Taste of Kiwi

This week fellow author Christine d’Abo mentioned The Writer’s Guide to Character Traits by Linda N. Edelstein. It contains all sorts of neat information and inspired by Christine’s post, I dragged it out of my bookcase.

In her book the author mentions traits of writers. Here are some of them:

1. Creates in order to heal old wounds in themselves.

2. Creative thinkers.

3. Sensitive.

4. Often drink alcohol, especially after forty.

5. Depression in younger writers.

6. Problems with anxiety and drug use.

7. Has to tolerate aloneness.

8. Has to let go of work.

9. Families with mental illness and creativity.

10. Higher rates of bisexuality or homosexuality. (there’s a note about a study done for this one)

11. Abstract thinkers.

12. Fear mediocrity.

13. Disregard routine problems.

As a writer I plain disagree with some of these, although it’s good to know I don’t need to feel guilty about drinking wine anymore. I think writers are articulate, imaginative, driven, fear rejection, respond well to chocolate, have great imaginations, are determined, hardworking, good procrastinators (at times) and can suffer from bottom spread.

I’m sure I’ve missed quite a few. What qualities do you think writers have?

Tweet This Post

Quite a few years ago when my sister was having a house built she told Mr. Munro and I she intended to get a dishwasher. “What do you need one of those for?” we asked, making definite scoffing sounds. “It’s no problem handwashing the dishes each night. It takes hardly any time at all.”

My sister said maybe that was the case but she still intended getting a dishwasher. It was bad enough cooking dinner when she arrived home from work. Adding dishes to the equation was too much. She duly got her dishwasher, and Mr. Munro and I smugly continued doing our dishes by hand.

Then we moved into a new house, one that came with a brand new dishwasher. Hubby and I looked at each other. “It would be silly not to use it,” Mr. Munro said. I agreed.

“We’ll put it on every couple of days. No point using dishes just for the sake of filling it.” Once again, I agreed.

Wind the clock forward about five years to this week:

Me – “The dishwasher’s broken. It’s the handle. Something has broken off and the dishwasher isn’t closing.”

“It’s full of dishes,” Mr. Munro said glumly. “And it’s a holiday weekend. We’ll have to do the dishes by hand.”

And so it went. The dishwasher broke on Saturday and we’ve handwashed ever since. It’s now Wednesday and the dishwasher repairman arrived to fix it this afternoon. I handed over our check and thanked him very much. I wanted to hug him but I didn’t want to seem too forward. We use the dishwasher just about every day and there’s only the two of us. It was a pain living without it.

On Christmas day, my sister and I laughed when I said how much I love the dishwasher. This week Mr. Munro and I discussed our smugness and had to laugh. It’s kind of ironic really – how the past always manages to come back and bite you in the bum!

~*~

I received a wonderful five star review for Playing to Win. Anne Boling from ReviewYourBook.com said, “Playing to Win has an edge-of –your- seat plot. I was hooked from the first chapter. This book has twists and turns that keep the reader guessing. The characters are well defined with their own voice. Shelley Munro is a talented author. Fans of romance, do not let this one escape your bookshelf.” The full review is available here.

Tweet This Post

Playing to Win, the very first book I wrote is a romantic suspense. I’ve written many different genres since then, but one thing remains true. I love to add a suspense element and if I can sprinkle the odd body or two between the pages, so much the better.

Although a villain is essentially a secondary character in a romance, he or she needs just as much work during the creation process as the hero and heroine. There’s a trick or two I’ve learned to make a credible villain. I thought I’d share:

1. A villain doesn’t have to be really evil and horrid. The villain in a romance might be an old girlfriend, a brother or sister, a mother-in-law or the man living next-door. They can be a meddling friend who is trying to match make. You don’t need a high body count to make a villain. Villainy comes in many forms such as the ex-girlfriend intent on regaining the hero’s interest.

2. When you’re thinking about your villain, give him good points as well as bad ones. Make him three dimensional. If he’s a well-rounded character then he’s actually scarier because we, the reader, come to like him or we might see part of our own character in his makeup and empathize.

3. Think about having your villain mirror your hero or heroine actions. Give them a similar conflict but have them behave in a different way to solve the conflict.

