Mar 9, 2015

In Sickness and in Health

Well, this post was going to be all about my experience of the fourth Australian Romance Readers Convention which was held by ARRA at the QT Canberra over the weekend. I was due to attend and be part of the book-signing and on a panel titled, A Rich Man's World. The panel included Melanie Scott, Sofia Tate, and Sylvia Day and was chaired by Kat Mayo from bookthingo. How great would that have been?

Alas, best laid plans…

I got sick. Very sick. Probably the sickest I’ve ever been.  Over a week in bed. Hooray. Just what the doctor ordered. 

You know how you dream sometimes about how wonderful it would be to spend a week in bed reading, watching movies and generally veging out? Well, turns out it becomes really boring after about five minutes. It certainly was for me. I’m a woman of action and lying around nearly drove me insane. And I was too sick to do any actual work, so very unproductive all around.

But, I’m on the mend now. In fact I have to get better as I’m doing a bookshop signing at my local book store, Mary Ryan’s, this coming Thursday. I’ve got together with women’s fiction author, Lisa Walker and the fabulous and hilarious Mandy Nolan. We will be chatting about writing, books and love.

Lisa recently launched her new book Arkie's Pilgrimage to the Next Big Thing. I’ve nearly finished Lisa’s brilliant story and it is such a great read. Kerry Goldsworthy from the Sydney Morning Herald said:

“This is a funny, charming and thoughtful kind of chick lit, full of witty one-liners and intriguing minor characters, realistic about the vicissitudes of love and desire.”

Mandy’s book Boyfriends We've All Had (and Shouldn't Have) is laugh-out-loud funny. I read it last year before I appeared with Mandy and my fellow LoveCat, Amy Andrews at the Byron Bay Writers Festival. Wasn’t that a blast, Amy?

If you are in Byron Bay on Thursday, 12 March at 5.30pm, drop into Mary Ryan’s for a fun night! I’d love to see you there.

So, have you ever been sick and missed something you’ve really been looking forward to?

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Stop Press:  Tempted by the Billionaire Tycoon is currently on sale for just $1.99. Buy it now at Amazon,  iTunes, Google and other retailers.

Find out more at www.jenniferstgeorge.com

16 comments:

  1. Ugh! Jen, so sorry to hear about you not being well and hope you are feeling better now. We missed you at ARRC!

    Byron Bay book festival was a blast and I'm looking forward to joining you on Thursday night too!

    There have been 2 weekends in my life where hubby and I went away for a dirty weekend and both of those times I got a really bad case of the flu :-( He got his wish, I did spend all weekend in bed - just with a box of Benadryl instead of him! :-)

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    1. Oh Amy! That's terrible. Both times. Your kids must have put a 'don't leave us' spell on you!

      Can't wait to see you in Byron on Thursday. You are a legend for making the trek down.

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  2. Jennifer

    I am so sorry you were sick and couldn't make it we missed you so much I am still in Canberra going home tomorrow and I have been pretty lucky that I haven't gotten sick but hubby has a couple of times which has made me miss a couple of romance lunches big hugs I am sure you will have a great time at your next outing

    Have Fun
    Helen

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    1. Sounds like you all had such a blast in Canberra, Helen. It looked like so much fun from the Facebook and twitter posts I followed on the night.

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  3. One year at boarding school all but three of us were so sick they were in bed and I was busy delivering orange juice and dry toast to everyone to help matron. So the following weekend I thought I'd love some orange juice - a real treat for us - so I "got sick". Lying doesn't pay. Like you said Jennifer, five minutes and I wanted out of there. I did drink the juice first. Matron never really forgave me. :)

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    1. That's hilarious, Sue!! I remember we didn't have orange juice as kids and I always wanted it. It funny now to think it was such a treat back then!!

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  4. Poor you :-(( Being sick is horrid- but so glad you're on the road to recovery xx

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  5. Thanks, Louisa. Today is the first day I've felt even close to normal. That's nearly two weeks sick. Sooooo morning!!

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  6. I'm sorry to hear you missed out on ARRC! Being sick for that long is such a horrible feeling, but glad you're on the mend now.

    I had a totally blocked ear at conference last year and ended up at the emergency room on the saturday night, worried I wouldn't be able to fly home. No fun at all.

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  7. fantastic work, i am in love with all these stuff. Lost and found

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  8. We missed you, Jen! I hope you're recovering and back to your usual woman of action self again. Hugs!

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    1. Thanks, Michelle. It is hard for me not to be in a state of permanent action!

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  9. How ghastly for you, Jen! And disappointing not to get to ARRC 'coz I know you were looking forward to it! Great that you're feeling a bit better but don't push yourself to hard to soon - some of these germs try to come back for a second bite!

    My dh and I had the misfortune to get the flu together just after we moved house. Took us weeks to get back on our feet and the unpacking just had to wait.

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  10. Oh Sharon! Getting sick after moving house must have been horrible. Especially being surrounded by boxes.

    Yes, was looking forward to ARRC and was so sad to miss it!!

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