Is 2014 the year for your book? And a writers link up!

In celebration of Australia day something I know I can do to support my fellow inspirational Australians is to read some fantastic Aussie books, to buy Australian books for gifts this year, to visit the library, read new authors, encourage others I know to read Australian books and give books as gifts. As an author myself I know how important it is to get behind our great talented writers out there.
We have such talented writers here in Australia covering everything from fast paced fiction, romance, scientific works, non fiction, parenting, self help and one of my favourite subjects, all things food!

And of course many great writers still yet to be discovered too, maybe one of these is you?!
Have you always dreamed of being a writer?
Do you have a manuscript but not sure what steps to take next?
Are you passionate about writing?
The start of an exciting new year is bursting full of opportunities, if you have always wanted to write, always wanted to publish your work or get published, make this your year to go for it!

I am delighted to be able to share some fantastic TIPS from very amazing writers!

Melanie Avery is a very successful Award Winning Author, Presenter, Guest Speaker, Blogger.
Her books are a breath of fresh air in the food genre, helping families enjoy life and navigate the harmful additives that have crept into our supermarkets and into our trolleys, homes and children's bodies.

Visit her website to find out more about these incredible books:
www.letsliveadditivefree.com

LIKE her on Facebook

Thank you Melanie for sharing your writing tips with us today!

My top 3 tips for writing your own book:

1.       Always write with integrity, honesty and passion. When you are passionate about what you do – what you believe in, the writing comes easily and from an honest place. Write to share your passion not to sell a book.

2.       If the ideas aren’t flowing, walk away and come back later. Trying to force something just doesn’t work and your writing won’t sound like you. It’s okay to have a break.

3.       Work with people who ‘get’ your idea behind your book. Whether it is a designer, editor or publisher, if they truly believe in you and your message then the end product will reflect this. 

Melanie's books:

• Let’s Party! Additive Free was written to help parents provide their children with a fun and colourful  party without the children going ‘crazy’ from all of the chemical additives, particularly colours, flavours and preservatives.

• Let’s Visit! Additive Free has been designed to help the carers of children who live additive free, provide appropriate food choices.

• Let’s Celebrate Christmas! Additive Free, the most recent title in the series, is a guide for creating a joyous, festive and additive free Christmas. This title is twice as many pages as the first and is packed with a diverse range of additive free recipes that can be used all year round.

• All products can be purchased at http://www.letsliveadditivefree.com

Sally Collings
Sally Collings is an Australian bestselling author, publisher and editor, now based in California. She specializes in ghostwriting, book coaching and “extreme editing”, and loves helping Australian writers who want to crack the US market.
Visit her website www.sallycollings.com.

Sally is one of my favourite Australian authors, her books are incredible from Sophie's journey, a book about incredible Australian little girl, Sophie Delezio. A book about one incredible little girl struck down by a tragic accident, not once but twice. "Sophie Delezio has a message of hope for us all. " You can read more about that book and also buy it here 

A beautiful book by Sally written with Antonia Kidman is the Simple Things.

And my favourite, parenting with soul, an amazing book that will resonate with and inspire parents everywhere and one that takes great pride of place on my bookshelf.

Other titles include Positive and one many writers will find very helpful, Get published!

Getting published tips from Sally Collings

These tips are especially for writers who want to know whether their manuscript is ready to send to a publisher.

1. Lock away your manuscript and forget about it. 

Don’t look at it again for a few weeks, or even a few months. Then take it out again and read it with fresh eyes. If you’ve been sweating over that manuscript for a long time, the break will give you a new perspective. 

2. Exploit your friends and family. 

Find two or three of the pickiest, best-read, most brutally honest people you know. Ask them to read your manuscript (maybe just the first chapter for starters) and tell them exactly what sort of feedback would help you most, and that you think they are capable of giving. For example, what do they love or hate about the writing style? Are the characters engaging and real? Can they find any typos? Make sure you pick people from your target audience: don’t hand your paranormal romance to your uncle if he wouldn’t be seen dead reading that sort of book.

3. Think like a publisher. 

Pretend you’re an agent or a publisher, and this manuscript has just landed in your in-tray. Does the first page make you leap out of your chair and shout, “I’ve found my next bestseller!”? If not, you’ve got some work to do.

I hope these tips give you the inspiration to get your work out there!

For me this year, I have lots of plans! My cookbook, my collaboration book, Healthy Happy Mums, my children's book about an edible garden and my new projects including an edible gardening book just to start!

