Post christmas

Guess what we had for Christmas? Well, I bought it my husband actually. A Wii. And what fun it proved to be over the holiday, keeping everyone entertained and happy so all I had to do was sit back and watch – and provide the food of course. A major feat in itself. I’m used to cooking for two, not eight. All seemed to go well though. No one complained and I had hardly anything left.

We also had (a joint present) a Nintendo DS – for brain training. So what with the physical activity of the Wii and the brain activity with the DS I’m going to be on top form in 2008. Let’s hope I write more books than I did in 07. One was my count. One miserable book. I don’t mean the book was miserable, it was the fact that I only had time to do one because of extensive revisions, and holidays, and life in general that annoys me.

I received proofs of my Australian book two days before Christmas (nice!) But I’ve already read and dispatched those back. And so my New Year’s resolution is to try and write more.

And to everyone I’d like to wish health and happiness for 2008.

Happy Christmas

So much to do, so little time. This will be my last post until after the holidays, so I’d like to wish everyone a peaceful and happy Christmas, and a healthy and prosperous 2008.

Pantomime

We went to a pantomime the other night – Jack and the Beanstalk. But it was a pantomime with a difference. It was a Rock ‘n’ Roll Panto. The band was part of the set and the musicians were also the actors. It was fascinating to watch them moving from playing instruments to playing their characters. I’d gone there with doubts as to whether I would enjoy it because it had veered away from the traditional, but in the end I was won over.

The other piece of good news – I’m half way through my book. So, even with Christmas interrupting my writing, it looks as though I’ll meet my deadline of end January after all. Fingers crossed everyone.

Keyboards

I recently bought a new keyboard because the letters were rubbing off on my last one. They actually started to do it within a few months of buying it but the shop wouldn’t exchange, saying, well, they’re cheap to buy, get another one! Or words to that effect. So I bought a cheap from one from our local supermarket – trying to be thrifty – or maybe mean! The trouble with that one was that I had to hit the keys hard and since I’m a light-fingered typist, I kept missing letters out. So I now have an expensive, stainless steel, super duper, all singing keyboard. But guess what? The keys are so close together that I keep catching the ones above with my nails (and they’re not that long!) Consequently I get all sorts of odd letters appearing in my typescript.

What is it with keyboards? Has anyone else had any experiences like this?

Christmas

Isn’t Christmas creeping up quickly? On reflection how can you creep quickly? But never mind, you know what I mean. Two more weeks and it will be here and I’m nowhere near ready. I’d much rather block it out of my mind and get on with writing Santo’s and Penny’s story – it’s much more interesting than shopping for presents or writing cards.
The fact that I’ve had to start my book again hasn’t put me off in the least. I know my characters so well that it’s almost writing itself. I’m three chapters in to it (14,100 words) – only 36,000 to go! Penny, if you recall, is Santo’s new nanny and already there is a strong physical attraction between them, which they’re both fighting against because of previous disastrous relationships.
When I first started writing in the 1970’s, when books were by no means as sexy as they are today, I used to send a copy of each of my books to an elderly aunt. She used to tell me that she’d enjoyed them very much, but… There was always a but and she’d look at me over the top of her glasses and I’d know exactly what she meant. The love scenes! Actually they were tame compared to today’s books. I think if she was still alive I’d never dare send her a copy now.
But I love the sizzling passion and the sensual tension. And clearly, judging by the number of women who buy them, they love it too.

Partial

About my partial. The explosive beginning has exploded. Vanished into the ether. Gone for ever. As you will no doubt realise I’m having to make some changes. Why is it that whenever I feel really happy with what I’ve written my ed thinks otherwise? The answer is because I’m too close to my work to see its faults. Even though you’d think I’d be able to do that after writing all these years! I don’t understand myself sometimes.

However, I’ve started again today. And guess what? I’m happy with what I’ve written. Don’t laugh. Don’t say, here she goes again. Because when I’ve finished the book I shall go over everything with a fine toothcomb. I might miss a few things but I’ll give it my best shot. It’s promised for the end of January so I need to pull out all the stops.

Will someone cancel Christmas this year?

Christmas Release

I’ve just heard that my 2004 book

HER HUSBAND’S CHRISTMAS BARGAIN
is going on sale in the US this Christmas.

Here’s a taste of the story.

When Italian businessman Luigi Constanzo discovers that Megan, his beautiful estranged wife, is also the mother of his child, he is incensed! She’s left him no alternative: he will do anything in his power to possess his wife and child.

Megan is less than impressed when Luigi turns up on her doorstep – the week before Christmas! Luigi is as arrogant as ever – and still as impossible to resist. But Luigi is adamant…Megan will be a wife to him – in every way – once more!


ALSO in Australia and New Zealand my 2002 Greek book
THE MEDITERRANEAN TYCOON is on sale in their ‘escape to…..’ series. It’s being twinned with the wonderful Sara Craven’s SMOKESCREEN MARRIAGE under the imprint ‘escape to… Greek Affairs’

I love it when I get copies of reprints or foreign editions – the trouble is my bookshelves are groaning under the load – and I refuse to put any of them out of sight!

Do Fish Have Feelings?

