Maree Anderson's Blog, page 12

Armageddon Auckland 2013

Hi all,

Phew! We survived another year of frantic scrambling to get DD’s costume ready for the Armageddon Expo. And the great thing is, because of the timing (i.e. just prior to Halloween), DD has a ready-made costume to scare intrepid Trick-or-Treaters lured by our Halloween window… mwah hah hah! Well, provided she can figure out how to get those yellow colored contact lenses in, that is. It’s not easy when you’ve never worn contacts before, and poking a finger near your eyeball freaks you ou...

Maree gets linky – just for fun!

**Cross-posted from Writers Gone Wild**

Hi y’all,

Was hoping to share some cosplay pics of the BioShock outfit we’ve made DD to wear at Armageddon this weekend but alas, she’s balking. (I’ll keep working on her, I promise. Coz after having to buy a sewing machine to replace the one that blew up after decades of excellent service, spending hours making over secondhand clothing, constructing accessories, and sourcing ghoulish makeup and fake blood, dammit, I Want Photos!!!)

But in the meantime, I’...

Next time you’re stuck in traffic…

Where was this guy last time I was stuck in the horrendous Auckland traffic???

Definitely good for a smile or three :)

Enjoy your weekend!

ARe’s October Monster Max Giveaway

Shop to WIN at All Romance eBooks!

Monster Max is giving away thousands of daily treats throughout October.

And all you have to do is shop to win — it’s that easy.

Really. It is that easy.

Browse the store. Buy… and check your library to see if you’ve won a prize.

See? Told you it was easy :)

I’ve donated a US$20 ARe gift card plus ten copies of The Crystal Warriors Series eBook Bundle(Books 1-3 of The Crystal Warriors series), and there are heaps and heaps and heaps of other treats to win — includ...

September is darkness and rotten ruins

So with another month skating by in the blink of an eye, let’s talk books :)

This month there’s two books from my September reading list I’d like to touch on. First up is One with the Darkness by Susan Squires, part of the Companion series and the Da Vinci Time Travel series:

Contessa Donnatella di Poliziano has power, beauty and — as a vampire — eternal life. But she also consumed by regret that centuries ago in ancient Rome, she failed to make her one true love, Jergan, a vampire too. But jus...

September 22nd is for hobbits

Today (or yesterday for us folks downunder in New Zealand) is….HOBBIT DAY.

So I’m wishing y’all a very Happy Hobbit Day!

In fact, according to Middle Earth News, this week–September 22-28– is Tolkien Week. Awesome!

And for those of you who’re interested in such things, here’s a fantastic NZ Herald article featuring amazing transformations from human actors to hairy-toed hobbits, courtesy of Peter Jackson’s award-winning hair and makeup team.

Make sure you hold your mouse cursor over the slider in...

Hypnotized and mesmerized

Hi all,

I briefly touched on this in my recent 20 things I learned from RWNZ 2013 post, but I’ve been meaning to write about this topic in more detail. So here goes:

(Warning: This post has nothing to do with writing or books or the publishing industry, but I hope it’s of interest.)

Two days before I was due to fly to Wellington for our annual Romance Writers of New Zealand conference I had to attend a hypnotist’s performance at my kids’ high school. I say *had to attend* because it was a fundra...

Forgive me, but…

… I just have to share why I’m doing the happy-dance today.

It’s because of this review of Liminal by Erin from The Reading Cafe.

And it’s also because Barb asked me to do an interview in conjunction with the review, which would normally be cause for a loud “Eeeek! Now the interview has gone live, sure hope I didn’t say anything dumb”. But after re-reading it today, I’m hugely relieved to note I didn’t come across like a total fruit-loop.

Not to mention the fab review gave me some good news to s...

Too much choice! What to choose?

Hi y’all,

Eureka! I’ve finally recovered from:

hockey fundraising (which led to being hypnotized)
actually being hypnotized (which led to four glorious days respite from being my normal fretful, uptight, uber-self-critical self)
the total time-suck involved with writing and presenting a workshop
the inevitable mental and physical exhaustion that goes hand-in-hand with attending a full-on three day conference, and,
wrestling the explosion of emails in my inbox into some semblance of submission.

Not t...

15 things I learned from… Nalini Singh

15 Things I Learned From…
Nalini Singh

Romance Writers of New Zealand

“A Capital Affair” Conference

23rd to 25th August 2013

**********

NOTE: These are my own take on topics covered during Nalini’s “Writing the Novella” workshop on Saturday 24th August. Any incorrect assumptions, interpretations or slants are mine, and mine alone.

1. A novella is a fullstory in a shorter format.

The structure of a 20k + word novella will be very similar to the structure of a full-length book.And your aim should be t...