• Writers on Wednesday - Rose
    Blog

    Writers on Wednesday – a little writing update

    Writers on WednesdayAs much as I love having other people on my blog and I do, sometimes it’s good for me to pop back and give you an update on what’s happening in my writing life. I share a lot of this information on my social media and in my newsletter, but sometimes I forget I have a blog to share it as well! There are so many balls to juggle in a writer’s life.

    Since I’ve moved to my new home, I’ve been lucky enough to have been invited to join two writers’ groups which I’ve done. One meets once a month, we have dinner at a club and then talk about writing romance for 2 hours. Such fun!  Many of the members I’d met already at various Romance Writers of Australia conferences over the years. That group is a mix of indie and traditionally published authors and indie authors, so there’s always lots to learn. The second one has largely met online because the members are more geographically spread and there’s slightly more of an indie focus with that group. I feel so lucky to have been included in both these groups and I’ve also met up with several of the authors to talk books over a coffee or a drink, which has made my transition to my new life so much easier.

    Meanwhile, I have Saltwater Wishes in hand and I’m getting ready to send it off to the editor next week. (If she’s reading this, she will be thrilled to know I’m on schedule for once!) It’s up on preorder for its end of May release.

    After that it’s back to work on Any Way You Wish It – I know several readers are waiting patiently for the 9th book in the Upper Crust Series after a wait of over 2 years. I’m writing Jacob’s story and it’s a redemption tale, so that’s always fun.

    We’re always at May which is also known as #ChickLitMay. If you’re on Facebook, please join us for the

    Annual Chicklit Hop.

    ChickLit May 2021
    #chicklitmay2021

    That’s it for today. Tomorrow I’m launching my new Travel Thursday meme here on the blog. Maybe we’re not going far these days, but many of my author friends allow us to travel vicariously through their books! Also, I’m doing a bit of local travel and discovery I’d love to start sharing with you.

  • Blog

    Let’s talk french cooking with Carolyn Eychenne, author of Sunrise over Paris

    Taste of Tuesday

    It’s Taste of Tuesday and today we’re off to Paris with

    Carolyn Eychenne, author of Sunrise over Paris

    Many of the readers of my novel Sunrise over Paris have written that they thought the daube in chapter 5 sounded good.  If you feel that way too, wait until you try the recipe below:  8-hour lamb.  Mine is bubbling away right now—we’re on the home stretch of the 8-hour marathon—and my house smells wonderful.  The last time I checked to see if there is enough cooking liquid, I sampled a little piece of meat and it, too, was wonderful.

    You might be thinking that 8 hours is a huge investment for a meal.  It’s not.  Not for the French and not for Stacey, the main character of my novel.  Food is an important part of Sunrise over Paris. Some of the key moments of the story occur over a meal: the fateful dinner in one of the opening scenes where we see Stacey’s, the heroine’s, difficult relationship with her husband and teenage children, the brief moment of harmony while dining on daube, the lunch during which Stacey watches the results of one of her revenge plots, and the luxurious brunch she shares with her two kids as they create a new, stronger, more adult bond.

    Stacey is a foodie, of course, but this is not an oddity in France.  Food is a big deal here.  The French invest a lot of time and energy in eating, at special holiday meals of course, but also every day.  Art de vivre, living so well it becomes an artform, does include everyday meals.  Cooked fresh when possible.  Always seasonal. Always balanced.

    What makes for a balanced meal à la française?

    First of all, three courses.  The starter (interestingly, it’s called l’entrée), the main dish (the entrée in English!), dessert.  Sometimes, there is cheese.  Not every day, but when there is, it comes between the main course and dessert.

    There are somewhere between 1,000 and 1,600 different varieties of cheese: cheese from cow, goat, and ewe’s milk are all standard fare.  Some are hard cheeses, some soft and crumbly, others very fresh and creamy.  Some are inoculated with mold (yes, that’s what gives Roquefort cheese its distinctive flavor), some are rolled in herbs, and others have inclusions, like a beautiful Brillat Savarin with truffles which I discovered only a year ago, despite living here for over 30 years.

