Catching up

How can it be so long since I updated this blog? Oops. Life has been pretty full this year.

In February, I went to the wedding of my beloved nephew and the love of his life. It was a beautiful wedding of two beautiful souls.

In May, I attended A Regency Affair, a wonderful weekend of Regency dancing, workshops, costumes and fun. I taught a number of workshops including cutting a feather quill and writing with it.

Then it was off to east Kurrajong and in the Windsor/Richmond area, for my delayed research and writing retreat. My current manuscript is set in Sydney and surrounds in 1817, and with huge thanks to a grant from ArtsNorthWest, I was able to stay in for 6 nights, researching the history and locations in the region as they might have been in 1817. While I didn’t get a lot of words written, I did have some ‘aha!’ moments that will help me as I finish the book.

At the end of May I finished my last contract working for a local museum, which was bitter-sweet but after 4 years of juggling multiple part-time jobs I decided it was time to concentrate on my own creative work.

June and July were mad sewing for the Romance Writers of Australia conference in Sydney, where I was co-presenter for a workshop on Undressing the Historical Heroine, along with Beverley Eikli, Cathleen Ross, Elizabeth Rolls and Alison Stuart. I outfitted Cathleen, Elizabeth, Alison and myself in dresses from 1815 – 1901, and Beverley wore 3 different outfits she’d made from 1789 to 1850. I’d also brought replicas of historical underthings for the audience to pass around and examine. We wore all the correct layers and undressed on stage down to underthings. It was good fun and the audience feedback was very positive. But there was a lot of sewing to get ready – I finished my crinoline with *minutes* to spare!

It was wonderful to catch up with my writing friends for the first time since 2018, and a good reminder of who I am, and aspire to be, as a writer.

In September I was back in Sydney for the Georgette Heyer conference, where I spoke on Heyer’s contributions to romance fiction. I also had a lovely few days with my friends Pamela Freeman and Stephen Hart.

And now it’s October, and I’m heading down south again in a couple of weeks to visit my sister and her family, and cousins in Victoria. And through it all, I’ll be writing. I know it’s been a long time between books; there’s a lot of reasons for that – the combination of other life demands, a challenging book, and some burn-out. But I’ve solved some of those problems and am very hopeful that my next book will be out in early 2024 – more news as it comes to hand!