Ideas

Yesterday’s post seems to have disappeared into the ether (and I didn’t keep a copy) So here I go again.

On Thursday my American daughter in law was sworn in as a British Citizen. DH and I attended and it was a marvellously patriotic ceremony. DH filmed it and we’re going to put it on a CD for her to show her parents next time she goes home. It was the sort of occasion that I’ll never forget.

Kimml – you’ve won my latest contest, so email me your address and your copy of The Santorini Marriage Bargain will be on its way to you.

Sadly that was the last week of my contest celebrating my 75th book, but I do have one more book to give away. This is not a contest as such but I’ve been trying to work out a new plot and I’m not sure in which direction to go. A marriage of convenience, a revenge story, amnesia (which I haven’t done in a long time) and I’ve just done the secret baby story, so that’s out.

How would you like to tell me which are your favourite plots – one of the above or something different. And if I choose one of them for my next book then I’ll send whoever came up with the idea a copy of The Santorini Marriage Bargain or The Italian’s Ruthless Baby Bargain. The choice is yours.

Empty

I feel totally bereft now that my book has gone. I should have spent time today working on my accounts but I couldn't face them. So I worked in the garden instead. Weeding is very therapeutic and now that it's all neat and tidy it's a pleasure looking out at it from our lounge windows.

Our grandson visited - with his Mum and Dad, of course. Oliver is now 14 months old and is taking his first faltering steps. I think I may have to put him in one of my books. I have a four year old in the book I've just sent off and I wrote that he liked sausage sandwiches for breakfast - which is my eldest grandon's favourite. So it just goes to show that we do put little bits of real life in our books. If you can call eating a sausage sandwich real life!

The four year old I'm writing about also fell down and cut his head and I had help from Anne McAllister whose granddaughter had done the same thing. In fact it was Anne mentioning it on her blog that gave me the idea to put it into my story. So if you're reading this Anne, thanks again for all the info.

Does anyone else use snapshots of real life?

Hurrah!

Hurrah, the revisions are finished. They were not as bad as I thought and I’ve read the book through twice to make sure I haven’t missed anything. Now all I have to do is wait and see.

I have two lucky winners for my June contest. My DH has picked Maureen to win a copy of my 75th book The Santorini Marriage Bargain, and Penney you get a book mark. If you’d both email me your address I’ll get them in the post straight away.

Now another week starts. Comments = prizes. If you don't comment you can't win. It's that simple. I have one more book to give away and loads of bookmarks.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Plots

I'm still deep in revision hell. But at the same time I'm idly thinking about my next plot. Not that I have one, but I'm sort of tossing options around. Remember this photo of Sienna in my current book? Well it was from a page I tore out of a magazine. I have no idea now what the article was about but printed on the same page were the words: 'Tom is charismatic, sexy and good-looking, but very intense and serious.'

I plan to print these words out in large print and pin it up in front of me. I want to know who Tom is and why he's intense and serious. I'm hoping it will prove a first stepping stone to my next story.

Best Seller

Yesterday Bought for Marriage was No 6 on eHarlequin’s top ten daily bestsellers. It doesn’t take much to make my day!

And last night I went to Kate Walker’s talk in Derby. Brilliant!

But now it’s back to the revisions…

Reviews

The first review is in for The Santorini Marriage Bargain and I'm delighted with it.

Check it out here.

And don’t forget that if you want to win a copy just add a comment

James Bond

We had a drive into Wales over the weekend. The weather was glorious and we found a lovely little cove in Cardigan Bay with golden sand and a headland either side. There was no parking at the bottom and we had to walk down a steep hill to it. Going down was OK but coming back up!!!

Talking to a man on holiday he said that the last scene in the James Bond movie Die Another Day was shot there and as my DH is a James Bond fan and we have most of his movies on DVD we found it out and religiously watched it last night. We recognised the bay instantly. We waited the whole movie for it – and it was on for about six seconds!

Pierce Brosnan was James Bond. Apart from Sean Connery I think he was the best James Bond by far. Seriously sexy. Does anyone else share my opinion or do you have other favourites? Or perhaps you don’t like James Bond movies at all?

Book covers

I’ve received copies of The Rich Man’s Reluctant Mistress in Dutch, and also The Billionaire’s Blackmail Bargain in the same language. The intriguing part is that although The Rich Man’s Reluctant Mistress has the same cover photo the one on The Billionaire’s Blackmail Bargain has been changed. Could it be because it originally had a bare chested hero?

I’ve just been on the Harlequin Holland website so that I could upload a copy of the cover but it’s not there. And nor is my name in their list of authors which I find extremely disappointing considering the numbers of years I’ve been writing.

The second week of my contest is over, and Abby’s name has been plucked out of the hat (of only two commenters – where are you all?) so if you email me your address, Abby, I’ll send you a copy of The Santorini Marriage Bargain. Michelle, if you also let me know your address a bookmark will be on its way to you.

Week three now begins and I’d be delighted to send another copy of this my 75th book to a lucky commenter (is there such a word as commenter?) and a bookmark to everyone else.

Ideas

I spent the morning yesterday weeding the front garden. We’ve had so much sunshine and rain recently that the weeds have flourished. Then I spent the afternoon making a start on my accounts, as well as submitting books for PLR. This is the side to writing that is no real pleasure. Unfortunately it has to be done.

I’m going to spend today dreaming up a new plot. This is much more exciting. (I might make start on the weeding first in the back garden but it’s not actually calling to me.) At this moment I have no ideas whatsoever. I thought I’d jotted some plot ideas down somewhere, but can I find them? Perhaps when I’ve tidied my desk they might come to light.

