Ladies, if you could both email me via my website (www.sarahmayberry.com) with your street addresses, I will get those books in the mail to you ASAP. Thanks for coming along to chat, everyone. See you next month!

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I have a book out! Yay! I always love having a new release – it means I get reader letters, which are always a highlight, and I get to chat on blogs about my book. Hot Island Nights is a September release, but it’s available on-line now at www.eharlequin.com in the Blaze section.

This book is set on Philip Island, an unassuming little place in Westernport Bay, about an hour and a half south west of Melbourne down here in Australia. When I was a kid, we used to go there a lot for summer holidays, and one of my first boyfriends had a holiday house down there, so I have lots of fond memories of the place. The Island is fairly typical of a lot of Australian holiday spots – pretty laid back, not a lot of pretension, plenty of brown bodies and cold beer. Although holiday houses are getting more and more elaborate these days, on the Island there are still lots and lots of fibro cement weekenders, designed and built cheaply to accommodate Melbourne families for the weekend. The beaches are golden, main street is it as far as entertainment and shopping goes, and thongs (flip-flops to the rest of the world!) are de rigeur as far as footwear is concerned for about four months of the year.

Into all this relaxed casualness walks my heroine, slightly-uptight, very proper Londoner Elizabeth Mason. Brought up to be a nice girl by her grandparents, Elizabeth has come to the Island to find her real father, but she’s also in search of her real self. The not-so-nice, not-so-proper woman hiding beneath her well-bred exterior, if you will. Elizabeth has barely been on the Island five minutes when she meets Nathan. He’s hung-over, nearly naked and not very co-operative – but boy, does he have a great chest. From that first moment, Elizabeth and Nathan get sucked into each others lives, and they both discover that appearances can be very deceptive…

I had a lot of fun writing parts of this book. I also got a bit misty-eyed in parts. But hey, as far as I’m concerned, it’s not a good ride if you don’t have the highs and the lows. I want to give away two copies of Hot Island Nights this month. To be in the running, I’d love for readers to share their best holiday memory. It’s very cold and rainy down here in Melbourne – I want to live vicariously!!! Looking forward to hearing your stories…

Thanks everyone for your tips, advice and congratulations. The move went well, I’m mostly unpacked, and we love our new house. All good!

Original Post:
In two sleeps time, I will be moving house. That’s Monday, for those of you who don’t measure time in sleeps. I do at the moment, because we will be moving into our own home after nearly three years of renting. And I cannot wait!

In many respects, this will be my first “real” home. We’ve owned before, but the first time we bought with my brother, and the second time it was in New Zealand and we always knew we would be selling the house in a few year’s time. This time, though, we are staying put. If it kills us!!! I have big plans. An extension, including a new kitchen and bathrooms and a walk in robe (my idea of heaven, the walk in robe). But in the short term, it will all be about wallpaper stripping. All the bedrooms and the living and dining rooms are bedecked with wallpaper. And it Has To Go.

I grew up with wallpaper. I’m not totally against it – there are some really funky one’s around these days. But this wallpaper is not funky. It’s flowery and busy and overwhelming. Which is great if that’s what you’re into, but I am not. I want nice, clean walls that I can hang art on. I prefer making a statement with soft furnishings than with my walls. So the next few weeks are going to involve lots of scraping and steaming and scrubbing. And swearing and cursing and, no doubt, even the odd argument with my man as we both realise afresh what a horrible job stripping wallpaper is.

But you know, it’s been so long since I was in a position to change anything in my home, I’m kinda looking forward to it, painful bits and all. Sick, huh?

Once I unpack, I will unearth my author copies of my books, so this month I’d love to give away any two (2) books from my backlist that tickle the winning poster’s fancy. Except for Can’t Get Enough. I’ve officially run out of my debut book, so you’ll have to make do with the others, all of which you can preview at my website (www.sarahmayberry.com).

To be in the running, I’d love to hear your moving tips, stories, disasters. Or, if you prefer, your advice for anyone about to undertake a renovation. I’m more than happy to learn from other people’s mistakes, believe me! Over to you…

Congrats Virginia, and thanks to everyone for chatting. It was fun! Virginia, contact me via my website (www.sarahmayberry.com) and I’ll get the books to you ASAP.

