I’m writing this post from Queensland’s Gold Coast… where I’ve spent the last few days at a blogging conference. And I am now – quite frankly – rather exhausted from all of the listening and learning. Not to mention the eating and socialising.

But more on that later…

What I read

I’m afraid I read little. Barely at all in fact. Between my move, some work travel and the conference, my to-be-read pile went pretty much untouched except for the latest novel in JD Robb’s In Death series, Apprentice in Death.

And… thanks to a stack of driving I finished listening to Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. The clipped tones of the narrator took some getting used to…. I did check a few times I hadn’t sped the narration up by accident, but I loved her accent and am thinking I might start using a hard ‘g’ in words in future.

What I wrote

I only reviewed a couple of books:

Sting by Sandra Brown – a romantic suspense involving the kidnap of a woman by a charismatic hit man (and thankfully their attraction is the only predictable part of the book!)
Apprentice in Death by JD Robb – the latest in the Lieutenant Eve Dallas / Roarke futuristic detective series, and the best I’ve read in a while.

I wrote about my new house and recent move; and felt compelled to share my suggested conference essentials. (And as you can imagine, I’ve put my own slant on them!)

What I did

This time last week I’d just moved so the first few days were spent unpacking. And unpacking. And did I mention the unpacking?

And then on Thursday I travelled to the Gold Coast for the ProBlogger conference. It was held at the stunning Royal Pines, a golf course and resort.

It’s the biggest blogging conference we have here in Australia. I suspect I’ll write something about it in coming days, but – more than learning anything specific about the art of blogging – what’s really stayed with me is this notion….

Failure is not the end.

I’m about to depart, but as well as feeling a bit more inspired, I’ve had the opportunity to meet a heap of bloggers and writers I admire; most of whom I was meeting IRL for the first time.

I’m overnighting with my brother and sister-in-law and heading home tomorrow and… for the last couple of days I’ve been struck by how much I’m actually missing my new house and really excited to settle in properly.

What I plan to do

My reading pile is seriously out of control. Given my recent break and then two weeks of moving light reading I’ve got gazillions of books which have been published in the last month. It is – for example – the third Sunday I’m saying I’ll be reading Sophie Hannah’s Closed Casket and Gayle Forman’s Leave Me. And I’ve had more new arrivals I haven’t even added to my list.

But… the last of my commitments and distractions are over for a while, so I can knuckle down and do some reading and blogging. And… I cannot wait.

What have you been up to? Anything interesting planned for this coming week?

As usual I’m linking up with Deep Fried Fruit for the Lovin’ Life Linky; Caffeinated Book Reviewer for the Sunday Post; and The Book Date for ‘It’s Monday!’

#Inrelatednews I met and hung out with the lovely Leanne from Deep Fried Fruit in person over the last few days… (I’m on the right in the glasses!)