When the weather gets cold, when there are frost warnings - as we’ve had recently - we always pop a heater into our fish pool in case it freezes. (It doesn’t stop the whole surface from freezing but it keeps an area around the heater free from ice.) It consists of a round disc that floats and a covered element that hangs below it in the shape of a tube about six to eight inches long. It always amuses my DH and me when we see the fish huddling around it . They look like a group of children around a fire.

I read on Nicola Marsh’s blog recently about the waiting game. It’s a game I’m playing at the moment while waiting to hear from my editor about my partial. Penny found herself sharing Santo’s bed and is already regretting it and since they’re about to go on holiday to Santo’s home country of Italy, taking his five year old daughter with them, I wonder whether she’ll be able to resist him again? Or will the magic of Italy weave its spell?

While I’m waiting to hear from my ed I plan to do some Christmas shopping. I realised how quickly the festive season is coming when we visited Toys ‘R’ Us yesterday – with grandson in tow – and saw people with shopping trolleys piled high with toys. For their own kids? If so they’re very lucky. Or for friends and relatives offsprings? Who knows, but the shop was certainly doing a roaring trade.

Exercise

Sunday is not a writing day for me, but as I was on my treadmill this morning (Yes, I do try to exercise. Sitting on my bum all day isn’t good for the joints!) thinking about a part of my book that I’m not happy with, I came up with a solution and jumped off to write it down. Three times I did this. And the thought occurred to me that I could do with a tape recorder or something similar, to record my thoughts when I’m pounding the treadmill. Perhaps I ought to put in on my Christmas wish list?

Actually the treadmill’s a bit of a contentious issue between me and my husband. He bought it me because he said I never got any exercise. I had used to go for walks but somehow it dropped off. Perhaps because it’s no fun on my own. So when it was new I duly used it every day. You should have seen me the first time. I thought I was going to fall off. And I still can’t do it without hanging on like grim death. My sense of balance is atrocious. Always has been. Even as a child I could never roller skate.

But the thing is I don’t do it every day now. If I’m not writing I insist that I’m getting exercise by doing whatever else I’m doing, housework, gardening, shopping, ironing. Surely they’re all forms of exercise? Come on, girls, stick up for me!

Hero

This is Santo. My gorgeous hero. He's not always smiling. I have an amazing cutting from a newspaper where he's looking straight at the camera and looks most stern and forbidding. Exactly the look I want for my hero. I've discovered thousands of photos of this man (no prizes for guessing who he is) with a whole range of different expressions. (Actually, if you live the other side of the world you may not know him. So I'll tell you. It's Jose Mourinho. Ex England football manager. A controversial character by all accounts. Not that I follow football.)

So what can I tell you about Santo? He's a workaholic naturally. Runs a global advertising agency. Although he's Italian he lives in England. He likes fast cars and race horses. He's divorced with a five year old daughter. And if I tell you any more I'll give the story away.

Oh, yes, he's never short of a girlfriend. He enjoys playing the field, no strings attached. Until he meets Penny! And in Penny he's certainly met his match.

Heroine

My new book is well under way so I thought I’d post you a picture of my heroine. I love this photo because she has a cheeky look in her eyes.

When I mentioned in a previous post that my protagonists names were Santo and Penny – they were just that, names. Now they’ve become real people. Penny is feisty, not afraid to speak her mind when she sees injustice done – which we see her doing on the very first page! I told you it was going to be an explosive beginning. She runs an antiques shop but it’s up for sale as it’s not doing very well, so she’s somewhat reluctantly taken up a position of nanny to Santo’s young daughter.

Penny has no current boyfriend – she was let down badly some years ago by a man who she thought loved her as much as she loved him. It turned out that she was one of a long string of conquests. It’s made her very bitter towards men, very wary, determined never to let another one close.

Enter Santo De Luca.

I’ll tell you about him tomorrow.

Eden Project

Before .........and.......... After

While we were away last week we visited the Eden Project in Cornwall. For those of you who don't know what this is, a disused china clay quarry has been converted into the most amazing global gardens. I call them gardens, but it's so much more. Huge biomes have been erected - like giant conservatories. Inside one is a rainforest containing nothing but tropical plants, the other is Mediterranean, and outside are such a variety of plants that it takes your breath away. I could tell you so much about it but it would take far too long. All I can say is that if you ever get the opportunity to go, please do so.

This is how it was summed up in the catalogue:

• Take an exhausted, deep, steep-sided clay pit 60m deep, the area of 35 football pitches, with no soil, 15 metres below the water table.


• Carve the pit into a flat-bottomed bowl and landscape the sides.


• Mix and add 83,000 tonnes of soil made from recycled waste.


• Add superb architecture that draws inspiration from nature to remind us of human potential.


• Colonise with a huge diversity of plants, many that we use every day (but don't often get to see).


• Harvest the water draining into the pit and use it to irrigate our plants (and flush the loos!)


• Season with people from all walks of life.

And by the way, I have the title for my Australian book. THE BILLIONAIRE’S BLACKMAIL BARGAIN. I think I told you that it’s not being published until September next year so it’s a long wait. And yes, Cade did get a bargain. He blackmailed Simone (his ex girlfriend) into becoming his mistress but then fell in love with her all over again. Although it took me longer to write this book than any other I really do miss Simone and Cade, I loved writing their story and I hope that when the book’s out you’ll love reading about them. It’s set in the Whitsundays, so there are long hot days – and even steamier nights!

