Winter — a time for fires, writing and a Christmas Story.
Winter is tough for our little feathered friends so we always try to help them survive the cold.
Last night Jack Frost paid a visit and this morning the birds were flocking to the feeding station.
Our Carter’s navel Orange has a huge crop this year and the frost always makes a percentage of the crop fall before they are ripe enough to eat. So we feed these and sugar water for the little nectar birds. Here wax-eyes come to a feeding station on the rail of our front deck.
Winter time is also a time for toasty fires and with the colder weather it is no hardship to stay 
inside and put in hours writing. I am in the midst of trying to finish a Christmas story to include in a Boxed Christmas Set that Four Friends are aiming to publish for the Christmas season.
The Four Friends are from top Left clockwise from left Shirley Wine Serenity Woods, Diana Fraser and Kris Pearson…
Earlier in the year we put out a boxed set of three romance novels and a novella “Passion In Paradise” that saw us all rise to be in the top 100 romance authors in Amazon’s rankings.
Writing is very much a co-operative venture, authors are a close-knit bunch and we learn and help each other. This has been such a success we are keen to repeat it. Passion In Paradise will be re-released soon on Apple iTunes.
Meanwhile it’s back to the computer to finish A Christmas Story.
Tags: A Chritsmas Story, Apple iTunes, bargain romance, boxed set, contemporary romance, Diana Fraser, featured, Indie Publishers, Kiwi Writers, Kris Pearson, Passion In Paradise, rural romance, Serentiy Woods, shirley wine
Published on Saturday, June 29th, 2013, under Latest News
Congrats to you and your writing friends on your success. Winter certainly inspires me to curl up with a book…reading that is.
Maybe I should consider writing one instead!
Jen
I chuckled at your comment…writing isn’t for the fainthearted. I well remember being so sure I could write a book, it was so easy….30 years later I know it’s not at all easy…At times I curse the demons in my brain that give me no peace until I give them their own story. I have a character in a book that I wrote off as a social climbing snob and believe me that woman has given me no peace…I can see I’m going to have to write her story.
That’s awesome that you all put out a set of books! My niece is trying to break into the publishing area, so helping her has given me a new appreciation of writing.
Rob,
Thanks for stopping by. Writing is hard work but it is also very rewarding. The over riding requirement is persistence…. I hope your niece does well, my one piece of advice is that she join a writer’s group in her area. Most groups run great workshops where knowledge is freely given.
Your co operative boxed set was great, Shirley! It had me thinking along similar lines for Xmas but you’re doing it! Congrats and looking forward to its release! And just in time for a cold winter in the northern hemisphere!
Susanne
I’ve never tried my hand at a Christmas story, but I’m having real fun with this one… it’s a light hearted romp set in the delightful southern setting of Akaroa… it’s the only place in the South Island that would tempt me into shifting to the South Island. Settled by French Settlers it’s a little slice of France on our shores.
We had a frost overnight. Such a fresh start to a Sunday morning. The damp mornings are keeping our crops alive at the moment so we take what we can get while the rain stays on the east coast.
Annaleis
Thanks for stopping by. It rained in the night so we escaped a frost but by the feel of today that won’t last. Rainfall worldwide is certainly fickle. We either have too much or not enough.
I take you are in Western Australia… I have friends in the east and they have had far too much rain. Hope your crops survive.
Winter is great for writing, Shirl. The outdoors don’t call so loud and insistently. A big frost yesterday morning but just damp and cold this a.m. The sun has come out, a bit late in the day but we’ll take all we can get at this point. I’m still tucked into the office with a heater and my intriguing H & H whose past lives are embedded in their soul memories. Oh what havoc! Happy writing!
Jenny
Thanks for stopping by. it’s always a pleasure to welcome new readers to my blog
Wow … congratulations! Writing and readings have been my pastime for years … still enjoyable today
Cheryl
Thanks for stopping by. It’s always a pleasure to welcome new readers to my blog. Writing has been my hobby, my pleasure and my passion for many years. It’s always been a cathartic outlet to stress. Much healthier to write it down than obsess internally (big grin here).
Love your ‘blog n pictures’, Shirley. Your page looks awesome. As always, I find what you do with ‘social media’ an inspiration and something for me to aspire to as well!
Gaylene
Thanks for stopping by. I found Social media daunting when I first started, but you learn a little bit at a time. The secret is to start. Create a blog for free on Blogspot or WordPress and go from there.
Now I find it exhilarating.
Christmas time, still a wee way about right now, but it can be a cool time of year for some!
Too true Nick. But it’s amazing how quickly the time passes and it’s no good thinking the week before Christmas that I’d better get a Christmas story written.
Like all things, writing needs a certain amount of forward planning.
Thanks so much for stopping by.