Shelley Munro Blog

Today is the grand opening of The Danger Zone - a group of authors who all have adventure in common. It’s an honor to be part of this group, and I hope you’ll check out what we have on offer. Adventure. Peril. Intrigue. Just one click away…

I’ve updated my website with a new page/excerpt for Cat and Mouse, the fifth Middlemarch Mates book. Enjoy!

My arm is giving me real problems this week, which is why I’m a little quiet. Using the computer seems to aggravate the condition. Sigh. I guess I’ll have to catch up on housework instead.

Happy Mothers day to all mothers out there. I hope your families are spoiling you because you deserve it!

I’ve been hiding in my writing cave during the last couple of days, trying to finish the polishing on my current Middlemarch story. If I work late tonight I think I’ll get it off to my editor, which is great news because I can get back to writing, the part I love most.

Cat and Mouse, the fifth book in the Middlemarch series has a release date of 1 October. As soon as I get this manuscript off, I intend to update my website with a blurb and excerpt.

Have you checked out Brenda Novak’s Online auction to aid Diabetes Research? Check it out here. There are loads of great things on offer. I have to admit I’ve been a little…um…carefree with my bidding. It’s so exciting to see all the agent and editor items to bid on. For a moment there I lost all control and had to remind myself it was real money I was bidding with! Can anyone tell I’m new to this bidding business?

Lots of my online friends have books out this month, especially at Ellora’s Cave. Check out that coming soon page. I think I should also be on there this week. For me the appearance on the coming soon page is when the books start to feel real.

And finally, you might have noticed Emily Veinglory’s cover for The Sculptor’s Muse on my sidebar. Emily is running an experiment to see if online promo helps with sales. She’s doing promo for this book and has another book that came out around the same time for a control. Click on the cover and check out her blog for the details of her experiment. The Sculptor’s Muse is available from Loose Id.

A few months ago I couldn’t figure out why the dog’s water dish was always empty. It’s a heavy china dish and our dog doesn’t tip it over, yet no matter how many times I filled it up, the water seemed to vanish. Being a writer I immediately thought of fairies and tiny folk, but no, the answer was much more mundane.

I happened to hear a kaffuffle outside. It wasn’t Scotty since she was asleep in her basket. When I peered out the window I saw a thrush standing in the middle of the water bowl, madly flapping its wings and having a fine old time. Water was shooting in all directions. After a while the thrush jumped out and flew off. Almost immediately a blackbird jumped in for a bath. That’s right - they were queuing up to take a bath in the dog’s water dish. Mystery solved. The birds wait until our dog comes inside then they perch on the outdoor furniture, waiting their turn to take a bath. When they’ve finished there’s hardly any water in the bowl and all the pavers in the surrounding area are wet. The birds have become quite cheeky, even taking a bath while the dog is sleeping a few feet away, and I’ve become resigned to my new job as pool attendant.

Ellora’s Cave author, Wylie Kinson is holding a special competition, involving photos and angels, to celebrate the upcoming release of her book Law of Averages. Check out all the details here.

Oops! I’m in BIG trouble. Mr. Munro has just arrived home from work and I didn’t notice his haircut. He always notices mine - in fact he usually rings me and tells me I look beautiful. In my defence I tell him I’m going to have my hair done, so he has a chance to remember. He springs his haircuts on me without warning. I must try to do better next time…

Mr. Munro and I have just returned home from a family dinner - a birthday celebration for my mother-in-law. Now that the family is getting larger it’s difficult to organize everyone, so we were slightly depleted in number, although we managed four generations of family. We’re also expecting two babies in the family - the first to arrive should make an appearance in just over a week. Everyone is excited because it’s a girl after several boys. Anyway, Mr. Munro and I had to go for a walk when we arrived home to shake down our dinners. My eyes were WAY too big.

The form for volunteers at the RWA conference went online today. I decided I’d volunteer and chose the agent/editor appointments plus a few hours on the registration desk. I’m a bit shy, so it’s good for me. That’s what I keep telling myself…

I thought I’d mention the Erotic Romance Blog. Both the blog and the website are full of great information on e-publishing and erotic romance plus the latest market news. I always find the posts interesting and have them on my blog feed.

And finally writer Josh Lanyon has a how-to book available on writing m/m romances. It’s called Man-oh-Man, Writing M-M for Cash and Kinks. It’s definitely worth checking out and is available in e-format from Fictionwise. I recently read my first book by Josh Lanyon called The Dark Horse and enjoyed it very much. He’s a very good writer - lots of emotion and well-rounded characters. He has several books available at Fictionwise and some at Loose ID.

