Fiona Lowe's Blog, page 14

An Amazing Thing Happened on Thursday…

On Thursday,  I was thinking about taking a break for lunch and the phone rang. I’ve only just signed  up for ‘Do Not Calll’ an Australian Government imitative where you can block cold calls, and the caller ID said, “Private Number”. Hmm, I thought but I was expecting a call from a friend so I picked up.

The woman on the end of the line explained she was from a travel agency about 1km away from where I live which I thought was odd, as I hadn’t booked any trips with them but before that thought could fully take hold she said, she was with the marketing manager from the Performing Arts Centre.

That snagged me.  The fact he was there ruled out this being a cold call because it was too odd a combination. Then she told me that my husband and I had just won an trip to Paris for 7 days, which included a ride to Melbourne International airport in a limo, 7 nights in a luxury hotel in Paris and some spending money!!!

My reaction was, “How?”  How could we have won this when I had no recollection of ever entering a competition. I mean , I just don’t enter because I never win and if you have to fill in your phone number you get cold called! I am also heard to say when I hand over my money for fundraising raffles, “What is it that I’m not going to win?”

The lovely Maxine explained that every person who subscribed to the annual theatre program…(we do this automatically every year)… went into the draw for this prize. I hope the marketing guy never finds out we didn’t even know about the promotion as obviously it was organised to promote subscription rates!

The flip side to this exciting news is that as both boys are not at home this year,  DH and I were planning a trip to France later in the year! It is our one opportunity to get away alone before Boy Wonder is home again for the next three years of senior high school. We had  got to the point of almost nailing a departure date. Our plans are to cycle along the Canal du Midi so we can still do that but recover in luxury in Paris!

Last year I gave my sister a hard time because she won two iPads…boy, is she giving me heaps now!

Have you ever picked up the phone and got GOOD news? Or won a prize? I think the last “dumb luck” prize I won was a beach towel when I was 12!

(This blog was cross posted on the Medical Authors Blog, Love Is The Best Medicine)

What I Got Up to Last Week….

Life can change in a heartbeat and so it happened in my family last Tuesday at 5pm when my eldest son, who was enrolled and ready to start at university today, got an unexpected offer from another university.

 His initial reaction was, “No”, because his brain was in gear for the university two hours away by train and bus. He could come home every couple of weekends, easy peasy.  But this offer of a double degree in Medicine and research was really was too good an opportunity to pass up so by Wednesday at noon we were suddenly gearing up to not only change universities but to move him “out of state.”ersity, in  another state; Tasmania. For those of you who don’t know, Tasmania is Australia’s island state and the only way to get there is to fly or go by boat.  The other big thing in the email was, “if you accept this offer, lectures start in six days.”

 

It is AMAZING how much you can achieve in 48 hours if you give up the day job of trying to write a book. I tried to set aside my panic about my deadline and set about organising to put the car on the Spirit of Tasmania, booking flights for my husband and son and organising accommodation for him while he un-enrolled in the university he thought he was going to be attending.

I headed off with a fully loaded car including a full size electric piano…The Lad can’t study without a piano…a  roof rack filled with bedding and books, and at the back of the vehicle, his push bike. Everything a boy needs for his first year at university or what my US mates call, “college.”

Lucky for me, the writing community is global and my dear friend, Melanie Milburne, lives in Hobart, Tasmania. She was such a fabulous resource.

The Lad is living in a residential college and he has a million dollar view! I think I would like to live there. He is going to keep really fit because the road up to the residences is very, very steep!

So a week today I didn’t know he was even going to be attending the University of Tasmania ..it’s been a huge six days but he is installed, settling in and has attended his first lectures. I have just got home and am feeling a bit wobbly after I find my land legs after nine hours at sea.

After a good sleep or two, life needs to return to normal as I have to get back to writing ‘Runaway Groom’ the third book in my Wedding Fever trilogy.  Have you ever had to drop everything and make something good happen in a really short space of time? I’d love to hear.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day

It’s VD day down under and in my part of the country it has dawned wet and grey and humid. Thunder is rumbling. DH is away so I picked up the phone at 7am and wished him a happy day.

