Filling the well - Barbara DeLeo

by Barbara DeLeo

I'm spent, knackered, shamozzled, done-in!!

Book three is now in the hands of my lovely editor and while I wait to hear back from him on edits I'm a little lost, to be honest. 

Although I like to think I'm a pretty organized person, the last few days on a book are all consuming. I usually start at the computer at 5am, end at 10pm and have to spend a good few minutes brushing the crumbs of hastily eaten meals from the keyboard before I start again the following morning.

Since handing my book in it's taken me two whole days just to catch up on emails, pay bills and tidy my desk and now it's time to fill the well. Even though all I feel like doing is diving into my next story, I know I mustn't. I know that if I don't take some time to do things that let my creative juices recharge, then I'm likely to crash and burn. I know most of the kitties are off at the Romance Writers of Australia national conference in Perth today so I'm asking you all for a little help in "Filling up the Well".

The thing I MOST like to do to get me recharged is to watch romantic movies. First on the list yesterday was 13 going on 30 (Suddenly 30) Although it was released in 2004, I LOVE that movie. I watched it with my twelve year old twin girls yesterday and they loved it too. It has a clever premise and a fabulous black moment where you truly believe  the hero and heroine will never be together. 

 I also like to have a good cry and "P.S I Love You" does that for me. That's on today's list.

Tomorrow I think it'll be "The Princess Bride. It's kind of our family movie and I love the fun of it and the laughs. If you've never seen it, you must! It has something for everyone in it.

After that I'm a bit lost so I really need some recommendations. What's your go-to romantic movie—the one that give you that tingly feeling, the one that you'll always go back to?

I don't need another hobby, but...

by Michelle Douglas

Romance authors (and quite frankly probably any author of any creed) are a pretty determined bunch. For determined read stubborn.

A case in point: Recently on the television there was an advertisement for a new magazine called The Art of Crochet. I thought it sounded interesting. I thought it could be a bit of fun. But do you think I could get a copy? No. It was sold out. Everywhere. Did I retire with grace? Nuh uh. I became annoyed and fixated. Sold out, huh? Well I wouldn’t let that defeat me!

I went to the shops and bought a ball of wool and a crochet hook. I went to the library and borrowed Learn-To-Crochet books.

So, I’ve been playing with crochet. I’m hoping that when I get a little better it’ll become one of those lovely mindless things I can do while I let story ideas brew and smoulder. My family has quite a history with crochet. Both my grandmother and great grandmother made the most amazing pieces, and my great aunt still does. Have a look at some of these pieces.

I have a long way to go before I reach their standard. So it’s probably just as well that I have a lot of story ideas to brew and develop, huh?

But… the fact of the matter is I do continually bemoan the fact that I don’t have enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to do. Am I crazy adding another thing to the list? Or am I being super wise and refilling my creative well? Oh, and do you have any crocheting tips you’d like to share?