Thursday 20 February 2014

Truly Madly Deeply Launch Day... Time to Partay!

Hey all

Just joining in the fun today for the launch of the fan-tabulous 24 (or 35 if you're buying on digital) Short Story Collection Truly Madly Deeply featuring some of the rising stars and bestselling authors of the RNA (that includes me, just in case you were wondering).





We're over on the Truly Madly Deeply Facebook Page  or you can connect with us on Twitter @RNATweets with the hashtag #TrulyMadlyDeeply (obviously!) if you want to join us for lots of fun and frolics today (BTW I've already nabbed Jamie Dornan as my virtual date and he said Hell Yeah... so forget it if you wanted to ask him).


But I'm also blogging here about:

The Inspiration for The Fundamental Things

For pictorial inspiration you can check out my Pinterest page...

These are the lifts in question.... Sans Josh & Antonio
Basically though, I got the original idea one day while at my other job working for a magazine as a film journalist. The magazine is based in some super swanky offices just behind the Tate Modern on London's South Bank. In fact the offices are so swanky they often get film crews there filming. Among some of the things to be shot there are Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and an episode of Spooks (yes WITH Richard Armitage in). Anyway, I've worked there as a freelancer for years and NEVER got to meet anyone famous. But I was uber-peed off a couple of years ago when I got into work to hear that Woody Allen was in the building shooting and he had with him Josh Brolin and Antonio Banderas... And some other tart who worked in the building had got stuck in the lift with Josh and Antonio for 20 minutes that morning... I mean, seriously? How fricking close do you need to get and NOT get to meet Josh Brolin and Antonio Banderas? Anyway, I pulled my disappointment - and my over imagination - out of the bag on that one when I came up with the premise for my story.

Then I started to ask the romance author's favourite question... What If?

What If... The guy you got stuck in the lift with wasn't a movie star, but your childhood sweetheart?

What If... You hadn't seen him in 22 years but you still hated his guts for a very good reason?

What If ... That reason wasn't as valid as you thought and finding out the truth might change your life/ and his in a very fundamental way?

If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning a copy of Truly Madly Deeply with my story - and tons of other fabulous stories - in it. Then you could enter the Rafflecopter posted below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

So now it's time to PARTAY!!! 

Friday 14 February 2014

Happy V-Day with a Sneaky Sneak Peek of my Truly Madly Deeply story

Happy Valentine's Day everyone...

Hope yours is full of love whether it comes from your other half, your kids, your BFF, your Facebook friends, your Mum and/or Dad, your cat, your dog, your golfish, your favourite chick-flick or your favourite romance novel. Because in the words of a particularly cheesy (but very appropriate for the purposes of this blog) song Love Is All Around so let's think outside the box and celebrate love wherever you find it this V-Day. You don't have to be hooked up to enjoy it, IMHO!!

And in the spirit of spreading the love for a price (because let's face it V-Day is a little bit about commercial exploitation too - hello card companies, thanks for that!) Here's a sneaky sneak peek of my short story in the fabulous Truly Madly Deeply RNA collection just out from M&B...


The Fundamental Things 

by 

Heidi Rice


Elizabeth Ryan and Lorenzo Kelly haven't seen each other for over 20 years, when they get stuck in a lift together for 20 life-changing minutes... 



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Unbelievable. Of all the lifts, in all the office blocks, in the whole of London, the biggest mistake of my life has to walk into mine.
Elizabeth Ryan sent up a silent prayer for invisibility as she inched behind two suited executives. Her back bumped against the mirrored wall in the executive elevator at Stokes and Company’s brand new twenty-eighth storey tower in Canary Wharf. Unfortunately, someone up there wasn’t listening, because she failed to disappear.
Lorenzo Kelly.
The name whispered across her consciousness as heat crawled up her neck and flared across her scalp.
Twenty-two years since she’d last seen him and yet recognition had blasted her in the sternum as soon as he’d edged into the crowded lift. Which was surprising, because that fitted steel-grey designer suit was one heck of a departure from the wrecked jeans and third-hand leather jacket he’d lived in at Hillbrook Secondary.
Thank god he was absorbed in the lift monitor and hadn’t looked her way. One glance at those heavy-lidded bedroom eyes a moment ago had been more than enough to make her heart swell up and stop beating for several crucial seconds. Funny how even after two plus decades, and what looked like a major GQ make-over, those slightly slanting emerald green eyes still made him look as if he’d just gotten out of bed — or was about to lure her back into one....


Wanna read some more? Or enjoy 23 other fabulous short stories from the likes of Fiona Harper, India Grey, Adele Parkes and Katie Fforde for the bargain basement price of £7.99? Then pick up a copy online, at Mills and Boon now, or in stores on 21st Feb...

But even if you don't want to buy my book, I hope you have a brilliant day (how generous is that?). Why not tell me what you're doing today in the comments? And remember it doesn't have to be luvey dovey with your honey, just something that spreads the lurve. I'm going to be having coffee shortly with my oldest son and maybe watching a couple of episodes of HBO's Girls! Then tucking in to the rest of my RITA books... How's that for spreading the love?

Wednesday 5 February 2014

#TemptedToWrite, RWA2014, New Projects & Shirtless Cowboys!

As Mills and Boon's #TemptedtoWrite competition draws to a close on Twitter and FB (check out that hashtag to get involved in the conversation) this is a reminder to get your 10K word entry polished and entered by Monday 10th February... Just in time for Valentine's Day!


For more details have a look at Mills and Boon's Facebook Page, which is full of tips, hot tottie and tempting tasters of some of the entries, or to upload your entry go straight to the app here.

I'm one of the judges along with Charlotte Phillips and Joss Wood and I can't wait to read your stories! As a little tease I've written a special blog for all the Tempted to Write peeps at Books with Benefits on 10 Ways to Handle Being a Professional Writer (for when you get that all-important publishing contract)... Written in the spirit of my Cosmo Red Hot Read 10 Ways to Handle the Best Man (but without a gorgeous nekkid man in it, sorry!!)

In other news, I have signed up for the RWA Conference in San Antonio Texas in July, so if you're going to be there let me know. Love the conference, it's such a great gathering of career-orientated writers - and a great way to find out what's happening in the big ole world of romance publishing. Plus there's glamorous parties, book signings and, as we're in Texas, lots of shirtless cowboys... hopefully! maybe! pretty please!

And talking about writing, I am currently having a ball working on lots of proposals for possible new projects. Don't know yet which one I'm going to be writing next, but I'm really excited about all of them.

First off, I've got a possible new KISS continuity - with three other amazing authors - in the works, which, if it gets picked up, will be AWESOME.

Secondly I've submitted a new proposal for Cosmo Red Hot Reads, which is even hotter than my last one and is a tale of sex, lies, blind dates and Twitter etiquette!

And lastly, but I'm hoping not leastly, I'm developing an idea for a longer book set in London, Paris and the Smokey Mountains (at the moment)... But my lips are totally sealed on that one. So I don't jinx it! Having soooo much fun though writing outside the box.

Happy writing folks and have a great V-Day....