It's Christmas Eve...

StudioSarah Lou knows how to party on Christmas in Australia. CC 2.0

Checklist for Christmas Eve in Australia:

1. Ensure the kids get LOTS of exercise during the afternoon so they're worn out and will actually go to sleep tonight. Know that it is only a few days after the Summer Solstice, and the sun doesn't actually set in Australia until about 8pm.
2. Dress kids in the Jammies from Grammy's, as that's a family tradition. Tell youngest that yes, it's okay to sleep with just the top on, as it is too hot for bottoms.
3. Set out cookies for Santa, and convince kids that yes, Santa does want a cold glass of Passiona and not a glass of milk, because Santa is lactose-intolerant. Besides, this is Australia and the middle of summer. If you leave a glass of milk out, guaranteed it will be yoghurt by the time Santa arrives.
4. Read my loverly blog entry about Christmas in Australia on the Long and Short Reviews Blogfest and comment for a chance to win a prize. This is what you do while you wait for the kids to fall asleep.
5. Tell the kids you'll play lots of Christmas music that night for them as long as they stay in bed.
6. After checking on kids for the tenth time and finding out that yes, they're finally asleep, "Santa" lays out all the gifts, eats half the cookies, drinks all the tepid Passiona, and finally goes to bed. After all, the kids are gonna be up at 4:30am (along with that Australian Summer sun) to see what Santa brought them.
7. Lay on your bed under the air conditioning and dream of a winter Christmas because it's frickin' hot!

Happy Book Birthday - Part II

Happy Book Birthday
Bride of the Dark
Joining her sibling today
18 Oct 2018

To save everyone she knows and loves, Adrastea agreed to marry Mor-Lath, God of the Dark. But what does Mor-Lath get?

The mystery behind his reason for the marriage deepens as he introduces her to his priestesses, his library, and even the God of the Light. The only place he didn't introduce to her was his bed.

This baffles her. Without consummation, the marriage isn't complete in Adrastea's eyes, making her the bride, but not a wife.

Why did he marry her? An ancient prophecy provides both the reason and the reluctance of Mor-Lath when it comes to his bride, and that which he desires most could also be the one thing that destroys them both.

Where to buy: Amazon | Books2Read (universal link to many of your favourite retailers)  

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Her Grace is having triplets.

The Chicken or the Beef?

Sometimes at a restaurant one looks at the menu and can't decide. Everything looks so yummy! Should I choose the chicken or the beef? Me, I adore tasting platters or ten-course degustations, where I get to try a bite of everything.

However, sometimes one does not get options like that, and one must choose the chicken or the beef. For some people with bottomless pits where their stomachs reside, they can choose both. Me, I have a teeny-tiny tummy and can barely finish what I do order. I am limited in choosing chicken or beef.

A favourite author Gail Carriger came to a realisation that sometimes it's best to choose one thing over another, if it nourishes you more.

I've been doing much of that, in that what little writing time I've got, I've devoted it to wordage in the novel, rather than blogging or social networking. While the latter two will help in my promo and marketing, ultimately, I need to finish novels.

No novels, nothing to promote.

I am eight thousand words short of finishing a novel. I'm sure you'll forgive me if I focus on that, rather than blogging.

Want to support an author? Go read her books, leave honest reviews.

________________________
Her Grace is half-way through the chainsaw massacre, though you might not recognise it as such once she's done. There will be a glorious catfight, though.

I've got a website

Had one for quite some time (since 1993). Thought I'd mention it, as someone this morning was asking if I had a website.

I do. Here is it:

The quick URL is:  http://tinyurl.com/heidikneale


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Her Grace isn't that hard to google.

The Curse of Time

No, I'm not talking about lack thereof. That happens to us all.

I'm talking about how we measure time, according to our planet's circadian cycle, and the fact that we've colonised all 360º of it.

Recently I've been hanging out on Twitter for pitch parties and the such. Alas, most of the fun on Twitter happens when the US is awake. That's my middle of the night.

Eastern Standard Time is diametrically opposite Western Australian Standard Time.  Also, WA does not have Daylight Savings Time, because we're smart. See, we have a greater awareness of how time zones can affect others. Perth is the only major city within our time zone. When we need to conduct business with Adelaide, Sydney, Auckland, London or New York, we've got to deal with different time zones. Daylight Savings Time, that leftover dinosaur from a time when most people did not have electric lights and the Internet, is useless in the 21st Century. Spring Forward and Fall Back does no one any favours, and causes more problems than it solves.

But I'm not here to rant about DST. It's your own bad luck if you live in a DST Zone. DST can change. It can be legislated out of existence. Really.

I'm talking about things that governments can't change: science. Planet is round. You are on one side, I am on the other. If you're a diurnal creature like me, chances are we won't be awake at the same time. This bums me out.

This affects my professional life.  As an author, I spend half my time writing and the other half marketing/networking. My ideal work day would be to get up early, get about four hours' writing time done, then spend the warm afternoon in promo and socialising.

But I can't, because most of my audience is asleep during my afternoon. If I am to be social and interact with everyone, I've got to do it first thing, before everyone goes to bed.  Scheduling tweets and blogposts doesn't do me any good, because I'm not there to interact.

This is not an ideal schedule, as I'd much rather spend my more brain-awake hours working on great novels, not marvelling at the witty sayings of social media. Going nocturnal for the sake of my career isn't an option at this point, as I still have children at home.

I see lots of authors having great networking success because of Twitter. It's a shame I can't take full advantage of its power simply because I'm on the wrong side of the planet.

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Her Grace, in spite of geographical isolation, prefers the lifestyle of Perth and Australia. She gets paid a living wage and does not need to fear that one little medical issue could send her bankrupt.

