Romy Sommer

The inimitable Bob Mayer has started a blog series on Special Ops (the elite military units of the US). In his Warrior Writer course (which I highly recommend to anyone in need of a swift kick up the derriere to get writing) Bob teaches the principles he learned in Special Ops to help writers to achieve change in their lives in order to become 'the elite'. In this blog post , he talks about what it means to be 'elite', and in the successful 5% of the population. This bit especially resonated with me: "One of the most difficult aspects of living a successful life and being elite is that often you must go against the norm and the mass of other people’s opinions about the way you should live.  There is a strong power in society trying to pull you into the ninety-five percent of people who live in fear and with mediocrity." For me, not getting sucked into the modern urban mind-set of "must have new car, must have trendy clothes, must have big hou...

Yay – I made it! I’ve spent a delightful couple of days in England, in spite of the dense cloud and chillier temperatures than back home in wintry South Africa. Catching up with old friends, being treated to a Sunday roast complete with Yorkshire pudding, and even a couple of hours of sunshine have got this holiday off to a fantastic start. My blog post over at the Minxes of Romance today is all about just one of the things I love about England. Please pop over there and feel the magic with me. And because today is Monday, and I’m sure we all need a little inspiration to kick start the week, here’s a quote from yet another Huletts sugar packet: If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost;  that is where they should be.  Now put foundations under them.  - Henry David Thoreau

If it were not for hopes, the heart would break. - Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) Our local sugar manufacturer, Huletts, prints inspirational messages on their sugar packets. This is one I opened recently, and I've kept it in my purse since because it really resonates with me. Since most followers of this blog are aspiring writers, I bet you already have hopes of living a rather different life than the one you have now. It probably involves seeing your name on the cover of a beautiful hardback, cashing in substantial royalty cheques and being feted at book signings. Much as I'd like all the above, my dream is far simpler: to be a stay-at-home writer and full-time mom. It's what keeps me going and without it my heart would break. I cannot imagine how people stay on the treadmill of traffic, bosses, end-of-the-month financial woes, and the guilt-ridden feeling that your kids deserve more of you than an anxious hour at the beginning and end of every day, without having a...

A very belated post since I'm just back from a wonderful weekend away in the Natal Midlands. A few weeks ago I blogged some tips on how to stay postive , and today I have three more. Follow positivity on Twitter. We all know the saying that if you want to be successful you surround yourself with successful people. The same thing goes with positivity. In order to stay positive, surround yourself with positive thoughts. A couple of my favourite mood uplifters on Twitter are Tiny Buddha and Inspirational Quotes . Please feel free to share any others you find. We can never have enough joy! Dance. Put on some bouncy music and get moving. If you have young kids, dance around the room with them. Dance like no-one is watching. Better yet, dance when no-one is watching. Guaranteed, no matter how silly it feels, you'll be getting exercise and by the end of the song you'll feel great. Breathe! When we get stressed, our breathing becomes shallow. This is natural fight-or-fligh...

This is less a book review than a shining example of how we can all realise our dreams. Brief the Sun of Summer is a poignant, lyrical story set in northern England duirng World War 2, published in 2010 by Vanguard Press. It's a mostly true account of a young English girl falling in love with a Polish fighter pilot, set against the backdrop of sweeping events. The story is slow, beautifully written, and is sure to entrance. But for me, the two best things about this book have nothing at all to do with the story. Firstly, I know the author. Her grand-daughter was my closest childhood friend and is now the godmother to my eldest daughter. Secondly, the author published this book at the age of 91. She is the living proof that you are never too old to follow your heart and live your dreams, and that publishing is the one industry in which age is no barrier to success. Irene Hunter Steiner wrote and sold two romance novels in the 1970s, then after a long hiatus she wrote ...

Here's a mash-up of interesting and inspirational articles I discovered this month: Reasons why romance readers should watch The Vampire Diaries Yup. I agree. An insightful article from the Huffington Post on why romance novels are good for us . (Thanks to author April Vine for this link) Don't give up: How it took one crime writer 133 Rejections to get published And this useful advice on finding time to write from South African crime author Jassy Mackenzie. Finally, I'm going to leave you with this inspirational TED talk from Ellen McGirt:

I first heard of mash-ups from Kristen Lamb, and I think it's a great idea. (Not least of all because it's an easy blog post to put together since I surf the net way too much.) So today I'd like to share a few websites I've stumbled across that have inspired me: This one gave me chills. A fantastic reminder on what our priorities in life really are. The top 5 regrets people express on their deathbeds Britt Michaelian shares inspirational tweets on Twitter as @MamaBritt . I really love this blog post from her: How Inspiration Influences Your Success The post has some useful practical tips on how to practice inspiration. I bookmarked this sweet, humorous post at the beginning of the year, and would now like to dedicate it to the many, many wonderful wise women who inspire me (and yes, that includes YOU). Barbara Scully's Wise Women And finally, one from Kristen Lamb herself, with great tips for Publishers on how they can avoid a serious collision with th...

Those Victorians have a lot to answer for. Their determination that every member of society should walk the 'straight and narrow path' (while a noble attempt to raise us all to the moral high ground) has left most of us in the western world with a damaged psyche. Strong words, I know. After all, why shouldn't we have higher morals and strive for a better world? Well, of course we should. But not at the expense of our own selves. More than a hundred years after Queen Victoria died, we still feel guilty if we put ourselves ahead of others. I'm here to tell you right here and now that this guilt is CRAP. Yes, I just swore. That's how strongly I feel about this. We can't look after others if we don't first look after ourselves. We can't give strength to others, if we aren't first strong in ourselves. You can't give financial aid to others, unless we first pay our own bills. And we can't teach our children how to be whole, confident, ...

It's Monday morning and not only is it Back to Work day, but it's also the first day I start The Great Commute to take my daughters to their new school across town. Far from letting any of this get me down, I'm cheering. Because for 2012 Mondays are Inspiration days here on my blog. Last week I posted this picture , and opened a brainstorming session, asking blog readers to share their inspiration of what lay behind the door. If you haven't yet had your say, please leave a comment. This week I'd like to pay tribute to women. To all of us, because we are incredible. We are stronger than we think. We hold down demanding jobs, raise children, run households (and sorting insurances, car service, grocery shopping, and general maintenance is a full time job. Ask my PA. Ha-ha.) We support each other, not just our friends and families, but sometimes strangers too. We are often faced with really tough situations that aren't of our own making. And it amazes me ag...

I'll publish my September Challenge update here tomorrow, but in the meantime I thought I'd share one of my favourite writing moments with you. It's that moment when something just 'clicks' in a story, taking you in a whole new, exciting direction. I've been struggling with a scene in my ST novel in which my heroine, Vivian, goes out on a boating trip with one of the heroes. I've written this scene in three different ways, placed it in different places in the manuscript, and still it wasn't quite working. I know this scene still has its place, but it needed something more. That something more happened at about 11pm last night. Suddenly my heroine did something that took me completely by surprise, and everything just clicked into place. I won't give details as I'd hate to spoil the surprise before this story is even published, but clearly Vivian has a way better grasp on this story than I do, and knew exactly what was missing! The boating ...

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls . - Joseph Campbell

Whatever you do, do it with all your heart and soul. - From Bernard Baruch (courtesy of a Huletts sugar packet)