Fiona Palmer, author of three lovely stories all set in rural Australia is my guest today. Her latest release ‘T

Thanks Helene for having me. I can’t wait to get my hands on Burning Lies. Why do they make us wait so long!! ( I feel your pain, Fee!!)

Today I thought I’d talk about my little 5 house town of Pingaring, especially since it featured in the Penguin Presents clip. I loved how the guys captured my little town with the sunsets and sunrise.  For me, this place is magical. Especially sunsets at the lake with the locals.

At the moment all the farmers are on their tractors seeding. You can hear them working in nearby paddocks, as you drive past you can smell the fresh turned earth. It always brings a smile to my face and I hope those seeds bring nice healthy crops for thefarmers.

Being a small town/community like Pingaring means we all have to pull together and volunteering is a big part of that. We had our Mothers Day Luncheon last week, which the golf club ladies hold every year to raise money.  At the moment there are 2 – 3 ladies who play golf. (I play hockey, but try golf when we have a bye) I am also the secretary for the golf club, so I try to get there as often as I can. We had nearly 80 ladies from around the district come for our Mothers Day lunch. A three course meal for $25. Bargain!

But with only around 4 ladies to do everything, with a couple of outside helpers, it was very busy. (On top of that, we all had to cook heaps of goodies for the cake stall)  It was a wonderful day and lots of money was raised.

But small communities need everyone’s help if we are to keep our clubs and events going.  It’s hard to progress a little town like ours when you can’t see a future.  For our town to grow we’d need more farmers back. So many have sold up, been brought out by their neighbour and left. So each year we keep shrinking.  We worry that we will lose our local shop next which is the hub of our community. It was bad enough when we lost our school and kids had to be sent to three different towns, so while people are in those bigger towns getting their kids they shop there.

I often think of ideas to try to help our town, but it would take a lot of effort and everyone is already so tired from years and years of volunteering. When I took over the job for golf a few years back, the previous lady had been doing it for seventeen years. I wonder if I’ll go close to that?! I also do the secretary job for our Progress Association. It’s lucky I work from home and can set my own hours.

Even though it may sound a little doom and gloom, I still love it here and don’t wish to move…ever. Besides, all these hard luck stories make great idea’s for my books.

Fee, it’s wonderful to hear there’s such community spirit in the district with Pingaring at the centre of it all. I often look down at the small towns as I fly over western Queensland and wonder about the people that live there.

You’ve given us some great insights into the multi-tasking that has to happen if the towns are going to function. And sounds like you wear many different hats!!!

I love the Penguin film – captures you and your books perfectly!

Thanks for visiting today

Find Fiona Palmer at www.fionapalmer.com

On twitter

And on Facebook

GW and I headed south out of Cairns on Friday night so I could conduct a writing course on behalf of the Queensland Writers Centre on Saturday.

The brand new Mission Beach Community Arts Centre hosted the day in their wonderful space. A big thank you to Peter who helped GW and myself set up the room. Sadly I couldn’t convince my brand new laptop to talk to their brand new data projector, but my old faithful macbook air was much more sociable so I was ready to go by 9.30 when the writers arrived.

The Mission Beach Arts Centre is a series of pods and we were in the central one in what’s essentially an open air room. I felt as though we were writing in the rainforest which added a wonderful earthy feel to the day. (Thankfully the rain did let up by mid-morning, but you can see the drops in the photos.)

Mission Beach has a vibrant visual arts community and it seems there are plenty of talented writers there as well. I enjoyed having writers who shared so generously, who offered opinions and gave everything a go.  As always when I teach I came away  feeling inspired and re-energised.

Thank you, ladies! We’ll have to do it again

Karly, welcome to my blog again. It seems like it was only a couple of months ago I was interviewing ‘Kate’ from North Star now we’re back celebrating the release of MORGAN’S LAW! Congratulations, you must be excited.

It’s so lovely to be back on your blog, Helene . Thank you for having me here again!!!I can hardly believe it! I swear I skipped a month or two somewhere along the line!

I thought we could discuss writing craft for this blog.  What was the genesis for Morgan’s Law?

The starting point for Morgan’s Law came about with a question. We were driving back from a trip through the north-west NSW/QLD area coming back a way we hadn’t been before so all the towns were different and new.

I found myself wondering wouldn’t it be weird if out of the blue one of your family, say your parents or grandparents, requested to be buried in some place that no one in the family had ever even been before? What if no one in the family had any idea why that person would want to be buried there? (ok, it may be that it was a realllllly long drive and I was semi- comatosed as I tried to block out the kids fighting in the back seat and whining about ‘how much further?’

But that was all it took… suddenly a plot began to form and by the time we arrived home a few days later, I had each chapter mapped out and a fair idea how it was going to end–also a new experience for me as I usually write by the seat of pants!

