Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

Today our news in New Zealand is full of Sir Edmund Hillary, an ordinary man who was extraordinary. He died today from a heart attack at the age of 88. Sir Ed was brought up in Tuakau, the small town where I lived for part of my life and went to high school. In a coincidence, the story I’ve just sent off to Samhain is set in Tuakau. Sir Ed climbed Mt Everest years before I was born, but I, like many New Zealanders, really admire his achievements. He will be given a state funeral.

In writing news I finished my story targeted to Samhain for the Red-Hot Summer anthology and sent it off. Submissions closed yesterday and successful authors are notified at the beginning of February. Luckily it’s not long to wait. I’m getting very impatient in my old age.

This morning I pulled out the Middlemarch story I started in December and reread the 10,000 words I’d completed, editing as I went. I’m actually really pleased with it and will continue with it next week. During the afternoons I’ve been working on a tiger shifter story and putting my storyboard lessons into practice. While storyboarding is good in theory, I’m finding it much harder in practice. This method of plotting has, however, highlighted some conflict difficulties and I’m pondering about whether to change my contemporary idea into a fantasy. I haven’t written fantasy before but I think my initial idea lends itself better to this genre than contemporary. If I set it in the present day I think readers would need to suspend disbelief a bit too much and I’d lose them. I shall continue to ponder and fill out my storyboard. If you’re puzzled by storyboarding here’s a link.

And this week I’ve read some wonderful books. I read Lauren Dane’s Wolf Unbound, which I highly recommend. I loved it. I’ve read Lora Leigh’s Hidden Agendas. I really liked this book, much better than the previous one in the series (Dangerous Games) because the hero appeals to me more. He seems more sympathetic than the hero of Dangerous Games. I thought Lora Leigh did a great job with the character emotions. And at the moment, I’m reading Dangerous Grounds by Shelli Stevens. So far this is great, and I like both the suspense plot, with the man who is holding up coffee stores, and the two main characters.

I hope everyone has a fun weekend. Hubby is going fishing so I’ll be able to get some work done on my Middlemarch story, and hopefully fill in the dreaded storyboard a little more. What are you up to for the weekend?

Phobia ~ an irrational fear of a particular person, place or thing.

1. Ailurophobia – fear of cats.

2. Nyctophobia – fear of the dark.

3. Demophobia – fear of crowds.

4. Erythrophobia – fear of blushing.

5. Gephyrophobia – fear of bridges.

6. Gamophobia – fear of marriage.

7. Kakorrhaphiophobia – fear of failure.

8. Phasmophobia – fear of ghosts.

9. Triskaidekaphobia – fear of number 13.

10. Hypengyophobia – fear of responsibility.

11. Musophobia – fear of mice.

12. Ergophobia – fear of work.

13. Lalophobia – fear of speaking.

After typing all these I’ve developed a fear of spelling one of them wrong! I thought I could inflict a phobia on one of my characters. Which one sounds interesting to you? I thought fear of blushing of was an interesting phobia and wondered how the person was going to stop blushing or avoid those who blushed.

This week’s special guest is Nicole Austin. At her website Nicole says, “A passion for erotic romance led to her creation of sizzling characters and boundary pushing stories.” Her wonderful stories are published with Ellora’s Cave and Samhain Publishing.

She’s also giving away a print copy of her upcoming release, Tamara’s Spirit, which isn’t due out until February. That’s right. The winner will score a copy of Nicole’s book before it hits the stores. As usual all you need to do is contribute to the discussion by posting a comment. Don’t forget to check back the next day to see if you’re the winner.

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Last year I kept a basic spreadsheet of the books I read for the year, the genres and a few other categories. I did this for my own interest because I wanted to see how many books I read and the breakdown in genres etc.

This is what I learned about my reading habits:

1. I still read mostly paranormal and sci-fi/futuristic titles – this wasn’t a big surprise to me.

2. I read a lot of contemporary titles.

3. Last year I made a return to historicals and romantic suspense – I hadn’t read many books from these genres in 2005/2006. I think this was because I overdosed on them in 2004. I enjoyed the titles I read in 2007 so it looks as if I’m ready to rumble again!

4. I continue to read a lot of new authors.

5. There were 18 books that I started and did not finish reading because of various factors such as boredom, writing style, subject matter. It surprised me that some of these were by big name authors, which goes to prove tastes can be very different.

6. There are several authors who write series that I have stopped reading because the books have started to read the same.

