Anne Gracie's Blog

As promised, here is a collection of photos I took at the RWA  — mainly of the costume cocktail party that traditionally kicks off the conference. I wrote about the conference on the WordWenches Blog, so rather than repeat myself, you can read it here.

Tasmania is an island — comparable in size to US states West Virginia or South Carolina, and around the same size as Scotland,  Ireland, Switzerland, and Belgium.

(It’s affectionately known as Tassie — pronounced Tazzie.)

Flying in, I was glued to my window and taking snaps of all the water views.

The hotel where the conference was held overlooked the large bay on which Hobart is situated.

We were very lucky with glorious sunny weather, though when you stepped outside the wind was bitter, coming direct from Antarctica. But the views were gorgeous, sparkling water with yachts heading out for a day of sailing. Here’s one from my breakfast table.

And below is the view from my window at dawn. I never sleep well at conference — too many thoughts whizzing around my brain — so I was generally wide awake at dawn, and enjoyed the view coming to life in the rosy light of sunrise.

I described the program on the WordWenches site, so if you’re interested in that aspect of things, click here.

And now, onto photos of  the costume cocktail party.

One of my favorite costumes was this one of a white witch with a beautiful ‘Harry Potter” type  white owl, that could turn its head and look at you. The full length photo is on the Wench site,  but you can’t see the gorgeous hat there. Isn’t is lovely? I confess, I have a fondness for hats. And owls.

Here I am with author Alyssa Montgomery. The theme for the cocktail party was “Writer Wonderland” but the theme for the conference was “A Winter Wonderland” and many of us thought that was the cocktail party theme as well. Clearly I was one of them — my spotty top is meant to be snow, and that “hat” is actually a length of icy-looking Christmas tinsel wound around my head and every bit of crystal jewlry I could find. I decided my usual “trademark” feather boa would be too hot, but it still got used. Scroll down to see how.

And if you’re wondering why I’m wearing sunglasses — and no, I wasn’t attempting to look like a pop star in disguise or some gangland villain. *g* They’re my long-distance driving glasses and I accidentally left the clear ones at home. They were great for the bright sunshine outside and at breakfast, but I also needed them to see across a large room clearly, and also to read the subtitles on the panels and keynote speeches — see the photo below — and  to read the screens in workshops.

And if you’re wondering how my feather boa got used, you can see it here worn by my friend Janet Gover, an Australian who lives in the UK, and is friends with some of my UK writing friends. She didn’t have a costume — though that silk top of hers is gorgeous — and happily wound the white boa around her head, this being “snow.”

Georgia Moore made the costume below, and I thought it was brilliant.

Tracy Brenton (below) was the Queen of Hearts.

Here I am with guest speaker , historical author from the USA, Sarah MacLean. This wasn’t at the cocktail party, but after her excellent keynote speech.

Here is Maryanne Ross, also a Queen of Hearts ‚ but you can’t have too many of those at a romance writing conference, can you?.

Below is Erica Hayes, and to be honest I’m not sure what her costume was — a scarecrow maybe? Any suggestions? Erica writes  fab, very original  paranormals.

Below is Leisl Leighton, who always has a great costume with wonderful makeup. Her skin this time was shimmery blue.

And finally, here is Milly after I got home and collected her from the kennels. She loves it there and they put her in with another dog and they play and play and play. So when she gets home, she sniffes every corner of the house and yard, and then, because she’s all tuckered out, she goes “thunk” for the rest of the day.

The Romance Writers of Australia annual conference always kicks off with a costume cocktail party on the Friday night (after a day of workshops by the visiting overseas authors.)

When I first joined RWAust, it was called the “Meet the Authors” cocktail party and was a very sedate affair. There weren’t many published authors back then — maybe 20 who attended, and they’d all chat to each other while the unpublished writers more or less looked on and talked among themselves. I blogged about it here. 

Me as Dame Barbara Cartland.

Then in 2002 the conference was in a historic hotel in Melbourne, and we decided to make it a “Retro” costume affair. There were a lot of complaints from people on the loops — “I don’t like costume affairs,” “I don’t know what to wear”, etc — and I, who had run the costume cupboards in my high school, realized that people needed to be led /encouraged.

So I sent an email to the loop saying “Dress up, ya wimps!” (yes. I could have been more tactful) and basically said people could wear any retro historical outfit they liked, or at the very least they could buy a feather boa and wear that, and be in the spirit of things.