Happy reading until next time everyone,
Sarah

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I have pretty much always wanted to be a writer. I say pretty much because there was a short period there when I was four or five when I wanted to be a shopkeeper. And I also hankered after being an air stewardess for a while, too. But mostly it was always a writer, and I have been fortunate enough to make my dream come true.

This topic is on my mind at the moment because my mum cleaned out her cupboards recently when she had new carpet laid, and as a result asked me to go through a bunch of stuff she’d saved over the years. There are school reports in there and drawings and stories I wrote for school. I thought it might give you all a giggle to read some of my very early writing efforts. This one, for example, is obviously my first attempt at romantic suspense:

“A robber in a dark cape and black hat crept mysteriously behind the jewel shop. He suddenly stopped. He was at the garden shed. He threw off his cape and…he was an old lady. Well, actually, a man cleverly disguised as an old lady. He headed towards the jewel store. he went into the shop. Well, well, hello old lady, could I help you, said the shopkeeper. The old lady (well, man) said nothing. He did not want to give himself away.”

I have no idea how old I was when I wrote this – quite young, if the careful cursive script and hugely spacious lines on the page are anything to go by. I have no idea what the robber was going to do dressed as an old woman in the shop, either, but I can’t help noting my conversational style of writing. I wonder what the teacher made of it!

My favorite amongst the writings my mother kept is the little book I made called “Words* the mean the same but different people.” I’m not quite sure what the asterisk in the title was supposed to refer readers to. Perhaps I just thought it looked pretty?

Please note the anatomically correct drawing of the man – yes, that’s a blue penis I’ve given him. And apparently they both have a terrible case of pink eye.

Inside, I wrote (complete with circa 1977 spelling):

“If you look at someone (undressed) you will find a differents in a man and a woman. If you have had a look at a woman you will see she has two big bumps coming from her breast. these things are breasts and graghly (gradually) you will grow some one day. (that is, girls). A man has a different body from the start – he has a penis (the woman has a different body) and his penis has a bit a little further on.”

Note again the correct use of anatomical references. Clearly, an early Blaze attempt.

We had a lot of laughs when we discovered these amongst my mum’s things, but it really made me realise how much I have always loved telling stories and making little books and living in the world of the imagination. I know I’m very lucky to have achieved my childhood dream, and it got me wondering, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I’m going to give away a set of my Blaze DayTime Divas trilogy to one poster – that’s Take On Me, All Over You, and Hot For Him – so go on, share with all of us what fantasy occupation you envisaged for yourself when you were a kid. I’m really looking forward to hearing these…

Thanks to everyone for playing and for introducing me to some awesome new buildings. Happy reading until next month….

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Hmmm. I suspect I may have made this blog post sound more interesting than it is with that title. Oh well. You’ll just have to humor me! I wanted to talk this month about one of my enduring obsessions, the art, architecture and fashion of the Art Deco era. Ever since I was a youngster I have loved the rounded shapes of Art Deco furniture, and my first house had some fantastic stained glass feature windows with gorgeous Art Deco landscapes. I love the art, particularly the old travel posters, but my absolute passion is reserved for Art Deco architecture.

I love it. I love its curves and clean lines. I love the big windows and generous rooms. I love the simplicity. And when it comes to cinemas, I love its elaborate grandeur. We are lucky enough to have several fabulous Art Deco cinemas in my home town of Melbourne. I went to one recently to see Withnail and I, with the bonus of a pre-screening chat with one of the stars, Paul McGann. While everyone else was asking Mr McGann why he parked the car so strangely in scene 19 or something like that, I was gazing rapturously at the decorative plasterwork on the walls and the lovely old light fittings and the vaulted roof and…well, suffice to say I was off in my own little world.

When my partner and I went to Italy a couple of years ago, we spent two months renting an apartment in Florence and one of our favorite things to do was to go to the Odeon Cinema at night time to watch English language movies. This cinema has to be seen to be believed – it’s truly, breathtakingly stunning. I’ve included a couple of piccies here for you, but they in no way do this place any justice at all.

I tell you, you felt like royalty sitting in that cinema. Even bad movies took on a new gloss under that gorgeous lead-light dome. Every time someone tells me they’re going to Florence I urge them to seek out the Odeon – it lives large in my memory as one of the highlights of my trip.