7. Two author series that I have remained loyal to are JD Robb’s In Death series. Some of the In Death books are slightly better than others but I always enjoy the growing relationship between Roarke and Eve along with the secondary characters. The other series is Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum. I know some people are frustrated with the love triangle between Stephanie, Joe and Ranger but not me. Can I say that I’m leaning toward Ranger? Go, Ranger!

8. Another author series that I’m really loving is Patricia Briggs Mercy series. It’s fabulous, and I can’t wait to read the most recent release.

9. I continue to read a mixture of paperback and ebooks. I really like that most of the New York publishers are offering their titles in eformat. Living in New Zealand and being a book junkie can be frustrating. With the cost of freight plus GST added onto our paperback books they’re very expensive. Ebooks are cheap and I get my fix instantly.

10. My favorite epublishers are Ellora’s Cave and Samhain. I find shopping at both of these easy and trouble free. The New York publisher that I tend to buy most is Berkley. They have some awesome releases.

11. I continue to read a mix of erotic and sensual romance.

12. All I want is a good story.

And a couple of non-book related lessons:

1. Make sure mouth is closed while riding my bike because you can bet a bug WILL fly inside. YUCK!!

2. When shopping for jeans go straight to the boot-cut medium rise in a dark color and you will get a fabulous fit. Heck, it only took me 40 odd years to work this out.

3. The little dog might be getting old but man, can she run fast. Watch her carefully at all times.

So, those are the things I learned during 2007. Did you learn anything interesting?

My first post for the year in my new Taste of Kiwi category. For those who don’t know, “kiwi” is an affectionate term for a New Zealander and it’s taken from our native flightless bird, the kiwi. Refer back to my Thursday Thirteen post from last year for a photo of a kiwi. They’re cute little birds.

Yesterday hubby and I visited Villa Maria Estate, which is a hop, skip and a jump away from central Auckland. I hadn’t visited before but they have a small vineyard (the main grape crop is grown elsewhere in New Zealand) along with a restaurant, wine tasting, a conference center and during the summer they have concerts. Joe Cocker is appearing there later this month.

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Things have happened slowly this week but today, I’m definitely in the groove with the words coming well. I guess you’d call it feeling my way into the new year. I’m working on a short contemporary erotic romance targeted to Samhain Publishing. I’m on the home stretch and quite happy with my story, although it will need a little coloring to bring in the setting and a tweak or two with the character emotions. I have to finish and submit this story by 10 January so I’m on the time clock here.

Once this story is completed and away, I intend to work on three other projects. Two are feline shifter stories, which are started and need completing. They’re targeted to Ellora’s Cave. I also have an Urban Fantasy speeding around inside my brain and I want to write some notes and flesh out the main characters.

My object for January is to get hope in the mail – in other words I want to get some submissions out. If a rejection arrives I will send something else out almost immediately so I always have hope in the mail/email. I have a paranormal romance of 100,000 words to submit to editors/agents plus a couple of shorts. Wish me luck!

I have a new release coming from Cerridwen Press on 17 January. Playing to Win is a romantic suspense. This month I have an interview at The Romance Studio featuring Playing to Win. Check it out here.

And finally, I’m reading Charlene Teglia’s Wild, Wild West. I’ve read the first story and I’m enjoying it very much. Charlene has a smooth, very readable style and as I’ve mentioned before I’m having a Western and cowboys love-fest at the moment. Wild, Wild West fits the occasion perfectly

What are you up to for the weekend? What are you reading? Writing?

When I first started writing romance there were three published authors who gave members of Romance Writers of New Zealand real inspiration. They are Robyn Donald, Daphne Clair and Susan Napier. They are all published with Mills & Boon (Harlequin Presents) and at each conference they imparted their knowledge with enthusiasm. They inspired us all. We soaked up their advice on publishing and craft, entered writing contests and helped each other improve. Now, about ten years later we have so many wonderful published writers to emulate. I thought I’d mention a few and would heartily recommend that you check out their books. There’s a reason New Zealand has so many published writers!

1. Fiona Brand. – Fiona was the first who sold and she wrote initially for Silhouette Intimate Moments. She’s now writing thriller/suspense for MIRA.