4. Give your villains a good reason for behaving in the manner they are—in other words, good motivation for their actions.

5. Make use of the setting to enhance the villain i.e. cold or stormy weather or late at night. Every bit counts!

6. Take as much care when choosing your villain’s name as you do when picking a name for your hero and heroine. A good name can help make a villain.

How do you like your villains? Subtle or in-your-face? Who is your favorite villain in fiction? Are there any characteristics you like to see in a villain?

Tweet This Post

Most of you know I live in New Zealand. It’s a small country of 4 million people. This year, the news has been dominated by murder. We’ve had ten murders in our country this year, and it’s all people are talking about at the moment. Seven of the ten murders have been solved with the perpetrator caught. The worrying part is that six of the crimes have been against women and most of those killed and many of the accused are young, in some cases under sixteen. Two of the crimes have taken place very close to where I live and both men who died were young. Too young.

As you can imagine, there’s discussion everywhere, so much discussion that police have come out with an unprecedented statement where they say this number of murders is not unusual due to the time of the year, the financial strain and pressure on families and of course, alcohol.

Huh? That was my first reaction. I’m appalled by our latest statistics and the waste of life. As I mentioned, both people murdered in my area were young. One was at university and was working at his parents’ store. He was knifed by a sixteen-year-old who appears to have been on drugs. The attack was unprovoked. The second victim was a fifteen-year-old. He was caught tagging a fence at 11pm. It appears that the fifty-year-old man who caught him was so incensed he attacked him with a knife.

Yeah, I’m appalled at these murders and think any murder is one too many. I don’t care what the police say. The problem is how do we stop this senseless violence? Many people are placing the blame on the government. I don’t know. I realize we don’t live in a perfect world but wonder if perhaps part of the problem in some cases is the breakdown of the family unit. It’s a hard question since so many factors come into the equation. I really don’t know the answer.

What do you think is the answer? How do we stop this senseless waste of life in our communities?

Tweet This Post

Mechele Armstrong zapped me with a meme.

Isabella Snow started this Meme, it’s just too much fun to pass up.

I used to hate getting tagged for memes, but it’s been so long since I’ve done one I started missing them. So, I created one, and here it is. I actually had done a normal one, until someone remarked it should be smutty, so I’ve just edited it. You’re welcome to post it on your blogs, the rules are as follows: You must call it the Smut Meme (obvious reasons, I’d hope), you must link to me in the title, and you must tag 2 people, and link to them as well. Oh, and you must post this little blurb at the beginning, like I’ve just done. Got it? Ok then.The idea is to pick one or the other, even if you prefer neither. I’ll go first. If you want to play along you can answer the questions in the comments

1. Chocolate or Whipped Cream: Chocolate

2. Leather or PVC: Leather

3. Outdoor Sex or Indoor Sex: Indoor

4. In the Jacuzzi or In Bed? Jacuzzi

5. Bad Sex or No Sex: No Sex

6. Dominate or Be Dominated: Be Dominated

7. Thigh highs or Bodystocking: Thigh highs

8. Fast or Slow: Slow

9. Rough or Gentle: Rough

10. Bite or Suck: Suck

11. Role play or Reality: Role Play

12. Dirty Talking or Dirty Talking To: Dirty Talking To

13. Edible panties or No Panties: No Panties

14. Spanking paddle or Bare-handed: Bare-handed

15. Landing Strip or Kojak: Landing Strip

16. Multiple Sessions or One Good Fuck: Multiple Sessions

17. Moaning or Screaming: Moaning

18. Older Men or Young Men: Young Men

19. Threeway or No Way: Threeway

20. Swing or No Swinging: No Swinging

Let me see. I’m going to tag Paige Tyler and Shelli Stevens

Tweet This Post

Firstly, my ISP is currently driving me nuts working at below dial-up speed because I’ve used up all my available allowance. I’ve finally caved and signed up for the next level, but I have to wait a couple of days for it to kick in. Meantime, I’m doing minimum Internet visits and instead I have to write. So sad, but what’s a girl to do if she can’t procrastinate!

