PHS... Let's talk about Valentine's Day (the Movie that is)

Race on over to the Pink Heart Society today where I've pulled a fast on my fellow Pink Hearters and done a post on the wonderfully romantic (and hot guy-laden) recent box-office bonanza Valentine's Day....Before anyone else could do it!

Definitely worth a peak, and a natter. And to whet your appetite I have the very gorgeous Eric 'McSteamy' Dane to illustrate this post. Yum! Who says I never give you nothin'?

Am currently putting the finishing touches on Rye and Maddy's story, but just did a word count and discovered it's almost 60K long... Oops, some serious carnage is going to occur over the weekend.

The Ladies of the PHS hit the Borders Blog

Coming out of the cave to give you a heads up on a very interesting discussion over at the Borders blog featuring the ladies from The Pink Heart Society. That would be Donna Alward, Michelle Styles and Jenna Bayley-Burke.  Definitely worth a look and a natter.

One of my favourite authors Susan Mallery just left a comment so I'm feeling all starry eyed.

On the WIP front I've just hit 40K and feeling very proud of myself. The words are flowing beautifully, my characters are talking to me, all is right with the world. Except that the last time this happened, my characters had actually sold me a dummy and it all went totally pear-shaped. Still as Queen Nora says 'easier to edit crap than a blank page' or something like that!

My main worry at the moment is that my H & h are still cozying up in her little cottage on a Cornish clifftop and have yet to make it to London high society. Am thinking this may not be glamourous enough for Presents. But what can I do, they won't budge... And I think you can all guess why!

Up, Up and Away

...In my beautiful balloon. Which is what I'd like to do right now after cycling to work today through a rainstorm only to discover all the computers were down. Could this be Friday 13th I ask myself?

Well, to brighten things up I'm blogging over on the Pink Heart Society today on the wonder that is Disney/Pixar's new movie Up. I absolutely fell in love with this film, you can find out why over there. All I'm saying is that animated movies aren't just for kids anymore, especially not Pixar's ones.

I'm also due to be blogging on The Writing Playground on Monday 16th, and I'm giving away a copy of my latest book Public Affair, Secretly Expecting to one lucky commentator so you won't want to miss it. What's the blog about? My sad obsession with jigsaw puzzles!! No really. To find out how I've managed to connect that with writing category romance by way of a particularly ingenius (and somewhat strenuous) analogy you'll have to go play over there.

And last but by no means least, I've been answering questions as diverse as 'When does winter start for you?' to 'What do you wish you'd known about publishing before you got published' over at the M&B community. Here's the link for that one if you want to read my carefully considered answers. 'Carefuly considered' as in extreme long and waffly answers!

Okay, nuff publicity for now, back to crafting the final scene in my latest book... Now, where did I leave that sexual tension again?

And the Winner Is...

Hey all, well actually there's two winners, cos after writing all the names on bits of paper and sticking them in a hat, my two sons had a bit of a tussle about who should pick out the winner... Which ended with them both picking one!

So Amanda Gardner and Rachael Blair come on down!!

Just email me your snail mail addys if you haven't already and I'll post off a copy asap.

Many thanks to everyone who entered...

It was a lovely distraction from the lengthy call I got from my editor yesterday afternoon about Leo and Issy's story... She really liked a lot of my latest ms, but there were a few slight problems. Firstly, I seem to have mislaid the sexual tension somewhere, cos it ain't in the ms. And my heroine's a bit of a tart!

So it's back to the drawing board on this one for the next week or two. See, I always knew there was no gain without pain. This one was too darn easy. Right oh, off to go sweat some blood and beat this sucker into submission...

Chapter Two has landed... At last

So after a bit of brainstorming with my editor yesterday I've finally managed to keel-haul myself into Chapter Two... Of course my inner critic is still bitching about chapter one but I've decided to lock her and her foghorn in a cupboard for the time being. She was definitely getting a bit too big for her thigh-high leather boots.

The relief is enormous, and makes me realise that that's the real unsung privilege (and luxury) of being published. There I was whining about my woes and I have this person at my fingertips who knows what I should be doing. Or at the very least can steer me in the right direction.so I'm going to stop whining now and get on with it.

 That's not to say that in any author-editor relationship there won't sometimes be disagreements. There will be. But having that kind of honest, unbiased, informed feedback is worth its weight in gold - especially when your inner critic has lost the plot. Sorry, I'm so deliriously relieved, I'm overdosing on writing analogies.  

