I feel like i've vanished lately. Since my last releases, I've been insanely busy with editing. There hasn't been a huge amount (or even a small amount most days) of time to be able to write. When I have been able to, I came up with 10K on a story idea I had last year, and did almost 8K on a completely new idea. It's not a lot considering.
I had hoped to have another Coal Creek book out this year, but I'm afraid to say, it's not going to happen. There probably won't be another release from me this year. Whenever I get the chance though, I do write. It's still happening. Just a lot slower than before! And that's saying something considering Encumbered took me almost a year to write, and Enslaved was almost two years. I will still be signing in Brisbane at Riveting Reads, and look forward seeing old friends and meeting new ones. But as for something new to take.... My dream of taking a shiny release has been dashed. Next year I won't be doing any signings--I might go as a reader to one, but that'll be all. Whatever free time I have, will be put into writing instead of working my butt off to travel to signings! I'm aiming on minimum one release for 2018, hopefully two. We'll see how that goes! Take care of you. xxx Aria
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It's almost that time of the process! I have a DOUBLE cover reveal coming up for you all on October 15th, just 2 months from a DOUBLE release date! Books 2 (Encumbered) and 2.5 (Enslaved) are both due before Christmas for your reading pleasure.
Be sure to check FB and Insta on the 15th to see what I've got up my sleeves for these two covers. Blurbs will also be revealed for those who haven't looked on GR lately!! We've had an epic amount of rain around where I live lately. Last Friday, our small country town flooded all through the main street, washing through houses, and businesses, and even collapsing the local bus depot's besser brick fence. Old wagons were ruined, water marks were left 2 feet up fences, and the amount of sandbags now gracing the town is immense.
Today though, it was time for our closest large town to have a turn. The centre pic above is of a spillway from the town lake. Where the yellow sign is... is a road and it's on a down slope. The creek that runs through all these pics is rather small, so you can imagine the amount of water we've had to cause this much flooding. The bridge (bottom left) is where the creek runs to the wetlands. The other pics are of the floodplains the water has taken over. There's usually paths and grass where that water is! I've never been around such a huge amount of water before and it's scary to think that these floodplains were where the town once sat. They got washed out many, many years ago and moved up the hill. Smart thinking, 99. I'm thinking that our town should have done the same thing when they were flooded in the '40s! I'm one of the lucky ones whose house is up the hill and fine, the little river running down our block adds to the problem, but in general doesn't cause us many hassles. I feel for those whose houses were flooded last week and who are still in the clean up process. I feel for the freshly renovated house near the bus depot, whose owners were stripping out all the damaged interior after spending a fortune to re-do it all. To everyone who's ever been caught in Mother Nature's meddling, I feel for you and hope to hell you don't have to endure that again anytime soon. Peace and mungbeans, Aria xxx I have returned from a wonderful weekend away at #RWDU16 -- Readers and Writers Down Under -- on Australia's sunny Gold Coast. The signing and workshops were held at QT hotel, which I just love. Two days of books and readers and authors and fun.
At the masquerade ball on Saturday night, I was upset to learn that this was the final RWDU after 3 consecutive years of being run. Jodie and her team once again did an amazing job of organising and running the event and it will be missed as a regular March event. As my first signing though, I was so pleased to have been able to share in the final RWDU as a signing author. I've been to 3 book signings prior to this, including last year's RWDU, and I just love them. The fun, the friendships, the BOOKS!! (OMG, the books) Excess baggage galore and I swear the airlines LOVE these events more than we do! *cha ching* My next signing won't be until October 2017 in Brisbane, but I'm looking forward to *fingers crossed* getting to RT in Atlanta next May for the conference there, and also to FYM17 to fangirl and get another T-shirt signed by everyone. In the meantime, I'll keep plugging away at putting words on paper and working on book 2 in the series as well as the Christmas Special, plus a few extra side pieces including anthology submissions. To all the people I met for the first time -- it was so damn lovely to put a face to the name finally! To everyone I was seeing again -- I love seeing your smiling faces at each signing I get to. It's so wonderful to see familiar people each time and not feel alone in being a book nerd! To everyone who came to my table on Saturday -- THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Whether you came for your pre-orders, a signature for your books or just to say HI, thank you. And WOW, those books you guys made were out of this world! I'm looking forward to seeing you all again in the future, and until then, take care and keep reading! xxx Aria xxx Welcome to 2016, everyone!
I'd like to wish each and every one of you a prosperous and safe 2016. May the powers that be bestow health, happiness and good fortune upon you and see your dreams for this year come to fruition. I"m looking forward to my very first signing on Australia's gorgeous Gold Coast in March this year (which is scary, because it's in March. This year. And I'm far from ready for it!) I'm looking forward to having more time to write my stories when my youngest starts school, which is sad, too, as she's been my loving little companion at home with me these past few years as I've put my writing hat back on. I'll miss her smiles and constant calls of "Mum". I'm aiming for 3 books out this year if I can do it. Encumbered, Derby Dolls and Enslaved (which went on the back burner for 2015, but I'm determined to get it out this Christmas) Thank you to everyone who supported me during 2015 on my journey to becoming a self-published debut author. I couldn't have done it without each and every one of you. Much love, hugs and cyber squishies. xxx Aria xxx In Australia, there are two weeks left (in Victoria at least) of Term 3. This mean in two weeks time, we get two weeks off. Yippee!
