Lest We Forget

Anzac Day. It’s a national day of remembrance held every year on April 25th

It stands for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps And commemorates all the Australian and New Zealanders who served and died in all wars, conflicts and peace keeping missions and was originally devised to honour those who had served in the Gallipoli Campaign, the first engagement of World War 1. (1914-1918)

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

As we won’t be partaking in the Dawn Service this year, I have decided to share a recipe for Anzac Biscuits. Yes, I said biscuit not cookie.

ingredients

  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup coconut
  • 125 g butter
  • 2 tbs golden syrup
  • 1 tbs water
  • 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

method

  1. Sift the flour into a bowl. Add sugar, rolled oats and coconut.
  2. Melt butter in a saucepan, then add golden syrup and water.
  3. Stir the bicarbonate of soda into the liquid mixture.
  4. Add liquid to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
  5. Place walnut-sized balls of mixture on a greased tray and bake at 170 degrees Celsius for 12 minutes.
  6. Biscuits will harden once cool.

For those of you reading this blog post and thinking: but I don’t have/can’t get my hands on any golden syrup there are substitutes, like honey, corn syrup and molasses.

Click here for more information about those substitutes and others that you can use in place of golden syrup.

Advertisement

Story Prompt Sunday

story prompt

Another Sunday has rolled around again and with it comes another installation of Story Prompt Sunday!

I hope you enjoy today’s opening line…

This wasn’t my choice.

And please, if you’re up for it, and it inspires you, share what you’ve written in the comments below!

Story Prompt Sunday

story prompt

Another Sunday has rolled around again and with it comes another installation of Story Prompt Sunday!

I hope you enjoy today’s opening line…

I stood, alone, in the wind and the rain.

And please, if you’re up for it, and it inspires you, share what you’ve written in the comments below!

Story Prompt Sunday

story prompt

Another Sunday has rolled around again and with it comes another installation of Story Prompt Sunday!

I hope you enjoy today’s opening line…

I was always the one being hunted.

And please, if you’re up for it, and it inspires you, share what you’ve written in the comments below!

Tips for Surviving NaNoWriMo

AFEF6F0A-4D90-44AC-9B0D-2E4402E999C9

Yes. It’s October and you know what that means. NaNoWriMo is coming.

It’s October 15th which means there’s just over two weeks until November is upon us.

Eek! Don’t ask me what I’m writing cause I don’t know yet.

Having participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) since 2005, I like to think I’ve picked up a tip or two along the way.

So, I’ve decided to share.

Tip #1: Pace yourself. Writing 50,000 words in 30 days may seem like a massive undertaking and leave you feeling completely overwhelmed, but the truth is it doesn’t have to. 1,667 words per day is completely doable, and if you break it down into even smaller goals… say 834 words in the morning and 834 words at night it’ll be an even easier goal to smash.

Tip #2: It’s never to early to kill off a character. In NaNoWriMo… anything goes. I once killed of a main character in the first chapter. Surprisingly, it worked and pushed the other characters forward. Death scenes take up a lot of words. So, does sex.

Tip #3: Editing is for December. Turn off your inner editor. Yes, it’s hard, but completely doable.

Tip #4: Turn off distractions. Procrastinating is the worst enemy to any NaNoer. If it helps set a timer, and turn off the WiFi. Research is fun, but time consuming.

Tip #5: Have fun. Because if you’re not having fun while writing, there’s really no point.

And there it is. I hope you find these tips helpful.

Story Prompt Sunday

story prompt

Another Sunday has rolled around again and with it comes another installation of Story Prompt Sunday!

I hope you enjoy today’s opening line…

Hungry dogs are never loyal.

And please, if you’re up for it, and it inspires you, share what you’ve written in the comments below!

Motivation Monday

 

New Monday = New Week!

Monday’s are for fresh starts! Who is with me?

Not to mention all the new goals and new plans waiting to be unveiled.

So, what did you accomplish? Good things I hope.

Currently, I have Pendragon awaiting further edits, A Rueful Equinox sitting at just over 2700 words and… A Curse of Thorns & Roses is in the planning stages. And that’s just my writing projects. I’ve also been editing short stories, creating various content which I hope to share with you soon. As for my little Monday ritual it usually involves coffee and cake.

I’ll be sharing future progress and if you happen to have made any of your own, please do share in the comments… no matter how big or small it was!

And don’t worry if you didn’t make much progress today is a new day and the start of a new week.

Just work the steps from this post and you’ll be on your way!

Story Prompt Sunday

story prompt

Another Sunday has rolled around again and with it comes another installation of Story Prompt Sunday!

I hope you enjoy today’s opening line…

And suddenly we were strangers again.

And please, if you’re up for it, and it inspires you, share what you’ve written in the comments below!

Motivation Monday

 

New Monday = New Week!

Monday’s are for fresh starts! Who is with me?

Not to mention all the new goals and new plans waiting to be unveiled.

So, what did you accomplish? Good things I hope.

I did a lot this past week and I’ve got a lot of balls up in the air to get on with over the next week.

We’ll see how productive I am next week.

What’s your Monday ritual? Did you make one? 

I did!

What about you?

I’ll be sharing my ritual along with weekly progress reports in subsequent Monday blog posts.

Share the progress you made in the comments no matter how big or small it was!

