Miranda's March Musings: Romance Reference Books To Love!

Darlings, did you catch Dee's post last week about setting goals in your writing? Thanks Dee, great stuff. So, where to start with your writing?



Photo credit: www.amazon.com

This month I'm going to show you some terrific writing reference books that have helped us at Breathless in the Bush - or that I simply loved to read. Though I'm a reader first, I love and adore reading books about writing. The two go hand in hand, don't they? One of them might just provide the spark to kickstart your writing. So go, you...!



One of the first books I read was the beautiful (but sadly out of print) To Writers With Love by Mary Wibberley, who wrote a lot of gentle Mills & Boon in the 1970s and 80s. Like Dee's post last week, this is an inspirational book to get you going and to think and plan, but mostly to enjoy your romance writing. If you can find it in a used version I'm sure you'll love it.



What about more modern (and available!) How-To's? The fabulous Valerie Parv AM has written a superb book everyone needs to read: The Art Of Romance Writing. Go to the top of the queue to attend a course by her or to hear her speak (thank me later). Valerie, for all the love you've given romance writers - and readers - all over the world, we salute you.

Photo Credit: http://www.valerieparv.com/artof.html



Bear with me... I want to let people know about three more incredibly helpful books. The first is a special favourite, The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler. Even if you're not a writer you'll be fascinated by the way Vogler works out structure and analyses mythology's influence on books and movies. It mesmerised me the first time I read it, and it hasn't lost any of that allure. Makes writing seem almost easy. ...Almost!

Picture Credit: www.thewritersjourney.com

I really enjoyed The Complete Writer's Guide to Heroes and Heroines by Tami Cowden. If you're struggling with your hero or heroine, and can't work out 'who' you want them to be, this book is your answer. Terrific in-depth stuff that will have your pen itching to hit the page. Or your fingers dance along the keyboard...

Picture Credit: www.amazon.com

I could go on and on - honestly, once you start about writing books, the list is absolutely endless - but the last one I want to mention is the amazing GMC by Debra Dixon. Every scene in your book should have a goal, a motivation, and a conflict. Sound too hard? Not the way Debra describes it. Read it and your writing will take on a new verve and interest.

Picture Credit: www.amazon.com

...And I haven't even mentioned The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, or Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, or Vanessa Grant's Writing Romance, or reference books such as What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew by Daniel Pool, or.. or....

Every writer I know has their absolute favourite How-To's. What are yours? Do share with us: let us know what motivational or reference book has helped your writing journey - and it just might help someone else as well.

STOP PRESS! Valerie Parv is giving away a copy of her book The Art Of Romance Writing to one lucky commenter. So post those comments now!

Till next time my lovelies,

Miranda xx

I love to love: Jane Austen! Just re-read Northanger Abbey and loved it all over again.

I love to laugh: at funny cat videos on the internet. Yes, I'm a tragic...

I love to learn: what people are reading. Seriously. Please share.

Writing Gaols…er, um, I mean…Goals

by Dee Scully

It’s February. Where are you at with your writing goals? 

Yep, we’ve already flipped over two months of the 2016 calendar. Poof! Two months gone. Just like that! 

Image courtesy of YouTube

It’s amazing how time clicks by, isn’t it? One day you’re making goals, the next you’re breaking them.

Ever noticed how close gaol is to the word goal? 

Even with the best of intentions our writing goals get pushed to the side and are all too often forgotten. Every now and again you think of them. Your shoulders slump and you look surreptitiously behind you. You’re certain the goal police are about to nab you. They know you’ve broken the promises you made to yourself at the end of 2015 and they’re just ready to pounce and put you in the shackles you deserve. 

After all breaking writing goals is one of the worst crimes you can commit (as a writer).

Well, never fear. I’m here to give you one last chance to get those goals back on track before the goal police throw you in the clinker for crimes against humanity. Yes, your unfulfilled goals are being likened to crimes against humanity because as long as you're not making those goals work, you’re not living a full and happy life. Further, you’re not blessing the world with the gift of your story! Now that’s a crime if I ever heard of one.

So...go, get your goals out. I mean it. Go get them. I know you’ve written them down somewhere or filed them away on your hard drive and probably not looked at them since, but now’s the time to get them out again.

A lot of us (and I do mean the you and me kind of “us”) have neatly typed them; colour coded them and set them in a pretty little frame. (See below, but…please, don’t judge me.) You might have even stuck them right beside your computer or on your bathroom mirror, somewhere you were sure to see them EVERY day. After all, breaking writing goals is one of the worst crimes you can commit (as a writer) and you wouldn't willingly want to do that!

But somewhere along the way they’ve been covered with a pile of work or splashed beyond recognition with toothpaste.

No matter. Push the books onto the floor and scrape that Colgate off and let’s have a look at them. Let’s remind ourselves what we wanted early in January (and maybe even what we’ve wanted all our lives).

Okay. Got 'em? Cool. Now read them. Read them again. Commit them to memory. Now tear them up. Yes, I mean it. Tear them up.