Anne Weale

I was truly sorry to hear that Anne Weale had died. I have known her for very many years, she was truly a lady, so elegant and gracious - and always controversial. It was why many of HM&B writers admired her so much. She was not afraid to speak her mind and upheld all the old traditions, not always happy with the way things were changing. She will be sorely missed in the writing fraternity.

New book

I’ve been away for the last week (half term and took my grandson away) but now I’m back and I have the news I’ve been waiting for. My editor has read my plot and really likes it. She has a few reservations about the second half but I’ve been working on those and I’m ready to go. I’ve promised it her for the end of January, which sounds a long way away but I have so many things on this next week that I can’t see me starting it yet.

My hero is Santo (he’s Italian) and my heroine is Penny (she’s English) – unless I change their names – which sometimes happens. Sometimes when you’re writing you discover that the name doesn’t suit the character. I even find myself occasionally calling either my hero or heroine by a completely different name, and then I realise that that’s the name I should have given them in the first place.

Santo’s suddenly found himself in charge of a five year old daughter he never knew he’d got and Penny – you’ve guessed it – is going to be the child’s nanny. I’m planning an explosive start and can’t wait to get going.

Autumn

Don’t you just love Autumn? \There is a tree in front of my bedroom window that is turning all sorts of wonderful colours. The last few mornings it’s been quite misty but as the sun has broken through it has backlit the leaves and they looked stunning. It’s a pleasure to wake up in a morning just to see it.

Which reminds me that the second book I had published was called Shades of Autumn – set, as you can imagine, at this time of year. The hardbacks in those days were plain red with a paper sleeve and an artist’s impression of the characters. My hero looks like a young James Mason!

No news yet regarding my synopsis.

The Queen

Amongst other things I’ve been busy this week plotting out my new book. I’ve sent my editor a synopsis and now I’m playing the waiting game. Well, not entirely, because further ideas keep popping into my mind which I scribble down on all sorts of bits of paper. And then it’s like a jigsaw trying to fit them all together. By the time my editor gets back to me I’ll probably have an entirely different story.

I’ve also heard when my Australian book’s going to be published. September 2008! It came as quite a shock. Such a long time. I thought it would be in about six months. I guess I’ll have to put the thought behind me and concentrate on my new book.

I’m looking forward to meeting my Italian hero properly. He’s just a picture on my wall at the moment. It’s when he becomes a real person that the fun begins. Which reminds me of a book I was given as a Sunday School prize when I was about thirteen or fourteen. It’s called When the Fun Begins and is about a group of schoolchildren leaving school and starting work. I wonder if school leavers really see work as fun? The fun for me is creating new characters, becoming a part of their lives, living a different life for a few months. I’m getting quite excited just thinking about it.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about the highlight of my week. A new Armed Forces Memorial was opened by the Queen on Friday for all the service men who have lost their lives since the Second World War. We were fortunate enough to get tickets and after the ceremony we (my DH and I) were walking along one of the pathways watching old planes doing a fly by as a salute to those named on the Memorial, when a policeman asked us to step to one side because a car was coming. It was the Queen and Prince Philip! We thought they’d left. I waved and she smiled and waved back and the Prince waved as well. We were just a couple of feet away from them. We felt so lucky.

Blackpool

We went to Blackpool to see the Illuminations over the weekend. It’s been a year or two since we last went and I have to admit they were excellent this year. (For those of you in other countries who don’t know where Blackpool is, it’s on the north west coast of England and is a favourite holiday resort with excellent beaches and a theme park with rides that are not for the faint hearted – which is me!)

We took our grandson and one of his friends and they had the time of their lives, and when darkness fell we were all duly impressed with the Lights which are strung both along the road and across the road. Apparently the Illuminations started in 1879 with 8 arc lamps and now they stretch for six miles and can be seen from space. They cost 2.4 million to stage and attract over 3.5 million visitors in 9 weeks – and I wished I’d taken my camera so that I could have shown you one or two of the displays.

Perhaps another time…

It's a yes!

Hurrah, hurrah, my Australian book’s been accepted!

I have no title for it yet and no idea when it will be published but I am so pleased. Now I can finally put it to bed. Simone and Cade can take a rest as well until it’s their turn to enter the world of books. Of course they do live in the Whitsundays – so you can just imagine what they’ll be doing, can’t you? Sailing, snorkelling, lazing around until the yacht charter company’s up and running again. (Big sigh!) All this makes me wish I was still with them. Never mind I have new people to meet. My next hero’s going to be a gorgeous Italian. I can’t wait to get started with him – except that I haven’t quite worked out his story yet…

No news

I’ve been away for a few days catching my breath after my London trip and I was hoping to have news from my editor when I got back. However she rang me to say she hadn’t yet had time to read my manuscript – so the waiting goes on. I’ve caught up on some reading – which is sheer luxury because I hardly ever find time to read when I’m working on a book, and we’re revamping part of the garden, which is a major project..

