Daydreaming at Daydream Island Resort and Spa

Do you ever have a day when you feel like you're climbing Mt Everest? When your head feels as though it has a tight band around it crushing your brain? Your insides are so tight they feel like they will implode? You're not alone. These symptoms can mean you're stressed and need time out.

Daydream Island...where dreams begin.

A while ago, I took time out at Daydream Island Resort and Spa, in the Whitsunday Islands and it was the best decision I'd made in a long time. From the moment I spotted the island, pictured here, the stress begain to drain from my shoulders; my insides began to unwind; and I realised I was in for a treat. I spent a week of swimming in the sparkling pool, relaxing at the bar by the pool with a cool drink, walking the island to a lookout where I felt I was the only person in the world; and then I unwound still further at the Rejuvenation Spa. No mobile phone, no computer, no domestic duties. Bliss! As the stress decreased my creative well began to fill. This was the tonic I needed. There was plenty of food, more than I could eat, and each night I fell into a deep slumber like I hadn't experienced in a long time.

Would you like to sample this experience? You could be the lucky Mother's Day winner just for shopping at Koorong bookstore. Australian authors are being featured for the next couple of weeks leading up to Mother's day. If you buy any of the Australian authors's books you can go in the draw to win a weekend for two at Daydream Island Resort and Spa. What a treat! Who wouldn't want to be spoilt at this luxury resort.

To find out more about Daydream Island Resort and Spa click here www.daydreamisland.com

Click on the link to Koorong here: http://www.koorong.com.au/ Scroll to the bottom of the web page and click on the link 'New from Australian Author Rose Dee" on the left hand side. Good luck!

Achieving The Dream

Have you ever come to your latest project and no matter how hard you try to get started, you can't?

Many authors and aspiring authors have signed up for the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), which is into day six as I write this blog. For those of you not familiar with NaNoWriMo, the challenge is to join an online community of writers all striving for the goal of writing the number of words they want to write in November. Most writers strive for 50,000 words, which means 1,667 words per day to be written for the full thirty days. This sounds easy until you have to find the time to sit in front of your computer; ensure your creativity is going to kick in when you want it; and giving time to your spouse and family. When taking all these factors into consideration, you suddenly discover writing a novel of 50,000 words in a month is a major project. A project of this size tests your creative ability; your discipline to sit at the computer each night, especially if you have a day job that takes all your energy; and your patience with your family who love you to be with them after dark. However, NaNoWriMo is great way of getting started on a project and creating the habit to get the work done.

What if you're someone who has a dream to learn to play a musical instrument, to invent a device that will make human life simpler and easier in the future, or paint a masterpiece that's going to hang in the National Gallery of Australia, or any other project that's imprinted on your heart you want to achieve. There's no such thing as NaNoWriMo to keep you focused. So what are you going to do?

Firstly, let me talk about an attitude that can destroy any dreams you have as quick as thinking of them if you let it sneak into you psyche: perfection. Perfectionism will cramp your style and strangle any hopes or ideas you might have in achieving a dream.

I speak from experience: when I first started writing I thought every word I typed into my computer or wrote on a piece of paper had to be perfect. This ridiculous attitude delayed the publication of my first book for years. I thought every word I wrote was rubbish and wouldn't mean a thing to a reader. My work sounded so different to all the other published writers' work. I tried to emulate the great authors, but still my work wasn't getting published. It wasn't until I realised every author had their own distinct voice and that they wrote from their hearts that I understood where I was going wrong.

Achieving my dream wasn't about perfectionism, it was about understanding who I am as a writer and writing about issues that are important to me so that my writing style and voice began to develop.

Walk the path and see where it will lead you.

So, it is for anyone achieving the dreams they have in their heart. Be yourself and take hold of the dream and never let go of it. Forget that the word 'perfect' has ever existed. This is your time in history, take hold of the life given to you and step forward to achieve your dreams.

Toss this word out of your vocabulary now, practise the skills that will enable you to fulfill your dreams and in little steps reach out and take all that's meant for your life.

Have you let perfectionism cripple your life and your dreams? Let me know how you overcame this attitude that has the power to destroy the person who we were meant to be.

The Next Chapter Unfolds...

Life in the tropics.

It's happened, before I thought it would!

Almost twelve years ago our family left Townsville to live on the Gold Coast so that our son, who is an IT guru, would have opportunities to work in that field. Our time on the Gold Coast was an interesting time full of challenges but a fun place to call home. Our son is now an adult and well on his way to an interesting career in IT.

Knowing he was settled, left me wondering where my future lay. Yes, of course, I'm a writer that was obvious, but where do I feel the freedom to write with no distractions. Part of our travels around Australia was to find the place where we were meant to be. Leaving my life behind on the Gold Coast was quite a challenge, but I also found it exciting to work out where the next chapter of my life was about to unfold. Living down south was exciting, but it wasn't for me climatically, so we headed north to the warmth, and discovered we belong up here in the tropics with humidity, balmy nights, open spaces, palm trees and the beautiful Great Barrier Reef at our doorstep. We were scuba divers at another time in our life.