I’ve got the one sure fire way to get the goal police forever off your back.

No, it’s not a twelve-step program for writers or even a five easy steps to getting your goals back on track. I’m going to give you the one step—the only step—you need to get your writing done. And here it is: write.

Yeah. It’s that simple. Just write.

Now, go do it. Write NOW.

Image courtesy of www.livelifehappy.com 

Simple fact: writing just 500 words a day, for (any) five days of the week, will give you 130,000 words at the end of the year. We’ve lost two months, but that still leaves 44 weeks. Writing five days a week for those 44 weeks will give you 110,000 words at the end of 2016. That’s more than you need for most single title books.

Who’s with me? Who's ready to do the one thing you need to get your book finished? Who's ready to write?

Love to love…watching the beautiful (yet quite squawky) Australian native birds in my front yard.

Love to laugh…at the first writing goals I ever made. (I was going to complete my first manuscript in four months time and have it submitted and published within six months. That was before I knew anything about POV, active v. passive, character arcs and more.)

Love to learn…new crossfit routines. They keep my asthma at bay and push me to keep going even when everything inside me screams “Just quit.”

Romance Readers Unite!

with Debbie Phillips from ARRA

When we established the Australian Romance Readers Association (ARRA) in 2007 we had just 17 members. Having all met online, we started the association to organise an event for Australian romance readers. Who better than romance readers and authors to put on an event that met our needs? We didn’t know if it would work—nor have any idea of how much work would be involved—but we decided to have a go.


ARRC09 in Melbourne was truly awesome! Along with the hard work of our committee members we had support from the amazing community of romance authors. A number of international guests—Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dianna Love, MaryJanice Davidson, Susan Grant, Liz Maverick—came to the event (at their own expense)—and we were delighted to welcome them as keynote speakers. Add in a host of our favourite local authors—such as Keri Arthur, Stephanie Laurens, Anna Campbell and Melanie Milburne—and we ended up with about 30 romance authors attending. There were speeches, panels, giveaways and a mass book-signing event—the first of its kind in Australia. And, of course, we held our inaugural awards. (australianromancereaders.com.au/2009.html) All in an environment that celebrated romance—where not one person sneered at another person’s choice of reading matter.

Inaugural Australian Romance Readers Convention

The huge success of that convention boosted our membership; by the end of 2009 we had over 150 members. We had also established a monthly newsletter, regular lunches in some cities, and we had started planning our first RWA/ARRA signing event. But in the meantime we had to consider what to do about our annual awards—they could hardly be annual if only held at our biennial convention.

People's Choice Awards 2013
Anna Campbell, Amy Andrews, M J Scott, Anne Gracie

Each year ARRA members nominate and vote in their very own awards. That’s right—not only do they vote for the winners, but all nominated titles are put forward by ARRA members. When the awards started in 2009 there were 5 categories. That later expanded to 9, with an additional 3 ‘fun’ Members’ Choice awards selected by members each year.


The second awards night was held in 2010 at the gorgeous Cello’s Restaurant in the Castlereagh Hotel, Sydney. Nalini Singh was our dinner speaker (and scooped up a good portion of the awards). We have also been back to Cello’s for the awards dinner in 2012 and 2014.

Shannon Curtis (top), Kat Mayo

The next awards dinner will be held on 19 March, once again at Cello’s restaurant, with Shannon Curtis as MC and guest speaker Kat Mayo from Book Thingo. If you haven't got your ticket yet, follow the link:
australianromancereaders.wordpress.com/2016/01/16/awards-dinner-tickets-on-sale-3/


But in amongst all that we have been doing a lot of other things too. We’ve held three more romance reader conventions
2011 in Sydney http://australianromancereaders.com.au/2011.html
2013 in Brisbane http://australianromancereaders.com.au/2013.html
2015 in Canberra http://australianromancereaders.com.au/2015.html


And we’ve had some phenomenal keynote speakers—Cindy Gerard, Anna Campbell, Nalini Singh, Kristan Higgins, Rachel Vincent, Anne Gracie, Sylvia Day, Helene Young, Kelley Armstrong and Victoria Dahl.




Book Signing Event 2015

We’ve held 9 group book-signing events with as many as 90 authors attending, some held in conjunction with our convention, and others in conjunction with the RWA conference. We’ve held special reader events in Sydney and Melbourne with Julia Quinn, Sylvia Day, Maya Banks and Nalini Singh.








Today our membership has just passed 370 members. So we’re making progress reaching readers. But we are constantly looking for new ways to find and engage with romance readers. Our plan is pretty simple: more events, more promo, more competitions, more engagement.

Regency Fashion Parade 2015

Would you enjoy the opportunity to discuss romance books with other romance readers who ‘get it’? Why not come and join the Australian Romance Readers Association?

You can find us at www.ireadromance.com.au. Or chat with us on our Facebook group or Twitter.


We love to love ... romance books!


We love to laugh ... while reading romance books!


We love to learn ... about new romance authors!