How wonderful that a road trip (fraught with all sorts of drama with children in the car!) could produce a story-line. It’s also fascinating that you’re evolving from a panster to a plotter. Once you sat down to write with your chapters mapped out how did you find the process compared with writing previous books?

Actually it was horrible! At one stage I wasn’t sure I could finish it! I think I was so over the story because I already knew what was going to happen…never again!!!!

Actually it wasn’t all bad… but I did have to resort to the good old butcher paper at one stage even though I’d worked out all the chapters… I suddenly realised the main character seemed to be eating a lot of breakfasts…I had to work out how many days she’d been in town…turned out she would have been there about 21 days!!!! just a tad more than the week she’d allowed originally at the start of the book!!

Lol, I had a tiny insight into that ‘bored with the ending’ with Shattered Sky. Eventually I deleted the ending I’d foolishly written early and just let it happen again… And butcher’s paper sounds like a great idea. I thought of using white board markers on the fridge, but a tiny test mark proved my story arc would be there for ever if I did!

As a character how well behaved was your hero? I take it he was a breakfast kind of guy or he’d never have hooked up with your heroine Did he have any quirks you discover along the way?

Adam Buchanan surprised me with his sense of humour.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Do you have the map? Maybe there’re some answers on that?”

“It’s just a rough sketch of the place she wants to be taken to. It’s pretty old, and I can’t read any names on it.”

“I can take a look at it if you like.”

Her spirits rose at his suggestion. “It’s upstairs in my room,” she said then instantly fought the urge to squirm in her seat uncomfortably as she caught his grin out of the side of her eye. “I’m not asking you to come up there.”

“I should hope not–what kind of a guy do you think I am? You might try and take advantage of me or something. I’ve heard about you big city girls.”

“You’re hilarious,” said Sarah, her tone belying her words.

“Why don’t you just go up and get it, and bring it back down here then?” he suggested.

Had the incident with Trent not just happened, that’s probably exactly what she’d have done, but she really didn’t feel like having an audience again tonight as she spread out the map on the small table down here. The rest of the bar would probably think she was on some kind of weird treasure hunt or something. “No, it’s all right. I’ll show it to you another time.”

He gave an offhand shrug. “No worries. I’ll be going away tomorrow for a week or so though.”

Great, she finally finds someone who might know where the stupid tree was and he wouldn’t be around to help. “Well, I guess if you haven’t got anything better to do, you could come up take a quick look.”

“I must be losin’ my touch. It never used to be this hard to get a woman to invite me upstairs.”

“Don’t push your luck, buddy.”

I do love a guy with a great sense of humour! I’m sure that was the appeal of characters like James Bond for me – particularly the Sean Connery variety – as he always had a witty comeback.

So how do you write dialogue? Does it flow easily? Do you read it aloud to check for clunky phrases? Where does the inspiration come from – listening in on conversations?

I try to write dialogue as I’d hear the characters saying it in person. It has to suit the characters, so if your character was a bit uptight and spoke like they had a stick up their butt- you’d probably use a lot of “I do not think so’s” as opposed to a more down to earth, character who would say the same sentence as “I don’t think so.” It can sometimes really jar you out of the book if something as basic as one little word like don’t is or isn’t used!

Sometimes I base whole scenes on a conversation I can hear my characters having. I love dialogue- it’s such a great way to bring out your characters and give the reader some insight into what makes them tick.

The thing I love about writing dialogue is you can make your characters say all the things YOU wish you could think of fast enough to say in real life! Ever had one of those conversations/arguments where you walk away and think of a thousand other things you could have said but didn’t think of at the time?! I hate that!!! Which is why I take great pleasure in having my characters come up with the kinda quick replies I wish I could have!

Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!! I gave Lauren in Shattered Sky as many smart mouth replies I could! I’m always walking away from frank discussion thinking, ‘Damn, why didn’t I say…’ You do fine dialogue. I have to admit the last page in North Star made me laugh outright – still does! And for those who haven’t read it, I’m going to leave you hanging. You’ll just have to go and buy a copy

So moving right along to sex. Bedroom door shut or open for your characters? And what aspects do you find difficult to write? Or does it roll off your finger-tips?

I’ve been prodded the odd time or two by my editor to give the readers a bit more… actually in the edits for Morgan’s Law, her exact words were….Call me an old perv, Karly, but I think you can make this scene work harder than this!
Well! Alrighty then!

I’m not sure if Adam appreciated having to work a hell of a lot harder in the bedroom or not, but the scene did end up quite a bit hotter than the first draft!

It really depends on my characters as to how I approach the sex scenes. Sometimes the actual sex scene can reveal quite a bit about a character…to allow the reader into the room is more than just a perv-fest- it’s an opportunity to see how your character deals with an emotion or a situation and hopefully it gives an insight into who they are…ok, and maybe there’s a bit of a perv-fest too!!!!

