Happy Saturday!

Spring is trying it's darndest to make an appearance in Eastern Ontario, but this morning's snow/ice pellet squall was a little reminder that it's not summer yet! Research for the sequel I'm working on has taken me online to lonely beaches and rocky shores all over the Atlantic Coast and I'm ready for summer.

Well hullo! Whatcha doin in there?

But the good news is that with the melting snow and the warmer (ie ABOVE freezing) temperatures, the snow has almost melted here. Cue outdoor riding, gardening, running (*hack, gasp*) and reading. Yay! Thought you would all like this pic of my DD's horse greeting me in my car. She was riding on the field by our driveway when I came home from the day job this week. I tweeted it, but I thought I'd repost. He's a cutie.


Is it warm where you are? What spring rituals are you working on this weekend?

Brenda

Ice in April? (And the Liebster award...)

YUCK. Spring may have sprung but my back yard is covered in glassy ice like this:


Not cool. So I was fortunate enough to be able to opt out of the nasty commute today, and I'm using the unexpected day off to get caught up on a few things (like sitting by the fireplace, reading my book, drinking coffee...) and maybe do a teensy bit of writing. The interwebs are soooooooo slooooow...(ice on the receiver?) so hopefully we'll be able to upload.

Yesterday I was tagged x 2 by writer friends for the Liebster Award--Thanks Yelena and Vanessa! I'm not a big 'tagger', but there are some great questions and why not? So here goes.

The first thing you have to do is tell 11 (eleven) little known facts about yourself. Hmmmm.... That's hard.

1. I LOVE curry. Thai curry, Indian curries, green curry, yellow curry...you name it. I love it. Just as long as it's not fire-hot spicy. I buy the frozen stuff whenever I can, but nothing beats a great curry restaurant.

2. After the curry, my favorite dessert in the whole world is Sticky Toffee Pudding. Best place in the world to get it? The Woodman Inn in Fernham, UK.

3. When I was six I was convinced I would grow up to be an obstetrician.

4. I own and play a 31 string Celtic harp. Not well, but there ya go.

My lovely harp

5. I also play the piano, again not well. An aside- one of my childhood piano teachers is now the
President of the Canadian Medical Association! (Congrat's Chris!)

6. I was once a member of the New Brunswick Gifted Children's Association.

7. I graduated at the very top of my high school graduating class, winning a whole bunch of awards. A decade or so later I had kids and they took all of my brain cells with them. ;)

8. Do I really have to do 11?

9. I used to have a cat named 'None Of Your Business'. We called her NOYB.

10. If there is music with lyrics playing, I can't concentrate. I can only write with soft instrumental playing in the background...or nothing at all.

11. This is number 11. I love number 11. And the colour green. Did you notice I spelled colour with a 'U'?

Phew! That part is done!! On to the Questions... I'll answer 5 of each Vanessa's and Yelena's.

From Vanessa...

1. What is your favorite vacation you've ever taken? The last big family trip we took--to Italy, Croatia and Greece. A combination of Villas, Apartments and Cruising. More about it here:

2. What is your biggest pet peeve? Toss up b/w people chewing with their mouth open (ick) and people who throw still-lit cigarette butts out of their windows while driving on major highways. Especially at night. Drives me CRAZY.

3. What is the scariest movie you've ever seen? Amityville Horror? Couldn't watch the whole thing. I don't do scary movies.
4. Name one food you cannot live without. Popcorn.

5. Pirates or Ninjas? Pirates. Especially the Johnny Depp kind. Sorry ninja folks! But I do love my ninjas too!
From Yelena:

1.  When did you start writing? I started writing seriously about six years ago.

2. Who is the one author you'd like to sit down with and talk if you could? JK Rowling. I'd love to know what goes on in her head.

3. Who is your favorite fictional character? Elizabeth Bennett.

4. Beach house, country house or city apartment? Would love to have all three?? But live in a country house now...

5. Tea or coffee? COFFEEEEEEEEEEE. Need to go make some after all of these questions!

So there you go!! And now to tag other poor unfortunate souls...

The Liebster Rules: 1. The Liebster Award is given to bloggers by bloggers.
2. Each blogger should post 11 facts about himself / herself.
3. Each blogger should answer the 11 questions that are asked by the nominating blogger.
4. Choose 11 new bloggers to nominate for the Award and link to them in the post.
5. Create 11 new questions for your nominees.
6. Go back to their pages and tell them they've been nominated.
7. No tag backs.

My Questions??? (shamelessly plagiarized from other Liebsters)

1. Tea or Coffee? This is important!
2. Favourite place you've ever lived?
3. Plotter or Pantser?
4. What's the biggest writing related gaff/writing crime you've committed?
5. When did you join twitter?
6. Favourite flower?
7. Favourite music to listen to while writing?
8. Write and edit at the same time, or edit at the end?
9. Do we have to do 11?
10. What's your favourite question to ask some poor unsuspecting blogger? (heh, heh, heh)
11. What time is it?

There! And I tag...

Vicki L Morrison (whose life is incredibly busy and will likely never have time to reply, but she IS my BFF...
And everyone else who has taken the time to read my drivel and get to the bottom.

Quick Update

Hi fabulous followers et al!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter/Passover/Spring Break or whatever you celebrate!