I even drove a group of authors into the city so they could buy feather boas a good half hour before the cocktail party started. It worked, a heap of people came with boas, and since then the costumes have got more fabulous and fun and the majority of people dress up — though it’s no problem if they don’t.

Me in a “glittery” costume — the theme that year was “Glitter.”

 

 

Since then, I have always worn a feather boa in some fashion. They get a bit hot and prickly when worn around the nck so I generally make some kind of silly headdress with a boa — it’s dead easy: I just wind a boa around my head, tuck the ends in, and voila! It’s done.

The hotel in Hobart has a display of fabulous feathery cabaret costumes. My breakfast friend showed me where the display was, and of course I couldn’t resist taking the photos below.

 

I’ll post photos of this year’s cocktail party costumes in a day or two.

 I’m in Hobart now for the annual conference of Romance Writers of Australia.  Hobart is the capital city of the state of Tasmania. It’s one of the oldest cities in Australia — the second colony to be established by the British, and was a penal settlement (for convicts), as was Sydney (NSW), Brisbane (Queensland) and Perth (Western Australia). Adelaide and Melbourne were free settlements.

Hobart is a lovely small city, set around a bay with hills forming a kind of ring in the background. It reminds me of a smaller version of Vancouver, with the hills not as dramatic as Vancouver’s.  The older buildings are built of bluestone, and very attractive, and the gardens are lovely.

Spring is beginning here and on the way to the hotel in the taxi, I saw one of the biggest, oldest magnolias I’d ever seen in full bloom. It’s the kind that has masses of pink blooms and have a sweet perfume that has a hint of lemon — just glorious.
The one in the photo is not the one I saw — I just included it so you’d know which sort of magnolia I meant.

The flight from Melbourne was very smooth—it only takes an hour. My room wasn’t ready so I went for lunch — calamari (squid) and salad, which was delicious. And once I got into my room, this was the view. I could have paid extra for an ocean view, but decided it wasn’t worth it as at conferences, I’m really only in the room at night, or for a quick change of clothes in the daytime. So this is a “mountain view” room — the big hill you can see is called Mount Wellington.

At night the hills are a sea of twinkling lights shining through the trees, like earth-bound stars — very pretty, but I couldn’t get a good photo of it. But this was the view from my bed at sunsise — looks so cosy, doesn’t it, but it was 3 degrees (38 F) outside.

But hotels protect you from the weather, so I had to go outside for a dose of brilliant sunshine and a breath of freezing, clean, bracing air.

I met a UK friend for breakfast, and we were interrupted numerous times by others who’ve also come for the conference, which starts tonight (Thursday) with a party for Harlequin authors. It’s always lovely, meeting up with people you haven’t seen for a year or more. So the excitement is building. I’ll tell you more about the conference in the next post.

My silver princess (eucalyptus caesia) is flowering. 

It’s a beautiful bright splash of color on a wintry grey day. The rainbow lorikeets (small, colourful, noisy parrots) and other birds love the blossoms too and gather in the branches, feasting and chattering and squawking.

I love this tree, with its weeping habit, its dark shaggy bark at the base, silvery branches higher up, and every stage of the flowering process is beautiful, from the delicate pink buds, to the red flowers, and finally, the silver gum nuts.

The photo below is one I took last year and it shows the buds as well as the flowers.

And below that is a photo of the silver gum-nuts that remain when the flowering is over.

 

I sometimes cut them off and leave them on the nature strip (grass strip) in front of the house, and they always disappear fast.  People collect them for dried arrangements. They also make beautiful natural Christmas decorations.

When I was young, around 18 or 19, I went with a friend to back-pack around the island of Tasmania (also known as Tassie, pronounced Tazzie). We were students at university, and it was our first “solo” holiday. We carried everything on our backs, and stayed in YHA Youth Hostels, of which Tassie had plenty, more or less circling the island. Tasmania is beautiful, with stunning wild places, many of which were accessible to us.

Photo by justin-clark-on-unsplash

The youth hostels were cheap and well run — everyone was given daily chores — and in excellent locations.

We went to Tassie by ferry from Melbourne, disembarking in Devonport. We travelled aound the island by various means — postal vans, an occasional bus, but mainly we hitched lifts (though we never told our parents that.)

As it turned out, a lot of other young people were doing the same thing, and we often met up with the same people at each hostel.

We got pally with a couple of boys, a few years older than us — they had real jobs — and were mad-keen hikers and bushwalkers.