The reason I’m sharing my obsession with you this month is because my latest book, Her Best Friend, is out at the moment and the heroine, Amy Parker, is also obsessed with Art Deco architecture (fancy that!). Her great-grandfather built The Grand Picture Theatre in the main street of Daylesford, a small Victorian town, back in the 30s, and ever since she was a little girl Amy has dreamed of buying back the now-decrepit cinema from the local council and restoring its grandeur. Every cent she’s ever earned has gone towards this goal, and now, at the ripe old age of 29, she’s about to achieve her dream. She’s got a big loan and she’s convinced the council to sell the cinema to her so she can restore it and turn it from an embarrassment and an eyesore into a tourist attraction – but there’s one small hitch.

I’m not going to spill all here, but you can read the excerpt over at my website here and it will get you started on the story. I loved writing this book, for so many reasons. I loved Amy and Quinn’s friendship, I loved the setting, and I loved creating The Grand. That place is so real to me, it’s going to be a rude awakening not to see it in main street when we next visit Daylesford.

I’m going to give away 2 copies of Her Best Friend or any other of my backlist books for posters this month. My question for you is this: what’s your favorite building/monument/architectural style? Are you all about modernism? Or are you nuts about gothic or the baroque? Does the Eiffel tower do it for you, or the Empire State Building? I’d love to hear from you, so over to you.

PS. And Happy Easter to you all. I hope you all made yourselves suitably sick on chocolate. My stomach is still aching…

Congratulations to Michele L and Patricia, you’ve both won a copy of Her Best Friend. Send me your snail mail addys, and I will get some books in the mail to you ASAP. Thanks everyone else for popping in to chat – and for reassuring me that I’m not the only freak of nature out there!!! Until next month….

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My friend forwarded me an article recently that really got my back up. Basically, the author of this article contended that women like to be wooed by men – taken out for a night of fine dining and a “sophisticated” theatre show, then home for some “casual flirting” on the doorstep before parting company. Men, on the other hand, would prefer a big burger, a war movie with lots of stuff blowing up, then a dash to the closest motel for “wild monkey sex”.

Now, maybe I’m a freak of nature, but I have always hated the stereotype that women are precious, unattainable vessels that must be wooed and feted and gifted and schmoozed into a) going out with men and then b) allowing them access to their bodies. You know what I mean, the whole box-of-chocolates and bunch-of-roses on arrival cliche – as though we need to be offered collateral up front before we would even consider going out and getting to know someone or (God forbid) having sex with them.

This is so far from my experience of the dating world that it always makes me feel like I live on a separate planet when I see these scenarios in movies and books and TV shows. Maybe dating is different down here in Australia (for starters, we don’t really call it “dating”. It’s usually “seeing someone” or “going out”), but when I was single and I went out with a guy it was on the basis that I wanted to get to know them as a person. Could something happen here? Could he be The One? Or, at least, could he have the potential to be The One? It wasn’t about him proving himself to me or investing dollars to impress me – we were two people exploring the possibilities.

And, you know, sometimes those possibilities included sex. Because women – just like men – have Needs. The very fact that the Blaze line exists is testament to the fact that women have Needs. Just like men, we enjoy sex. I know, it’s a revolutionary concept. Imagine having sex with someone simply because you found them attractive and likable and wanted to have sex rather than because you felt obliged or because he’d jumped through all the flaming hoops in the correct order (the flowers, the chocolates, the big meal, the fancy show…). Imagine!

While I’m ranting, I also object to the fact that the things us women supposedly prefer are so…uptight and not-fun. I mean, fine dining and sophisticated theatre over a burger and a shoot ‘em up movie? Who would you prefer to hang out with? Don’t get me wrong, I like a nice meal out as much as the next lady, but if someone held a gun to my head and made me choose between negotiating haute cuisine and pantyhose and snooty waiters and scary wine lists or a big, juicy burger on the beach with my favorite guy, I know what I’d be opting for. As for opera versus Con Air or any other action movie…again, pass the popcorn.

I had a good rant about all this with my man after reading the article, but then it occurred to me that maybe I really am a freak of nature. Maybe this is the way the rest of the world operates…? Maybe I’m the only burger-loving, action-movie-enjoying woman out there who would prefer to pay her own way rather than be showered with gifts and attention…? I’d really love to hear from readers on this one – what do you expect from a man? What’s your idea of a great first date (a real world one, not a fantasy one)? Do you want to be wooed and made to feel precious before you even think about offering up the keys to the kingdom? Am I hugely out of touch…?

