The Medium Life

Photo taken on my grandparent's farm when I was possibly four or five years old. My grandfather was killed a month before I turned six, so it has to be before that. I just look kind of excited and brave to put my hand on the side of the cow. I love the hand on the hip, too! I was thinking that I maybe remember when it was taken, but I think that's the curse of the photograph memory. If I truly remembered it, I'd remember who took the photo (possibly my father) but I have no memory of that at all. I do know I loved going out to the farm, loved the animals from the Border Leicester sheep to the milking cow, to riding on the tractor and all the farm stuff. Good times.

I was with a bunch of writers recently and heard the phrase, "Golden Retriever hero."  What on earth? Were golden retrievers a thing in books now?  I used to have a golden retriever, adore them, but what was going on? Why not the Scottish Terrier or the Jack Russell, or if we're going large, the Old English Sheepdog? Well, actually it doesn't refer to the dogs at all. It is in fact a reference to a type of hero, inspired from the dog, with all the attributes of the Golden: loyalty, warmth, affection, kindness, and those lovely qualities.  You learn something every day. You really do!

I am beyond delighted that Captivating Kelly has been released! (excuse the over-the-top sized font!) and there are even a few tropes! Fake boyfriend Boss and the baby Forced proximity A CEO workaholic who needs a nanny, a burnt-out TV producer who needs a fiancé, and the deal that throws them both together in this sweet romcom. Workaholic CEO Sam Bracken has just been landed with his best friends’ baby (Tiffani with an ‘i’) and he makes a deal with employee, Kelly Brown. If she lives in as Tiff's nanny, he'll take her to the party where she wants to come face-to-face with her scumbag ex. Burnt-out Kelly left her beloved TV show ‘Mystery Date’ for a job she doesn't live and breathe 24/7. Life is sweet, until she learns the ex who humiliated her is back in town, and she's determined to confront him once and for all. Sam is the answer. Plus he's absolutely gorgeous; enough to make any man jealous. The problem is that Kelly doesn't know the first thing about babies...

 My Clearlake county books have had an upgrade, brand new covers including a cover for the  upcoming, "A Sweet Tomorrow," which will be released later on this year. I think they are just gorgeous...! They are currently exclusive to Amazon but will be wide by September 1st. They are all standalones, but set in Clearlake County, USA.

Pic: @mrs_moa_book_hub I spent two days this last weekend at the Romance Writers of New Zealand conference, 'Kiss and Tell,' and had a marvellous, marvellous time. It was five years since the last conference I went to in Wellington. Five years!!  This time I missed the Friday workshop but was there for Day One and Day Two. So here is a bit of a round up on just a couple of talks. Speaker T.L. Swan (Tee). I'd never heard of Tee before but the woman is quite something. Massive seller, who also started up her own publishing company over in Australia. Main points I learnt from her talks: Keep changing covers and blurbs if you need to. She changed covers on one of her series literally dozens of times before they started selling. Nothing had changed about the books at all but just the covers. You don't give up, you just keep pushing, pushing, pushing until you find your readers. Interestingly, she doesn't read romance fiction at all. I remember ages ago, another top selle...

THESE MAGIC MOMENTS is now WIDE so you can buy it from Kobo, Apple, Barnes and Noble, and more, as well as Amazon. There's a bit of a story behind this book. Back in the Covid years, I really wanted something 'old school' to read, just a simple romance, a true comfort read. I bought a few, including an omnibus of Betty Neels romances and by the time I'd finished I thought, I want to have a go at this style of story. Write something that is just a sweet, heartwarming, feel-good read. So I wrote it, I self published it under a new name "Maddie Summers" in case it bombed and everyone hated it. Fortunately everyone did not hate it, lol, and I ended up writing two more stories set in Bluebell Road. The good news I've already written a third of the fourth one and the plan is to publish it in time for Christmas this year! 

ANNOUNCEMENT: As you  know, I do like writing and reading short stories, and to that end, I've started up a Substack to post the odd short story now and then. Feel free to take a look and read the first story, "The Birthday Tree." CHECK OUT SUBSTACK HERE.

 What I'm working on? Two books at the moment. I have... "Captivating Kelly" being proofread and I hope to publish that at the end of this month, August. I am also editing a new Clearlake County book tentatively titled "A Sweet Tomorrow." As well, I have partially written a new Frazier Bay Book that I'll be plotting out next month. I am new to plotting but boy, it saves so much time. It is so much more effective, so I'm embracing plotting days in my planning. I also hope to have the new Maddie Summers, "A Bluebell Road Christmas" ready for this year's festive season. It's busy busy busy but very much fun. Stay tuned.

I was at a store a few weeks back and happened across a plug in to the wall, single element, induction cooktop thing. I made the purchase to see what it was like. I've been considering a new oven for some time and the inductions were recommended. My current one is not so good. Every time my sister comes over and attempts to cook on it, she's like 'Jo, when are you getting a new oven, how can you cook on this thing?' I can cook just fine, actually. It just takes ten times as long. To that end, I'd been contemplating the induction but they are more expensive, you need to make sure your cookware is induction friendly (I have one large pot that is just that thankfully)  and you also have to check the power supply supports it. It seems daunting. Then I found this plug in element and got home, got it going, cooked minced beef on it, and OH MY GOLLY GOSH. I couldn't believe it, just how quickly it cooked. I said to myself, now I don't need a whole new induction ove...