Tassie is such a beautiful place, and we had a wonderful time, doing lots of bushwalking and exploring — not with the boys, who tended to turn every walk into a race — but just enjoying the scenery, much of which is wild, pristine and absolutely stunning.

Photo by Tim Lippis on Unsplash

When we got to Hobart (the state capital) the boys were dead keen to go to the Wrest Point Casino. It was the first legal casino in Australia, and hadn’t been open very long, so it was still a novelty. My friend and I weren’t interested, but the boys were. The problem was, the casino had a strict dress code — smart casual wear: no jeans, a jacket, collared shirt and tie for men, and no sports shoes or runners. No backpacker was travelling with that sort of clothing.

The hostel, having faced this issue before, had laid in a stack of used jackets, pants, ties and so on for people to borrow. The boys got dressed up, but the trouble was, there was only one tie left. What to do? 

My hasty imitation tie

 

 

 

 

I whipped out a clean pair of navy blue tights and looped it around the tie-less boy’s neck, tucking the waist part under his collar and jacket. I tied the legs in a Windsor Knot (years of school uniforms with ties had made me an expert) and he tucked the feet into his waistband.

It looked surprisingly okay — see this photo, which I took this morning — though he was pretty dubious about it and half expected not to be allowed in. So off they went.

Next morning we saw them at breakfast and the first thing he said to me was “It worked!” and we all laughed.

And if you’re wondering why I’m telling you this story, the upcoming Romance Writers of Australia is being held at the Wrest Point Casino in Hobart, so of course I remembered the story of the tie-that-wasn’t. I never did visit that Casino — or any other— but I will have to now, though I won’t be gambling.

I checked, and the casino still has a dress code, though not quite as strict. I did laugh at the rule that all visitors must wear shoes. Tassie is the southernmost part of Australia — next stop Antarctica — and it’s cold, so I can’t imagine not wearing shoes, but clearly some people need to be told.

But if you ever get to Tasmania, skip the casino and head for the beautiful wild countryside and the gorgeous  coastal areas.  (That’s Cradle Mountain in the background — a bushwalker’s delight.)

The e-book of THE PERFECT RAKE is on sale via BookBub for less than $2. Find it on the usual e-book sites. The sale finishes on 11th August, so be quick. (For some reason the books2read link didn’t pick up everywhere — sorry — but the books are on special at all the e-book retailers.)

THE PERFECT RAKE stars Gideon, who is a reader favorite hero. Here’s a snippet:

“I would appreciate it if you would stop… stop… ogling me like that,” Prudence hissed, tugging her very modest neckline higher. “It is very embarrassing.” She folded her arms defensively across her breasts.Gideon tried to look contrite. “It wasn’t me,” he confessed. “It was my eyes. They are bold and easily led and have no sense of propriety.”            

I’ve just sent out my monthly newsletter with this announcement.
After 20 years of being published by Berkley, we’ve parted ways.

There are several reasons for this. First is that Berkley and most of the large US publishers and book distributors are moving away from mass market paperbacks (MMPB) — which is how my books were published. They’re dropping MMPBs and publishing the larger and more expensive Trade Paperback size.

Mass market paperbacks are around 4.25 x 6.87 inches  whereas trade paperbacks are larger, ranging from 5 x 8 inches to 6 x 9 inches.  (See the pic on the right)

Secondly, the market for historical romances has been dropping, and as my editor told my agent: “Historical romance is just too tough right now. We wouldn’t be able to publish in mass market and trade historical romances are very challenging these days.”

I’m by no means the only historical romance author who has been let go. In the next year or two, you might notice some of them changing genres, writing historical romance with magic or witches, or romantasy, crime, or contemporary romance.  If you want to know more about the demise of historicals and mass market paperback, read this article.

I might have tried changing genres too, except I didn’t want to. While I like reading fantasy and crime and contemporary romance, I’m still enjoying writing my own style of historical romances, and so my plan is to keep writing, and self-publish them.

My agent did ask if I wanted to try other publishers, but I’ve decided to go it alone. Having already successfully self-published three novellas, I know I can do it. I originally dipped my toe into self-publishing because I was curious about the process and knew lots of people doing it. So that turned out to be a lucky decision I made back then.

So that’s it — a new path for me. I will continue writing, and will publish my stories as e-books and paperbacks. I very much hope you will all continue to support me.