Ok, ok,  I’m wiping tears from my eyes at the thought of Adam looking over his shoulder at you and saying, ‘Is this hard enough?’ while Sarah sighs and looks at the ceiling…

So to finish up our chat, how do you approach editing once the first draft is down?

Okay, so up front I should probably make it clear that editing and I tolerate each other–barely. With most of my other books, because I’d written them either before or very early on after becoming published-I had the luxury of putting them away and dragging them back out at some later point and re-reading/editing.

Morgan’s Law, however, was the first of the new stuff I’d written and I pretty much knocked this one out, showed Allen & Unwin what I had and they sent it back with a editorial report. So I did the majority of my editing at that stage, looking at what they didn’t think flowed or needed more detail.

I look at the books I’d written earlier, before I’d been published and  some of them, the entire story line had changed from the original version. I can remember tweaking and editing for months and months before I’d send anything away. Now days, there’s a time limit. I don’t think you have that luxury/safety net of dithering over your MS for too long, so you kind of have to make sure it’s pretty strong even at the first draft stage. Which is not to say, my first drafts would be anything I’d want everyone to see–I’m just incredibly lucky to have an amazing team behind me who make sure my book is the best it can be.

Karly, thanks so much for dropping by to chat today. I’m looking forward to catching up with you at the RWA conference this year on the Romantic Suspense Panel on Saturday. Any suggestion, guys, for questions you’d like to hear us discuss on the panel?? Love to hear your thoughts!

Karly Lane

Author of Australian rural fiction.

Family secrets, lies, love and laughter.

Grab a cuppa, curl up and lose yourself in stories
as vast and unique as the land we live in.

Visit my web site at karlylane.com

Follow me on FB or twitter

Morgan’s Law

High flying advertising executive, Sarah Murphy, heads to a small town to fulfil a mysterious last wish of her late grandmother. Her journey leads her to love and greater understanding of both herself and her grandmother.

When Sarah Murphy returns to Australia she desperately needs a break from her high-powered London life. And though mystified by her grandmother’s dying wish for her ashes to be scattered under ‘the wishing tree’ on the banks of the Negallan River, she sets out to do just that.

While searching for the wishing tree, Sarah stays in the small township of Negallan. It’s there that she finally has some time to relax and unwind, there that she finds herself drawn to a handsome local farmer, and there that she discovers her enquiries about her grandmother are causing disquiet within the powerful local Morgan family.
Will the Morgans prevent Sarah from discovering the truth about her grandmother? And should she risk her glittering career in the UK for a simpler existence in the country, and the possibility of true love?
By the bestselling author of North Star, Morgan’s Law takes you on a compelling journey into a young woman’s hopes and dreams.

Shattered Sky has made it to the short list for the RWA’s Romantic Book of the Year award. I’m in the ‘with romantic elements’ category. Congrats to my fellow finalists Anna Jacobs, Nicola Marsh and June Loves. What a wonderful diverse cross section of romance novels!

Now it’s back to work for me with a smile on my face

My guest today is Cathryn Hein, a fellow Penguin Australia author, who has the delicious Friday Feast blog which is on my ‘never miss list.’

Her second novel, HEART OF THE VALLEY, has just been released and I’m looking forward to curling up with it soon. Please welcome Cathryn.

Hi Helene, and thanks so much for inviting me on your blog. There are always so many interesting things going on here!

I’m also thrilled to talk about what inspired me to write my latest rural romance, HEART OF THE VALLEY. To tell you the truth, this book is a bit of a love letter…

A Story from the Heart

The Hunter Valley. Even the name sounds romantic. And it is a romantic place, with gorgeous vineyards, spectacular hills, luxurious thoroughbred studs, bucolic dairy farms and a river that courses like a vein through the landscape, bringing fertility and life.

But my first experience of the Hunter was far from romantic. I’d been living in Melbourne, having moved there after I finished my agriculture degree to work for a pasture and turf seed company. Then I met Jim and fell in love and all was going wonderfully until we found out he was being transferred to New South Wales. I had to make a decision – stay or leave. Well, I wasn’t about to let that man slip through my fingers and an offer of employment from another pasture seed company simply sealed it: I was heading to the Hunter.

The day we left Melbourne in our little two-car convoy happened to coincide with raging fires breaking out around the Hunter, Blue Mountains and Sydney. All along the Hume Highway we heard reports of road closures and devastation. By the time we reached Picton, the F3 – the major artery connecting Sydney with Newcastle and north – was closed and unlikely to open anytime soon. We camped for the night, along with many other stranded travellers, in a tired-looking motel, wondering how the hell we were going to make it to our destination and hoping like crazy the road would open.