AND it is my goal to read and gift lots of great books this year, currently I am reading a fantastic new breakthrough book by Australian writer Cheryse Durrant, The Blood She Betrayed which is currently selling out across Australia in its breakthrough success!!

If your looking for some great fiction or a gift idea check it out!
"Thrust into the technology-driven Earthlands via magical mists, Shahkara is forced to rely on Max McCalden to help search for the ancient Elnara death lantern, her homeworld’s last chance of survival against the heart-devouring Taloners.
Max has his own problems – a manipulative billionaire father, a murdered brother – but nothing prepares him for this fugitive warrior’s razor-sharp talons and magical abilities.
Shahkara’s half-Taloner blood demands what she knows she can’t have – a human heart. She longs for love, but as deadly enemies attack at every turn, will her lust for Max destroy them both? Or will she find the strength to free both worlds from a threat more horrific than the demons that share her blood?"Find and support Cheryse on facebook HERE

I also recommend checking out:
Karen Tyrrell an inspirational woman, speaker and author who share so many tips for writing and publishing
Book Cover Cafe services include ebooks, self publishing, book covers, LOTS of free tips for writers
Author Support Services Alex is an incredible talent and does book editing, coaching and workshops
Australian Writers Rock The facebook page of the book store doing incredible things to support Australian authors.
Australian Writers Rock - website
Natural New Age Mum's blog post on 20 awesome ebooks!

What is a great book you recommend?

Happy writing,

Bek XX

Do you have a great book or three? Blog posts on writing? Book reviews? Publishing? Self publishing?
Share your link below and lets get inspired and supportive. Please visit at least two other link ups, you never know what great blogs, books or information you just mind find too!

E Book Launch

I am very excited to announce that my book, The Pram Diet will be officially released as an e Book on May 5th!!

It will be available through a variety of online sellers that Random House Australia uses, visit THIS LINK to see their full list and more details.

This means that my book will be available worldwide!

Join in my excitement at the official FACEBOOK launch party HERE

Rebecca xxxx

Small Steps to Big Changes

When we want to make changes in our lives.

When we want to get healthy, lose weight or achieve goals it can all to often seem too big a task.
It can be daunting and overwhelming.

Just too hard to start...

BUT..If we approach with small positive steps, one little step at a time we CAN make changes, we can make difference, we can get closer and closer to our goal.
We really can.

With self belief, a positive attitude ( at least most of the time ) and some thinking outside of the square sometimes, we really can take small steps towards bigger changes.

How much of our modern busy lives are now spent inside? Inside buildings, inside houses, inside cars, bus's and shops?

Life just seems to be so fast these days, with always so much to do.
It seems that having some time to relax, take care of our health and active or creative time together as a family is so hard to find. Even finding time to 'just be' and have some personal time out can feel nearly impossible.

BUT...One of the best things we can all do ( and should do ) is make time.

Make it a high priority to find that time each day.
Time to get outside!
Peel our tired, worn out selves away from the TV, computer, sofa and car. Away from the never ending chores and things to be done for a little while and go out of doors..

We need to bring some freshness to our lives.

Get out in that rejuvenating fresh air, smell some garden flowers, walk through a beautiful park, watch a sunset, cook a meal with your children from fresh ingredients picked together from the garden or sourced at a farmers market, plant a garden as a family or through a group, school, church or other organisation and bring some fresh energy into our life.

Be fresh, live fresh, breathe fresh and eat fresh.

It can be so easy to think "I am so busy with everything already-how could I possibly find time to go for a walk? Or start growing some fruit and veggies at home? Or cook a healthy meal Or make that outdoor family time each day??"

But the benefits of bringing this freshness to your life are such an inspiring experience that you can and do find that time...sometimes it may mean saying no to some extra workload, favours or other things you find it hard to say no to, sometimes it might mean creating an organised daily plan or cutting back on things that take up too much of your time or even are just time wasting, sometimes it might mean making a daily 'appointment' with yourself or as a family and making sure its kept!, sometimes it might be structuring family chores so everyone helps more or de cluttering some things in your life like your home to make tasks easier. It could be assessing your priorities and working out what is most important and what really makes you and your family happy. After all being healthy and less stressed brings such a vibrant energy to your life that everyone benefits..

Even a small change makes a huge difference-THINK
Try one new healthy recipe to start with...
Plant and grow one pot plant of something edible to get started...
Go for a short walk on your own as your refreshing 'time out' or as a family as a great healthy way of bonding every other day to get started..
Take up a small creative hobby that really helps you unwind and express your artistic side..

