Author bio

July 2020

It is a sad thing that Victoria has had to do the lockdown again. I feel for my many friends and family at this time.  Hope that you are all okay and can cope with the isolation again. Get into zoom with family or friends. Meet on line more often. Check in with others. Make sure that everyone you know is okay.

On a lighter note our visit to the Clare Valley was lovely. Managed to write some and we visited several wineries, had a great dinner at the Indii Restaurant. We always go visit when we are there. The food is fantastic.  https://indiiofclare.com.au/ check it out if you get the chance.

The cottage we stayed at was very comfortable, at Wuthering Heights B&B Clare and in the middle of lots of trees

It was so lovely to get out and about after the isolation

Thinking of all you guys still in isolation.

June 2020

Can’t believe it is June already. 1^st June is the first day of winter, though to tell you, it sure feels like it started early. Especially where I am.

Just a reminder that it will get worse!

My next story is actually coming together. I didn’t think it would for quite a while there but it is nice to get back into writing. I must say the next month is getting booked up with lots of social activities now that we are able to move around more. Hope all you guys are doing the same. Getting out there and supporting the cafes, restaurants and of course the hairdressers or spa’s.

Hope you are all rugged up and keeping warm.

May 2020

Hi there

Don’t know about you but Easter just wasn’t the same without family at the table. Though I did set it just for the two of us. Not quite what I would usually do but had to have some fun with it.

We enjoyed prawns, salmon etc. all the good things. Along with chocolate, lots of chocolate!!

Well so much as happened over the last few months. I have done a couple of courses with the Australian Writers Centre. So much information so little time! Did a really good one with Kate Forsyth www.kateforsyth.com.au She was so graceful at sharing her knowledge.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been such a shock to us all. Hope that everyone out there is coping and continuing to keep well. Did any of you really run out of toilet paper? I know we didn’t. I didn’t actually buy any till two weeks ago. So that was good, because there wasn’t any to be had anywhere!!

My husband is working so I am being very careful. No socicalising no visiting even though restrictions have eased at the moment.

I have tried to write but haven’t really got my act together with that. However I have tried to be creative. I have knitted a lovely little cardigan for my beautiful 20 month old grand daughter.

It was a challenge as I hadn’t knitted for a few years. Fun though, made me realise that I need to let my other creative side out occasionally.

Have been keeping in touch with friends and family via Zoom and facetime. It is so much fun to be able to speak face to face. My grand daughter tried to feed me tiny teddies via the phone. So cute.

Keep well and keep safe.

Catch up soon.

December 2019

Merry Christmas and a Fantastic 2020 to you all. 

It has been a very exciting last few months. Our trip to Italy was wonderful. Having two lovely grand daughters who bring joy and light into our lives, and babysitting, playing and seeing the world through their eyes is always exciting.

Writing: 

I have tried to buckle down since we got back from our OS trip but it has been very hard. I accepted the challenge of the NaNoWriMo and got my 50,000 words done in a month. Some of that was editing. I managed to edit out 25,000 words. Oh well. I have kept them hoping that I will be able to use them eventually.  The story is progressing betting than I had hoped.

Husband and I are travelling to Hobart and Melbourne over the Christmas break. Cant wait to catch up with family and friends. It will be so different from any of the other Christmases we have celebrated in the past.

Whatever you do over the break, enjoy family and friends, keep safe.

Thinking of those who are dealing with the devastation of the bushfires in NSW and Queensland. God Bless all the firefighters and their families.

If you can help please donate to your local volunteer Fire brigade

October 2019

Whoo hoo

We have safely returned from our three week trip to Italy. Covered a lot of ground and my step counter said we walked over 150kms in three weeks. Not bad for a pair of old crusties.

Have attached a couple of my favourite photos. Took way too many to put up here. Loved the fast trains, so much better than driving on the wrong side of the road!Both of us hated the flights. Just over 20 hours each way. Not good for sleeping or very comfortable. Managed to watch a few movies which was fun.

