Happy New Year! As we welcome a new year, may your days be filled with joy, your dreams come true, and every moment be a step toward new achievements. Wishing you and your loved ones a prosperous, healthy, and truly wonderful year ahead. Cheers to new beginnings! #HappyNewYear

Rock out the year! (From Sydney Harbour in 2017)

📚🔍 Explore the Book Studio and discover a range of topics about writing and publishing! I've updated my posts list by topic. Prepare yourself for a wealth of content, including my recipes! What do you want to read about? 🌟 https://bdabooks.com.au/Blog/2025/reading-list-navigating-the-book-studio/

Small‑batch Tomato Jam with spring onion, garlic, ginger, sage & rosemary. Savoury‑sweet and perfect on ham sandwiches or roast leftovers. Recipe: https://bdabooks.com.au/Blog/2025/preserve-like-an-aussie-tomato-jam/ #Cooking

Waiting for my jam to cool… about 650g

I’m making tomato jam…

LEFTOVERS! 😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋😋

Any horror readers out there? Alan’s got a new book coming out soon, which you can preorder from his website. alanbaxter.com.au/my-books/the...

Potatoes and carrots ready for first roasting

Aussie jingles from Roma! Viva l’Italia 🇦🇺❤️🇮🇹

Grateful for the conversations, creativity, and community this year. From design strategies to book launches, inspiration to workflow, the year has been full. Sharing reflections + plans for the year ahead. https://bdabooks.com.au/Blog/2025/a-busy-year-plans-ahead-happy-holidays-bright-beginnings/

Two days ’til Christmas. Here’s the video for “Blue Christmas” — the title track from my first Christmas album, released a few years ago. I made that album as a gift back to my kids, the grandkids, and anyone out there who loves sitting and singing with their family at Christmas.

Stuffing mix → meatballs. Roll into balls. Place on a lined tray. Bake for 20–25 min at 175°C (that translates to 350°F). Serve with gravy or cranberry dip. Thank me later. #StuffingMeatballs

I know I usually publish a blog on Mondays, but it’s a hectic time of year, and I’m running a little behind. Thank you for your patience. This week’s post will be live by Wednesday (Christmas Eve). I can’t wait to share it with you. #WritingLife #IndiePublishing

Stuffing: Mix & bind: Add 500 g beef mince, 500 g pork mince, 2 beaten eggs, a splash of milk, salt + pepper. Mix, then add breadcrumbs by eye until it holds. Fry a tester to check seasoning. #Stuffing #HolidayCooking

More jingles

Stuffing upgrade: onion–herb mix 🧅🌿 Sauté spring onions in butter + oil, add garlic, sage, rosemary. Deglaze with stock. Chop dried apples + dried cranberries while onion mix cools, fold into onion mix. Low heat for sweet onions; add lemon zest for lift. #Stuffing #HolidayCooking

Christmas jingles

Happy birthday @harborhound.bsky.social (and from Tigger too!) 🥳🎉🎊🎈🎂🎁 May you get many treats 🥩

Cow trimming day. If you’d like to chip in—> Squirrelwood.org/donate

Curzon is missing. I let him out back to do his business and he just disappeared. I've looked and I haven't found them. Anybody if you're in the Potomac/ Bethesda area please keep an eye out.

Some Christmas music

Okay I just updated my phone from iOS 18.7.1 to 26.1... this liquid glass thing is doing my head in a bit 😵‍💫🤔

Weather 🥶⛈️ (in Willow Vale, NSW: 17°C / 62°F with thunderstorms, range 14°C - 19°C / 57°F - 66°F)

Colour is a language. Use it to signal genre, build trust, and boost recognition. Which hue leads your brand? https://bdabooks.com.au/Blog/2025/unlock-the-power-of-colour-harness-it-for-an-effective-brand/ #AuthorBranding #BookMarketing #CoverDesign #IndieAuthor #WriterCommunity

Dinner 🍽️

A wifi driver has evaporated… never to be seen again 😵‍💫🤐

Weather in the country…

Nonna-approved tiramisù: layers of espresso, mascarpone, Savoiardi, and dark chocolate. Easy to make, impossible to resist. Full recipe: https://bdabooks.com.au/Blog/2025/cook-like-an-italian-my-go-to-tiramisu/

LISTEN TO DEREK!

