One of the highlights of attending the RWNZ and RWAustralia conferences was meeting Anne Stuart. Her writing career so far spans 34 years giving her a wealth of knowledge and experience she, thankfully, isn’t shy to share.
I had the genuine pleasure of sitting next to Anne (or, she to me) at one of the Harlequin Author Dinners (the one held in Auckland) and she’s delightful dinner company. We duly admired one another’s jackets–hers made by herself (although she’s not wearing it in the picture) and mine bought as a last minute impulse buy when checking out of the Manila Hotel ten years ago.
I think the workshop I gleaned the most from during the course of the RWNZ conference was definitely Anne’s Writing the Dark Contemporary, and I’d highly recommend that anyone who gets the opportunity to hear her present this, and work with her through it, leap at the chance. I had so many ‘aha’ moments which are always very helpful as you start a new manuscript.
Speaking of new manuscripts, my story idea for book 7 (already contracted) has been accepted. The only hiccup being that I have to start the book from the middle of my proposal. Now I heartily agree with my editor that this will definitely make a stronger story… now I just need to garner the rest of what I need to make it work :-). Wish me luck!
Nalini Singh’s Caressed by Ice is almost on the shelves! Yahoo! In anticipation she’s running a quiz on her blog so readers can discover which of her amazing heroes is best suited to you.
Being a fervent random quiz taker I was very pleased to see that Judd is my match :-). Mind you, since this is my favourite of all of Nalini’s Psy-Changeling series to date I’m so not surprised!
Your Psy/Changeling Hero: Judd
Quiet, lethally contained and almost impossible to know, Judd Lauren is a Psy with incredible power. It will take one determined woman to melt this man of ice…but the rewards will be well worth the effort. Are you up to the challenge?
Find out more about Judd and the series at www.nalinisingh.com
Further to my frustrations with the upgrade (?) of Xtra’s webmail platform I’ve been happily blown out of the water by the offer of assistance from the Yahoo Customer Care Team in the US (I live on the opposite end of the world)! Thanks, Erin. Your contact has gone a long long way to restore my faith in the terminology “customer care”. Miracles do happen.
And Xtra has updated information on their help page to inform customers what smtp changes are required in their existing internet accounts. Why that had to happen so far after the event still rankles with me but I’m alot happier now that I have my contact with the outside world back again. Hence two blogs today. 
Well, I’ve soundly had the lingering pleasures of being fired up by Anne Stuart’s Writing the Dark Contemporary workshop eradicated from my mind together with any remaining warm fuzzies or motivation from the RWNZ conference last weekend, by the megalomaniacal mismanagement of updates and improvements (and I use those terms in their loosest possible sense) by my internet service provider. For some inane reason they’ve changed their webmail platform to something ridiculously called Yahoo Xtra Bubble. Bubble???? More like trouble, unless they’re referring to the vacuum in the heads of the fools that dreamed this up. Not only can I not send email using my existing Outlook programme anymore (which, for a writer whose main contact with people is via internet is excessively frustrating) but due to ongoing technical difficulties (aka stuff ups) I’m unable to register for this Bubble thing even if I want to.
Now, as a general rule I only access email from the home page of my (non) service (non) provider when away from home, so I ask you, why would I need to download another software programme for email when I’m already using Outlook (like many of the 500,000 plus customers of my (non) service (non) provider also do)? And why can my (non) service (non) provider not send an email to the multitude of irate and disadvantaged customers who can no longer send email because said (non) service (non) provider has altered its SMTP server protocols without telling its customers what to do????
I’d email them, but I can’t send email because the SMTP server no longer recognises a customer who has been loyal to the (non) service (non) provider for the past fourteen years.
I’d talk to someone on the phone about my trials, but I’m blocked at the outset by a voice recognition programme that puts me through to their customer service desk on demand… then cuts me off immediately.
Oh, and New Zealand Telecom, the (non) service (non) provider, has also said in our national newspaper that they won’t be refunding clients for this problem. Puh-leeeeze!!! Only 3 percent of customers affected??? Well, I suppose it’s entirely possible than only 3 percent of their customers have been able to get through to express their issues at present. Can you imagine any other business in this world remaining in business with such an attitude and such appalling customer care?
