Trish Morey: Adios 2014, Welcome 2015

When you look back on 2014, what do you see? Did you have a year to remember for all the right reasons, or would you rather just shut the door behind you and walk away, because this year was one you’d rather forget? If the former, head straight to the next blog and into 2015 with gusto. If the latter, read on, because I sympathize, and just want to say, all is not lost.

My 2013 was one tough year that dragged itself all the way from late 2012 and into January of this year and only ended with the death of my father. It wasn’t just a tough year, it was a long one. Years can be like that, though, they don’t always respect the calendar, and they can seem endless.

But believe me, things will get better. 

What’s that saying? - What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger? It’s true. My rotten 2013 saw me pull back from most of my writing commitments. I managed just one Harlequin Presents in that entire year, Tycoon’s Temptation - and if it hadn’t been a part of The Chatsfield Continuity with no options for delays or extensions, I doubt I would have achieved that. As I told my editor, I had so much angst going on in my life, I didn’t have to make it up. My editor was brilliant and gave me all the time I needed.

And then a funny thing happened while I was stepping back from all the crud that was happening in my life. In the vacuum that my (lack of) writing had left, another idea was borne, an idea for a different kind of story with different characters who could make mistakes and laugh about it, and featuring a dog called Turbo that seemed almost human at times and that liked to eat chicken and chips, and this story was important to me, because it was set in a place where my father had grown up, so it was comforting too, and close to home.

There’s a saying here that one of our Aussie banks likes to use in its TV advertising. “From little things, big things grow.”

I’d like to offer a variation on that - From shitty years, good things come.

That germ of a story became my first single title, Stone Castles, published in December this year. Somehow a mad idea I’d had while at my wit’s end touched an editor’s heart enough for them to say, I’ll buy it. A gorgeous cover later and Stone Castles, the story I dedicated to my father, is out there.

You may not be a writer. You might be an accountant like I used to be, or a teacher, or a doctor or a factory worker, but I believe that something good can come from the hardships we face. Not just because we might learn from them, but sometimes because they cause us to veer off in a different direction and take us to somewhere new and exciting where we might not otherwise have ventured. 

I hope, if you’ve had a tough 2014, your 2015 will shine in new and unexpected ways, and your days will be less about making it through to the end, but enjoying each and every new day. 

Here’s to 2015. Happy New Year.

Trish Morey

Michelle Conder: Words of Wisdom

Great things, words of wisdom. Not that I have that many of my own. I still feel too much like a newbie in this business and am bogged down in the middle of my seventh book. I know where I want to go with it but right now I think I’d have more fun prying my fingernails away from their fleshy beds than getting on with it. That said, once I sit down and immerse myself in the story and turn off my supersonic (I’m sure I could hear it from the moon) critical voice then the magic takes over. And that’s why I write. Apart from having a head full of character’s who love to talk and who make me want to daydream for hours on end, I love that process of losing myself in the story. Of feeling as if I’ve lost time when I raise my head hours after I started. The buzz is incredible and the adrenaline rush makes me feel like I could scale Mt Everest singlehandedly.

But when my supersonic voice gets a little loud I think of all the words of wisdom other authors and artists have given me and I always feel better.

So here’s a few I have stuck on my magnetic board.

1. Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it. (Salvador Dali, I think)
2. At some point in the process of writing your novel you will hate it and want to throw it away. (Alexandra Sokoloff)
3. The first draft is meant to be crap and up to 70% will get tossed in the bin (Can’t remember who said it but this is definitely me!)
4. Not knowing doesn’t hurt anyone except those who get hurt because nobody knows (Erich Fried)
5. Come up with 5 things your hero/ione would hate to have happen to them and make it happen (Nalini Singh)
6. To succeed in life is to be able to transform. (Hmmm, not sure…)
7. Athletes play hurt. Warriors fight scared. (Steven Pressfield in his book Turning Pro)

I also really like what Woody Allen said on a documentary TV show about his work – and I’m paraphrasing like mad here – but essentially he said that he makes a film and sometimes at the end when he watches it he finds that it’s not the film he had intended to make when he set out at the beginning. Knowing that such a prolific artist feels that way about his work was very freeing for me because I often feel the same way about my first drafts.

Initially I used to feel like I had failed when this happened but over the years I have learned to be kinder to myself and to go with what is in my heart to write and let the work be what it will be. I think my characters are much happier with this personal insight – as are my family!

And when I really feel bunched I read over my collection of words of wisdom and feel comforted that if I push forward the story will come.

Below I have included an extract from my next Harlequin Presents novel, Socialite’s Gamble, due out in June this year. I hope you like it.  Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of this book!

AIDAN SAW A flash of pink hair and one long slim leg before the limousine pulled away from the kerb, its taillights blinking in the gloomy night.
Amazing. The woman he had thought a cheap tourist at best could afford a limousine. Or perhaps she’d had a rich lover waiting outside.
With legs like hers it was probably the more likely scenario. Long and golden brown. He had no doubt they’d be smooth to the touch and his hand would have no trouble sliding all the way up to those tiny shorts. He imagined her breathless little gasp as he slid one finger inside the leg of those shorts and teased—what the…?
He pulled himself up short as he realised he was turning himself on.
Rubbing at the space between his eyes he shook his head. He must be going mad to fantasise about a woman like that.
A woman who wore clothes that revealed more than they hid. Well, okay, her purple blouse had been loose and only hinted at the small, high breasts beneath, but it had been designed to make a man think about exactly what they would look like underneath. And those shoes? If they hadn’t been created with sex in mind, he didn’t know what was.
Oh, she had been advertising, all right, and although his body had perked up with interest at her wares he’d had no intention of taking the bait. He was in Vegas for one night and one purpose and it had nothing to do with bedding a woman.
He buttoned his jacket against the cold and glanced around for his limousine. His HR manager had assured him that it would be waiting at the kerb as soon as he exited the main terminal and he was a man who knew how to do his job.
Noticing a white sign on the damp pavement he walked closer and saw that it had his name printed on it.
His gaze narrowed. Why would a piece of cardboard with—? Son of a… She’d stolen his limousine!

***Michelle's winner is Cindy Hamilton! Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing details!***