Gracie Macgregor's Blog: Goss with Gracie, page 5
November 23, 2013
On coming home
Nearly 17 years ago I discovered a little timber beach house with a magical sea view, a cooling evening breeze, a relentless ocean soundtrack and a private, sunny deck. It became my home and haven for the next three days, and my dream for the many years that followed.
Away from the beach house, my life was a tumult. I had a new baby, a newly-diagnosed dying mother and a freshly-sealed divorce. I was drowning in fear and grief and guilt – and maritally-transmitted debt. I felt overwhelmed, battered. I couldn’t see a way forward, let alone a way out.
My husband’s parents had taken my son away for a few days, and a long weekend stretched ahead emptily and aimlessly. I found myself driving north, saw a vacancy sign, enquired. Dragged my misery up the stairs of the beach house, collapsed onto the couch. I didn’t move from it for the first day, wallowing in self-pity and a pretty cheap bottle of semillon (even then, I wouldn’t touch chardonnay).
On the second day I climbed down the dunes and walked the length of the beach, and because of the crashing waves or the scuttling crabs or perhaps the ancient sands, I rediscovered my guts. Or at least, enough of my guts to not drink the rest of the cheap semillon that night.
On my last morning, I walked again down my beach and into the village at the end of it. In the struggling little art gallery, I found a painting that seemed to capture my entire stay – three days that had somehow heralded the Rest of My Life. 
The painting lovingly laid out my sandy beach path, studded with sheoak cones, shawled in wallum, shaded in banksia, and disturbed only by a single pair of footprints. It was clearly meant for me, a souvenir, a memory, an evocation, an invitation.
I stared at the painting for an age, desperately tempted to take it home, a talisman against the mess I was returning to. But I was struggling, too, and I decided I couldn’t afford it. Instead, on my way back to the beach house, I collected a couple of cups full of the silky, clean, soft sand and took them home and poured them into my mother’s favourite crystal bowl.
The bowl and its sand travelled with me from house to house, country to country, life to life for about 17 years. Sometimes I would pause and trail my fingers through the sand, but for most of the time it sat, unregarded and untouched, on whatever counter I had next set it down.
Yesterday, the bowl with the sand was packed with my other worldly goods and stored for a few weeks until we can move properly into our new home… the little beach house with a magical ocean view, the mighty crash of waves, an immensity of stars overhead and a breeze like a benediction.
Today, I walked on my beach, my footsteps the only disturbance on the tide-tugged sand.
I’ll do the same tomorrow.
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Australian author, Beach house, coastal romance, Escape Publishing, Gracie Macgregor, happy endings, Hearts on Hold, love, Romance novel, Sunshine Coast
October 19, 2013
Ghosts of the coast
Christmas, 1977. Coolum Beach.
Coolum Beach, c1980
I had earned a prized cassette player (remember those? You don’t?! A shame…). I used it to record songs from the built-in radio and then played them over and over, throughout that long summer holiday. The Bay City Rollers were in the top 40 that year, and so was Linda Ronstadt, singing out her soul about her own coastal retreat.
In the morning, we would scamper down the coal-hot sand to the sea’s edge, shriek at the chill of the water when it hit goose-pimpled thighs, get dumped by the surf often enough to start hacking our lungs up through our throats, then trudge back to the caravan, complaining all the while about sand itching places we couldn’t scratch in public.
In the afternoons we’d lie wherever we could find some shade, and chain-read Mills and Boons we’d bought by the dozen from the second-hand bookstore. Sometimes we’d be allowed to go alone to the cinema across the road, where we perched, squirming, on hessian slingback seats and rolled jaffas or minties along the old timber floorboards when the projector reel was being changed. That summer, a new space movie was playing, and amidst the groans of teenagers impatient with the stuttering, grainy, beach-cinema images I first saw Luke Skywalker survey the desert sands of Tatooine. 
At night we’d hang around the big circus tent that conjured itself for one week every summer at the edge of the caravan park. There were no prancing ponies or trumpeting elephants, though; only proselytising Christians who sang and clapped and didn’t seem to mind when we ate their chips and drank their cordial and played with their kids instead of listening to their sermons.
Coolum Beach is different now. The cinema with the hessian bag seats is long gone, and so’s the lady who ran the bookstore. And Linda Ronstadt’s retired her beautiful, smoky voice to her Blue Bayou, a sufferer of Parkinsons. The new freeway means I don’t even need to drive through Coolum Beach anymore to get to my own coastal hideaway.
But, you know, just for old times’ sake…
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Australian author, Bay City Rollers, Blue Bayou, Coolum Beach, Coolum Beach Queensland, Escape Publishing, Gracie Macgregor, happy endings, Hearts on Hold, Linda Ronstadt, love, Luke Skywalker, Romance novel, Tatooine
October 14, 2013
Fancy a romantic coastal escape?
Is there anything more magical, more intriguing, more romantic and filled with possibility, than escaping to the coast?
The sea has been a constant in my life for long as I can remember. It frightens me, it sickens me, it awes me, it draws me, it inspires and renews and recreates me.
My astrological element is fire, if you believe in such things. But my soul craves the sea.
