Reader, I Married Him

Another chapter of HH is done, and the changes in this one flowed right from my fingertips. Perhaps the more you edit, the easier it gets. I definitely hope to have this all finished by the end of the coming weekend.

Things are still on track for the release of the "Fall in Love" anthology tomorrow, so check back here around this time tomorrow for link and purchase information. I have that excited, anticipatory feeling I used to have when I was younger on the day before my birthday. :)

Tomorrow also sees the first episode of Reader, I Married Him -- a three-part miniseries on BBC Four all about romantic fiction and more precisely, "the enduring appeal of the love story and the integral part it plays in readers' lives". Some of my fellow members of the Romantic Novelists' Association participated in the making of this miniseries, and apparently tomorrow's premiere episode includes a focus on Mills & Boon. I already have the programme marked for reminder and recording on Sky Plus.


Just finished reading: Warm and Willing by Kate Hoffmann

Progress and a Postponement

Is postponement the right word? It doesn't feel quite right.

Anyway, it's been a good Writing Wednesday (I even got up at the same time I would if I was going to work!) and I've got two more chapters of HH revised. I know it probably sounds as if I could do more than two in one whole day of writing, but both of these chapters needed large rewrites. I think I probably actually wrote about 2-3,000 brand new words today, as well as chopping and swapping all the other bits. Sounds like a right hatchet job, doesn't it?!

I'm very proud of the two chapters I've done today, and I hope I'm not setting myself up for a fall by doing that. A few times before I have finished a chapter, read it through afterwards and thought "I am not bad at all!", only to read said chapter again a few days later and think it sucks. But the two I did today... I don't know. I really feel like I've used new knowledge to rewrite them and I think I've done a much better job of my conflict and tension-building, too. I hope so.

So, the postponement pertains, unfortunately, to the release of the "Fall in Love" anthology. Moonlit Romance's beloved senior editor, Sheila, has been unwell and the release has now been put back and pencilled in for next Monday, 18th September. This is not concrete, however, but rest assured you can check back here to my blog for the latest update and links once the anthology is out for purchase. Get well soon, Sheila!

T minus 5 days

It's come around so quickly -- the "Fall in Love" anthology, which contains my winning novella, The Little Shop of Dreams, is released this coming Friday, September 15th! Hurrah! On the day itself I will post details on how you can buy a copy and provide links.

At the moment I am still in the middle of revising Haunted Hearts. Somehow life keeps getting in the way. But I would really love to get it all done by the end of this weekend, next at the latest. I am thinking of doing NaNoWriMo this year for my next idea, and the intention is that all of your planning is done by November 1st, at which point you start writing, so I would have a month and a half to get all my preparation done. Seems like a lot but all I have to go on so far is an opening scene and that's it! However, we all know how good I am at sticking to my plans, so maybe I'll start writing before November... :)

I am feeling very positive about where to target my writing now. In a previous post I talked about how I wasn't sure of the line I should be targeting, but thanks to a Q&A last week on eHarlequin.com, I am now very sure! When I first started seriously writing romances I always had the intention of going for Silhouette Sensation, known in the US as Silhouette Intimate Moments (SIM). A couple of months ago it was announced that SIM would be transforming into a new imprint called Silhouette Romantic Suspense (SRS), and I began to doubt that the new SRS line would be right for my ideas. But following the Q&A with Patience Smith, Associate Senior Editor, I am fairly certain that this is the line I should be targetting, since my new ideas fit it perfectly, and what's more, Patience says -- and I quote -- "we are actively looking for new blood to mesh with the established authors".

If you are interested in the new SRS line, you can read full guidelines here and see the complete transcript of Patience's Q&A here.


Just finished reading: Stitches in Time by Barbara Michaels

What Kind of Writer am I?

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In other news, this afternoon I broke our lawnmower. I was getting increasingly annoyed with the height adjuster that would *not* stay where I wanted it (high) but kept dropping down to the last notch (lowest of the low). I haven't mowed the lawn for a while, since I've been letting it grow after all the deadeningly hot sun, so it was way too long to mow closely. And because the mower kept dropping to the lowest height, the blade was closer to the ground than the wheels, so the lazy little feature that makes the mower roll along by itself when you depress the handle didn't work. I was pushing and shoving manual-style and trying not to macerate the grass down to its roots, and so intent was I on getting the bloody thing to move that I did not notice the lead, and -- yes -- I mowed over it and sliced it in two. I'm sure there used to be an urban legend about somebody who electrocuted themselves by doing this, but thankfully it didn't happen, and thankfully we now have an extremely good reason to buy a new mower.

Just finished reading: Spirit Willing, Flesh Weak by Julie Cohen

Mid-Point

I got back on to revising HH today, after spending most of the morning sorting out all my accounts and filing. (Score.) Still, I'm now pretty much halfway through my revisions, and I don't think the second half of the book will need as much revamping as the first part, apart from the black moment at the end, which now has to change.

I now understand why people say editing is HARD. I do not think it is my favourite part of the writing process. It can be quite difficult to remember whether I've added or deleted something another character should know, and later comments on, and there's a part of me that worries about whether the whole thing might now sound really disjointed and pasted together.

Sigh.

I forgot to mention in my previous post about the Moonlit Authors Blog that there is also a Moonlit Romance Readers' Group. Here we discuss lots of different things, chat, and have frequent mini-contests! At the moment there is a membership contest running where you could win a free download of any Moonlit novel, simply for joining the loop. Why not join us? It could be you!


Just finished reading: Rage by Jonathan Kellerman

September Starts

So, I didn't quite make my self-imposed end-of-August deadline for my revisions on HH. Other stuff came up and I just couldn't make it, but it's not a disaster because actually the book doesn't need to be ready by October. That's not to say I am going to leave it until October, of course! I'll get back to work on it this weekend and will still plan on getting it all tied up as soon as I can, so I can get to work on the new idea.

Tomorrow is the 1st of September, and as well as bringing the sense of the start of autumn, it also brings the start of two other things.

The first is a new month of entries on the Moonlit Romance Authors Blog. This blog was created to give you the opportunity to find out about Moonlit's upcoming releases, and meet and chat with the authors, editors and publisher themselves. Because the Fall in Love anthology is being released in September, myself, Nell Dixon, and Rebecca Ruger (the anthology authors) are hosting the blog for the month. On the blog we discuss writing romance and reading romance among many other things, and everyone is welcome. A new entry will appear every weekday of the month, so be sure to come along and join us!

The other launch happening tomorrow is that of the Pink Heart Society blog. The PHS, of which I am a member, is a gathering of supporters of category romance. Writers, both published and unpublished, and readers are encouraged to come and show their love and support for romance, so please feel free to pop along and join in the fun. You might even like to volunteer as a reviewer -- and get free books! Now tell me why that's not worth checking out... :) You can reach the blog from here at any time by clicking on the dancing pink heart in my links section to the right.