Extended family living here also strongly influenced my decision to live in Mackay. In my adult years I've never lived in the same town as family, so Mackay has offered this wonderful opportunity for me to connect with them.

Another bonus was meeting author, Rose Dee, whose first book will be released in mid-November, 2011 by Even Before Publishing entitled Back to Resolution. It's great to meet and support each other on our writing journey.

So, it's official, we've decided to make Mackay our new home. Our house on the Gold Coast is on the market and we're searching for our new place to put down roots. We've lived in Townsville on three different occasions in the past, so it's no surprise we've returned to north Queensland. Mackay has regular flights in and out which are relatively cheap with lots of flights daily. The hour and a half trip to Brisbane means our son can visit often when he needs time out from his busy schedule, or I can return to the Gold Coast when I want to catch up with him and old friends.

My change of lifestyle isn't as dramatic as Gina's in my book, African Hearts. Gina was a woman with courage, understanding her strengths and moving forward to grasp new experiences. I learned from Gina that fear is real, but it can be overcome and there are many advantanges to going places that seem way too scarey.

Travelling in the van has given me the opportunity to meet many people throughout this vast country; connect with my readers and other writers; and to give me new fodder for my future projects.

I haven't been to Western and central Australia, but those places are still on my list of places to visit. It's time for me to be still for a while and focus again on my next work which is almost complete. When the time is right, I'll step out and seek all that the great central and west has to offer.

Where are you in your journey of life? Are you in a time of being, or are you caught up in the excitement and stress of change? If you're in the latter, hang in there, you'll soon be in that new place. I encourage you to hold on tight and enjoy the ride. You'll grow from the experience and have new resources to call on in the future when you next take a leap of faith.

Changing Direction

Is your life feeling a little stale?

You're kind of bored and thinking there's got to be more to life than what you're doing? You're not alone. There are many people who want to change their lives but they're caught in a place they can't see their way out. It's time to make a decision, empower yourself and take a leap of faith.

Gina Messina, the heroine in African Hearts was at the same place. She had everything she wanted: a penthouse in the middle of the Gold Coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean, world travel to seek out new import products for the business she inherited from her parents, and more money than she knew what to do with. But Gina's conscience niggled her she should be doing more, but she wasn't sure what that 'more' might be.

African Hearts by Laura O'Connell

Life has a strange way of taking us places we'd never thought. Gina received a letter from her brother's doctor in Africa advising her Marco was dying in a remote Ugandan village. Gina's ordered life was thrown into chaos. She desperately wanted to see him before he died so she had no choice but to step out of her comfort zone and take a leap of faith. Her decision to go to Africa changed her life.

If you were in Gina's situation would you have taken the leap and travelled on your own to Africa for your dying brother?

The last time Gina had seen her brother he'd been a drug addict and had left a trail of unpaid bills behind him. He didn't tell her where he was going and hadn't contacted her for the ten years he'd been away. Marco's life was a mess. He was hurting and he wanted a new beginning. He plucked up the courage to make change and he felt he needed to do it on his own, which is why Gina hadn't heard from him.

Gina had a lot of courage to drop everything and go to the remote village on her own. It was her only opportunity to see him for the last time. That wasn't an easy decision for her to make. If you were in Gina's shoes would you have had the courage to go to Africa? Are you in a similar place in your life where you're sensing you need to make change, but you're not sure where or how?

When I wrote African Hearts I was hoping it would inspire my reader to take hold of all that life has to offer and not be afraid of making change. Even though the future looks scary, be brave like Gina and take a leap of faith. You just never know where that will take you. Let me know what you decide to do. I'd love to hear from you.

African Hearts Confirms A Reader's Future

Sydney is a city that goes, goes, goes. It's a place I really enjoy visiting to catch up on family and friends, and find the new and interesting things I hadn't done when we lived there about fifteen years ago. It's a vibrant and exciting city, and full of the unexpected.

We did book signings at West Ryde and met some wonderful people who really wanted to get to know me at a personal level. One of the most surprising moments was when three people approached me with quizzical looks on their faces and asked me if I'd been to Africa to have written African Hearts. I wish! But I was pleasantly surprised when the young lady said seeing my book was a sign that she had asked God for to encourage her to go to Africa and work with the orphans. I became so excited for this young lady and her husband. The looks on their faces was a mixture of pleasure, relief and a little anxiety. They also told me they nearly didn't make it to the signing. They'd arrived half an hour before I was to finish. They saw this as another sign that they were meant to be there to speak with me.

After much excited discussion they left feeling they were to follow their hearts and go to Africa to work with the orphans. This was an extraordinary experience for me that God would use me to encourage young people to understand what God was saying to them. Some authors say book signings are not their favourite thing to do. After this experience, I believe it's a very important part of the marketing process to connect with my readers in so many ways. No matter how tired I might be at the end of the day, I believe the time has been well spent. Encouraging others is what I love to do to see them reach their potential in their chosen field. If part of the process means standing for four hours in a book store I will. Connecting with my readers is what motivates me and helps me get through the days when the writing is not going so well.

Thank you Koorong, West Ryde for your commitment in helping me help others and fulfill God's purpose for my life.