Guest blogging

I'm GuestBlogging about my research over on Romance By the Blog today. Hop on over and visit!!

Dallas, here I come...

It's decided - I AM going to the RWA National Conference in Dallas in July. It will be a quick trip, just a week away, with a day or so in Dallas to get over the jet lag before the conference starts, and heading home on the Sunday afternoon.

I'm not looking forward to the whole flying half-way across the world thing, but it's good incentive to lose some weight, so I'll fit into those tiny airplane seats a little more comfortably! I've traveled several times on longer flights across to Europe and the UK, and coped okay, but I was slimmer then.

In between bouts of nerves, I am looking forward to the conference. This will be my first US conference, and 10 times larger than the Australian one I went to a couple of years ago. So, it will be quite an experience! It will also be my first visit to the US since 1983; I'm sure a lot has changed in that time.

Updated web site

I wasn't particularly happy with the website design I've had for a year or more, so in this last week it's undergone a major renovation. If I had the money, I'd get a professional to do it, as my visual design imagination and skills aren't at the professional level, however, I've had to do it myself - at least for now.

So, please check it out at http://bronwynparry.com

I welcome feedback on it!

(And now I'll need to update the look of this blog to go with it... )

Decisions, decisions

The RWA needs an author photo from each of the Golden Heart finalists, and, as I'm no gorgeous model with a portfolio of glamour shots, I need help in deciding what to send!

I'm still not used to the new hairstyle and colour (I had my long hair chopped off last Thursday), which adds to my indecision about what looks best.







So, 1, 2, or 3 - or option 4 - drag long-suffering DH out for another photoshoot?

(The sharp-eyed amongst you will note that I've used my absolute minimal photoshop skills to make my blemishes less obvious in no. 3. Hmmm. I'm not sure that's me.)

Golden News

Well, I said I'd blog again if there was exciting news, and there is!

I was overjoyed and honoured to find out yesterday that my ms, Falling into Darkness, is a finalist in the RWA's Golden Heart Award, in the romantic suspense category.

I still can't quite believe it!

Congratulations to all the other finalists, and commiserations to those who didn't final.

Finances are fairly tight, and getting to the US for the conference and awards ceremony is very expensive, so I'm not sure yet if I'll make it to Dallas. Probably not, but all hope hasn't quite been extinguished, yet!

Farewell - for a while

After a lot of thought, I've decided to take a break from this blog for a while.

I've found it a bit difficult to blog well here, for a range of reasons, but mostly because I've been conscious that with my PhD research on online romance readers and writers communities gearing up for major action this year, I've needed to keep my public image relatively neutral - which has meant not commenting on a lot of issues and topics around the genre.

Given that I'm not published (yet), and my writing progress doesn't make for scintillating reading, and the above-mentioned reasons for not commenting loudly on genre issues - well, that doesn't give me a whole lot to write about, on a writing blog.

So, I'm going to take a break. In between work and PhD I'll still be writing, and I'm currently sending a manuscript out to agents, so if there's any exciting news I'll post it here - and start blogging again, if there's a career to blog about ;-)

In the meantime, if you want to see the scenery and wildlife around here, there's my photoblog, and I also have a textile blog where I post about my occasional textile projects - and the pairs of socks I knit while I'm staring at the screen, writing!

Thanks to everyone who's visited this blog - see you again when I have a writing career to blog about!

Merry Christmas!

The second turkey I've ever cooked.



Our simple, delicious Christmas lunch.

Book recommendation

My most recent order from amazon arrived yesterday, including two copies of this book, written by my friend Joanna Sandsmark.

It's gorgeous! Beautiful illustrations, with the text a warm, gentle 'philosophy' that is delightful and meaningful.

I bought one copy for me and another to give as a gift, but I think I'm going to have to order a couple more. It's too beautiful not to share with others.

Five things you mightn't know....

1. The first actor I had a crush on was the guy who played Thierry la fronde in the (very early) 1960s French series, which was shown here as The King's Outlaw.

Yes, he's the one in the left front in the short jerkin and the tight tights - as all good heroes should be :-) Thierry was played by actor Jean-Claude Drouot, who apparently went on to become a significant actor in French theatre.

2. Much though I wish I could, I can't sing very well. I can hold a tune only if there's no other harmonies going on around me.

3. I was dux of my school in 6th grade.

4. I've always been a romantic. When all the other girls were going through the 'I hate boys' stages, I didn't. (Maybe that was Thierry's influence.... :-) )

5. I started writing when I was about 7 or 8 years old. We moved to a new suburb, and a girl two doors down, a year older than me, was writing a story about the Beatles. She had hundreds of pages of dialogue. So, I began writing too - first I did fan-fic of Lost in Space and Danger Island (because there just wasn't anywhere near enough romance on screen for me), but I quickly began creating my own stories. If I recall correctly, my first hero's name was Max.

Now I'm going to tag.... Grace Tyler.