I’m giving away two copies of my latest SuperRomance to posters this month. Her Best Friend is available now at eHarlequin, and will be on the shelves in April. It’s about Amy and Quinn, two people who grew up next door to each other and have known each other all their lives, and what happens when Quinn returns home with his divorce papers in hand. Post away and I’ll choose two winners over the next few days. Looking forward to your answers!

Okay, we have two winners for my February post. They are : Ellen Too and Jane, posts 7 and 13. Ladies, please contact me via the Contact page on my website (www.sarahmayberry.com) and I will grab your snail mail addresses and get the books to you ASAP.

Thanks for chatting, everyone, and see you next month!

Original Post:
I’m going to write about a subject close to my heart this month – personal space. The reason it’s close to my heart is because I’ve just moved countries (New Zealand to Australia) and am currently ensconced in my mother’s spare bedroom. Me and my man (my six foot plus man) are sharing a tiny double bed in this room, and our five suitcases worth of shoes, clothes and books are shoved into the wardrobe, under the bed, beside the bed, around the bed… You get the drift.

Compacting your life down to a small 3 metre by 2.5 metre room is not easy, believe me. And it’s made me realise how much I take for granted the joy of having my own home – my own kitchen, my own bathroom, my own boudoir, and most of all my own writing space.

Now, I have never considered myself a particularly demanding person when it comes to what I need to write – having worked for years as a journalist and a script writer I don’t need special music playing or to wait on my muse to come calling to get down to work. For years, it’s pretty much been about putting my bum on the seat and my fingers on the keyboard. In fact, I’ve kind of prided myself on my ability to just zone out and get down to it. But living in my mum’s house, staying in her spare room, I’ve been finding it…difficult to settle down to write. Apparently I need my own space to let my imagination off the leash – who knew?

Fortunately we’re about to move into a rental property while we continue our search to find a new home of our own. But’s all of this has got me thinking about what I want my new writing space and I can’t wait to make a little nest for myself.

I’d love to give away two copies of my latest Blaze Her Secret Fling this month, and I’d love to hear your own stories about your favourite space or place for reading, writing, thinking, or just daydreaming. Share with us, and I’ll draw two winners in the next few days.

Over to you!

Hate at First sight WINNERS are…

Thanks to everyone for coming along to chat. The winners for this month’s give away are:

Alina Duffer
Moth

Could both ladies email me on sarah@sarahmayberry.com ASAP with their snail mail addys and I will get those books in the mail pronto.

Merry Christmas to everyone! Speak again in the New Year!

In my very first Blaze, Can’t Get Enough, I wrote about two characters who thought they hated each other, but who wound up falling in love. They worked in the same office and had tons of pre-conceived ideas about each other. And then they got trapped in an elevator for several hours on a hot and steamy day…

My latest Blaze, Her Secret Fling (Jan 2010, available now at eharlequin.com) revisits the idea of two people who think they can’t stand each other but who are forced to reconsider when circumstances force them together. Poppy is a new recruit to a big Melbourne newspaper, a former Olympic-medal winning swimmer who has been forced into retirement by a shoulder injury. She’s been brought in by the paper to write a “celebrity” column in the sports section, and she’s excited about the job since she wants to move on now that swimming is no longer an option for her – and because she gets to work with Jake Stevens, one of her all time favorite writers.

Jake wrote a book a few years ago that marked him as a novelist to watch in Australian literature – and since then he’s written nothing except his weekly pieces for the Melbourne Herald. There are reasons for this – there are always reasons, right? – and there are reasons for why he isn’t exactly thrilled to learn Poppy will be joining the sports writing team. Which is why he’s pretty mean to her on her first day at work, and why Poppy’s hero worship quickly sours into dislike and leads to her christening her new colleague “Jake the Snake”.

Then they both get stranded thanks to an airline strike and the only way they can get home is to drive – and Poppy happens to score the last rental car in the whole city. Guess who’s going to have to do some serious sucking up if he wants to get home any time soon?

I had a lot of fun writing the banter between Poppy and Jake. Poppy’s really open and honest but she’s not afraid to stick up for herself, while Jake has definitely got a smart ass, dark side. There’s also a scene up early that I giggled all the way through writing – I call it “man versus machine”. I’ll be interested to hear what readers think of it….