In other news, Nell's latest release, Things to Do is now available to buy! TTD is quite possibly my most favourite of Nell's works yet.


Just finished reading: Drive Me Wild by Vicki Lewis Thompson

Die Hard 3: The Bottle Puzzle

The Bloke and I watched Die Hard with a Vengeance the other night, which I've never managed to see all the way through, for reasons I'm not really sure of. The only bit that had stuck in my mind was a puzzle that Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson were set by loony villainist Jeremy Irons, in which they had a 3-litre bottle and a 5-litre bottle and had to use them both to put exactly 4 litres of water on a set of scales to prevent a bomb blowing up. They do it so fast in the movie that you can't really follow what happens, and I spent about 25 minutes after that scene blankly watching the movie while the cogs in my mind were turning and trying to figure out how they did it -- and I did! Snaps to me!

So I thought I would post the solution for the next time I watch the movie and can't remember how they did it. Or maybe for anyone who watches the movie, also can't figure it out, and gets on the web to find out how.

Remember they couldn't use an approximate measurement -- i.e. no filling up the 5-litre bottle around four-fifths of the way up.

1. Fill 5L bottle to the top.

2. Fill the 3L bottle using the full 5L bottle, leaving 2 litres in the 5L.

3. Empty the 3L and refill it with the 2 litres you were left with in the 5L.

4. Fill the 5L all the way up again, then pour as much as will fit into the 3L. Since you already have 2 litres in there, only one more litre will fit -- leaving you with 4 litres in the 5L bottle!

Hmm. Now I've written it out it sounds really easy.

My Hand Hurts!

You see, I've practically rewritten all of chapter six, which is the latest bit of revising I've done on HH. I had to take out an entire, almost chapter-length conversation between my characters which was to do with a conflict I'm no longer using, and write in a whole new chapter-length conversation using a brand new conflict. I've been working on paper, doing all my changes in a red pen, then typing them all up into a new draft on my laptop. The side of my index finger seems moulded to the hexagonal shape of the pen barrel. Nice.

I'm edging closer to the halfway point and am still hoping to have it all done by the end of this month. I'm really looking forward to starting work on my new idea, too, which is spurring me on to get HH done and out the door.

I have ridiculously high hopes for this new idea. Well, not hopes exactly -- high hopes implies you are likely to achieve them, even if they're very tough. It would probably be better to describe the feeling as high ambitions. I would love for this next project to go a very long way -- straight up into a very specific stratosphere -- but whether it does...

Well. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm going to plan it and write it with a very specific vision of where I want to see it in five or ten years' time. It will help me get the right feel and the right tempo. I hope.

And, no, I'm not saying what my "high ambition" is. It's too embarrassing. Imagine a student at a school careers counselling session saying "I'm going to take over from Bill Gates" or "I'm going to be Prime Minister", and really, really thinking it could happen. Well, that's me.

Yup. High ambitions indeed.


Just finished reading: The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley

One Book

Am at home this afternoon. Women's things suck.

Nell has tagged me for a 'book' list, so here it is:

1. One book that changed my life: The Oxford Companion to English Literature. The middle school I attended had a tradition of giving one book to each departing pupil, which they got to choose, and I picked this. I wanted a book I would constantly refer to and get really good mileage out of, but something that was more exciting than an ordinary dictionary. I have turned to this book many times over the years: when I wanted to learn more about Shakespearean characters, classic writers, outlines of Must Read books, and writing styles.

2. One book I have read more than once: The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. This was my favourite book all through childhood, and remains my favourite book to this day. Apparently JK Rowling has also named it as one of her favourite books, so I am in good company. This story is beautiful -- the writing even more so -- and I still pick this up and re-read it every couple of years. I even bought myself a new copy about eight years ago so my original childhood one wouldn't get too worn out.

3. One book I would want on a desert island: Hmm... tough one. It would have to be something pretty big, I think, because I read quickly. But then again, it depends how long I'm stranded and what else there is to do. Rather boringly, I suppose something like the SAS Survival Handbook might be very useful.

4. One book that made me laugh: Things to Do by Nell Dixon. Okay, it's not published yet, but since I'm the author's critique partner I get the "CP's benefit" of reading Nell's work as she writes it. You have all got a lot to look forward to with this book. Nell's characters, the situations they get into, and the things they say had me laughing out loud as I critiqued this book (there were lots of red pen "LOL"s). Gilly is one of my favourites in this book, but I also hold a special place in my heart for Mr G and his backseat karaoke ;) It's out on August 29th.

5. One book that made me cry: I don't think I've cried at many books, but the most recent one I can remember is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Apparently more characters are due to die in number seven. Gulp.

6. One book I wish I’d written: Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani. This book is the first in a trilogy, all of which I consumed in just a couple of weeks one summer a couple of years ago. If you haven't read them, you simply must. They are some of the best books I've ever read and the characters are still with me. The good news is that a fourth instalment is coming in September -- early birthday present to self.

7. One book I wish had never been written: Hmm, another tough one. I might have to go with American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis. I know it's cult reading, but it's also the vilest thing I've ever read. It's usually included in lists of classic twentieth-century novels, but whether the writing is revolutionary or not, I just can't get past the content. Sorry.

8. One book I am currently reading: The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley. My NWS report mentioned Susanna Kearsley twice (once as a comparison to my manuscript -- eep), so I immediately sourced out some of her books. This is the first one I have read, and I can't put it down. It's part ghost-story, part romance, set around an archaeology dig in Scotland. I am definitely looking forward to reading more of this author's books.

9. One book I have been meaning to read: Ye Gads, there are about five hundred! But the one that is sitting on my shelf, staring at me, tapping its foot and raising an eyebrow at me is The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier. If you read my blog regularly you will know that I read Rebecca for the first time a couple of months ago and absolutely adored it. I'd tried THOTS last year, on the dual recommendations of a colleague (Hi Anne!) and Nell, but couldn't get into it. Given how much I loved Rebecca, I'm determined to try again with this one.

I tag Phillipa Ashley, Fiona Harper, and Sam B. (if you can do it on your blog!) to complete their "One Book" lists.

A Little Light Relief...

...from the current air travel situation. It made me laugh, anyway. (Don't forget to look at the sidebar with 'other news stories'.)

Revamp

Yesterday I gave my website a bit of a revamp. I'd decided that the font was a bit too big and not particularly readable, plus I didn't think my "About Me" had enough detail about my history with writing, and there weren't many links. I've also added a page for all my latest news, which I plan to update once a month (but with a permanent link here, for all the latest latest news). If you happen to pop over and have a peek at it I'd love to know what you think.


