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Welcome to the dark side: My K-drama addiction

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I’m not the first romance author to write about their love of K-dramas and won’t be the last, but this is my space so I'm going to fill it with lots of K-drama love! I was first introduced to K-dramas (South Korean TV dramas) at a virtual conference run by Contemporary Romance Writers (CRW) in 2022, at which author Priscilla Oliveras presented a workshop called K-dramas and Romancelandia Reader Expectation s. I have to confess that, while her workshop inspired me to give them a try and I added a few of her recommendations to my Netflix list, it was another full year before I actually watched my first K-drama. The drama I’d heard recommended the most was  Crash Landing on You , but I usually prefer light RomComs that don’t get too serious and this show’s subject matter felt a little dark (A South Korean heiress has a paragliding accident and is blown across the border into North Korea where she is found by a North Korean soldier.) But late one night, browsing Netflix for something...
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Limited time offer: ROSA's anthology is only 99c for the next few days

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The ROSA anthology, Wedding Season , in which my short story The Fire Inside appears, is on sale for a short time only at 99c / 99p. If you haven't already got your copy, grab it now! Wedding Season is the first anthology produced by ROSA (Romance writers Organisation of South Africa), a collection of romantic short stories, all themed around weddings, and written by ten of ROSA's published members. ​ The proceeds of this anthology go to ROSA's scholarship fund and the Read to Rise literacy charity, so this is also a good cause worth supporting.
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Exclusive excerpt of Last of the Summer Vines

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This excerpt, which I haven't yet shared anywhere else, is the moment when Sarah meets her new business partner and co-heir Tommaso di Biasi: The kitchen hadn’t seemed so far away when I was a kid. I made my way down through the darkened house, not switching on any lights. Even if I could remember where the switches were, I didn’t want to turn myself into a target on the off-chance there was an intruder. The vast kitchen with its high-beamed ceiling was eerily full of looming shadows, and the yellow lamplight spilling from the single overhead lamp did nothing to dispel the gloom. I filled the electric kettle, then rinsed out the teapot to brew a fresh pot. But tea wasn’t going to be enough to silence my grumbling stomach. Had the considerate person who’d left milk and made up my bed also left food? There was nothing in the kitchen itself, but John always loved biscuits with his tea. That would be better than nothing. So I headed into the pantry, and was still groping for the lig...
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Double page magazine spread

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I'm currently featured in a double page spread in the October edition of South African magazine Your Family (on sale now). I am so honoured to have been included in this article on local writers, and really pleased how it turned out - it's the first time an article has correctly quoted me all the way through! If you'd like to read the full article in a more legible version, the magazine can be purchased digitally here .
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The end of an epic journey

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Not epic in terms of scale, but rather in terms of major events in my life. Day 7 of my first trip to the US (hopefully the first of many) started slowly, with a lie-in and a continental breakfast. Since I only needed to be at the airport late in the afternoon, I decided to explore this new city. But with less than a day in Atlanta, how best to see as much as possible without blowing my constrained budget? I wanted to see as much as I could of the city and the answer was the electric car tour run by ATL-Cruzers . Advertised as a one and a half hour overview of Atlanta's attractions, I figured I could see a large swathe of the city without missing my plane. I took an Uber into town (the only way to travel in Atlanta if, like me, you're too intimidated to drive on the wrong side of the road) and arrived early enough to stroll around the downtown area, taking in the Olympic Centennial park, Peachtree Centre and a Starbucks frappuccino before the tour. Olympic Centennial ...
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Goodbye San Diego, Hello Atlanta!

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As much as I wish the RWA conference could carry on and on and on, the sad reality is that eventually we have to pack away our glad rags and go back to yoga pants. Besides, most writers are introverts at heart. I think we'd implode if we sustained that level of excitement, enthusiasm and sociability for too long! I woke on Sunday morning with a terribly deflated feeling, which would have been worse if I didn't have something to look forward to: Atlanta. But first, breakfast with my lovely fellow HarperImpulse author, Lynn Montagano. This time I was even able to hold up my end of the conversation. And thank heavens Lynn has mastered the art of the selfie because I'm useless at it! Lynn's selfie of us At last it was time to pack my bags, shop for presents to take home, and head for the airport. Continuing the theme of meeting people in queues and elevators, it was while waiting in the queue for a cab outside the front of the hotel that I got chatting to Mills ...
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San Diego Day 5 - Rita Day!

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Sherry Thomas (image courtesy of Kristan Higgins ) My fifth day in San Diego started with a lovely, healthy breakfast while listening to featured guest speaker Sherry Thomas . Sherry was born and raised in China and moved to the US only in her early teens. Her earliest encounters with the English language were not happy ones, but luckily for her many, many devoted readers that all changed when post partum depression and romance novels came together to convince her she needed to write her own books. The standard of speakers and workshop presenters at the RWA conference is very high. Every one of them have been highly entertaining, incredibly well spoken, and often moving - Sherry Thomas was definitely all of the above. After breakfast I managed to slide in a Skype chat with my other daughter (the one I didn't manage to reach the day before) before Maya and I hurried to catch Michael Hauge 's talk on Story Structure , with particular reference to the Will Smith movie Hitc...
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