    Until then, I didn’t really like truffles.  Now… Wow!

    As said earlier, the French don’t have cheese at the end of every meal. And they don’t have very much at a time.  While it’s completely acceptable to have seconds of the other courses, it’s considered rude to have seconds of cheese.  If you do, it’s a way of saying that your hostess hasn’t given you enough to eat.

    Like cheese, dessert isn’t an everyday thing either. At least, not the macarons or petits fours or éclairs au chocolat you’re thinking about right now.  Most days, dessert is a yogurt or a piece of fruit.  But it’s still called ‘dessert’ which can be disappointing for some of us.

    Entrée literally means entrance.  The same word is used for your front door, which makes it a logical name for the starter in a meal.  In traditional French cuisine, a salad is fine for every day, but not something you would serve to company.  Depending on your guests, you might prepare a terrine with a little salad on the side, some lox with buttered toast and lemon wedges, or vol au vent, a little basket made from puff pastry in which you serve snails or shellfish in a creamy bechamel sauce.

    By the way, soupe à l’oignon with its croutons and cheese melting on top is not as common as you might think. I’ve had it many times in restaurants, but never in anyone’s home other than my own.  And, since I’m American-born, that might not count.

    After the starter, the main dish.  This can look like a typical American meal—meat or fish, cooked vegetable and rice, pasta or potato.  Or this can be a plat en sauce, a stew-like dish, which combines the meat and vegetable in one dish which is then served over rice or pasta.  The daube which Stacey cooks in Sunrise over Paris is an example of this.  You might also know boeuf bourguignon or blanquette de veau.  One of my favorite meals is pot-au-feu, literally pot in the fire, because it used to be made in a large cast-iron dutch oven in the coals of the family fireplace. Several different cuts of beef, leeks, carrots, turnips, onions and potatoes all cook together for several hours, creating an amazing broth which you eat as the starter before having the meat and vegetable along with kosher salt, pickles and Dijon mustard for the main course.

    Second only to 8-hour lamb.

    Which brings me back to the recipe.  Please try—and let me know how you like it.  If you overcook it, forgetting it for 11 hours instead of 8, you can always say that you preferred the French author Colette’s recipe to mine! 

    By Carolyn Eychenne

    The recipe:  8-hour lamb

    1 leg of lamb (about 5 pounds)

    3 carrots (I use 4 – 5)

    3 onions

    2 small leeks (I use 4)

    ½ celeriac

    3 cloves

    1 “bouquet garni” (parsley, bay leaf, thyme, celery branch)

    1 entire head of garlic

    10 peppercorns

    2 tablespoons salt

     

    Brown the leg of lamb in a cast iron Dutch oven.  Take out, reserve.

    On the bottom of the Dutch oven, place all the vegetables peeled and chopped into 1-2” sized pieces. Add the garlic, bouquet garni and seasonings. Put the leg of lamb back on top.

    Add water to cover the vegetables but only just touching the lamb.

    Cover and simmer for 8 hours, checking every so often that there is enough liquid. Add if necessary.

    To serve:  Remove the lamb and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm. Remove the vegetables and place in a strainer over the Dutch oven (the idea is to catch the cooking juices). Handle them carefully so they retain their shape.

    Increase the temperature under the Dutch oven to bring the cooking juices to a boil. Reduce.

    Serve the leg of lamb covered in this sauce with the vegetables on the side. The lamb is so tender, you might have a hard time cutting it!

    sunrise over paris

    Sunrise Over Rise Blurb:

    What would you do if you found out your husband was cheating on you?
    When Stacey Dupont, an American in Paris, learns that her French husband has been cheating, her happy life crumbles and obsession begins.  Stalking and revenge lead to surprising results!  With Paris as the backdrop and the River Seine playing a main role, Sunrise over Paris follows Stacey on her surprising, emotional, and sometimes zany journey of personal discovery across the City of Light.

