Recharging the Batteries.... Still

So I'm taking a week off (or is that two weeks off now??) to recharge the batteries and refill the old creative well and all that... In other words I'm taking lots of coffee breaks, reading some great books (Susan Mallery is my latest discovery. I love that woman's writing, as she has a similar hankering for bad boys it's a bit of a no-brainer really) and doing a few spin classes to lose the extreme writer's butt I seem to have acquired. Oh yes, and I'm also trying to think up something resembling a plot for my next story. 

I already have the hook (something to do with a fake singing telegram girl in an exclusive gentleman's club - who everyone, the hero included, mistakes for a stripper!!) and I've got a good grip on the characters. Can't decide whether to make my hero an architect, though. Is that too arty? Maybe not, if I channel Paul Newman in The Towering Inferno (but probably without the burning skyscaper)... 

Which means all I really need now is a nice big fat juicy conflict and that elusive plot thingy. I have to admit for my conflict I've taken some advice from Julie Cohen and delved into the mysterious world of Enneagrams. As her books always have such fabulously well-rounded characters and great conflicts I'm thinking it can't hurt. I'm currently leaning towards my heroine being a Reformer (moral, crusader, a fixer) and my hero being a Challenger (strong, dominant, individualist). Or something like that. It's all rather fascinating really.

And for the oomph to get me going, a great big box of my June release Hot-Shot Tycoon, Indecent Proposal landed on my doorstep today. I love the cover, definitely think it may be my best yet.. and the back blurb goes like this:

"Caught, claimed... Contracted for marriage?

Tycoon Connor Brody has just apprehended an intruder! One clad in lacy satin underwear... and not a trespasser at all, but his feisty neighbour Daisy Dean. The red-hot encounter leaves him aching for more - could the luscious Ms Dean be the answer to his prayers in more ways than one?

Connor needs to safeguard a business deal, and he fully intends to finish what they've started. Unable to resist his lethal charm, Daisy finds herself agreeing to two hedonistic weeks in New York - as Connor fake fiancée." 

Has that caught your interest? Good. You can read a sneak peek on my website. And I'm going to be offering a free copy or two on my next PHS blog, so keep an eye on this blog to know when that will be (or you could just go and buy a copy if you're feeling particularly daring).

BTW, Aideen, if you're reading this, your copy is in the post as promised. Let me know what you think of my first Irish hero??