Tag: Author Harvest

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#WriteRoundOz w/ Sandi Wallace – WIN!

Tell Me Why Sandi Wallace#Write Round Oz is dropping into Sandi Wallace in the enchanting Dandenong Ranges in Victoria.

 Sandi, thank you for letting me park my rig on your …

… drive? Hmm, it’s a bit tight. Am I going to knock over a rhododendron or two on my way out?

Oh, I hope not, Jenn! I’m rather attached to my rhododendrons.

 

Oh! Oops about the rhododendrons but what’s that I see written on your ‘welcome mat’, Sandi?

Enter at own risk. Crazy writer lives here.

 

I miss my HUGE refrigerator. If I looked in your refrigerator right now, what would I find?

I’ll go check… Phew, lots of healthy stuff (I’m a personal trainer in my ‘other’ life) and uh-oh, a couple of things well past their use-by.

 

Downsizing my life into a 24 ft caravan meant leaving lots of things behind in boxes. What (or who!!) would you have trouble leaving behind if you took off in a caravan?

It might be cosy with my hubby, dog, two cats, and me, but I couldn’t leave any of my family behind. Out of the household items, I’d probably miss my lovely big bookcases the most.

 

Do you REALLY have room at your house to park a fifth wheeler caravan and do you mind visitors? Oh, sorry, you don’t have to answer that one!! 🙂

If you can’t get the van up our curving drive, you can park on the verge out front and you’re very welcome, just let me know in advance. 😉

 

Country curiosities…

My latest novel, Season of Shadow and Light, has a strong horse theme. (I love what horses can teach us). If you were an animal what would you be?

I love horses too, although I haven’t been riding in a long time. I’d be a horse or a cat. I’d choose horse on one of my energetic, ‘I want to be outside and free days’, cat when I’m feeling lazy, ready for a snooze in a sunny nook of the house. That pretty much sums up my active and sedentary/personal trainer and author personality split!

 

You’re cooking and your food is going up against the best cooks from the CWA (Country Women’s Association). What would be your winning dish?

I do a mean spaghetti! Look out lovely ladies at the CWA.

 (Ooooooh! CWA ladies everywhere are quivering in fear!!!!!)

About you…

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

I can fall into the trap of thinking too far ahead and need to work on focusing on the ‘right now’.

 

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

The Armchair Detective

 

Favourite four…

Favourite four characters in my book Tell Me Why: John Franklin (he’s a maverick cop, so just flawed enough, and looks lovely in and out of his blue uniform), Georgie Harvey (far from perfect and never boring, I love this gutsy woman), Pam Stewart (she’s a bit naughty and would make a brilliant grandmother) and Franklin’s daughter, Kat (a chocolate box without descriptions, she brings back good and bad memories – sorry, Mum! – of being fifteen-going-on-twenty-five).

Favourite place in Australia: Home (in the Dandenong Ranges), Daylesford, Harrietville and other country towns – we tend to swap one hill (home) for another on our holidays.

Favourite holiday destination: Country Victoria but I’d like to do a little overseas travelling with my hubby one day.

Favourite movie: I’m hooked on crime movies but can’t re-watch them too often because the plot stays too fresh in my mind. The movies I tend to see repeatedly are rom-coms like The Holiday and Love Actually. Who doesn’t love a bit of romance?

(*snap* my fave movies too – along with Dirty Dancing, of course!)

Favourite quote: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

 

If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

I’d ask, ‘Tell me why?’ We’d chuckle. I’d wink, then talk about my book Tell Me Why and how it came to be published.

And I’d say… Tell Me More, Sandi Wallace!

Tell Me Why is book one in my Rural Crime Files series and my debut novel. I’m pretty stoked to have achieved step one in a lifelong dream to be the writer of a crime series and standalone books. It is an authentic, gritty, rural crime story with a touch of romance and stars Franklin and Harvey. They will return in book two, Black Saturday, which will be released later this year.

Give us the blurb.

Picturesque Daylesford has a darker side.

Melbourne writer Georgie Harvey heads to the mineral springs region of central Victoria to look for a missing farmer. There she uncovers links between the woman’s disappearance and her dangerous preoccupation with the unsolved mystery surrounding her husband.

Maverick cop and solo dad John Franklin is working a case that’s a step up from Daylesford’s usual soft crime; a poison-pen writer whose targets are single mothers.

Georgie’s investigation stirs up long buried secrets and she attracts enemies. When she reports the missing person to the local cops, sparks fly between her and Franklin. Does he dismiss the writer too quickly?

A country cop, city writer, retired farmer and poison-pen stalker all want answers.

What will they risk to get them?

What will be the ultimate cost?

­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________________________________________________________

WIN a print (signed) copy of Tell Me Why.

We are looking for the funniest or best response to: ‘Senior Constable John Franklin has just flashed the strobes and whooped the siren on the marked four-wheel drive. He is waving you over to the verge. What have you done?’