I’d like to plug a book here. My friend Margaret Callaghan has just had an on-line romance released by Moonlit Romance. She’s been trying so hard to break back into the market after two of her previous publishers stopped publishing romance, and at last she’s done it. The book is called Chasing Rainbows and can be purchased here. I’m in the middle of reading it at the moment and can’t wait to get back to it. I’ll tempt your appetite with the opening paragraph:

Hell, but she was beautiful, the most beautiful woman in the world. His woman, he’d foolishly believed, that long hot summer that stubbornly refused to fade in his mind. Because try though he would, he couldn’t forget he smell of her, the taste of her, the feel of her. Or maybe the stark truth was he didn’t want to forget. Because he’d loved her, and she’d lied. And for that he’d never forgive her. And savouring the memory kept the hate alive.

And last but not least, the winner of my September competition over on my website is Nathalie Najm. Nathalie, if you email me your address I’ll send your prize.

It was an interesting competition, I had more responses than I expected, and it was hard deciding the winner. Thank you to all who took part; I’ll be announcing another competition soon.

Terracotta Army

Fantastic, incredible, breathtaking – there are really no words to describe the terracotta army exhibition at The British Museum in London. To think that the first emperor – King of Qin – had around 7000 terracotta soldiers built to look after him in the afterlife – not only soldiers but horses and birds, chariots, musicians and civil officials, everything he had during his earthly lifetime was recreated.
The exhibition included other artefacts – elaborate bells, swords, knives, scoops – all manner of things. Particularly interesting was a tableaux – probably no more than a foot high, showing how the army was made. Each figure was built from the feet up in separate parts, assembling as they went, until finally the head was put on – it was then transported on a trolley of sorts to its final destination.
The exhibition runs until April 6th next year, so if you’re ever in London do go to see it. Or even make a special journey – it’s well worth it.

The other reason I was in London was to attend an author luncheon and a champagne party thrown by Mills & Boon. I always love these luncheons – so many writers to talk to and compare experiences. The talking is non-stop. Writing is a lonely profession so meeting up with other writers like this is like the icing on the cake.

Now it’s back to normality. And a new book to think about. My editor’s promised to get back to me next week on the Australian one. So watch this space!

And don't forget the competition on my website. It only has one week left to run. Already I've had some very well thought out 'journeys' It's going to be a tough job judging.

It's a record

I've read my book through after a few day's break, made a few more alterations, and finally it's gone to my editor. Can you believe it's taken me seven and a half months to write this book? It has to be a record. My shortest ever was six weeks, my average is three months. I had problems all the way along and nearly gave it up and started something new. I always send the first few chapters to my editor to read before I carry on with the rest of the book. In this case the first five chapters had to be re-written as she had issues with them, then I sent off three re-written chapters and there were still problems. So I addressd those and carried on writing the rest of the book. Admittedly I have had a couple of holidays in the middle of it! I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed now that she will like it.


We're off tomorrow to see the Terracotta Army. I'll let you know what it's like.

Pink Heart Society

It’s going to be an exciting weekend. Over on The Pink Heart Society I’m doing a Spotlight Interview. Do take a look and find out where I get my inspiration from for my books, how I relax and wind down, my most embarrassing moment, and lots of other things about me that you might never know otherwise.

Something else embarrassing - my interview will have a link to my website which has gone completely haywire. Many apologies as I have no time at the moment to put it right.

Re-write

Hurrah, my re-write is finished. It’s been a big challenge but I’ve finally come to the end – and a good thing about it is that it’s longer than the original. I always have trouble making my books long enough. Right from the early days of my writing career I could always finish them at about Chapter 7. I’m having to force myself to delve more deeply into the characters, into their thoughts and emotions, and hopefully my books are stronger for it.

I shall leave it now until Monday when I’ll give it its final read through before e-mailing it to my editor. She rang the other day to see how I was doing. I felt guilty because it’s taken me so long. OK, I had two holidays in the middle of it but is that an excuse? Which is more important, my writing or my holidays? The answer is both. Because holidays are invaluable research. (At least that’s what I tell myself)

Next Thursday my DH and I are going to London. I’m going to an author luncheon on Friday and a Mills & Boon author drinks party afterwards. (where I’ll meet my editor – and I couldn’t face her if I hadn’t finished my book!!!) But one of the highlights of our trip will be going to see China’s Terracotta Army exhibition at the British Museum. It starts today I believe and tickets have been flying out. My DH in particular is looking forward to this.

Blocked blog

Has any computer expert out there got any idea how I can 'unblock' by blog. Since my computer crashed I've been unable to sign in unless I open it in a new window. I've gone into internet securities and tried ticking and unticking various boxes to no avail. It shows Blogger.com as a restricted website and it is blocked. Any help would be gratefully received.

Foreign books

I’ve just received some copies of a 2 in 1 book of mine printed in Italian. Actually I now have six copies! How I wished I’d received them before we went to Rome so that I could have handed them out and perhaps got myself some new fans. Isn’t it always the way of things? What do I do with these copies now? I’ll keep one for my bookshelf, but the others? My local library doesn’t want any more – I think I’ve saturated them. All ideas will be gratefully received.