Tagged by Jennie

Jennie Adams has tagged me. She wants me to reveal 5 things that no-one (or hardly anyone) knows about me.

Hmmmm... might have to think about this. What secrets shall I reveal?? Is there anything interesting about me that not many people know??

Stay tuned...

(And in the meantime, go and visit Jennie's blog.

Jo Beverley's 'The Shattered Rose'

Many of the big name, American, historical romance authors are hard to find here. Borders only has stores in the capital cities, and they're the only place I've come across that actually has a 'Romance' section. Sadly, I don't get to the city very often. Our local bookstores have some romances sprinkled in with 'Fiction', but not a large range. However, I've managed to hunt a few historical BNA down in the past months, as I'm trying to expand my reading across the genre and at least be familiar with some of the authors being talked about on various blogs and email lists.

The romance book that's stood out for me this year is Jo Beverley's The Shattered Rose. Out of interest, I had a look recently at the amazon.com reviews for this book, and discovered that it was a 'love it or hate it' book. I loved it. It's not an easy book, and it certainly isn't a light, comfortable romance - hence the negative responses from those perhaps expecting something more traditional and undemanding.

However, for those who like their romance real rather than fantasy, then The Shattered Rose is satisfyingly challenging. The historian in me really appreciated that the characters were people of their times; these were medieval nobility, with the world and religious frameworks of the period, not modern people dressed in medieval costume. I loved the way that Beverley drew both Galeran and Jehanne and their responses to the situation they found themselves in; their story was heart-wrenching and the resolution of their difficulties in keeping with both character and time - even if as challenging to the reader as to Galeran and Jehanne themselves.

The secondary romance was rather less satisfying for me; although it was fun, it felt too light for the drama and depth of the primary story. However, the book still rates as probably the best romance I've read this year.

If anyone has recommendations for more books with that level of realism, please feel free to make them!

I found Laura Kinsale's Flowers from the Storm in a second-hand bookshop a few weeks back, and picked it up because of all the positive comments at the Smart Bitches and other places. When I'm finished with my current deadline, I'll reward myself with it.

Celebrating with Kelly

My friend Kelly Hunter's first book Wife for a Week burst onto Australian shelves this week. (Okay, it was a bit slow getting to our town, but made it eventually!)

I had lunch with Kelly and fellow writer Michelle today to celebrate - a thoroughly pleasant lunch, with two wonderful writing women to chat with and a gorgeous, happy baby to cuddle. Can't think of a better way to spend a Friday afternoon :-)



Signing my copy of her book (every romance writer should have a feather pen!)



After lunch, we went to the local K-Mart to admire the book on the shelves.

Congratulations, Kelly, on sticking with your dreams and writing such a warm, wonderful and fun book! May there be many, many more.

Congratulations, Jennie!!

When I went to my first romance writers' conference, I didn't know anybody. I'd never even met another romance writer. One of the people I met was Jennie Adams, who was wonderful and introduced me to others and made me feel welcome and included. Jennie and I also met up again at the RWAus conference in Melbourne last year, and have maintained a great online friendship.

Jennie's first books for Harl/Sil were published in Australia last year, but the first one to be published in the US only came out this month - The Boss's Convenient Bride.

Today, I found out that The Boss's Convenient Bride is #10 on this week's Waldenbooks Romance Bestseller's list.

WOOOOOO-HOOOOOO JENNIE!!!!
It's a great book, and so it's no wonder it's doing well. And the author is such a wonderful, generous person as well as being an excellent writer. Well done, Jennie! It's definitely a day to wave that pink feather boa around!

Updated look

I've just updated the look of the blog - I was getting a little bored with the old theme, and at least this one has some colour similarity to my web page. I was trying to edit the stylesheet to include some of the photos from my web page, and make the designs more similar, but it was too hard after a long day at work, especially given that CSS and I have only a nodding acquaintance!

I may do some more changes later, when I'm not so tired. In the meantime, I'm off to bed - it will be another busy day at work tomorrow.

Golden Anniversary

My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Friday night. It was a wonderful night, with 50 or so friends and family including cousins I haven't seen for many years who travelled from Melbourne for the event. The photo above is my parents with my sisters and I. (I'm the one who looks just like my Mum!)

My folks are two very special, amazing, and inspirational people and it was a great joy to celebrate their anniversary with them.

And, yes, they're a significant contributing factor to me writing romance :-)

I'm back...

We returned home this afternoon after just over two weeks away in the eastern Outback. It was a great trip - great company, fantastic weather almost the whole way, and amazing landscape - but I'm a bit too tired tonight to try and write anything intelligent about it!

Keep an eye on the photoblog - I'll put some pictures up over the next few days.

Kookaburras and old gum trees.

There you go. I've obviously hit the big time of some strange cult following, since 18% of the last 100 searches that brought people to my blog are for some variant of 'kookaburra sits in the old gum tree.' I've been noticing this for a while, actually - ever since I made a post with that title. People from all over the world - the US, UK, Europe, Japan, are searching for kookaburras and old gum trees and finding their way to the post on my blog.

