It's All About Me, People! :-)

Today I thought I’d paint you a visual picture of me and my day-to-day life. Don’t expect my writer/mum/wife everyday world to be on-the-edge-of-your-seat exciting, or to involve copious episodes of me draping over a chaise lounge with a box of expensive chocolates waiting for the muse to float down onto my shoulder. As one of my favorite authors, Stephen King once remarked: “Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” I’ll take the chocolate thanks, but if I waited for the muse to arrive before I wrote, I’d have a lot more grey hairs than I do now.

I grew up in a small suburb of Wellington called Island Bay. Island Bay is called ‘Island Bay’ because of Tapu Te Ranga Island that sits, well, in the bay! After a decade or so living in the Far North of New Zealand, our family moved back to Island Bay to care for my elderly parents. I have strong roots here and I love this community. It’s very different from the Far North, but to me, it’ll always be home.

So my weekdays look pretty much like this: After ferrying the kids off to school and my husband off to work each morning,I BOCHOK (BOCHOK translation: Butt On Chair, Hands On Keyboard). Here’s my office desk and we have a geriatric tabby cat, J.J, (she’s about 18 years old now) who keeps me company while I write. Unfortunately she snores, but what can youdo? And I often wonder if J.J dreams about the two white doves that arrived at our house a month after my mum passed away earlier in the year, and have neverleft.

Writing (or pretending to write and staring at a blank screen instead) keeps me busy most of the morning and into the early afternoon. On some mornings I sneak off with friends to one of the local cafés for an Americano – yum. Let me tell you a funny little story about Americanos.Once at a small town somewhere in the middle of New Zealand (I won’t say where) my husband ordered an Americano, and the young guy at the counter (who was obviously not a barista) gave him a blank look and said, “Er, I don’t think I've got the right beans for that.”

I digress. Afternoons on a fine day are perfect for a stroll down to the local park (the very same one I used to play in as a child), past my church on the way, and then a walk along the beach, with it’s amazing view of Tapu Te Ranga, the fishing boats and the Ferries sailing to Picton. Quite often we catch a breathtaking view of the Kaikoura ranges in the South Island.

If the weather’s not so great, it may be a trip up to the local library (where I am very familiar to most of the friendly and knowledgeable librarians) and the temptation of walking past the Opportunity shop to check if any new second hand books have been donated. And if I've been really, really good keeping up with my daily writing goals, there's always our own little boutique cinema!

Lastly, two to three times a week I make the fifteen minute drive around the southern coastline to pick my daughter up from school and then a wait outside my teenage son’s college to collect him (and one or more friends) and bring them all home – a rather noisy and boisterous experience!

Evenings are for family and the ever-present homework that needs supervising. And then, once that’s out the way, it’s time to curl up with a good book – here’s just a couple of my bookshelves!

What I’m reading this week: Lucky in Love – Jill Shalvis. This is the first in the Chocoholics trilogy of Lucky Harbor books, and with a hotter-than-hot ex SEAL hero, and a totally identifiable heroine (who happens to love chocolate!), this is a fantastic read.

What I’m watching this week: Old reruns of MacGyver. Don't ask me to explain. :-)

This week’s favorite quote:Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. ~ Gene Fowler

Hot guy of the week: My very own darling husband, Fred!

Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There (Florida Everglades)

Welcome to my Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There Blog.
Today I’m taking a trip to the hot, sultry swamps of the Florida Everglades and the morning we spent at the Everglades Alligator Farm.

Highlights:

Alligator show. Jeremy, the one-man Alligator wrangler running the show, was a hard case—but I guess you have to be when it’s your job to drag a pissed off, 200+kg reptile by its tail into a tiny arena. He demonstrated about the power of the Alligator’s jaw and then sat on and held one’s jaw shut with his chin. We then got to hold and pat a tiny edition of the 200+kg momma version, which was pretty cool.