I’m participating in Christine d’Abo’s writing challenge and have almost made my target for this week with two days to go. I might even cheat and do some more planning on my Urban Fantasy and also my storyboard. Christine said I’m meant to concentrate on one project but no one will tell on me, right?

This week has been one of rejection. I’ve received two, and while I’m disappointed, I’ve already moved on, submitting one project to another pub and reading/editing/cutting the other project to make it under 15,000 words. I’m thinking I might submit this to Spice or EC. I’m going to ponder this for a bit longer. The lesson to all you unpublished/aspiring writers out there is that rejections never go away. I’ve been published since 2004 and I still get rejections. Even though they’re disappointing and some plain hurt, dammit, a rejection isn’t personal. It just means that the project didn’t work for that particular editor or agent. Run with any feedback and send that sucker out again. That is my advice for the day.

I’m running a new contest on my website in conjunction with the wonderful and talented Jory Strong. The details will be up on my contest page this weekend so do pop back and check it out. I really love Jory’s books and the contest is going to be a lot of fun.

Reading: I’ve started reading my RITA books, which I can’t tell you about, but I did sneak in Midnight Awakening by Lara Adrian. I’ve been enjoying Ms. Adrian’s series and her take on vampires. I’ll admit I thought the first book was only okay, but I picked up the second book and loved it. I think her series is getting better with each book and will definitely snap up the fourth in the series. In this, the third book, the hero Tegan is strong and feared by others but he has a softer side that he shows to Elise, the heroine. I liked Elise, too. She’s grown strong after losing her son and finds new depths along with love. Really, if you like vampire stories this is a great read.

I also picked up a few of Ellora’s Cave Exotica line. The only ones I’ve read to date are by Red Garnier. Today I read a short Quickie by Ciana Stone called Riding Ranger. I really liked this story. While I usually prefer a happy ending this story really worked for me.

How has your week been? What are you up to for the weekend? What are you reading at the moment?

Tweet This Post

Last weekend when I visited the Botanic Gardens I discovered 2008 is the year of the potato. You learn something every day. So, in honor of the humble potato:

1. Potatoes were first “domesticated” or cultivated in the Andes thousands of years ago. They had hundreds of varieties including a frost-resistant one.

2. The potato derived its name from the American Indian word “Batata”. It was introduced to Europeans by Spanish conquerors in the late 16th Century.

3. Potatoes were not initially accepted in Europe. Some people thought they caused disease.

4. In 1845 and 1846 the potato crop in Ireland was devastated by fungus. The potato had become a major food to the Irish causing the “Irish Potato Famine” which caused many Irish to immigrate. The population of Ireland decreased by nearly two million between 1847 and 1851.

5. The potato is the second most popular food in America, beaten only by milk products.

6. The average American eats over 120 pounds of potato a year.

7. One Medium Potato (150 grams or about 1/3 pound) contains 110 Calories, 3 grams of protein, 23 grams of carbohydrate, 0 grams of fat, 2710 mg of fibre, 10 mg of sodium and 750 mg of potassium.

8. A potato contains 80% water.

9. Potatoes are related to the tobacco and tomato families.

10. Antoine-Auguste Parmentier was a 18th century agronomist who convinced the common French people to accept the potato as a safe food. (They thought it caused leprosy.) He used reverse psychology by posting guards around potato fields during the day to prevent people from stealing them. He left them unguarded at night. So, every night, the thieves would sneak into the fields to steal potatoes.

11. Mr. Potato Head was born in 1952 and was also the first toy to be advertised on television.

12. Instant mashed potatoes (dehydrated potatoes) were introduced commercially in 1955.

13. Marie Antoinette wife of Louis XV was known to wear potato blossoms as a hair decoration.

And a final one – my favorite way to eat a potato is baked in its jacket, served with Greek yogurt and ground black pepper. Hey, I’m on a cutback so I will fit my clothes for Nationals, otherwise I might have said sour cream and butter!! What is your favorite way to eat potatoes?