Just finished reading: Ghost of a Chance by Nina Bruhns

Call Me Butter...

...because I am on a roll!

Ha ha and all that... :)

Yesterday was a very successful day. I revised another two chapters which, although it doesn't sound like much, amounted to about 8,000 words. I did quite a lot of deleting and substituting, and I also wrote quite a lot of new stuff. I'm very pleased with how it's shaping up so far and my characters seem so much more vibrant. I've updated my word count bar and as you can see, I am now almost a quarter of the way through.

I can also now tell you that my entry has come and gone in the Romance Junkies Writing Contest! It appeared the week before last. I think I ended up with about 65 votes, although I don't know what they were. I received a little selection of comments, too, including some "nice"s, a "lovely description", and even an "I love this"! Somebody also mentioned that they didn't like my opening line and that was okay, because I wasn't too crazy about it either. I know how important the opening line has to be -- especially in a contest where you rely on people getting sucked in to voting on your entry by the first couple of lines -- and I'd already decided that I was going to change it. You can still read my entry, although voting on it is now closed. It is called Never Forget.

Jardin de Jessica

The deck and the new patio furniture are now stained, the plants are potted, and the brick barbecue built. Here's how it looks:

There's still more I need to do in the garden -- creating flowerbeds, nailing up trellises and wall baskets, etc., not to mention praying that my lawn recovers, but at least the seating area is now finished. Here's the barbecue:

I love how rustic and cottagey it looks! And to top off my picture display of the day, here is a peach that has started to grow on my peach tree:

Today being a Writing Wednesday, I am getting on with my HH revisions, and I'm hoping that by the end of the day my new progress bar will have made a sizeable leap. I'd still really like to get this MS all tied up and sent out by the end of the month, so I can start working on my next idea -- and get busy with publicity bits and pieces for the release of the Fall in Love anthology!

Just finished reading: California Moon by Catherine Lanigan

And She's Off!

It is true! After:

(a) slogging through my treacle-like mind for the last month or two, trying to find solutions to the problems in Haunted Hearts that my New Writers Scheme report threw up;

(b) settling on and fleshing out the Good Idea; and

(c) doing the research that would enable me to execute the new plot directions and characterizations...

...I finally started my revisions today. I've set up a new word count bar to keep track of my progress; so far I have got through chapter one. It may not sound like a lot, but it really feels like it to me. I am one-fifteenth of the way there!

But I'm not cracking open the bubbly yet -- no way. I can get very easily sidetracked (eh, Nell?!) and I'd really like to get HH finished up and ready to send out by the end of the month. In September last year, The Bloke and I had recently moved into our house and for some reason I hit a real athletic stride with my writing -- like nothing I've ever experienced -- and I churned out the best part of HH (14 chapters) in little over a month. So it would be nice if I could have the book all tied up and shipped out on submission before this September starts. That way I have a nice clean break in which to start a new project, with the memories of last September inspiring me on to more "In-The-Zone" greatness.


Just finished reading: Honeymoon with a Stranger by Frances Housden (which I *loved*)

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

I recently received my contract for "The Little Shop of Dreams", which will be appearing in the Fall In Love anthology, from Moonlit Romance. It was pretty exciting to read, especially when I was referred to throughout as "The Author". :D It's on its way back to Moonlit as we speak, and I've just realized that the anthology will actually be coming out next month!! I feel nervous already!

Also, happy birthday to my blog, which turned one year old on Saturday. Congratulations to those of you who've been reading my blitherings for that long!


Just finished reading: True Believer by Nicholas Sparks

Stop and Ask for Directions

I would, but I don't know who to ask. You see, it's like this...

I am always reading, and I make a concerted effort to vary and alternate the kinds of books I read. My basic rule is mainstream/category romance/mainstream/category romance/etc., which you should be able to see if you follow the progress of my Just Finished Reading footnotes.

So, for example, I read a single-title from any genre -- chick-lit, crime, classic, historical, contemporary, mystery, whatever -- and when I've finished it, I read a shorter category romance. This could be a Silhouette Special Edition, Silhouette Intimate Moments (Sensation), Mills & Boon Modern Extra, Mills & Boon Tender, or any number of collected backlist books from Silhouette/M&B lines that are no longer publishing. This way I get a good spread of all kinds of reading, all of which entertain me and help me learn.

But the wider I read, the less sure I am of where I should target my own writing. When I first started HH, I planned on submitting it to Silhouette Intimate Moments. Then I thought about Mills & Boon Tender for a while (before the word count and light paranormal aspect nixed that idea), before moving on to Silhouette Superromance (before the word count got in the way again), and then Silhouette Special Edition. Now I don't think it will be a Silhouette/M&B at all, since I am planning on submitting it to Moonlit Romance once my revisions are completed.

Meanwhile, my ideas file is floating ominously in the background, and my half-completed character charts for The Guardians are tapping their feet in rhythm with my typing. Once HH is out the door, I'm not sure which story I'll turn to next, let alone which line I think I should target it at.

The advice on reading all the different romance lines and deciding on the one you like best as the one you should write for is good advice, but when you're such a voracious reader, as I am, then where do you go when you like books from about five different lines in equal measures? Does anyone else have this problem?

[Deck News: First coat of deck stain is down (it's "light oak", Lis!) and pots are potted. Garden furniture hopefully coming on Friday, so will take a photo of the finished masterpiece at the weekend.]

Oh, and don't forget this week's Romance Junkies entries :D

Deck Construction Task: Check

And so the building of the deck is completed! Here's how it looks, with the boards and the slate edging all laid (and my mini finishing touch of solar lights):




The proper decorating is still to come -- namely staining the boards twice over, then adding all the pots and tubs and, of course, the patio furniture. I'll post another final picture once all that is done and it's looking really byoo-dee-ful.

In writerly news, I've pretty much completed the research I needed to do for my HH changes, so I'll start doing my revising in earnest in the next few days. I'm hoping it won't take too long, but who knows... I haven't read the book all the way through for quite a few months now and I might be underestimating the task ahead!


Just finished reading: Strange Bedpersons by Jenny Crusie

Might I Remind You About...

...the Romance Junkies contest!

There are some good entries up this week, ranging from historical to contemporary, and suspense to paranormal. If you have a little spare time, please consider checking them out and casting a couple of votes. Go on -- you could help launch a burgeoning romance writer's career!

See this week's entries here.

Garden Update

The deck is almost finished now. Here's how it looked on Sunday...

...when the frame had been built and bolted into the ground using posts and concrete. Membrane was laid down to stop the weeds getting through, then overlaid with sand to stop it blowing away. Note the clear path where there's no sand, running from the door to the lawn. This was so Little Missy, otherwise known as Popple the Jack Russell, could go in and out without getting sand all over her paws. But what did she do? Yes -- she ran all over the sand anyway.

