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