Thank You Roanne and the other M&B reviewers!

With the fun and inspirational good times of the RNA conference in Greenwich passing into memory, I was sitting at my desk yesterday staring at my current WIP for the first time in over a week and feeling a little despondent about it... As is often the case when I catch up with my characters again after an enforced absense, I discovered that much of what I've written so far (all 30K words of it!!) is good but not nearly good enough. The story is at a crucial crossroads and I know I need to push on with it, forget about the bumps that I've left behind and get to the end before I go back to smooth the path... Or I'll end up going over the same ground forever and Ruby and Cal will be mighty peeved with me because it'll take them forever to get to their happy ever after... But the temptation to stop and fiddle was overwhelming, so to distract me from it and give myself a little incentive for continuing on I decided on a short jolt of internet surfing.

Now, this is of course an excellent time suck, so - taking a leaf out of Kate Hardy's Planner's Guide to Creativity, I decided to time myself. I had exactly ten minutes to browse while I took a coffee break and, after doing a quick round of my favourite blogs, ended up on the M&B site where to my great joy I discovered some very nice reviews of my books! What a pleasant surprise, and what a nice treat... But then on closer inspection I discovered that one particular reviewer has done some really sterling work - posting up a host of wonderfully expressive reviews of my books which not only lifted my spirits considerably and gave me the incentive I was looking for but, completely by chance, brought a really big smile to my face.

So first off I just wanted to say a great big thank you to Roanne Gomez - and all the other reviewers who have taken the time to post such lovely reviews of my books... I'm really chuffed that you enjoyed them and that I've now got a guaranteed pick me up the next time I get a bad review.

 But also a special thanks to Roanne for this particular review of Hot-Shot Tycoon, Indecent Proposal:

"I have just finished reading this piece of romance engineering, because that indeed is what it is. It was sensual, seductive and wow. Rice really knows how to make a romance novel realistic and without cliche. I did not want this book to end. Definitely a must read."

Unbeknownst to Roanne, the term 'romance engineering' struck a particularly lovely chord with me because my dad just happened to be a world renowned structural engineer - engineering such buildings as Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Sydney Opera House and the Lloyds Building in London. A softly spoken Irish man with a huge love of literature and the arts, sadly he died in the prime of his life over 17 years ago and I and the rest of my family still miss him. But I know he would have been tickled to bits by that reference too - and the fact that I have become a romantic novelist.

So thanks Roanne, for helping to kick-start my creativity and for really making my day! I'd love to send you an advance copy of my next book which I should get copies of in October or thereabouts, so feel free to email me your contact details on heidi@heidi-rice.com

The lady from RT, she say 'Yes!'

Whoo-hooo, just found out I got a whopping 4 stars for Hot-Shot Tycoon in the September edition of Romantic Times Book Reviews. So nice to break out of my three-star doldrums at last.

The reviewer Sandra Garcia-Myers (she of the fabulous taste!) called Daisy and Connor's story 'emotional and heartfelt' and pointed to the 'amusing opening'. Cool to know I made her smile with Daisy's satin knickers...

Also while surfing the usual blogs (as you do when you ought to be writing) I discovered this vote of confidence from the fab  Waiting For the Call blog which said Hot-Shot 'could just be my new measure for the ideal Modern Heat Story.' 

I'll be posting more snippets from the RT review on my website soon, but until then I'm going to go bask in the golden glow of my own fabulousness.... Smug? Full of myself? Just a tad.

Now if I could only wrestle Leo and Issy's story into shape I'd be over the moon.

First chapter woes...The RNA Party... And other excuses to procrastinate

I'm taking a break from my current ms, which is going nowhere fast, and stopping to contemplate the writing of my fifth book, which is due out next month. Why was that one so easy to write and the last two so incredibly hard? I have no idea...

So far I've rewritten the first chapter of my latest four times!! This is not a good sign. I think it comes from nerves, after spending two months writing ten chapters of complete dross on my last ms and then having to start from the beginning again, I am determined not to ignore my inner critic this time and admit when I have a problem. Only problem is... Is one month spent writing the first chapter really an improvement? I don't think so. 

Frankly I need a kick up the butt writing wise. During my many re-draughts I have learned heaps of interesting things about my characters, their conflict and their past... This is my first proper reunion romance with the hero and heroine having grown up together in the same stately home, him as the son of the Duke and her as the daughter of the housekeeper. So what I've learned is all valuable stuff... But I seem to have dropped myself into a black hole with my opening scene which involves a corset, thigh-high leather boots, an exclusive gentlemen's club and a rowdy bunch of Hooray Henries who mistake my heroine for a stripper!

So let's get out of the writing trenches and talk about the RNA party last Wednesday which was an absolute blast. Met a wonderful aspiring author who had read all five of my books (and that's a fairly exclusive bunch of people, in fact I think my mum and me may be the only other members) and had dinner with Biddy Coady, Julie Cohen and Fiona Harper. Julie gave us some hilarious insights into her new book The Girl from Mars (which I will be first in line to buy come June), and the trials and tribulations of writing Klingon dialogue!! Sorry, no piccies as usual. I forgot my camera and while Fiona flashed hers about a bit I never saw her take any photos. We were all having too much fun nattering. 