Revisions

The revisions are well under way, although I fear they'll take far longer than I anticipated. I'm having to change the whole concept of the last few chapters, making Simone pregnant far earlier in the story in order to up the tension. In the original version her discovery was very close to the end.

I find re-writes far more difficult than the original story - but editors know best! And in the end it always turns out a far stronger story. The trouble is I'm very anxious to begin my next book. I already have a storyline in my head and I've started a collage (something I never used to do). Then I'll run the plot through my editor before I begin writing - after this Australian one's out of the way.

When I first started writing in the 70's I never had rewrites. I'd finish a book one day and start another the next. They were the good old days. The stories have changed so much. They're definitely much stronger now, feisty heroines and far more successful and powerful heroes. How I love them! The heroes I mean. I fall in love with every single one of them. And I hope my readers do the same!

Rome

I didn't tell you we were going to Italy, did I? We went on a coach trip to Rome. It's a place we've always wanted to visit and although it was a whistle stop tour of all the touristy sites it was well worth it. We visited Montecasino (where my husband's eldest brother fought in the 2nd World War), Pompeii (what an incredible place), The Vatican City (mind-blowingly beautiful), threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, explored the Colliseum, and finally took a boat trip to Capri. What a beautiful island that is. It's certainly whetted my appetite for a much longer visit another time.



But now it's back to normality and revisions on my Australian book. I want to get stuck into them straight away but it's my daughter's birthday so we're going out to lunch with her - and I imagine it will be an extended meal, so perhaps tomorrow...

One thing after another

Thank goodness I'm going away for a few days. Everything's happening to me. Not only could I not figure out my new website but my other one isn't loading my book covers properly. If you look now one of them is wrong, and when I tried to put up a new page with US and Australian covers it went haywire. So apologies to anyone who's viewing my site and sees no recent changes. And on top of all this my computer crashed. I now have it back with a whole new inside (except for the hard drive, thank goodness, so I haven't lost anything - except that I couldn't sign on to my blog this morning and I'm doing this on my DH's computer.)

OK, big moan over, something more exciting. We've bought an e-reader. Well, my DH has, but he's granted me use of it. It has a lovely screen the size of an A5 page, and you can read it in sunlight and artificial light without any problems. You can increase the size of the font as well - so all in all it's a wonderful piece of equipment. Not only can you download books on to it, but newspapers as well, and you can do crosswords and sudoku (my favourite) and write notes (so useful for a writer) You can also view photos from your digital camera, plug a memory stick in and access whatever you have on it. (I've not checked yet whether I could work on my book on it - I don't think I'll be allowed the use of it for that long!!!)

I'll be back soon!

Disappointment

I'm extremely disappointed that my Geocities website which I was trying to move to another host isn't working out as I'd hoped. I've got the site up and running but absolutely no pictures. None of me! Not that that really matters. It's probably for the best. But more importantly none of my book covers. I've been back and forth with their online help people until my mind's all over the place. The main trouble seems to be that I created the site in Microsoft Word. Apparently not a good thing to do. It's been suggested I try again with a different programme. The trouble is I chose Word because it was simple. I'm not a computer techie and when people start talking to me in computer language I'm lost.

I thought it was a good thing in the first place having my own website. Actually it was my dear husband's fault that I ever started it. He spotted a piece in our local paper advertising a six work course on basic web design. I was quite excited. And then disappointed when the course was fully booked. But they ran anther one a couple of months later and I was very pleased with myself when my website was up and running.

But then I got ambitious. I wanted another site with my own domain name (if you remember the free site kept locking people out when it was used too much - it's still there, so you can always take a peek.). Unfortunately it didn't work out quite as I expected.

And now I have extensive revisions to do I won't have time to play at building websites. So all I can say is - watch this space! One day...

Busy

At least the weather’s picked up, if not my work life. My partying's over as well and I’m back to struggling with my new website, but I’m getting there (I think) And I now have revisions to do on my Australian book. Quite a lot actually. Plus my grandson’s visiting and we’re planning to take him away for a few days. All in all life’s very hectic. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. I cannot imagine sitting around with nothing to do. I’m not a domestic goddess. My house is tidy (reasonably) and clean, but I’m not fussy if there’s a smear on the windows or a speck or two of dust on the table top. And bless my husband, he does all the vacuuming.
I attacked the weeds in a wild part of the garden last week and got a rash on my arm for the pleasure. I think it attacked me back! I’ll teach you for not looking after me sort of thing. It itched like mad for about four days. Now I’m left with little hard red lumps which I’m hoping will go soon.

I'm back

What a long journey! But it was worth it. We actually went to my cousin's Ruby Wedding Anniversary party - which lived up to its expectations. A good time was had by all. Orkney landscape is very different to the rest of Scotland, except perhaps for the northernmost tip. See photo. It's fairly flat and almost treeless - and it was very windy!

My book Bedded At His Convenience is in the shops now and I saw it all over Scotland - which I found tremendously exciting as usual. Like most writers I always pull my books to the front of the shelves, and I didn't fail to do so up there.

