Guest Post From Author Elora Canne
- Hayley Walsh
- Oct 10
- 5 min read
Today I am thrilled to be hosting fellow Australian author Elora Canne. Elora lives in an idyllic holiday destination in regional New South Wales, Australia. As a retired Childcare Educator, she is now a passionate writer of midlife romance.
When not writing or reading, Elora enjoys the fabulous outdoors, whether paddle boarding, walking the trails, or beachcombing along the shore.
Elora loves interacting with her readers and sends out a monthly blog with anecdotes of relationship-longevity, often humorous, sometimes serious, always entertaining: Creating Sparks that Last & All Things Relationships.
GUEST POST
How moving to a small town sparked my imagination
Hi, I’m Elora Canne, and am delighted to be taking over the blog today! Thank you for inviting me, Hayley, but, be prepared for a trip – not quite to the wild side, but to an idyllic destination instead!
Having moved to a small-town holiday destination in regional NSW, Australia, just four years ago, after twenty years in the vibrant city of Sydney, Australia, I found the contrast to be stark! And who knew making friends in your 50s could be such an intrepid adventure?
I joined all manner of groups; walking, volunteering, paddle-boarding, book swaps, and more. Lo and behold, this formed the fascinating backdrop for people-watching where my creativity for writing fiction was ignited.
Originally, my writing centred around nonfiction; memoir, self-help, affirmations and pocket guides. But then, as I observed the village people, ideas started to pop into my head. ‘This is a story,’ I declared to a neighbour as we chatted over the proverbial fence.
I began writing with glee! Stories came to life as I witnessed the grumpy old men, gossipmongering residents and bossy boots on the streets. It was a delight. Needless to say, none of them felt inclined to befriend me – haha. That’s the beauty of being a writer, you get to write people you know, into fictional characters!
But the vibe I love most about regional towns is that nothing feels intimidating. As a new author in town, I received heartening encouragement from local libraries. Don’t get me wrong, nerves still flutter in one’s stomach, but the cosy environment is warm and welcoming.
I self-publish my books with the online assistance of an independent publisher as my mentor. Whilst a ‘virtual’ hug goes a long way to calming the nerves, I’m still expected to produce my own books independently. As nerve-wracking as that is, I love the feeling of seeing my words out in the world. It’s such a buzz to know that readers are interested. Particularly when it’s face-to-face as in the libraries mentioned above.
What were some of these titillating scenes that prompted me to write about them?
On my walk home from my hairdresser – yes, my hometown is that small – I spotted one of my neighbours on his hands and knees in his garden grumbling about the local pests. That became the opening scene of my first fiction book, Love & Laughter (and other disasters). Thereafter, I heard snippets on the grapevine, as you do, about this one and that having affairs, falling in love and going through breakups and, inevitably loved ones who pass on.
The dynamics of the area I live in are on the elderly side, except when holiday season descends on us. Then we all grumble pretending we don’t love the influx of excitement into the village. Hence my fiction stories revolving around midlife romance. Oh, that is such a fun age to write about falling in love, experimenting with later-in-life romance with a hint of rediscovering their worth in and out of the bedroom.
Our elderly residents are a spritely bunch, most of them anyway, and so I introduced an active yoga group in my stories. This came about when I was out paddle-boarding on the lake by myself because I’d wanted to practice yoga on my paddleboard. Yeah, that did not go well. When I looked up from my twisted limbs wobbling on board and water, I noticed a nosy dog-walker having a good old sticky-beak at me. Enter, belligerent Ethel Eldridge and her corgi, Marnie! And don’t worry, I don’t know who the real-life dog-walker was that day.
The yoga group in my books practice their sessions in the park; I decided to steer clear of the water for them. Well, for me too as far as yoga practice goes, but I do still love paddle-boarding out on the lake. The serenity is unmatchable.
My other love of nature is trees. I find such peace amongst these wise giants of the natural world, their wisdom is palpable and I’m a firm believer in the healing vibration in trees. I might sound crazy but until you’ve placed your palms on the bark of a tree, you’ll see what I mean. I decided it would be fun to inject a little of this ‘crazy’ into my stories and wrote about a trail I’d walked in Gloucester. I expanded on this scenario with a forest bathing scene that set the hikers all aflutter. It was so worth it!
In the not-so-natural world, well kind of, I guess, is my love of coffee. In the first book, I completely omitted any mention of tea-drinkers. But I made up for it in book two, except with the added reference to my favoured coffee beans, of course.
What are these two books I keep talking about?
I’ve been working on a Midlife Romcom series and published the first book in March this year (2025). The second one is currently on preorder with release date on 3 November 2025.
Love & Laughter (and other disasters) sets the scene for the residents of fictional Pelican Cove village who begin to feel unsolicited stirrings for each other, not in an orgy kind of way, but in a couple’s kind of way. All closed door, sweet romance.
Marriage & Mayhem (and some pandemonium) sees the residents come alive with friction, feelings and friendships. Both books touch on deep-seated sentiments of one’s own intrinsic value, yet with a dollop of humour thrown in.
If you’d like to stay up to date with my writing shenanigans, I invite you to sign up to my author blog, (it’s free): Creating Sparks that Last & All Things Relationships. It’s where I share my anecdotes on romance, some book reviews, and writing updates. Incidentally, book three in the Midlife Romcom series is in the works for a mid-2026 release.
Join me on social media. I’m mostly active on Instagram, but can also be found on Facebook, Threads and LinkedIn: @elora_canne
Thank you to Elora for joining me on the blog. If you would like to check out her work, click on the links below.
Instagram:
Blog Sign Up:
Comments