Morning came. The freeway and Putty Road remained closed. With no choice left but to make the long journey inland and around, we took off in the stinking January heat, eventually connecting with some obscure gravel road that took us over the mountains and to the very top of the Valley, finally descending onto the vineyard lined flats around Sandy Hollow.

As we headed down the Valley I didn’t notice the gorgeous scenery, the beautiful properties and fat livestock. I was exhausted after the nerve-wracking drive, the stress of leaving the familiar, of being far from my family and a land I knew and loved. All I saw was the filthy, churning dark sky, which worsened the closer we came to Newcastle’s then heavy industrial landscape. Everything inside me screamed to turn around and go home.

But I didn’t. I stayed and I was lucky enough to enjoy a job that enabled me to spend a lot of time in the Valley, driving around to the rural stores, visiting properties, talking to the warm, hard-working people that provide this region with so much of its character. And I fell in love again. Not with a person this time, but a place. An enchanting place that digs into your heart and lodges there, never to be removed.

So it’s no wonder I wrote about it. My new release, Heart of the Valley, is more than my characters’ love story. It’s my dedication to the Hunter. A place of true romance.

How wonderful, Cathryn, to have such a strong connection with a place. When we first moved to Cairns it was going to be for two years at the max. Somehow it burrowed its way deep into our hearts and I can’t imagine living anywhere else now.

So over to you, my friends. We’d love to hear if you have a special place that snuck up on you and is now very dear to you. Leave a comment to go into the running for a signed copy of HEART OF THE VALLEY (open to Australian residents only). We’ll announce the winner Monday 14th May.

HEART OF THE VALLEY

Brooke Kingston is smart, capable and strongwilled – some might even say stubborn – and lives in thebeautiful Hunter Valley on her family property. More at home on horseback than in heels, her life revolves around her beloved ‘boys’ – showjumpers Poddy, Oddy and Sod.

Then a tragic accident leaves Brooke a mess. Newcomer Lachie Cambridge is hired to manage the farm, and Brooke finds herself out of a job and out of luck. But she won’t go without a fight.

What she doesn’t expect is Lachie himself – a handsome, gentle giant with a will to match her own. But with every day that Lachie stays, Brooke’s future on the farm is more uncertain. Will she be forced to choose between her home and the man she’s falling for?

A vivid, moving and passionate story of love and redemption from the author of Promises.

If you would like to learn more about Cathryn and her love of rural romance, as well as more about her debut novel, PROMISES, please visit her website.

You can also connect via her blog, Twitter and Facebook.

And don’t just take my word on how wonderfully Cathryn writes. Check out these great reviews!

The Australian Bookshelf.  http://australianbookshelf.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/aussie-book-review-heart-of-the-valley-by-cathryn-hein/

“The Heart of the Valley is quite a moving love story about passionate, strong characters who are vulnerable in their own ways. A lovely addition to the rural romance genre in Australia. I will definitely be checking out Cathryn Hein’s first novel, Promises.”

Beauty and Lace Magazine. http://bookgirl.beautyandlace.net/book-review-heart-of-the-valley

“The tenderness, the horror, the love, the underlying emotions not discussed, the beautiful scenery. It all comes together beautifully…”

The West Magazine

“…there’s something wonderfully absorbing about a rough and ready country yarn heavy with heartache, which weaves in complex family relationships, our gorgeous environment and a bit of raunchy rainstorm sex. Yee ha!”

I have an end of May deadline for my next book on top of an already busy month with two library visits and a QWC writing course to run in Mission Beach, but still I go and buy irresistible books!! (And over the next month these three lovely authors, and Fiona Palmer, are visiting my blog to chat writing and all things rural!)

I doubt that my self-control will hold out for four weeks so I guess I have a couple of late nights coming my way

Surely I can’t be the only writer that does this to themselves…

I love the dramatic colours and the contrasts. What do you think?

Tanya Sarianti is an award winning artist who also happens to paint beautiful ceramics. She recently moved to Brisbane and her art is now available in the Valley at in.cube8r gallery at 368 Brunswick St. If you’re looking for a completely original gift for mother’s day this should be your first stop. And if ceramics aren’t your thing then the gallery has a feast of other wonderful art works by a multitude of Australian artists.

For those of you in Cairns, Underart Gallery stock Tanya’s work and Iefje Boissevain, the gallery owner, showcases even more wonderful artists so no shortage of ideas there either!

Since The Australian Women Writers Challenge has been such a powerful force in bringing recognition to a host of Australian writers I’ve decided to spread the love. Know any talented Australian artists you’d like to recommend?

I slip out of bed leaving GW asleep. Zeus isn’t happy at being left behind.

The beachfront is already crowded – ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Trinity Beach is special. As we listen to a visiting French Naval Officer talk of the courage shown at Gallipoli the sky turns pink.

The Last Post hangs in the air long after the final note.

Lest we forget.

What’s the weather like with you?