I have learnt myself that once you start bringing some freshness into your life it is just so wonderful and is so inspiring that you never look back.

For me starting a daily walk changed the way I saw exercise and how much moving more made me feel so much more alive and full of energy..
For me starting an edible garden and sourcing and using fresh herbs and ingredients changed the way I ate and saw the food I was putting in to my body and on my families dinner plates..

For me bringing some freshness to my life changed my life and opened my eyes to a whole new and exciting way of living..

Small steps lead to other small steps which all lead to new 'good' habits.

Always look for your self belief and for inspiration....and remind yourself that every step towards a healthier lifetsyle is a step well worth taking.

Rebecca xx

The Australian Spirit & Author's for Queensland Flood Appeal

The Australian Spirit and Author's for Queensland Flood Appeal
The Australian Spirit is something that is truly shining as we near our beloved Australia Day.

After the country has been devestated by horrific floods and what was so aptly called an 'inland tsunami' we have come together, through the tragedy and tears we have bonded with each other and we have shined as a nation with the Australian Spirit.

It can be difficult when you want to help so much and have already donated as much as your family can afford to know how else you can help which is why I was really impressed by the very inspirational Kate Gordon's bringing together of so many author's for the
AUTHOR'S FOR QUEENSLAND FLOOD APPEAL
http://authorsforqueensland.wordpress.com

Happening right now is this really exciting auction, just brimming with so many books.

I myself am really excited by this project and to have been able to donate two signed copies of my book in the auction. It really is such a great way to raise money for the flood victims in such a positive and productive way.

Drop by the auction site now before it ends, share it wth people you know and bid on some really exciting books and writing opportunities and support Author's supporting the Queensland Flood Appeal.


Together we can all help and we can make a difference...

Rebecca xx
http://authorsforqueensland.wordpress.com/?s=pram+diet

How DO you get children to eat spinach?

What is the best way to get children eating spinach and benefitial greens like silverbeet?

Make it fun-make it exciting-make it tasty!

How do we do this?

By getting children involved with real, fresh ingredients. Getting them out into the garden and enjoying the stimulating experience of growing ingredients themselves and bringing this experience together with a great tasty recipe and the experience cooking of a meal with your children.

This is one just such perfect recipe that brings the home garden, cooking with children and healthy eating for your kids all together.
It is one my family loves to make and I loved to create!

Enjoy!!

My Garden Quiche

This is a gorgeous and lovely smelling dish that is so easy to make and has the added delight of many of the ingredients being really easy and cheap to grow yourself, making it another great recipe to get children involved with as they can help ‘gather the ingredients’ with you making the dish something they will be excited to eat!

Ingredients:
• Approximately 5 good sized fresh Silverbeet leaves
• A small handful of baby English spinach leaves ( around 6-8)
• 2 stalks spring onions, chopped
• Approximately 10 good stalks fresh chives
• A sprig fresh thyme
• A sprig fresh Rosemary
• 2 stalks fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped
• 1 large zucchini, finely grated preferably skin on
• 1 medium sized washed potato, finely grated
• 2 cups grated low fat cheese divided into two lots-1 x ½ cups and 1 x ½ cup
• 1 tablespoon low fat sour cream
• 2 sheets reduced fat puff pastry
• 3 cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 3 free range eggs, whisked
• Paprika
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Dried mixed herbs
• 1 teaspoon milk


Method:• Preheat oven to approximately 200` ( not fan forced )
• Grease a round baking dish, at least 4 cm deep and
• Remove pastry sheets from freezer and allow to slowly thaw
• Wash and then pat dry with a clean tea towel or paper towel the sliver beet and spinach leaves, then finely chop until they resemble green confetti
• Place this into a large mixing bowl
• Add into silverbeet the 1& ½ cups grated cheese, zucchini, potato, egg, parsley, spring onion and sour cream and mix together
• Finely chop the fresh chives into the mix with scissors, adding also the leaves of the rosemary and thyme sprigs removed from the stalks.
• Season mixture with sea salt, pepper and paprika and mix well.
• Arrange the pastry sheets into the greased baking dish in two diamond shapes cutting off the overlapping pastry and then attaching this to the least covered edges to ensure a good coverage of the entire base and sides.
• Pour mixture onto pastry base and spread out evenly, top with the remaining cheese
• Arrange in a circular pattern the finely sliced tomato on top
• Sprinkle with a small amount of paprika, teaspoon of dried mixed herbs and some pepper.
• Lightly paint any bits of pastry sticking out with the milk
• Bake in a medium oven until pastry is well cooked and the quiche mix has set.
• Serve hot with fresh ripe tomatoes and a dressed garden salad. or a selection of crunchy and colourful fingers of veggies for the kids like yellow capsicum, carrot and snow peas.