So, my question for you today is this: when have your first impressions ever been horribly wrong? I have a couple of examples to throw on the table – when I first met one of my best friends, I did not like her at all. For some reason, she drove me nuts. And then I got to know her and fell in friend-love with her. The other example is my man. When I first met him at a mutual friend’s party, I thought he was funny and smart but for some reason his good looks just didn’t register with me. I don’t know why. Perhaps I simply wasn’t on the prowl for a hot guy at the time (I know what you’re thinking – did I have a pulse? Possibly not!). It wasn’t until I caught up with him again that I kind of blinked and went “Holy Cow, Batman, you’re HOT!!!” So. Over to you. I’ll be giving away two – 2!!! – copies of Her Secret Fling to posters today. Looking forward to sharing your stories.

….Laurie G (comment 17) and Colleen (comment 6). Ladies, drop me an email on sarah@sarahmayberry.com and let me know which book you’d like to receive, either my November Superromance, Home For The Holidays, or one of my backlist – there are excerpts from all of them on my website (www.sarahmayberry.com).

Best wishes to everyone, and thanks for chattting! Great fun, as always. And I’ve got a few ideas percolating away in the back of my brain now…

Original Post:
One of the things I spend a lot of time thinking about when I start planning a new book is what my hero and heroine will do for a living. Sometimes, of course, their careers will be part of the seed of the story – like in Below The Belt, my June 08 Blaze, where both the hero and heroine were boxers. Other times it’s about finding a profession that feels right for the characters and story that is forming in the Freudian-soup of my mind.

One of the things that I have noticed about my heroines, in particular, is that I like giving them unusual jobs. Jamie in Below the Belt was a professional boxer, Zoe in She’s Got It Bad was a tattooist and artist, all of my Daytime Divas worked behind the scenes on a soap opera. In my current Superromance release, Home For The Holidays, the heroine, Hannah, is a mechanic – yet another not-so-common profession for women.

I’m not sure why I’m attracted to these unusual professions for my heroines. There’s definitely a tomboyish bent in there – the boxer, the mechanic. I can kind of trace that back to the fact that I was a huge fan of Trixie Belden and George from The Famous Five when I grew up – partly, I think, because my mother kept my curly hair cut short and both these girls were always depicted as having short haircuts on the covers of the books!

There’s also the fantasy element that’s always inherent in the careers chosen for the heroes and heroines in romance novels. We all like a walk a mile in someone else’s shoes for a while when we’re reading, so why not make them glamorous and exciting shoes rather than orthopedic sandals?

I really enjoy researching my heroes’ and heroine’s careers. I watched on-line videos on tattooing and read articles and talked to friends who had tattoos and spoke to a tattooist when I was writing She’s Got It Bad. I took some boxing classes before I wrote Below The Belt, as well as attending several kick boxing events. I also love getting into the headspace of the kind of person I think might be attracted to the kind of work I’m writing about. It often helps me find their attitude and idiosyncrasies.

So, what are your favorite professions to read about? Are there any that you feel are overdone to the point of cliche? Any you’d like to see more of? Or are there any careers that you absolutely never want to see depicted within the covers of a romance novel? Do you have different expectations for Blaze heroine’s careers than for heroines in other books?

I’m going to a offer up a giveaway to two posters this month – the winners get their choice of either my current November release Superromance Home For the Holidays, or a book from my backlist (excepting Can’t Get Enough, which I am sadly all out of!) So, hit me with your best heroine and hero career suggestions and ruminations!

And the winners of my November Superromance are:

Patsy L Roberts
Jane
Nicole S

Ladies, please email me on sarah@sarahmayberry.com and I will get the books to you ASAP.
Congratulations and thanks for sharing!

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I don’t want to bring anyone down, but I’m going to get stuck into a tough topic today. One of my good friends lost her mother to complications from type 2 diabetes last week. Her mum had had it for a long time but basically pretended that she didn’t have it, if that makes sense. She was overweight, didn’t get her eyes checked, didn’t exercise, hated going to the doctors, worked, worked, worked all the time. The end result was a slow but inevitable death.

In the four long years of her decline she suffered every imaginable complication of diabetes – she lost both her legs below the knee, was blind in both eyes, lost kidney function, had heart trouble, the list goes on. And on. My friend and her father nursed her 24/7, right up until the end. And the tragic, tragic thing is that if she had taken the time to put herself and her health at the top of her To Do list, three lives could have been very, very different.

