Once again the turn out was amazing (I think there was 30 people there!!) and it was really great to see so many aspiring authors who not only knew about New Voices but had either entered already or were about to. While I like to spread the work about M&B, it's always nice to be able to bypass all the obvious stuff (such as 'yes, you can have more than just kissing in M&B books now' and 'no, Barbara Cartland isn't writing for them anymore, in fact she never did!') and get down to the hard graft of talking about internal vs external conflict, characterisation and motivation, how to make your alpha hero an archetype not a stereotype, why not to let an Elvis impersonator into your manuscript, etc, etc, etc.. You know, all the important stuff.
Now I had planned to go into a more in-depth discussion of what we talked about. But then the fabulous Rebecca Thornton (aka wonderful book blogger and New Voices entrant) did a really great blog, which not only did a better job than I could ever do of explaining the workshop but makes me sound really informative (cool!). So I'm going to give you a link here to her blog to check it out.
Honestly, it's just like being there. So ta Rebecca. You might also want to check out her review of Cupcakes and Killer Heels (I'm just saying!!).
Now on to the other fab news. I got a lovely big box of shiny new copies of my latest Riva/Harlequin Presents Extra release, On the First Night of Christmas, yesterday morning in the post. As always I'm planning to do a competition to give some of them away... But I'm afraid you are gonna all have to wait a little bit longer, cos I want to launch my brand new website with the competition and a sneak peek of the book is necessary to answer the question. Sheesh, am I a tease or what?
Anyway, until that time (which will hopefully be in the next week or so, fingers crossed). Here's the tantalising back cover blurb.
Cassie’s tips for the Perfect Christmas Fling!
1. ’Tis the season to be daring: Find the perfect Mr Right Now (extra points for a bad-boy-turned-billionaire) and be brave about getting him – even if that means jumping straight into sexy Jace Ryan’s car!
2. Enjoy the ride: Once you’ve chosen your flingee, get swept away by the moment! For once, Cassie’s determined to stop worrying about the future. But she must remember one thing…
3. This fling is just for Christmas: Jace Ryan’s a seasonal special. Do not start falling for him, Cassie. No matter how perfect the package or how much you’ve enjoyed unwrapping it…