March 2, 2012
Yikes – is it Friday again – and spring already? So where did January and February go?
I’ve managed to get some work done despite the ahem, ‘social networking’ over the past month and let’s just say, it’s been a rollercoaster ride at times since Christmas.
The next few weeks are certainly going to be very interesting…
I’ve also got quite a bit planned, both work and pleasure. The Coffee Crew – Nell Dixon, Elizabeth Hanbury and me – are meeting on Monday ina new location and the air will be humming with our gossip, sorry, writing news.
I’m off to London the week after next to a special lunch and talk from the great crime writer, PD James, I will be a fangirl, clutching my hardback of Death at Pemberley, to be signed by Baroness James.
After that, we’ll be visiting Ms Bennet for Mother’s Day 🙂 and soon after that, it’s the Big Anniversary for Mr B and me. I’ve got something planned for The Day that he doesn’t know about. As he rarely ever has time to read my blog (thank goodness) he won’t find out.
Other than that, who knows what might happen? Have you ever wished you had a crystal ball – or is it better not to know what’s in store?
Posted by Phillipa @ 5:35 am |
February 29, 2012
So it’s Leap Year’s day today, traditionally said to be the day when a woman can reverse the roles and propose to the man in her life.
Public proposals often make the news and I think it’s a great idea IF you’re already very sure of his – or her – reaction.
Like HERE.
But things can also go horribly, horribly wrong. I feel too sorry for those involved to post the classic YouTube video of a disastrous public proposal but I have written a novel about one!
Having the courage to say ‘No’ was the premise of Just Say Yes which you can get on Kindle now.
Good luck if you’re taking the plunge today…
Posted by Phillipa @ 6:54 am |
February 27, 2012
Do book titles matter?
I guess the short answer is, of course they do. But how much?
I’ve been trying to come up with a new one for my latest ‘baby’, which is a longer mainstream romantic novel. It’s a sexy rom com about how the past shapes you and whether you should escape it – or embrace it.
At the moment, it’s called Miranda which started out as a working title and stuck, but I know it needs a new name if it’s ever going to be launched out into the world.
But how do you choose something that captures the theme of the book, is catchy, witty, romantic – and appeals widely but isn’t too bland?
Do I go for a title that sums up the theme (wanting to change or stay the same/running away from your past)? Or riff on the setting (the sea, castles, heritage)? Or should it be funny and quirky (Miranda Pulls It Off, maybe?) Or universal (love/relationships/family)?
Three of my books had titles from the get-go: Just Say Yes, Fever Cure and It Should Have Been Me. Decent Exposure took a year to invent and Wish You Were Here was suggested by my publisher. Then, of course, my US publisher changed some of those titles.
But Miranda needs a name.
I did have a very funny quirky book title pic posted below but the blog is being naughty. Anyway it was called THIS.
Posted by Phillipa @ 4:54 am |
February 24, 2012
Free Kindle Download This Weekend
What’s nicer than something for nothing? Well, Nanny Behaving Badly by my writing buddy, Judy Jarvie and published by E-scape Press is exclusively free this weekend only from the Amazon Kindle store.
It’ll only be available for a limited time – Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th February so please make sure you snaffle yours. It should be available from around 8am on Saturday just in case anyone goes in early and it’s not there.
And some reasons why it’s worth a free read:
1 The Her: Lyle Sutherland is a racing driver with banter, brawn and brains.
2 The Heroine: Maddie Adams means well but sometimes (ouch, erk) she gets it wrong. It’s fun to watch the fallout (hopefully).
3 It’s about naughty behaviour between consenting adults – a rollercoaster romance.
The blurb –
Strong, silent-type single dad hires wild streak nanny—off-limits opposites attract.
Maddie Adams hopes for a smooth ride in her new temporary coffee shop job so she doesn’t mean to make the worst impression possible with the handsome café owner, Lyle Sutherland. His suggestion that she becomes his son’s replacement nanny shocks them both. When attraction and passion are unleashed between boss and sassy super nanny, Lyle’s secrets and a shock pregnancy challenge old wounds.
Get yours FREE. Or pop by this blog for more info – http://judyj.blogspot.com.
Posted by Phillipa @ 6:42 am |
February 20, 2012
Happy Monday – I’m delighted to welcome a guest to start the week.
Victoria Lamb, is a fellow member of the RNA and her Tudor historical novel, The Queen’s Secret, is out this week. Victoria loves anti-heroes but why?
The attraction of anti-heroes
“For another blog interview on this tour to launch The Queen’s Secret, I was asked to write about my hero and why I loved him so much – the theory being that a writer must “love” their hero, otherwise why make him the hero? Of course, The Queen’s Secret is not a romance, per se, which gave me my first headache in answering this question. There isn’t one clear-cut hero, but a range of possible heroes or male protagonists. Though of course, I have my favourite among those, which is Master Goodluck.
Master Goodluck is my young heroine’s guardian, and Lucy loves him dearly. Yet Goodluck is not a traditional hero-type. For a start, he’s not conventionally attractive – broad build, huge beard, a great belly laugh, he’s a kind of Falstaffian figure. He doesn’t do much that could be considered heroic.
He’s a Tudor theatrical and a spy, so he’s a good actor and also courageous, used to facing danger. But he doesn’t go about looking bold and invincible. He’s clever but prefers to hide it. He’s a trickster, a master of disguises. He lurks in the shadows, and would see nothing wrong in running away from a fight if the odds were against him.
So why would I instinctively identify such a character as the “hero” of my novel? I suspect it’s because I’ve always loved the anti-hero. Anti-heroes are a type you tend to find in crime and detective novels, or film noir: Sam Spade, Sherlock Holmes, Morse. They also crop up in adventure stories: Rick Blane in Casablanca, James Bond, Indiana Jones. As a type, they tend not to grow as people, remaining cynical and unloved from one end of the story to the other.
Master Goodluck does not change much in this first novel – though there are two more to come – but to my mind he is the moral core of the story, and certainly the man Lucy admires most in the world. He’s also a point of view character: I couldn’t imagine Goodluck not having a voice. That, and the fact that I would sleep with him in an instant, tells me that Master Goodluck is my “hero”. Or as close to a hero as I am ever likely to get.”
The Queen’s Secret (Bantam Press, £12.99) is available in hardback and on Kindle: “A gripping historical novel of spies, lies and adultery set in Tudor England during the reign of Elizabeth I.”
You can find Victoria on the web at:
http://victorialambbooks.blogspot.com
Posted by Phillipa @ 5:20 am |
