Lizzi grew up riding wild in the Santa Cruz Mountain redwoods, became an equine veterinarian at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and practiced in the Gold and Pony Express Country of California before emigrating to New Zealand. She is the proud mother of two boys in that sea of green. When she's not writing, she's swinging a rapier or shooting a bow in medieval garb, riding or driving a carriage, playing in the garden on her hobby farm, singing, cooking, being an equine veterinarian or high school science teacher. She is multiply published and awarded in special interest magazines and veterinary periodicals.
With her debut novel, A Long Trail Rolling, she was Finalist 2013 RWNZ Great Beginnings; Winner 2014 RWNZ Pacific Hearts Award for the unpublished full manuscript; Winner 2015 RWNZ Koru Award for Best First Novel and third in Koru Long Novel section; and finalist in the 2015 Best Indie Book Award.
A big Thank You to Annie Featherstone, aka Sophia James, for mentoring me, my award for winning the Pacific Hearts Award. Thanks to Annie, A Long Trail Rolling is on its final edits, and the balance of The Hills of Gold Unchanging should be completed by end of November during NaNoWriMo! A Sea of Green …
The best news of all is that… Ta Da….. Patrick Hearty, my Pony Express Expert, is going to write the Forward for A Long Trail Rolling! Patrick and Dr. Joseph Hatch wrote a book about the Pony Express Stations in Utah, called…. you guessed it! Patrick Hearty The Pony Express Stations in Utah Patrick explains …
Yep, we did it! My first novel, A Long Trail Rolling, has won the 2014 RWNZ Pacific Hearts Award! To say I’m pleased is a bit of an understatement! The big one I get to keep for this year, and a smaller version, inscribed with 2014, forever! The conference was fantastic, with amazing speakers from New …
Yes, you heard me right… I’ve given in… Some of my fantastic beta readers have told me things like….. “Too much has happened between A Long Trail Rolling and its Epilogue.” (Hmmm… I didn’t really think so, but your other comments were well-received, Kate…) Thanks, Kate L. Matt’s been a bit more blunt… “You need …
Hello All! Thanks for stopping by! A couple of bits of news for you today! I’ve just heard I’ve been selected as one of three finalists in the RWNZ Pacific Hearts Award 2014 with A Long Trail Rolling (previously called Express Desire). The Pacific Hearts Award is a full-novel competition, the only one run by RWNZ! …
Hello All! I’ve been busy working on my second novel, and researching heavily. Thank you to the many people behind the scenes who are helping me in my quests~ Michelle, curator at Papakura Library, for her help with my MANY Hunua Falls questions, Linton Stuart and Murray Sutton (who dragged me over hill and dale …
Here’s a post I wrote for Bethanne Strasser’s Through the Heart Shaped Glasses blog earlier this month. I thought some of you might appreciate it! What draws us to history? Is it the romance of a different time from our own? Is it what history can show us about ourselves? How we’re different from or …
It happened on the way to St Cath’s Faire, an SCA reenactment event, last Sunday near Clevedon. A massive change in the direction of my new novel, A Sea of Green Unfolding. It came to me while I drove past the Waihou River (Called the River Thames by Captain Cook when he first landed …
Hello All, Not only did I survive November, my month of writing for NaNoWriMo, where one commits to writing 50,000 words of a novel… in 30 days…, but I’ve ‘Won’, or successfully completed the requirements! Express Desired now has a sequel: A Sea of Green Unfolding Just received an email from NaNo… with the …
Hello All! Well, first day, I didn’t make my goal of 1700 words on the new novel I began on 1 November, A Sea of Green Unfolding, the sequel to Express Desired, wherein Aleksandra and Xavier are still reeling from the death of their first newborn child when they discover that they have lost Rancho …
A new signature, thanks to my son Elliot and his awesome skills with Photoshop! For NaNoWriMo! The new short synopsis… This sequel to Express Desired is about a young couple’s journey to adventure in the turbulent wilderness of 1861 New Zealand. Tragedy strikes in Aleksandra and Xavier’s newly found paradise on their California Rancho …
Today I began planning my new novel… It will be entitled…. A Sea of Green Unfolding A sequel to Express Desired, it will be about Aleksandra and Xavier’s journey to a new life and adventure in the turbulent wilderness of 1861 New Zealand. Plotting has begun today and the first 50K words …
Hello all, I am very pleased to announce that the manuscript for Express Desired is done! Hmmm… Let’s just say it it nice to see that I’m making progress in my writing skills… and finally implementing my new skills…. especially incorporating ‘showing’ vs ‘telling’, (and my critique partner will be so PLEASED) . It’s good to …
Hello all, Just back from a fantastic conference with the positive, encouraging ladies of the Romance Writers of New Zealand. Wellington was lovely for the whole weekend, with only light doses of earthquake aftershocks. The All Blacks …
Hi All, thanks so much for all of your BD wishes. Elliot and I are today at home of Leslie, my best friend from growing up in the hills of coastal northern California, minutes from where we grew up… Leslie manages a huge place here… lovely. Yesterday, we flew into SFO and …