I'm hoping to get back to sorting out my website next week. Meanwhile I have a Christening party and another wedding anniversary to attend this weekend. Does the excitement ever stop?

website

Have you ever started something and then wished you hadn't? I'm feeling that way trying to get my website up and running on a new site. I'm having all sorts of teething problems that I can't seem to resolve. It was my plan (and still is) to run a competition in conjunction with it, but that will have to take a back burner for the moment as I'm heading off to the wilds of Scotland for a week. I'm going to leave my troubles behind.

I wonder what the weather will be like up there. We're going to one of the islands actually, off the northern tip of Scotland. Norway will be our nearest neighbour. They've not had any floods up there, in fact the weather's been incredibly kind according to my cousin. Let's hope it stays that way.

So, until I speak to you again, happy reading!

Excerpt Bedded At His Convenience

I want to apologise to anyone having problems with my website. It’s driving me crazy at the moment and I’m going to change from Geocities. So please be patient with me. And just in case you’re not able to read the excerpt from Bedded At His Convenience here it is again:

The day had gone much better than Hunter expected. Keisha had been receptive, interested in everything around her, and she hadn’t even objected when he took her to the office. Not that he’d introduced her to anyone except by her Christian name. He’d let her be the mystery lady.

No one knew that they'd once been married; as far as they were concerned he was an extremely eligible bachelor, and he was well aware that everyone wondered why some very glamorous female had never snapped him up. There were plenty of contenders, that was for sure, but he was interested in no one.

Keisha had been the love of his life, and she had killed that love. Maybe he’d been guilty to a certain extent of neglecting her, but surely not so much that she needed the company of other men? They’d still had a good love-life despite the long hours he worked. He could never forgive her for walking out. She deserved whatever she had coming to her.

They ate a light supper and then sat outside, enjoying the evening sunshine and for a while neither of them spoke. ‘What are you thinking?’ he asked eventually.

Keisha turned to look at him with those wide green eyes of hers, eyes that had once excited every inch of him! ‘How much I’ve enjoyed today,’ she answered.

And amazingly could still excite! ‘What did you like best?’

‘All of it,’ answered Keisha. ‘But mainly, I think, the cathedral because it’s so vast and so richly decorated, and the Tower of Gold because of its history and the fact that it’s all that remains of Seville’s medieval fortifications.’

Hunter’s brows rose a little. ‘I’m impressed. I didn’t realise that you had a fancy for old buildings.’

Keisha shrugged. ‘I guess there’s a lot about me you don’t know.’

‘Because I wasn’t a good enough husband and you ran out on me?’ he snorted through flared nostrils. Damn! He hadn’t intended to get angry. They’d had such a companionable day, more than that, actually. They’d been very close, and he’d wanted to carry it on to its ultimate conclusion.

He smiled, with difficulty. ‘I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have said that. I enjoyed today too.’ Which he had, very much – more than he’d expected. He’d enjoyed showing Keisha the sights, watching her face, seeing her wonderment, appreciation, joy even. Yes, it had been a good day.
And the night was going to be even better!

‘More wine?’ he asked. He’d brought the remains of the bottle out with him and he leaned forward now, bottle in hand ready to pour her another glass.

But Keisha shook her head. ‘Any more and I’ll have a headache.’

Meaning she’d retire to her room early before he could seduce her into sharing his bed! Immediately he put the bottle back down and inched his chair closer to hers.
‘I’m glad you appreciate the beauty of this part of the world,’ he said softly. ‘It means a lot to me. My mother was half Spanish; did you know that? I feel closer to her here.’
‘No, I didn’t know,’ answered Keisha.

Her smile was warm and she was totally relaxed. He could smell her perfume and feel her sensuality. She had changed into a low cut pink dress with frills at the shoulders and a flared knee length skirt. It suited her beautifully and she looked sexy and gorgeous, but what he really wanted to do was rip it off. He wanted to ravage her body and make her his – once again!

It was hard being patient.

Excerpt

Don’t forget, my next book comes out on August 1st in the UK. (September in the US and Australia) It’s called BEDDED AT HIS CONVENIENCE and is the story of Keisha and Hunter. Three years ago they were married but she’d walked out for several reasons, one of them being that he was seeing another woman – or so she’d thought! Now they have met up again and he wants her back in his life, and he wants revenge. He whisks her away to Spain and then ………..

No, I’m not telling you any more – but there’s an excerpt on my website. Follow the lead from the Books page.

Rock Concert

I experienced a culture shock last night. From watching Shakespeare earlier in the week I went to see We Will Rock You last night, put on by a youth amateur dramatic group. It was so, so good. The cast ranged in ages from about seven or eight to nineteen I would say. Such talent, such voices. One of our local papers described it as phenomenal. And it truly was. It couldn’t have been any better had we watched a West End production.

Changing the subject, and referring to my interview with Nicola Marsh in Australia last week, when I said that one of my favourite books was Unexpected Inheritance, written in 1988, I’ve just learned that it’s coming out in Germany in a three book trilogy called Summer Love. I’m so thrilled because I truly did love writing that book.

Shakespeare

Last night when I went out I wore a long sleeved sweater, a trouser suit, a raincoat over that, a thin scarf around my neck and gloves on my hands. Bearing in mind that it’s mid summer here in the UK, where was I? At an outdoor performance of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. At least it didn’t rain. But the wind was chilly and I needed my layers. Oh, I forgot to mention the blanket around my legs!