This one is of Lake Como at Menaggio. It was hot and humid which was surprising considering that Lake Como is so far up in the mountains.

This one is of the Italian alps up near the swiss border (very close to Mt Blanc) from a town called Aosta. There was still snow on some of the mountains and it was at the end of their summer.

The history in Italy is amazing everywhere you turn there is something that is 2,000 years old or more. That fact that some of the towns were conquered by the Celts in 6cBC just blows my mind.

Got so many story lines will never be able to finish them all. But at least I have the outlines written down.

August 2019

We all had a fantastic time at the Romance Writers Conference in Melbourne at The Pullman Hotel at Albert Park. We pretty much stuck to the hotel as the weather was really cold and miserable. But… the party atmosphere inside was HOT.

I got to pitch another book idea to Boroughs Publishers and they want it, but it has to be perfect.  Oh well that could take a while seeing as it isn’t finished yet. At least with this one I have a plan and some plotting done.

It was great catching up with Jenny Mosher of MoshPit Publishing. She was a great help in getting Rescued published.

As usual my suitcase put on more weight than I did over the weekend, but still within the airline limitations Phew.

Was so busy that I didn’t get to take any social pictures, took a few of some presentations. Not very interesting though.

Being the serious writers that we are, we nearly drank the hotel dry and they ran out of cheese for the cheese platters on Sunday night.

Have had a serious conference hangover the last week or so. It is taking a while to recover.

September we will be in Italy for the whole month. Yipppee. Have heaps of ideas and I think that the scenery and history will add quite a few more, am taking a few notebooks to jot them all down.

May 2019

Anzac Day is always a very emotional day. It is wonderful to see so many people out there acknowledging the sacrifices of all our service men and women. Regardless of which theater of war or peace.

May is full of many firsts for us. First Mother’s day without our dear Mother/Grandmother, her birthday, the first anniversary of our Father’s passing where she is with him. Birthdays. So many birthdays in May. We will be spending a lot of time together celebrating our family.

Am working hard on the Manuscript. Now have a visual board so that I can see all aspects of the story in one glance. It is great that I can focus on the story. The critique group that I am involved with has helped so much.  Being too descriptive is one of my great failings when it comes to storytelling. It is something that I am trying to fix.

To all you Mothers out there have a great Mother’s Day. Enjoy the time you have with your Mother and families.

Have booked my seat for the RWAus 2019 Conference. It is being held in Melbourne in the great suburb of Albert Park this year. Cant wait to get there and learn heaps and catch up with all my writer friends. The friendships I have made over the last four years attending conferences have been invaluable. They are so much fun and every year you meet someone new. I will have the opportunity to catch up with Jenny Mosher from MoshPit Publishing www.moshers.com.au as she is presenting on Saturday. Jenny and her team were fantastic in helping me publish Rescue.

Oh the other great thing that is happening:  Master Chef is back – Yeah – my one indulgence to reality TV. Love it #Masterchef2019australia

April 2019

At last getting closer to finishing the first draft of “Return to Colorado”. Its a working title and might not be the finial product. I have an editor working on the first few chapters (I only give her 60 pages at a time!)

So far I have written just over 55000 words and need about another 10000. Then the editing commences. That is fun (not!)

Hope everyone has a great Easter and is able to catch up with family and friends during this special time.

February 2019

Well things have certainly picked up lately. Last night was the first meeting of the year for the South Australian Romance Authors (SARA). We had a great time. Each vying for the loudest voice. Aislinn won !. https://aislinnkearns.com/ though Bronwyn was a very close second. https://www.bronwynstuart.com/ check out their websites.

We discussed how to get over the hump of not being confident enough to continue writing. We all face this dilemma and it can be debilitating. However with the support of our peers we can overcome and get back to writing.

