I Am Not A Victim

But first, Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2017 brings lots of wonderful and special things and events to you.

Yesterday I had a call from the police asking me to fill in a Victim Impact Report for the judge to read at the sentencing of a certain young man who'd happily smashed the passenger window of our car and stolen my handbag.

Yep, in October my DB and I were on holiday in NZ's North Island when we drove up to the lookout of the town we were about to leave. I won't name the town because this could've happened anywhere. I rarely leave my handbag in the car but the car was locked, we were only 30 metres away, and less than ten minutes looking at the view. Yet in that space of time a vehicle came up the hill, two men leapt out, smashed our window, took my bag and drove away - all without anyone seeing it happen. I did turn and wonder why our car was rocking but then saw a man getting into the car beside ours and thought I'd imagined it.
But something made me turn back and when I saw this vehicle spin out of the park I ran and got the number plate. Turns out the police were already trying to track these ratbags for driving off from a petrol station without paying. The car was stolen, of course.

Anyway, within an hour they were apprehended, after the police dog took a large chunk out of one thigh, and I got everything back except cash and credit cards which had been hit hard repeatedly in that short time.

So now I have an Impact Report to fill in. I explained to the detective that we didn't really suffer except for inconvenience and a wee bit of shock, and missing out one destination on our trip as we had to stay in town for an extra night by the time we'd done interviews and checked through my bag for what had been stolen, got the car fixed, etc.

Worst part of the whole deal - going through my handbag with the detectives. I mean, our bags are personal. Right?
And this one isn't small so there was a lot of stuff to check out.

There were a lot of people on that hill at the time and not one woman had her bag with her. Be warned, it's not much fun when the bag gets stolen.

Back to this report. I've been told to put down how our holiday was interrupted and what we missed out on. Here's my problem. At the time it was a pain in the butt, very annoying and yes, a little scary in hindsight. But this all seems a little precious, especially to be read out in court. However the police were so good to us, so I'll send it in and get over myself. And hope the perpetrator gets more than a smack over his knuckles.


Has anything like this ever happened to you?

Favourite Reads: The 2016 Edition

 
I love looking back on the previous year and remembering the books that brought me so much pleasure. So in the interests of sharing, these are my favourite books for 2016…

 Category Romance
I had two favourite category romances. They’re both from the Romance / Cherish / Forever line, but they’re also very different in tone and theme. The first I read in January: Jessica Gilmore’s PROPOSAL AT THE WINTER BALL (fabulous friends to lovers story). The second I read in July: Marion Lennox’s HIS CINDERELLA HEIRESS (and as the title says, it’s a perfect Cinderella story). Such utterly wonderful and heartfelt stories!

Honourable mentions include: Rachel Bailey’s THE FINN FACTOR, Cathryn Hein’s SANTA AND THE SADDLE, and Annie West’s THE DESERT KING’S SECRET HEIR.

Oh, and gosh darn it! I want to also honourably mention Scarlet Wilson’s HIS LOST AND FOUND BRIDE, and Nikki Logan’s STRANDED WITH HER RESCUER. Both of these were seriously emotional reads.

Historical
I discovered Ashley Gardner’s CAPTAIN LACEY REGENCY MYSTERY SERIES last year, and I gobbled it up. It’s not just that the last time I was in London (in 2014) that I stayed in Drury Lane, and Captain Lacey lives just off Drury Lane, but the world Gardner creates and the community that forms around her eponymous hero is complicated, compelling and captivating.

And for sheer and utter delight factor, Connie Brockway’s BRIDAL FAVOURS. I bought this because of a review I read…and I thought it was a contemporary romance rather than a historical. And I was disappointed when I found out it was historical…until I started reading. ;-)

Honourable mentions: Anne Gracie’s AUTUMN BRIDE

Favourite Non-Romance Book
Neil Gaiman’s THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE. My book group read this and it’s part fairy tale with a dash of horror and… I don’t know, it’s hard to explain, but I loved it. It captures childhood perfectly. Plus there are great examples of female power—both good and bad—which I found hard to resist.