The performance, however, was superb. I’ve been going to see Shakespeare at this particular venue for many years now and they’ve all been good. But this performance outstripped them all. It was magnificent.

Before the performance we enjoyed strawberries and champagne, and during the interval delicate smoked salmon sandwiches with a liberal supply of white wine. My DH had coffee because he was driving! Actually it warmed him up better than the wine did me and our friends.

Back now to the more mundane jobs in life. The garden’s beginning to look like a garden again and my office is almost tidy. And I’m already incubating ideas for a new book!

It's finished

Good news! My Australian book, temporarily called Cade's Revenge, has been sent off to my editor. I've been working on it for five months would you believe? The longest ever. I had so many problems with it. But now all I have to do is sit back and wait!

Sit back? Not likely! My office needs a thorough spring clean. I accumulate so much stuff when I'm writing, a lot of which I never use but it's there just in case, that I can't see my desk for papers. Cuttings from newspapers, endless printed versions of the current book because it always reads differently on paper, bills ready to file, magazines with gorgeous men in them! Women too! The list goes on.

I also need to spend time with my husband. Whenever I've finished a book he always says, 'Welcome back!' So we'll be going out days and doing all the things together that get pushed to one side when I'm writing.

And don't mention the garden. It's so overgrown. If the rains don't stop soon it will be like a jungle before I can get into it. (It's close to that way already) I love my garden and usually find time for it. (I'll say this quietly so that my DH won't hear - he can't tell weeds from plants - at least that's his excuse!) I write two books a year, each normally taking about three months to write, so that gives me six months free. Or so you would think.

But you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men....

Interview with Nicola Marsh

It's there! The first part of my interview with Nicola Marsh. Do go and take a look. www.nicolamarsh.blogspot.com I'm so new at this game that I'm terribly excited. I'm supposed to be polishing my Australian book but I can't resist keep popping into my blog - as well as others - to see see how things are going. I must try putting up book covers myself - and maybe a photo or two. When I have time!

Guest interview

It’s an exciting week this week. I’m being interviewed by Nicola Marsh in her blogspot. Nicola lives on the other side of the world to me, in Australia to be precise, and has been writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon for four years now and writes beautifully crafted fun and flirty romances. She already has twenty books beneath her belt and is going from strength to strength. I’ve just finished reading her Two Week Mistress which kept me entertained from beginning to end. It’s young and fun but also has all the right elements which make it a perfect sensual read. I loved it. Do look out for her books. And please visit her blog to read my interview.

www.nicolamarsh.blogspot.com

It's finished!

My book’s finished. Hurrah! Except that I still have to go through it with a fine tooth comb! Which takes time, but making sure everything comes together, that I haven’t repeated myself, that I haven’t left out any explanations, is a really enjoyable task. So I’m looking forward to it.

What terrible weather we’ve been having here in the UK at the moment. Rain, rain and more rain. We have a fish pond in our garden and we were afraid it would overflow and we’d end up with fish on the lawn and the patio! We’ve kept a close eye on things because we don’t want to lose any more. A few weeks ago a heron made a lovely meal out of five of our biggest koi. We have an artificial heron as a decoy but we forgot to move it around and so the heron thief got used to it. So in a way it was our own fault.

Here am I talking about losing fish when hundreds of people have lost their homes to the terrible flood waters. My heart goes out to every one of them. It must be heartbreaking to lose your personal possessions in such a way. I don’t think I could cope. I hope I never have to. Do you know what I’ve always thought I'd do if I ever had to leave my house in a hurry because of fire or flood or whatever? That I’d snatch up my latest manuscript. (not a paper version but my faithful memory stick). I can’t bear the thought of losing all those hours and hours of work.

What's in a Name?

I’m nearing the end of my Australian book, thank goodness, so if you don’t hear from me for a few days you’ll know I have my head down. I re-wrote the beginning of this book a few times before I was happy with it, and if there’s a good thing about re-writing it’s that I already know my hero and heroine. The first time round I had to get to know them – but after a few false starts, after a few thousand words of writing, I got to know them intimately.

Some authors, I know, learn everything about their characters before they begin to write, but I don’t do it that way. I know a few details, obviously, but not too much. It’s like meeting someone for the first time and gradually getting to know their likes and dislikes, their family, their thoughts and ideas.

Even Cade didn’t start off as Cade. He was Joshua. But it didn’t work, it didn’t suit him, it’s perhaps why I was having problems. Once he became Cade he was a much stronger man. And he changed my heroine’s name. I forget what I called her originally but one day Cade called her Simone, and that was it. I think names shape characters. Does anyone agree with me?

heroes and weather

We’re in a middle of a thunderstorm and I’m wondering whether to turn off my computer. A couple of years ago, a thunderbolt hit a house a few doors away and blew my computer and the telephone line. Along with dozens of others in our village. Ever since then I’ve always unplugged everything if there’s a storm, or even if we go away and the forecast’s not too good.

I actually don’t mind storms. I find them exciting. It’s nature at its best. They remind me of HMB heroes. Larger than life, making itself felt in a way that only it knows.

Gosh, that was a loud clap.

