April 22 post 
Frauke from Croco Designs is currently working on my new website, and the maintenance screen is showing. All going well, the new website should be up and running on Tuesday. I'll also have a new Wordpress blog, which means a new journal link. I'll post it here just as soon as I have it.
Meantime, I'm resting until my new site is up and running. Have an awesome week.
Shelley
Not going to Nationals? Don't worry...Romance Divas is doing the next best thing!
Romance Divas announces the first annual "Not Going to Nationals Cyber Conference" from July 11-15, righton the forum. Best of all, it's FREE!
Just register for Romance Divas--membership is free, you just need to sign up! www.romancedivas.com if you have trouble with registration email night.diva.maria (at) gmail (dot) com
There will be workshops, Q&As, and giveaways each day. All you have to do is participate!!!!
Schedule:
July 11: Workshop: PC Cast and Kristin Cast (topic TBA)PCCast.net Q&A: Erotic romance with Portia da Costa and Madelynne Ellis PortiaDaCosta.com
MadelynneEllis.com
July 12: Workshop: Book Signing 101: Tips to Help Make your Signing a Success by Jackie Kessler JackieKessler.com Q&A: Legal Issues for Writers by Amanda Brice AmandaBrice.com
July 13: Workshop: What to Expect After You Sign the Contract by Marley Gibson MarleyGibson.com Q&A: TBA (either with an agent from the Larsen-Pomada Agency or a panel on multi-cultural romance)
July 14: Workshop: Sasha White (topic TBA) SashaWhite.net Q&A: How To Write Both YA and Adult Romance by Berta Platas BertaPlatas.com
July 15: Workshop: Trim That Fatty Writing! by Rhonda Stapleton RhondaStapleton.net Q&A: TBA (either with an agent from the Larsen-Pomada Agency or a panel on multi-cultural romance)
We also have loads of great giveaways, including books, critiques, coaching, and more!
I'm off to the hairdresser to have my hair cut. About time, too, since I look like a shaggy dog.
I've worked really hard on editing this week and sent off a partial to my agent plus a full manuscript to one of my editors. Next on the list is my current Middlemarch story. If only the hero and heroine would stop chatting and get down to business. I've warned them I'm on the warpath, and as soon as I arrive home from the hairdresser they have to cooperate. Otherwise there will be trouble. My warning didn't impress them much.
What's everyone up to for the weekend?
Shelley
1. Why didn't the skelton take a towel to the beach?
Because he was bone dry.
2. What do you call a line of Barbie dolls?
A Barbie-queue.
3. What happens when your house is surrounded by ice?
You get ice-alated.
4. How do elephants talk to each other?
In Mumbo-jumbo.
5. Who stole the bubbles out of the bubble bath?
The robber ducky.
6. Where does a dog live if he is an actor?
Hollywoof!
7. What do you get if you cross Bambi with a ghost?
Bamboo.
8. What happened to the monster that had to take the five o'clock train home?
He had to give it back.
9. What did Tim the tiger say when his tail fell off?
Not long now!
10. Why did the tap run?
Because it saw the kitchen sink.
11. How do you communicate with a fish?
Drop him a line!
12. How do you tell when a toy is nervous?
It's all wound up.
13. What did the baby corn say to the mother corn?
Where's pop corn!
What's your favorite corny joke? Leave a comment
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Five Reasons the Best Writers come from New Zealand
1. The clean, green country grows fertile imaginations.
2. Kiwis don't know how to give up.
3. No and reject aren't in our vocabs.
4. We're weetbix kids.
5. Our country was the first to give women the vote and we have a female prime minister. With that sort of enlightenment behind us we're good.
6. One for free - we might be a small country but we think BIG.
I'm feeling very miserable with a winter cold, and I'm about to head to bed.
Today I:
1. Completed my partial and synopsis and I've fired them off via email.
2. I also started reading through a romantic suspense manuscript I've had sitting around for a while. It's actually better than I thought. I'm about a quarter of the way through and will send that off before I get back to my Middlemarch work in progress.