Tweet This Post

My guest today is J.L. Wilson, author of several books for Cerridwen Press. J.L. says she writes what she calls “sexy/cozy” mysteries: a mystery with a bit of romance, all featuring older heroes and heroines and all set in Minnesota or Iowa. Her tag line is: “Mystery with a touch of romance, romance with a touch of gray.” But she also writes futuristic and time-travel.

Today J.L. is talking about older heroes and heroines and she’s giving away a download of If Not For You. To go into the draw to win J.L.’s book all you need to do is post a comment. Don’t forget to check back tomorrow to see if you’re the winner.

Read the rest of this entry ?

Tweet This Post

When we first moved to our current house the section was bare, and the soil consisted mostly of clay. After throwing around some ideas we decided to design a potager garden.

A potager is French and it’s a raised bed garden, normally for vegetables and herbs. Hubby built three box squares out of timber and filled them with good quality soil. We made a decorative path between them so it’s easy to plant, water and harvest and not long ago, Mr. Munro planted a hedge of shelter trees because it seems to be windy where we live.

Mr. Munro spends hours out in the garden and periodically, I have to go out an inspect his latest improvements and crops. This year we’ve had fresh potatoes, lettuce, zucchini, red onions, leeks, green beans, basil, radishes, beetroot and the tomatoes are starting to ripen. It’s so handy just wandering out to the garden to pick whatever vegetables we’ve decided to have for dinner.

Here are some photos of Mr. Munro’s garden:

I have to confess I’m a bit tired of zucchini but I’m really enjoying the green beans and can’t wait for the tomatoes to ripen so I can make fresh tomato sauce to have with pasta. Do you grow your own vegetables? What do you grow? And if you don’t have a garden, what is your favorite vegetable to eat?

Tweet This Post

The weta – it’s a large and primitive insect, native to New Zealand. The reason I chose to write about wetas today is so more people know what they are. When I used a weta reference in my book Talking Dogs, Aliens and Purple People Eaters my editor didn’t know what I was talking about and I had to rewrite slightly to describe a weta as a prehistoric cricket-like insect.

There are five broad groups of weta:

1. Tree weta
2. Ground weta
3. Cave weta
4. Giant weta
5. Tusked weta

Wetas are nocturnal and live in a variety of habitats including grassland, scrub land, forests and caves. They live under stones and in rotten logs or in pre-formed burrows in trees.

They are mainly herbivores in the wild but are known to eat other insects. They can bite but are not poisonous. Species of weta are still being discovered and several are endangered. In the wild they were traditionally eaten by the tuatara (a prehistoric reptile native to NZ) but these days many are destroyed by rats, cats and dogs and of course, humans encroaching on their habitat.

The weta sheds its exoskeleton when moulting.

At 18 months the male weta selects a female and they spend time together in the male’s territory. (Romance in the insect world!)

At around two years old the female will lay 100 – 300 eggs. The parents die before the weta eggs hatch 3 – 5 months later.

The Department of Conservation in New Zealand is currently involved in weta breeding programs and translocation to safe sites such as protected islands like Tiritiri Matangi and Little Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf. The weta respond well to a captive breeding program.

The following photo is of a giant weta.

I’ve never seen a giant weta but have personal experience with both tree and cave wetas. We often find tree wetas in our garden and will return them to live in peace. They can nip and look creepy but I don’t mind them. My experience with cave wetas is a bit more spooky. When I was a kid my girlfriend lived on a farm with limestone caves. It was a favorite pastime to visit the caves and wander through them with a candle and maybe a torch to search for stalactites, stalagmites and glow worms. When I think about our cave visits now I can see how dangerous it was but for us it was an adventure – an hour or two of wandering through pristine caves. One day we discovered a new tunnel and were all set to charge into it to explore. I happened to shine the torch over the ceiling and it was covered with huge cave wetas! Really covered. I think I let out a screech and dropped the torch and we all decided to explore another part of the cave. I also took to checking my gumboots carefully and shaking vigorously before I put my feet in them. This lasted for a few weeks until the initial horror passed. I’ve never been bitten by a weta but I’m always careful not to get too close either. I can appreciate them from a distance.

How are you with insects? Do you like them or hate them with a passion? Do you have any insect stories to tell? What do you think of New Zealand’s weta?

Tweet This Post