This is my challenge for the next four week. I have to get my current MS finished. Then get it sentoff to the publishers. I have enrolled with a Maggie Lawson course on Pitches and blurbs so that I am confident that I have done everything I can do to make sure my MS is the best that it can be. The editing is a totally different story. Good luck with that I hear you say!.

September update

While busy writing to finish my manuscript to submit to Tule Publishing I have managed to get a few copies of Rescued on consignment on the shelves of Readings Bookshop 112 Acland Street St Kilda Victoria.  So excited to see Tessa and Javier finally make it back to St Kilda where some of the story is set. Tessa had lived in St Kilda all her life with her mother, while pregnant had moved from Ireland with Tessa’s grandmother.

Thanks to the Book buyer at Readings, www.readings.com.au for this opportunity. It will be great fun to travel there and take a picture.  Hopefully I can do this very soon.

September  2018

The Romance Writers of Australia Conference 2018 was held at the Sofitel Wentworth Hotel in Sydney.  It was great to catch up with authors that I have got to know over the last few years. The Conference is probably that only time of the year that we can all pack ourselves into rooms to catch up, learn and discuss what is important to us.

The session on Friday that I attended was run by Rachel Baily. She very unselfishly shared her love of writing and knowledge with us. https://rachelbailey.com/

The cocktail party put on by Harlequin Australia was themed Tuxedo and Tiara’s.  We all had a great time dressing up. Caught up with the SARA (South Australian Romance Authors) group while we were all there.

Learnt heaps of new stuff and thanks to Kelli Hunter of Tule Publishing https://tulepublishingshop.com/ for asking for my next manuscript.  All those pitch practising sessions paid off. All I have to do now is to actually finish it. Well better get to it.

July 2018

All geared up for the RWA 2018 Conference in Sydney. Have all the details ironed out and meeting friends at the airport so that we can catch the train into town together.  That way if we get lost we won’t panic! Staying @Medina Serviced Apartments Sydney Martin Place which is only 5 minutes walk from the conference venue The Sofitel Wentworth.  In the meantime, I am heading off to Perth to visit family and try and get some more writing done.  I need to have more written before I pitch to a couple of publishers. Need to know exactly how this story is going to pan out.  Have a couple of ideas but not sure which way the characters are going to go!  Hopefully only need another 40,000 words which can do if uninterrupted.!!

Can’t wait to catch up with family and friends in Perth. Am needing my cat catch up at www.purrth.com The Cat Cafe Perth in Subiaco.  Had a great time last year when there.

The only thing that I don’t have organised is an outfit for the Cocktail party on the first night.  Need a Tiara as the theme is Tiaras and Tuxedoes! Will have to go hunting for that.

Thank you to Laura of Dillons Bookshop 166 The Parade Norwood for taking my book Rescued and putting it on their shelves. Thanks  heaps. Www.dillonsnorwoodbookshop.com.au

Susanne

April 2018

Hi there

Have been busy writing the next great novel!

Abandoned the one I was writing last year because I wasn’t happy with it.  Will probably come back to it sometime later and fix it. I won’t completely let it go, I have invested over 50,000 words and they were hard work. So I have just put it away for now.

Working on a story set in Colorado next to the Rocky Mountain National Park and near the ski resorts and three hours out of Denver.  The research has been fun and am now ready to buckle down and write.

As you can see from the picture I have been very busy with the research. Go the motorbike, place of the ranch, the Rural Setting Thesaurus is wonderful for outside descriptions.  I have marked every page that relates to the story. So have lots of descriptors for the scenery.  Found the great notebook in K-Mart.  Blah Blah Blah is a wonderful title for my notes on the story. I need to write heaps of stuff about the places, people and things they do. I have to understand everything about my characters before I can put their story to paper.

Anyone out there want to help with the name of bad rancher dude who is trying to steal the Hero’s land? I can’t seem to find one bad enough.  Something really country and bad!! Just message me on Facebook and I will send you the first three chapters of the book.

