Water, water, everywhere except where they needed it.
Sunday, March 1st, 2009
Goodbye to a February that caused much heartache and grief in Australia and hello to the fresh beginnings of March. The extremes of the land down under have been well illustrated in the devastating heat and fires of Victoria as well as the terrible floods of far north Queensland and NSW, alongside so many uplifting stories of the joys.
Amongst the grief and tragedy, such tales of heroism, mateship, and the helping hands of millions of people have highlighted the amazing resilence and warmth of the good side of human nature.
In Romance Writers of Australia, the committee and members have rallied to send their own books, new books and children’s books, to the fire affected victims in Victoria who lost their homes, their schools and their libraries. Hundreds of books are pouring into one heroic person’s house, (go – secret heroine doing all the work!!) lounge room, bedrooms, bathroom, you name it, she has books. Send her more!
The books will be sorted and packaged for distribution to communities affected as a small reassurance that they are in our thoughts and we’d love to do something to even briefly lighten the load. For a reader, imagine not being able to lay your hand on one uplifting book or a story to read to your children that would allow you to escape for just a short time from the reality of starting again.
If you would like to send a book token to the Romance Writers of Australia Book Appeal send them to RWA Bushfire Book Appeal
c/ – 89 Rennie Street, Thornbury, Victoria 3071 – Our book collector says “Feel free to pop a note inside or if an author, to sign it.”
Speaking of books, thank you to all the people who have contacted me about my first Lyrebird Lake book, The Midwife’s Little Miracle, still to come out in North America in April. I’ve never had as much wonderful feedback as I’ve had for this book. You’re fabulous. Thank you.
I’ve just recieved the cover for Book two of the series, isn’t beautiful, which will be out in the UK and North America in May, and Australia/New Zealand in June.
The Midwife’s New Found Family is Misty and Ben’s Story as they both find the magic of Lyrebird Lake. More on them and a new competition next month.
And to close I’d like to share some of my own flood photos, (thank you to Suz and the RWAus group who were worried about how much water I was sitting in <G>).
We live on the Pacific Highway between Sydney and Brisbane and the land at the front of our house runs out to the hills. You can see how different it looks when it’s all under water. We were high and dry so could only enjoy our special water views. It took only four days of rain to lift the flood level up about seven feet and I could still kayak around nearly two weeks later.
I’m still having a fabulous time researching the far north Western Australian Kimberley area for my new book. What a road trip my midwife heroine, Kate, and the dashing paramendic, Rory, are having. More on them later.
Keep well, keep safe and happy reading
with warmest regards
Fi
w/a Fiona McArthur
my second Kimberley’s of Western Australia book has hit the shelves.
Makes you wonder about the covers in all the other countries. 
