Shaken not stirred

We had a lovely week with our grandson, taking him to different places – he’s such a joy to be with and we’re making the most of it because we know that when he gets a bit older (he’s going on thirteen) he won’t want to come out with us. But actually I was fortunate to be with him at all. I was on my way to pick him up, waiting to turn right, conscious when I slowed down that there was a car in the distance behind me. All of a sudden, just as the road in front was clear and I was about to turn, I felt an almighty bang on my back end. For a moment I couldn’t think what was happening. I was shunted across the road onto a grassy area and narrowly missed a tree. The driver of the car following me had applied his brakes but because the road was wet his car didn’t stop.

To say I was shaken is an understatement. But I wasn’t hurt, which is the main thing. And nor was the other driver. My car’s pretty sick but still driveable. His had to be taken away on a tow truck. This was my first ever accident in 45 years of driving. I’m just glad it wasn’t my fault.

I read an interesting article in Romance Matters (The Romantic Novelists Association quarterly magazine) about chapter endings. The aim of a chapter ending is to make the reader want to read on and in Sarah Duncan’s article she said that she loved it when people complained that one of her books had kept them awake long after they intended, so compelling was the need to read just one more chapter.

One of my nieces once said to me that she wished I’d make my chapters shorter, because she liked to finish a chapter before turning out the light. (Do we all read in bed at night?) Actually in my earlier books the chapters were longer, so I took on board what she said.

In the article Sarah Duncan also said that she never puts her novels into chapters until the final draft, which means she has to finish every scene end with a page-turner – just in case!

It’s an interesting take on chapter endings. What does anyone else think?

First chapters

I’ve sent off the first three chapters of my Greek book for my editor to take a look at – under the working title of The Greek Tycoon’s Marriage Proposal. (I think I told you it’s going to be a marriage of convenience story.) I’ll work on the rest of the book while I’m waiting to hear what she thinks – and at this point I always cross my fingers in case she feels it’s not going in the right direction. I have some Greek research to do as well. I’m setting it in Santorini – so anyone who’s been there, any info would be welcome.

The schools break up today for their half term holiday and our grandson number one – baby Oliver’s cousin, who is twelve – is coming to stay with us, so we’re planning to do lots of things with him. Therefore no writing will get done, and probably no blogging either. Oliver is seven weeks old today – time has flown – and he’s grown! We have taken loads of photos but I won't bore you with them, as much as I'd like to.

Contest

As I haven't so far had many entries in my latest competition I've decided to extend it to the end of this month.

You'll find the details here. So good luck everyone. Don't forget, the prize is a two in one book.

And, by the way, Molly & Zarek are beginning to get to know each other better. Since she's lost her job he's invited her to come and work for him. Will she, won't she?

What's in a name?

So far my heroine is still Molly. I’m actually getting quite attached to it. I remember many years ago when I couldn’t think of a suitable name for my heroine I temporarily called her Jane Brown. Funnily enough Jane Brown she remained – with one exception. Jane became Jayne, and Brown became Browne. Jayne Browne. Both sounding the same but looking so different on paper. It’s important, I think, for them to look right as well as sounding right.

I used to keep a list of names, jotting them down whenever I saw one I liked, I had different pages for different nationalities (the Olympic Games was good for discovering foreign names) but I’ve long since exhausted it. This was before the Internet made it easy to look names up. Now all I have to do is use Google.

New beginnings

I can't believe it's taken me two weeks to write the first chapter of my new book. Usually the beginning virtually writes itself and I have no idea why this one has taken so long.

It's a Marriage of Convenience story and my hero is Greek and his name is Zarek. I'm posting a photo of him here but I have a whole batch of them stuck up on my pegboard in front of me as I write so it could be that I've spent my time drooling over him!!! I'll share one or two more with you as the book progresses.

My heroine's name is provisionally Molly. I christened her this in my synopsis thinking I'd come up with something different once I started the story but actually it's beginning to suit her. I did think of Freya. What does anyone else think of this name?

I actually went to school with a girl named Molly. My heroine looks nothing like her though. This Molly has rich auburn hair which hangs in curls and waves over her shoulders, and fantastic blue eyes. Zarek was smitten from the very beginning.

But Zarek and Molly? Or Zarek and Freya? I think I know which one will win. Just typing them out now it's startlingly obvious.

Car

I had a scary experience yesterday. I had a puncture. Not scary? Maybe not, but the position I was in couldn't have been worse. I was on a fast dual carriageway and had just rounded an island which is slightly offset so vision of the road ahead isn't clear until you're on the straight.

The worst part was that I had my daughter and my new little grandson with me. We scrambled out of the car and walked several yards away. Fortunately there was a grass verge so we were able to stand well back from the road while we waited for the emergency services to come and change the wheel.

Cars were coming so fast that several times I thought my car was going to get smashed as the ones in the nearside lane edged their way out. In particular there was a single decker bus who almost ran straight into it. I think he was looking at us, wondering what we were doing standing there and didn't see the car until the last minute. I've always treasured my little car and have hated the thought of anything happening to it, but while I stood there I thought I don't care what happens so long as the three of us are all right.

