Foreign editions

I've just received a copy of The Italian's Ruthless Baby Bargain in German.

Don't you just love the cover?

And the title?

Good news

My latest book has now been accepted and is being published in May 2011 here in the UK under the title of A NIGHT WITH CONSEQUENCES.

The consequences were the night Kara spent with Blake - her boss. She had been working for him for nearly twelve months before he discovered that beneath the drab clothes she wore for work was actually a beautiful woman. It happened when she reluctantly accompanied him to Italy for the company's annual convention. I expect you can guess what the consequences were!

I am now supposedly taking a rest from writing to spend quality time with my long-suffering husband, but already my mind is busy working out a new plot. It's very sketchy yet but I keep adding. Very often I go to bed before my DH and then I'll sit up with a notebook and pencil and scribble down ideas. Often they get erased but there's always something that excites me, something that I can expand on.

This part of the process is the fun part. Creating new characters, giving them a history, leading them into the ups and downs of their new life together.

Workplace

The clearing of my desk went something like this:

I have a three tier filing tray. The top tray is for anything pending, filing, something interesting I want to keep, etc.

The middle one is for anything connected with my website.

The bottom one is for my current work in progress (though usually this remains sitting on my desk right in front of me)

The top tray was about four inches thick - it is now about half an inch. So that is good.

The middle tray has halved in size as well. A lot of stuff has been shredded. In fact it's a wonder my shredder hasn't stopped working due to overload. I was thinking about this - my shredder must be about twenty years old. It's a Rexel - so three cheers for Rexel!

And the bottom tray is empty - oh, that's because I've put everything to do with my book behind me on our grandson's high chair (The chair lives in here with me because there's nowhere else to put it. Ditto his box of toys. Ditto the treadmill.)

This is the most cluttered room in the house, but it's also the one I feel most comfortable in. If I turn around and look behind me, my three bookcases are overloaded. Every now and then I send some books to charity but they still keep piling up.

This is my work room and I'm entitled to get it a little untidy when I'm working on a book. Which is most of the time. At least that's my take on things.

Am I the odd one out here? Does everyone else keep their workplace as tidy as the rest of the house?

Revisions

The revisions are finished and are now with my editor. So once again it's clearing out the office time. How does so much paperwork accumulate? The answer - I'm a procrastinator. My DH is just the opposite. If something wants doing it's done immediately - and sometimes I'm the one who has to do it - so how does that work? Me - I leave things until the last minute. They say opposites attract - I guess it's true in our case, but it happily works.

The Lake District

Last week I stole a few days away from my revisions to visit the Lake District and I thought I would show you a few photographs of this incredibly beautiful and diverse part of England .

This is Hardknott Pass which was a particularly exhilarating drive. I'm thankful my husband is a very good driver because it was windy and raining - and very exciting! You can see the winding road shining as the light glints across its wet surface.

In contrast a serene scene of Coniston Water where Donald Campbell once raced his jet-powered boat Bluebird.

And finally a farmhouse nestling in one of the valleys.

Revisions

I'm deep in my revisions at the moment but all is going well. So if you don't hear from me for a few days you'll know why. And I'm not sorry that I'm stuck in the office because the rain is howling down outside. It seems that our summer is well and truly over.

Spreadsheets

I've recently changed to Microsoft Office 2007 - have I told you this before? I find some things work better than the old edition and some don't, but I've got used to the word processing side of things.

For the last two days, though, I've been working on a spreadsheet and I found this very different - certainly not so easy. I've actually been tearing my hair out - no, that's not true - but you know what I mean. Why won't it do this? Why won't it do that? How do you this? How do you do that? Do you know, I much prefer reading instructions from a book than using their on screen help.

Does anyone else think the same way?

News

I've heard from my editor - just as I was starting my paperwork! She likes the first half of Blake & Kara's story, but the second half needs some work doing on it to make it stronger. I'm leaving it, though, until everything else is in order. If I don't I can see the jobs never getting done.

We've had some terrible downpours of rain today and our electricity went off for a few minutes - luckily I'd just saved the work I was doing on a spreadsheet. Because we live in the country we often have power cuts, usually only lasting a few minutes, sometimes seconds, but it can be annoying when I'm working on my computer. I've got into the habit of saving my work every few sentences. But you can bet your bottom dollar that if I forget to save because the muse is working well then that's the time the electric will go.

Life

Life is back to normal. If it ever is normal! I have a mountain of paperwork to cope with - the main one being my annual accounts which I've kept putting off until I can put them off no longer.
And while we've been enjoying ourselves with our grandson the weeds have sneaked back into the garden - so that's another job to be done.

Also - I'm still waiting to hear from my editor. In one respect I want to hear, in another I'd like the time to get all my jobs done.

The Waiting Game

I hate playing the waiting game. I know it's been less than a week but already I'm anxious to know what my ed thinks of my book. Fortunately we now have our eldest grandson to stay with us for the rest of his school holidays - so, I'm going to take a break from my computer, and blogging for the next couple of weeks (she says hopefully) and really enjoy the time we're spending with him.

Friday the 13th

Is it dangerous to send off a manuscript on Friday 13th - because that's what I've just done?

I've spent all day giving Kara and Blake's story its final polish and now it is in my editor's inbox.

I feel drained - but happy. I think I might open a bottle of wine this evening.

I'm nearly there!

The first draft of my latest book is finally finished and over the last few days I have been busy reading through it and making alterations - sorry, I mean improvements. I now have only two chapters left and then a final read through before Kara and Blake leave me to sit on my editor's desk. I hope she enjoys their story as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Titles

I love the way the titles of our books change when theyare published in another country.


I've just received two copies of The Italian's Ruthless Baby Bargain in German with the title:

Die Nanny und der romische Millionar

Perfect!

Writing

I had hoped to finish my current book before the school holidays and visits by grandchildren. But it hasn’t worked out like that. It’s proving quite a slow book to write. Not that I’m complaining, I love the storyline and I love Blake, my hero, he’s totally gorgeous. But whereas writing is sometimes like swimming with the tide, on this occasion it’s like crawling through mud.

Must get on...