Remembering Times Past
I've been going through old family photos...
The year has started… what is the word… dramatically?
On a macro level, from my perspective in Australia, the world seems a little less safe and for a long moment I seriously considered the wisdom of travelling to the United States in June. However a withering glance from my husband (he does a good withering glance) and I righted the wobble. I am looking forward to the wonderful Historicals on the High Seas cruise and to see my writerly friends in Las Vegas at the Historical Novel Society Conference as well as catching up with friends and family. The program for HNS is now out and looks fabulous. I will be participating in two panels :-) More on that in my next newsletter.
Meanwhile on a personal level, the year started with the death of one of my dearest writing friends, Kaz Delaney. Kaz was a force of nature and anyone who came within her orbit were instantly drawn in to her warm personality. Her passion for the Romance Writers of Australia knew no bounds and I can still recall her emailing me almost hourly in 2002 when it looked like the organisation would fail… imploring me to do something to save it. It took a team but we did what she wanted… and today RWA is going strong. Thank Kaz for that!
I also lost my uncle… my mother’s middle brother. My mother and her brothers were born in Kenya in the 1930s and I have been going through my mother’s old photo albums and exchanging the tiny sepia images of a world now long gone with my brother and cousins. Her fading images capture life in the British colonies as well as the closeness of their little family. I am so glad my mother wrote down her own mother’s story, and I will make it free to download for a short time (see below) if anyone is interested. Getting her to complete her own memories at the age of 95 is more challenging.
So, yes, that has been the start to my year. How has yours been?
OTHER NEWS
Firstly huge apologies for the length of time it is taking to get the audio of AGONY IN AMETHYST up on Audible/Amazon. Unfortunately it is totally out of my control. It was uploaded to the distributor in November and some sort of glitch in the system means it has only just gone in the interminable queue for non US citizens to get their books on Audible. I have lost patience and I am trying another distributor. Keep your fingers crossed that something happens! Meanwhile the audio is available on other distributors (eg Kobo, B&N, Apple etc) and directly from me.
On the subject of Audible, my Regency Romance Novella, A CHRISTMAS LOVE REDEEMED, is now available on Audible and Amazon (as well as all other audio retailers and libraries).
Thank you to everyone who preordered it… the first book in THE WOMEN OF MAIDEN’S CREEK series (THE POSTMISTRESS) is now available in print and ebook through Amazon only for the moment. If you are in KU, it is available for you to read. I am working on the ‘light edit’ of the second book (THE GOLDMINER’S SISTER)… you would not believe the time it takes to convert single dialogue quotes to double dialogue guotes!
OUT AND ABOUT
I will be launching my friend Mary-Lou Stephens’ latest book THE JAM MAKER at Wheelers Hill Library on Tuesday 11 Feb at 6.30pm. If you live out that way, do come and say hi! Free but bookings are helpful. Click HERE
And don’t forget to sign up for the ROMANTIC RENDEZVOUS booksigning in Melbourne on 29 March (and other cities). There is a contest currently running which puts ticketholders in the running to win a ticket for a friend to attend the booksigning (only) … details are HERE. There will be more than just booksigning for paying ticket holders … authors are doing panel discussions (I will be talking about writing Australian rural, in my case historical, romances)
(If anyone is coming and would like to preorder my books so I have them at the Melbourne signing. The preorder form is HERE.)
SPECIAL OFFERS
I have ONE contemporary romance novella to my credit … HEALING HEARTS (written as Alli Stewart) which just happens to be a Valentine’s Day story and it will be free over the St. Valentine’s Day weekend as a part of an Aussie authors only ‘Stuff Your Kindle’ event. A great chance to get your teeth into some fabulous, no doubt ‘new to you’, authors.
Brief synopsis: Meg Taylor’s best friend, Sarah, had died in a car accident. That left Meg and Sarah’s widowed husband, Chris, leaning on each other for support. Now Meg’s fiancé has returned from London for their long-planned wedding, meaning Meg and Chris’s comfortable routine is about to end.
And what am I reading/listening/watching…?
Reading: I have been reading Mary Lou Stephen’s new book THE JAM MAKER - her best so far (and I have read her previous 2). “Intertwined with the fascinating history of the Tasmanian jam industry and the striking historical figure Henry Jones, The Jam Maker is a tale of danger, deceit and the desperate measures one woman will take to succeed in love and life.” I am also reading Sujata Massey’s THE BOMBAY PRINCE and Robert Harris’s THE CONCLAVE.
Listening: I finished Book 8 of the SLOW HORSES series and for something light I am now listening to THE BELVEDERE MURDERS by Karen Baugh Menuhin (I love the narrator who does her books)
Watching: Lots of tennis but that has finished now. We have discovered K drama and are binging THE EXTRAORDINARY ATTORNEY WOO. Also watching the Aussie Crime noir BLACK SWAN and on those lazy super hot days (of which we are having a few) I am watching TRAITORS. Love the UK series (not so keen on the US version). It is the one reality TV show I would audition for - it appeals to my crime writing brain (my crime writing friend Vanda Symons was in the NZ Traitors)
What’s your favourite read/ listen/ watch for the month?
All from me… please feel free to comment directly on the Substack post :-) I love hearing from you and if you are not already a subscriber, consider subscribing to my posts and look out for a link to a free download of the Harriet Gordon prequel novella THE UMBRELLA in your inbox :-)
Best regards
Alison
I want to suggest, if you can't get your mother to write down her memories, just ask her questions and record her, or write down what she says. I did that with my father, but I wish I had done it with more elderly relatives.
Yay for discovering k-dramas, you're in for a treat!