Taste of Kiwi

I received the cover for my November release, Fringe Benefits today. Ellora’s Cave cover artists have designed some new Quickie covers and I have one of the new ones. What do you think?

If you’d like to read the blurb and an excerpt follow this link.

Kelly Tarltons, the aquarium in Auckland has several endangered sea turtles at the moment. They’re injured and the aquarium staff are nursing them back to health before releasing them. They were advertising about a sleepover where you stay at the aquarium overnight, have behind the scenes tours and see what fish do at night. All that voyeur-type stuff. The minute I heard this I decided I needed to go and I’m dragging Mr. Munro with me. It will be like camping, except inside, since we have to take our sleeping bags and mats as well as torches. I’ve decided I’m a big kid because I’m really excited. About 39 sleeps to go…

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I played hooky and went to the movies with hubby tonight. We don’t go to the movies very often. In fact I can’t remember the last movie we saw. I blogged about it over at the Danger Zone. While you’re there check out Linda Wisdom’s Hex Appeal contest in the post below.

I also blogged over at Dynamic Trio where I’m talking about Occupations in Romance novels.

It’s hard to believe that Cat and Mouse is out this week from Ellora’s Cave. Where has the time gone? Meantime I’m working on a synopsis for the next Middlemarch book before I start in on the requests I garnered at conference. Nailbiting time. I’m stressing about whether I can do my ideas justice. Sometimes ideas lose color and vibrancy when transferred from my head to paper. Or maybe I’m being tough on myself? I don’t know. I’m going to keep forging ahead anyhow.

Next month I’m doing an online class about pacing and how to fix sag and drag in writing. I figure a few coping strategies won’t go astray.

And what am I reading at the moment? I’ve just finished Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich and have started Lover Enshrined by JR Ward. While I like both books, I don’t love them. They didn’t wow me in the way that earlier books did by both authors. Am I getting series burnout? I don’t know the answer to that question either. Do you burnout on a series written by the same author? Do you stop reading series or do you keep reading to the completion of the series? When is a series too long?

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Photobucket has a new feature called scrapbooking. Here’s my first attempt…

They had lots of different themes for days out at the zoo, Christmas, Halloween and birthdays. Go and check them out if you have a moment. It wastes time.

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You might have seen this recipe on the loops recently.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
1 Coffee Mug
4 tablespoons flour(that’s plain flour, not self-rising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
Small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to share!)

I decided to try the cake and hubby and I both enjoyed it for our dessert, served with yoghurt.
It’s quite a dense cake because there’s no baking powder, but it definitely rises. A little too well. If you make it, put a plate under your mug when it’s cooking in the microwave to save on cleanup. Also make sure you clean your plate and mugs straightaway because the mixture adheres rather well! I mixed the egg, oil and milk in a separate mug and added to the flour mix. Hubby and I also decided that one mug cake was enough for two.

I decided I’d try a variation:

Leave out the cocoa and chocolate chips. Grate in the rhind of half a lemon and add a handful of berries. I added raspberries because I like them but blueberries would work. Mix in the same way with all the other ingredients. Once your mug cake is cooked – squeeze half a lemon into a cup and mix in two teaspoons of sugar. Stir and spoon over your cake before eating. Serve with cream, ice cream or yoghurt. This was yummy!!

A third variation would be replacing the chocolate and chocolate chips with instant coffee and a few chopped walnuts.

Enjoy!!

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My next release, Cat and Mouse is due out on 1 October. I panicked a little when I realized it was just over a week away. Duncan Ross, the hero, is a feline shifter. He also participates in rodeos as a bull rider, hence the topic for my TT today.
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Joy Nash is my special guest today and she’s talking about her new book Immortals: The Crossing, which is part of the amazing IMMORTALS series from Dorchester Publishing. She’s also giving away an ARC of her book today, so don’t forget to check the details of how to enter at the end of the post.

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USA Today Bestselling Author Joy Nash returns with another installment in Dorchester Publishing’s Nationally Bestselling multi-author series, IMMORTALS.

Demigod Manannán mac Lir (Mac) is on the trail of Artemis Black, a stunningly dangerous woman who’s inexplicably able to intertwine life magic with death magic. For the safety of his people, he should destroy the desperate witch—once he learns her darkest secrets.

Readers of paranormal romance and urban fantasy will enjoy this adventure filled with black magic, nasty demons, hot immortals, dark humor, steamy sex, and a heart-thumping descent into a modern version of Dante’s Hell. Available September 30. 2008.

Take the IMMORTALS QUIZ: Which Immortal is your Soul Mate?

If you’d like to win an ARC of Immortals: The Crossing by Joy Nash come back tomorrow. As well as some special Immortals information, Joy has given me an excerpt to post and an ARC of Immortals: The Crossing to give away. Don’t miss out!

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I’m blogging over at Access Romance today. It’s my very first blog over there so I hope you come over to visit me. Everyone who comments on my post at Access Romance will go into a draw to win a copy of Midnight Treat. See you there!

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Today it’s Spring Equinox in New Zealand, which means the sun is ready to officially spend more time in the southern hemisphere than the northern. I must admit I’m ready for warm, despite having had summer for most of the year. (we had a loooong summer here and then I had seven weeks of USA summer). The good thing is that my heavy winter clothes haven’t left the wardrobe. Yeah, bring on the shorts weather, I say.

For the month of October I’m participating in the Raven Annual Scavenger hunt. This year I’m giving away a print copy of Midnight Treat (signed by me). Watch this space for details.

I have a new cover. It’s for my 31 December release, Cat Burglar. Here it is….

And finally, I’ve had a few anxious moments with my computer, one of them this morning. I go to push the power button and nothing happens. The next few minutes I spend quietly panicking before I go into technician mode. This is where I crawl under my desk and pull out plugs and put them back in their sockets. Thankfully, this worked this morning, after I crawled under the desk twice and tried pulling out different plugs. Before I turn everything off tonight I’m backing up. I have my flashdrives ready to go. Meanwhile, if I disappear for a few days you’ll know my technician skills have failed and I’ve had to call in recruitments.

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I’ve never been very keen on Country music. I think it comes from having to listen to this genre when I was a kid. As soon as I was old enough to choose my own music I gravitated toward rock. Hubby and I like to listen to music while we’re driving. When we were in the USA in the middle of nowhere it was easy enough to use my Ipod and hook into an unused radio frequency. When we were near cities we couldn’t do this and we ended up listening to Country because most of the stations seemed to be Country. Hubby usually complains but this time he didn’t comment or try to change stations. One day he said, “When we get home I might download some of these songs for my Ipod.”

It made me laugh because I’d been thinking the same thing. We ended up making a list of songs to download. We like the upbeat ones rather than the “crying” ones. Here’s one of our favorites – it makes us both laugh. We even know quite a few of the words.

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