Fiona Lowe's Blog, page 3

This is what happens when I am working hard on my next book……

This is what happens when I am working hard on my next book……Yup. Big Fat nothing to blog about and almost three and a half weeks between blogs.  I am trying to write every day, all day, which doesn’t leave much time for interesting things to happen in my life, only in my head ;-)

This novel is about a mother and her three adult daughters and I’ve set it in the Western District of Victoria. Back in the day, it rode high on the sheep’s back and 150 years ago about six pastoralist families made a lot of money. They built amazing houses. I reckon these houses would have some great stories to tell! What do you think?

Barwon Park

Ski-ing in Spring and the Livin’ is Easy

Last weekend, Boy Wonder and I took off for a few days of spring ski-ing. We do this whenever there is enough snow left by mid September. Last year a heat wave took it all out but this year, we had a mini summer burst and then the cold weather came back so YAY! I think a lot of people thought the snow had gone because Mt Hotham was quiet and we skied ourselves silly.

For those of you not on Facebook or Twitter, here are the photos. The Victorian high-country is one of my FAVE places in my home state. I’ve even set a book here, Her Miracle Baby :-) When you look at these photos, I think you can see why I love it so much.

A few years ago I wrote a book set there, Her Miracle Baby. It features horse rides in the snow, a woman dealing with her ill mother and a life that has thrown more than its fair share of curveballs. Harlequin have packaged it up with three other of my pregnancy/baby novels and called it Fiona Lowe’s Babies,  if you want to check it out. It’s available where all eBooks are sold.

Ski-ing wise, I did a personal best; last Monday I skied 17 runs before lunch!! After lunch I wasn’t quite so full of beans and added five more runs before calling it a day but 22 runs for a girl who isn’t 20 anymore is a pretty good effort. I guess that means I have to keep going to the gym to keep fit for ski-ing.

On the way home, we enjoyed the spring blossom of the foothills and visiting a friend’s nut farm. The last few photos are her garden :-)

So are you tempted to come visit the Australian high country?

What I’ve Learned from a Decade in Publishing

My First Sale

Ten years ago today, I missed a phone call from an editor in London. I was putting my youngest to bed and reading him a story and just assumed that the ringing phone was a telemarketer. Oops! Turns out it wasn’t. There was a lot of scrambling about trying to find the international dialling number for the UK and then I was through to her voice mail. Apparently, my very pregnant editor had just ducked out to the loo.

Five excruiatingly long minutes later, the phone rang again with the news that Mills and Boon London was buying Outback Baby and releasing it 9 months later as Pregnant on Arrival :-) It had taken me ten years of elaspsed time and four manuscripts before I sold and I was over the moon.

Ten years ago, publishing was a totally different beast. The eBook was this talked of idea that really didn’t have a user-friendly dedicated reader and selfpublishing meant paying $$$$ to have a box of books printed with too-skinny margins. We lived for the infrequent sales to a big six publishing house. Wow, the publishing landscape has changed to be almost unrecognisable!

 

Over the last decade I’ve written 21 medical romances for Mills and Boon, 4 single title wedding themed books for Carina Press, 2 Medicine River cowboy/doctor novels for Berkley Penguin USA, self published a short story and written numerous articles. The full list of my published works is here.

It’s been a hell of a roller coaster ride puntucated by dizzying highs and some rather tough lows. Many days I think that being an author is actaully a very unhealthy job but I think I’m addicted to the buzz of finishing a book, selling a book, seeing it on shelf and hearing from readers that I changed their day in a good way :-)

Highlights of the last decade have been:

*Seeing my debut novel being printed. (2006)

*My first book signing.

*Giving workshops at RWA conferences and Roadshows (2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015)

*My first RuBY nomination for my third book (2007). Subsequent nominations have been exciting too; it never gets old :-)

*Writing Boomerang Bride. This is also a very low point because it coincided with the massive change in publishing after the GFC in 2009.

*Boomerang Bride being nominated for a Rita and  a RuBY and winning both. Being able to be at both award ceremonies was a definite high!

*Selling to Berkely Penguin USA.

*Receiving a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

*Reader mail.

*My 25th book pin from Harlequin.

