PHS photos found in Cyber-space.

So here are some of the photos that were supposed to be on my blog on the Pink Heart Society today but seem to have gotten lost in cyber-limbo. Which was probably something I did as I'm a bit useless at all things technical.

Just a quick runthough. First there's a picture from our motel in Shoshone, just at the entrance to Death Valley. Still scorching in October and with a fabulous hot springs pool to take a dip in and cool off.






Then that's me and Catri on the Monterey waterfront. You can't quite see them but there were a ton of seals on the rock behind us making a right old racket.






That sunset's the one I mentioned over Big Sur.











And last but by no means least, me and Catri quaffing our micro beer on the deck of our Yurt at Treebones Resort. Not often you get to say Yurt, Treebones and Micro all in one sentence, but I managed it.






I also have some news on my current WIP, am reworking the first three chapters after a long chat with my new ed. Had a fabulous breakthrough day on Tuesday (thank you, God) and am now confident I can pull this story off with all the passion, playfulness and emotional fireworks I want. Whether I can do that in four weeks though remains to be seen.

Put out of my misery... The new new WIP

Okay, so after three weeks of misery trying to make a square peg fit a round hole (or rather a Silhouette Special Edition fit into a Modern Heat!) I finally jumped ship on my new WIP. With a little shove from my new editor who helpfully pointed out that a story set in a derelict summer camp for deprived kids didn't really have the uber stylish and sexy jet-set ambience necessary for Presents/Modern Heat readers. Good call Suzy! (Why the heck didn't I spot that myself!)

Anyhow I'm drowning my sorrows by researching/developing a whole new idea. This one's going to be set very close to home in the colourful, yet ultra-chic setting of  Portobello Road in West London, a place where I spent a good deal of my mispent youth - and the setting for the wonderful Notting Hill Carnival every year (Europe's biggest street party, in case you were wondering) which I'm sure I'll be able to shoe-horn into the story somehow, assuming of course the story gets the green light from Suzy. 

Anyhow, I bet you're wondering what the heck Irish bad boy Colin Farrell has to do with all this. Okay, okay, I'm going to justify that little bit of research (if it kills me). Basically my new hero's an Irish bad boy turned millionaire property developer called Connor Brody who's biggest fear is being tied down and domesticated (as he was forced to be as a kid looking out for all his younger brothers and sisters). He's young, free, rich beyond his wildest dreams and mostly single now and it suits him right down to the ground thank you very much. (See, ye of little faith, that gorgeous piccie of Colin is entirely relevant to this post).

And as for my heroine. Well she's an ever-so-slightly flakey freespirit called Daisy Rainbow who lives next door to our Connor in a delapidated bedsit co-op (I know, a bit of a stretch for London's ritzy Ladbroke Grove, but hey, this is fiction, I can do what I darn well please) and runs a stall at Portobello Road market where she sells the screen-print silk scarves and organic food she's made herself. Daisy's been searching her whole life for a place to belong and a family to nurture after being dragged round all of creation by her loopy born-again hippie mother 

Lilly. She yearns for stability, roots and family, something Connor's spent his whole life running away from.

Our Daisy's warm and giving and passionate about the people she cares about. She'll do anything to defend them or help them if they need her. All of which leads to her climbing over Connor's back garden wall in the middle of the night decked out like a cat burgler with a plan to deflate the tyre on his brand new Suburban Jeep.

But I've got a definite feeling things ain't going to go according to plan....

Okay, will have to sign off now as I'm working in an office today doing some subbing work and my lunch hour is up (wonderful view of the Tate Modern, The Globe and the River Thames to inspire me at the mo!). Wish me luck with my new idea, now all I have to do is write three chapters up before Monday to show to my ed. Eeek - I'm counting on Colin being a lot more inspiring than Pierce turned out to be.