Archive for June, 2007

June 13, 2007 | Comments

It’s almost here: tomorrow, Wish You Were Here is published and it’s doing really well on Amazon, even though it’s a hardcover.

One or two people have already received a copy and sent me some feedback.

This week has been bizarre with some very exciting news and some totally pants stuff but hey, life goes on …preferably with chocolate!

June 12, 2007 | 1 Comment

Look away now, while I get slightly serious for a little while.

Laura Vivanco, an academic with an interest is romantic fiction, has written a critique on the themes in Decent Exposure.

Check out her thoughts here on her blog, Teach Me Tonight.

In the past, I’ve been self-conscious about discussing my writing in anything other than an ironic way but Laura’s analysis of themes in the book is spookily accurate. One or two of the examples she mentions are serendipity but others are spot on.
Laura says that I have been using a technique that Jenny Crusie terms ‘foreshadowing’, which I think is weaving subtle metaphor into the story related to the main themes. My daughter says I use semantic fields. I also use Persil Non-Bio but to be serious for a moment more…

It’s been 22 years since I studied English Literature and even then, literary criticism was never my forte. I tend to respond emotionally to books. However, reading Laura’s analysis has made me examine what I write in a new light.

PS I’ve decided to post an excerpt soon, from North & South 2005, the fanfic’ that triggered off my writing journey.

PPS: Still time to win copies of Wish You Were Here and More Than Love Letters.

June 11, 2007 | Comments

… to all the readers who are buying the hardcover edition of Wish You Were Here. I know hardbacks are a real indulgence… the only thing I can say (beyond I hope you love the story!) is that it is a gorgeous cover and very ‘touchable.’
Wish You Were Here came about from two main ideas; firstly I was desperate to write a romance where the two main characters already knew each other well at the start of the story. Jack and Beth are very young and very much in love. All seems to be set for a fairy-tale ending until disaster strikes. When they meet years later, there is so much baggage on both sides, it seems impossible that they can ever get together.

Secondly, I wanted to set a novel in Corsica which is one of the most sensuous places I’ve ever visited. The colours of sea and sand, the scents of the herbs, the heat, the Mistral wind, the mountains, the ancient stone villages and towns… with this kind of sensuality, I had to set the book there. I wrote quite a chunk of it on the beach at Santa Giulia. I’ve been to the Caribbean this year but (whisper) I still rate the beaches in southern Corsica as even more beautiful.

Then there is Bonifacio, the town that literally teeters on the edge of a cliff, just like Jack and Beth’s feelings for each other…

There is still time to enter the competition to win a signed hard cover copy of WYWH and a signed copy of Rosy’s funny, romantic and touching novel, More Than Love Letters. You still have until publication day on June 14 so please drop me a line with the answer to the question and have a go!
P x

June 8, 2007 | 3 Comments

Sometimes life is SO hard. There are two guys in my current wip. Bear in mind that men of this magnitude can be bumped into every day - working in London sandwich shops or walking their dogs along a Cornish beach.

Choice # 1 : ‘Nick’

(Keep the gorgeous John Stamos in mind for him)

Choice # 2 - ‘Josh’

(Gulp - ever so slightly Wentworth Miller)

Oh, life is so tough. I hate every minute of this job!

June 6, 2007 | 1 Comment

…means I’m actually writing and working which is good. I’m 20,000 words into Just Say Yes (with a bit of cheating). I also had some very curious questions to answer recently and I now realise that the press DO read writers’ blogs.