I love the break from early mornings and fighting with my girls -- the usual: get dressed, eat breakfast, help pack lunches (because I'm not that organised and have it done the night before!), get dressed (yes, this is said, pleaded and shouted more than once), shoes on, have your hair brushed...and it goes on. For two blissful weeks they can look like ferals who came out of the bushes because they won't let me brush their hair, and they can eat whatever I can find in the kitchen. They can have Hundreds and Thousands on their sandwiches instead of the Vegemite or Mighty Mite they have for school and kinder. They can eat a tub of yoghurt between them in a day if they want. Three apples each? No problem! Go for your life, kiddo. Bananas, mandarins, have at it! These are the things that make them happy though. They're not governed by school bells or timetables and they love it! So, for all those about to embark upon a see-saw of emotion when school finishes for term break, I wish you luck and sanity! It's a fine line to walk between enjoying the later mornings, and wanting to tie them together until they get along (and yes, I've seen it done!). Enjoy the end of term, peeps! And I hope your holidays are wonderful. xxx Yesterday saw the end of the Queen's Birthday long weekend. Our weekend started on Friday with the school having a report writing day and the students all at home.
Our weekend off consisted of sick children, vomiting, fevers and lots of sleep...for them. I squeezed in a trip to Casterton for the Annual Kelpie Muster for the very first time ever. The timing for our first Kelpie Muster couldn't have been worse. Miss 6 huddled against me the whole afternoon begging to go home and Miss 8 just wanted to pat the horses there for the roundup event. Miss 4 was content to run around a ute and play peek-a-boo. At least someone was happy. I have to say though, the Kelpie Muster is a great event to go to if you're in the area of inclined to travel to Western Victoria for a weekend away. It's free, has great shows of doggie strength and agility, shearing demonstrations and showcases local produce, craft and a lovely little town. We'll be going next year and I'm keeping my fingers crossed now for three healthy children! So, it was ANZAC Day here in Australia and the 100th year anniversary of the landing on the beach in Gallipoli. I'm not going to go into any of it but I did find a wonderful resource on the ABC website -- click here to learn how it all started and what went on.
As for me, I slept too late because I downloaded Photoshop last night (read: early, early this morning). I put a freshly done blurb teaser on my FB page and feeling good about learning the ins and outs of PS. I'm also happy and thankful to be able to do that. I guess with it being ANZAC Day, it's the little things like these we should be thankful for. The fact we have a home and a (fairly) free country to be able to live in and in part due to the sacrifices soldiers made by going away to war. I'm not a fan of war, or fighting, and as I discovered by reading the Timeline on the ABC website, wars can be started by anything. WW1 was started by an assassination... Miss 8 asked today, "Why do people fight? What causes war?" The best answer I could give her was, "Lots of things. Disagreements, religion, land, people, ownership of something..." Too many things to list off, really. I wish you all a wonderful ANZAC Day, no matter where you are or what you're doing. I hope you will hug a loved one and remember those who fought for our freedoms. We Will Remember Them. The Easter school holidays were a blast this year, and I mean that both seriously and sarcastically. Why is this?
Well, to start with, I took my jet-setting self off to the sunny Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia, for Readers and Writers Down Under book signing to assist one of the lovely authors there. I had a blast with old friends and meeting new friends. Dinner on Thursday night was great fun, starting with having to cross the road because of a snake on the loose... a snake later to be written about in the paper because of it's threatening status and the fact that it was on the loose again after being released! Trivia night on the Friday was fun, with the MC for the evening being a drama teacher... She had us playing games and laughing 'til we cried. Saturday was up early and off to the signing. I'm sad to say that I didn't get to visit half the authors present as I was helping out, but I had a great day chatting with readers and bloggers from all over the place. Sunday...ah, Sunday, the day of rest. A heap of people headed home on Sunday, leaving the QT a little quieter than before. I took myself and a buddy off for a walk around the streets of the GC, checking out shops and wandering aimlessly for a while, until I found the tattoo shop I'd sought out online. An hour later and too many dollars, and I was proudly sporting some new ink. Yippee! We meandered our way down to the beach, where we discovered a street market setting up. Ooo, goodie! My bud needed to get back for dinner, so I wandered back with her, washed my new ink and headed back down to the beach. Oh, the joys of a street market! I walked out of there hours later with a considerably lighter wallet...and a very over-weight suitcase. Monday saw us chilling out after check-out, relaxing in the foyer of the hotel waiting for our bus to the airport, and after a good flight, and drive the next day, I got home to my three lovely children and my kid-sitting mum. The start of the school holidays was a blast for me. The middle weekend was Easter and due to rain on Sunday, the Easter egg hunt was conducted inside with colour/child coordinated eggs and sugar-hyped children thereafter. The downer for this period was a long-lived and beloved family member passing away. But, to find the positive in a sad situation, I got to see family members who I hadn't seen for ages and enjoy the Orthodox Easter celebrations with another sector of my family. So during two weeks, I got to travel the eastern sea board in an aeroplane, then drive west for five hours into another state. I think I can say that while not as widely travelled as some, I covered a few kilometres so far this year. Add to this, I'm heading to Melbourne twice this year as well as Central Victoria. I think I'll be clocking up the miles on the car! I'd love to hear about your Easter/school holiday adventures so far this year, so leave a comment telling me what happened in yours! xxx Aria xxx |
AuthorAria Peyton is a mum of three, non-wife to one, pet-mum to many. Zany, crazy but never quite fitting in, she loves to write about all kinds of things! And her characters get up to naughtiness behind closed doors... and other times not so private! Archives
September 2023
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