2. Nalini Singh – I can truly say, “I remember Nalini way back when…” Nalini writes her excellent Psy series for Berkley and gets better with each book. Which reminds me – I must go and annoy her…

3. Tessa Radley – Tessa writes for Silhouette Desire and I’m positive we’ll see her in single title in a year or two.

4. Amanda Ashby – Amanda’s first book, You Had Me at Halo, has recently been nominated in the RT Reviewer’s Choice awards. If you like paranormal with a little humor definitely check out her book.

5. Sara Hantz – Sara’s debut book, The Second Virginity of Suzy Green, is a Young Adult from Flux.

6. Karina Bliss – Karina used to win all the unpublished competitions and it wasn’t a surprise when she sold to Harlequin Superromance.

7. Leda Swann – Leda is a husband and wife team who write hot and spicy romances for Avon Red and Ellora’s Cave.

8. Abby Gaines – Abby also writes for Harlequin Superromance and uses her interest in motor sport to write for Harlequin’s NASCAR line.

9. Helen Kirkman – Helen writes about brooding Vikings for HQN.

10. Emily Gee – Emily’s first book came out in 2007. She writes dark fantasy with a slight romance element.

11. Yvonne Lindsay – Yvonne is another Desire author. Her heroes – delicious!

12. Jan Colley – yet another Silhouette Desire author. There’s a lot of them down this way. In fact check out Diamonds Down Under. Several of the Desire writers from New Zealand and Australia are writing a series.

13. Natalie Anderson – Natalie’s first book released in 2007. She writes for Harlequin Presents new Modern Extra line.

There you have 13 New Zealand romance authors. I should also mention the founder of Romance Writers of New Zealand, Jean Drew who has an Egyptian time travel with Highland Press. We also have several very talented e-published authors, but that’s a post for another day. And of course, there’s me – Shelley Munro.

Have you read a book by a New Zealand author lately?

My first guest for 2008 is Cindy Spencer Pape, author of several novels for Ellora’s Cave, Cerridwen Press and The Wild Rose Press. Cindy Spencer Pape has been, among other things, a banker, a teacher, and an elected politician, though she swears she got better. She does volunteer work in environmental education, when she can fit it in around writing. She lives in Michigan with her husband, two teenage sons, a dog, a lizard, and various other small creatures, all of which are easier to clean up after than the three male humans. Her most recent release is Djinni and the Geek from Ellora’s Cave. (Those who attended my birthday bash during December might remember me mentioning Cindy’s book in my post on genies.)

Cindy is discussing paranormal romance and why she loves writing it so much. She’s also giving away a download of Djinni and the Geek. All you need to do to go into the draw is comment on this post. Why do you like reading paranormal romance? If you’re a writer and write paranormal romance, why do you enjoy writing it? And if (gasp!) you hate paranormal romance and don’t “get” it – why? Cindy will be drawing the winner on 4 Jan so make sure you pop back to check to see if you’re the winner.

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Happy New Year!

Mr. Munro and I had a quiet end to 2007 because he’s on call. We had an alfresco dinner, since we’re currently experiencing hot weather, and after walking the dog, watched Blood Diamond. We’ve had a good run on DVDs lately, and Blood Diamond is one I’d highly recommend, if action movies are your style. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as an ex-mercenary turned diamond smuggler, and is set in Sierra Leone. It’s a gritty movie with a stark portrayal of life in a war-torn country. I was really impressed with DiCaprio’s performance and his accent. The support actors also gave excellent performances. The next movie showing at the Munro home theatre is The Bourne Ultimatum. I’ve heard some great things about this movie as well, and I’m looking forward to seeing it.

This year my blog format will be a little more organized. Each week there will be a guest blogger, a post about something from New Zealand, an update as to where I’m at with writing, a Thursday Thirteen post, and a potpourri post about a topic that interests me. It could be anything from books to movies to whales or travel. I’ll be blogging five days a week (unless I’m on holiday or sick!) and taking the weekends off.

My guest bloggers will be a combination of favorite and new-to-me authors so if you’d like to have a guest spot contact me via my website. I’m also considering doing some reader guest spots where I’ll have an interview format. Once again, if you’re a reader who would like to take part, contact me via my website.

I’m looking forward to the new year. It’s started off hot and sunny, which is a cue for me to get out my bike and do some exercise before I head to the writing cave. I was also lucky enough to receive an ARC of Lauren Dane’s Wolf Unbound, which releases from Samhain Publishing today – 1 Jan 2008. As soon as I’ve done my word target for today I’m starting to read. I can’t wait since I adore Lauren’s books.