So Heidi's got her mojo back, but what has that got to do with Richard Armitage smouldering in North and South you're probably saying?? Simple, it's my reward for getting to Chapter Two and a little thank you to those nice folks who took time out from wrestling with their own current WIPs to leave a comment. And to add to the party here's a  YouTube fan clip I found celebrating the serial which is currently being repeated on BBC4 on Sundays. After I've slogged through the proofs for Public Affair, Secretly Expecting this weekend I am so going to treat myself to a touch of Mr Armitage in his cravat. Yum.

The Mile High Club goes Greek... And other inspirations.

Found out today about Harlequin's new Greek website so of course I could not resist browsing it to discover if any of my books are available. And lo and behold I found The Mile High Club coming out as a Desire in Greek! At least I'm assuming it's that book, my Greek not being all that fluent.

Just check out that fabulously sexy and romantic cover art — Mel and Jack exactly as they appear in the book snogging on the balcony of his bijoux Parisian residence with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Honestly I think it's the best book cover I've ever had. I absolutely adore it. 

I also stuck the title and blurb into a Greek Translator and discovered it's been retitled A Kiss for Christmas - which may not be quite as sexy as the original title, but is very cute nonetheless and as the story's set over Christmas and New Year also surprisingly appropriate.

It's moments like this that make the whole process worth all the effort. In fact, I was so excited by the discovery, I've just written the first four pages of my next story, all complete tripe of course, but the enthusiasm's back which is all that matters at this stage. 

And just in case you were wondering, my hero's a Brit this time around (a little bit bad boy, a lot sexy billionaire) just to be on the safe side for a change. And my hero inspiration (in the looks department mostly) is coming from a male model called David Gandy who I read an interview with in last week's Observer Woman magazine. Models don't usually do it for me - too much style over substance I guess - but Gandy does take a very good picture (if you've seen those Dolce and Gabana ads that's him) and more importantly he comes across as a nice guy in the article (journalist Polly Vernon certainly seemed to take a shine to him anyway), which is pretty crucial when you're looking for hero inspiration I always think.

And if you fancy buying The Mile High Club in Greek, click here.

Hallelujah!

Cracking open the champers here in North London as I have finally emailed off my latest ms to my lovely editor.

Of course, I'm not out of the woods yet as revisions will no doubt follow, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she's going to like it and there won't be anything too major (famous last words??). 

After much agonising and rewriting and tweaking and the rest I think I finally nailed my characters and understood their journey. And that's the main thing.

Now onto RITA celebrations and the news that fellow Presents author Anne McAllister has got a nom in the Best Contemporary Series Romance category. No noms for me this year (boo-hoo), but I'm pleased as punch for Anne and if she has anything like the fun I had last year in San Francisco (if she goes to Washington) she's going to have a ball!

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.

Double Woo-hooo!

Woke up this morning and there was an email from my Mod Hot mate Natalie Anderson to say Pleasure, Pregnancy and a Proposition had just topped the Waldies list! Thanks Nat. 

What a hoot. And some much needed incentive to get me finally getting this darn book six to work. 

Think I'm finally getting there but boy, oh, boy has this thing been a total slog. I guess some books are just harder than others (and some are complete buggers!)

Also spotted the cover for my June release on Amazon which is totally cool. And yes, there is a certain scene in a luxury hotel bathroom, which would explain why my hero and heroine are having a fairly hot time in their bathtub on that cover.

Will be posting an excerpt from the opening chapter soon on my website so stay posted.

Library Talks and Laguna Beach

First off, have to say a great big gushing thank you to the folks at Goodmayes Library in Essex who made me very welcome for my first ever library talk last week.

I think things went exceptionally well. I got asked lots of nice, not-too-difficult questions, rambled on fairly coherently and only made one catastrophic error. When asked where I get my heroes' names from I said: 'Well, it's all about picking a name you think might be a guy you could fancy. For example, I don't think I'd ever find a guy called Nigel sexy.' Needless to say the only guy there blanched. And I had to apologise profusely because his middle name was Nigel. I mean, what were the chances right??? So forgive me again Nigel, who actually turned out to be a real sweetheart. (How wrong can a girl be.)

Have been ploughing on with my current WIP since my brush with fame last Wednesday. Took a little break today to find a house for my hero who's a mega-gorgeous movie star. I did have

 him living in Malibu, but suddenly wondered if that was a bit passe. So after a quick google and lots of salivating, I found his perfect pad. 