Sitting at her funeral last week made me take a good hard look at myself and my own health. The reality is, I have a sedentary job – I’m a writer, I’m strapped to the computer most of the day. Like a lot of writers, I while away the time between typing vowels and consonants by wandering toward the fridge. And although I have a gym membership, I don’t get there as often as I should. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I know I could be taking better care of myself. This body I’m in will hopefully serve me well for many years to come – but it’s foolish to take it for granted or rely on modern medicine to come up with spare parts and cures for ills that I may create through my own negligence or indulgence.

The tough part about being healthy, I think, is making it a priority in your life. Making it important. So much other stuff gets in the way – the sheer day-to-day slog of life – that it’s easy to let exercise and healthy eating slide. So, my undertaking to myself and my loved ones this week is that from now on I will remember that good health is not a given, and that like all things of value, it needs a bit of time and attention in order to bloom.

I’d love to hear your own stories of inspiration or strategies for dealing with this issue. All ideas very welcome! And to celebrate the upcoming November release of my second Superromance (yes, not a Blaze, I know, but still a lovely Harlequin novel!!!) I’m going to give away 3 copies of Home For The Holidays to randomly selected posters. So, hit me with your advice, I’m ready and willing!

Life is hectic. Most people I know would agree with that statement. We’re all working harder and longer and there’s a lot of uncertainty around thanks to a bunch of bankers who got a little carried away with their bonuses. And, let’s face it, life can just be plain old hard sometimes. Some days are diamonds, some days can only be categorised with a four letter word. One of my favorite time-outs to deal with the accumulated stress of the day/week is to flop on the couch or the bed with a great, absorbing, thrilling book (romance, naturally!). But my second favorite chill out is a new discovery for me – meditation.

I have never been a joiner – my parents weren’t religious, and I’ve never been big into team sports or clubs – so the idea of going someplace and sitting in a room full of people and meditating for 40 minutes took me a while to get my head around. But my partner dragged me along to the Saturday morning class at our local Buddhist centre, insisting it would be good for a wound up writer on deadline, and I’m so glad he did!

I should point out at this stage that I know next to nothing about Buddhism itself, but I like the vibe at this Centre. It’s unpretentious and the room we meet in is very simple – just a wooden floor, windows, white walls and a big statue of the Buddha against one wall. Everyone arrives quietly, ready to accept a bit of peace into their lives for an hour or so, taking their shoes off out in the foyer. Then we all file into the room and find a spot to camp for the next hour. There are blankets to keep us warm, piles of cushions and mats for people to sit on if they choose, little fold out stools to help support people who choose to kneel, and chairs for those who do better sitting upright. (I go the chair option and place a cushion under my feet because I am short and otherwise my legs dangle off the edge of the seat like a muppet’s.)

We practice Mindfulness of the Breath Meditation and Loving Kindness Meditation on alternate weeks. The first is basically about observing the air going in and out of your lungs and counting the breaths. The second has five stages – first you send thoughts of loving kindness to yourself, then someone you love, then someone you have neutral feelings about, then someone you dislike, and finally out to the whole world. As you can imagine, there are challenging aspects to both of these meditations – your mind wanders, and sending loving kindness toward someone you dislike can be a real challenge.

Sometimes I leave the class feeling beautifully calm and at peace with the world. Sometimes I’m frustrated because my mind ran all over the place and was hard to corral (the Buddhists call this “monkey mind”, which I think is very apt!). Sometimes I have wonderful feelings of warmth and light wash over me. Whatever happens, I always get something out of it. I like the sense of community it gives me. I like the way it slows me down. It’s one of the few times in my week when I don’t have some kind of imperative niggling away in the back of my mind – write this, file that, contact this person, organise the other thing. It’s just…time out.

I know meditation isn’t for everyone – some people can’t bear the thought of sitting still for that long! – but if you’ve ever been even slightly curious, check to see if there’s a centre near you that offers meditation classes – I’m so glad I’ve found this little slice of peace in my life.

And my question to you this month is this: what do you do in your life to de-stress and take a deep breath and recharge your batteries? I’d love to hear your ideas – there’s always room for another strategy in my box of tricks!