At the moment, the deck looks like this:


We stained the frame on Monday evening, then yesterday the shingle was put in and our friend began to lay the boards. He's coming back this afternoon and hopes to have all of the boards fixed by tonight. Yeeshk, look how awful my lawn looks... This is what comes of a hosepipe ban when your turf is less than one year old!

We are also having a brick-built barbecue and so far, the concrete has been laid, which currently looks like this:

This is the shady part of the garden, which might explain why the lawn looks so much healthier.

Can't wait to start having barbie parties on the deck!

Just finished reading: Guarding Laura by Susan Vaughan

Lucky Number 13 / Milestone Number 100

A few hours ago I posted about how I'd finally found my idea for how to revise HH, and I said I was about to start doing some essential research for it and then start planning out how to make the changes. I'm pleased to say I have done exactly that -- proper research, not attempted research (in which I dither about on the Internet looking at random stuff -- there's a difference).

Whenever I'm working on an idea for something -- characters, a plot point, a storyline, or a whole book plan -- I open a new document in MS Word and type, type, type. I type like I'm talking to myself, discussing each idea and its merits/downfalls as it enters my head. It's sort of a stream-of-consciousness thing and helps me understand why I thought of things and how I saw them linking together when I read it later on. Sounds a bit crazy, but it works for me. Once I hit on the idea I want to use, I save the "discussion document" and start a new file in which I go through the Good Idea in more detail and plan out how to put it into action.

This is what I've been doing today. I went back through my discussion document, separating out each individual idea I'd thought of and tidying up my rambling so that it reads more coherently. As I went through the document, I found myself marvelling at the number of different ideas I'd managed to rack up despite the fact that I was so sure I was thinking of nothing at all (at least, nothing useful -- again, there's a difference).

During my tidying, I numbered each idea individually. And guess what -- it turns out that the Good Idea I eventually managed to hit on after moans, gripes, Yahoo discussions with Nell, "yes-I've-got-it"s that were quickly followed by "nope-that's-crap"s, and more than a couple of 4-hour stints in which I sat, stared into the distance and typed four lines of poop, the Good Idea presented itself at...

... lucky number 13. Funny.

Then, when I logged in to Blogger to create this post, I realized that it would be none other than milestone post number 100.

And with that said, I'm getting back to work. In case you haven't guessed, it's been tough work trying to excavate the Good Idea from the recesses of my mind, but now that I've got it, I'm hanging on tight. I think I've got my groove back.

Eh...

...it's so sticky. And, yes, I know -- we're never happy. Moaning when it's too cold and wet, waiting for summer to arrive. Them moaning when it's too hot, hoping for thunder and rain every night.

We're having a deck built in our garden at the moment. Our neighbour, who is a builder, is doing it for us and it's going to look brill. Quite simple, without any balustrading or anything, but it's quite big (plenty of room for pots of flowers, which I shall be inheriting from my Mum when she moves to Spain at the end of the year) and will be edged with shingle and have a cut-off corner where you step down on to the garden path. I might try and post some before-and-after pictures.

In very good news, I have finally settled on an idea for the changes I wanted to make to HH. It's going to make my conflicts much more psychological, rather than being kind of circumstantial. Nell told me that the Mills & Boon workshop at the RNA Conference a couple of weeks ago placed much emphasis on "deep psychological stuff", so hopefully my new take on the story will point it in a better direction. Got some research to do today, then I'll start going through the MS and taking notes on what needs to come out, what needs to be changed, and what needs to be added.


Just finished reading: Marrying Max by Nell Dixon

Don't Forget...

...that the Romance Junkies contest, of which I am one of the many entrants, is in full flow. You can go and vote on this week's batch of entries here.

Back in the Saddle

We had a lovely time in Cornwall and the weather held out for us for most of the trip, with just a bit of rain on Saturday night and on the drive back. Mannings Aparthotel, the executive apartment in Truro, was absolutely lovely and we would definitely go back there. The Carlyon Bay Hotel, by the sea near the Eden Project, was also lovely but *very* posh -- a true old-school English hotel. We didn't fit in as many activities as we would have liked, but we really only had two full days to get things done once the travelling was taken into account. Here are some highlights:

Sunset over the sea as viewed from Land's End

A sea of snapdragons at the Lost Gardens of Heligan

View from the boardwalk over Heligan's subtropical jungle valley

Flame-red lilies in the "Warm Temperate" (Mediterranean) biome at the Eden Project

Beautiful landscaping at Eden

All in all, a lovely trip -- and lots of lovely food, too. Cornish ice cream, local breads and butters, clotted cream teas, cheeses, smoked salmon... And, yes, the fish and chips at Rick Stein's was just as good as expected, if not more! I fear no other fish and chips will ever be able to match the taste and quality. They should give you a knife and spoon to eat it with instead of a knife and fork, because the fish just falls apart. Mmm, I want to go back already...

Work-wise, I'm still working on my plans for revamping HH, and although it's slow-going (and tremendously hard work), I am getting there bit by bit. At least, I think I am...

In other news, Nell is working on an exciting new story, Charlie Darling, which will be a medical romance. You can get more details on her blog. I'm really looking forward to seeing the first chapter -- no pressure, Nell! :) Also, another of her books, Marrying Max, is available in the shops now, so look out for it!

Just finished reading: The Bride Wore Chocolate by Shirley Jump

Romance Junkies

The annual Romance Junkies writing contest has begun!

In this contest, writers submit the first chapter of a novel and each week a handful of entries are posted on the RJ website. Anybody can read the entries and vote on them, and even send comments to the author to let them know what they thought of their work! The top 18 finalists get a critique by one of the author panellists, while the top three will be read by Kara Cesare of the Penguin group (Signet/NAL/Eclipse). Kara Cesare will pick a Grand Prize Winner, who will receive an AlphaSmart 3000, but more importantly, I think, the chance of having a top editor read their work! There is still time to enter if you'd like to have a go.

Romance Junkies have issued a few rules for entrants concerning the publicizing of entry appearances. In previous years, apparently, some people announced that their entry was up and their friends then rushed over to the site to cast top votes for it. This was all very nice, but it meant that sometimes a more popular author would inch up the chart simply because lots of their friends voted for them, and not because passing readers were genuinely voting on the quality of the entry.

Therefore, I will say that I *have* entered the Romance Junkies contest, but under a pseudonym and with a false title. I'm not sure that I can even specify the week in which my entry will appear, so instead I'll post a quick reminder for you to check out the entries each week.

You can check out the first selection of entries here.

Good luck everybody!

You Can Go Your Own Way

...and my "writerly mind" did, for a while -- *way* out of the way. The cheek of it.

