Creating Sparks and Sentences - and Happily Ever Afters

And Author News  My fingertips are flying across the keyboard once more as my stories take off, and I'm overjoyed to tell you that the first draft of A Dangerous Liaison is complete.  Now the edits begin, but not before I complete the editing for Friendship & Fun  which has been 'breathing' while I was writing.  It's a bit like being a baker, I guess. You fill the baking trays with tasty treats you've put together, then put them in the oven to bake and transform into delightful morsels while you return to mixing dough into magical goods again. The reason I mention baking is because I've been on a conveyor belt of feeding, discarding, and baking sourdough breads and I'm a bit at the end of my tether. They don't seem to rise enough, though the flavour is good. The last one I tried was olive sourdough and it’s delicious if a little flat.  Anyway, I've been sulking a bit and left the sourdough starter in my fridge to ruminate over it's flaws. I ...

Five Star Review Please join me in congratulating powerhouse author, Helen Aitchison, on her latest release, and five star read, Finding Arthur Whittle . Release date: 31 July 2026 Blurb: He thought he knew who he was. Then he read his mother's letter. For fifty-two years, Harry has known exactly who he is and where he belongs. Then his mam dies, and the letter she leaves behind takes it all away. The man who raised him, the dad he has loved his whole life, is not his biological father. Grieving the mother he has lost and reeling from a secret she kept his entire life, Harry sets out to find the stranger whose blood he shares. He has a name. He has a city. He has no idea what he's walking into. But the search gives him more than answers. Along the way Harry finds unexpected friendships, a little grace, and the beginnings of a question he never thought to ask: what really makes a family? A warm, funny and deeply moving novel about grief, forgiveness, and discovering that fa...

The reveal you’ve all been waiting for 🙌🏻🙌🏻 My cover designers and I have been working tirelessly on the perfect look for Friendship & Fun (and romance undone) , and I believe we’ve cracked it! What do you think? Let me know in a comment and I’ll pass your feedback on to my cover designers. My favourite aspect of the cover? The woman’s hand placement on the male’s cheek. Why? Because strong woman know what they want! This is the third and final novella in A Midlife Romcom series and is set to release late-2026, BUT, preorders will soon be available 🥳🥳 Friendship & Fun brings the whole finale to a close with the folks from fictional Pelican Cove village declaring their love, friendship and commitment to each other with their active community-strong, social shenanigans! The first two books in the series, Love & Laughter , and Marriage & Mayhem , form the perfect backdrop for later-in-life romance, forging friendships and finding one's place in society. With a ...

With a Sixties Queen I'm back in the land of Aus but I’m not the same person I was when I left. I had setbacks and delays before our holiday and now I know why. Timing is everything. Everything. I had no choice but to sit back and let the delays shape our days. And I am so glad I did. It meant that I got the unexpected delight of celebrating my 60th birthday with my family overseas. I was treated like a Sixties Queen!  It changed my perspective and segued me into my 60th era with confidence and flair.  My sister, brother-in-law, and mom get all the credit for creating an extraordinary birthday celebration for me! My actual celebration at home was spectacular too. After f our decades together , my husband never ceases to amaze me. He organised a Scavenger Hunt for the entirety of my birthday day, without any assistance. These were just  some of the clues: - After your husband, your second love I confess my first answer was coffee. Then chocolate. Then, dear reader, I reme...

And Book News 🎉🎉🎉  We have officially entered the month when I join the Sassy Seniors Circle ! I probably shouldn't be shouting this out for all the world to hear, but here we are 😆😄😄 Anyway, it's not for a couple more weeks yet, but I'm excited for the first of my 60th celebrations and wanted to share that excitement with you. I tend to celebrate birthday month so early parties are not unusual for me. I'm sure you're aware by now (if you've been following along; if not, 'Hi!'), that I'm currently holidaying with family overseas. And to be celebrating my 60th with my family, was definitely not something I foresaw at the beginning of this year. It was an unexpected, but not shocking, trip to South Africa that brought many blessings to us.  I'll be sharing cake and other treats under the trees for my first celebration and I couldn't think of a better way to begin my sixties. It's a time in life when I feel self-assured in exactly who ...

And now I have minty smelling toes And my shoes are still muddy.  I made the decision to buy white running shoes knowing the risks, which, incidentally, manifested themselves on my first walk. My white shoes were no longer white and no amount of scrubbing would make it so. But here’s the thing; I regret nothing! My muddy white shoes have shown me places of wonderment like a hidden birdwatch where we delighted in watching an array of birds eating, chirping and splashing about. Those shoes took me on a walk to visit a loved one across a park of healthy mud mounds created by happy earthworms! But now came the time to wear them to posher places - I’m overseas right now and packing shoes is tricky, so I opted for runners as casual attire, don’t judge me LOL, or do, whatever haha! But white shoes are not casual attire if they’re muddy.  So this is where the toothpaste came in. It’s white toothpaste and I thought it was a brilliant idea to clean my shoes with it. It was not. I now ha...

As if I needed more reason to love trees.   I mean, we all know trees technically grow books, and from books grow connections, bringing  readers together. Sure, there are e-readers and audio books, but I’d be surprised if there was anyone out there who’d never read a paper and print book they didn’t love. Surely? Even a text book; research papers; medical journals, if not a bona fide paperback. More than that; there are our book besties, book boyfriends, reading retreats - I mean, I could go on but you get the idea. You can’t have books without trees, and without books, we wouldn’t have any of the aforementioned. And that’s why I headed today’s article ‘ Trees, Books and Branching Out ’ because I just could not imagine a world without books. And trees. And the reading joy they create. Recently, I had a four-day round trip to nowhere. Ha! Sounds odd, I know, but I was delayed by something unexpected. I immediately sought refuge amongst the trees, and they did not disappoint. He...

  BOOK REVIEW:   Your Happier Life Toolbox How a Data-Driven Dad Cracked the Code on Happiness (And How You Can Too) By Billy Marshall    Today's blog post is a rare opportunity to shine a light on a book that may very well change how you think about life, love and the choices we make. I know it changed mine! My review reflects my own opinions, and I want to thank the author, Billy Marshall, for gifting me with an ecopy of  Your Happier Life Toolbox .    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐   5 stars from me     I'll begin my review with a quote from the book:   "Becoming happier is a journey we can all start today."   Simple, yet packs a punch. There's no urgency for immediacy; there's no unattainable expectation of utopia.  Just real and reachable reassurance for everyone.   That brings me to: What I loved about this book: What it promises, is a becoming, a starting, of journeying toward a better way of l...