the big show

This week my husband and the two kiddlets and I went to the Royal Melbourne Show, and boy did we have a ball!!! For those of you not from these parts, the show is a mix of fantabulous fair ground rides, sideshow attractions, show bags filled with trinkets and chocolate, and livestock competitions. Imagine a massive hall filled with every kind of prize chicken you can imagine. Very noisy!

We managed to pick a day when it didn't rain - phew!

Toddler Girl had a fabulous time in the petting pens - patting sheep, dogs, cats, bunnies, chickens and a goat. She loooved chasing the bubbles pouring out from kids' bubble-guns all over the grounds. She loooves her Sesame Street showbag and hasn't stopped playing with all the toys that came in it. Mostly she loved trying to pick up rubbish from the ground. Mmm...

My memories of the Ekka, the show I grew up attending in Brisbane, are choosing which show bags to spend my hard-saved allowance on, chowing down on strawberry ice cream and dagwood dogs (deep fried red sausaages on a stick), and swirly twirly rides that made me feel sick to the stomach (I actually passed out while on one once!)

Watching my daughter create her own memories of something that makes up such a big part of my childhood was utterly lovely.

i heart the emmys

Love love loved the Emmys this year. Here's why...

The dresses. Duh! And the suits. Handsome men in black tie? Ah, yes please!

The host. Neil Patrick Harris was delightful. From the opening song onwards, he was funny, sweet, generous, and warm. Good job!!!

The introductions. Oh my, I fell of my chair like half a dozen times I was laughing so hard!!! As the stars as they walked on stage, rather than "He won an Oscar for Blah Blah Blah"" they said things like "You know him from his role as Dougie from the 1973 after school special, Sexual Revelations." Movie stars making fun of themselves - respect.

The nominees. The Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series gals were fantastic! Every single one of them wore ridiculous eyewear. The Best Writer in a Drama 'what goes on behind the scenes' bits were fabulous. And the fact that Flight of the Conchords was nominated made the whole thing that much more relevant IMHO.

Ricky Gervais. 'Nuff said.

confessions of a mills and boon junkie

Check out this Mills and Boon article in The Guardian: "Confessions of a Mills and Boon Junkie." I quote: Mills & Boon publishes 720 romantic novels a year. Featuring the kind of heroes their female readers can sigh and swoon over, they outsell true crime, science fiction and God in the bookshops. As fiction, they're easy to read – so surely it's easy to write one ...

I, for one, loved it! Funny stuff. With some great pearls from Mills and Boon junkies and excellent advice from Michelle Styles about resepecting our wonderful readers.

You can also read about the launch of the beautiful new new UK covers here.

addictive viewing

Heard of the Book Depository site yet? Well if you haven't you MUST check it out!

The lovely Liz Fielding put me onto it. It's an online book shop, based in the UK, but it offers FREE WORLDWIDE DELIVERY. Yep, absolutely free. Postage will cost you nadda. I've just pre-ordered a Kelly Hunter Modern Heat and Lucy King's first Modern Heat today. So if you missed a Mills and Boon or Harlequin release in the past couple of months and are kicking yourself, get thee to the Book Depository site now!!!

Apart from buying books online being pretty darned addictive, they have a site called Book Depository live, in which they have a map of the world with constant updates on what people all over the planet have bought from them in the past few minutes.

Eg. "Someone in Finland bought "Exterminators: The Bug Brothers" 28 minutes ago. Someone in Ireland bought "Stir-Fry Favourites" 1 miunte ago. Someone in Canana bought "The Hatches Handbook" 7 minutes ago."

It a) makes you feel like you're peeking into someone's shopping bag which is fascintating enough, but it also b) shows you the kinds of book out there you never even knew existed! Too much fun.

DATING THE REBEL TYCOON and GETTING RED-HOT WITH THE ROGUE are available there now.

ex marks the spot

Meet Max and Rylie, the hero and heroine of the story I'm about to start writing.

For those of you who've read GETTING RED-HOT WITH THE ROGUE you'll actually have met Rylie Madigan before. She interviewed Dylan and Wynnie on the telly?

Well now the lucky soul is getting her own story. Her own great romance. The fact that it's going to appear in the form of her ex, Max Callum is not going to make her happy. Well, not at first. I'm very much hoping that by the end she'll be as happy as a clam!

I'm going to have to write the thing now to see!

take flight

There's nothing like discovering a favourite new author with a backlist you can dive into and glom to your heart's content.

Okay, so maybe there's something that comes pretty close - and that's discovering a fab TV show that's been around a few seasons. I've recently found now one, not two, not three, but FOUR!

I have a good excuse for three. The wonderful, innocent, brilliant FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS is from New Zealand (a NZ band trying to make it in New York - so worth it for the songs - hilarious!).

The adorable, funny, delightful IT CROWD is British (what probably really goes on in every IT Department in the world). As is the hilarious, decadent, joyous, heavenly GAVIN AND STACEY (an English boy, a Welsh girl, their crazy friends and family).

I have no excuse for being a late convert to Aussie drama PACKED TO THE RAFTERS (the grown up Rafter kids and Grandpa all come back home to roost) and am hooked. Well and truly. Pristine writing, delicious romance - Rachel and Jake are just yum - and all other characters and just excellent.

If you haven't seen 'em, get thee to a video shop. If you have do you love 'em too? Any others I should know about and am missing out on? Don't hold back now!!!

sunshine

Off on holidays today for a week of sunshine and catching up with family in Brisbane, my home town and the location of my current series of books.

With more story ideas about the Kelly family and friends up my sleeve I'll be paying the kind of extra special close attention to the place I never did as a kid. Looking at it with romantic eyes.

That's if my husband lets me out the door with the amount of stuff I"ve had to pack for two kids under two!