You see, following my NWS report I've made a list of the weak points in HH that need changing, all of which hinge almost completely on two major things:

1. A new reason why my couple originally split up (HH is a reunion romance).
2. A new reason why my heroine turns up at the hero's house at the start of the novel to do a paranormal investigation for him.

My brain has been refusing to work, which has been intensely frustrating -- I have even been reduced to searching Google for "reasons why couples break up". Desperate times, people!

But I think I'm getting there. I think that during today's Writing Wednesday I've seen a glimmer that could be the light at the end of the tunnel. Nina Simone, Fleetwood Mac (hence my title) and the ever-reliable Foo Fighters have been helping me. God bless 'em.

Going to Manderley

Of course, I'm not really. But myself and the Bloke remembered that we had both booked a few days off work for next weekend, originally so that I could go to the RNA Conference and he could visit his Dad and family, who live nearer to where the conference is being held than to us. Finances at the time meant I never managed to book my place at Conference, but we still had that weekend sitting blank in our schedules. So we've booked another short break. And partly because of Daphne du Maurier, we are going to Cornwall!

2 nights in an executive apartment in Truro and one night in a manor house just outside the Eden Project beckon. I'm really looking forward to it, even though the weather forecast is looking a bit soggy. I'm hoping that will change. But seeing as we are going for the same amount of time we spent in Paris, we hope to fit a lot in. Namely: lying on the beach (if it's nice), picnics, swimming, the Eden Project, Lost Gardens of Heligan, Tintagel Castle, Lands End, Trebah Gardens, Fistral Beach at Newquay, National Seal Sanctuary, fish-and-chips at Rick Stein's in Padstow, St Michael's Mount, and -- just discovered -- the Cornish Yarg Cheese Factory!

Oops, I think I swallowed a guide book... But if you have any other sights to recommend, please do so!


Just finished reading: Their Unexpected Family by Judy Duarte

The Verdict Is In

There was an attempted parcel delivery card waiting on my doormat when I got home from work today. It could have been one of a few things -- the new set of hair straighteners I won last week on eBay; one of the last two packages that are yet to arrive from the Brenda Novak auction; my Amazon order that's been backdated because one of the books I ordered wasn't published yet... But it could also have been my New Writers Scheme report. So with that in mind, I jumped in the car and raced off to the sorting office, post-haste.

I was right. And for some unknown reason I had the strength to wait until I got back home, made a strong cup of tea, and sat down and logged onto Yahoo Messenger to relay the news to Nell before I opened the package!

I am a very lucky girl -- my report was wonderfully thorough and ran to 7 pages of single-spaced text, covering possible markets, characters, and plot. The greater part of the report was taken up with recommendations for ways to improve my writing, my structure, and in particular my characters. I agreed with every single point about my areas of weakness, and I can't believe I didn't see some of them!

My reader also said some very lovely things about my writing itself. Of course, I couldn't get away without posting a few snippets...

"Firstly you are to be congratulated on completing a full manuscript. This is no small achievement. I see from your form that you have already had a short story published and have won a novella contest. This success shows in the accomplished and fluent style of your writing."

"Your dialogue is easy and natural and your descriptive passages are very evocative. I particularly liked the phrase [when describing the oil paintings in the house] "the oils themselves looked dirty and jaundiced in the sticky summer air" and there were other lines equally good later in the book. You also write the sensual scenes with skill -- no mean feat -- creating a romantic and emotionally tense relationship between your hero and heroine."

"...your writing is smooth and stylish and shows a great deal of potential, and I wouldn't be going into so much detail if I didn't feel you had the ability to succeed."

"[Another] possibility is that you expand the book by 20,000 words or so and develop it into a paranormal romance in the style of Barbara Erskine or Susanna Kearsley. I felt the book was particularly reminiscent of Susanna Kearsley's style in Mariana -- the atmospheric country setting, the past and present stories woven together."

"This is your book and it is entirely your decision which direction you want to take your writing. I should add here that it is extremely difficult to get UK publishers to accept mainstream paranormal romance even though they all claim to want to discover the new Barbara Erskine, but it is not impossilbe and if that is the sort of thing you want to write then I would go for it!"

"...you have two very attractive protagonists and a wonderful setup in that they have had a relationship in the past that ended unhappily and now they are meeting again and having to dealing with all the past pain as well as present attraction. I thought that [your heroine], in particular, was nicely drawn and mainly sympathetic... [Your hero] has the makings of a very attractive hero. He's gorgeous, intelligent, and under the surface he is sensitive and thoughtful about how [your heroine] feels."

"It may appear that I have suggested a great number of changes to your manuscript but I would like to stress that there are many positive aspects of your writing. The first and most important thing is that you can write. You have a fluent style and a very nice turn of phrase...You do have the skill to succeed. I wish you the very best of luck with your writing and with this manuscript."

Excuse me while I get Kleenex!

I am so, so thrilled. It was such a fabulous report. All I want to do now is abandon my plans for The Guardians, revise HH according to my report recommendations and get it out there. Okay, so my reader didn't say I AM the new Barbara Erskine, but to have her name mentioned in my report is pretty thrilling. It wasn't long ago that I read Lady of Hay and really enjoyed it. How mad!

OK, I need to eat dinner. Been too busy absorbing.

Thank you, NWS!!

My New Web Presence

No news yet from the NWS -- don't worry, as soon as I hear anything the news will be posted!

This weekend I shall be mostly:

1. Completing my character charts for The Guardians
2. Painting our bedroom
3. Going to Ikea to buy new bedroom furniture

I'm also happy to announce that I now have a website! I created it myself over the last couple of days and I'm really pleased with how it looks. You can visit my new web presence by clicking here and, better yet, fill in my contact form and let me know what you think!


Just finished reading: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. A definite keeper. "I couldn't put it down" is a cliche, but... well... it's completely true. If anybody has read "Rebecca's Tale" by Sally Beauman, who wrote the introduction in my copy, I would be interested to know what you thought of it.

Cover Girl

Today is a very cool today as the cover for the "Fall in Love" anthology has been released!

Isn't it bew-dee-ful?? I know the picture's not very big, but I just cannot work out how to enlarge it :/ If I can get a better version then I'll repost it. The cover was designed by Sheila Holloway, senior editor at Moonlit Romance.

I've got quite a bit further with my plans for The Guardians and since tomorrow is a Writing Wednesday, I'm hoping to get that all tied up ready for *actual* writing to begin. I have my characters' names chosen as well -- Annabel and Bo.

Will be watching the England game tonight with eagle eyes because, for the first time in my entire life, I have placed a bet on an event! Scary, I know, and very adult. I actually wanted to place a bet on the winner of Big Brother, but I found an offer where I got a free bet on BB if I placed a bet on a sporting event. So this way I've got two chances of winning some green. We'll see.

