Wow, where did 2006 go?  What a crazy year that was - contest accolades, the rush of conference, first year of school for my son AND that publishing contract.  Oh, and let's not forget the heady rush of being asked to join the Down Under continuity <vbg>.

Back from five days in Surfers, with heaps of photos and a little bit of sunburn.  Had a wonderful time with Helen Bianchin and two of her writing group, Noela and Catherine.  Helen gave me a tour of where the rich love to relax - Sanctuary Cove first, then the exclusive Sovereign Island.  No, I didn't know the Gold Coast was that upscale, either!  Took some beautiful photos of houses and fantasized what it would be like to live in a security-gated, car-patrolled private island... or at least, what my heroine from my next book thinks about it <vbg>.   We had lunch at the Sheraton Mirage and then jumped across the road for coffee at the Palazzo Versace.  Now, I love coffee and I like it made a particular way.  But to have no caramel syrup?   Shock.  At least I gave Catherine a chance to berate me for asking for Starbucks when I'm in a fancy-schmancy restaurant LOL.

So the revisions for Boardrooms & A Billionaire Heir have gone - yippee!  The first book in the continuity, Bronwyn's Vows & A Vengeful Groom is ready to go, and the cover is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous!!    Check it out at our new Diamonds Down Under site. 

Forgotten Marriage is on the Aussie/NZ shelves this month.  What a special thrill for me, to see my name on a book in my own home town <vbg>.  I'm planning on a photo (or three) in my local stores, plus will sign the books and put bookmarks inside.  I just got an order of shiny silver "autographed copy" labels so I have to make use of them!

I had a surreal experience of being interviewed and photographed for the local paper last week.  Apparently the issue comes out in a couple of days and I'm just hoping the photo isn't too eeeuukkk.

As spring hots up, we're in the middle of school holidays in Australia and I've slowly come to realize there's no POSSIBLE WAY to write during the craziness.  Sure I could do website updates, fiddle with character charts, etc.  but real writing?  No.  My headspace gets invaded for a full two weeks from my hurricane son, so serious concentration is out.  Dammit.  Double dammit with my revision deadline now (oh, yes, I got revisions for Boardrooms & A Billionaire Heir... very insightful and interesting  ones, which will probably be an article in itself!)

I also said yes - stupidly, I might add - to judge for RWAustralia's Hi 5 contest.  But contests are such interesting reading and sometimes, there's some fabulous gems in there (pun intended - a lot of them were finalists in the Emerald Award for best unpublished manuscript!).

Also, you'll probably notice that this page has been updated, instead of a link to my blog.  I've decided I couldn't do a blog justice (time?  What time?)  and therefore have reverted to one-monthly updates.  I'm going to hunt down a little program that'll enable comments from visitors, so stay tuned for that.

Next week I'm off up to Surfers Paradise for a little sun, surf and R&R.  But it's all not play - I'm taking my revisions with me, and am also talking writing with the lovely Helen Bianchin and her writing group, "Bianchin's Babes".  LOL.  It's great to see writers more than once a year at conference - it really reminds you that you are human and don't have a keyboard superglued to your fingers.

We've seen some amazing weather during the Christmas break - first oppressive heat (42 degrees, over 120 on the old scale!) then a welcome downpour for the 25th.  It's the first time in a looong time I can remember not having the air conditioning on while opening our presents :-)

We've had some local wildlife decide that our yard is The Place To Be, and as a consequence, regularly shell out quality mincemeat to a band of assorted magpies, willy wagtails, pied currawongs and peewees (aka magpie lark).  Word has spread in the bird community, obviously, because we're not getting bombed or chased around the yard come nesting time.  Everyone knows the going's good at the Roe household.

And now a pair of rainbow lorikeets have settled in nicely to our birdbath-turned-outdoor seed feeder.  Glorious colors, but a little short on temperament - they squark outrageously if any other bird dares to muscle in when they're feeding.