Don't get me wrong - I love having people visit my blog. Anyone (other than spammers and psychotics) is welcome here. I'm just fascinated as to why so many people are searching for the song. School projects? Camp songs? Or has it attained some cult status and meaning that I'm innocently unaware of?

We used to sing it in rounds, when we were kids. It passed some of the time when going on long car trips in the days before car radios, and I much preferred to 'Three Blind Mice'.

Anyway, here are the words, for those searching for them:
Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree,
Merry, merry king of the bush is he,
Laugh, kookaburra, laugh, kookaburra,
Gay your life must be.

Hmmm... they've probably changed the words in recent decades, since 'gay' has changed it's meaning. But that's what we used to sing. So, all you Kookaburra seeking blog visitors, please feel free to comment about what you're looking for.

Catching up (yet again)

Okay, so it's been quiet here lately. What have I been up to these past few weeks? Apart from the normal work/life stuff, I've been:

• dealing with a bad shoulder, which meant limiting my computer work
• spending limited computer time writing
• planning our Outback trip
• making lists for our trip
  
• shopping for our trip (food, emergency supplies, first aid gear, equipment etc)
• trying to work out how to organise and pack all the stuff into the truck

We'll be off in a bit over a week, for 16 days travelling with another couple up to Roma in Queensland, across to Birdsville, down the Birdsville Track to Marree in South Australia, across to Arkaroola in the Flinders Ranges, then to Rawnsley Park near the spectacular Wilpena Pound, then to Broken Hill, Nyngan and home. I think all up it's about 4,500 kilometres. And yes, I'm getting quite excited. I visited Wilpena Pound and Marree on a trip in 1988, but everything else will be new to me. It's amazing country - and great inspiration for novels!

Painted warp

I suggested that our Spinners and Weavers Guild have a 'Something New' Challenge for the rest of the year - participants to try out a technique new to them, write a report for the newsletter, and everyone who participates goes into the draw at the end of the year for a voucher for a fibre or yarn supplier.

So, to provide a first example to the guild, I decided to try out painting a warp, something I've not done before. I wound the warp this morning - a fine white wool - and I ended up going into our guild rooms this afternoon to dye it as it's much better set up for laying out long warps, plus the microwave and dyeing equipment is all there.



I'm quite happy with the outcome, particularly given that my dye mixing was definitely not scientific! There's enough to make two scarves, each one going from red through purple and blue to green and then back out to red again. Now I just have to wait until it's dry, then put it on the loom, then decide what pattern and colours to use in the weft and do the weaving. That's all ;-) In all that spare time that I have...

The Ancient Art of Par-King.

(Procrastination hit this morning, and I was inspired to write this for my batty writers' group after some discussion about the terrors of parking.)

The Ancient Art of Par-King.

The origins of this art-form are lost in the sands of time. Earliest recordings are found in Asian poetry scrolls dating to 1000BCE, where Par-King appears to have been practised by court poets near lakeside views. It is said that some poets entered a prolonged trance state while Par-King that could last for weeks.

As with many adoptions from the East, the artform appeared in the Mediterranean during the early Roman period. The Romans, however, turned it into a competitive sport, with competition amongst chariot drivers for Par-King spaces in the centre of Rome rivalling that of the Gladatorial contests in the Arena. Par-King differed from the Gladitorial contests in one key aspect; it actively involved spectators, who paid for the privalege of riding with the chariot drivers while they Par'K'd and who could become as aggressive and combatitive in defending a Par-King place as the drivers themselves.

The practice of Par-King ebbed and flowed during the Dark and Middle Ages, with many regional variations evolving. (The Venetians, for example, used boats.) Popularity again soared from the eighteenth century onwards, when large proportions of the populace across Europe moved to the rapidly growing cities. The competitive version of Par-King has always been more widely practised in metropolitan areas, whereas rural areas - particularly isolated rural areas - maintained the original, meditative art-form. (Except on market days, when a friendly, informal version of the sport was played, usually with much good-natured humor.)

In the modern era, high-stakes Par-King contests are conducted every day across much of Europe, North America, and in major cities in Asia. Participation in the sport of Par-King is higher than in any other sport, involving some 70% of the population on a daily basis. Competition has grown so fierce in some places that the competitors spend vast sums on large vehicles to terrorise competitors in smaller ones, and injuries, while still relatively rare given the vast number of players, do occur. Elitism has also entered the sport, with some competitors paying large daily sums to compete on less-crowded Par-King fields.

Sadly, it is only in the backwaters of modern life - rural communities, and some small towns - that Par-King is still practised in its original art form, as a joyful, meditative practice. While some urban youth do practice a version of Par-King - in pairs, in dimly lit areas at night - adherents of the old ways consider the limitation to pairs in the night-time to be a corruption of The True Practice of Par-King, which, they say, should be able to be undertaken by any devotee, at any time.