Kids in the kitchen notes:
• This is an excellent recipe to get kids enjoying eating spinach and silverbeet!
Kids of all ages from the very young will enjoy growing their own silverbeet and it is one the easiest and quickest veggies to grow-they require next to no space, grow really easily in pots and gardens and are even very forgiving of general forgetfulness and irregular watering or an insect attack!
• If the kids grow it and harvest it and help cook-they will definitely want to eat it!From the silverbeet to the chives and rosemary this is an excellent recipe that you can go out into the garden together to collect the ingredients and even better if you are fortunate enough to have your own free range chickens for eggs too. Limited in space? Many of these things will grow easily on a sunny balcony or could be a great little project for a local kindergarten, school, church or community garden.

• Kids Jobs in the recipe!
Other than the harvesting ( or sourcing from a local farmers market ) this recipe has some great steps the kids can get involved in.
Tasks:
Egg cracker! In our house my 4 year old is the resident egg cracker and has been for a couple of years ( even if we do have to remove little bits of shell from time to time)
Chives chopper. Using kid safe scissors let them chop the fresh chives straight into the mix
Silverbeet dryer. Get them patting the washed leaves dry ready for use.
Tomato decorator. Let them be the artist and arrange the tomato slices at the end.
Official Grater. Depending on the age of the kids grating can be a great task for the older children to help with.
The mixer. What child doesn’t love the job of mixing the ingredients-regardless of the recipe?
Pastry painter. Using a clean pastry brush let the kids paint the edges of the pastry so it can brown nicely.

Toddler Tips:

For small fingers and mouths try making some mini versions for your young toddler using circles of pastry lined into min muffin trays filled with the mixture and you can always reduce the amount of spring onion.

Parent Tips:
The key to an enjoyable ( and still edible ) cooking experience with kids in the kitchen I have found is to make sure you have what you need ready before starting and are distraction free so it can be fully supervised during the whole procedure.
And most important of all...to relax! Enjoy the experience of bonding with young children over healthy fresh ingredients and making food together, things can and often do go wrong when working with kids-so be flexible and patient and you will all be sure to create not only delicious healthy dishes the whole family will enjoy but great memories too!

ENJOY!!
(c)RebeccaMugridge2010

You can find heaps more great recipes like this one along with great gardening ideas and projects you can do with kids in THE PRAM DIET book.
See the links on this blog page for stockists.

Speaker at the Melbourne Healthy Food Show

Freshen Up Your Life For Your Waistline

This was the title of the talk I gave at the Melbourne Healthy Food Show held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre earlier this year.

It was such an exciting and positive event; Brimming with buisness's, speaker's and demonstrations on healthy living and I was really delighted to have been asked to be a part of it.

I was also supported on both days by the amazing owners of the 'Eltham Bookstore' who brought copies of my book to sell on both days. ( You can find a link to their bookstore here on my blogger page too. )

My talk's were based around using the words 'fresh' and 'inspiration' to bring a healthy, energetic vibe to your life.

Here is some of what I taked about it..

Freshen Up Your Life For Your Waistline
Fresh is a word I have come to fill my life with.

When you think of the word FRESH you may conjure up images of beautiful fruits and vegetables in their optimum state-full of goodness, colour and flavour.
You may picture pristine fresh water streams so cooling and refreshing or mountains where the air is so pure that the simple act of a deep breath fills you with awe.

This is the energy and sensation we need to bring into our lives when we are wanting to truly find ourselves within ourselves. When we are wanting to get healthier, lose that weight and tap into the magnificent energy source that does reside within us all.

Freshening up your life will lead to losing weight if that is your goal but it will also most importantly give you a whole new lease on your life.
This I know. After years battling self image issues and my yo-yoing weight I found myself overweight and depressed after having my daughter until one day upon reaching a breaking point I went for a walk-not a walk with a destination, just a walk. I bundled my baby into her pram taking every possible thing I could think of that we could possibly need and off we went.

30 kilo’s lighter with a whole new sense of self and finally a healthy attitude to food I have never looked back.
And this is the magic part of bringing freshness into your life like I did with my walks in the fresh air..you feel so good for letting just a small amount of freshness into your life that you just want to bring more and more and more...