In market news, Medallion Press intends to offer some of its books from the backlist in e-format and according to the website future books will be coming out in print and e-format almost at the same time. I have THE SECOND SEDUCTION and THE SHADOW with Medallion, which are currently both available in print.
Cerridwen Press are currently having a sale on paperbacks with all prices at $7.99. There are some great books on offer with lots of different genres. My favorite genre is the romantic suspense one, and I'll be joining the list of authors soon with my first romantic suspense releasing in Jan 2008.
That's all for me now. I really am off to bed. What's everyone doing for the 4th of July? Curious minds want to know since I have no idea what you all do on Independence Day.
I've decided I'd quite like to be a politician when I grow up. I might even get to be the prime minister since gender isn't a problem here in New Zealand. (Our last two prime ministers have been women)
Why?
1. They're well paid and seem to spend a lot of time traveling around the place for free.
2. They make new laws, some of which are very silly.
3. No one is allowed to laugh at them or poke fun of things they do while parliament is in session. They can fall asleep during a debate, say the F word, act like a child, give the fingers sign and generally be juvenile, and even though it's all filmed no one is allowed to use this as material for satire. They're so serious about this they're passing a law.
4. Sometimes new laws don't apply to them - the new anti-smacking law designed to keep kids safe - a member of the ruling party who passed the new law was seen smacking his child in a shopping center this week.
Yes, I rather think being a politician sounds like lots of fun. It's certainly entertaining here in New Zealand.
What job would you like to do when you grow up?
Shelley
My goal for the week just gone was to finish off a partial to get off to my agent. I've finished the first three chapters plus the first scene of chapter four and printed it out for Mr. Munro to read. It is currently sitting out on the Hauraki Gulf waiting for that to happen. Don't worry - it's on a yacht and won't get wet!! I've done about a page of synopsis and sort of know how the story goes so that's my job for tomorrow. Finish the synopsis.
Meanwhile I wanted to take a break from anything synopsis related and I've pulled out a romantic suspense manuscript I wrote last year. I thought I'd read it through again, tighten it up, make sure the plot still makes sense and send it off. It's about time I got some manuscripts out in submission piles and "hope in the mail" again.
Tonight I'm feeling as if I'm coming down with a cold. I'm not surprised with all the changeable weather we've been having lately. I hate feeling sick.
How are things going with you?
Shelley
Thirteen Things about BEST MAN
1. BEST MAN is part of Ellora's Cave Naughty Nuptial series.
2. It's a story written by Shelley Munro, and since she lives in New Zealand that's where it's set.
3. BEST MAN is a contemporary man-love story i.e. gay romance
4. Check out the cover.
5. Like many New Zealanders Shelley loves rugby. Jesse Peters and Grayson Lynford are both rugby players who dream of playing for New Zealand's All Black rugby team.
6. The blurb:
A society wedding—the celebration brings both joy and regret for groomsman Jesse Peters. Jesse wishes things were different and his dreams of becoming a professional rugby player didn’t come between him and fellow groomsman and rugby teammate Grayson Lynford, the man he craves and has secretly lusted after for months.
One chance encounter and everything changes—hot, steamy lovin’, blistering passion and primal heat. Hunger between Jesse and Grayson blazes searing and intense. A future seems possible until reality intrudes and threatens to destroy Jesse’s relationship with the best man he’s ever found.
7. Shelley Munro loves an alpha male. Both Jesse and Grayson are on the alpha side. They know what they want and go after it.
8. Jesse and Grayson are great friends with common goals, and Shelley thinks they're both pretty sexy. *fans face*
9. BEST MAN is a Quickie but by the end of the story Jesse and Grayson have a future. If you're busy, with limited reading time, a Quickie is the perfect book to buy to soothe your reading urges.
10. BEST MAN is an erotic E rated romance.
11. BEST MAN costs $2.99 per download.
12. You can buy BEST MAN on 29 June 2007 from Ellora's Cave or here.
13. If you've been thinking about trying a gay romance, BEST MAN is the perfect one - a great size and price plus an excellent story. But, if I haven't convinced you and you prefer a traditional romance how about one of these?
or 
or 
Contemporary or Historical or Paranormal
They're all really good reads and available here for $2.99 per download.
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