In August, I participated in the MS Readathon for the first time since I was a kid. Mostly because it's a great cause, of course, but they were giving out free t-shirts! And yes, I fit kids t-shirts. But kids must be big or something cos I got a kids size 10 and it's big on me. But never mind! Free t-shirt and a lot of incentive to read!

I'm still binge reading category romance, and I'm becoming a HUGE fan of Michelle Douglas! Just loving her books, so there were plenty of them on the list this month. But I did want to read some single titles too. I started off really well, but after attending the RWA Conference and getting stuck into a new project, I'll admit my reading did drop off a little. Oh well, I still think I read more this month than I have any other month this year!

I'm settled into my new house, everything is on the rise again, and that includes writing! Sadly, I'm not good at writing and reading at the same time. After all, there is only so much time in the day and with work plus exercise plus just other general stuff, if I want to write, reading suffers. And vise versa. 

This month I've poured myself into reworking an older but favourite manuscript into a category length romance as well as writing two short stories. However, around that, I've also managed to catch up on a lot of reading and have decided to indulge in a lot of category romance.

​So here is July's book review.

Thanks to the North Australian Arts Festival and Townsville's Festival of Stories, I spent the weekend attending four writing workshops with amazing thriller fiction writer T.M. Clark.

Having recently lost a lot of motivation, myself, and my voice, I attended these workshops with the hope to find these things again. And I'm happy to say, I'm back on track and it's full steam ahead!
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So, this piece is just a little bit about what I learned over the weekend and how I plan to take charge.

I read a lot in June, however, as I moved house and no longer have a treadmill, my reading time did get absorbed by walking out on the streets. But never mind. Health comes first.

I managed to read some great books while tucked away in my new old Queenslander home. My reading this month was quite diverse as I caught up on some of my freebie ebooks, discovered new authors, and absorbed some new releases.

Last week, I attended The Writer's Plan - a workshop provided by the Queensland Writers Centre and presented by CEO Lori-Jay Ellis. Coming off the back of Anna Campbell's Fighting through the Fear of writing at the Rainforest Writing Retreat, it was the second time this month I've been told to get my butt into gear, stop making excuses, and just write.

Well, not really, but essentially that's what I've taken from it all. So here's a little bit about my Writing Plan for the foreseeable future.

I didn't read much in May and I'm not entirely sure why. Reading is difficult for me as I never seem to have the time these days. Nor do I find I have the ability to concentrate enough to really fall into a story. But I did buy a lot of books this month. More than I probably should. And I did read one of the best, insightful books I have ever read, so it was a pretty good month.

This weekend, I attended the Rainforest Writing Retreat at O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat in the Gold Coast Hinterland. I was very keen for this retreat as it was full of amazing workshops about ghost stories, writing productivity, and short stories. Not to mention the amazing setting of O'Reilly's Rainforest Retreat, abundant with rainforest walks and breathtaking views. This retreat could not have come at a better time either and I really enjoyed my time away from reality to connect with my creativity again.

Read on to learn more about the workshops and my amazing weekend.

April was very busy. Considering I spent a lot of time creating two anthologies for the TWPC, I hardly know how I found the time to read! But I did manage and had the pleasure of indulging in some amazing stories written by some fantastic authors.

March was a big month for reading! Not only was I in the middle of a bunch of books, but there were also some anticipated new releases ... and a few I didn't anticipate and bought anyway, of course ...

This month I spent some time finishing off a few reads on Kindle. I find I enjoy those while I'm out and about or on the treadmill. Then there were the big two new releases - on the same day! - of Natasha Lester's and Matthew Reilly's new books. Plus the new Fiona McCallum and the newly discovered Josephine Moon! Not to mention the $5 book sale I happened across ... and revisted a few times.

Just a little post about what I've been reading in February. After circumstances have prevented me from indulging in books over Christmas and such, I finally managed to find my love for reading again this month and have enjoyed some fantastic stories.

I picked up a few latest releases and found some good reads out of my freebies on Kindle.

And, of course, I'm still seeking out all books with Border Collies in them!