    Get it here

     You can learn more about Carolyn here: 
    Facebook 
    Instagram 
    GoodReads

    www.carolyneychenne.com

     

    About Carolyn

    Carolyn Eychenne is an author of fiction and non-fiction works. Sunrise over Paris is her first novel but not the first book she has published, the other being a French-language book about digital platforms. It led her back to her true love, writing.

    Not quite “an American in Paris,” Carolyn Eychenne has lived most of her adult life in the suburbs of Paris, after growing up in southern California.

    Note from Monique: Please comment below and let me know if you made Carolyn’s recipe or what your favorite French meal is.

  • Blog

    Books I’d like to read in 2020 and why.

    Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

    Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge

    I know I’m late but I’m no quitter and especially not in week 2!

    This post is supposed to be about what books I’m looking forward to reading in 2020 and you want to know something weird – I don’t even know.

    This seems like a strange thing for a person who reads over 200 books a year but it happens to be true.  I think part of that is because I read what appeals to me when I find it. I’m on the mailing lists for loads of authors I love and when I see they have a new book out I am all over it. If I love your books I download them on release day and if I find a new author I love I literally read every one of their books.

    I have authors who, in 2019, I read fifteen or more books of theirs because I “discovered” them. I’m what writers call a whale reader. We’re the big fish everyone wants to catch. If those authors whose names I probably don’t even know – seriously I’m the worst – put a book out I will buy it.

    I saw Lucy Score has a new book out soon. I will buy that. Kristan Higgins has a new book out mid-year, yes I will but that as well. I’ve read Whitney Dineen’s newest series recently, I’ll get book three when it comes out. I read everything Jill Shalvis and Susan Mallery publish even though I prefer their older series to the new. That’s about all I can remember of the top of my head.

    Maybe that’s because I have so many friends who are authors and I buy all their books and maybe it’s because I’m on every known email about new books and my inbox is bombarded daily with new releases and I just but the shiny thing that catches my eye, who knows.

    What I can tell you is I look forward to voraciously reading my way through 2020. I hope I discover lots of new series to devour and I hope some of those are unknown authors who crack the big time. I hope some of my favourite authors create new worlds I can delve into. I hope my chicklit friends write funny books that make me laugh and I hope my romance friends write me some swoon-worthy heroes.

  • Blog

    New release Friday – two fun romantic weekend reads

    10/12/2018

    New Release Friday
    Two new releases for lovers of chicklit
    I’ve been very lucky to meet some amazing chicklit authors since I launched my first book baby into the world all those many years ago. This week two of the most kind and generous of those women have new releases out, sure to make you smile. Go grab a copy of each and have a great weekend of reading.

    Relatively Normal - Cover
    Relatively Normal by Whitney Dineen

    ​Catriona Masterton’s fiancé, Ethan, is Normal.

    He plans trips six months in advance and arrives at the airport a minimum of three hours early. He purchases life insurance, luggage insurance, and always opts for the extended warranty. He’s responsible, reliable, and would make any woman a wonderful life partner.

    In other words, he’s the exact opposite of the Masterton clan.

    Cat’s mother has a kitchen gadget fetish, a father whose best friends are taxidermied field mice, and a super stoner man-child brother who lives–where else?–in the basement. Then there’s Nan, her proud Scottish grandmother with a proclivity for profanity and mischief.

    What on earth will Catriona’s Normal fiancé think when he comes home with her for the holidays? What will he think when he discovers his soon-to-be in-laws invited Cat’s ex to join them for Thanksgiving dinner?

    Find out in a laugh-out-loud journey of self-discovery, familial pandemonium, and love. A must read for fans of a true romantic comedy! Get it here.

     

     

    Just A Name - Cover
    Just a Name by Beck Monson

    Holly has a plan for everything. But she never could have planned for this.

    If there’s one thing Holly Murphy loves, it’s a solid plan. She has her entire life figured out—or so she thinks. But when life pulls the rug out from under her, she’s left to deal with a canceled wedding—hers, to be precise. And the promotion she’s worked toward for years is now in jeopardy because the team she supervises doesn’t like her management style.