And don’t worry if you didn’t make much progress today is a new day and the start of a new week.

Just work the steps from this post and you’ll be on your way!

Story Prompt Sunday

story prompt

Another Sunday has rolled around again and with it comes another installation of Story Prompt Sunday!

I hope you enjoy today’s opening line…

Truth, is often stranger than fiction.

And please, if you’re up for it, and it inspires you, share what you’ve written in the comments below!

Pendragon is DONE!

pendragon is done

The beast is done! Alright, so once I got into it the story itself was a lot of fun to write and hardly a beast, but its definitely been one hell of a journey to get to this point.

It’s been over a year since I’ve even talked about this story in any depth in my blog.

Though, I did share a bit of a sneak peek with you guys the other Wednesday.

So, what’s next for this little 5k Arthurian tale? Well its currently in the queue awaiting deliberation as to whether it gets accepted or rejected into an anthology. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I did it justice.

If not, well I’ll tweak it a little and drag it up to 6k and it be edited again before I self publish it and it becomes the third and final installment of my teensy Camelot Saga.

And if you haven’t read Morrighan and Le Fay? Now’s your chance to catch up.

You can pick them both up in the digital only duology, Raven Conspiracy Available Here!

That’s over 12,000 words for only $2.99!

Why Write Paranormal Romance?

9E027E38-06BA-4CEF-AEEB-1AB6FEFD8FE7

Why Write Paranormal Romance?

Well that’s simple. I fell in love with “what if” type stories. What if a seemingly human girl feel in love with someone who wasn’t human.

Only it wasn’t quite as simple as that and it evolved. 

And I got stuck on Faeries… and Celtic mythology.

I read. For goodness sake. Read in your genre. Read the good and the bad.

Find what works for you and run with it.

So, what are the key things to keep in mind when writing paranormal romance?

Characters. The heart of your story. Or so I see it.

Setting. (Real and the not so real)

Magic/Mythology 

Thats it… those are to me the basics.

Which I’ll go into more detail in a later post.

Away With the Faeries

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ve probably noticed one thing… well two things actually.

I write Paranormal Romance… and, I love faeries.

So, I combined both of those and now write A LOT of speculative fiction with faerie centric characters or themes.

My personal viewpoint on fey origin stories is that they’re gods or demi gods. I wouldn’t call them daemons as such only because from a Pagan standpoint the gods tend to take on various aspects. Therefore there’s both light and dark/benevolent and malevolent/winter and summer fey, and I don’t think that’s as clear cut either.

And right now, I have three 10,000+ word stories available in Limited Edition anthologies… which won’t be around forever.

Grab your copies now if you haven’t already!

fables and faeOf Fables and Fae $2.99

BUY NOW!

My story, STOLEN features within.

 Never make a deal with a faerie. You might find yourself bargaining your newborn daughter’s life as payment.

My father told me the story long before I could talk. I knew it by heart. Together, he and my brother had hunted and killed every last faerie they could find. All to save me from my fate.

For five hundred years the women in my family were taken as payment for a debt owed to the faerie lord. And paid with their lives. Humans weren’t designed to live in Faerie. We were too fragile.

But I’m not like those who have come before me. I’m strong, not weak. I will survive and one day, I will be free.

midsummer night shiftsThe next is, Midsummer Night Shifts $2.99

BUY NOW!

My story, IN MY BLOOD features within.

Twenty-one-year-old, Evie is one of the last Quinn female wolf shifters.

Born to mixed lineage and not quite fey nor quite wolf, Evie has grown up thinking herself more wolf than fey, while following pack orders. But all that’s about to change.

Summoned to Arcadia by the Queen of the Summer Court, Evie finds herself nothing more than a pawn to strengthen her cousin’s hold on the throne.

But both women are keeping secrets, however, only Evie’s catch up to her during the Solstice Ball which forces her to flee with two unlikely companions, Fianna and Cole.

Now back home, Evie attempts to capture her own happily ever after… but will she?

falling

The last is, Falling For Shifters $2.99

BUY NOW!

My story, A RUEFUL EQUINOX features within.

Fox Donovan has never quite belonged in either the Winter Court or the Summer Court.

His marriage to wolf shifter, Violet Grayson leads to further complications. Especially now that there’s war on the horizon.

What will happen when family and court politics collide?

Tuesday Teatime

So, I’m taking a little break from the serious writerly advice I’ve been offering lately and doing something fun.

So, here’s 5 quotes about coffee for you to enjoy!

1. Coffee is the best medicine.

2. Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death and sweet as love.

3. All you need is love and more coffee.

4. Coffee is happiness in a cup.

5. Life happens. But coffee helps.

Motivation Monday

 

New Monday = New Week!

Monday’s are for fresh starts! Who is with me?

Not to mention all the new goals and new plans waiting to be unveiled.

So, what did you accomplish last week?

Did you make your Friday more productive? Or did you struggle with it like I did?

What’s your Monday ritual? Did you make one? 

Did you set a weekend routine? If spending both days writing counts, I totally nailed it.

As for Monday’s not sucking… well I’m still working on that. 

How about you?

Share the progress you made in the comments no matter how big or small it was!

And don’t worry if you didn’t make much progress today is a new day and the start of a new week.

Just work the steps from last week’s post and you’ll be on your way!