Last week I caught up with my writing buddies Annie West and Anna Campbell for G & Ts by Annie’s pool. Good friend and fellow writer Judy joined us a bit later when we broke out the bubbly. So…the burning question—what did we chat about?
 |
| Judy, Anna Campbell, Michelle Douglas |
* Fruit and carbohydrates. I brought along a really pretty bowl of fruit. Anna and Annie are great fruit devotees. Me? I demolished the olives and dip instead. We tried to find the secret for why we’re so attracted to carbohydrates. The answer we came up with—because they’re yummy.
 |
| Isn't that the most glorious bowl of fruit you've ever seen? (yes I was proud of it) |
* Anna kinda sorta interviewed me about my writing process for an upcoming workshop she’s running. It’s going to be a great workshop.
* My current Buffy the Vampire Slayer craze and what I’m trying to learn from it as a writer.
* I quizzed Annie and Anna about what I should do for a 10-minute launch of my March book Road Trip With the Eligible Bachelor, (which is happening at Singleton Library tomorrow evening so if you’re in town come along!) and they gave me great advice. Thanks, ladies!
 |
| Anna Campbell and Annie West with G & Ts |
* We briefly chatted about one of Annie’s upcoming projects and the brainstorming she and Anna had been doing.
* Book titles: our faves and not-so-faves of our own and each others.
* Our parents
* Our pineapple books—you know, the ones we never want to experience again, and why they were pineapples. The reasons varied. My pineapple book was Christmas at Candlebark Farm. When I received the 3rd set of revisions from my editor I realised the book needed to be completely rewritten. Sigh. I learned so much from that book, but I never want to go through that process again.
* Our ages and when our birthdays fell on the calendar year. Shall I confess it had never occurred to me that as an August baby that meant my parents had had a rather pleasant summer holiday. :)
 |
| Anna Campbell, me and G & Ts |
* Critiquing—pros and cons and wonderings if we were nurturing rather than critical.
* Holidays and cruises
* French champagne
* What we had planned for the weekend
So, as you can see, we’re like any other bunch of people who are both colleagues and friends, we talked shop, we enquired after each other’s families and sprinkled amongst that was talk about other things that interest us. It was brilliant.
What about you? Have you been having any fun chats with colleagues and friends lately?
Michelle
ReplyDeleteSounds like an awesome day :) we had our romance reader lunch last Sunday and there were 4 authors and 3 readers there and we talked families pets and of course books that we had read and recommended new books to each other there is always so much to talk about when friends get together loved that fruit bowl :)
Have Fun
Helen
Helen, I was thinking of you at your lunch on Sunday and remembering the great time we had together last month. Snickering here though as I wonder whether you were gathered around a fruit bowl or a chocolate fondue. Hmmmm?
DeleteAnnie
DeleteI have a lovely Lindt chocolate sundae yum
I am off to the Newcastle lunch this sunday :)
Are you coming
Have Fun
Helen
I did think about you last Sunday, Helen, and felt most wistful that I couldn't attend. :-)
ReplyDeleteBooks! Yes, of course, we talked about books that we'd recently read and loved and urged each to try -- how could I forget that.You know, your lunch and our afternoon drinks sounds awfully similar. Fabulous to get together with friends, isn't it?
Always lovely to get together and I am going to the Newcastle lunch this sunday will you be there
DeleteHave FUN
Helen
Yes, Helen! And I'm really looking forward to it. It'll be great to catch up with you. :-)
DeleteMichelle, you've made me smile, remembering our afternoon together. Sharing our recent reading finds was great. I love the fact that we have such a lovely, relaxing time just shooting the breeze, but somehow in there there's always something that I take away (usually several somethings) that help me when I get back to work. I suppose it's the shared experiences and the humour that make it so special. You're such fantastic friends!
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, ditto, Annie! There's always something fabulous to take away on the work front for me too, but the real joy was just sitting around and shooting the breeze with great friends. It was one of those fabulous fill the well afternoons. :-)
DeleteMichelle, I love those photos. Don't we all look so happy? And why wouldn't we? And I loved your enormous sensitivity in not including that red poison aka the strawberry in the fruit bowl! LOL! Seriously, it was a fabulous fruit bowl. And yeah, I'm pretty much with you on carbs! We must do this again soon. It was such fun! Annie makes a marvellous host too, doesn't she?
ReplyDeleteLOL, Anna -- it's lunchtime and I'm trying to convince myself that I really would prefer an apple to toast slathered in golden syrup. Those carbs are evil (evilly good).
DeleteIt was marvellous fun catching up with you, and that spot by Annie's pool is the best. I absolutely agree we should do it again soon. :-)
Sounds like a great day was had by all. And please dont get me started on carbs!
ReplyDeleteI do love it when I get together with author friends - they don't look at you like you're going mad when you talk about the voices in your head! :-)
Hey, Amy, we'd have appreciated you weighing in with your 2 cents worth on the carb issue.
DeleteI once had a non-writer friend say to me -- "but you talk about your characters as if they're real people." It made me very grateful for my writer friends!
Pineapple books! I love that expression, Michelle. Looks like a good time had by all. All the yummy food and fab conversation!
ReplyDeleteAh, what are fun times without yummy food and fab conversation, Jen? ;-) Indeed, a good time was had by all.
ReplyDeleteOh, I wish I'd been the person to coin the term "pineapple" book. So evocative, isn't it?
We had our first critique group meet last night, last one was way back in November. We've missed each other. We talked about weddings, dresses, cakes, flowers, locations, rings, step-children-to-be (yes, one of us has just gotten engaged), holidays, jobs, job interviews, new jobs, teaching, bike-riding, trampolining, bouncing boobs (re the trampolining - and you can guess what other bodily part jumping on a tramp affects!), teenagers, holidays, food, spouses, and we talked about organising a writing weekend away and books we've read/are reading/will read. And then we ran out of time and we hadn't even begun talking about our writing - or even the lack of it! Never mind, next month we will have another meeting. Better luck then! Isn't it fantastic when you meet with great buddies who really get you and what you do? :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, Clare, what a wonderful day you had! I love that you talked trampolining. ;-) I know we talked about a whole host of other stuff too -- too much to remember. And I love how we bounce (trampoline) from one topic to another and then back again. Yep, writer buddies are the best. :-)
DeleteMichelle, I LOVED hearing about what you and your friends (and what lovely ones they are!) talked about. I can't wait until tonight where I get to spend the weekend with five of my friends including Lovecats Louisa and Sue! I'm sure there will be gin :)
ReplyDeleteA whole weekend! Ooh, you are going to have so much fun, Barb. Will be thinking of you all…and feeling slightly envious. ;-)
DeleteWhat a lovely day! I'm green with jealousy. I love times when I can sit and chat with other writers. It fills the well. :)
ReplyDelete