What have I learned in a decade? That the persistence and perseverance I experienced  in the ten years it took me to get published has been required ten times over in the following decade. Staying published is as hard as getting that first contract.

*We can only make decisions based on the information in front of us at the time. No one has a crystal ball. Sometimes you have to pick yourself up, dust yourself down and reinvent yourself.

*Surround yourself with people who are your champions. Walk away from people who want to pull you down. That energy is better spent on more positive endeveours.

Sometimes you have to take a break to regroup and reenergise.

You are the only person who cares the most about your career. Ask questions and seek information. Not every publishing deal is a good one.

Creatively, social media can be your worst friend. Resist being the victim of FOMO…fear of missing out. The important news will always find you and taking a digital-detox is healthy for your writing.

Resist comparing yourself to others; professional jealousy will do your head in and drain you of all creativity. There will always be gossip and most of it isn’t true.

You have no control over dumb luck. None. At. All.

Write the best book you can. Hone your craft even if you’ve written 30 novels…energy comes from learning or hearing the same information in a new way or just being reminded.

Don’t burn bridges. The publishing world is small.

Celebrate the milestones, because a lot of hard work went into getting there! I’m not great at doing this so this blog is a departure for me.

Today as I write this I’m working on my 28th novel, a mainstream women’s fiction about three sisters and their mother, which is an exciting departure for me and I’m loving stretching some new writing muscles. Ten years ago if you’d asked me if I’d be doing this I would have looked at you blankly. Back then, I couldn’t see past the second category romance Mills and Boon wanted me to write for them.

 

Do I have another ten years left in me? I’ll leave you with one other thing I’ve learned; never say never!

Happy Anniversary to me!

 

Book Sale; grab a deal!

Carina Press has Saved By The Bride, book one in my Wedding Fever trilogy, on sale for 99 cents where all eBooks are sold!  What a great way to try the first book in the trilogy and if you enjoy it, you have the delight of knowing there are two other books you can lose youself in :-)

Reviews are enthusiastic! “...Saved by the Bride has such a wonderful humour and sense of fun about it. Fiona Lowe, you have created a couple, and a town, that you just can’t help but cheer for.” 5/5 My Written Romance 

You can read some reviews here

So what’s it’s about?

Welcome to Whitetail, Wisconsin, future home of Weddings that WOW!

As acting mayor, Annika will do anything to revive the economy of the town that’s been her refuge ever since her art career imploded and her fiancé walked out. Even if it means crashing an engagement party to talk business with the bride’s billionaire father. But the evening starts with a kiss from a gorgeous stranger-and ends with a night in jail.

Finn Callahan can’t believe his sister is getting married, not after their parents’ disastrous track record. And he’d rather be anywhere than working from his family’s vacation home. Until he catches a leggy blonde sneaking in the window, and suddenly telecommuting for the season is very appealing.

Unable to resist their mutual attraction, Annika and Finn are soon mixing business and pleasure-just for the summer. Too bad Annika’s heart missed the memo about not falling in love…

And to get you in the wedding mood, watch the book trailer :-)

All buy links can be found here. I hope you enjoy taking advantage of the wedding sale!

Save the Date! Romance Book Signing in Melbourne August 22nd

The wonderful women of ARRA, the Australian Romance Readers Association are hosting its annual book signing at the Romance Writers of Australia’s annual conference and this year it’s in Melbourne :-) Seventy two authors will be in attendance with books for signing and lots of little treats.  The fabulous team of Louise and co., at Dymocks Collins St are the designated book store and I’ll be there with my Big Sky Country bags and copies of Montana Actually, Truly Madly Montana and Unlocking Her Surgeon’s Heart. 

So when is this gig? Saturday August 22nd at 5pm  at the Park Hyatt 1 Parliament Pl, East Melbourne. To book a ticket, click HERE. You can also order a gorgeous souvenir booklet, which is perfect for gathering autographs :-)

So ink the date and time in your diary, buy your ticket and come along :-) I, along with the other 71 authors, would LOVE to see you there :-)

There’s a lot more of Australia out the back!