    Thinking that Holly is too tightly wound and needs a break from everything, her boss demands she take a vacation. But how can she take a vacation when her promotion is on the line? Trying to help out, her best friend, Quinn, suggests she still go on her honeymoon and conduct a nationwide search to find a man with the same name as her ex-fiancé to use his plane ticket. Leaving Holly to wonder if she’s the only sane person left on the planet.
    Yet when her boss gets wind of the idea and loves it, Holly finds herself in a corner she can’t get out of. And when handsome Nate Jones from Newport Beach gets picked to go with her, she wonders if this whole thing won’t be so bad after all.

    Can Holly learn to let go? Or will this crazy adventure send her running right back to her safety net?

    Get your copy today.

  • Blog

    New Release Friday!

    6/15/2018

    New Release Friday
    Today I’m kick-starting a new feature here on my blog – New Release Friday where I feature recently released romances and chick lit novels by fellow authors. Let’s get started.
    New Release Friday!!!

    Multidate by Kirsty McManus
    MultiDate - CoverAFTER LAUREN HUNTER is let go from a job she didn’t even like, she flies to Sydney to stay with her brother and re-assess her life.

    That’s when she stumbles upon NBS Studios, the filming location of her favourite reality show, MultiDate. As a self-proclaimed superfan, Lauren has watched every episode of the six years (and counting) series, and is an expert on all things related to the show.

    So when the opportunity to scheme her way into a job at the studio’s reception desk arises, she grabs it with both hands. And thanks to a previous chance encounter with the studio head, Lauren begins to climb the corporate ladder on her favourite show.

    But with a bitchy executive producer thwarting her every step of the way, and two men giving mixed signals, the journey to the top isn’t easy. And with the discovery that MultiDate isn’t exactly what it pretends to be to the viewing public, Lauren soon begins to wonder if anyone ever ends up with the life they dreamt of.


    Grab your copy here.

    Schooled in Love a multi-author anthology
    Schooled in Love - Cover
    Linwood High. St. Martin’s Academy. Rival schools who unintentionally end up sharing a venue for their ten year reunion.

    Fists and sparks will fly.

    Meet the jocks, the gamers, the mean girls, the student council members, the geeks, the nerds, and all the others who wanted to fit in, blend in, and otherwise survive high school.
    This limited edition boxed set contains 15 original reunion stories. Read the makeups, breakups, and hookups from bestselling, award-winning, and up-coming authors.
    **Schooled in Love contains 15 New and Exclusive Stories!**
    Participating authors:
    Emma Nichols, Taige Crenshaw, McKenna Jeffries, Rebecca Norinne, Jennifer Millikin, Aliyah Burke, Maggie Dallen, Regina Morris, Bethany Lopez, Tracy Ellen, Monica Donnelly, Kacey Hamford, Michelle Irwin, Emma Tharp, Tarina Deaton, Melissa Stevens

     

    ​Get your copy here

    Come back next Friday for more new releases.

  • Blog

    I Have Never Book Tour

    7/11/2017

    I Have Never - Cover
    ​Title: I Have Never
    Author: Camilla Isley
    Release Date: July 13th, 2017
    Genre: Chick Lit

    Book Burb - Red
    ​Twenty-nine-year-old Blair Walker is a girl with a plan, or more a girl with a list. A list of dos and don’ts to live the perfect life, land a dream career, and marry Mr. Right.
    When Blair loses her job and gets dumped by her boyfriend all in one day, she starts to wonder if she’s had it all wrong. And what better way to find out than experience everything the list forbade?
    With hilarious consequences, Blair will discover some items are trickier to tick off than she’d thought…
    A laugh out loud romantic comedy perfect for fans of Lindsey Kelk, Sophie Kinsella, and Mhairi McFarlane. First Comes Love is a series of interconnected romantic novels. However, each book in the series can be read as a standalone novel.