It's finished!

The book has gone and is now awaiting my editor's comments. And I have a desk left to clear that at this moment's looking as though a tornado has hit it. There's such an empty feeling inside me as well. This was my baby and now it's left home. My DH is pleased because he will see more of me but I feel lost. There's lots to do though - and the biggest is my accounts. They sit staring at me and my accountant's letter asking for them is leering menacingly. This is one of the worst parts of a writer's life.

So let's change the subject. A friend of mine was saying last night that it is always book covers that attract her first. Not authors, not titles, but covers. Especially books set at the end of the nineteenth century where little boys wear short trousers and have socks wrinkled around their their ankles, and women wear long dresses.

Whenever I'm browsing bookshops - at the airport for instance - I look for titles. I do have my favourite authors but if I'm looking for something different it's a title first - something that grabs my attention. Then I'll read the back blurb, and then the first page. If they all come together I might buy the book. If not it goes back on the shelf.

What do you look for when you're browsing bookshelves?

winners and losers

It’s crunch time. One final read through and my book will be winging its way to my editor. My only problem in tightening the story is that I’ve lost rather gained a number of words.

I hear of so many authors who have to cut their word count that I’m envious. What a luxury that would be.

So let’s have confessions.
Who struggles to reach 50,000 words?
Who struggles to cut their word count?

My June contest is still running. One week over – and no comments on my blog, so unfortunately no winners.

If you’d like a copy of my 75th book The Santorini Marriage Bargain – then just add a comment and email me your address, It’s as simple as that. Each week one name out of the hat will win a book, everyone else a bookmark. Rhianne and the gorgeous Greek, Zarek Diakos are anxious to hear from you!

The End

The first draft is finished. Adam and Sienna have resolved their differences. All I have to do now is go through it again and tighten it up. (And add about 500 words because it's come out a bit short)

It was due by the end of this month but my editor has asked for it asap so I guess I'll be working on it over the weekend - which is usually 'me' time. Not that I'm too worried because the weathermen have forecast rain for the weekend.

And if my editor wants it - then that has to be good. I certainly have a feel-good factor today.

Presents Extra miniseries

I’d almost forgotten that I have two books being published in July. I was so excited about my 75th book that I almost forgot Bought For Marriage is coming out in the US at the same time – in the Presents Extra miniseries – Forced to Marry.

Bought for Marriage is one of my favourite books, I loved writing about Dione and Theo and I’ve been waiting for it to be published in the US. The back cover blurb goes like this:

Dione Keristari will do anything to help her sick father. But begging gorgeous Greek billionaire Theo Tsardikos for cash is more than she bargained for. Now he’s demanding a marriage contract in return for the money! She has no choice but to agree. However, inexperienced Dione can’t handle the attraction between them, and she vows not to share Theo’s bed.

But Theo’s a master in the ways of loving, and soon he has his temporary bride at his bidding – and she’s pregnant….

More about the hedgehog

Eddie the hedgehog is very fussy. We put out cat food tonight and he's turned his nose up at it. We are wondering now whether to leave it out all night, or take it in in case it attracts field mice. Do mice like cat food, I ask myself. Let’s hope not.

Good news on the writing front, I have only one more chapter to go. Sometimes last chapters can be as difficult as first ones because of all the loose ends to be tied up. Actually I’m quite excited to be at this stage. There were times during the writing of this book that I thought I would never get here. But it’s all coming nicely together.

Do you want to be a winner?

The hedgehog has been back, every night, and we’ve decided he must be able to squeeze himself under the gate. I try to watch for him to leave but always I miss him. At the moment he’s foraging in the shrubbery and my DH is keeping watch.

But now, forget the hedgehog, forget the nail biting final of Britain's Got Talent on Saturday night, forget the scorching weather here in the UK.

To celebrate the publication in July of my 75th book – The Santorini Marriage Bargain – each week for the next four weeks I’ll be putting the names of every commenter into a hat. The first one to be drawn out by my DH will win their very own copy of this special book.

And…

Everyone else will receive a bookmark if you email me your address with the word Santorini in the subject line.

To entice you this is the first page:

Rhianne heard the screech of brakes before she saw the car. By then it was too late. Lost in her own world of misery she had not thought to look before she stepped off the pavement. Urged on by the front fender of the car she spun across the road and for a few moments lay curled in blessed silence. It was as though everything in the whole world had stopped. No traffic noise, no voices, no birds singing. Nothing except a strange calm. She wasn’t even hurting.
Then came the voice. A deep, gruff male voice. ‘Why the hell didn’t you look where you were going?’
Why the hell didn’t she look? Rhianne struggled to turn her head and glare at the owner of the voice. He was clearly the man who had knocked her down. Beyond him was his car with the door still open, the engine still running. ‘Why didn’t I look?’ Her tone matched his for hardness. And why shouldn’t it when he was behaving as though she was the one at fault. ‘Why the hell didn’t you look? Call yourself a driver. This is a busy main road. You should have had your wits about you.’
‘Are you hurt?’
The belated question angered her still further. She closed her eyes needing to shut out the handsome face that had come a little too close. The man was on his haunches now, peering at her, making her feel like an insect under a microscope.
‘Hello. Can you hear me?’
So he thought she’d passed out! Rhianne snapped her eyes open again and scrambled to her feet. She felt wobbly but nothing appeared to be broken. At least she didn’t think so. Her legs still held her up and she could move her arms. Her hip felt a little sore and she guessed she’d be bruised tomorrow, but other than that she was OK.
No thanks to Mr Fast Car Driver.