  Now free.. book one in my 'Maddie Summers' series, the Gabardis, it's The Gabardi Wife. Here's a quick intro: Holly's estranged husband Alexi turns up on her doorstep and she realizes she still loves him. But she needs a divorce, desperately. She's got a secret, one he can never know about, even though it concerns his family. Alexi has always adored Holly, but can he convince her so? Meet the Gabardi family in Book 1 of this sweet, emotion-packed series. You can get it HERE on Amazon.com until Wednesday July 15th. Go forth and enjoy!!

Frazier Bay: Everything you want in a small town romance: lovable characters, dashes of humour, a charming setting, and a heartwarming story...   I have been re-reading my first two Frazier Bay books to get back into the world as I plot out a third book in the series. I love these small town books, and I am especially keen to get back into writing this new one. I have a soft spot for fictional Frazier Bay because way back in the early days of my romance writing, I wrote a short story set in the small town and it won a competition which was just super exciting!! Pus it came with a very nice prize. The idea for the book grew out of that story. So far there are only two books but I have two more planned out for Frazier Bay.  So what are they about?   In The Heart of Matthew McLeod, Anna Cameron has weathered tragedy to find hope in Frazier Bay. With a new job, a new home, and her new friends, she's putting her life back together and even more, she's finding just how much sh...

 I've booked for the upcoming Romance Writers of New Zealand conference , to be held in early August in  Auckland so I'm pretty excited about that. I probably won't know most of the people, yikes, but that's a good thing, right? It means new people are writing and are interested in publishing and are supporting Romance Writers of New Zealand.  I also don't know who most of the speakers are but good to hear new people and learn new stuff and keep up to date with the business side of the writing.  Photo of myself with Glenda Leader, one of our RWNZ members from back-in-the-day. I think this picture must be a good 20 years old now! Good memories.

This time next week I'll be in Adelaide, South Australia! I've never been to Adelaide (or South Australia) so I'm super excited about that. There seems a bit to do in the city itself and the German village has been recomended; hopefully we can get there by bus. The Botannic Garden has also been recommended as a place to visit and besides that, there is the food. Spare the wine, but the food!!  Then I'll be flying up to Sydney for a bit of a family get together before I head home. I can tell you, there won't be much writing done but maybe I'll get some inspiration. Also, to Maddie readers, I'll be sending out a newsletter when I get back. xxx  

HAPPY MAY!!! Here's a bit of a round-up It is autumn but, rats, it is not nearly as cold as it should be!!  A few years back I bought a ski-type jacket at Aldi (in Australia, with my sister, we don't have Aldi here in NZ) and finally it is cold enough at times to wear the jacket.   I'm back into the knitting, and am back doing scarves. My mother used to knit us kids jerseys and cardigans and I can't imagine how long it must have taken, but its very pleasing to whip out the needles and knock off a few rows now and then. Clearly I am in no hurry to finish.  I've been getting organised with all sorts of things including diaries/planners. I got some cheap notebooks at Spotlight late last year and made them into planners.  I found a weekly planner pad dirt cheap at a second hand shop (.50c) which had a year's worth of planning pages in it and is probably better cos I can stick it up on the wall and actually see it and remember what I'm meant to be doing....

My super-duper sale on all Maddie Summer books has finished. Phew. It was great to see all the books appearing on the free charts, and all the downloads happening. I appreciate every rating and especially a review.  I like seeing what you all say about a book! What I'm working on: There is a fourth Clearlake book which is almost finished for the first editing stage.  The new 'Dating Daisy' story, Captivating Kelly is with my proof reader for a final proof. A Maddie Summers Bluebell Road story for Christmas this year. (It was meant to be Christmas last year but.... well, enough said about that!) And I'm also working on a single title comedy which I am hoping to have traditionally published and when its finished I'll be looking for an agent for that. A busy year ahead!

I've been watching a bit lately, as I recovered from the concussion (which I mentioned in my recent newsletter.) Unable to read or write for the first few weeks, my survival was that I could watch TV after a fashion, from a distance, and often not looking directly at the screen initially, just listening, thank goodness for the TV.  Here are some of the programmes I really liked: DRIVE TO SURVIVE . I do love the Formula 1 and was hanging out for the new series. I also re-watched some of the previous seasons, and now the racing is back on, yay, yay, yay, go Kimi, Oscar, Lewis, Ollie and Liam! (Can't have just the one favourite, no siree)  INSIDE WINDSOR CASTLE : This was terrific on the royals and also some great history. Very easy and interesting to watch for history or royal buffs. Even though I have watched events at Windsor like weddings, I still never really got just what its all about at the castle. RICHARD OSMAN HOUSE OF GAMES : This is the new weekly favourite in the hou...

For the next few days I have a TON OF FREE BOOKS for Amazon.com readers. Six, so maybe not a ton. They are from my other writer name, Maddie Summers, and they are all FREE ON AMAZON . Excuse the capitals. What is the difference between a Maddie and a Joanne? The main difference is the location: all the Maddie books are set in the United Kingdom, and are what I think of as 'cosy' romance. Kind of like curling up with an old school author you love. If you like a sweet'n'cosy romance, then give them a try. GO HERE!

Hi y'all, I'm taking a bit of a break from posting on both my blog and my Facebook page. I'll be focusing on my next few stories, in between the day job. In the meantime, feel free to have a browse of the old posts about my writing world. ~ Joanne xxx

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