As We Speak...

...my entry is being read. I have heard from the NWS organizer and I received my self-addressed acknowledgement postcard in today's post. I am so excited I can't even really describe it. This is the first time that somebody other than me and Nell have read HH -- and not only that but whoever my reader happens to be, they are an expert in the romance industry -- most likely an existing M&B or Silhouette author.

*bites nails*

At the moment I am reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, partly to start fulfilling the massive gap in my readership of classic novels. I have to say I am really, really enjoying it. So far I am a bit creeped out already, and am finding the male protagonist, Maxim de Winter, quite alluring. I don't know if that makes me weird, as I've never heard him referred to as a classic "hero" e.g. along the lines of Mr Darcy!

Planning on finishing off my brainstorming for The Guardians this weekend, and hopefully it will result in an actual synopsis-style plan for the story so that I might soon start to write again -- joy! :) :)

And hello to my boss, who found my blog earlier this week!


Just finished reading: Delicious by Julie Cohen

Postage Imminent

Now my manuscript is ready to send off to the NWS. I'd finished going through the actual book itself, and then I was reading through the entry guidelines ready to start filling in the submission form and realized I had to write a one-page synopsis as well. This was something I was never looking forward to -- trying to encapsulate all the important points of the characters, the story, the plot, the arc, their relationship, and how everything changes across the span of the book IN ONE PAGE.

But I finished it up this morning and Nell's just taking a quick look at it for me before I print everything up ready to send off. I'm so excited to receive my report on it. I think the usual turnaround is about a month. Once the package has gone tomorrow I'm going to dive back into my brainstorming for The Guardians. Although I had two other ideas yesterday as well...

The Guardians

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, my sunburn from the weekend has finally faded, and I'm working on ideas for my next book, which at the moment is titled something roughly like the above. (How weird is that, saying "my next book"? Yeeshk...) I'm feeling excited about it already but the book involves some legal wrangling -- on my characters' parts, I hasten to add, not my own-- so at the moment I'm trying to think of different ways of making the setup believable and as near-true as I can get it. Don't worry, Nell, you'll get my rambling brainstorm document soon -- haven't seen one of those for a while, have you?! :) :)

The revisions of HH are completely done now -- both my own edits and those from using Nell's chapter critiques, and all I have to do now is one last read-through before printing it out ready to send to the NWS. That's top of my To Do list for tomorrow's Writing Wednesday.

Random noticings from last night's TV:

1. I am getting increasingly irritated by the number of times Grace and Lisa in Big Brother feel they have to insert the word "f******" into their sentences.

2. The last scene of the ER season finale with Luka and Abby was a big fat dramatic tearjerker, to say the least (and I must track down the song that played behind it).

3. The Punisher is a film which, though very violent, has some funny parts and one hell of a gorgeous leading man -- although you wouldn't really guess it from his profile picture on IMDB. So to save you some work, look here and behold the rather luscious Thomas Jane:





Just finished reading: Living Dangerously by Katie Fforde

Goal!

Congratulations to the England football team on their win yesterday against Jamaica. I can't say I actually watched it, since I'm not really into football, but when World Cup fever starts to spread? The England flags flutter from the cars parked down the street and you hear the sound of cheering from a neighbour's TV as you enjoy the sun, and it's hard not to get excited for the home team.

And it's goal for me, too, because I've finished revising Haunted Hearts!

Woo-hoo!

So I'll be sending that off to the New Writers Scheme this week and eagerly awaiting my report. What's also very cool is that it's only 2pm on Sunday so I have another four or five good hours of sun with the most burn-worthy time of the day over, in which to sit in my freshly-mown garden with a cold drink and the Katie Fforde book I'm reading. I know I said I was also going to work on brainstorming for my next book, but I'm so pleased to have finished revising that I'm going to enjoy the sun as my reward. And who knows, I may not be able to stop myself from scribbling anyway, so I'll take a notepad outside, too.

Whines, Wins, and Work

Try saying that quickly five times...

I think I've hit that lull that magically appears once you've been back at work for a bit after a holiday. You know the kind -- where you wish you could take off on a trip whenever you felt like it, with affording it and getting time off being completely insignificant factors.

*Sigh*

(That was the "Whine".)

On to the "Win", and bestselling romance author Brenda Novak's auction in aid of diabetes research has now come to a close. I'm happy to say I won a bunch of cool stuff! It's even cooler to know that the money I'll be paying for my prizes will go towards finding a cure for diabetes. It was a shame in more ways than one that I lost out on the chance for a read of a proposal by a Silhouette editor. Maybe next year! In fact, speaking of next year, I'm already hoping that when the auction comes around again in May 2007, I might be in a position to donate something to be bid on -- I'm thinking... copy of the "Fall in Love" anthology in which Little Shop will appear, Cadbury's chocolate, Twinings/Whittard teabags... some kind of British theme.

And concluding with "Work" (or "Weekend"), my plans for Saturday and Sunday are to finally finish up my revision of HH so I can get it off to the New Writers Scheme, and to start brainstorming on the idea for my next book. Please wish me concentration and discipline, because it looks like it's going to be a nice, sunny weekend, and the thought of sitting in the garden with some pink lemonade and a selection from my T(o)B(e)R(ead) pile might get very tempting.


Just finished reading: Trading Secrets by Christine Flynn

Springtime in Paris, Part Deux

I. M. Pei's Reversed Pyramid in the Louvre (you'll recognize this is you've read/seen "The Da Vinci Code")

Stunning views from the top of the towers of Notre Dame Cathedral. Totally worth the climb.

Arc De Triomphe

One of the fountain ponds in the Jardins des Tuileries (complete with ducks)

Place de la Concorde, with the Arc de Triomphe in the background (the Grande Arche de la Defense lines up behind the Arc de Triomphe, as does the Louvre Pyramid behind us in this pic)

Me in front of the gorgeous Pont Alexandre III. Bloke got excited here as he realized that the road you see behind me is one of the locations in "Ronin"

Springtime in Paris

Although I suppose it's technically summer now. Oh well.

Had an absolutely *lovely* time. We saw so many places, walked until our feet practically bled, and sat side-by-side in pretty parks eating crepes. A fabulous break. Here are a few pics. I hope to post a few more later on.

The view from our hotel room (Hotel Splendid, Avenue de Tourville)

Bloke and I on the "Batobus" water taxi in front of the Eiffel Tower

Outside the Louvre, with my hair looking rather shiny

On the Pont D'Iena in front of the Palais de Chaillot at sunset

The RNA Summer Party, Westminster

Last night about 150 people convened at the highly gorgeous Library of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in Westminster, London, for the Summer Party of the Romantic Novelists Association, during which the winner of the Joan Hessayon New Writers Award was announced.