    Buy the Book - Red
    Goodreads | AmazonUS | AmazonUK | Google Play | Kobo | B&N | Apple

    About Camilla
    Camilla is an engineer turned writer after she quit her job to follow her husband in an adventure abroad.
    She’s a cat lover, coffee addict, and shoe hoarder. Besides writing, she loves reading—duh!—cooking, watching bad TV, and going to the movies—popcorn, please. She’s a bit of a foodie, nothing too serious. A keen traveler, Camilla knows mosquitoes play a role in the ecosystem, and she doesn’t want to starve all those frog princes out there, but she could really live without them.

    Website | Twitter: @camillaisley | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

    Check out the full tour
    I Have Never Book Tour Promo
    ​July 13th
    Rachel Brimble Romance – Author Q&A
    A Beautiful Book Blog – Book Review
    Writing Pearls – Book Review
    With Love For Books – Book Review
    For the Love of Chick Lit – Book Review

    July 14th

    Kristin’s Novel Cafe – Book Excerpt
    JenaBooks – Book Review
    He Said Books or Me – Author Guest Post
    Judging More than Just the Cover – Author Q&A

    July 15th

    I Heart Fictional People – Book Review
    Chrissi Reads – Book Review
    Books and Photographs – Book Review
    Rebecca Book Review – Book Excerpt
    Monique McDonell-Author  – Book Excerpt

    July 16th

    One Book At A Time – Spotlight Post
    CosyCuteKnits – Book Review
    The Writing Garnet – Book Review

    July 17th

    The Belgian Reviewer – Book Excerpt
    Girl vs Books – Book Review
    kraftireader – Book Review
    July 18th
    Reading Is My SuperPower – Book Review
    I Heart Fictional People – Book Review
    THE CHLOE DOUGLAS BLOG – Book Review

    July 19th

    Kristin’s Novel Café – Book Excerpt
    Simona’s Corner of Dreams – Author Guest Post
    Bookish – Book Review

    July 20th

    TheBlossomTwins – Book Review
    Grass Monster – Book Review
    Chick Lit Central – Author Q&A
    Living Life with Joy – Author Guest Post

    July 21st

    ItaPixie’s Book Corner – Book Review
    Rae Reads – Book Review
    Novelgossip  – Book Review
    Whispering Stories – Book Review
    Ali – The Dragon Slayer – Book Review
    A Daydreamer’s Thoughts – Book Review
    Steamy Book Momma – Book Excerpt

    July 22nd

    BookLoverWorm – Book Review
    Pretty Little Book Reviews – Book Review
    Book Lover in Florida – Book Excerpt

  • Blog

    Cover reveal for my new release – Snowbound – which will published November 21st 2016

    11/9/2016

    Today I am so excited to reveal the gorgeous cover for my Christmas novella – Snowbound….take a look below. Isn’t it gorgeous?
    Snowbound – A Chicklit Christmas novella
    ​When Zara’s boyfriend can’t come home to Sydney from New York for Christmas she decides to surprise him instead. Sure, the ticket costs a bomb and her overbearing family thinks it is a bad idea, but that’s what you do for love right? Or so she tells the tall and hunky ex-basketball star, Kyle, who is squeezed into the plane seat beside her.

    When a blizzard hits and she finds herself stranded in Denver a few things become clear – her boyfriend isn’t that heartbroken about her absence, the airport doesn’t seem like a very festive place to be snowed-in, and there certainly aren’t enough pumpkin spiced lattes to fix the situation.

    So when Kyle offers to take her to stay at his buddy’s empty house she decides to take a chance and make the best of her first white Christmas. What she hadn’t banked on was Kyle’s ex and a reality television crew crashing the Christmas party.

    If you like fun and flirty heroes, ugly sweaters, snow covered mountains and sugar cookies, you’ll enjoy reading Snowbound these holidays.

    Snowbound will be released on November 21st.

    If you are a blogger who would like to participate in the release day blitz please sign up here.

    Snowbound - Cover

  • Blog

    #ChickLitScavengerHunt – O is for Oprah

    5/16/2016

    #ChickLitMay AtoZ Scavenger Hunt Promo
    O is for OPRAH
    O MagazinesI got the letter O in the #ChickLitMay scavenger hunt and w hat I know for sure is that Oprah is the ultimate chicklit heroine.