On to writerly things!  As a general rule, I don't make resolutions, but now that I need to consistently produce books, I decided I should get out of my comfort zone and do some.  So here are mine:

- finish another book by June;

- finish the erotic novella I've been tinkering with... and hopefully sell it;

- figure out my next Desire novel;

- start querying agents;

- go to another writers retreat;

- conduct a tutorial at RWAustralia's conference.

Should be interesting to see if I meet all these come December 2007!

Mucho excitement this month. First, I got the chance to see my first book, Forgotten Marriage, on my local bookstore shelves.  Squeeeee!!!!!!     Yes, I got author copies and yes, it's been out in the States for months, but nothing beats the excitement of holding one in store - in MY local store.  I dutifully signed them all, stuck on their little 'autographed copy' stickers and inserted my bookmarks.  And normally, there's a few people milling about the Harlequin isle but the day I went, the place was bare.  Couldn't even squeal my joy to strangers!  Then, of course, I forgot my camera but by the time I came back with it a few days later, the copies were all gone!  :-(   At least people were buying them LOL.

My good author friend Anna Campbell sees her second book on the shelves this month - I can't wait!  From the excerpt, Untouched sounds like a rollicking good read!

I'm always excited to get out the house, so Monday 10th is my writing group's Christmas Party.  Along with a feast (I'm making gourmet sandwiches) we've having a Secret Santa, which I managed to talk them into <vbg>.  It's amazing how much good stuff you can buy for only $10! 

We decorated the Christmas tree a few weeks ago, which took hours.  By the end of it it's like, "just get the decorations up, already!!"  But the end result was worth it, from the new shiny crystal droplets bought the week before, to the 30-year old ceramic Snoopy bell riiiight up the top so little fingers can't smash it to pieces.  And the smell of the decorated lounge room always brings back memories of Christmas past.  You know, the sense of smell is one of the most powerful for memory recall we have - for some, it's the smell of fresh pine, a baking turkey or Christmas pudding that reminds them of Christmas.  For me, it's the smell of plastic - from the tree and the decorations <vbg>.  Oh, and now there's cranberries, because I finally managed to find my special  cranberry burner oil I bought from The Body Shop years ago!

As school holidays are nearly upon us and the TV viewing all morph into reruns, next week I'm off to Canberra with my son to do all things fun and exciting - the National Zoo and Aquarium, followed by CSIRO's Discovery and Questacon.  A great excuse to muck about and act like a kid again <vbg>.

Hope you all have a happy Christmas and a safe New Year.  See you all in 2008!

Our Diamonds Down Under website went up, followed by the launch of our exciting new blog. (talk about a crash course in html!) Heaps of stuff will be happening at these two sites over the next seven months, including guest bloggers, Q&A, prizes and giveaways.  Speaking of which, Tessa's cover is out too... and man, isn't it gorgeous?  Harlequin's art department have really outdone themselves!

I finally got around to making my "What I loved about 2007" list.  Hard to cast your mind back to the beginning of the past year, when so much has happened, but here's what I came up with:

- Maria V Snyder's fabulous Poison Study

- ditto with Charlaine Harris' "Grave" series.

- Nescafe instant decaf Cappuccino

- Red Rock Deli Lime & Black Pepper chips

- Harlequin's Art Department for their visual cover feast of the Diamonds Down Under series.

- RWA's national conference where I celebrated my First Sale

- Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs

- Gloria Jean's soy decaf Caramelattes

Things have been going swimmingly on our Diamonds Down Under blog, with lots of people popping by to comment and win prizes. Don't forget there's a gorgeous diamond heart pendant on offer for all your treasurer hunters!  Simply get all the clues in the coming months and you could be in the running.  Also, if you're a writer, it's a great opportunity to win a critique with Silhouette Senior Editor Melissa Jeglinski!

