Monday Ramblings by Amy Andrews

Its release day for me so I am a bit all over the shop at the moment 😍 and consequently a little late for this blog.

So here are some Monday ramblings from a mushy release day brain.

Hot Mess. You should buy it. Fireman + reunited lovers + amnesia = all the romance awesomeness. Yes, even if I do say so myself 😘 Best part? It's first in a series of 4 hot firemen! So what are you waiting for??

I have a new website. Its soooo pretty. Click here and it'll take you there!

Do not watch the new Anne of Green Gables series if you are an Anne purist. The second episode is all kinds of weird....

 

I love the beach in all its moods...

What do you think of my new cover for Holding Out For A Hero which I'm self-pubbing and should be out very soon? 

  
It's almost June!! Just in case anyone had forgotten...Pretty soon there'll be those annoying people who pop up and tell us how many shopping days until Christmas!

New bio pic for my sister and I to use in some Ruby award publicity.What do you think?

We had the option to go for  serious shot but what the hell, right?
Life is serious enough.....

Reckon that's a good note to end it on. Is anyone elses brains as mushy as mine at the moment? Care to add a random thought for us all to ponder?

Random Thoughts with Michelle Douglas

Well…you know, I think I’ve been working my brain too hard. We’ve been doing PhD work, my brain and I, and it’s left me brain-mushy with a sadly-depleted attention span. Hence, random thoughts... ;-)

#1 On Saturday I attended an Open House. I LOVE going into other people’s houses and imagining the life I would lead if I lived there. I would of course be more organised, would dust more often, be a better cook, and write deliriously good books. This particular house was different, though. It’s at the very end of a cul de sac on a bluff that overlooks the sea. It’s a dream home. It’s going to be auctioned and it will sell for a motza. This is the view from the deck.

If I lived in this house nothing would get done. Ever. I wouldn't be an improved version of myself. I'd just sit and stare at that view all day. :)

# 2 I’ve been exercising with concerted regularity for the last 5 or 6 weeks. This exercise consists of a weekly yoga class and a 40 minute walk 5 days a week (roundabout). Lawd, I can’t tell you how much my mood has improved. I’m so chipper! Okay, well maybe not, but I’m not as stressed as PhD stuff usually makes me. Also, today, I noticed my jeans weren’t so tight in the butt. Of course, I’d like it if they weren’t so tight around the waist. But that’s progress right?

# 3 I’ve been pondering on the way male and female body parts can be used as symbols to praise and/or denigrate heroes and heroines in romances. For example, a hero in a recent romance I read thinks this after an exchange with the heroine: “Yeah, chicks loved it when you begged. How about if he went ahead and handed her balls and said, Do what you will.” At a different point when he’s grumpy and working on her house the heroine thinks: “He was still ripping and tearing stuff. Obviously having his period.” These snippets made me laugh, but on reflection they make me uneasy. Men’s bits are symbols of strength while women’s bits (or their biological processes) are symbols of weakness or irrationality. Nuh uh. Wrong. I am woman here me roar!

# 4 I have just glommed Call the Midwife. Can’t wait for Season 4. Anyone else out there love the series? I love, love, love it! Those in the know, tell me, should I read the book?

# 5 My August cover is GORGEOUS. It’s my favourite cover yet. My July cover is nice too. But it will be hard to top this. What do you think?

# 6 My song crush at the moment is Eric Clapton’s Layla. The acoustic version. It’s so mellow and cruisey. Click here if you want to go and listen. :)


So what about you? Been having any random thoughts lately?

Random thoughts...

by Michelle Douglas

#1 Most of you will know that I have a book out this month, but I had an uneasy thought in relation to it the other day. There’s a scene in the book where the heroine and her two boys sing along to a play list of novelty songs. I went to post the You Tube link to one of these songs on Facebook the other day—a song I’d loved as a child. The moment I clapped eyes on the film clip (which I’d never seen before in my life) I gulped and realised that the song was seriously politically incorrect. The thing is, whenever I think about this song it’s not the words I remember, but the fun I had with my dad and sister singing it at the tops of our lungs and our sense of camaraderie. Fingers crossed the mention of it in my book won’t offend anyone. I feel I should apologise.

#2 Thought and word associations fascinate me. I was going to call this post Hodge-Podge and then I wondered if that term was correct and if it wasn’t Hotch-Potch instead, which started me considering other funny little terms like odds and sods, bits and bobs, and flotsam and jetsam. Now, as I’ve been considering getting a dog or two (or fostering a dog or two), it occurred to me that Flotsam and Jetsam could be good puppy names. This in turn had me remembering an Enid Blyton book about a puppy and a kitten called Bimbo and Topsy. Anyone else remember that one?

#3 I’ve just started reading a book called The Soul of Money. The author says we live with an attitude of scarcity—we wake in the morning and think “I need more sleep”; we glance at our To-Do list and think “I need more time”; we look at the repairs that are needed on our houses and cars, the new shoes we’d like for an awards dinner, and the holidays we’d love to take and think “I don’t have enough money.” I’d never thought about this attitude of scarcity before. I’ll be interested to see what my thoughts and theories are once I’ve finished the book.

#4 I recently wrote a couple of entries for The Encyclopedia of Romance that an academic in America is busy compiling. Writing these intimidated me. A lot. I froze every time I sat down to work on them. That in itself was confronting as I have an automatic routine for my fiction writing. Want to know what helped me over the hurdle? The idea of “good enough.” I didn’t need to write something that would set the world on fire. I just had to write something that was good enough. I don’t know why this was so freeing, but it took a sledgehammer to perfectionism and for that I’m grateful.

#5 We’re into the third month of the year and I have yet to start the Yoga class I promised myself at the beginning of the year. I really want to do Yoga. I’ve found a reasonably priced class at a nearby Yoga school and a spot has been saved for me, but… It’s a 90-minute class. I’m not sure I can manage any form of exercise—other than walking—for 90 minutes. Is it crazy of me to want to get a bit fitter before I start the class?

#6 My favourite song at the moment is Hold Me Tight by Johnny Nash. No reason except that it’s catchy and makes me smile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYhRpbqe1Zg

So…do you have a random thought or two to share?

Michelle's Road Trip With the Eligible Bachelor is on the shelves now.