Congratulations go to Fiona Harper for winning the award for her forthcoming Mills & Boon Tender Romance, The Blind-Date Marriage (retitled, out later this year)! Fiona seemed completely gobsmacked but still delivered a lovely and completely coherent winner's speech!

Nell's book certainly sounded like it was a close contender, with a glowing review from the judges, and all the other nominees also garnered very positive reviews. For the record, the shortlist was as follows:

• Mermaids Singing by Dilly Court (pub. Arrow)
• The Cinderella Substitute by Nell Dixon (pub. Moonlit Romance)
• The Blind Date Bride by Fiona Harper (pub. Mills & Boon)
• Coast to Coast by Jan Minshull (pub. Transita)
• Turning Point by Bowering Sivers (pub. Transita)
• Lady Hartley's Inheritance by Wendy Soliman (pub. Robert Hale)
• Pond Land and Paris by Susie Vereker (pub. Transita)
• The Scarlet Queen by Jacqueline Webb (pub. Robert Hale)

Unfortunately, 2 of the nominees could not make it to the party, but here's a photo of those who were there, followed by a couple of other pics:

From left: Fiona and Nell - apologies, but I'm not sure who's who of the other nominees

Nell and I -- a picture in which Nell looks absolutely lovely and I look like like I'm in the middle of a rather nice dream!

Fiona and I -- look at me, I'm standing with an award winner!

Carol from eharlequin.com's Mouse & Pen board, Nell, and myself

I really enjoyed myself at the party. It was great to spend more time with Nell (and to finally meet her hubby!) and Bloke and I met up with them before the party at their swanky hotel beforehand to have a drink. I was so proud of Nell for her achievement in being up for the award. She has come so far in the last year and this is all down to her talent at (more than one style of) romance writing, her dedication, her tireless hard work and perseverance and her determination to achieve her dream. Today, the RNA New Writers Award -- tomorrow, the WORLD!

I also loved meeting some of the guys I chat with on the eharlequin.com boards. On message boards you get to meet people and after a while, you can chat like friends, but usually only to that extent that people who have never met in real-life can. Now that I have actually got to know some of my fellow "online" writers in person, I feel like there's a new level to our web-based chats and celebrations. It's a lovely feeling.

The other lovely feeling I have as a result of the party is the absolute knowledge that writing romance is what I want to do. Not that I had doubts before the party -- in fact, after I joined the RNA in January I really felt like I'd ascended a level in my writing. I was serious -- I was taking a step, making a commitment. I suppose the fact that I finished my book that same month also contributed. But after last night, I *know* this is my dream, and I really want to get there.

As we stood and chatted in the library, glasses in hand, I took a few moments to simply look around me. Katie Fforde, Judy Astley, Joanna Maitland, Sophie Weston -- huge names in the romance fiction world. Mills & Boon editors galore, whose names I recognized from the guidelines pages on eharlequin.com, and who I would look at and think "Jeez, these are the people who open our submissions and decide whether we'll make it on to their shelves or not". Writers whose names I recognized from email newsgroups, online message boards, blogs, snippets of news in the RNA newsletters... Once or twice it became an overwhelming feeling, but immediately afterwards it became determination, drive, will -- whatever you want to call it.

This is what I want to do, and I will try my hardest.

My Cosmopolitan Week

Yes, yes, I know I haven't written for ages...

I've finished my first round of editorial revisions on Little Shop, which was a real learning experience for me. I polished the manuscript so many times before sending it in to the contest, but while going through the revisions lists I still found patches of cluttery, unnecessary sentences and contradictory words etc. that I just hadn't noticed before. So Shop is now back with the editors at Moonlit until the next (or final) round of edits.

Tomorrow evening, Bloke and I will be heading to Westminster in London for the Romantic Novelists Association's Summer Party. The winner of the Joan Hessayon New Writers' Award will be announced, and Nell is one of the nominees for The Cinderella Substitute -- extremely exciting! I've got my outfit hanging up ready to go and am really excited about seeing Nell again, meeting her hubby, and meeting so many other writers who I've met online.



In other exciting news, we have *finally* booked our holiday! Well, more of a short break, really. The fact that we desperately want to get a patio laid in the next month or two means that we can't afford the week-to-10-day holiday in sunny climes that we would have liked. BUT... instead we have booked a four-day trip to Paris, travelling by Eurostar and staying in a hotel where every room has views of the Eiffel Tower! We leave on Sunday and I am so looking forward to it -- I've been to France lots of times before on family holidays, but I've never been to Paris.

Au revoir pour maintenant! (Ugh, I hope that's right. I may shop for a phrasebook tomorrow.)


Just finished reading: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Bid and Win for a Worthy Cause

Another weekend has zipped by, and as I sit here thinking about going back to work tomorrow I yawn and wish my job was to test out the comfiness of beds while simultaneously reviewing books. Maybe one day...

My editing of HH is now on the back burner again as I work on my revisions of Little Shop for the Moonlit anthology, which Laura, the editor (my... editor...?!) needs back by the end of the month.

I'd also like to draw your attention to award-winning romance author Brenda Novak's diabetes auction. It's a yearly event where legions of kind souls donate all kinds of items to auction, and all the money goes towards finding a cure for diabetes. It's a cause very close to my heart as my Dad had diabetes. Items up for bid include bundles of books (many of them are autographed -- and they're not all romances), jewellery, travel packages, sports memorabilia, gift baskets, chocolate, beauty items, quilts, and critiques from editors, authors and literary agents. You can pay by Paypal or credit card if you win, and there's an extra *huge* bonus prize for the person who places the most bids. Auctions run until the end of May.

Please check it out at http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com

Bank Holiday Busy-ness

You'll be pleased to know I've calmed down a little bit now! Thank you to everyone who has left a comment or emailed me or congratulated me on various writers' boards (you know where you are) on the Moonlit contest. There truly is no end of encouragement and support in the online romance writing community -- so, thank you!

Am in the middle of a busy Bank Holiday weekend, in contrast to the last one (when I did way too much lazing around). Yesterday I went to a designer outlet village with my friend and her baby girl, who turns 1 tomorrow. I got a dress for a friend's wedding next weekend, a top, and some gorgeous LK Bennett shoes, as well as a cute little beach outfit for Friend's Baby's birthday. Today is Bloke's rare Sunday off, and we have another friend's child's birthday party to go to this afternoon and tonight we're going for a meal to celebrate my win :) Tomorrow will be full of washing, tidying, editing, etc.

In other news, I emailed The Sun earlier this week to find out what was happening with their "Get Britain Reading" writing competition, which Nell and I both entered. This was their response:

We are hoping to announce the winners in the next couple of weeks. We had a far higher response than we anticipated and therefore we are still at the judging stage.

So, now we know!