I’m just back from 17 days in western Queensland. We explored the Savannah country, cattle country, dinosaur country, rainforest and the biggest marine park in the world; the Great Barrier Reef. We canoed on the Lawn Hill creek past sleeping freshwater crocs, we hiked rugged gorges carved out by millions of years of rushing water, we followed the path trod by dinosaurs and shallow seas swum by the terrifyingly huge Kronosaurus, camped under a full moon as Bettongs visited, rafted the rapids on the Tully river through world heritage rain forest and we snorkelled on the outer reef with Nemo and friends and gave thanks reef sharks are so little.  It was a fantastic trip but I’ll let the photos tell the story :-)

Have you had a holiday/vacation recently? Where did you go?

A blue wren

A Galah

Galahs at sunset

Termite mounds

The cheeky Kookaburra who stole my banana!

Thirsty kangaroo

There’s a lot of nothing out there

The Gregory River Gulf Country QLD

Water lillies at Boodjamulla National Park, Lawn Hill Creek, on the NT/QLD border

Lawn Hill Gorge where we canoed

Ghost gums grow in the most amazing places!

Lawn Hill Creek where we swam and kept an eye out for Freshwater crocodiles

Sunset at Lawn Hill

Gibber plain and fossils

It’s a red country

Mt Isa underground hospital built during WW2

No traffic jams out here unless you count the grey nomads

Kronosaurus!

Camp life

Sleeping under a full moon was like sleeping with the lights on.

A cold morning. Me in my PJs making brekkie with a penny! Had to keep my one polarfleece kinda clean #analretentivetendencies

Pyramid Rock in Porcupine Gorge National Park

Charters Towers, World Theatre

Townsville: back on the coast

1920s pub

Between Port Douglas and Cairns

Green Island, Low Isles, The Great Barrier Reef

Gouldian Finch

Koalas sleep 19 hours a day…bit like cats!

Eclectus Parrot

Cassowary

Salt water crocodile….the scariest thing on the planet.

And while I was away, Truly Madly Montana released :-) It’s book 2 in my Medicine River

 

 

 

series and it’s currently got a 4.5* average on Amazon and Goodreads :-). As one reader said, “An Aussie doctor in scrubs? Nom!” You get two romances in one book! The blurb says, “Summer in Montana brings heat with a chance of romance in the new Medicine River Romance from the award-winning author of Montana Actually

Sexy and charming Australian doctor Will Bartlett will do anything to help out a friend, even if it means moving to Bear Paw for the summer. Some small-town hospitality, and the uncomplicated friendship of his co-worker, Millie, is just the ticket to shake off the restlessness that’s been gripping him lately.



Millie Switkowski, RN and medical student, is home for her clinical rotation, and she’s determined to make this summer so much better than last. She’s got a year of medical school under her belt, her diabetes is under control and she’s kicked her crazy crush for Will Bartlett, who only ever treated her as “one of the guys.”

But when Will turns out to be Millie’s supervising physician, without warning the summer gets a whole lot hotter than either of them anticipated. With both of them holding onto thorny secrets, can they walk away with their hearts intact?”

You can buy it where all print and eBooks are sold and for ALL buy links, click here.

Happy Reading!

Fiona x

Release Day: Truly Madly Montana! Medicine River series

Pop the champagne! Roll out the canapes!

Welcome back to Bear Paw, Montana and another Medicine River story! It’s been a long six months since Montana Actually was released and today I’m thrilled to give you Millie and Will’s story in Truly Madly Montana. Oh, how I love this cover. Do you? This scene takes place in the book and that is Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park, Montana :-)

As I write this, I’m in Outback Queensland, Australia,  and although it’s a long way from Montana, it shares a lot in common; big blue endless sky, small rural communties where everyone knows your name and if you get seriously ill, you need to be airlifted out, because the nearest hospital is a very long way away.  Will Bartlett is an Aussie doctor in Montana. He’s got a lot of experience in retrieval medicine– he used to work with the flying doctors– and now he’s working in Bear Paw.

If you interviewed him, he’d tell you he’s working in Bear Paw, because during the summer a lot of tourists get themselves into strife in Glacier National Park. The real story is a lot more complicated and more to do with something that happened back in Australia; something he’s trying to forget.