Honourable Mentions: DADDY LONG LEGS by Jean Webster HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE by Diana Wynne Jones and GOOD OMENS by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Favourite Re-Read
Enid Blyton’s Mallory Towers: I hoovered these back like there was no tomorrow. I then went and read THE CHILDREN OF CHERRY TREE FARM. Seriously, Blyton is kiddie crack.

It’s so much fun looking back over the books that made me laugh, cry, and heave happy sighs, and also books that made me think…that stayed with me a long time. What about you—what were your standout reads in 2016?

Love of Learning and Romance on Sale!

I love learning new things. I’m one of those nutty people who enjoys studying and doing courses. I’ve signed myself for a new uni course and over the past three days have been writing a reflective assignment. They didn’t have reflective assignments my first few times around, but I’ve really enjoyed reflecting on all I’ve learned over the past few weeks.

I’m doing a Graduate Certificate in Leadership through Coaching and Mentoring at QUT in Queensland. Most of the course is online (lucky, as I live in NSW) and we have interactive lectures online too. So different to my days of sitting in a lecture theatre. I've also lucked into the most awesome study group. Two members live in Brisbane, one in Melbourne and me in Byron Bay. We meet up regularly online and have such fun. Group assignments have been a pleasure.

It’s fascinating learning about authentic leadership, adult development, adaptive learning, goal setting, 360 feedback survey tools and lots more interesting things that will hopefully improve my leadership skills. With my new role as Chair of the Byron Writers Festival, studying leadership is certainly timely. Also very useful for insight into all those billionaires I write about.

Speaking of billionaires, my best-selling story, The Billionaire’s Pursuit of Love, is on sale at the moment for $0.99. If you are looking for an escape into some passionate romance, pick up a copy from Amazon, iTunes or your favourite etailer.

Blurb: When Sarah Walker's beloved wildlife sanctuary is threatened with closure, she heads for London and goes straight to the top to find out why. But the man responsible is the one man she's never forgotten, and the only person who can destroy all her happiness.

Billionaire CEO Blake Huntington-Fiennes can't believe that the girl he's spent years searching for has just marched into his boardroom. And this time, he's willing to resort to any means necessary to keep her. But Sarah has a secret she must protect at all costs or risk losing something even more precious than the sanctuary.

 What about you? Do you enjoy learning new things, studying, doing assignments and exams, or does this have you running for the hills?

And the winner is...

Hi everyone,
The winner of my signed copy of The Temporary Mrs Marchetti is Laurie. If you could email me on melaniemilburne@gmail.com with your postal details I will get the book to you as soon as possible. Thanks for all the comments!

Goodreads Reading Challenge

Last year I partook in the Goodreads Reading Challenge.

Not having any real idea of how many books I usually manage in a year, and no idea of the kind of reading time the year before me would bestow, I picked 50 books as my task. A book a week, pretty much. And I kept it up.  I did.  Gleefully registering each book as it reached ‘the end’.

Keeping track in my beloved Bullet Journal also helped each month at book club, as in the rush and wash of life I always found I had forgotten some gem that I had read that month.

I also particularly loved looking back and spotting patterns and anomalies.

-          Autobiographies written by smart, funny, creative women (Mindy Kaling, Shonda Rhimes) made a strong showing this year.

-          As did authors I go back to again and again (Lisa Kleypas, Jill Shalvis).

-          I discovered authors I’d never tried before then loved them and devoured them (CS Pacat, Harlan Coben).

-          And then there were authors (RJ Palacio, Lisa Lutz) who gave me one book which changed the shape of my reading year adding depth and flavour and delight.

So did I make it to 50?  You bet I did!  54 to be exact. Will I do it this year?  You bet I will!  It was fun, and helpful, and a buzz to see that tracker ticking over.

But it was the burgeoning realisation that I had such a healthy reading life that really warmed the cockles.  As a mum of three with healthy happy young kids and a writing career and a graphics business and the rest, to know that I still found those pockets of time for myself to sink, dive, indulge in the reading of stories for my own pleasure was extremely gratifying.

Starting as I mean to go on, I finished reading my first book of this brand spanking new year at half past midnight on New Years Day and I could not wait to write it down in my 2017 list.  I'm thinking 55.  One more than last year.  Surely that's a worthy goal.

