Maree Anderson's Blog, page 7

Of epic battles, slinky men, and face thieves

So, while I’m waiting for my email to quit downloading hundreds of emails from 2011 onward — don’t ask! — I’ve been catching up with YouTube vid links my kids have sent me. And I thought I’d attempt to brighten your weekend by sharing the love.

There should be something here for everyone. And please do watch The Face Thief right through to the end. Not only is the animation stunning, the ending is entirely unexpected and wholly heart-wrenching.

:-)

M

Some things I learned from… James Scott Bell

#RWNZ2014

Some things I learned from…

James Scott Bell

If you ever have the opportunity to hear James Scott Bell speak, take it! He’s an incredible teacher, and I took pages upon pages of notes — that I’m now skimming through, wondering what on earth to share with y’all! Let me tell it, it’s a difficult task because there’s SO MUCH great stuff to choose from. So here goes — I’ve cherry-picked just a few of the many things I learned at James’ workshop at our RWNZ 2014 conference on Friday, 15th A...

Confessions of a bibliobibuli

As I mentioned in the newsletter I sent out earlier this week, I’m running a bit late with last month’s reading list because, reasons! Such as three weeks of a really horrible flu… which I’m blaming for both the embarrassingly few new words added to the third Freaks book I’m currently writing (Freaks at Large), and my embarrassingly high book-reading count for August. But in my defense, it was either lie in bed and read voraciously, or lie in bed and go quietly up the wall from sheer boredom...

Looking back on RWNZ conferences

I began a series of “Things I Learned From” posts after our Romance Writers of New Zealand 2013 conference, and thought I’d continue that series for our recent 2014 conference.I’ve already published a couple of posts specific to the recent 2014 conference, but before I begin posting the new series, I thought it’d be cool to revisit previous conferences — kind of a one-stop summary post, if you like.

Rest assured, if you’re not a writer there are links (bold and in red font) to plenty of amusin...

Getting Carnal with Mel Teshco!

Hi all,

September has only begun, and I’m already soooo behind in my schedule it’s not funny! I will be posting my August reading list, and “Things I learned from” conference posts when I get a spare moment. But in the meantime, I thought you’d all appreciate a break from me :) And I’m delighted to introduce one of my Aussie (Australian) author mates, Mel Teshco, and help her celebrate her latest release, CARNAL MOON.

Mel writes gritty contemporary, paranormal, and sci-fi books. She lives in ru...

Crystal Warriors Winter Giveaway Winners

1st September 2014

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

1. First Prize Draw Winner:EMILIA FORD

A three-book autographed set:

THE CRYSTAL WARRIOR (Book One)

RUBY’S DREAM (Book Two)

JADE’S CHOICE (Book Three)

~*~

2. Second Prize Draw Winner:CHRISTY MITCHENER

Autographed trade paperback of THE CRYSTAL WARRIOR

~*~

3. Third Prize Draw Winner:VERONICA SILVA

Autographed trade paperback of RUBY’S DREAM

~*~

4. Fourth Prize Draw Winner:SANDI BARON

Autographed trade paperback of JADE’S CHOICE

~*~

Congratulations, ladies! I’ll be emaili...

Chapter Bookstore surprise

Yesterday I posted about the recent Romance Writers of New Zealand conference book signing event. And although I wasn’t signing this year (maybe next year, when I have more books in print and more time to ship them), I did get a lovely surprise courtesy of our conference bookseller, Frances Loo, owner of Chapter in Mt Eden.

Chapter is one of those stores (or “shops” as we call them here in NZ) that combines everything I love: great coffee, specialty teas, wonderful food, and books! No surprise...

Golden moment at RWNZ 2014 conference book signing

Hi all,

My apologies for being AWOL lately. After surviving two weeks with an exchange student who arrived with a bad cold, immediately followed by one week of DS home with the flu, two weeks of DH and DD home with the flu, and being confined to a hotel for a 4-day conference with both overseas speakers and conference-goers coughing and spluttering around me, I thought I was immune to whatever strain of flu virus was going around. Apparently I was grossly mistaken. But hey, at least my immune...

Kick-ass librarians make great reading

Hi all,

My apologies for being AWOL and very very late with this post. Family has been my priority these past few weeks. And believe me, there’s nothing like a smack upside the head in the form of multiple family members dealing with health issues to re-sort your priorities! Social media presence suddenly takes a backseat when people you love are unwell.

But back to books. Some of the standout reads for me in July were:

The Chocolate Rose by Laura Florand(Ms Florand always delivers an emotional...

Crystal Warriors Winter Giveaway!

I’m officially over rain, wind and reeeally cold weather. And right now, seeing Spring fashions in the stores and catalogs just makes me cringe. So what’s a girl to do to cheer herself up? Well, since it’s not socially acceptable to hibernate and disappear beneath my duvet for the duration, I figured I’d find some way to celebrate. And then I thought, I know, since I now have the first three Crystal Warriors books released in trade paperback, how about I give away some books?

And to make it ev...