I’ve matched him  up with Millie. Do you remember Millie? She was heading off the medical school at the end of Montana Actually and now she is back doing her summer placement. Last summer she had a crush on Will but she’s over that now, because she knows he’s way out of her league. No, this summer she’s concentrating on keeping her diabetes under control, learning as much practical medicine as she can and totally avoiding making a fool of herself– she still remembers that one time with Will last summer and that excruiating experience doesn’t bear repeating.

As with all my single-title romances, you get TWO romances. The secondary story features Ethan, Bear Paw’s hipster librarian and Tara, the town’s deputy sheriff. These two are a case of opposites attract only Tara doesn’t trust herself to be attracted to anyone. This slow-burn romance challenges a lot of pre-conceived ideas.

I know I’m not to supposed to say I have favourite books but gang, Truly Madly Montana is one of my top 5 faves of all 27 of my novels. I hope you enjoy reading it  as much as I loved writing it.

RT Magazine has given it 4* :-) “Lowe’s storytelling infuses contemporary romance with delightful banter. Will and Millie are an adorable pair with infectious chemistry. Lowe’s knack for creating characters who are genuine, everyday people who readers can relate to is the strength of this delightfully modern story.”

Here’s the blurb and buy links :-)

Summer in Montana brings heat, with a chance of romance in the new Medicine River Romance from the award-winning author of Montana Actually…

Sexy and charming Australian doctor Will Bartlett will do anything to help out a friend, even if it means moving to Bear Paw for the summer. Some small-town hospitality, and the uncomplicated friendship of his co-worker, Millie, is just the ticket to shake off the restlessness that’s been gripping him lately.

Millie Switkowski, RN and medical student, is home for her clinical rotation and she’s determined to make this summer so much better than last. She’s got a year of medical school under her belt, her diabetes is under control, and she’s kicked her crazy crush for Will Bartlett, who only ever treated her as “one of the guys.”

But when Will turns out to be Millie’s supervising physician, without warning the summer just got a whole lot hotter than either of them anticipated. With both of them holding onto thorny secrets, can they walk away with their hearts intact?

Truly Madly Montana is availabe in paper back and print.

Amazon. iBooks. Barnes & Noble. Book Depository. Google Play. Kobo

For photos of Montana, sexy doctors and hunky cowboys–all who inspired the story– click through to Pinterest.  To keep up to date with my releases, sign up to my newsletter!

As soon as I am back in the land of decent Interent reception, I’ll load up photos of our holiday/vacation :-)

Happy Reading!

Fionax

Release Day: Unlocking Her Surgeon’s Heart

While I’m wandering around the Australian outback with the French exchange student, I have a new book out. Yes! It’s release day for Unlocking Her Surgeon’s Heart and it’s a similtaneous release in the UK, USA and Australia. YAY!  Which cover do you like best?

This novel is part of the Midwives-on-Call series that Harlequin Mills & Boon has been publishing this year so if you love the TV show, Call The Midwife, then this series is right up your alley!

Unlocking Her Surgeon’s Heart is set in a small coastal town in southern Victoria and Lilia Cartwright, midwife, grew up there. She’s back in town and telling herself she’s getting on with her life after a nasty incident in Melbourne, but really, she’s hiding out. Yes, she loves delivering babies, living in Turraburra and caring for her grandfather, but she’s a shadow of her vibrant self.

Like most rural towns, the community is used to locum doctors who stay for a few short weeks so when trainee-surgeon Noah Jackson arrives, their expectations are not high. But Noah has a grumpy demenour as well as a disastrous bed-side manner and Lilia needs to step in. Both of them believe they have to endure four weeks of working together and beither of them expected to learn a single thing from the other, but life is full of surprises and suddenly life is changing for the both of them.

For more photos of the setting, check out my Pinterst board as well as photos of Chippy, the greyhound, Lilias’s dog :-) Unlocking Her Surgeon’s Heart is out in print and eBook and for all buy links head over to my website.

And here’s the blurb!

Taming her brooding surgeon.

Noah Jackson just wants to be a surgeon, but he’s a GP placement away from fulfilling his dreams. Being in Turraburra, even temporarily, is way out of his comfort zone and he doesn’t need, admittedly gorgeous, midwife, Lilia Cartwright lecturing him about his bedside manner!

