Girlfriends are a girls best friend

Whether they're for a reason, a season or a lifetime, girlfriends rock. Just sayin.
I've had a couple of mad weeks with technology dissolving around me - external hard drives, laptops, my brain ;-) but happily I've had a group of fabo ladies cheering me on.
In fact they've gone above and beyond for me and I've been blown away by how awesome it is to be surrounded by such powerful, smart and generous women.  My CP managed to critique a book I was working on while she was in hospital and another writer lent me her own laptop so I could crack a deadline.
So I really just wanted to take a little moment to say thanks universe, for granting me such sweet lady friends. People who will put a hand round the shoulder and reassure you that it's all going to work out just fine.
And now that I'm all computered back up, have notes on how to get my heroine to get over her too sweet self and I've handed in those line edits? It's back on baby.
I hope you have some great friends in your life too and I'd love to hear about some of the ways they go above and beyond to make the world a little better for you. Nothing like being able to share the love is there!
Thanks for stopping by.
x Michele

Growing inspiration

I love the world we live in. I'm incredibly lucky to live in New Zealand, and particularly in the tree filled enclave where we've settled. Winter is settling in over here and rather than the bush, beaches and hammering surf New Zealand is famous for, our skies are full of broiling grey. Yet I'm writing a series set in some of the world's hottest beach spots and all of them include getting into the water. Some days I look out the window and wonder whether I'll be able to pull the warm out of my head and make it feel real on the page. And that I guess is when I let nature really do that thing she does best. Inspire. The way the trees bend in the rain suddenly becomes the graceful arc of tropical palms, heavy with coconuts and rich with sun. The sodden dirt in my vege patch becomes sand, churned by hundred of feet as surfers and media make their way to the break. And the grey sky? Okay, sometimes it's hard to feel inspired by that, but if I let go of my disappointment that the sun has chosen to have a sleep in, I can pretend that it's a storm front, churning with wave-creating energy. It's all connected somehow. Two sides of a coin, trees bending under rain while their sisters soak up that moisture and reach their branches up and into the growth the sun provides. Sorry if that sounds a bit much, I must be channelling lady Gaia today ;-)
Anyway, if all else fails, I can just write my characters hunkered down with mulled wine, weathering out the storm, nothing like huddling with your honey in front of a fire.
Thanks world, you're a constant source of inspiration.
What about you? Does nature spark your creative energy or does the rain just dampen your spirits?
X Michele