Sorry I've been so quiet on the blog as of late, but life has been very busy with a new day job (which I love), crazy edits (which I'm, ah-hem, learning to love), chats with my agents (who are AMAZING), book signings (so much fun!) and the regular day to day insanity that is the life of a working mom, writer, and military spouse. Things should be quieting down for a few weeks, and I'm hoping to focus on getting some new words down on at least one of my projects.



At Chapters Pinecrest, Ottawa. A great day!

I spent Easter at home with family, and managed to fit in a few book signings at Westminster Books in downtown Fredericton and at Chapters Regent Mall. I had a great time, met some wonderful people, chatted with some potential young authors and even sold a few copies of TREASURE! It's truly rewarding to hear the feedback from readers, and I had several people pop by just to tell me how much they loved reading my book.

One of the biggest compliments I've recieved--and now I've heard it twice--is that reading TREASURE was not only enjoyable, but that it encouraged the reader to read OTHER BOOKS. That reading my book gave them so much pleasure, it made them want to read more--to "get back into reading". Now THAT is a compliment! So happy to reunite readers with the wonders of a good book!

My PR guy has been working overtime, and I've also been in several papers in both the Ottawa area and the Fredericton area over the past few weeks. My favourite was an interview for the EMC. You can find a link to the story here.

One quick note: I've had a couple of people comment that when they go to a Chapters store, my book comes up as "0 copies in this store" on the store computers. TREASURE is IN STOCK at the Chapters stores listed on the tab above. Self-published books do not show up on their computer system because they are stocked differently. Go to a store clerk/employee and ask them. They'll help you find where they are! If you have any other problems, please comment below, and I'll happily connect you with a copy.

Have a great week! Brenda

Tropical Tuesday - Coconut Beach Club, Antigua

Another storm is inbound to my part of Canada, and it's supposed to bring up to 25cm (about a foot) of snow with it. Fun, eh?  So in my never-ending attempt to drive myself crazy with photos of warm, sunny, sandy beaches, I thought I'd look for a place I could pick my own coconut. Googling coconut beach found me this lovely place--I could go with a day on this beach!


Spend the day at this beach? Sign me up!

It's a couples place- no kids allowed except during the Christmas holidays, so just peace and quiet and time in a hammock. You can choose to go with their all-inclusive plan or go with room only, and the rates are reasonable.

Ahh, the sea breezes and a swaying hammock...

You can find out more about the Coconut Beach Club, Antigua here. Or follow them on twitter at @CBCantigua .

So while I warm up my shovel, and batten down the hatches, I'll be daydreaming of coconuts on the beach. How about you? Only three more months til summer!

Brenda

Note: My Tropical Tuesday posts are mostly daydreams. I've not been to Antigua before, so I can't guarantee a perfect vacation here. Photos are taken from Coconut Beach Club's website.



 

 

Tropical Tuesday- Paradise Beach

If you Google Search 'Paradise Beach', you'll get almost 60 million results. There are Paradise Beaches in Cozumel, Mykonos, Barbados, Thailand...just about anywhere you can find a beach you can find one that is called 'Paradise'. There's even a Paradise in Newfoundland, although I really wouldn't want to hang out there in the winter and it doesn't have a great beach. (Sorry guys, but this is a Tropical Tuesday blog!)

So I checked out a few of them. I've been to the one in Mykonos. Lovely, but not my choice for late February. And Barbados looks amazing, especially without a current huge conglomerate resort to take over the prime beach area (although there is one set to open soon...)

My favorite of all was this place: Paradise Beach Mauritius. (click on the link to see the apartment/villa resort)

Photo from Paradise Beach

Um, yeah.

Paradise Beach Apartments

Not bad. Not bad at all. I think another great choice for a writer's retreat! I didn't even look at how much it would cost to go there, but hey...getting to Paradise shouldn't be easy.

Have a great week!

Brenda

Tropical Tuesday - Tall Ships

I have always wanted to go on a tall ships adventure...what better place than the warm Caribbean islands?  I'd love to pack my bag and head off for a week of uncharted cruising. Like the Liberty Fleet of Tall Ships that take you here:

Photo from Liberty Fleet

 

 

Or (oooo...aaaaaah) the Star Clippers luxury clipper ships that take you places like this...

 

Photo from Star Clipper

 

 

I sailed a lot in my twenties, and have cruised in big cruise ships several times, but there's something relaxing and so wonderful about the thought of wind-powered travel on the warm oceans of the south. The sun, the sand, the salt air, the swaying deck and the snap of the sails. That plus a cool drink and a good book...heaven. Just the thing to think about when there are two feet of snow on the ground and three months til I break out the summer clothes.

Photo from Star Clipper

 

Yup. A girl can dream. Have you ever done a tall ships adventure? Was it fun? Where did you go? I'd love to hear your story.

 

Brenda



Monday Moment

Since my hubby gave me an awesome camera for my birthday, I've been dabbling a teensy bit in photography. My poor kids constantly get to deal with a lens in their face, and the horses and assorted other animals are slowly learning to ignore me.

Anyway, I love this picture of my daughter and her pony, and the quote is me to a tee. Simple pleasures and the little things in life are so important. I guess that's why I live in the country. Happy Monday!   - Brenda