Catch up soon

Susanne 🙂

February 2018

Cannot believe so much time has passed. Where has it all gone? Firstly got some good feedback from the publishers about my book however the feedback means that I have to virtually rewrite the complete story. I think my point of view needs tweeking.

Loved Christmas 2017 with my family and friends. Have a wonderful time and even Hugh Jackman got in on the act. Here he is getting ready to distribute the presents.

Hope you and yours had a great Christmas and that 2018 brings you nothing but happiness and joy.

Getting ready to retire from my full time job really soon so that I can devote my time to full time writing. I can’t wait. Just a few more weeks.

October 2017

Well, dear friends, I have finally been able to send the pitch and first three chapters to the publishers that I met at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference in Brisbane this year.  It has taken a while, writing the pitch of an 80,000-word book in two pages is really not easy, especially when you want to convey the nuances of the storyline.  But I think I have managed to do this.  So please keep your fingers crossed for me and hopefully the next book will be picked up by a lovely publishing house instead of me self-publishing !!

August 2017

We all had a fantastic time at the Romance Writers Conference in Brisbane. The city is so pretty, even though we only got to see some of it at night when we went checking out the restaurants.  The weather was great, lovely and sunny along with nice nights.

I got to pitch my second book  to three publishers and they all seemed interested. Now have to write the Synopsis and finalise the first three chapters, as in edit the bejesus out of it so that it is polished and perfect.

It was so good to catch up with Janet Gover, EC Del Zuanne, Alison Stuart, Delwyn Jenkins and many many more. We learnt so much and took so many notes I got RSI.

The organisers did a fantastic job getting all the presenters together, there were even people from Google Play and digital2print to discuss our needs for loading our books on line and self publishing.

As usual my suitcase put on more weight than I did over the weekend, but still within the airline limitations Phew.

Have add some photos of our trip.

A few of us having a great time over Sunday lunch.

Every writers envy, really expensive fountain pens.  So nice to write with. Found this in a Pen shop window in the Brisbane Arcade. So got myself a new fountain pen, though it didn’t cost nearly as much as what was on display.

A small peek of the Brisbane Arcade. Lovely old architecture and window displays.

One of a pair of lions guarding Brisbane Town Hall.  He reminded me of Aslan from the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe! Very majestic.

April 2017

Hi there,

Well I cant believe where all the time has gone, one minute Christmas now Easter is nearly upon us.  Hope you all have a great time with your family and friends.  I will be writing hopefully but will spend time with the family.  I love Easter such a renewing time of the year.

I am up to 30000 words on my new manuscript.  Can’t wait to share it, though at the moment the characters are being difficult, the storyline is not going in the direction that I had originally planned.  I am hoping to get my short story up on the website for you guys to read.  I am busy saving for the RWA Conference in Brisbane, which will be fantastic the program is packed with good things to do.

Look out for my short story “Found” here.

April 2017

Hi there

Cant believe that it is nearly April. Boy where has the time gone.

My book is now available as an e-book (yeah happy dance !) at the following sites.

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/706922 this is in epub format

https://www.amazon.com.au/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_9?url=search-alias%3Daps&fieldkeywords=susanne+dbargnet&sprefix=susanne+d%2Caps%2C302&crid=1XQV93F

A2S0TE this is kindle format.

If you could leave a review where you purchased it that would be fantastic.

Thanks for your support.

March 2017

Hi there,

Well the first book is now published Yeah!

If you want to purchase it please go to

https://www.createspace.com/6882931

now available for the public to purchase on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Rescued-Susanne-dBargnet/dp/1925595102/

The ebook version will take another week or two to get on line but will keep you posted.

Thanks for your support.

February 2017

Hi there everyone,

January was exciting as I got the second edit back from the publisher and finished if off with only four errors (yeah!) and got the proofs back from Scarlett Rugers Book Design Company and
approved them. So it is all go for the book. Haven’t got a date as yet but I am sure that the publishers are onto it.