But Noah discovers Lilia’s feistiness belies the most compassionate woman on earth and if there is one person who can reach into this delicious but brooding doc’s locked- away heart, it’s Lilia. If she succeeds, could he also heal hers?

I hope you enjoy Unlocking Her Surgeon’s Heart.

 Amazon. iBooks. Barnes & Noble. Google Play. Kobo. Harlequin and where all eBooks are sold.

Never miss out on hearing about a new release of mine; sign up for my newsletter :-)

Happy Reading.

Fiona x

Suitcase? What suitcase?

Hello!

BRRR! It’s June and winter has hit! I’m typing this with my fingerles gloves as the office is very chilly. Don’t feel too sorry for me though, because at the end of the month I am flying north to sunny Queensland where winter is a lot milder. We are taking our French exchange student to the outback and the reef to experience the big, vast land that is Australia. Hopefully, I’ll have some great photos to show you in July after the big trip.

We had an adventure on the weekend and went to Melbourne to see the muscial Anything Goes. It was great fun, sensational tap-dancing, fabulous singing and we thorougly enjoyed it. We stayed the night in Melbourne and had one little hiccough.  On Saturday morning, DH thought I’d put the suitcase into the car and I thought he’d put the suitcase into the car… you can see where is this is going, right? So four hours later when we got home, we realized the suitcase had been left in the parking garage. Not good, especially when there is no way to contact the company on the weekend. This is where we got some Good Samaritan karma. There have been times over the years where we’ve helped travellers out and fortunately, it all came flooding back to us in spades.

We rang the serivced apartments next to the parking garage and the wonderful receptionist went next door and miracle of miracles, the suitcase was there. Someone had put it next to the playstation. It would hvae been fab if they’d called the number on the bag but hey, we take what we can get!  DH got back in the car and hiked back to Melbourne and retrived it with a gift for the wonderful Marianne!

BOOK NEWS!

I have TWO books up for preorder, both being released in July; the 1st & 7th respectively.

On July 1, Unlocking Her Surgeon’s Heart, a Harlequin Mills & Boon medical romance is out in the world. If you enjoy the TV series, Call the Midwife, you will love this book. It’s part of the Midwives-on-Call series and my story is set in a small rural town. Lilia is the midwife and the last thing she needs is a grumpy, city surgeon trying to throw his weight around.  Buy links are here.

Truly Madly Montana, book 2 in my Medicine River series is up for pre-order everywhere and the buy links are here. It’s release date is July 7th 2015.  RT Magazine has given Truly Madly Montana 4 stars and said, “Lowe’s storytelling infuses contemporary romance with delightful banter. Will and Millie are an adorable pair with infectious chemistry. Lowe’s knack for creating characters who are genuine, everyday people who readers can relate to is the strength of this delightfully modern story.”   That made me smile :-)

I hope your June is a great month for reading!

Fiona x

Sunny Hobart, Tasmania!

This weekend we headed south and flew to Tasmania to visit The Lad who is studying at UTas. We are also on the ‘tour of universities’ for Boy Wonder who only has 18 months left of high school. Hobart pulled out all the stops with glorious, clear-blue skies. We caught up with some writing friends, did some of the tourist things, met some of The Lad’s friends and generally enjoyed ourselves. Here’s a pictorial diary of our three days “down south.”

There’s snow on those hills! Flying over Cradle Mountain National Park

Mt Wellington from Salamanca market

Cascade Brewery tour. I enjoyed the Mercury apple cider best!

Our ticket for the tour!

Battery Point where we stayed surrounded by fabulous cafes!

Our favourite breakfast cafe and bakery, Jackson and McRoss.

MONA: the water fountain that made words!

MONA: The glass and metal scultpture of books.

MONA: the chapel. The stain glass windows of skeletal sexual positions were interesting!

View From Mt Wellington

Me standing on snow on Mt Wellington

Glorious alpine vegetation on Mt Wellington

Checking out the waterfront with The Lad & Boy Wonder.

Fishing boats & a tourist ship filled with enthusiastic Amercian tourists.