Contemporary Romance / NOVELLA
Date Published: July 31, 2014
No shirt, no shoes, no … problems?
Hemi Ranapia isn’t looking for love. Fun, yes. Love, not so much. But a summer fishing holiday to laid-back Russell could turn out to be more adventure than this good-time boy ever bargained for.
Reka Harata hasn't forgotten the disastrously sexy rugby star she met a year ago, no matter how much she wishes she could. Too bad Hemi keeps refusing to be left in her past.
Sometimes, especially in New Zealand’s Maori Northland, it really does take a village. And sometimes it just takes a little faith.
NOTE: This 36,000-word (120-page) novella begins about six years before the events of Just This Once, and yes, it gets a little steamy at times, because Reka and Hemi are just that way. It can be read as a stand-alone book, even if this is your first escape to New Zealand.
Contemporary Romance / NOVELLA
Date Published: July 31, 2014
No shirt, no shoes, no … problems?
Hemi Ranapia isn’t looking for love. Fun, yes. Love, not so much. But a summer fishing holiday to laid-back Russell could turn out to be more adventure than this good-time boy ever bargained for.
Reka Harata hasn't forgotten the disastrously sexy rugby star she met a year ago, no matter how much she wishes she could. Too bad Hemi keeps refusing to be left in her past.
Sometimes, especially in New Zealand’s Maori Northland, it really does take a village. And sometimes it just takes a little faith.
NOTE: This 36,000-word (120-page) novella begins about six years before the events of Just This Once, and yes, it gets a little steamy at times, because Reka and Hemi are just that way. It can be read as a stand-alone book, even if this is your first escape to New Zealand.
Hemi Ranapia isn’t looking for love. Fun, yes. Love, not so much. But a summer fishing holiday to laid-back Russell could turn out to be more adventure than this good-time boy ever bargained for.
Reka Harata hasn't forgotten the disastrously sexy rugby star she met a year ago, no matter how much she wishes she could. Too bad Hemi keeps refusing to be left in her past.
Sometimes, especially in New Zealand’s Maori Northland, it really does take a village. And sometimes it just takes a little faith.
NOTE: This 36,000-word (120-page) novella begins about six years before the events of Just This Once, and yes, it gets a little steamy at times, because Reka and Hemi are just that way. It can be read as a stand-alone book, even if this is your first escape to New Zealand.
Rosalind
James
Guest blog:
Dear New Zealand:
Here’s What I Love About You
I originally wrote
this post for the Romance Writers of New Zealand’s March 2013 newsletter.
1. The Tall Poppy
thing. Where I grew up (hint: rural!), bragging about yourself was
considered obnoxious. But U.S. popular culture is increasingly full of that.
Randy Moss announced before a recent Super Bowl that he was the greatest wide
receiver ever to play the game. Yes, that remark was met with derision (he
isn’t), but the fact that he’d even say it is illustrative. An All Black would
NEVER call himself the “greatest ever.” They go out of their way NOT to say
that.
2. Behaving well.
Especially amazing to us: the high standard of behavior to which NZ sportsmen
and sportswomen are held, and the outrage when they behave badly. U.S. athletes
will tell you that they aren’t role models—and with some exceptions, they
aren’t! I’ve found the least attractive quality I can show in New Zealand is
arrogance, the attitude that “I’ve got a problem, and it’s your job to fix it
RIGHT NOW.” You’re polite! We love that!
3. Safety and
quality of life. Yes, I know that there’s more crime and social unrest in
New Zealand than is evident in my books. Still, it always makes me chuckle to
hear Kiwis (or Aussies) complain about things like public transit, crime,
litter, etc. It is just so much NICER where you live. In the U.S., public
toilets are virtually nonexistent. That might seem like a frivolous
issue--until you need one.
4. Being
responsible for yourself. The simple fact that you can’t sue for personal
injury changes everything. The first time I swam at Mission Bay, I kept looking
around for the markers that would show me where I could go. It took me the
whole swim to realize that there weren’t any! It was up to me to keep myself
safe.
5. The “she’ll be
right” thing. A B&B operator was talking to me about Americans. She
described them coming into the main house all worried, saying, “There are no
forks! What should I do?” And her bemused response, “Well, you can ask me, and
I’ll give you one.”
6. Work/Life
balance. We don’t have it and you do. When I was working at a, you know,
JOB, I expected to put in a good 60 hours a week. My husband still does.
Everyone has such a good time when they come to Australia or New Zealand to
work! The idea that you can take the weekend off—believe me, that’s novel.
7. Maori culture
is cool.
8. It’s pretty.
And the All Blacks are good-looking, and wear tight jerseys and short shorts.
What can I say. It’s true.
Why I Don’t Get
Writer’s Block
“What do you do about writer’s block?” I hear this
question all the time. Short answer: I don’t get it! After ten years as a
marketing writer, I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent toiling to make alphabet
letter tiles or fireplace inserts sound sexy. Writing stories about two people
falling in love? Piece of cake!
The longer answer is that the techniques I developed to
keep myself on track while writing about Building Your Classroom Library or Our
Salon Services have continued to serve me well in writing fiction. Here they
are:
1.
Take
a walk. Or a run, or a bike ride, or a swim. We’re not just giant
disembodied brains. Something about moving my body makes the left brain/right
brain combination work. I don’t try to force my story to come to me, just let
my mind wander. For the first ten minutes or so, it DOES wander. Then somehow,
without any direction, it comes back to the book. Often, the scene that appears
isn’t even the one I thought I was working on. I’ve learned to trust the
process, and go home and write the scene that came to me. Maybe that other
scene will appear next time—or maybe it wasn’t right after all.
2.
Try a
different spot. I often take a notebook to the coffee shop in the morning.
The walk up there gets my mind working (see #1), and the change from my normal
writing place shakes up my mind a bit. The difficulty arises when I’m
scribbling a particularly steamy scene in longhand, hoping devoutly that nobody
can look over my shoulder and read what I’ve written—or that they’ll guess why
I’m concentrating so hard!
3.
Just
write. Don’t worry about getting it perfect at first. Your words may start
out stilted, but the act of writing will make the ideas start to flow, and you
can go back and edit later. I often don’t start at the “beginning” of a scene,
as that bogs me down. I start with the “fun” part, the part that presents
itself most insistently. Afterwards, I’ll come back and write the graceful introduction.
4.
Give
it a day. I start each day by going back over what I wrote the day before.
I can always improve it. It also jump-starts that day’s work by getting me back
into the book.
5.
If
you’re stuck, move! This goes back to #1. If I’m blanking out, I get up and
make a cup of tea, empty the dishwasher, anything to shake myself up. The right
idea always comes once I stop trying to force it.
There you go. I hope my tips help. And happy writing!
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