D'OH!

I booked the wrong date for a show for the Fringe. No exchanges or refunds. This says it all....

Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep-yep, yep (think Al from Happy Days)

~yia~

RAchel Bailey Chats About Reunion Romances on Bootcamper Blog

Please pop over to the Bootcamper blog to see the interview the Rachel Bailey by guest interviewer Gail Fuller. Leave a comment for your chance to win a copy of either Claiming His Bought Bride or The Blackmailed Bride's Secret Child.

Go on, what are you waiting for? *grin* 

~yia~

Good news...Little Gems Cover contest

Awhile back, I talked about working on a cover design contest.


Well, it's official....I won!! Actually my alter ego won (my non-writing name is Helen Katsinis).


It's the Romance Writers of Australia's Little Gems Cover Contest for 2010, and one of my entries won. I'm stunned but oh-so-thrilled about the news.


You can go to the RWAus blog to see the announcement and the cover. 


But here's a copy here. Can't wait to see it in print.

Special thanks to the contest judges, Lis & Joan, and congrats to everyone who entered, and those who were also short-listed.

Entering this contest came at a time when my dad had his surgery and I needed something visual to work on, as words just were blurring. I learned so much and I have so much more to learn, being the novice that I am. 

What do you think?

So good luck to all those who have entered short stories for the Little Gems. Can't wait to type in the names in there :))

~yia~

Ouch!

After a week of cleaning up, preparing for, cooking for, and having a celebration get-together for my dad's nameday, I am pooped and achy. 

But bad luck Eleni - there's much to do. Today is clean up & crawling through emails day. 

Tomorrow, probably study. Not long until D-day, that is, due date for finishing course . I'll probably also work on writing my Arts SA acquittal report. Almost there, but because I'm so tired, I'm not sure how it reads right now. 

I'll leave you with a quote from The Quotable Bitch calendar, which I thought amusing:

"While gossip among women is universally ridiculed as low and trivial, gossip among men, especially if it is about women, is called theory, or idea, or fact."

-Andrea Dworkin, feminist activist.

~yia~

Bootcampers blog & website

What's happening over at the Bootcamper blog. Well we've started a monthly Data File on one of our members. A different member will be featured each month. First cab off the rank was the talented Nikki Logan. Check it out here.


We also continue our 'What We Are Reading' column. This year's first participant was me. Our next Bootcamper will be Fiona on Monday 1st March.


Roseanne continues her Mission Reports on our members successes. So it's wonderful to see these pop up & be able to cheer along with our Bootcamp buddies. And Roseanne brings everything the news with such enthusiasm. The latest report was here.


Wednesday is Fiona's day - where she blogs about all sorts of topics including inspiration and Boosting Our Creativity. Check out Fiona's latest post here. 


What's coming up?
We have special guest Gail Fuller interview our Bootcamp Mum, Rachel Bailey on Friday the 26th February. So don't miss that.


On our website,  I'll be slowly adding the Data Files & other information on Bootcampers there. Our Mission Reports get transfered there eventually too. So as the months roll on, you'll see more and more Data Files and bits and pieces.


~yia~

Adelaide Fringe

The Adelaide Fringe will be starting this Friday & I'm checking out what I want to see. Shock, horror, other than street performances etc, I have never actually been to a Fringe event. As a writer, that is just so wrong. So I'm planning on going to a few things. In consultation with friends ;))

Don't you just love the poster...

Check out Fringe details on the website.

~yia~

Mr Bean in Avatar

I'm still giggling over this photo that was sent to me. I just had to share.

That's just soooo funny.... love it!




~yia~

Parnanormal Writing Buddies doing good....

Tracey O'Hara's DEBUT book Night's Cold Kiss was shortlisted for horror category of the Aueralis Awards. Fantastic work....




The full jugde's report is available here. (opens pdf document)

Tracey O’Hara, Night's Cold Kiss, HarperCollins Publishers Australia 

Night's Cold Kiss offers the right mix of vampire romance and horror with a slight "pulp" element that keeps the story grounded. In the crowded field of supernatural/horror romance with a strong female at the centre, O’Hara’s characters and story stand out; the development is strong and the story arc is satisfying to the end. O’Hara has created a world that is believable and exhilarating. Unlike many novels in this subgenre, the story is told from various perspectives, which gives the reader an insight into each character’s motivation and adds depth. The romantic relationships are realistically passionate and add to the thrilling violence and horror of the tale.

Here's the book trailer to Erica Haye's Shadowglass (Book 2 of the Shadowfae Novels). Pretty impressive trailer and the book will be released next month. 

Mel Teshco has a new cover for her first Nocturne Bites, Her Dark Lord coming out in March. I must say ....very nice indeed. 

Denise Rossetti is doing a Cross-Blog tour with the other members of the Laced with Desire authors. 

Anna Hackett has a new Nocturne Bites coming out in April called Hunter's Surrender. Cover yet to be released. 

I'm sure you recognise these names, they were part of Eleni-fest back in October last year.


And here's a couple of names I'm sure you will get to know soon, I'm sure.


Kylie Griffin has had her SF romance Dark Shadows final in the Chase the Dream Contest. Go Kylie! 


Shona Husk has had a flood of good news lately- she has An Elemental Tail coming out with The Wild Rose Press; a story Black Widow in the Scary Kisses anthology by Ticonderoga Publishing; and a novella Boyfriend in a Bottle with Samhain publishing. 


Congratulations ladies!


~yia~

January has left the building....

I still can't believe it's February. I'm glad it's Feb actually as now with dad getting the tick of approval to drive, it'll be going back to some sort of 'normality'. But still it's amazing to think that one month of 2010 has already passed us by.


OK, so what's been happening this month. 

• I continue to do my assignment at a snails pace. Hopefully it will be done by the end of the week.
• I've been running around with appointments - cue exhaustion.
• I'm going through my study in spurts. Goodness, I've kept alot of things. So it's recycle, shred, file or ditch.
• Not much on the writing front - only the last few days, which is so good.
• Same with the polishing of HD. 
• I entered a contest.
• Did some critting for my CP.

On the reading front, I have a run-down of January reads at Eleni's Library. A good start to the year I think, though I would love to read more. But I think everyone's in the same boat with time being a factor.

So what do I want to achieve in Feb?

• catch up on sleep...um ok so that's not a true goal ;)
• Finish 2-3 assignments. Yep gotta get my butt into gear.
• Continue going through the study and clearing/ organising.
• Write, write and write some more. At least 5 days out of the 7 (which days will depend on what is happening in my neck of the woods).
• Finish polishing part 2 of HD at least.
• And remember to take breaks....how long has it been since you sat down at the computer? Have you stretched? No, well off you go.... this will be here when you get back.

OK I think that'll do. I'll be back in March to tell you how this all went. 

In the meantime, happy writing, reading, living!

~yia~