From Susan Tarr:

For those of you who are unsure exactly where New Zealand is, if you head straight down from say UK, aim for Australia and do a hard left, that should get you here. If you are coming from USA, just head down until the seas are forever in both directions and do a right, or left. Eventually you will make it. Drinks are on me! As you might imagine, I have a little head start on you. (Time zones and all)

I once sailed to Kenya, East Africa in a 28 foot yacht, so I know that navigation can be a little bit flexible, at least while you are on the high seas. I’m an adventuress. Not solo or anything like that. No, I need company so I can relive each and every little moment. And in 20 or 50yrs time I will still be reliving it.

So I am a fanciful dreamer. Yes, I always have been and always will be. And playing the piano and singing have been high on my list of fancies too.

Here is my favourite piano music. Frank Mills MUSIC BOX DANCER. Just skip the ads! Then sit back and close your eyes. Try to imagine it’s me seated at that piano. Stretch your imagination a little further and see my fingers tracing those keys. Yes, and at that speed too. Ah, memories are so good to have. Even if we are unsure where they come from or from how long ago. All I know is that once upon a lifetime, I played this song and even played it a wee bit like Frank Mills. Now go ahead and finish that wine!

(Or is that me in the tutu? I forget. More wine needed.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwa0c8VO71s Frank Mills MUSIC BOX DANCER He wrote it for his daughter, not for us, and it shows. I played it for my daughter and for me.

And watch the following too. Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Love it. All the white sand and aqua waters lapping, ever lapping…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I

The other thing I do is write novels.

My latest is fresh out now ALMOST AN AUTHOR, and I am beyond ecstatic!

Although written as fiction, this is based on fact. Yes, there are nutters out there.

When a chance meeting with a local publisher outside a small bookshop results in all three of her manuscripts being signed, Ruby Wright thinks she has it made. Already she sees images of herself wearing dark glasses, being mobbed by fans clamouring for her latest blockbuster…

Little does Ruby know, but her ditsy publisher is a charlatan who has no more idea about publishing than Ruby does. Pretty soon Ruby is broke.
She has no IT experience so depends heavily on her nerdy flatmate, Hunter, whenever her computer fails her. He has enough of his own issues to deal with—he is studying for his final law exams. She bribes him with a dog she found on the side of the road, then Panforte, which chips his tooth, and a couple of Axolotls until he finally gives in and helps her. But Ruby’s life is filled with disaster…

What follows is excitement, disappointment, heartache, love and loss as we follow Ruby’s hilarious struggles to maintain her trust and focus in the ever-shifting publishing industry and in people in general.