Give-A-Way - Upcoming... Celebrating!!

It just hit me that on the 3rd of July I will celebrate my 2 year blogging anniversary… and I’d love to also celebrate 200 followers and giveaway $200 worth of jewellery.


Most of the time I don’t take a whole lot of notice how many followers I have on my blog… but I realised the other day some more lovely people have clicked a button and now I’m close to 200.

So this is my little call out ... a little self promotion before the giveaway starts… and a little request to encourage your friends to drop by and click that little follow button. And then you can all enter my little $200 jewellery giveaway.

And Thankyou! For reading… because if nobody ever popped in to read… I probably wouldn’t have kept going.

A 3 Night Get-a-way

Today I'm thankful for friends who couldn't use a luxury holiday and handed it over to us!

my view in the morning... from the ocean to the mountains

sometimes it is so nice to be on the receiving end

my favour chair to watch the sun set....

and to enjoy the pretty lights...

a holiday to remember.

Thankful!



Judging Meghan by Trudy Adams

~ An Aussie Review ~
Meghan is the middle child with four siblings. Her family faces shocking circumstances, where they have to move and travel to find work on the road. Judging Meghan gives a very descriptive look at life in Australia through the depression years of 1931-1932. Meghan sees the world as black and white, right or wrong. She faces loss of friendship, a moment where death stares her in the face and an altercation with the law. The discovery of forgiveness and her true value allows her to stand up for justice.

This novel allows the reader to look at friendships, the ones that work and the ones that hurt. Also, something many of us struggle with for many different reasons, forgiveness. What is it and who is forgiveness really for? Another attribute is the insight into family, what holds your family together and what makes families fall apart?

This book stands alongside Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna and What Katie Did. Judging Meghan is classic and wholesome in nature but written for today’s reader. This is absolute joy to read with every page urging you to read on.

Judging Meghan has become one of my all time favourite reads.

I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for more of Trudy’s books on the shelf.

Trudy's Website

Sunday Session ~ hello!!

So it's been a while since I played...
My sister has a regular 'Sunday Session' .. it's all about music.. and I don't play by the rules.. which you can find on her blog, Do I Really Wanna Blog.

I love this song...
when it comes on the radio
you may think....
look out ...
it's a doof doof car...
but ...
it's a Tarago!!!



You may also hear my 3 year old
yelling...

Turn it down mum!!!!

And while I have your attention.... This week Auctions for Dignity and Hope have an auction running.. please pop over there and check it out .. Auction #4

Aspiring Writers Tools

Aspiring writers often don’t make a profit.

Especially aspiring writers who home school and study.

Over the past month or so I’ve discovered some absolutely fantastic tools. I’m sure you’ve all already found them… and forgotten to tell me … but just in case you haven’t discovered these tools yet…

YALitChat …  an online weekly chat on Twitter… but it’s so much more than that. It’s also another online social media tool.

Check out these hash tags (#) on Twitter #PBLitChat (picture book Lit Chat) #KidLitChat #myWANA #amwriting ... I'm sure there's more

Writers Digest Community .. another social media platform for endless activity and inspiring knowledge.

Query Tracker … I have just discovered this one this week. I do remember someone mentioning it a while ago – but I guess back then I was only interested in finding Aussie publishers and agents … but now I’m ready to search far and wide and hey, I love America so why not?

WriteOnCon … this one I found last year … all MCs under 18 … a brilliant online conference in August

Natural Reader … this is a free download and it reads your text back to you

Dragon Dictation … I don’t use this – because I don’t have an iphone, ipod or ipad … I heard someone else talk about it and now my hubby uses it and loves it. It turns your voice recording into text … so you can write on the go!

Christopher M Parks’s Manuscript Analyser... this is great to pick up adverbs, overuse of words etc

Rhymer ... a free online rhyming dictionary for all the poets or picture book writers.

The Bookshelf Muse ... another one I just discovered thanks to a lovely reader ;)

Australian Writer's Resources... Competitions, publishers, writing groups

Christian Writers Downunder 

Predators and Editors - listing publishers the good the bad and the ugly

And what I love is …

These are all free free free!

Do you have any wonderful sites or platforms you’ve discovered recently?

The Blackberry Bush by David Housholder

I won this book through first reads over at Goodreads.

This story follows the story of a boy and a girl born on the same day. They are connected by generational history and both move continents and struggle with much through their journey.

Both Josh and Kati have fascinating stories. As the characters unfold across the pages, we come to a fast pace climax where their paths cross and their destinies are changed forever.

Because this story has a long back story, spanning generations, I found the beginning a little confusing. But as the story continued, all I wanted was more. I wanted to know more of their family history. I wanted to know more but in the end I was satisfied with an enjoyable read.

This is a moving story that will have you laughing and crying. I’ll leave you with a beautiful quote from the novel…

"It takes a crown of thorns and a truly good heart to destroy the wounding thorns of life" ~ David Housholder, The Blackberry Bush

From the wife’s perspective Pt1

I recently posted an interview with my hubby on buying and selling houses .. you can see that HERE
I had more to add after our interview finished... so here's my perspective.

My husband worked in a franchise real estate agency for over 4 years until a year ago, when we started our own independent real estate company, Finesse Property. We wanted to have the opportunity to sell properties proficiently, with a high level of excellence and in doing so, minimise the stress vendors experience when selling.

Agent v’s Agency

Since leaving the franchise agency, one of the main concerns Shane hears is, “but you aren’t a national brand with a big sales team”. Ultimately, you are working with an ‘agent’ not agency. The agent you sign up to sell your house is the main driving force behind it getting sold. Don’t be deceived by thinking that because you list with an ‘agency’, the entire sales team will be doing their best to sell your property – it is simply not the case. The ‘listing agent’ (not usually the ‘listing agency’) will be marketing and actively working on your property until it sells. The non-listing agents working in the same office will occasionally speak to a buyer who they think might be interested in your property, however most of the time the buyer would have already seen it with the listing agent, or viewed it online.

The majority of people know what they are looking for and search for properties online. If the house meets all their needs they’ll take the next step and call the listing agent or enquire online. Again, these enquiries go directly to the listing agent - not the listing agency.

I hope this has answered some questions you may have had - we are based in Australia - so systems in other countries may be different.

Questions welcome... I'll pick my hubby's brain for you.

WIP bound up

Her name is Stephanie

I've written her story

And now its bound up

To enter a comp



And submit to every possible avenue

And then everyone will know

the story of Stephanie

***