Archive for January, 2008

January 31, 2008 | Comments

You know how little things can give you a boost? Just as I was lying awake last night thinking I’ve written some mad (and rather naughty, slightly ‘edgy’ things) in the current book, somebody posted a lovely comment on my Pure Passion page.

I wish I could go to the RNA lunch and the Pure Passion awards next month but I can’t afford time/cash for both and I really want to thank the NW Library service for the support and exposure they’ve given to me. I want to see Manchester too and I’m staying overnight as a treat.

Tomorrow is February 1st so I’m going to run a Valentine’s competition to win some books - mine and others!

January 30, 2008 | 8 Comments

I’ve been off blogging for a while. I’ve tried posting a couple of items but scrubbed them because I didn’t like them. My mood has been slightly hormonal and also I’ve been writing madly and am nearly halfway through ISHBM. Everyone else is very busy too, I can tell from ROMNA
and blogs. But I sniff Spring in the air here in the UK so…

I need to do a lot of research on the current book, It Should Have Been Me. The story involves a road trip in a vintage 1970’s VW Campervan so at Easter, we have hired this vehicle and are off to North Devon in it. Watch this space to see if we freeze to death!

(Can you imagine the tensions between two attractive but very self-opinionated people in this confined space? Come to think of it, can you imagine me and Mr Bennet in here?)

There’s another writing related visit I’m planning to do in North Devon that I hope to tell you about soon. However, I did discover that the recent BBC TV adaptation of Sense & Sensibility was also filmed there so I hope to go and visit the location which is Hartland Abbey and ‘Barton Cottage’.

I love doing research and I can’t even start a novel unless I have a very strong attachment to the setting. ISHBM is set in Devon and Oxford. When I wrote Just Say Yes, which is published in August 2008, my lovely ed (who knows I adore settings) told me to let rip with my sense of place. That book was set in Cornwall - an intensely sensual landscape. It was no hardship to imagine myself strolling on windswept beaches, walking on hot sand or poking round fishing villages.

I kick myself regularly for not writing fiction before. Until I went to ‘big’ school, I wrote all the time and when I was nine, I won a prize for one of my (non-fiction) stories in a national newspaper competition. I also used to write mini-brochures about places I’d been on holiday. Then I just stopped and decided to study English Literature instead. I was 41 when I started again.

January 22, 2008 | 4 Comments

1. I joined a Pilates class this morning on the advice of my physio. It was very relaxing (apart from a few painful bits) but I found out I have the flexibility of a plank of wood. I also giggled during the whale music. I’ve booked for next week.

2. I saw both my books in WH Smith! Hurrah and yay! I finally feel I’ve arrived. I’ve never seen my books in any WHS before because it seemed that whenever I’ve had a book out, LBD haven’t had a WHS promotion. I was beginning to think it was Just Me… WHS is the best known book retailer in the UK. Even the Lichfield branch had two copies and I signed them. VBG at last.

3. I want to introduce you to a new author. Her name’s Elizabeth Hanbury and she’s yet another writer who’s been published since joining the Creative Writing and Fanfic section of the secret North & South website. Her Regency romance book, The Paradise Will, is being published by Robert Hale very soon. Here she is.

AND… a Stop Press 4th reason to be cheerful.

When you’re writing a book about a posh, sexy, adventurous doctor who specialises in tropical medicine, you don’t expect him to actually exist - or for there to be two of him. I hope you’re all going to watch hunky Doctors Xand and Chris, the Medicine Men Go Wild, tonight. I will be!

January 18, 2008 | 6 Comments

It’s been a much happier end to a week that started with a ‘near miss’ accident involving my parents and some terribly sad news connected to my old college. Then yesterday brought a series of small but happy snippets to lighten the gloom.

On a personal level, I have, apparently, been worrying for absolutely nothing about the current wip. I had a big thumbs up from my agent on the first quarter so feel so much happier. I also heard about a special research trip I’ve been trying to set up. It all seems to be on for Easter and I’m rather excited.

The RNA has also annouched its short list for the Romance prize, which is for shorter, category length romance novels - go take a look. I’m delighted to say that I know four of the nominees either personally or as Internet friends and I’ve even read one of the books! It’s The Secret Life of Lady Gabriella and I chose it a - because I love Liz Fielding’s books, they’re so full of wit and humour and b - I thought the contemporary title was such a refreshing change, not to mention the gorgeous cover picture. Congratulations to everyone on the list.

Next week, I’m going to tell you some more about the book I’m writing and can’t wait to show you one of the key ‘characters’ in it. He is handsome, blue, lives in Devon …and he’s waiting for me to try him out at Easter.

January 16, 2008 | Comments

There is a bigg-ish yellow ball in the sky this morning which I think must be ‘the sun’. The weather has been terrible for so long, I nearly didn’t recognise it. I’ve had a stinking cold and not felt like doing anything except stay in. But there is good news…

Thanks for your good wishes about mum and dad who are fine now, just spending hours on the phone sorting out all the legal stuff that arose from the freak accident on Monday.

ISHBM is going well and I’m going to proof read the first 20k today and send it to my agent for her feedback. Quiver…

Some of the authors who entered their books in the RNA Romance Prize are getting very excited as the shortlist is being announced tomorrow. I hope some of my writer friends are on it.. tee hee. I can’t believe it’s come round so soon and haven’t forgotten meeting Nell for coffee and telling her I was convinced she would win the 2007 prize - and she did!