Jo's blog

Sad news, that our cat Bobbie passed away. She is pictured here with Billie (Bobbie is the slightly smaller one on the left.) She was diagnosed with a heart condition of all things, with multiple medications, but only weeks after the diagnosis she rapidly became unwell, and we had to "take her in." Poor Bobbie. She was only around ten years old, as well.  We were a bit worried about how Billie would be, as they came to us together as  a 'bonded pair' but over the years, they were no longer bonded. In fact, I think Bobbie found Billie more annoying than anything, which led us to wonder if Bobbie was in fact Billie's Mum, although Billie is quite a bit bigger. Or they may not have been related at all.  RIP dear Bobbie.  

Unlike the interesting newspaper utterances of George Bernard Shaw, below, I have nothing particularly interesting to report. It was not a productive week. However... I picked up a Len Deighton spy novel in a charity shop the other day for something different to read, set in East Germany when Checkpoint Charlie was there.  I haven't read a spy novel in ages, I'm sure I have read one at some time, or maybe that's just watching old movies. I went out one night after work with some work mates which is aways good fun. A can of diet coke is $4. Four bucks!!  I am liking the new Kiwi series of Taskmaster a lot. Watched a bit of sport, the NRL, ie the rugby league. Exciting few weeks ahead. Or a day of depression if one's team loses. Fortunately, I have three favourite teams in the play offs. I've been at work for a fair bit of the week. And that is the week that was. WHAT I SAID IN NEW ZEALAND George Bernard Shaw, 1934

A new month to get stuff done. Is this not true of every month?  You can: Cross out all the stuff you didn't get done and start again. Open a new page in the journal. Turn the page in the planner. Revise a list, write it out again, and paste it over the old one. Keep up the good work from the previous month. Or just plod along and not be fussed about new starts and all that. I, however, am partial to a list, even if I lose it. It simply means I get to write more lists. This month I should start considering if I am going to contemplate thinking about planning anything in the garden weed patch for spring and summer. It is officially the first day of spring but we are still having wintery weather, oh, bless you cold weather. I love cold weather, but it has been a cold-er winter which means I will appreciate spring even more. I will probably think about contemplating some weeding. We had some tree clearing last year, amazing, so there is a bit more space. That is something for later o...

Small town, first in series, doctor hero and his empty nester neighbour, a cute kid and a grumpy cat, lots of the small town angst and happiness and friends and family...  a sweet, easy-reading romance that will touch your soul. It's HEAVEN NEXT DOOR and it is free for the next few days on Amazon com . Download from Amazon.com for FREE

Finally, we settled on a title. There was Kissing Kelly because the three books prior are Dating Daisy, Promising Penny and Marrying Michelle , but I'm not a fan of 'kissing' in the titles all that much. Captivating really seemed to suit so it might not be KK, and is CK instead but there it is. Captivating Kelly .  Read on for a sneak peak at the prologue. PROLOGUE  (draft) KELLY BROWN SUCKED in a deep breath as she walked down the corridor towards the staff café, nerves attacking her with each step, and along with them, regret. The nerves because she didn’t know what awaited her. It would be small. That she knew. She’d asked for small. A cake would be nice, but that would be enough. She tended to avoid her own hype. The regret because all this might have been avoided. Might have been something she could have nipped in the bud, although she couldn’t even be sure of that. But whatever it was, it was, plainly and simply, sad. She felt sad. It took an effort at times not to lo...

 FREE BOOK ALERT Yep, this weekend and until Monday, I am running a free book promotion for Dating Daisy . Meet Joel and Daisy in this second chance, professor hero, third time's the charm, romantic comedy.  So, what's it about? Daisy's a bookseller who goes on a TV dating show to drum up business for her ailing store. Not to win or anything like that, heaven forbid! Just to get her store's name mentioned on national TV a few times, since her beloved book shop is only weeks away from going under and she is desperate to do anything to stop that happening. Joel is a history professor who owes his best mate, the show's host, Rob, one massive favour, and Rob is calling that favour in: Be a contestant on the inaugural celebrity episode of Mystery Date . Except Joel Benjamin is no celebrity, and he sure isn't looking for love, not to mention his career is on the up, and going on a show like Mystery Date is simply, well, simply frowned upon . It could do his career mor...