Without bees, we wouldn’t be here – of the 100 crops that provide 90 percent of the world’s food supply, 71 are pollinated by the humble bee – yet many countries still allow the use of bee-killing pesticides, and chemical companies sue anyone who tries to stop them. But there have been successes! France recently
Hello Story Queens subscribers! This month I'm offering the newsletter prize. I have a set of my Magic Series of books – Faery Magic, Mermaid Magic and Witchy Magic – to give away, either the paperback series for an Australian winner, or the ebook series for an international winner. For your chance to win, tell
Wishing all my friends in the south a magical Lughnasadh, and those in the north an enchanting and enchanted Imbolc… On this day of gratitude and thanksgiving, I am grateful for my love-filled life, and all the blessings I have – a loving hubby, close family and friends, clean water, good food, good health, a
Lughnasadh ~ Summer’s End Seasonal foods and herbs play a large part in witchy celebrations, so below are a few of the Lughnasadh recipes I experimented with for Witchy Magic. Lughnasadh marks the end of summer and the first harvest festival, and it has long been a time of feasting and of thanksgiving for the
Seasonal foods and herbs play a large part in witchy celebrations, so below are a few of the Imbolc recipes I experimented with for Witchy Magic. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Lemon Balm Bread Ingredients: ✩ ¾ cup milk ✩ 1 cup fresh lemon balm, plus 2 tblsps
Here are the events booked so far for this year. I’ll be adding book launch dates and more as soon as they are confirmed... March 11... Story Queens Launch. Where: Online. More details soon! May 26-29... Mind Body Spirit Festival. Where: Olympic Park, Sydney. June 17-19... Supanova. Where: Olympic Park, Sydney. September 10-11... Comic-Con. Where:
This month I am grateful for sweet birthday celebrations with my beloved, a new year (well, the western one anyway), Jillian Michaels, Body Pump and Body Combat, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, work on the Into the Mists encyclopaedia, the beauty of the huge golden full moon sailing across the sky and peeking out from
This is a fascinating article by author Mark Manson, which is definitely worth a read… If I ask you, “What do you want out of life?” and you say something like, “I want to be happy and have a great family and a job I like,” it’s so ubiquitous that it doesn’t even mean anything.
Lucy and I have been chatting, and decided new year, new specials So we’ve cut the prices of our Faery Magic, Mermaid Magic and Witchy Magic ebooks on Amazon… We’ve also added a new option on the “real” books – if you buy the paperback from Amazon, you’ll receive the ebook free, through their Matchbook
Wishing everyone a magical night tonight, as we farewell the old year, and all the good, bad and strange we’ve been through, and welcome in a new one. I am grateful for a magical 2015 – for the good things and the bad things, the new friends and the lost friends, the successes and the
Buy one, get one free… I thought I’d offer a little special to get in the festive spirit Buy a copy of Mermaid Magic or Witchy Magic from my Etsy store, and receive a free copy of Faery Magic. Buy a copy of Seven Sacred Sites from my Etsy store and receive a free copy
Tonight I am grateful that I made it! I wrote 50,789 words in November, for National Novel Writing Month, which is a huge chunk of the first draft of my next book*. It feels so good to be done, and to have my novel validated for word count… I loved this from the organisers: “Every
It’s not easy, but it is worth it... I can’t believe day 15 is done, and I’m halfway through NaNoWriMo… I stayed up too late again, and blitzed through two thousand words in a slightly delirious state, to hit 25,095 words by midnight of the halfway mark. Hooray! I’m not sure how much sense they
I can’t believe it’s already day 5 of NaNoWriMo*! Four days of writing done, and 7333 words committed to paper, which means I have 665 words up my sleeve for one of those days that is more of a struggle It fascinates me, how some days are easier – well, less difficult might be more
Being An Upside Down Witch Written for Goddess Pages – British spiritual magazine Living in Australia – or anywhere in the southern hemisphere for that matter – can be a little confusing for a witch. All the books about magic print elemental correspondences that are back to front (the fire of the sun is certainly
It’s only three days until National Novel Writing Month – NaNoWriMo – kicks off, and as usual I’m woefully unprepared. As in, not at all. Each year I think (hope?) that I’ll have some time to plan my story before November 1 rolls around, but as usual I haven’t had a spare second. But I
This week’s guest blog comes from Felicity Pulman, author of the wonderful novel I, Morgana and the magical Janna Chronicles, amongst many others. She has recently returned from a three-month writing adventure in the UK, after being awarded this year’s Di Yerbury Society of Women Writers’ Residency. During her time in England and France, Felicity
Book Expo kicks off Saturday October 17 in Sydney, and there are lots of fun talks and seminars that will be running both days. And I’m looking forward to hanging out with Selina Fenech again – check out her beautiful Memory’s Wake Trilogy for an amazing fantasy read – as well as her stunning Colour
It’s almost time for the last festival of the year! Book Expo is a dedicated event for readers to engage with authors and publishers. It includes workshops and talks by writers, illustrators, publishers and more, more than a hundred exhibitors (including myself and awesome artist Selina Fenech), author meet and greets and events, three performance
The previous month passed in a blur of extra work at the magazines, but things got back to (sort of) normal on September 1st Which was the day I started Steptember, a month of walking a minimum of 10,000 steps a day to raise money for the Cerebral Palsy Alliance. I’m grateful to everyone who