"Breaking News or Breaking Free? When the media bows, one journalist stands.” WIP update: ⅔ through second edits. Sharper stakes. Deeper arcs. Next up: developmental edit. Aiming for release on World Press Freedom Day 2026. bdabooks.com.au/Blog/2025/ma... #AmEditing #Thriller #Romance

Big win for 🇦🇺 wine! WA's Margaret River is 2025’s best-performing wine region, taking 22.5% of all trophies—outpacing France, Spain and Portugal. 🍷 www.timeout.com/australia/ne... #AustralianWine #MargaretRiver

🍰 Bake like an Aussie! Dive into the irresistible charm of Lamingtons: chocolate, coconut, nostalgia in every bite. 🍫🥥 Read the recipe:👉 https://bdabooks.com.au/Blog/2025/bake-like-an-aussie-dive-into-the-irresistible-charm-of-lamingtons/ #BakeLikeAnAussie #Lamingtons #AussieFood #AfternoonTea

Six standout novels, one unforgettable shortlist. Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ talks through the 2025 Booker Prize picks and the themes that made them shine. Read more: https://fivebooks.com/best-books/the-best-novels-of-2025-the-booker-prize-shortlist-ayobami-adebayo/

"Hybrid work is not a policy challenge — it’s a leadership capability challenge." "They’re treating hybrid work as a policy challenge. It’s not! It’s a leadership capability challenge." Hmmm 🤔 sloanreview.mit.edu/article/hybr... #Leadership #LeadershipCapability #LeadershipChallenge

A curated list of standout November releases across genres—literary fiction, sci‑fi, romance, YA, & more. Discover your next read, save this list for your next bookshop visit. https://bookriot.com/best-new-books-of-november-2025/ Which title are you grabbing first? #NovemberReads #BookRecs

The Newest Pupdate Newsletter is out and we have SUPER EXCITING NEWS! The Paw Pack Training Course is now LIVE - with Marla Smith from @servicerotties.bsky.social This link will take you to our newsletter where you can find the link to the course! bunsenbernerbmd.substack.com/p/paw-pack-t...

Anyone got a Goober and needs some help with their toddler? Paw Pack Training just dropped. Bernoulli (bunsenbernerbmd.bsky.social) gets some help from Chesnyy (servicerotties.bsky.social)! open.substack.com/pub/bunsenbe...

October’s best book covers: big, bold, and delightfully weird. We’re here for the bled titles (Herculine), inverted A’s (Happy Bad), minimal mastery (Unfit), and text-only depth (Minor Black Figures). List via Lit Hub: https://lithub.com/the-11-best-book-covers-of-october-2/ #BookCovers #BookDesign

We really had a lot of fun with Melissa Doyle and Shane Crawford on The House Of Wellness show. If you missed it, here’s an acoustic version of Working Class Man. @jane13barnes.bsky.social

Any of my pals want some horror for Halloween? Check out my mate Alan’s books here: alanbaxter.com.au

More than ½ way now! #AmEditing #WIP #IndieAuthor #AuthorLife

Vibrant worlds don’t belong to fantasy alone. Writers create realities in non‑fantasy too—how do they create settings, weave culture & history, & use sensory detail? Which camp are you in: real or imaginary? https://bdabooks.com.au/Blog/2025/creating-vibrant-realities-worldbuilding-beyond-fantasy/

I was just in Australia giving the Boyer Lecture. It's an economist's love letter to his home country. It's also relevant to the current American moment, as the main point is to link institutions with prosperity. Watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAa9...

Dinner:

Second edit: ⅓ complete on my WIP. Sharper scenes, tighter prose. Onward to 40%. More about the project: bdabooks.com.au/Breaking-the... #AmEditing #WIP #IndieAuthor #AuthorLife

What's your next read? Lit Hub’s picks include Pynchon’s Shadow Ticket, Banville’s Venetian Vespers, Francesca Wade’s Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife plus standouts from Dunn, Sands, and Macy. https://lithub.com/what-should-you-read-next-here-are-the-best-reviewed-books-of-the-week-10-10-2025/ #Books

Decoding book formats: print, e-books, audiobooks—pros/cons, sizes, and accessibility so you can choose your perfect match. https://bdabooks.com.au/Blog/2025/decoding-book-formats-what-every-reader-should-know/ Which format fits your life right now? #Books #Reading #IndieAuthors #Publishing

Sneak peek 👀 Drafting the landing page for “Breaking the Broadcast”: refining the story, tightening the layout, and making discovery effortless. What should sit above the fold: the hook or the chapter sample? #NewBook #BookLaunch #IndieAuthors #Readers #BehindTheScenes

Looking for your next indie read? Electric Literature spotlights 15 small press titles exploring home, belonging, and place to enrich your reading list. Which one will you pick first? #IndieBooks #TBR