So I'm illustrating this post with Julie's book cover which is delicious. Also, Julie's blog had some interesting things to say about the 'crows of doubt' recently and how she's had trouble starting her latest book, which made me realise that at least I'm not alone. Which is always good to know.

In other interesting news, I was reading Lorraine Wilson's blog (she's an author who I'm sure will be published soon if her blog's anything to go by) and she put me on to this article about M&B and how they're surviving the downturn. Which frankly is manna from Heaven to those of us currently trying to make a living at this gig.

Okay, I've now exhausted all possible blog topics so I guess I'm going to have to trudge back to the battle of the opening chapter... Arghhhh! 

Winners announced!

Have already stuck this up at the PHS, but just in case. 

Lacey and Kar come on down! If you email me through the contact form on my website with your snail mail addys I can send you a brand spanking new copy of Hot-Shot Tycoon.

And you'll have to pop back here some time and tell me if you liked it!

Win a copy of Hot-Shot Tycoon, Indecent Proposal for May Day

Just popping in to say if you fancy a copy of my latest Modern Heat Hot-Shot Tycoon, Indecent Proposal (which isn't even out until next month in the UK and September in the US) then nip on over to The Pink Heart Society for my monthly Must-Watch Friday blog tomorrow.

I'm waxing lyrical on the gothic teen romance Twilight (and somehow managing to compare it with Jane Eyre!!) and also giving away a copy of my book to one lucky commentator.

In other news I'm offering 'An Author Critique of a Full MS Aimed at Harlequin Presents' (as well as some other odds and sods) on Brenda Novak's Online Auction So if you're an aspiring author and want the benefit of my vast knowledge brought to bear on your very own ms (and haven't been reading my blog, so you are completely unaware of how many mistakes I'm still making with my own manuscripts), shoot on over here and stick in a bid. It's for a good cause, namely Diabetes Research.

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??

Sneak Peek of Hot-Shot Tycoon...

Am finally in the home stretch of the Book from Hell. After much angst and rewriting of sagging middle I decided not to take a break and went for a coffee with one of the other school mum's last week after dropping my youngest cherub at the school gates.

Good decision! Barbie gave me some invalueable advice (and she's not an author). When I told her my long tale of woe, how I'd got stuck in the black hole vortex from hell and could not stop writing and rewriting the same chapter over and over she said.... Um, well why don't you just finish it, then you can figure out what's wrong with that chapter when you know where you're going to end up.... Well, DUH!

Of course, she was absolutely right and so I went home and wrote two chapters in a day. Lesson learned folks, when in doubt, stop for that coffee!

In other news, I finally have a sneak peek of Hot-Shot Tycoon up on my website.

And I'm scheduled to be blogging at I Heart Presents tomorrow about playing Blind Date with your characters. So come along and have a natter.

It's a Wonderful Life

Another quickie to say I'm blogging over on the PHS this Friday about my favourite Christmas movie the Wonderful, Fabulous, Fantastic It's a Wonderful Life. What I like to think of as A Christmas Carol for people who already have a warm heart...

So if you want to know why I love that movie so much pop on over there.  

And in a quick update, have just done the proof edits on my 

fifth book Hot-Shot Tycoon: Indecent Proposal, always the best bit to my mind, when you can just sit back and bask in the fruits of your labour (and correct the odd typo into the bargain). And it's a goodie, even if I say so myself - and even after all the agony over the summer.

Now I've got to concentrate on my next book, which is going to be Connor's brother Cormac's story. Our Cormac's another drop-dead delicious Irish man (wavy black hair, dreamy blue eyes, tight squeezable butt, husky Emerald Isle accent...  you get the picture) who just happens to be a famous Hollywood movie star. Have to admit here to being ever so slightly inspired by Richard Armitage in the new series of Spooks (ooh, cue a tottie picture). And can I also just point out that they shot some scenes from that series in the office where I work on one of the days I wasn't there (Richard, what were you thinking??)

And Mac's heroine?? Shy, tomboyish, but not all that retiring, Juno Delamare, Daisy's best friend (Daisy's my last heroine, for those of you who haven't being paying attention) who manages her shop in Portobello and knows from experience that gorgeous, successful guys are always bad news - and is pretty sure that ultra-gorgeous, super-successful movie stars are even worse news... Boy, is she in for a pleasureable -but not always pleasant - surprise (after all pleasant can be dull right, and Mac certainly isn't going to be dull)! 

I can already see an incident packed road trip to the south of France and a sojourn in a luxury beach house in Malibu in their future. And I'm going to make absolutely sure that neither of them knows what hit them.

Right, time to go off and start riddling them both with cupid's arrows....

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.