I’m so angry I could spit, and I generally deem spitting to be one of the most disgusting bodily functions known to man.
I sincerely hope for some progress today but I seriously doubt it will happen short of a miracle.
Wow! I have to say that Jenny Crusie and Anne Stuart were the absolute highlights of my Romance Writers of Australia conference last weekend (along with the Harlequin authors’ dinner! Thanks again Harlequin, you guys are stars!) Jenny and Anne are amazing and empowering speakers. Hard on their heels as my next conference highlight was Bronwyn Jameson’s workshop on Creating Tension in your manuscripts. The woman is a goddess when it comes to breaking down the essential components that make a book a real page turner. While she had to, very unfortunately, bear with horrendous electronic and sound issues during the workshop the actual workshop content and her presentation of it were excellent!
The Awards Dinner saw the announcement of Karina Bliss as the long section R*BY winner and Anne Oliver as the winner in the short section. While I’m human enough to be disappointed not to have won I’m thrilled to bits for the winners. It’s a real accolade to have been judged most popular in the competition by the readers! I have my finalist certificate above my computer screen as I type this and I have to say it makes me very proud to have been a finalist.
Oh, and in lovely surprise news, I discovered on Sunday afternoon that the cover for my first book, The Boss’s Christmas Seduction, was the winner in the best cover competition!
Now I’m busy getting all my conference gear washed and dried and repacked so I can do the whole conference thing again over this coming weekend here in Auckland. Yay!
I can only hope that my progeny manage to stay out of Accident and Emergency rooms this weekend (eldest child ended up with a severely sprained knee after a foul hit in netball last Saturday). Keep your fingers crossed for me!
I’m off tomorrow to the Romance Writers of Australia conference in Sydney and I’m really looking forward to it. This is just about my favourite time of the year–CONFERENCE SEASON! Yippee! The chance to drag out the few remaining evening clothes I have that either (a) still fit and (b) are remotely still in fashion. It’s going to be heaps of fun this weekend, Thursday night is a Harlequin Authors’ Dinner, hosted by the wonderfully generous and lovely Harlequin Sydney staff, Friday is an all day workshop with the inimitable Jennifer Crusie followed by a Venetian Carnevale themed cocktail party, followed by more workshops on Saturday and an Awards Dinner in the evening, then more workshops on Sunday. Then the following weekend I get to do it all again here in New Zealand.
Ah, the life I lead
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Nalini Singh for some years. My first experience of reading her work came through a short story competition run by Romance Writers of New Zealand where she came first and I came third. When I read her story in the subsequent publication of Liaisons I could see why.
Nalini has a wonderful rich story telling voice and she layers her work with visual and emotional cues and stimulii that make the reading of her books a sumptuous feast for the senses. I’ve really enjoyed her Silhouette Desire books to date but even more, I’m absolutely loving her Psy/Changeling series published by Berkley. When I read Slave to Sensation I was totally and utterly hooked, Visions of Heat equally so, but right now I’m hoarding the delight of reading an ARC of Nalini’s third book in this amazing series, Caressed by Ice, and I think this one will eclipse the others in popularity. Not only has Nalini crafted a story of immense appeal between her two main protagonists, she has also deftly woven the threads of a futuristic world together with the intensifying threat of supreme control by a dominating race devoid of emotion.
For lovers of sci-fi fantasy and lovers of romance you owe it to yourself to read this author.
In the past two days I’ve received author copies of both my Australia/New Zealand release of Rossellini’s Revenge Affair (I still absolutely adore this cover) and in even more excitement, I received my author copies of the anthology that has been put together this year by Harlequin books in Sydney. The anthology is a wonderful collection of five of the short category finalists this year.
It’s hard to believe that a week today I’ll be flying over to Sydney in preparation for a wonderful weekend of workshops, dinners, cocktail parties and the Awards presentation on Saturday night which is followed the next morning by a breakfast fundraiser for Breast Cancer research.
I’m really looking forward to it!
The Harlequin/Silhouette finalists are still blogging over at eHarlequin so pop on by and leave a comment if you want to! Or, if you’d prefer, leave a comment here