I’m Still Writing.
Even though my publisher has let me go, I’m still writing, and in fact, as regular readers of this blog will know,  I’m half way through writing Marcus’s story. He’s the last hero of the Devil Riders series, the Earl of Alverleigh, and the eldest of the Renfrew brothers.

I’ve had literally hundreds of emails from people asking for his story — and my responses have generally included this explanation.  Now that I’m out of contract with Berkley, I’m able to write his story at the length it deserves.  So stay tuned. . .

I’ve been making a necklace for a friend to wear at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference, which is coming up in a couple of weeks, It’s in Hobart, Tasmania. Our conferences always kick off with a costume cocktail party on the Friday night and this year the theme is “A Winter Wonderland.” because it’s winter here, and Tassie (pronounced Tazzie) is the coldest state in Australia — if you kept going south, the next stop would be Antacrtica.

My friend doesn’t generally dress up in costume, but I accidentally bought a pile of these glittery dark crystal beads on-line. I clicked on 1, expecting one string of beads, but it was also a wholesale store, and what I had unknowingly ordered was one lot of ten strings! So I have rather a lot of these glittery dark crystal beads

So, with her agreement— really I pushed her into saying yes — I’m making her a necklace and earrings so that she can wear them at the cocktail party and look minimally costumed up.

And by the way, I only make stuff for friends — I don’t sell anything  — so I never charge for the things I make. It would take away the fun if I had to make stuff to sell. But  if people wanted something in a particular (expensive) stone that I don’t have, I’d probably charge them for the cost of the stones. 

Before I make necklaces, earrings or bracelets  I fiddle around, trying different arrangements of beads. I decided that these beads, if strung together plain, would look quite dark, so I decided to lighten them up with an occasional clear crystal. So this is what the necklace looks like.

 

I also made these little earrings — two pairs, so she could have a choice, and also so she could pair them with other clothes.
But it’s really just an excuse — I just like making stuff.

And now, back to the wip (Work In Progress).

I’ve been making jewellery for friends (jewelry if you’re American) and one friend said if her husband’s not there, she always has trouble fastening a bracelet, especially if it’s got a hook on the end, or one of those little moving part clasps, sometimes called a lobster clasp or parrot clasp, like that one on the right.

And I thought, actually a lot of people have that problem, husbands or not. So here’s a little video that shows you how to use a paper clip to help you to fasten a bracelet on your own. It’s quite a nifty trick.

Another alternative if you’re making the bracelet (or getting me to make it) is to use a toggle clasp, as I have with these bracelets below.  You just slip the bar through the loop, and it holds it in place. Nice and easy.  The chunky quartz bracelet is mine — I love rough-cut quartz and gemstones —  the green jade one is for a friend.

When I was a little girl, I loved the English robins I read about in books like The Secret Garden, and other stories. Tiny little birds that hop jauntily around and dig up worms — they were sometimes called robin redbreasts (which are the males). And so I assumed they were like our Australian robins (see the pic below.)

But when I finally saw some actual English robins, they weren’t so much red as orangey-red, which surprised me. And American robins are also a kind of orange.

Our red robins (see pic on the right)  have really bright red breasts, and there are several kinds of red-breasted robins here.  But I didn’t think much more about it — we’re on different sides of the world, after all.

But in fact we have a number of different colored robins here — and the most spectacular in my opinion is the pink robin, which I discovered only recently.

Pink? Yes, really bright pink, and you might be forgiven for thinking the photos are faked, or some nasty person caught a robin and dyed its feathers — but no, they really are a beautiful bright pink.
Google “Pink Robins” and you’ll see heaps of different photos.
These photos are by My Rock and Art Photography, and are used with permission. I found them on the Facebook group NativeBirds of Australia

Aren’t they adorable? And these photos were taken down the coast from where I live, so it was even more surprising that I’d never seen one.

You can see the many different robins we have here on this site. I can tell you, it blew me away, seeing all the colors — I’ve really only seen (or noticed) the red robins. But then the birds are tiny and hop around and hide really well, so I might have just caught a glimpse of some different ones and assumed they were some other kind of bird. We have a lot of colorful birds here.

Do you enjoy watching birds? I’m just a casual observer, but I like birds, and finding out more about them. I’m not sure if there’s a word for the “proper” bird-watchers in the USA. In the UK they call them “twitchers” — though I have a UK friend who calls her gentleman friend “a parrot botherer” which I think is delightful. I don’t think there’s a special term in Australia, but as I’m not one, I don’t actually know if there is or not. But for me, birds are an endless source of entertainment and delight.