So many of my stories start and end near the coast. In Hearts on Hold, reclusive artist Cate Boyd flees Sydney’s Bondi Beach for the rocky, remote island cliffs of Mediterranean Gozo, after losing her husband to the treacherous depths of the Great Barrier Reef. My current works in progress, too, are driven by the moods and muses of the sea.
So when the chance came to leave my hometown for a little house on the beach a couple of hours north of the city, I grabbed it with grateful hands and a hopeful, yearning heart.
In just over a month I’ll be here:
…and more than likely humming this.
I’m creating my own romantic coastal escape. I hope you won’t mind if I share this new adventure with you! I’d love to hear your favourite coast locations and experiences, so please drop me a line…
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Australia, Australian author, Australian writers, beach getaway, Bondi, Coast, coastal romance, Escape Publishing, Gracie Macgregor, Great Barrier Reef, happy endings, Hearts on Hold, love, muse, My soul craves the sea, Peregian Beach, Romance novel, seachange, Sunshine Coast, Sydney
September 12, 2013
Lily Malone is in the Calypso Bar!
A cricket tragic who loves top-shelf champagne? Romance novelist Lily Malone joins us in the Calypso Bar this evening to chat about her desert island essentials. There’s even a tip on the right way to open a champagne! Who knew?!
Why the Calypso Bar? Hearts on Hold is set on Gozo, said to be the true location of the mythical island of Ogygia where, in Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus washed up on the shores and was saved by the goddess Calypso.
Our Hearts on Hold heroine, Cate Boyd, is struck by the tragedy of Calypso’s fate, doomed to give up the man she loves to the perils of the sea. If you want to find out why Calypso’s story means so much to Cate, you can find an excerpt here.
In honour of Hearts on Hold‘s stunning island setting, we’ve named our guest bar after Calypso, whose grotto home was renowned for its wonderful banquets and exotic elixirs!
So chill your cocktail shaker, pull up a stool and join me here in the Calypso Bar each week as I talk to some fascinating guests about writing, love, and their desert-island essentials (books, music, cocktails… and their favourite people, of course!).
Filed under: Uncategorized
September 5, 2013
Sarah Belle is in the Calypso Bar!
Sarah Belle writes wonderful romantic comedies about women on fantastic journeys with a hint of magic! I’m delighted she’s brought some of that magic on her journey here to the Calypso Bar!
Why the Calypso Bar? Hearts on Hold is set on Gozo, said to be the true location of the mythical island of Ogygia where, in Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus washed up on the shores and was saved by the goddess Calypso.
Our Hearts on Hold heroine, Cate Boyd, is struck by the tragedy of Calypso’s fate, doomed to give up the man she loves to the perils of the sea. If you want to find out why Calypso’s story means so much to Cate, you can find an excerpt here.
In honour of Hearts on Hold‘s stunning island setting, we’ve named our guest bar after Calypso, whose grotto home was renowned for its wonderful banquets and exotic elixirs!
So chill your cocktail shaker, pull up a stool and join me here in the Calypso Bar each week as I talk to some fascinating guests about writing, love, and their desert-island essentials (books, music, cocktails… and their favourite people, of course!).
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Australian author, Calypso, Calypso Bar, chicklit, Escape Publishing, Gozo, Gracie Macgregor, happy endings, Hearts on Hold, Hindsight, love, Odyssey, Ogygia, romance, Romance novel, romance writers, Sarah Belle
August 29, 2013
Imogene Nix is in the Calypso Bar!
Imogene Nix loves creating exotic destinations for her novels, so the Calypso Bar is right up her alley! Come and meet her here.
Why the Calypso Bar? Hearts on Hold is set on Gozo, said to be the true location of the mythical island of Ogygia where, in Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus washed up on the shores and was saved by the goddess Calypso.
Our Hearts on Hold heroine, Cate Boyd, is struck by the tragedy of Calypso’s fate, doomed to give up the man she loves to the perils of the sea. If you want to find out why Calypso’s story means so much to Cate, you can find an excerpt here.
In honour of Hearts on Hold‘s stunning island setting, we’ve named our guest bar after Calypso, whose grotto home was renowned for its wonderful banquets and exotic elixirs!
So chill your cocktail shaker, pull up a stool and join me here in the Calypso Bar each week as I talk to some fascinating guests about writing, love, and their desert-island essentials (books, music, cocktails… and their favourite people, of course!).
Filed under: Uncategorized
August 22, 2013
Jennie Jones is in the Calypso Bar!
Pull up a stool and join us as we chat about rural romances, old-style glamour and why champagne is the ultimate desert island cocktail. You’ll find us here.
Why the Calypso Bar? Hearts on Hold is set on Gozo, said to be the true location of the mythical island of Ogygia where, in Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus washed up on the shores and was saved by the goddess Calypso.
Our Hearts on Hold heroine, Cate Boyd, is struck by the tragedy of Calypso’s fate, doomed to give up the man she loves to the perils of the sea. If you want to find out why Calypso’s story means so much to Cate, you can find an excerpt here.
In honour of Hearts on Hold‘s stunning island setting, we’ve named our guest bar after Calypso, whose grotto home was renowned for its wonderful banquets and exotic elixirs!