When my father was alive he used to tell me that he’d been hit by lightning on two separate occasions. He was very lucky, hardly hurt at all. I think he’d sheltered under a tree (?) and it hit his bicycle clips.

Talking about weather, here’s an incident that happened many years ago when I was writing one of my books. My hero and heroine were out at sea in a little boat in the fog when my daughter phoned. (If you’ve read my bio you’ll know that I used to write at the office) She’d finished school and wanted to know if she could come to see me. ‘Don’t be silly, I said, it’s foggy.’ ‘It isn’t foggy here, Mom,’ came her answer. And when I looked out of the window the sun was shining. I was living my story! Which has to be the most fantastic feeling in the world!

Heroes

I watched on TV the other night a re-run of Dragons’ Den. For those of you who don’t live in the UK and may not have seen the programme it’s where a panel of multi millionaires listen to applicants dreams of going into big business with their inventions, in the hope of persuading one or more of the panel members to invest in their ideas.

My interest in the programme is the multi millionaires – potential hero material! My favourite is Peter Jones- in my opinion the most handsome of the group. He became an entrepreneur at a very early age and is incredibly successful. He’s even written a book on how to become a tycoon. Definitely my kind of man.

Poppies

We went poppy hunting at the weekend. I’ve been asked to do a poppy painting and when we saw a brilliant red field of poppies from the motorway I made the driver (my husband naturally) take the next turning off and backtrack until we found it. Lots of narrow lanes and wrong turnings!! Thank goodness he likes driving – and more especially country lanes. Many years ago (before sat nav) he’d always try to get us lost! We never could; we always came to some sign or landmark that we recognised. Anyway, I ventured into the field and took lots of photos and downloaded them on to my computer on Sunday night, finally picking out the ones I thought I could use.

When I went to bed at something past midnight (doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?) all I could see when I closed my eyes was poppies. Millions of them. It’s something that often happens to me when I’ve been looking at a subject for a long time. The odd thing was when I began writing on Monday morning and closed my eyes to think – which incidentally I always do when I'm conjuring up a scene – what did I see on the backs of my eyelids. Still more fields of poppies!

Maybe they’ll find their way into a future book!

Nine to Five

I’m a nine to five girl, that is I write from nine to five, five days a week – give or take an hour or two either side!! The beauty of writing is that you can do it whenever you like. I’m not an early morning person like some writers and sometimes other interests take up my time. And weekends I like to spend with my long-suffering husband.

It seems like a million years since Friday and my first job is to read through my last chapter to get myself back into the story. Poor Cade and Simone must be feeling very neglected. When I left them they were out sailing so perhaps they’ve had a good time in my absence. Let’s hope so.

We’re having such gorgeous weather here in England at the moment that it’s almost a pity to sit indoors. Except that when you enjoy writing as much as I do it’s never a hardship.

Writing to Music

I’ve been writing to music today. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It’s amazing what a difference it makes. Inspiration flows so much more quickly. The reason I chose Four Seasons? Because I once read that different composers suited different star signs. I’m an Aquarius and this is my composer. And as this is the only piece of music I have by Vivaldi – it’s what I play. Does anyone know the complete list? Is there another composer for Aquarians? I know writing to music has been discussed before on other blogs but not composers for star signs and I really would like to know more about it.

About my Australian book

I thought I'd tell you about Cade & Simone. Simone lives in Australia and runs a yacht charter company. Cade does the same in England. They knew each other five years ago, they were actually lovers, but circumstances forced them apart. Well, more than circumstances really. A big falling out. But you’ll have to wait to hear about that. Now they’ve found each other again and it’s a question of whether he’ll ever learn to trust her.

They're having problems at the moment - or should I say that I'm having problems. About three quarters of the way through each of my books I always come to a full stop. My way of getting myself out of it is to type type type. Something always happens, very often something unexpected. For instance I've just written a love scene that I had no intention of putting in. Why should I when they'd just had a huge argument?

They seemed to enjoy it though!

I'm Back

How rude of me. I logged one message and then disappeared. Tell you the truth I've been away for a week and I forgot to tell you. I've still been writing though. I always take my laptop with me and even if I don't actually write I jot down ideas and this week has been very productive, I've plotted out the last five chapters of my current book - which is set in Australia. In the Whitsundays. A most beautiful part of the world. If you ever get the chance to go you really must. We've had four holidays in Australia over the last twenty years and it's a place I'll never tire of. We always say, when we get home, that's our last visit there. But a few years pass and off we go again - so who knows - we might end up there on another visit.

Welcome

This is my first day as a blogger. A whole new experience. I read blogs, I enjoy them, but have only recently thought about creating my own. So why now, you may ask, after over seventy books spanning thirty years? Why not sooner? Blogs have been around long enough. (Does anyone know how long?) One reason is that I’ve been too lazy. Or should I correct that and say I’ve been too busy? You would think that writing two books a year these days really should leave me with plenty of time for blogging. Except that my hobby of watercolour painting takes up the rest of my time. There are never enough hours in the day to do everything that I want to do. Currently I’m writing a book set in Australia with a fabulous settting of the Whitsundays. I’ll tell you more about that in future blogs. For the moment I’ll keep this short and simply say thankyou for taking the time to read this first blog. I hope you’ll be back.