We’ve been together a long time, so long in fact that Valentine’s Day wasn’t really a thing in Australia back when we met. Since then Hallmark and retailing have convinced us it’s something we need to spend our money on. A bit like Halloween. Aussies never celebrated that either until about five years ago either.

But back to Valentine’s Day Some years we do the full catastrophe Valentine’s Day…flowers, chocolates, dinner, slinky lingerie….other years it’s a card. and I am sure some years it has been forgotten completely. That’s fine. It’s the little things every day that count Like DH doing all the ironing.

However, that said it IS fun to get a card and to receive flowers. My eldest son is an impoverished student and it’s his first Valentine’s Day with his girlfriend. He’s been up early, picked some lovely Mr Lincoln roses from the garden…the scent is divine…and he’s put them in the fridge so they will be fresh and ready for tonight.  A bit of forward planning! I think that sums up what Valentine’s Day is all about. Thinking about the one you love.

If you don’t have a partner in your life then phone a friend and tell them how much you appreciate them in your life. It will make you feel good. Honest, it will and it will make the person you’re telling float through the day.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Pancake Tuesday!

It’s Pancake Tuesday! Other places around the world call it Shrove Tuesday and/or Fat Tuesday. It means Easter is only 6 weeks away.

Why Pancake Tuesday?

It dates back to early Christian times and according to a variety of sources, the name Shrove Tuesday comes from the custom of ringing the “shriving bell” to summon the people to church to be “shriven” – that is, to confess their sins at the beginning of Lent and to experience 40 days of denial.

The week preceding Lent (Mardi Gras in Rio and New Orleans and many other places) has become a time of merrymaking, culminating on Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday

At this time, certain foods were/are given up for the duration of Lent, such as eggs, milk, meat and rich buttery dishes. On Shrove Tuesday, families eat up all the rich foods left in their pantries. One way they use up the eggs, milk and fats in the house is to add flour to make special pancakes! Hence the name, Pancake Tuesday.

An author mate of mine is there right now AND she got to ride on a float and throw out all those beaded necklaces. I am very jealous. The closest I have got to Mardi Gras was the museum across the river from the old town of New Orleans.

My sons are always keen to celebrate Pancake Tuesday so I whip up some savoury pancakes and then follow them with dessert pancakes.

Looking for ideas? Savoury Pancakes & dessert pancakes

Over dinner we talk about what we’re giving up for Lent.  We’re not a religious family but when you look at the world’s poverty we are a privileged one and despite my boys sometimes thinking they are hard done by, they are not so I think it is a great idea to give something up for six weeks and learn from a bit of self restraint and self-discipline. That said, I gave up wine once for Lent and I learned from that..choose something else

So do you make pancakes on pancake Tuesday? Do you give up something for Lent?

Boomerang Bride is FREE today

Barnes and Noble Nook has Boomerang Bride as it’s Free Friday give-away! Down load it HERE

This is what they are saying on the Barnes and Noble Blog….

“Boomerang Bride is one of the best romance novels this reviewer has read in a long time. Top Pick.”

-RT Book Reviews

Today’s Free Fridays selection, the RITA-Award winning Boomerang Bride by Fiona Lowe, is an inventive, unexpected love story.

When Matlida leaves her Australian home to wed Barry—the man who swept her off her feet online—she doesn’t expect to be jilted by an internet con man. Now that Barry’s out of the picture, she’s stuck in a small Wisconsin town without a friend in sight.

Along stumbles Marc, who’s begrudgingly in town for his annual family visit. He sees a bride in desperate need of a groom, but he’s not quite sure he’s the man for the job. Matilda isn’t convinced of Marc’s suitability either. But strange things happen when two strangers are stuck together in a small town with lots of time to kill.

Fiona Lowe’s next irresistible contemporary romance, Saved by the Bride, is available for pre-order now!