    Chicklit books to me are the stories of women working towards their dreams with a sense of humour. Women grappling with careers, with friends and with romantic entanglements. Chicklit heroines have highs and lows, ups and downs and lots of laughs along the way. They’re women with hobbies and passions who are looking for love and meaning in life but they’re finding their own way. Does that sounds like Oprah to you?

    Oprah did not start her life with a perfect family in a perfect house waiting for Mr Perfect to rescue her. No she did not. She got out there and worked her butt off. That’s part of what makes her so successful, she’s relatable.

    So much of her life is documented because like many a chicklit heroine she’s an over-sharer. We all know she moved to Chicago to pursue her dream career in television and that’s where she met her BFF’s Gayle and Maria Shriver. (We know she went to Maria’s house and like many a book character had family-envy.) For all those women in that circle of friends careers and men have risen and fallen but the core of their friendship has kept them strong. We’ve watched them celebrate each other’s milestones and laugh themselves stupid on national television as well.

    One of the things I love about chicklit books is that the characters often have their own language and shorthand for how they communicate and Oprah is the queen of that. Aha moments, full circle moments, what I know for sure are all Oprahisms.

    We’ve watched Oprah struggle for years with her weight (just like Bridget Jones with whom there are many Oprah parallels. Bridget had her own language too v. happy or v.anything really is a good example.) We could see Oprah believing if she just hit that goal life would fall in to place only to realize that wasn’t the answer.

    There’s a criticism by some that chicklit can be vapid (shoes and handbags anyone?) but the truth is in the Oprah era and the chicklit era for the first time women have found themselves making their own money and their own decisions about how they spend it. If that means one nice pair of Jimmy Choos or in Oprah’s case four houses each with a colour-coded temperature controlled walk-in robe then bring it on. It’s okay for women in books and in life to want pretty things and to celebrate their milestones by getting them.

    Of course that’s not all that the chicklit heroine or Oprah are about. They want to find their bliss. Whether through family, friendship or pursuing a dream. The journey is the fascinating part.

    How do I know so much about Oprah’s journey? I possibly may have read every O Magazine ever written.

    You know something else Oprah loved to do? Give away her favourite things and what do authors love more than anything? Books. So the authors participating in this Scavenger Hunt are giving you the chance to win a Kindle Paperwhite and a $100 Amazon Giftcard to load it up with books.

    Scavenger Hunt Giveaway Promo
    Want to win a Kindle Paperwhite + a $100 Amazon gift card? Visit each of the 26 stops on the #ChickLitMay A to Z Scavenger Hunt and collect the alphabet word at each stop (A, B, C, D, etc.), then submit the A-Z list of words via e-mail to traciebanister@gmail.com with the subject “A to Z Scavenger Hunt Entry.” Entries will be accepted until Sunday, May 22nd at midnight E.D.T. A winner will be chosen on Monday, May 23rd. Good luck!
    The next stop on the Scavenger Hunt – the letter P – is here. https://whitneydineen.com/2016/05/15/chick-lit-scavenger-hunt/
    If you’d like to start back at the beginning of the Scavenger Hunt (the letter A), go here. http://katieoliver.com/ko/2016/05/chick-lit-a-to-z-scavenger-hunt/

    Good luck!! I hope you win big.

    My personal connection to Oprah and chicklit
    Mr Right and Other Mongrels
    One last thing – my very first novel Mr Right and Other Mongrels features a landscape gardener with an Australian TV show who gets called up to have his own big US Show. I modeled the character on an Australian TV personality called Jamie Durie and the question I asked while writing was “What if Jamie got chosen to be on Oprah?”

    And then that ACTUALLY HAPPENED while I was finalising my book. Jamie got called up and was sitting there on the Oprah stage doing designs with cute Nate Berkus.

    Crazy right?