And guess what - Oliver slept all the way through it!

Book Titles

Remember Penny & Santo’s story? The book I finished a few weeks ago. I now have a title for it. THE ITALIAN’S RUTHLESS BABY BARGAIN. I’m not sure Santo was entirely ruthless, I wouldn’t like to think so, but hooks sell books so I dare not question it. It’s coming out in February 2009 which, as usual, seems a long time to wait. Looking at it another way, THE BILLIONAIRE’S BLACKMAIL BARGAIN which was accepted in October last year and is due out in September also seemed a long way away. But this year is rushing by so quickly that September will be upon me before I know it.

I now have the pleasure of meeting a new hero and heroine and I intend to spend this weekend getting to know them. I’ll maybe introduce them to you next week. They don’t have names yet but they will, I can’t write without a name, even though I sometimes change it part way through the book. Some names simply don’t suit some characters. It’s weird the way that happens. In one of my books I found myself calling my heroine a completely different name to the one I’d given her. I hadn’t even consciously thought about it. She just became that person.

Competition

Time is running out for my latest competition. If you want to be in with a chance of winning a copy of my two in one book TRAPPED and A TASTE OF PARADISE then you’d better get those entries in.

The competition’s running on my website but in case you haven't seen it here is the question again: On what date did I begin my writing career?

For the answer you need to read my bio, so take a quick look and email me your answer.

Good luck!

All sorts

My new grandson is now 2 weeks old and I've spent a lot of time this week at my daughter's as her partner has had to go into work. Oliver is such a joy. I've had the most wonderful time. I could go on about him all day - but I won't. I'll spare you the baby talk.

I'm still waiting to hear from my editor about my new synopsis so I'm not doing any writing at the moment. It feels strange and if it hadn't been for the baby I'd have most definitely been back at my desk doing something writing related. I-Heart Presents have asked me to do a blog later in the year so I could have been preparing that. And my book that has just been accepted (which so far does not have a title) is my 75th so I need to do a Dear Reader letter. And it's that time of year when the tax man will be expecting his accounts (the least enjoyable job).

I have a question. Yesterday I received two copies of Bedded at His Convenience in Afrikaans. I'm always interested in the titles different countries choose and I wonder if anyone can translate this one for me? Wraak in die bed.

Book challenge

I’d just like to add a reminder to everyone out there about eHarlequin.com’s 100,000 book challenge. Following on from last year’s success when the target was 10,000 books, and readers read an amazing 24,440 books, the plan now is to get 100,000 books read and reviewed. The actual challenge is to read 100 books in a year, 50 per cent of which should ideally be Harlequin romance books. But whatever number of books is read and reviews posted on reader’s blogs during 2008, Harlequin will donate the same number of books to the National Centre for Family Literacy. The aim of the NCFL is to promote learning and reading for disadvantaged children and parents so it is a very worth-while cause.

Here’s the link for anyone who is interested mailto:http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/book-challenge/how-add-book-review-100000-book-challenge

New baby

I’m bubbling over with excitement. I have a new baby grandson. I already have a step-granddaughter aged 19, a grandson aged 12, and now my daughter, who I thought would never have any children, has finally given us a grandchild. I wouldn’t be a doting grandmother if I didn’t say he was adorable. He is. He’s so cute that I have to share. Here he is at two days old.

Photographs

This is dawn in Barbados on the first morning of our cruise. Unfortunately we were never up early enough to see another spectacular sunrise!

I’ve just loaded all my photographs on to my computer and looked at them as a slide show. Our daughter bought us a digital photo frame for our anniversary, so what I’m going to do now is copy them on to a memory stick and insert it into the photo frame so that we can sit in our lounge and watch the display whenever we feel like it. I love watching photographs as slide shows because it brings back so many memories. I even have my screen saver set up as a slide show and it goes through every picture on my computer.

The alternative, before such technology, was getting out photograph albums – which is something I rarely did. So in this instance I embrace technology.

Contest

In all the excitement recently I’d forgotten about my contest. So apologies to all of you who were waiting anxiously to see if you’d won.

The question was: In which country is my September 2008 book – THE BILLIONAIRE’S BLACKMAIL BARGAIN – set? And the answer is: Australia.

I’ve persuaded my DH to wear a blindfold and pick out a winner. And the winner is…

Suzanne Bischoff

Suzanne, email me your address and I’ll send your prize – which is a copy of BEDDED AT HIS CONVENIENCE. The story of Keisha and Hunter and a marriage that went sour – and a reunion!

Caribbean

Amongst other things these last two weeks I’ve been away on a Caribbean cruise which I shall remember for a long time to come. The last time we did this was for our 40th Wedding Anniversary so it wasn’t an entirely new experience. What can I say about it? The weather was glorious, the food superb, the ship glamorous, and the islands exotic. I’ll be posting a photo now and then so you can see what I’m talking about but all I need now is sleep, and plenty of it. We flew back from Barbados overnight so were without sleep for twenty four hours; add jet lag on top of that and you can see what I mean.

While I was away I managed to jot down a few ideas for my new book, so I’ll be working on that in the days ahead. At the moment though all I want is my bed.