Tag: New Zealand

A Long Trail Rolling

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 …

Read more

And the best news of all…..

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 …

Read more

Storyboard for 'Intervening Novel' Created…

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 …

Read more

A Long Trail Rolling is a Pacific Hearts Finalist

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! …

Read more

Reading Choice Excerpts from my Stories in Tauranga– Two Time Slots Now!

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 …

Read more

What Draws us to History?

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 …

Read more

Hunua Falls… A Special Kind of Awesome

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 …

Read more

NaNoWriMo has Begun!

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 …

Read more

A Sea of Green

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 …

Read more

A Sea of Green Unfolding

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 …

Read more

Manuscript is DONE! A little teaser from the story, especially for you horsey-types!

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 …

Read more

The Pony Express Mochila is Headed for Ft. Laramie!

June 20, 3:54pm PDT (today in the States, for those of you in NZ!) “The mail just left Lingle,WY at 4:45 pm, mountain time, headed towards Ft Laramie.” Patrick Hearty & Joseph Hatch The Pony Express Stations in Utah Well done to all of you out there riding!  You might get a bit tired, but …

Read more

The Pony Express Re-Ride Continues!

Yesterday’s post detailed the Pony Express 20th Anniversary Re-Ride. I have posted some handy links for you to follow the ride’s progress! Thanks to Pony Express History –18253400.nhd.weebly.com The  Re-Ride continues! The “mochila,” (the leather pad with the mail pockets, below), which is transferred between riders on the  Pony Express) has made it from Elwood, …

Read more

Por qué Xavier tenía que ser español, or Why Xavier had to be Spanish….

Español….   …  ranks behind only China in total number of language speakers, and far ahead of English speakers.. One good reason to include it in my nearly-completed novel… Another one… it is the language of love… Xavier, born of his Spanish Californio family is, despite his challenges, able to speak this language of love… In …

Read more

Utah and California, Here We Come!

Looking forward to our trip to the States in July! We will be visiting many sites from the novel Express Desire, soon to be completed! First, the Rancho de las Pulgas, which was the old 1795 Spanish land grant which belonged to the family of my novel hero Xavier Arguello, which today comprises most of …

Read more