    If you’d like to read the full version you can get Mr Right and Other Mongrels here and it’s on sale for #ChickLitMay getBook.at/MrRightandOtherMongrels

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Comments

    Tracy Krimmer
    5/16/2016 10:57:49 am

    What a fun word for O 🙂

    Wanda Tracey
    5/22/2016 09:48:14 am

    Thank you. Oprah is a good word in this fun scavenger hunt.

  • Blog

    Getting ready for #NaNoWriMo2015

    10/19/2015

    Time to get ready for National Novel Writing Month
    Hearts AfireHearts Afire http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009V2UKWQ
    I woke up in the middle of the night last night and realised it was less than two weeks to November which means National Novel Writing Month #NaNoWriMo is just around the corner.

    I’ve written lots of blog posts about it over the years including a series on how to prep for the month that went from the practical – preparing your home and meals in advance and your health – to the more emotional aspects of story writing and stamina. Here is a link to the post I did last year which is very comprehensive – 2014 #NaNoWrimo blog post.

    I think this is my 7th time participating in #NaNoWriMo. Not all of the books have been published but Hearts Afire was my first book I wrote during National Novel Writing month and it remains one of my favourite novels I’ve written (and I think lots of readers agree).

    I haven’t quite decided what I’m writing in November – part of the cold sweats last night. I’m either writing a seventh book in my series that ties everything up in a neat bow, a novel from the series I write under a pen name or a chicklit novel set at my local beach. I have a feeling the last one will win out. It means I can take my laptop down to cafe’s and write and call it research. I’m kind of loving that idea right now.

    Also I think it might be a nice change to take a break from the characters who have occupied so much of my time the last couple of years. A working holiday if you will.

    I’m a pretty disciplined writer these days. Not in October I haven’t been but I’ve stuck pretty faithfully to my #1000wordsaday challenge this year but I really like the commaraderie of National Novel Writing Month. Also because Christmas arrives hot on it’s heels and life seems to lose any sense of rhythm in December and January I enjoy knowing I’ve accomplished something.

    So with the two weeks to go it’s time I followed some of my own advice:
    – pre-make some meals
    – decide on a story and come up with a plot (this one is key I think – all the frozen meals in the world won’t help without this)
    – tell the people in my life I’m doing #NaNoWriMo so they know where my free time is going
    – get ready to say no to a few things
    – set the DVR for any shows I want to watch

    So are you participating in National Novel Writing Month? If so what will you be writing?

    Comment

    Nya
    10/30/2015 04:16:24 pm

    Hi Monique, thank you for passing by!
    I’ve enjoyed reading through your NaNoWrimo prep too! Definitely good tips, this is my first time trying this challenge so it will be a real challenge for me. Good luck to you!

  • Blog

    Find Your Next Chick Lit Read / #ChickLitMay Giveaway!

    5/17/2015

    May is International Chick Lit Month. Let’s be honest—it’s the best month of the year! Every year, chick lit readers and writers get together to celebrate, share, discuss and gush about their favorite book genre. Not familiar with chick lit or Chick Lit Month?

    Visit internationalchicklitmonth.com for more information.

    This year marks the fifth anniversary of ICLM. To celebrate, a bunch of enthusiastic authors got together and made an infographic to help readers find their next chick lit read. We’re giving away 19 ebooks to 19 lucky readers. Just enter to win the books you’d like to read! To enter, comment on the blog post below, listing which books from the graphic you’d like to read and WHY you would like to read them. (Make sure to include your email address so we can contact you.) Entrants can only enter once per blog, but can check out other blogs with this same post and comment there for extra entries! All those links are down below. Entries close on midnight Friday, May 22 (Pacific Daylight Time), and winners will be contacted directly on May 31. Good luck everyone—and happy reading! 😀 (Even if you missed this giveaway, feel free to share this graphic on your blog and spread the chick lit love!)

    https://jillianne-hamilton.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/ChickLit-Infographic.jpg

    Deeper Themes

    * * *

    A Little Magic

    * * *

    Laughs Guaranteed

    * * *

    Light & Bright

    * * *

    On Distant Shores

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    Enter one more time at these great chick lit blogs!

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