So chill your cocktail shaker, pull up a stool and join me here in the Calypso Bar each week as I talk to some fascinating guests about writing, love, and their desert-island essentials (books, music, cocktails… and their favourite people, of course!).
Filed under: Uncategorized
August 15, 2013
Where is Gozo?
The question I’m asked most often about Hearts on Hold? “Where’s Gozo?”
In the Mediterranean Sea, between the ancient civilisations of Sicily on the European continent and Libya in North Africa, lies the Maltese Archipelago. Its three islands – Malta, Gozo and Comino – comprise one of the world’s smallest states. For thousands of years its strategic importance – for trade, for culture, for war – has kept it in the covetous sights of empires and religions.
Gozo, second largest island in the Maltese achipelago after Malta, is said to be the true location of Ogygia, the home of seductress Calypso in Homer’s Odyssey.
Rich in history, rural in character, Gozo’s fortunes have forever been tied to those of its larger sister, Malta. It carries the world’s oldest free-standing structures, in legend the temples of giants. Invaded by the Ottomans in medieval times, repopulated by the Knights of Malta, occupied again by Napoleon’s French before being surrendered to the British, the people of Gozo have learned to adapt, to defend, to endure.
None of that matters to Cate Boyd. After searching for a place where nobody knows her name or asks why she’s alone, Cate has settled in the sleepy Gozo village of Xlendi (pronounced Shhlend-ee, with a sibilant, sensuous shhh at the front). Here she has privacy, anonymity, the serene life she craves, far from her former world.
Her peace is shattered when monolithic development company Vena announces its plans to level her village, and threatens to expose Cate if she stands in its way. Can the arrival of seductive, nosy professor Brandon Blackshaw really be coincidental when Vena is his research partner? Will he keep his promise to help, or will he betray her too?
As the pressure mounts, Cate must decide which is more important: her hard-won privacy, or the future of her beloved Xlendi.
Hearts on Hold is converting readers to the delights of Gozo, its warm, beautiful people and its stunning landscapes. If you can’t afford a holiday in this wonderful place, why not let your imagination and Hearts on Hold heroine Cate Boyd take you there!
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Australian author, Calypso, Comino, Escape Publishing, Gozo, Gracie Macgregor, happy endings, Hearts on Hold, Hero, love, Malta, Mediterranean Sea, North Africa, Odysseus, Odyssey, Ogygia, romance, Romance novel, romantic suspense, Sicily, Xlendi
August 8, 2013
MA Grant’s in the Calypso Bar!
Pull up a stool and join us as we chat about Alaskan summers, flamingos and a bright new Red Moon. You’ll find us here.
Why the Calypso Bar? Hearts on Hold is set on Gozo, said to be the true location of the mythical island of Ogygia where, in Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus washed up on the shores and was saved by the goddess Calypso.
Our Hearts on Hold heroine, Cate Boyd, is struck by the tragedy of Calypso’s fate, doomed to give up the man she loves to the perils of the sea. If you want to find out why Calypso’s story means so much to Cate, you can find an excerpt here.
In honour of Hearts on Hold‘s stunning island setting, we’ve named our guest bar after Calypso, whose grotto home was renowned for its wonderful banquets and exotic elixirs!
So chill your cocktail shaker, pull up a stool and join me here in the Calypso Bar each week as I talk to some fascinating guests about writing, love, and their desert-island essentials (books, music, cocktails… and their favourite people, of course!).
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Australian author, Australian writers, Calypso, Calypso Bar, Cocktail shaker, Desert island, Escape Publishing, Gozo, Gracie Macgregor, happy endings, Hearts on Hold, love, MA Grant, Odysseus, Odyssey, Ogygia, Red Moon, romance, Romance novel, Romance readers
August 1, 2013
Pull up a stool in the Calypso Bar!
The Calypso Bar opens tonight, with the first of our weekly guests treating us to cocktails, gossip and her desert island essentials!
Why the Calypso Bar? Hearts on Hold is set on Gozo, said to be the true location of the mythical island of Ogygia where, in Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus washed up on the shores and was saved by the goddess Calypso.
Our Hearts on Hold heroine, Cate Boyd, is struck by the tragedy of Calypso’s fate, doomed to give up the man she loves to the perils of the sea. If you want to find out why Calypso’s story means so much to Cate, you can find an excerpt here.
In honour of Hearts on Hold‘s stunning island setting, we’ve named our guest bar after Calypso, whose grotto home was renowned for its wonderful banquets and exotic elixirs!
So chill your cocktail shaker, pull up a stool and join me here in the Calypso Bar each week as I talk to some fascinating guests about writing, love, and their desert-island essentials (books, music, cocktails… and their favourite people, of course!).
Joining us this week… Kendall Talbot talks about the men she’d love to be stranded with!
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Arts, Calypso, Calypso Bar, cocktail, Gozo, Gracie Macgregor, Greek, Hearts on Hold, Homer, Kendall Talbot, Lost in Kakadu, love, Odysseus, Odyssey, Ogygia, romance, Romance novel, Romance readers
Goss with Gracie
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