishing and getting back to nature. And every summer hundreds of NZers head up the Peninsula for the ultimate Kiwi Getaway. staying in tents, caravans, baches and motels. Some probably just sleep in their cars.

One of the landmarks you will see as you begin to climb from Wilsons Bay over the hills to Coromandel Town is the Blessing Buddha. I'm sure he has another name and when you look at him you might see something else entirely, but I rather fancy that rocky outcrop looks like a Buddha and he's waving - or maybe blessing all who travel over the hill in their quest for sun and relaxation.

The Blessing Buddha

The most notable natural phenomena of this time of year is the Pohutukawa Tree, a.k.a the 'NZ Xmas Tree', as it flowers profusely over the Christmas period, cloaking the hills with rich reds and greens and carpeting the roads with crimson as the stamens fall. We usually travel up the Peninsula at New Year by which time the best of the show is over and there are only random trees still flowering and only the ditches alongside the roads are awash in red. I really want to see the glory of full bloom.

So this year we made a special effort and went up before Xmas, hoping to strike it right. But it appears the nickname 'NZ Xmas Tree' is not a misnomer.We were too early! To see the best I guess we'd have to go right at Xmas.

However, the Coromandel delights whenever one goes. Some trees were in bloom, especially some of the dark crimson ones, my favourite. I even found a yellow one! It was just over the bridge going north from Tapu. I can only imagine it's a hybrid someone has planted there for I don't think that colour is found naturally in the wild. (Any specialists in NZ botany out there, please correct me if I'm wrong!) The hillsides, which will soon be richly crimson, are dark green with a silvery sheen, as the new leaves of the pohutukawa are overlaid with a silvery down and the flower buds are silvery white.

A coastal tree, Pohutukawa is not found naturally anywhere else and it grows in the most inhospitable places and with great tenacity. Many of the trees are old and gnarled and have great aerial roots hanging from the branches. For some reason I find them an endless fascination.

Pohutukawa in flower.

Silvery sheen of new leaves and buds.

Gnarly old Pohutukawa clinging to rocks.

Old Pohutukawa with huge aerial roots.

A Yellow Pohutukawa - hybrid?

Pure Coromandel: Pohutukawa, rocks, sea, and rugged bush-clad hills.

However, Manuka, the humble scrub bush which grows everywhere it can get a foothold, was in riotous bloom, so I have included a couple of photos. If you like a dark honey, then try Manuka honey. It is richly aromatic and reputed to have impressive medicinal properties.

Manuka flowering in a gully.

Close up of Manuka flowers.

Manuka has it's own special beauty, despite being much maligned. It is great firewood, burning really hot, and early settlers used it's leaves for tea. Thus, it's common name is 'tea tree'.

We feel short-changed if our Coromandel trip doesn't include a visit to the Driving Creek Cafe. A gloriously alternative concept, offering beautiful food, a meditative atmosphere should you wish for that, peace and natural beauty. The following photos are taken there.

Sunday, 8 November 2015

Find your Tribe.

A writer's life can often be a lonely one but when you find 'your tribe' your writer's soul will come alive. Interaction with people who understand your journey, your language, your passion can be the single most important thing you will do for yourself as a writer. With a supportive 'tribe' you will grow as a writer, hone your skills and widen your horizons. You discover everyone has their own story, their own struggle, their own goals and aspirations. You find those who are on the same genre path as you and can share tips and knowledge and they are perfect to play the 'what if' game we all love. You find those who have specialty knowledge that is just what you are needing and they are so willing to share. And we find those who need our own knowledge and expertise, whatever that may be, and we can share in return.
Best of all, we find beta readers who will devour our work and give the constructive critique we need to make sure we have got it right - before we expose our 'baby' to the reading public.

Coast to Coast Chapter of Romance Writers of NZ had their Christmas Retreat at Paradise Valley Lodge in Rotorua this weekend. (as we have done for the last 5 years.) Might be the last one there as the place is up for sale. It's been a beautiful venue. Perfect for a quiet writing space, spending quality time with other writers (My Tribe! They speak my lingo! ) and for working in a group situation. Thank you Khushi for introducing us to the pantoum form of poetry writing. It was amazing.
And thank you all for the wonderful camaraderie, supportive and insightful critiques and the yummy food. Saturday night's round-table session with the 'night owlish' ones is remembered fondly. Apologies to those who'd gone to bed earlier and did not see the joke at 10.40pm. It was really funny!

Monday, 19 October 2015

My Regency Romantica series is coming soon.

Romantica - sexy romance with elements of erotica.
I love sexy romance and I also really relate to the Regency era so it's not hard to work out that I should be writing sexy romance set in the Regency Era. Nor should anyone be surprised to discover that I already am.
The first title in the 'Lords of the Matrix Club' series is 'The Earl of Windermere Takes a Wife' and is all but ready to be published on Amazon. I just need to make sure the details are right for the continuity of the other books in the series.
'Marked for the Duke' will not be far behind as the cover is ready and the story is about 3/4 completed. I am in the planning stages for Book 3, title still under construction, although the characters and the premise for their story is already very clear in my mind!
I might tell you more later, Blog, perhaps a little about the Matrix Club, but right now the first chapter of Book 3 is calling to me. I need to go write it!