– Published Laila Blake‘s gorgeous novella Driftwood Deeds
– Followed Laila‘s blog tour here, here, here and here (Do check these out if you like smart observations about writing, erotica and BDSM.)
– Breezed through Write. Publish. Repeat. by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant (Everyone even remotely interested in writing and/or publishing should read it. No arguments!)
– Got hooked on Danish political drama Borgen (Don’t you just love it when a strong female character gets to play the lead?)
– Unpacked some boxes, and then some more…
– Went to Ikea again (I believe a record has been broken) to buy more closets for all our stuff
– Decided to push the release date of Summer’s End back a week (I know, I know, this is becoming my most-postponed and blogged-about book, but with everything going on I just need a tiny bit more time.)
– Started gearing up for the release of A Christmas to Remember (Yes, that link means it’s on Amazon already… ;-o)
– Decided to start writing a brand new series (quite possibly set in Paris) as soon as Summer’s End is ready!
– Discarded the writing challenge I briefly mentioned in my previous list (because I want to get cracking on the new series first)
– Realised I change my mind a lot
– Released a boxed set which contains 7 of my novelettes for $3.99 (aka a 75% discount even if you received Hired Help for free after signing up to my mailing list!) (Only 2 days left!)
– Explained how to get everything I’ve ever written for less than $15
– Made this list
Things I Did This Week #14
– Spent four days in a house in Phuket with a bunch of gay men.
– Was very surprised by the fact that nothing untoward happened and I was in bed every day by midnight (no joke.)
– Made them watch Miranda (they loved it.)
– Added a good chunk of words to Summer’s End (and came to the logical conclusion that it won’t be released by mid December… sorry!)
– Went to see Catching Fire and was so impressed (especially by Jennifer Lawrence) (but the wife and I agreed she’s too young to openly have a celebrity crush on, so, yeah…)
– Started reading The Murder Wall by Mari Hannah (because it won the Polari first book prize) and saw a dream come true before my very eyes (because all I’ve ever wanted was for DCI Jane Tennison to be a lesbian.)
– Made good progress on edits for A Christmas to Remember (scheduled for release on 16 December.)
– Made some very, very, very (yes 3x very) exciting plans for Ladylit’s future (but more on that later once the paperwork is done.)
– Started packing because we’re moving house next week!
– Watched my wife get in touch with her uber-lesbian self while she assembled some Ikea furniture in our office (as for me, I couldn’t even put together a loo roll holder after staring at it for 10 minutes) (after which the missus simply clicked it together in one second.)
– Got my winter booties out (after the HK Observatory issued a cold weather warning because the temperature dipped below 20 degrees.)
– Came up with a writing challenge for the first six months (!) of 2014
– Debated if I should discuss said challenge on my blog (I will, but I want to finish Summer’s End first.)
– Made this list.
Things I did this week #12
– Felt guilty for not posting a list last week (but I did post this instead)
– Finished the first draft of Close Enough (High Rise Novella Four)
– Revealed the cover of Close Enough
– Posted a sneak peek of Close Enough (I’ll be posting another one this Sunday)
– Realised this week was all about Close Enough (;-p)
– Lowered the price of Fool for Love (High Rise Novella One) to $0.99 forever
– Held a 50% sale on all my Smashwords titles for Read an E-book Week
– Missed Claudia Winkleman desperately (because the internet didn’t give me my weekly dose of Film 2013)
– Graduated to 7K on the treadmill
– Said goodbye to a very dear friend (a big disadvantage to living in a transient city like Hong Kong)
– Boarded a plane to the motherland (as we speak)
– Started reading Girls Who Score (a full review will follow, but my favourite story so far is the brilliant Cheyenne Blue‘s ‘Run, Jo, Run’)
– Finished Diary of a Provincial Lesbian by VG Lee (and was thoroughly amused and quite endeared by it)
– Drooled and drooled and drooled some more over Robin Wright in House Of Cards (and found this very true and amusing)
– Made this list
Things I did this week #11
– Ignored Valentine’s Day (just like every year)
– Fell in TV love with a succubus
– Professed my love for Claudia Winkleman (and her bangs)
– Celebrated Chinese New Year with a Lost Girl marathon (yes, I’m addicted now)
– Started writing High Rise Novella Four
– Called for submissions (send me your dirty lesbian stories, pretty please!)
– Went on a 12K Sunday hike (and fell in love with Hong Kong a bit more)
– Invested in a walking stick (because, seriously, it remains a mystery how I haven’t broken anything yet while walking down all those treacherous, slippery rocks)
– Fell in TV love with Det. Flynn’s wardrobe (please, gods of TV, don’t ever cancel Motive)
– Finished the last edits on No Ordinary Love (It’s out next week!)
– Started on a ‘100 push-ups in 6 weeks program’ (because there’s nothing better in life than toned arms)
– Tried to choose green tea over coffee (with a 50% success rate)
– Marvelled at my wife’s trip planning skills (for our US west coast road trip in June)
– Made this list
Things I did this week #10
Back by popular demand (the wife asked for it): my weekly list of very interesting things I’ve done this past week. 😉
– Sent No Ordinary Love (High Rise Novella Three) to my dearly beloved beta-readers (thank you!)
– Barely survived an 8K hike across Hong Kong island (believe me, it’s a very steep island)
– Ran 5K for the first time since 2011
– Watched The L Word with a bunch of gays (most heard comments: “That’s not what lesbians look like!” and “They’re just like gay men!”)
– Saw grown men cry (when Mary-Louise Parker’s character died in Fried Green Tomatoes)
– Thoroughly enjoyed Kristin Lehman’s arms in Motive
– Requested two batches of ISBNs (and felt very grown up about it)
– Procrastinated a lot
– Wrote a short story (and submitted it for publication in an anthology)
– Stopped obsessively checking my sales figures (so liberating)
– Had a very exciting idea to celebrate the upcoming first anniversary of Ladylit (It’s only in June, but some preparation is required)
– Started thinking about possible dirty and dramatic plot lines for High Rise Novella Four (Nat and Isabella are such an explosive combination)
– Went on a Harlan Coben binge (Stay Close kept me up at night, but, admittedly, I’m a real wussy when it comes to thrillers.)
– Blogged about my Valentine’s Day Facebook contest (you can still enter!)
– Got a Pinterest account (but still haven’t sussed out how it works)
– Drooled over Jillian Michael’s abs
– Marvelled at Charlize Theron’s new hair cut
– Made this list
Things I did this week #9
– Released Undisclosed Desires (High Rise Novella Two) (It’s still free, so do grab a copy!)
– Went to see The Hobbit with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised
– Wondered once again why Hong Kong movie theatres have to be so damn cold
– Had to switch on the heater for the first time this year (a portable one as Hong Kong apartments only come equipped with AC)
– Watched Truth or Dare and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert back-to-back in the company of a bunch of gays (but things can never be too gay for me)
– Attended my first Christmas party of the year
– Put up some Christmas decorations (mainly miniature disco balls, though)
– Decided to write a follow-up to Summer Heat and Younger Than Yesterday in 2013
– Planned some more holiday promotions (do check back next week!)
– Was appalled by the number of TV shows that are on hiatus (but at least Chicago Fire is on)
– Gasped loudly when that thing happened in the Homeland season finale (after dozing off to the Carrie/Brody romance snooze fest)
– Took another week off from writing
– Discovered that Hong Kong has some really good indie bands
– Started feeling a little bit homesick (because of the holidays and my nephew’s first christmas I will miss)
– Shouted at the TV when Monica Galleti appeared on it in a dress… twice (it’s just not right)
– Made this list