Got my proof copy in the mail today (2/2/17) and now have to check it out and make sure that it is really good. So we are very close to go launch. Yeah. The cover is fantastic Scarlett Rugers Book,Design Co did a great job https://booksat.scarlettrugers.com/

Found a few errors and Ally from Mosh Publishing have fixed them up and now we are ready to send back to the printer. Hopefully all will be ready by the end of the week.

Am attending the Australian Romance Readers Convention in Melbourne at the Rydges Hotel at the end of February.

Will give me the opportunity to catch up with several writer friends and family while I am there. Quite a few RWA authors will be there conducting workshops and sessions, so I will be able to catch up with them again since the RWA Conference last August. The chance to learn new things is always exciting for me.

When we get the publishers date it will be uploaded along with the links to purchase soft cover and ebooks. We (the royal we – my husband and I) thought that we could do a launch in Adelaide. Not exactly sure where and cant actually do that without a date !! but keep an eye out for it. I will put it on line as soon as I organise it. Will probably do it after the ARR Convention.

Check my book out !! it looks and feels wonderful. Finally dream come true after so many years.

Sue

January 2017 – Happy New Year to you all. Hope that you had a great Christmas and will all enjoy a wondrous 2017 with lots of adventure and happiness.

For me just trying to get the manuscript edited has been a challenge. With Christmas and family visiting and then New Year celebrations it has been very hectic and I haven’t had the time to edit as much as I wanted. But now that the new year is well and truly happening I have to get on with it so that my dream can come true. As of the 5th January only have 83 pages to go. Soon it will be back with the publishers. I am also working on the back cover and have written the acknowledgements. Didn’t know there was so much to do. Thought I only had to write the book!

I have been re-reading S E Smith’s books lately. She is a great writer and does science fiction adventure romance. Love the combination and she is very good at it. Catch up with her latest releases at https://sesmithfl.com/

December 2016

Merry Christmas to you all. I love Christmas and am busy decorating our new house that we moved into in August after years of planning and finally building! I have wrapped all the presents and can’t wait for the big day when family and friends gather. So excited. Check out the best Christmas trees https://www.cntraveler.com/gallery/the-best-christmas-trees-in-the-world/

On the manuscript front things are going very well. The Cover has been approved and is ready to go thanks to Scarlett Ruger https://booksat.scarlettrugers.com/ she is great at taking your words and putting it into a cover. There will be a big cover reveal when it is finally all together.

The publishers have sent me the proofs for the book copy and I have found so many errors you would not have thought that I had edited it at all! So many full stops missing, unbelievable. So at this very moment I am busy trying to make sure that it is perfect. This could take some time, apparently this book has 346 pages !!

November 2016 – Working hard, got my first manuscript sent to the publishers this week. Hopefully it will be published very soon as an ebook and hard copy. Can’t wait to get some feedback from you all. When the cover is formalised I will post a picture of it on this page. Have also been writing my third story The Submissive. Have only got about 8,000 words done so far but it is coming along quite nicely.
My first short story is ready to go as well but need to save some money to get it published. It will be only published as an ebook as it is only 18,000 words, definitely not long enough to publish as a hard copy.

October 2016 – I am very busy at the moment trying to finalise the edits of my book Rescued to get it published before Christmas. Then have to re-edit Found and get that out there as well. Both first chapters are available on the excerpts page.
Need to start the next book, have a hero whose name is Marco Cipriani and he owns a restaurant attached to the local Ds club. So there is plenty of play with food and Dominants and subbies. Story starting to fall into place. Just need a location.

September 2016 – editing furiously after having my editor Chris have a go at it. Boy does Rescued need heaps of work. Have a meeting with the Lovely Scarlett Rugers to discuss the book cover. She is fantastic when it comes to book covers.

August 2016 – attended the Romance Writers of Australia Conference in Glenelg South Australia. Had a great time catching up with everyone and meeting new friends. It was the 25th conference and my second. Got lots of new ideas and learnt a whole heap as well. As you can see I brought home a couple of mementos