So come on, who's with me?

Calling All Worrywarts!

Are you a worrier? Do you fret and ruminate over things you have zero control over? Well, you're not alone- I have a PhD with First Class Honours in Worry. I used to be much worse than I am now. I've worked at it over the years, but even so, I only have to look back at this time last year to see all the stuff I was fretting over that didn't eventuate. Well, some of it did, but I handled it way better than I thought.

Here are just a few in no particular order of priority...

Will I get all my books written before their deadlines? I did with time to spare.
Will any of my three dogs get bitten by a snake when we're walking in the bush? No, thank goodness but we've seen a few on our walks. Yikes!
Will my editor hand me over to someone else? Yes, and I was devastated. I couldn't write for weeks and felt so sad and lost. I have a new editor now and I am sure things will be just fine once we get a book or two done and dusted.
Will I be a good friend, wife, mother, daughter, aunt and great aunt, dog owner, citizen, writer, volunteer, etc. I think so. I hope so. I could do better but I'm doing my best, right?
Will I think of something interesting to say in all the blogs I have to do this year? I'll let my readers be the judge.
And will I set the right schedule buttons on Blogger so they are published on the right date?!! So far so good.
And will I be in a good WiFi area so I can respond to the comments?  Ack. Some of you will remember my very first blog with Lovecatsdownunder had me doing a Mr Bean thing on the east coast of Tasmania. I literally had to stand on top of a sand dune on one leg to get a signal. But I did it and got through. Yay! And now I have excellent Wifi at my holiday home.

That's enough on the list. I could write a worry for every day of the year.  Seriously, I could make worrying into an Olympic sport. But the thing is, many of the things I listed were outside my control. Some of them were worthy of more worry than others, but at the end of the day ( or year!) no amount of worrying changed anything. The only thing I had any control over was how I handled whatever happened.

What are you already worrying about for this year? Do you have any tips on how to handle those racing thoughts and that sense of dread that sits like a headstone in your stomach? Or are you one of those people I've always envied who just sail through life without too much time on the hamster wheel of worry?
I have a signed copy of my upcoming release The Temporary Mrs Marchetti (all regions).

Best wishes,

Melanie xx

2016: My Reading Stat's

by Bronwyn Jameson

Twelve months ago, I was pondering whether to keep a record of the books I read during 2016. I’d never done this before but, after the discussion on this blog post, set up a spreadsheet. I recorded the basics – title, author, reading method (paperback, Kindle, audio), genre – and a précis of the story. Just enough to remind me of which book this was.

Along the way I added three columns: series name/number, a 1-5 score, and setting. For next year I will add a column for the year of publication. I discovered this past year just how far behind I am in my reading, as in, how many books are in my TBR (both ‘real’ books and digital.) In 2017 I’d like to read a better balance of new releases, TBR pile, and old/comfort favourites.

With only a couple of hiccups, I kept the spreadsheet up to date and can now – drum-roll!!! – report on my year of reading.

Total books read: 72 (I recorded 75 but 3 were DNF.) I’m pretty amazed by this total. I think I can safely say my reading slump is over. Of this total only 3 were non-fiction. This year I aim to double that.

Breaking down the genres:

• Category/Series Romance: 23 
• Crime/Suspense: 14
• Single Title Romance: 11
• Womens’ Fiction: 11
• Novellas (romance): 9
• Historical Fiction: 1

Breaking down the scores (my scores were based purely on reading pleasure)

• 5*: 17 
• 4*: 25
• 3*: 17
• 2*: 8
• 1*: 5 (kinda surprising that I finished the 1s and 2s, but perhaps the recording project pushed me to persist when I might, in the past, have given up)

As for method of reading: I listened to 7 audiobooks and the rest were all Kindle reads. No paper whatsoever and that’s making me reconsider all the paper books in my TBR pile. Will I ever read them? Should I donate them somewhere to give someone else the opportunity to read them? A tough call but one I need to make.

What do you do with books you no longer wish to keep? Who do you give/donate them to?

And how was your reading year in 2016? Did you read more or less than usual? Have you set reading goals for 2017?