Airboat ride into the Florida Everglades. This was an exhilarating (but very LOUD) experience, and the four of us had a blast. Me, being me, chose to sit on the outside edge so my then six-year-old daughter would be safe—and guess who got soaked to the skin when the airboat controller dude performed a couple of 360 degree spins. Yup. Right down to my knickers. The family thought this was hilarious. On a less thrilling note, we saw quite a few wild gators, some cute turtles and a couple of beautiful white Egrets. I loved the sign we spotted on one of the banks also.

Alligator feeding. I have no idea who the dude was feeding rats to these truly enormous gators, but boy, that guy has balls of steel. Anyone would think from the casual way he wandering among these creatures that he was dishing out dog treats to a group of geriatric, half-blind, toothless golden Labrador retrievers…

Snake show. Taken again by Jeremy, who obviously has a serious thing for reptiles, we learned about the four venomous snakes in Florida (the Rattlesnake, Coral snake, Copperhead and the Cottonmouth). He then asked a volunteer—my ten year old son Joshua— to put his hand into a pillowcase and pick up a snake which he said was one of the four venomous kinds previously mentioned. Of course we knew he was joking, but Joshua didn't, yet he showed no hesitation plunging his arm into the pillowcase and picking the snake up! After Joshua had been holding the snake for a minute, Jeremy let him off the hook by telling him it was a harmless Pine snake. He then called for another volunteer and chose a little 6 year old boy from the audience who said he didn't like snakes—can you guess where he was going with this…? Jeremy got him to touch this tiny python, and asked if he was brave enough to hold the snake. The boy put his hand out for it, but Jeremy said he had another snake for him to hold, and made him shut his eyes—while he grabbed this 2 meter python and then draped it across his shoulders! But this was a brave little kid, and although he looked terrified he didn't freak out—though I wonder if the boy is still scared of snakes after Jeremy coiled the creature around the boy’s neck, and made jokes about how the python wasn't hungry as it had eaten a kid the day before. Later we had an opportunity to hold the same python. Both Joshua and I were happy to, but the look on my husband’s face (he’s deathly afraid of snakes) was a testament to his bravery.

Well, that was a fun trip down to the Everglades, but I’m kinda glad that New Zealand doesn’t have Alligators and snakes to contend with.

Tracey

Top 5 Favourite Fictional Heroes

I've fallen a little in love with the heroes in many, many romance books, thanks to the author’s skill at depicting such larger-than-life men. Here’s my top 5 list of fictional heroes I just can’t forget—and to be fair, in no particular order. 

1. Jamie Fraser, from Diana Gabaldon’s ‘Outlander’ series. Red-haired guys don’t often ring my bell, but Jamie Fraser is hot. Passionate, funny, self-sacrificing, tortured by his past and loyal, Diana Gabaldon had me hooked from the first. The other fascinating thing with Diana’s wildly popular series, is we get to watch Jamie Fraser transition from slightly awkward young man, into the middle-aged father of an adult daughter. Now in theory, this shouldn’t be interesting or sexy to read about, but Ms. Gabaldon pulls it off beautifully, and there’s some really red-hot monogamy going on in these books!

2. Roarke, from Nora Robert’s ‘In Death’ series. Black hair, blue eyes, and an O.M.G so-sexy Irish accent. He’s a slick, successful businessman who owns half the universe (according to his wife, Eve) and yet he has an edge, a not-so-perfectness that appeals to me. He would also do anything, anything for his wife. Very cool.

3. Raphael, from Nalini Singh’s ‘Archangel’ series. Raphael’s a seriously scary Alpha male. Cold, beautiful, emotionally remote, he at first chills then fascinates the reader as we catch glimpses of humanity in his actions, and the strong and never-felt-before emotions he develops for the heroine, Elena.

