I don't generally publish one of those “help us” or “give us money” types of post on my blog. But this one really caught my interest and I wanted to bring people's attention to RWAus's Flood Appeal:

RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal

We've all seen the devastation the recent Queensland floods have wrought and have wondered how we can help. We know that for many affected families, books will not be high on their priorities list for some time to come.

But…
We also know how valuable books can be in providing time out when reality gets tough.

So…
With the aid of some wonderful volunteers, we've put together a Romance Writers of Australia Flooded Communities Book Appeal.

What we need?
FICTION BOOKS! Romance books, children's books, young adult books, genre books, whatever — either new or in sparkling condition.

Please send them to:
RWA Flooded Communities Book Appeal
PO Box 1717
Noosaville Post Office
Noosaville BC
Queensland 4566

When to send them?
Now! And any time over the next few months. The books will be boxed and delivered to the appropriate libraries/schools/neighbourhood centres/community centres in batches as soon as the communities are ready to receive them. We'll be liaising with councils, libraries and schools to ensure this is done appropriately. Feel free to pop a note inside, or if you're an author, sign it.

Questions:

If you have a question about donations, email Jess Anastasi.

If you work in a library / council / community centre / school in a flood affected area, email Rachel Bailey.

Cash Donations
If you would prefer to make a cash donation, please donate to the QLD Premier’s Flood Relief Appeal or for the animals, donate to RSPCA Queensland.

Q&A

Q. I’m overseas and would like to donate but the cost of sending books is very expensive?

If you are an author, send one copy of a book. This will keep your individual costs down, but will also contribute to our book appeal.

Alternatively, consider buying a book from The Book Depository, which offers free postage to Australia. The book can be sent directly to the appeal.

Cash donations can be made to the charities listed above.

Q. I’m in Australia and have many books to donate. What is the cheapest postage option?

Australia Post offers a 3kg satchel anywhere in Australia for approximately $10. Please ensure the books are wrapped in bubble wrap to miminise damage in transit.

Band together with friends, your family, your writing group and send books together to minimise postage costs.

Q. I’m in Brisbane. Can the books be dropped off?

We have a drop-off point in Carindale available. Please contact Jess Anastasia for further information.

If any other RWA member in Qld can offer a drop off point, please contact Rachel Bailey.

The appeal page on the RWAus blog will be updated weekly with news on the appeal.

So if you have any books you don't to keep, please consider donating them to RWAus.

Hero Material and I celebrated our first anniversary last week. We went to the restaurant where we had our wedding reception. It's one of the most expensive restaurants in the city, but the food is always marvelous and the service sublime.

Hero Material made the reservation, etc. Actually I was surprised that he pre-empted everything because I wasn't sure what to do about our wedding anniversary or anything else like that. (Let's just say that I was a little frazzled about the pregnancy and morning sickness in November and early December.)

Thankfully my morning sickness went away, and my tummy felt fine that day. Yay!

Here are the photos.

This is a view of the city from our table.

Table setting with a complimentary rose from the restaurant. You can see Hero Material's champagne and my OJ.

Us at the restaurant — we had a corner table with a lovely view. In Japan, the tables closest to the most windows are considered the best. I was in a black strappy dress, but since it was so cold, I also had the pink cashmere shawl around me. (If you've been following my blog, you probably remember that Hero Material bought me one on our honeymoon in Thailand.) It was soooo warm and soft against my bare shoulders, arms and back.

Food…! Everything was super delicious. I gobbled up everything. (Sorry about the fish picture…I took a big bite before taking the picture because I couldn't wait…!)

The manager told us that our meal was completely comped. We were very surprised, as we had expected to pay some portion of the cost. (The hotel where we had our ceremony had sent us a coupon we could use at the restaurant, but I was pretty sure the price of our meal would be more than the amount covered by the coupon.)

Anyway, there was a lot of bowing and thank-you's and congratulation's and so on. I'm not sure if we can go back next year for another leisurely meal with a small baby, but I sure hope so…! I totally love that restaurant!

I can't believe 2010 is over, and it's officially 2011. I've been super busy, mostly with holiday stuff, of course.

Christmas is not a big deal in Japan, but Hero Material and I celebrated on Christmas Eve at Mario's Bistro. Very yummy Italian dinner. Unfortunately the restaurant was a bit smokey from a lot of smokers, and we couldn't linger as much as we'd like because the cigarette stench gives me a major headache (which then makes me nauseous, which is not a good thing, especially for a pregnant woman!).

Then I tried to stay warm. I know it snowed a lot in America, and it was the same in Japan. Thankfully we didn't get any snow in our city, but it was freezing. Burrr…..

