Rainy Day Round-Up

It’s raining, it’s pouring, I wish I were snoring… Yes, I do, because I’ve had an acute lack of sleep these last few days.

So what’s been going on? Well, our renovation is going full steam ahead now that we have a new builder on hand. All that remains of the old kitchen are the floor joists and bearers, kitchen sink, the walls and roof rafters. Brings new meaning to a ‘bare larder’. Here’s what it looked like yesterday:

And from the same angle, here’s how the room looked a few months ago:

If all goes well, in about two to three weeks, I will post a picture of the finished product…

In other news, I’ve interviewed my fabulous agency-sister Elizabeth Eulberg on the We Love YA blog. She’s a wonderful new talent and her debut book, The Lonely Hearts Club, had me in stitches–just ask the people who ride the morning train with me! Comment on the WLYA blog and you could win your own copy of the book, pictured below.

Review News

At the We Love YA blog, we have a lovely benefactor who sends us piles of YA books to review. It’s like Christmas! Go on over to the blog and check out what Natalie Hatch and Diane Curran have to say about Banquo’s Son and Thirteen Reasons Why, respectively.

Tomorrow (Tuesday, November 3), I’ll have an interview with Melbourne writer Gabrielle Williams about her book Beatle Meets Destiny. Dash off a comment and you could win a copy.

Blogmania

Today’s going to be busy! I’m holding down the day job, demolition at the house and not one, not two but THREE blog posts (including this one!).

Over at We Love YA right now, I’m talking about teen idols. Later today, my inaugural post at the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood goes up. I’m talking about the Golden Heart and whether or not you should enter a “controversial” manuscript. I’d love your opinions, so please come over and visit me!

Annie West sent me this link about Harlequin Teen partnering up with the ABC Family TV channel in the US. So far, four Harlequin Teen books are slated to tie in with episodes of the Greek series.

Group Hug!

This past week has been a blur of work, chocolate and work. And I’ve been very remiss in telling you there’s a new group blog in town – a blog I belong to. We launched We Love YA on Monday. By “we” I mean a fab group of Australian & New Zealand YA writers – Amanda Ashby, Diane Curran, Kiki Lon, Natalie Hatch, Sara Hantz and me. There’s still time to catch Amanda’s first post and win yourself a copy of her ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH.

On Good Friday, join me for an interview with Walker Books Australia publisher Sarah Foster, who’ll tell us about the market on this end of the planet. Post a comment there for your chance to win a book by CBCA Book of the Year nominee, Sandy Fussell.