Bellingen

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Bron

Wednesday was a wonderful day – a mini-holiday to one of my favourite places, with some of my favourite people!

I left home shortly after 8am, heading east across the tablelands to Ebor, then winding along the ridges towards the Dorrigo Plateau. The sun shone, the road was quiet, and the views were gorgeous – it is a beautiful landscape. Particularly along the ridges, the road is narrow with not a lot of stopping places, so getting photographs can be a challenge – but I have found one stretch with views where it is safe to pull over to the (narrow) side.

Mountain views near Dorrigo, New South Wales

(I’ve used the zoom lens so the view is a little shortened in this photo).

From Dorrigo, it’s down the winding narrow mountain road to the township of Bellingen – relaxed, sunny, with plenty of cafés to enjoy meeting up with writing friends:

Karly Lane, Diane Curran, Bronwyn Parry, Jenn J McLeod, Helene Young in Bellingen

From right to left – romantic thriller author Helene Young, Jenn McLeod (watch for her debut novel next year!), me, Diane Curran (she’ll have a debut novel soon too, I’m sure!), rural romance author Karly Lane , and Jeanette McA, cheerleader, supporter, and great friend to us all.

Then it was off to Bellingen Library, where fantastic librarian Sharon Uthman hosted an author talk with Helene, Karly and me. Very relaxed, a lot of fun, and some great questions from the audience.

Helene Young, Bronwyn Parry & Karly Lane at Bellingen Library

All in all, a thoroughly pleasant day! Thanks so much to Sharon for inviting us and giving us the opportunity to get together.

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August Events

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Bron

I know it’s been quiet around here – Looming. Book. Deadline.

Not much happening to report on except staring at the screen and occasionally typing some words. Ah, the glamorous life of the author!

However, this week and next I get to disengage from the computer for some events I’m looking forward to – and you’re invited 🙂

Bellingen Library

On Wednesday, I’m heading down the big hill to Bellingen, where the lovely Sharon Uthman from Bellingen Library has invited me, Helene Young, and Karly Lane for an author chat. Helene and Karly are two wonderful women and fantastic authors so it’s going to be great fun, chatting with them and with readers!

Bellingen Library

 

National Bookshop Day – Dymocks Armidale

Saturday, 11th August is National Bookshop Day – a day to celebrate the important role of bookshops within our communities. One of our local Bookshops, Dymocks Armidale, have invited me to visit and be an honorary bookseller for the morning – so I’ll be behind the counter from 10am to noon or so, doing my best to connect readers with books they’ll love!

National Bookshop Day logo

 

RWA Conference and ARRA Mega Book-Signing

Next week, Kelly Hunter and I will trek together up to the Gold Coast in Queensland to attend the Romance Writers of Australia conference -probably the best writer’s conference in the country, with fantastic learning, networking and professional opportunities amongst an incredible association of supportive women (and a few men). The RWA conference is always an inspirational few days. This year, in conjunction with the Australian Romance Readers Association, there will be a major book-signing event on Friday 17th August, with  more than 60 romance authors signing books and chatting with readers. Eloisa James from the US will be there, and favourie Australian authors Anna Campbell, Anne Gracie, Barbara Hannay, Fiona Palmer, Keri Arthur, Helene Young, Karly Lane… this list goes on!

The event is open to the public and costs just $7; you can buy books and then have them signed by the authors. So if you love romance and you’re anywhere near the Gold Coast, put the date in your diary now! If you register in advance, you’ll receive a free ticket in a raffle for a great prize basket packed with goodies.

ARRA Booksigning event banner

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Friday Photos: Winter

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Bron

Frost on eucalypt leaves

Frost crystals

Sunrays through morning mist

The lovely thing about this climate is that, although we do get cold, frosty mornings, once the sun rises it quickly melts the frost, and we (usually) get crisp, clear, sunny days.

(But writing novels set in high summer on the plains further west is a bit of a challenge during our winters!)

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Writing Wisdom

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Bron

I’m not the world’s most  regular blogger, I know, but at present I’m concentrating on a) earning a living and b) writing a book – and I’m sure most of my readers would prefer me to prioritise book-writing over blog-writing!

So, no thoughtful or newsy post from me today! However, I here’s a couple of links that writers might well find interesting:

First up, a post from the lovely Joanna Bourne, who writes fantastic historical romances set in France and England in the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Joanna also writes great blog posts about writing, with a wealth of information and sensible guidance. The other day, she posted about writing fight scenes, and how it’s not about writing eight minutes of fight action… ‘I’m trying to tell ‘story’ with this fight action. Story leads up to the fight, lies inside it, and continues afterwards….’ Read more at her Technical Topics – Fight Scenes post 

Second up, if you’ve ever struggled to write a love scene – or even struggled to read one! – Anais Nin wrote some thoughtful and passionate words about writing about sex in a letter from the 1940s: ‘You have taught us more than anyone I know how wrong it is not to mix it with emotion, hunger, desire, lust, whims, caprices, personal ties, deeper relationships which change its color, flavor, rhythms, intensities.’ Read more of her wisdom at Letters of Note – Sex does not Thrive on Monotony.

Okay, now I’m going to write some more words before bedtime!

 

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Workshop tomorrow!

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Bron

It’s been a busy few weeks – I’ve been to Canberra, and to Sydney twice, had an angiogram and a follow-up appointment with my neurosurgeon, had a few hours at the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair (fun!), marked a stack of university assignments (not-so-fun), researched for a revised media studies unit (fortunately, I’m not running it),  oh, and a whole pile of other stuff – including some writing on the next book.

Today’s major task – finalising materials for the one-day workshop I’m teaching tomorrow at the New England Writers Centre – Adventures in Fiction: Getting Started.There’s still (just) a couple of places left, so if you’re in the area and having nothing planned for tomorrow, hop over to NEWC quickly and register!

I’m looking forward to the workshop – I always enjoy teaching, and I’m expecting (as usual) an interesting group of people and fun as we explore ideas and strategies for writing fiction.

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