Hot-Shot Tycoon - Indecent Proposal

Ooooh eeee! Book Five has just been accepted and only after a few minor revs. I'm feeling like a proper romance writer today. What a blast! This is what makes all the pain worthwhile. First off I'd like to say a sincere thanks to Colin Farrell for being such an inspiration for this story (well, in looks anyway)... And then to my best mate Catri's friend Eilis in Kildare who read through the ms and made sure Connor, my hero, didn't sound like a reject from The Quiet Man. Good to know that Irish folk don't say bloody hell. My good mate Abby Green confirmed that fact (and came up with a few colourful alternatives, surprise, surprise). You see, you learn something new and valueable every day in this job.

The title is gonna be Hot-Shot Tycoon - Indecent Proposal which I love, in fact I think it's my favourite out of all my titles (even though it doesn't have bad boy in it!). It's due out in June next year in the UK. Also heard that my fourth book, Pleasure, Pregnancy and a Proposition has now got a US release date for March next year. Double Yippee.

Now all I need to do is start working on Book Six, which is gonna be a linked book to Hot-Shot Tycoon. Basically my hero is going to be called Mac Brody, he's a brooding Hollywood star and the estranged brother of Connor and my heroine is Daisy's best mate Juno. Can't wait to start writing their story, only problem, I cannot for the life of me figure out that opening scene. At the moment it seems to be occurring at Heathrow Airport - which is about as glamourous as a supermarket. Oh well, maybe if you bumped into Colin Farrell in dark glasses, battered levis and a scowl on his face at your local Sainsbury's that might glam it up a bit, eh.   

Whose stupid idea was this anyway...

Okay, finding a bit of time for blog duties in between a major case of angst over my latest project... and no small amount of prevarication.

So, after three weeks of re-writing the first chapter of my new WIP I'm thinking 'whose stupid idea was it to resurrect this story?'

My reasoning was simple at the time... or maybe just lazy. I had to make a mid-July deadline, I had a great hook already, a story framework all worked out and characters that I loved... Why not go with it, and I might have a hope in hell of getting it done in time because I'd already done the donkey work (so to speak).

But uh-oh, as I've found out over the last few weeks, what the heck do you do when the tone of the story is wrong, the characters are not doing what they're told and you're a pantser who finds it hellish hard to get inspired if you already know what's going to happen. So now I'm having to rethink my characters, my story arc, my motivation and my whole way of working, and everything in between.

And if it's going to take me three weeks to write each chapter it might have been easier to start from scratch. The good news..? Is there any, oh yeah I've finally moved on to chapter two. But guess, what, I'm still not sure chapter one is working. Arrrghhhhh!