Winner announced here, on the blog in two weeks. Australian postal addresses only.

How to find out more about Sandi.

Sandi’s website: www.sandiwallace.com

Sandi on Facebook: www.facebook.com/sandi.wallace.crimewriter

Sandi at Clan Destine Press: http://clandestinepress.com.au/author/sandi-wallace

Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C6fPQPozGQ&feature=youtu.be

Buy eBook links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Tell-Rural-Crime-Files-Book-ebook/dp/B00RNBCZMA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420063683&sr=8-1&keywords=tell+me+why+sandi+wallace

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/tell-me-why/id954937219?mt=11

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/tell-me-why-6

 

 

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#WriteRoundOz w/ Author – Charlotte Nash

I’m dropping in on Charlotte Nash and her resident lizard  in Queensland

ImageImage 1

Hi Charlotte,

Thank you for letting me park my rig … 

… half up on your kerb? (Hmm, not much room in this street) 😉

What’s that I see written on your ‘welcome mat’, Charlotte?

Beware the Lizard! (we have one that lives under our stairs – he’s got three legs and I love him)

 

 

The one thing I really miss in a caravan is my HUGE refrigerator. If I looked in your refrigerator right now, what would I find?

Water bottles, fruit, and lots of left-overs, awaiting the next cull!

Downsizing my life into a 24 ft caravan meant leaving lots of things behind in boxes. What (or who!!) would you have trouble leaving behind if you took off in a caravan?

Actually that sounds heavenly. ‘Stuff’ makes me anxious – I love a good clear-out! In fact, I’m in the middle of one right now. Please mind the boxes.

(Ouch!)

Do you REALLY have room at your house to park a fifth wheeler caravan and do you mind visitors? Oh, sorry, you don’t have to answer that one!! 😉

I’m in a block of flats at the moment. I figure I’ll blame someone else 😉

 

Country curiosities…

My latest novel, Season of Shadow and Light, has a strong horse theme. (I love what horses can teach us). If you were an animal what would you be?

I love horses, too, and spent most of my childhood riding. To actually be an animal, though, I’d pick something with wings. Probably a parrot, like the New Zealand alpine Kea. They’re pretty mischievous – suits me.

You’re cooking and your food is going up against the best cooks from the CWA (Country Women’s Association). What would be your winning dish?

My secret fudge. Or custard tart. Or lemon delicious. Or pumpkin scones – Flo’s got nothin’.

 

About you…

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Remembering how hard it was for the last project. You tend to forget, then panic because the next first draft is bad.

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

Work in Progress!

 

Fun Favourites…

Favourite place in Australia: Great Keppel Island

Favourite holiday destination (anywhere): Sunshine Coast.

Favourite movie: It’s a toss-up between Aliens, Watchmen, Bridesmaids and The Prestige.

Favourite quote: “The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion.” — John Lawton

 

If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

Would you like to see my stamp collection? Oh, what, you’d rather talk? That’s cool. *grin* (I can’t juggle – it’s probably better we talk)

 

Here is how you can find out more about Charlotte:

CRYSTAL CREEK

Aspiring doctor Christina Price has worked hard to rise above an upbringing filled with neglect and the assumption that she would never amount to anything. She promised herself she was never going back – could never go back – to Townsville, where she’d been bullied and betrayed as a young teenager. But when a twist of fate lands her on practical placement in a clinic on the Townsville army base, she must confront past hurts if she wants to succeed and, just maybe, find love.
Captain Aiden Bell is used to hard work, and to the life of an army officer: base-hopping and deploying overseas. His career has taken an emotional toll that he hasn’t dealt with, until meeting Christina stirs memories, desire – and hope.
At Crystal Creek, can facing your past give love a chance?
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#WriteRoundOz w/ Posie Graeme-Evans, Novelist & Producer (+ giveaway)

posie officeOkay McLeod’s Daughters fans.

Look where I am!

We can thank Posie Graeme-Evan’s for the McLeod’s Daughters series and, as I consider myself the lost McLeod Daughter, I’m happier than a butcher’s dog to be dropping in (fictionally-speaking) on Posie at her home in the picturesque Huon Valley, Tasmania. As well as her many TV successes, this multi-talented Australian treasure is also a brilliant novelist. (I had a wee fan girl moment a couple of years back. Here I am about to eat Posie, I think. But she was delightful… Short of stature, but delightful. 😉Posie S&S 2012

 

Posie, Posie, Posie, thank you for letting my park my rig outside your …

Dairy-come-chook-house.

Yes, really; when I first saw the farm, the old ex dairy, now my office, had 200 chooks in residence. Last year, Andrew (my very clever husband) took that smelly little shed and turned into the nicest office I’ve ever had. And when this photo (left) was taken, I’d just barrowed all that gravel to make that path, too!

posie paintingBy the way, this painting (left) was my Christmas present last year – “Heartland” by my dear friend, painter Stephanie Tabram.; just to remind me of the original inhabitants

 

And what’s that I see written on your ‘welcome mat’, Posie?