Get HER ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS for free this week

It's
Read an Ebook Week
at Smashwords.

I'm rather fond of ebooks, for their convenience and pricing.  For the rest of this week (until Saturday), you can get an e-copy of HER ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS for free from Smashwords by using the SFREE coupon at checkout.

I'm a big proponent of literacy, especially escapist fiction. If giving away my book for free this week helps someone, then it's a good week.

If you've already got your copy of HER ENDEARING YOUNG CHARMS, please share this info with someone else so they can get their hands on a great escapist novel.

If you do get a free copy, I ask that you kindly give it an honest review it at Amazon, Smashwords, GoodReads, or wherever you review novels. This helps other readers find good books.

____________________________
Her Grace is also getting other Smashwords novels for reading, despite her ever-growing TBR pile.

Her Endearing Young Charms - Yours for 99c

To celebrate the new cover of Her Endearing Young Charms, we've gone on sale.

Grab your ebook version of Her Endearing Young Charms from your favourite retailer this week (8 - 15 November) for only 99c.  

Amazon | B&N | Kobobooks | Smashwords | iBooks

If you do pick up Her Endearing Young Charms on sale, please do me a favour and post an honest review on Amazon or GoodReads. This helps other readers find great books.

Meanwhile, I'm going back to working on The Charm of Truth, the second book in the series. These books don't write themselves (okay, sometimes they do).

Meanwhile, A Lady of Many Charms is still free, if you haven't grabbed it yet.  A | B&N | K | SW | iB

________________________________
Her Grace wishes to contribute greatly to your need to escape real life through fiction.

You're Invited to a Book Launch

If you are in the Perth or Rockingham area, please come along.

Monday 22 Feb, 5:30pm
Rockingham Central Library (Dixon Road, Rockingham)
Bookings Essential
ph: (08) 9528 8683
email: RCLcontact@rockingham.wa.gov.au

I have candy hearts and a few e-copies of books to give away.

Candy Hearts Romance promo video

Plus, for your chance to win a Kindle Fire, enter The Wild Rose Press' Rafflecopter draw. You have until Valentine's Day to enter.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Come Party with Long and Short Reviews

Long and Short Reviews is celebrating their 8th Anniversary, and my books are part of the fun!

Have a look at For Richer, For Poorer and As Good As Gold, for your chance to win prizes like Amazon or B&N gift cards, books and more, thanks to LASR.

_______________________
Her Grace loves a good party.

I'm on Facebook

Love Facebook?  Come like Heidi Kneale, Author and keep up with the news, including project status reports, upcoming promotions and other goodies specific to this up-and-coming Fantasy Romance author.

__________________________
Her Grace loves to escape from reality with a good book. She's got one coming out in February 2016.

Read Me For Free!

What is the price of true love?  A hundred gold pieces.  What is the price of AS GOOD AS GOLD by yours truly, Heidi Kneale?  Free on Amazon for Kindle from 1 to 5 April.  It's promo time!

Go buy get for free on Amazon now.  Don't wait too long, or you'll miss your window of opportunity.

If you do pick up this sweet little fantasy romance, do me a favour and give an honest review on Amazon and/or Goodreads.

__________________________
Her Grace hopes she can share this delightful little tale with you.

My Guest Blog Post on TWRP

Last Friday, Valentine's Day, I was a guest blogger on The Wild Rose Press, where I spoke A Bit on Historical Gold Coins.

I'd done a bit of research for "As Good As Gold", and wanted to share what I had learned.

Have you ever held a gold coin?

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Her Grace once had the chance to cradle a gold doubloon in the palm of her hand. It was smaller than she expected, and heavy.  Aussies also have "gold coins" (really copper brass, but they're real shiny!)

Wherein Her Grace Gets All Twittery

By Hdepot (Own work)
[CC-BY-SA-3.0
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons
Attribution length: 107 characters.

Okay, I'm trying to wrap my head around this Twitter thing. Along with Facebook and Tumblr and a whole slew of social networking sites, it's one of the It Things, apparently.

I'm not so sure how I can make it work effectively for me.  Especially professionally.

No, I don't have my own Twitter account. I'm not game. Reasons why:

• It's rather short.  Rawther.  I'm not confident I can squish significant meaning into 140 characters every tweet, and I have no wish to sound trite the rest of the time.
• I'm not impressed with its signal-to-noise ratio.  Many tweets seem to be vague three word replies stuck to multiple hashtag conversations. Kind of hard to follow, really.
• The tweets that are interesting usually consist of a tiny url leading to something that is, actually, fascinating (and definitely more than 140 characters).  Almost makes Twitter little more than a redirection service.  Maybe that's its best use.
• I don't have the timely time to participate in a meaningful conversation.  My internet usage is sporadic. By the time I get around to reading Twitter, I'll be woefully out of date. Alas.
• Not convinced it's usefully more than a time-waster and another incarnation of gossip-around-the-watercooler.  (On the other hand, word-of-mouth networking (aka "gossip") is useful in the writerly community.  Especially if it uses the words "nice deal".)

Though I confess, I sometimes follow a couple of interesting people, sorting through their LOLs and other bits of lopsided conversations to find some really fascinating things.  Platform aside, they're charming no matter what social networking medium I read them on.

Also, some people claim it has value. As they have more experience than I with Twitter, I'd love to know how they make it work for them.

Things I would say, if I was tweeting:

• Humour for writers.  Ya gotta laugh.  http://www.epublishabook.com/?cat=10#axzz2cIpoGNEn
• Nobody with Internet access has any excuse not to research.  Go work on your Google Fu.
• Being a writer means that you are giving permission for someone to misunderstand you.

Everything else I say is long-winded.