Free Fridays Recommends

Each week, we ask our featured author to recommend a book or author that you may want to check out. Since authors are such passionate readers themselves, we thought you might like to find out what they love to read, too! Here’s what Fiona recommends:  

When I was 14, my mother handed me her leather bound, school prize copy of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. I waded through the first 100 pages saying, “It’s so slow!”  My mother said, “Keep reading.” Further in I was heard to say, “I hate Mr. Darcy!” My mother said, “Keep reading.” When I finally finished it, I put it down with a sigh and said, “Ohh, Mr. Darcy.

 

My love affair with romance fiction had begun and Jane Austen, with her clever wit and insight into the human condition remains a firm favorite and a comfort read when required.

New Era…well for a year anyway

 

This year my house is going to be very different.

On Tuesday, we took Boy Wonder (14) up to his Year 9 in the bush. So this year he is boarding and away from home. I’m both excited and apprehensiv

of wonderful experiences and I hope the challenges are manageable. He will learn all sorts of things about himself and not that he doesn’t already appreciate home but after sharing a unit with 13 other boys and chopping wood for hot water, he will certainly see that home is a good place to be! We get to see him every six weeks and in between the only contact is by snail-mail so we’re writing letters the old fashioned way. e for him. He will have loads

The Lad, who did Year 12 last

 year, got a stellar ATAR score and is off to study biomedicine. He moves into residential college on Feb 24th which I have dubbed, “Partyland”. He will be 90 minutes drive away and probably 2+ hours public transport travelling time away so he won’t be home every weekend.

So we are ‘empty nesters’ for 2013 only. I guess it gives me a taste of what it will be like when it happens for good in 2017. Mind you, The Lad may have bounced back again by then especially if he does post-graduate studies which he is talking about.

In a lot of ways having a quiet house will be good because I made a MASSIVE mistake and misunderstood the word ‘production date’. After a chat with my editor, I have just learned that I have seven weeks LESS to write Runaway Groom than I thought. I best get to it!

Wrestling laundry and life

We got home from the camping trip on Saturday and it’s taken until yesterday to wrestle the laundry under control. Life isn’t being quite as co-operative. On the plus side, The Lad has accepted to study Biomedicine at Monash University so he’s leaving home late Feb. Boy Wonder leaves for school ‘up the bush’ next Tuesday. Sob.

Today we took time out from the crazy of preparing for his  year away  and we schlepped up to the big smoke to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Oh what fun and what great staging!

Holidays…Vacation….

I’m off on the annual summer beach holiday with more books than I can possibly read but I’ll give it my best shot! I’m good that way

See you in a couple of weeks!

And they called it, Cover Love

I woke up this morning to an email from the designers at Carina Press. Attached to it was the cover for Saved By The Bride, my small-town contemporary romance which kicks off the Wedding Fever trilogy!

So without further ado……..drumroll……..

So what do you think?

Saved By The Bride will be released on April 15th but is up for pre-order at Amazon already!

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! As I write this post,  it’s nine hours into 2013 down here in Australia.

When the new year was twenty minutes old,  I was walking around with a garbage bag cleaning up after a group of thirteen seventeen & eighteen year-olds who’d had a lovely party in our back garden.  BBQ, night swimming and then snuggling up under rugs waiting for the magical midnight.

So I started 2013 on duty which is fine. As a parent, I’m never off-duty and it was lovely to see a group of young people having a great time without getting filthy drunk. So my first hope for 2013 was met!

I’m looking forward to 2013 with a degree of trepidation as my life will be quite different during school term time. My youngest son will be at boarding school for his special year ‘up the bush’ and my eldest son will be away at university. The house will be very quiet! My husband and I will get a taste of the ‘empty nest’ of the future.

I’m really looking forward to my trilogy of bride books- Wedding Fever- which are coming out across the Year. Saved By The Bride kicks off the trilogy in April 2013, followed by Picture Perfect Wedding in August and Runaway Groom in December. I will also have a medical romance out and a short story so do call by the blog and my website for all the news.

I hope your 2013 is filled with good health because if we’re healthy, everything else is just that little bit easier. I hope you experience moments of joy, that you can find something to be grateful for every day, and that the challenges you meet are surmountable.  I also wish you TIME. Time to read, time to sit and time to just be.

Roll on 2013. I’m ready!