I started with small walks, just around my neighbourhood.
It began to amaze me how much beauty was around me that I never before took the time to see. The tree’s full of life, the flowers dazzling in surrounding gardens, the local birds chirping away.
I saw my walks as my ‘time out’ and would let myself only think of pleasent thoughts on my walks-leaving all my worries at my front door as I left it.

From this exciting starting point I began to feel so alive from this fresh energy i was bringing into my life that it was a natural progression to want more.

I began to appreciate my body more-it felt so good from the refreshing exercise that I wanted to eat fresh as well.
I did this by inspiring myself and embracing the words 'fresh and 'inspiration'.
I visited a local farmers market and discovered local fruit markets and started filling my home with beautiful fresh ingredients and because I was also on a tight budget I started to grow my own fresh organic ingredients at home as well. Just a few pots of herbs at first to freshen up my cooking before ending up with a virtual market garden of delicious ingredients at my fingertips.

Any day can be the day you start to live your life more, in fact any time of any day when your focus is on making positive changes.
Bring freshness to your life.
Some of the greatest ways to bring freshness to your life are often the simplest.
Inspire yourself.
Read inspiring and uplifting magazines and books-watch inspiring tv and movies, find quotes that really move you.

Surround yourself with inspiration

Embrace fresh air.

Take time to just breathe occasionally. We all know that if you find yourself stressed you should take some deep breaths but how often do we pay attention to our breathing? Sit somewhere calmly sometimes and take some gentle slow breaths-feel your body-let your mind relax it all too often works so hard.

Walk in the glorious fresh air. It doesn’t even have to be a long walk, just getting your body moving and getting outside. Breathe deeply and let your mind be cleared of all the worries, stress and concerns even if only for your walk.
If you neighbourhood doesn’t feel relaxing to you walk in a nice park, along a river, lake or by the ocean.
Freshen up your home. Make a point of sometimes opening up all your windows and letting that glorious fresh air circulate through your house-especially if you regularly use heating or air conditioning.
Freshen up your food..
Becoming healthy doesn’t mean no more delicious food. It means getting in touch with your taste buds again and experiencing real foods and real flavours-it means learning new and exciting recipes.

We are even often surprised that many of the family favourites we already make with just a few adjustments or added ingredients can be so much better for us.
It means eating meals that not only taste great but that give you energy and vitality-foods that make your skin glow and give you a bounce of energy in your step.
You even find that the more healthy foods you eat the more you want to eat and so on..

Find the excitement in a healthy fresh new lifestyle.

Embracing a healthier lifestyle doesn’t need to be boring in fact it should be exciting!
There is a wealth of exciting recipes out there that are healthy AND delicious. Once you start
there are so many wonderful ways to get fit or exercise its all just a matter of getting out there and taking that very first step

To a fresh new you!

Hello! I am now a blogger!

Hello and welcome to my blogpage!

I am a mum to an amazing 4 year old, a horticulturalist and a published author.

Even after a year it is still so exciting to actually be able to say that I am a published author, let alone things like visit a library and sometimes a bookstore ( something I do very often as a total bookworm ) and see a copy of my book on the shelf!

As a horticulturalist gardening is a huge part of me and in particular I am very passionate about organic food gardening and creative garden places of play for children that is chemical free and full of nature's wonderment. I truly believe that children and gardens just go together and when children learn and help to grow fruits and vegetables at home they also love to eat them!

My first published book, THE PRAM DIET was published by Random House and saw me on A Current Affair twice and in various magazines and newspapers, it is a book written from my heart-as a mother to other mothers.

http://www.myspace.com/thepramdiet

It shares my experiences with becoming a mother, dealing with depression after having my baby and losing those stubborn post baby kilo's of excess weight that don't just 'fall off' for every woman!

It also contains at it heart gardening advice to get started growing your own fruits and vegetables as a family because this was a key factor for me in improving the way I ate and it led to me watching my daughter grow up picking and eating fresh produce like snow peas, beans, strawberries, capsicums, tomatoes, carrots, celery, lettuce and more straight from the garden.

I have also completed last year a second non fiction book full of inspiration and motivation that I hope to have published as well and am also an aspiring children's book author with two maunscripts being edited by my agent, both aimed at bringing the garden alive for young children.

As a writer I have been fortunate to have a wonderful agent along the way in Sophie Hamley of Cameron's Management and was really fortunate to work with an amazing team of people at Random House. with The Pram Diet.

As a mother I have found immense inspiration through my daughter who truly lights up my day..She gave me the reason to turn my life around and really experience life as the blessing it is.