New Year's was lovely with home-cooked meal and so on. On the fourth, Hero Material and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. It was really romantic. I'll post some pictures soon, I promise!

The biggest goal for me this year is to stay healthy. This is more important than before since I'm pregnant. And the second biggest goal is figuring out how to do what I need to do (spending time with Hero Material and balancing work and writing) with the new responsibility called motherhood.

I hope everyone had wonderful holidays. Here's to another fantastic year.

Sorry for the late update! I've been less than glowy for a while. (I think the pregnancy glow is a myth!) But I'm finally okay now. :)

2010 has been a difficult year for many people. If I listed challenges and so on, I think I could probably end up with a novel. Instead of just thinking about difficulties, I wanted to think about good and positive things, so that I can end the year on the high note.

Because no matter how hard 2010 was, I have so many things to be grateful for.

• I'm grateful for my family and friends who are always there for me.
• I'm grateful that Hero Material and I have gainful employment and that we can provide for our first baby when s/he comes next June.
• I'm grateful for the support network of industry professionals and other writers and readers I have. They've been instrumental in keeping me sane.
• I'm very very grateful for my readers.
• I'm grateful that I'm in relatively good health.

What are you thankful for this holiday season?

October was a great month — personally and otherwise. I'm pregnant, and my baby's going to be born in mid-June. And yes, I found out that I didn't gain as much weight as I thought. I know it's shallow, but it made me feel better. :)

Yesterday I met a friend of mine who's pregnant with her second child. She told me my doctor is really famous, which I didn't know since I chose her for her excellent English. Then my friend added, “She's also very good at performing abortions.” It's a totally cultural thing, and she didn't mean anything malicious. She was doing her best to reassure me that my doctor's a renowned expert in every aspect of pregnancy and that I should feel 100% anshin (peace of mind and spirit) about my first pregnancy. But it just sounded so hilarious, I burst out laughing. (So did Hero Material when I told him.)

As for non-personal news, I can't share any yet. But I'll definitely update everyone as soon as I can.

On the writing front, I'm trying to go through All's Fair 1st beta comments — alas, there are more issues than I'd expected — and do NaNoWriMo this month. I'm trying not to do to much — my brain's turned into mush and I tire easily these days, even when I'm just reading a book! So I'm trying to do little bit at a time and rest frequently so that I don't feel exhausted.

(Other than being tired easily, foggy-brained and sleepy, I'm doing pretty well. No morning sickness or anything like that. So I count myself lucky. :) )

Hope everyone has a lovely and productive November!

In case you haven't seen my announcement on Twitter or Facebook, I'm pregnant. I went to see my doctor last Friday, and she confirmed it. (Hero Material went with me just in case I needed some moral support and translation help, but he didn't have to do anything except wait outside since my doctor spoke good English.)

EDD is June 25-ish.

So on Friday, I immediately ordered a copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting.

On Saturday, I looked for pre-natal vitamins. Guess what? I couldn't find any at the local pharmacy. So I decided to order via the net. Then I read about how a lack of folic acid can create birth defects. So I told Hero Material that our baby is going to born wrong because I didn't take pre-natal vitamins in the last 4-5 weeks. Stress much? He had to calm me down by saying how we probably get enough from our diet since we do eat an awful lot of vegetables and salad every day. That wasn't enough for me. So I spent $20 on a regular multivitamin (only 100 pills; yes, vitamins here cost their weight in gold) to tide me over until the pre-natal vitamins arrive from the States.

Anyway on Sunday I got my copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting. It was pretty cool until it said I should exercise every day because it's good for the mom. I'm thinking, “I really don't care that much to exercise EVERY DAY.” Then it went on to state that it makes for a smart baby. Then I'm thinking, “OMG, d*** you!”

They had me. I mean…how am I going to resist the “If you don't exercise, your baby may not born as smart as s/he could've been, and it's all your fault!” implied in the text?

So I'm on my 4th day of walking and light weight training. Holy cow, I've never exercised this regularly except when I'm trying to lose weight. It's weird to realize that the scale weight is going to go up even with the exercise and good nutrition. Of course, I am eating enough for two full-grown rhinoceroses at the moment. Hero Material made me a huge salad for lunch today, and I told him, “Man, that was good! I'm going to have to have that again!” He said “Sure”…not realizing that I meant “again” to be “right now.”

P.S. I'm not a saint, so I indulge in a cookie when I'm craving something sweet. It's not an American-size one though. Each yields two bites, max. I'm also limiting myself to no more than two cookies a day.