Sadly, over the New Year, our 20 year old Burmese-cross, Chaulky, decided it was her time to go.  I had so many good memories of this gorgeous cat (seen here on the right getting harassed by our local Magpie Gang), especially during the months I was pregnant.  She used to come in to the bedroom and lie down with me, warming my tummy (and hers!) and purring through the night.  It's strange to think I was only 18 when she was a kitten and the house simply won't be the same without her.

However, I had a chance to give not one, but two new kitties a new home a few weeks later.  I love having new kittens in the house!  They bring so much joy and delight, especially to my son who adores them (sometimes a little too much)!

Sophie (left) is the oldest by a month, a white Persian-cross and a right little miss.  Phoebe (right) is a white bitza, a stray, scrappy and belligerent, always eating.  Most days she looks like she's swallowed a tennis ball :-)

As the days get hotter (and sometimes rainier, like today!) I bid you all a happy Valentine's Day and may you

spend it with the one you love.  Oh, and check out my new contest, while you're at it.

As you can see, I got the cover for my Diamonds Down Under book... and talk about sssssssmokin'.   It's gorgeous and exactly how I pictured both Jake and Holly (and if you look real close, you can actually see some butt cleavage <vbg>).  Bron Jameson actually said when you look at them side by side (like what's on our series page) you can see the heat level go up with each one.  I wonder if Yvonne will end up with her hero and heroine horizontal? :-)

I've had a change in direction with my writing this month - putting my Billionaire's Club/Gold Coat trilogy on hold to focus instead on a duo that my editor requested.  Set in Sydney, it's about two brothers, one company, a marriage and heir demand...   suffice to say, I'm excited about these stories and hope to finish the first one in the next month :-) ... Check out my little groovy word counter doohicky on my current news page.

A few exciting things have been happening this month.  One, it's finally sunk in I'm actually going to RWA Nationals in San Francisco!  Squeeeee!   Over 100 workshops, close to 2000 attendees and four fabulous days of talking, networking and learning from the best of the best.  I'm completely stoked!  My last time US conference was Denver 2002 conference but that was a bit of a logistical nightmare, what with family and a 2 year old in tow  - and seems like such a lifetime ago.  This time, I'm leaving everyone at home and jetting off with some fellow writers instead :-)

Another exciting writing project is also in the works for sometime in 2009 - a hero falsely accused of murder, a marriage demand and betrayal are just a few tidbits to keep you all hanging :-)

Remember to drop on over to our Diamonds Down Under blog to win heaps of stuff - our diamond treasure hunt, a critique by an agent and editor and heaps of on-the-spot prizes!

I found a gray hair last week.  Okay, so it was the second gray hair - the first being in my eyebrow of all places and very easy to pluck out and pretend it just never happened.  But this one was actually on my head, right over my left eye (what is it with the left side of my face..?  Is it stuck in some weird kind of time-speeding-up warp or something?)  Now, I'm a rinse-and-color kinda girl so it really shouldn't affect me all that much (just cover that sucker up with L'Oreal's Dark Copper Mahogany, for petes' sakes!).  But it did.  Especially when I found wrinkles on my ankles.  On my ANKLES???  Damn you, coconut Reef Oil with SPF 4!

So, I admit it worried me for a few hours as the memories and indiscretions of my wild youth flashed before my eyes.  Until I got an email from the lovely Patricia of Colorado Romance Writers. <vbg>.  My first book, Forgotten Marriage, is a finalist in their Award of Excellence contest!   Wooo hoo!  With 215 entries and 9 categories, my little book is a finalist!  Take that, gray hair!

On the heels of that little bit of news, came Romance Writers of America's RITA and Golden Heart finalists.  These awards are to the romantic fiction industry what the Oscar is to the Academy Awards, but without all the blatant promo :)   I can now say I read  some wonderful books for the Rita that amazingly, didn't make the cut.  But anyway, I'm thrilled to see my fellow Aussies and Kiwis making their mark in this US-dominated field:

~ Helene Young for "Beyond the Borders" in the Golden Heart Romantic Suspense category 
~ Tracey O'Hara for "Night's Cold Kiss" in the Golden Heart Paranormal category.