The cow is not in. (just for those very bad writing days)

 

I miss my HUGE refrigerator. If I looked in your refrigerator right now, what would I find?

When I’m writing? Not enough of anything (especially if Andrew’s busy on the farm, too.) We find ourselves making omelettes very late at night.

(All those chooks obviously come in handy!)

 

Downsizing my life into a 24 ft caravan meant leaving lots of things behind in boxes. What (or who!!) would you have trouble leaving behind if you took off in a caravan?

Cats x 2.

Whose home would you like to visit in your van and why?Posie author pic

Taking a liberty here… Quite like to park on site when Edward 1 was building Caernarfon Castle (we stayed in one of the Bath Tower there last January). Would have liked to be invisible and sit in on one of the site meetings. The place is huge! And built so fast!

Do you REALLY have room at your house to park a fifth wheeler caravan and do you mind visitors? Oh, sorry, you don’t have to answer that one!!

Jenn…. You’re welcome anytime : )

(Just need to get brave enough to get Barcoola onboard and cross that might sea that separates us, Poise. But we will do it. We will!)

 

Country curiosities…

My latest novel, Season of Shadow and Light, has a strong horse theme. (I love what horses can teach us). If you were an animal what would you be?

When I was a kid I had an imaginary animal friend; a black puma. Splendid! However, now I’d quite like to be a Shire Horse. So dignified and patient and loveable (I’ve never done these three very well, but I continue to aspire!)

 

You’re cooking and your food is going up against the best cooks from the CWA (Country Women’s Association). What would be your winning dish?

My mother’s Cheaters Cheese Souffle (it’s based on a scaffolding of stale bread and never falls down!)

 

About you…

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Hard! Goodness gracious, why would you ever think writing is hard! (Gaaaar! What is that sound, what does it mean??) Sigh. When you just have to keep going and there’s no escape and it takes over every single thing that you do, waking and sleeping. Then there are the bad days…

If someone was to write your biography, what do you think the title should be?

“She Ground Her Teeth.”

What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?

“Goodness, you’re tall. Does that bother you?”

Answer: Not at all (yeah, yeah I know; but next life I’m coming back very tall, and very willowy)

 

Favourite Fun 

Favourite four: kinds of clouds; thunderheads, mares’ tails, snow, stormPosie Ridgeline party

Favourite place in Australia: the ridgeline where I live in Tasmania’s South. Sunny afternoon, mates and kids. All good : )

Favourite holiday destination (anywhere): The North of the world, faaar North

Favourite quote: “Never trust a sword to a man who can’t dance” (Thankyou Dad.)

 

If I said to you, “Just entertain me for five minutes, I’m not going to talk,” what would you do?

I’d sing. Or make scones.

(Or put the McLeod’s Daughter’s series one in the DVD and stop singing! 🙂 wild-wood-9781925030341_hr

WIN – Wild Wood

WIN a signed copy of Wild Wood. Just leave a comment below. If you have a favourite McLeod’s Daughter character, do share. My fave is Claire.

 

You can find Wild Wood  buy links HERE or go straight to Amazon

Posie’s Wild Wood  novel is every bit as wonderful as The Island House.

About Wild Wood

“Of time and fate only one is real. In 1981, in London just before Charles’ & Di’s wedding, Jesse Marley will find that out.”

Jesse Marley calls herself a realist; she’s all about the here and now. But in the month before Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s wedding in 1981, all her certainties are blown aside by events she cannot control. First she finds out she’s adopted. Then she’s run down by a motorbike.

In a London hospital, temporarily unable to speak, she uses her left hand to write. But Jesse’s right-handed. And as if her fingers have a will of their own, she begins to draw places she’s never seen, people from another time—a castle, a man in medieval armour. And a woman’s face.

Rory Brandon, Jesse’s neurologist, is intrigued. Maybe his patient’s head trauma has brought out latent abilities. But wait. He knows the castle. He’s been there.

So begins an extraordinary journey across borders and beyond time, one that takes Jesse to Hundredfield, a stronghold built a thousand years ago by a brutal Norman warlord and passed down to the noble Dieudonné family, a clan honored and burdened with the task of protecting England’s dangerous northern border in the fourteenth century. Jesse holds the key to the castle’s many secrets and its connection to the mystical legend of the Lady of the Forest.

Somehow Hundredfield, with its history of darkness and light, of bloody battles won and lost, will help Jesse find her true lineage. In a world where the tales of old are just a heartbeat away, there are no accidents. There is only fate.

Posie’s website is just gorgeous (can you tell I really am a fan?) and you might be surprised to know what other fabulousness Posie once brought into our lives. (I’ll Hi 5 you if you can guess! Hint! hint!)

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