It’s no secret to my hubby that I love gadgets. When I say gadgets I mean little and big things that make life easier. They’re not necessities but rather luxuries. Recently we purchased an Ipod. It’s not an expensive one, but I’ve had a lot of fun working out how to use it. My favorite gadgets are my PDA, the Ipod, my alphasmart and my laptop. The jury is out on the PC at the moment since it’s misbehaving big time.

Recently my sister gave me this little gadget thingie that fits on the edge of a desk or table and you hang your handbag off it. Perfect for the conference. I’ll have to bring it to San Francisco with me.

Funnily enough, I don’t like gadgets in the kitchen, although I know you can get some great things these days. When it comes to cooking I prefer a hands-on approach and like to do things manually.

Are you a gadget person? What are your favorite type of gadgets?

My 70 Days of Sweat came to a halt late last week since I needed to do some edits. I think I’m at about 11,000 words to date. I’m not pushing too hard because I know from experience I WILL burnout if I don’t pace myself. Hubby keeps telling me to take things easy. Can anyone say grumpy when not writing??? Hubby has firsthand experience of this, hence his warning to chill. Anyway, I sent the edits off this afternoon and hopefully I can get back to Sven and the sweating thing tomorrow.

Lauren Dane, one of my Dynamic Trio buddies has sold another book to Berkley Heat. Isn’t that great? Hop over to her blog and congratulate her, and while you’re there check out the cover for Undercover. It’s beautiful and very sensual.

Yesterday I, along with countless other writers, started on the 70 Days of Sweat challenge. This is my first time and so far I’m doing all right and have written more words than I normally would. Here’s hoping I can keep it up because I know I have some edits on the way. Is anyone else doing the challenge? Let me know if you are. I like to know my fellow sweaters.

On Friday I fell off my bike. My left knee looks like I’ve attacked it with a grater while my right leg is sporting four fist-sized bruises. Yep, looking pretty colorful today. On Saturday my knee was painfully sore but today I’m feeling much better and walking normally again. It’s fine as long as I don’t make any sudden moves. My bike tire caught the lip of the footpath after I’d passed an elderly gentleman and over I went. The man asked me if I was okay and picked up my bike for me before hurrying off. I think he thought I might cry. I didn’t but I said, “Bugger” twice - the extent of my swearing. So, my lesson learned - watch out for lips on pavements. Unfortunately, all the new footpaths have a few inches drop down to the grass and it’s not always easy to avoid them.

Today I’m giving away a download of Playing to Win over at The Romance Studio.

And another CONTEST: Win a download of Fancy Free. Read the excerpt on my website and answer the following question. What stopped James and Alice from making love? Email your answer to shelley munro@ gmail.com (no spaces) and I’ll announce the winner on 6 March.

And that’s all the excitement at the Munro house. Oh, apart from the fact I’ve finally purchased an Ipod. It’s only a 1GB one but they were so cheap hubby and decided we might as well buy it. I have my songs loaded up, heavy on the NZ music, and I’m good to go. Life’s good.

What are you up to this week?

I’m home. We had a wonderful long weekend down in Wellington, although the little dog wasn’t well and had to make a trip to the vet. She seems okay this morning, which is good news.

I received another new cover while I was away. This is for my April release, Wanderlust. I really like the cover since the artist has captured the exotic flavor I wanted. There’s an excerpt and blurb up on my website on the coming soon page.

I’m off for a long weekend. Hubby and I are hitting Wellington, the capital of New Zealand and also Martinborough. Some of you might recall Lily and Alex from Never Send a Dog to do a Woman’s Job visited both places…

…which, leads in nicely to the fact that I’m the Spotlight Author at Author Island today. I’m giving away a print copy of Romancing the Alien.

How are you spending your weekend?

On 6th of February we have another public holiday here in New Zealand. It’s called Waitangi Day and is to celebrate the signing of the treaty of Waitangi where over five hundred Maori chiefs signed what is called New Zealand’s founding document. Around forty chiefs signed the document on the 6th of Feb 1840 and by the end of that year five hundred had signed. Basically, the treaty made New Zealand a part of the British Empire, guaranteed Maori rights to their land and gave them rights as British citizens.

Recently Waitangi Day has become a day where the treaty is hotly debated and the application of it in modern day comes into dispute. Since this is also an election year in New Zealand the heated barbs between the political parties have started already.

I, like many New Zealanders, treat the day as a holiday and have never visited the celebrations they have in Waitangi, which is north of Auckland. Mr. Munro is going to play golf. I hope it rains because this heat and the resulting drought is killing me. The little dog is looking miserable as well with the heat. I intend to do some writing and relax with Red Garnier’s upcoming release Amatista.

And here’s a tip for the day, for those who need some help with promo. Check out the Promo-ho.com blog for some great tips.

Edited to add: I’m a guest blogger over at the Cata Network today and my topic is The Language of Flowers. Read my blog here.

I also have a smooch up at Ecataromance for Playing to Win.

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.