Calling All Writers:
Today I stumbled on a blog by Jeff Goins (100k+ fan base). Most blogs I'll read once then put aside, but he struck a chord... and I think he struck a chord because he was saying the same thing as another Geoff I know and who's blog I ALWAYS read - Geoff Shaw.

Tho' Geoff Shaw's 'Kindling' covers everything we need to know about e-Book writing, production and marketing etc.. Geoff is also one of the best people I know to give you a good kick in the pants when you need it... 
and his basic message has always been: JUST WRITE!... 

This is where these two GeoJeff's are the same, so I've subscribed to the second Jeff's blog too because I need to keep hearing the message and I need to keep getting that kick in the pants. 
So if you need a nudge now and then, read below and it might spark you to write a bit more.. it did me.

Signed:
~WGP (World's Greatest Procrastinator)
PS: If you want to take a look at the other Geoff's Kindle training (he's my Guru :)) have a look here and I'll lead you by the hand. 
Oh boy, how confusing. I think I have too many GeoJeff's in my life!

eBooks 1 and 2 in the Re-Runners Trilogy are now available on Amazon!
You can find them here
Paperback version will be available by the end of September.

Re-Runners - First Life (Book 1) AND Re-Runners - Second Life (Book 2) is downloading to Amazon and other outlets this weekend.... which means that BOTH books will be 'live' in 3 to 5 days. 
Don't worry, I'll let you know when it happens, but in the meantime here is Chapter 32 from book 1 - First Life.... just to whet your appetite. Enjoy...
~Elli

Re-Runners
First Life

Chapter 32

Dylan New Beginnings 
 The sun beamed through the open window, hit the mirror on the wall and bounced back into Dylan’s face. He lay there trying to hold on to the dream of his partying university days, but it faded as the truth hit him. He tried to open his eyes but the sun and a pounding headache forced them closed again.

Dylan shook his head and ignored the pain. Thoughts tumbled over one another quickly, as he tried to think and make sense of what had happened. Heart attack, the memory came back to him.

He was in bed ... A hospital bed? He struggled to sit up but his arm was pinned to the mattress. Restraints? He tried to move again, his senses now fully alert as he looked to his arm and realized the ‘restraint’ was woman lying on his shoulder, her back to him. What the....?

The blond mumbled, ‘Dylan, go back to sleep.’

Phillipa? Dylan pulled away in shock. He couldn’t remember the last time he and his wife had shared a bed. Pushing off the sheet he climbed over her and stood beside the single bed where they had been spooning in slumber. More surprises were to come as he stared at the soft and youthful features of his wife of over twenty years. Phillipa had always been a beautiful woman and a multitude of expensive spa treatments, plus a couple of small touches of the plastic surgeon’s scalpel had kept her that way; but before him wasn’t the well preserved woman he knew well. The woman lying in his now recognizable college dorm room was young, actually young. Just as she was when they had first dated at university. Phillipa mumbled in her half sleep and turned over to take up the space where he had been only seconds before.

Dylan looked around the room. Yep, it was his dorm room alright. Same books, same sound system, same empty pizza boxes. Glancing sideways he caught sight of his naked body in the mirror. Strong, fit, lean and ... young. I’m dreaming, he pinched himself once, then again viciously. Must be dreaming.

He quickly pulled on jeans, shoes and a t-shirt and left the room. Everything was as he remembered. He spent the next two hours exploring the campus, talking to forgotten friends and lecturers, checking newspapers and the antiquated computer library, until he was convinced this was no dream. But what is it?

He came to the tree where he had made the fateful decision to change his name. Stretching out he leaned back against the trunk and closed his eyes, remembering with regret the moment when he had chosen that path. Agreeing to Phillipa’s urging to embrace her world had been the beginning of the end. He knew now he could have avoided the heartbreak of his family. It had all been bullshit. Keeping his name and acknowledging his Italian heritage wouldn’t have made one bit of difference in the modern business world he had entered. Why had he listened to her? I thought I was in love.

His family. He needed to see them and if all was as he was beginning to believe it was, then he would start again. Did he need to study? He knew all there was to know about his former career path. Try something else? He could feel the excitement building in him. The possibilities were endless.

But first things first. No name change and most importantly, no Phillipa. She was out of his life, as of this moment. 

Honey I'm Home! 
I've been so quiet on my fan page, Facebook wrote and told me to get a move on. So I'm back, with a big smile on my face. My father is flying through chemo and doing so well that even the doctor is astonished.  (Tough genes!) ... 
For the last few weeks, I haven't been in the right 'head space' to do any writing of my own, but I've really enjoyed doing some reading at the end of a long day; and this book (or series of 3) from M. R. Pritchard hit the spot. Enough 'make believe' to take me away to another place, enough adventure to make it hard to put down and a bit of a love triangle to keep it interesting. 
Go ahead and check it out on Amazon.... and in the meantime, I'm getting back to writing my own book. Amended publish date is 30 August.
~Elli

Music lifts you Up, Up  and Away

Music pulls you through every emotion, doesn’t it? It  can lift you up, make you cry, make you wanna dance around the room or just make you want to sit quietly and let it wash all over you.

What I can’t do with music playing, is write. I know some authors have favourite playlists that play while they pound away at the keyboard, but I just can’t do it. There has to be complete silence, so that I can disappear into my story and leave the outside world behind.

But like most people I have to have a music ‘fix’ when I emerge from my land of fantasy. That’s why I’m super excited to be going to a Ten Tenors performance tonight in Brisbane. They are constantly travelling the world and it’s great to have them home. I’ve followed them since they started in the mid 1990’s. The line-up may have changed but the melody goes on.

Do yourself a favour – Right NOW – and put aside the keyboard, close your eyes and just listen for a few minutes. You’ll be glad you did.

Sometimes we forget the importance of connecting with our tribe... our family... our friends. I have just spent a wonderful long weekend connecting... and I've come away with a spring in my step and a smile on my face. My first a day of connecting was with writers at a fabulous all day workshop, then I drove away from the ocean and headed west to the Great Dividing Range and my hometown in the mountains to connect with my parents on their wedding anniversary... AND then a lunch in a glorious garden with friends from high school. This was particularly special as many of us have only recently‘re-connected’ since our days in high school (and I’m talking a few decades here!). As my friend Jacquie said: ‘Haven’t we grown up to be wonderful women.’ I say, ‘wonderful attracts wonderful’. I’m just happy to have my ‘tribe’ around me.