4. Jack Reacher, from Lee Child’s series of thrillers. Tall, built, slightly feral and ex-military. Yeah, I know it’s not romance, but Jack Reacher is hot—and he should totally star in a romance. I’d love to see the sparks fly if he found a woman that could make him think about settling down. BTW, my two cents worth? Tom Cruise is NOT suitable to play Jack Reacher.

5. Stu Redman, from Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’. Again, this book is definitely not a romance, but the love story between Stu and Frannie has made ‘The Stand’ one of my all-time favorite books ever. Stu is authentic, down-to-earth, brave, and tall/dark/rugged—the kind of man I wouldn’t mind getting caught in the apocalypse with.

I’d love to hear who your top favorite top fictional heroes are. :)

Tracey

What I’m reading this week: Warm Bodies – Isaac Martin. Part zombie, part love story, and a dose of black humour—this is a fabulous read.

What I'm watching this week: Natural World: Tiger - Spy in the Jungle. O.M.G I want a tiger cub, pretty please...

This week’s favorite quote: "Show me a man or a woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society'. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they'll reinvent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of His opposite number, and is always trying to get back home." ~ Glen Bateman, The Stand – by Stephen King.

Hot guy of the week: Not often you find a sexy red-headed man, but Kevin McKidd fits the description.

Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There (New York Part 2)

Welcometo my Friday I-Wish-I-Were-There Blog.

We loved New York so much we had to go back for a second visit to try and cram in all the things we missed the first time around.

Highlights.

New York traffic – if my husband and I can work together to navigate and drive us through rush hour traffic in New Jersey, Manhatten and Queens, then we can get through any crisis!

Being on the morning show 'The Early Show' on CBS. While queuing for Shrek tickets in Times Square we were approached by a nice young man wanting to know if we’d be interested in being part of the live audience on ‘The Early Show’ which is filmed in a studio near Central Park. Of course we said ‘Yes’ – and then found afterwards that we had to be at the location at 7am. Getting up at 5.45am to catch the subway from our hotel in Queens, not a problem… We still got a kick out of the whole experience and catching a brief glimpse of a real TV studio.

Broadway show. The four of us went to see ‘Shrek’, because two of the four of us were under the age of 12—but we ended up having a wonderful time, and Shrek was fantabulous!

Empire State Building. While not exactly a ‘highlight’, the views at dusk were beautiful. Pity the experience of getting said view made us feel like a cross between criminals and lambs led to the slaughter. While freezing our butts off in the outdoor observatory, my husband gave my then nine-year-old daughter with sore feet a piggy-back ride, only to be told by a security guard he couldn't do that as it was 'dangerous' and that 'she may fall off the ledge'. Hellooo, Mr. Security Guard? The fence is over 8 feet tall and curved inward, how the HECK is she going to fall off the building?? We couldn't even throw her over the fence if we tried.

Museum of Natural History. Tour guide, Irene, made our highlights tour here so worthwhile, and the expressions on the kid’s faces getting to hold petrified dinosaur poop? Priceless.

Central park horse and carriage ride. After a long, cold walk part way through Central Park trying to find ‘The Castle’, (which we couldn’t), we gave up and had a lovely ride through the park at dusk, complete with Irish-accented driver, and lovely, snuggly blankets.

The Stardust Diner. This diner was a blast! The food wasn’t the greatest, but what fun listening to the staff belt out hits like ‘Girl’s just wanna have fun’ and ‘New York, New York’!

NYPD. I have a fascination with men in uniform, I confess. So I took any opportunity to get a photo with them, or shove my kids in front of them.

Grand Central Station. We have kids that loved the movie, ‘Madagascar’. And no, we didn’t spot a lion, zebra, hippo or a hypochondriac giraffe. Would’ve been cool though. *sigh*

Our last night in New York was drizzly and cold, and my footsteps were heavy as I took one last, lingering look at the iconic Empire State building before heading down into the subway. And I finally get what Billy Joel was singing about when he blew off Miami Beach and Hollywood in favor of the Big Apple. 
I’m in a New York state of mind too.

Tracey