Laguna Beach in California.... Oh yeah, baby.

A Fresh Start....And About Time To

Ha, well, after a marathon phone conversation with my editor yesterday (god, bless her), I've finally managed to whittle some semblance of a story out of all the waffle on my new WIP. Only problem is it does mean pretty much junking the whole 20K words I've done so far and starting all over again from scratch.

That Feb 10th deadline isn't just looming anymore, it's threatening to throttle me. Still I've begun writing a detailed chapter-by-chapter breakdown (duh! why didn't I think of that sooner) and I'm really excited about my story and my hero and heroine. You see I knew I had a conflict in there somewhere, it just took me, my ed and a very large shovel to find it... 

Now all I've got to do is write the darn thing (in three weeks... EEEK). And what's Colin Farrell got to do with all this?? Not a lot actually, except I need serious amounts of inspiration at the moment and I think he's just the man for the job.

Much more exciting is the news that Modern Heat have just signed a brand new author. The fabulous Lucy Roberts who wrote such a wonderful first chapter for the Feel the Heat Comp at the end of last year that she won it. Not only that but they bought the book with virtually no revisions (yup, you heard that right). 

Anyway, huge congrats to Lucy and having read the first chapter already on iheartpresents (check it out too, it's fab), I can't wait to read the finished book now. You can read all about her on-going road to publication on her blog.

Welcome to the Mod Hot Posse Lucy.

Blog Crazy....

Well, turns out that September is the month of the blog for me. So I thought I ought to try and update my own sadly neglected blog with info on some of the other places I'm blogging this month. 

First off, I did an extremely informative and well modulated piece about my writing process (and how it frequently drives me right up the wall) for Writing Playground on September 3rd. Then I'm scooting on over to I Heart Presents later in the month to add my two cents to the Feel the Heat contest with a blog on my wonderful year so far (which is of course just an excuse to mention my RITA nom and my posh frock ad infinitum - you have been warned). Got a very interesting email from Kate Walker about the Presents Blogathon being hosted by WeWriteRomance in October so I've thrown my hat in the ring to blog there too. Let's hope they want me...

Can you tell I am waiting not so patiently for a call from my ed about my latest WIP. Poor woman's only had it a week, but I'm still panicking. Ahh, the writer's life, why didn't anyone tell me what a flipping hard slog it was before I got into this malarkey in the first place? 

PS: Pop Over to the Pink Heart Society....

Just a quick word to say I'm blogging on the Pink Heart Society today about the wonderful chick-flick PS, I Love You. Which, frankly is all the excuse I need to post a piccie of Gerard Butler in all his glory. Okay he's a corpse through most of the movie, but do I let that stop me... No way. After all, nothing like a good flashback.

Can you tell I've had a great few days on my latest ms. The words are just flying off my keyboard. Wrote a whole chapter yesterday, where my hero blackmails my heroine into spending two weeks on a luxury trip to New York posing as his fiancée. Now as he's a wild, uber-sexy Irish hunk, I'm thinking she's going to get over her shock and indignation fairly fast. What d'you think? 

PS: Only four more days to go till I hit Frisco, and my Wonderbras arrived today from Figleaves.com (thanks for that tip Trish). So now I'm all set. Plane ticket? check. Hotel booked? check. Posh Frock packed? check. And cleavage sorted? check.

PHS photos found in Cyber-space.

So here are some of the photos that were supposed to be on my blog on the Pink Heart Society today but seem to have gotten lost in cyber-limbo. Which was probably something I did as I'm a bit useless at all things technical.

Just a quick runthough. First there's a picture from our motel in Shoshone, just at the entrance to Death Valley. Still scorching in October and with a fabulous hot springs pool to take a dip in and cool off.






Then that's me and Catri on the Monterey waterfront. You can't quite see them but there were a ton of seals on the rock behind us making a right old racket.






That sunset's the one I mentioned over Big Sur.











And last but by no means least, me and Catri quaffing our micro beer on the deck of our Yurt at Treebones Resort. Not often you get to say Yurt, Treebones and Micro all in one sentence, but I managed it.






I also have some news on my current WIP, am reworking the first three chapters after a long chat with my new ed. Had a fabulous breakthrough day on Tuesday (thank you, God) and am now confident I can pull this story off with all the passion, playfulness and emotional fireworks I want. Whether I can do that in four weeks though remains to be seen.

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!