Also very excited as Bloke and I are on the verge of booking our holiday. I'm not saying where until we've actually done it, just in case we lose it. Got to wait for someone to get their passport renewed first...

Oh yes, and I've decided on my pen-name: Jessica Raymond. Raymond was my Dad's middle name.

My Horoscope Was Right

So there I was, logging on later than usual yesterday evening after a small delay involving my sister and some bruised ligaments in her foot (she fell down some stairs in the Underground, but she's OK). I had a short email from Nell, along the lines of "Urgent: IM me when you come online!"

My Yahoo Messenger program takes a long time to load for some reason, and once I was in, I got the news. It turns out.....

I WON MOONLIT ROMANCE'S FALL IN LOVE CONTEST!

The Little Shop of Dreams won first place and will be published in Moonlit Romance's Fall in Love anthology, which will be coming out in September!

WOO-HOO!

Plus, for doubly good news, skip over to Nell's blog!

I'm glad that today is a Writing Wednesday as I have loads of things to do now. I need to officially decide on a pen-name, do some research on getting a website, go through all the Moonlit documents Laura, the editor, sent me last night and prepare a blurb for my story, and lots of other things I'm sure are waiting to be done, but which I've temporarily forgotten as I've not yet written my official To Do list.

Also, here is what my horoscope for yesterday said:

You will get more pleasure than usual from a hobby or creative project. Let your work speak for itself and be more satisfied listening to your supervisor or audience. Having followed your own vision finally pays dividends.

I'll say!!

Sunday Afternoon

Easter was good, although I must admit I didn't do as much editing as I was hoping. I can't help it when they put things like Flash Gordon, The Princess Diaries, and Teen Wolf on during the day -- I end up sitting here, endlessly browsing Expedia for the elusive summer holiday, and watching consecutive daytime movies. I also caught up on the Sex and the City box-sets that Bloke gave me for Christmas. (Berger was so wrong for Carrie.) I think I did about 5 pages over the entire 4-day break.



Anyway, I've done quite a bit of editing this weekend, including critiquing Nell's work that she did during her holiday, and finally painting a few patches of tester paints on the walls of the bathroom and our bedroom. I also learnt to play poker on Friday night, and although I didn't win a whole game I did win a few hands, which was good. However, it was pretty annoying when I folded because I only had 4 chips left and it ended up that if I'd stayed in the game I would have got a royal flush. Ah well, can't win 'em all.


Just finished reading: Being a Bad Girl by Julie Cohen

Music Sounds Better With You

I've pushed another bunch of pages through the editing machine (i.e. me, with my increasingly shabby-looking printout covered in scribbles perched on my knees with my laptop on the armrest).

It's going well.

In the words of an Oscar winner, I'd like to thank:

Mark Mancina
John Williams
Trevor Rabin
John Ottman
Michael Giacchino
Nellee Hooper

and... umm... Blue Oyster Cult for their part in tonight's progress. Remember how I wrote my most favourite scene of the book while hyped up on brand new music in my iPod? Well, I took a leaf out of my history book and loaded up some new tunes --primarily movie scores, my faves (no lyrics) -- when I got home from work to give me some fresh background tune-age.

And it worked! I've tackled more of my Weak Goal problem in tonight's editing and have seen a way to alter part of the heroine's emotional mindset so her motivation makes more sense. I'll go back and make those changes on my next read-through because I'm pretty keen on getting this round done.

I also think I've hit the nail on the head as to why the part I edited on Saturday felt so awful. Writing advice talks a lot about how to avoid the "sagging middle" of your book, where the action dips and it all gets a bit (unintentionally) dull. Well, I'm pretty sure my action stays on track, but I think I get a bit lacklustre with illustrating how the characters' goal progress is going in the middle section, which is why it suddenly seemed as if I had none!

So current mood regarding my book is:





(Yes, I just discovered Smiley Central...)

Composure Recovered

Sorry about yesterday. Don't know why I was so down about my writing. I think it might have been because I had spent half the morning reading Michael Connelly and then got straight into HH, thereby seeing a very distinct difference between his writing and my own, which looked very dire all of a sudden.

I finished his book at lunchtime today, and my editing this afternoon has actually been a lot better and I feel a lot happier. Reading a Michael Connelly book definitely teaches you how to tell your story without words you don't need -- he's a master at describing a scene or character in perfect detail in the least amount of words possible. A very good lesson, I feel.

So I've now updated my word count bar for HH, to follow my editing progress rather than the actual writing process, which was obviously finished some time ago.

Calling it a day now, so I can go and make jambalaya for dinner.


Just finished reading: The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly

Fretwork

So I'm in the middle of my editing on HH, and all of a sudden I am sure that my story is weak-weak-WEAK. Although, actually, my sudden panic seems to be more to do with my characters.

I have reached this strange point of total immersion in the story where I can no longer see if they're doing something because they choose to, or whether I am forcing their hand and therefore the story. I've suddenly found it very hard to become objective.

When I was editing on Wednesday, I was pretty happy with the way things were going. But today, as I'm going through my second draft, I am having visions of an editor reading it and thinking "weak plot, not enough conflict, silly heroine -- but the hero is OK".

I'm worried that my characters have no goals. I was reading an article on conflict earlier this morning by a popular Silhouette author and in talking about the conflict of characters with opposing goals, she used the example of Romancing the Stone: a story I am very familiar with. She said, quite succinctly, "Jack Colton wants the treasure map to get the gem. Joan Wilder wants the treasure map to rescue her sister." You can't really get plainer than that.

So then I thought about my story and, quite distressingly, drew a blank. I had a niggling worry when I did my first read-through that my characters didn't appear to have very clear goals, and now I am really worried about it. My heroine's goal as far as I can see it is that she needs to know why the hero broke up with her so unceremoniously ten years ago. She's been married and divorced in the meantime, but suddenly it all smacks of neediness. She got on with her life, but now that she's in close proximity to him again, all she can think about is how to get her answers. Is that normal?! I keep trying to think of how I would act in her situation, or how I would want her to act if this was a romance novel I was reading by another author. And I thought I'd done it OK, but...

And for my hero's goal, well -- I'm not sure that he has one...

This is TERRIBLE!!


Just finished reading: Face of Deception by Ana Leigh

Editor's Chair

So here I am, back into the swing of editing HH now that I've finished my contest entries. It's good to be back with the book again. I felt a bit mean about pushing it to the side!

I got quite a bit done today and am now over halfway through. Hopefully it will be on its way to the RNA New Writers Scheme in about a month (need to allow time to finish this edit and do one more read-through after that). So my rough target would be... by the middle of May, say. OK, May 18th. That's the day of the RNA Awards ceremony in London, which I am going to in support of Nell, who's up for the Joan Hessayon Award with The Cinderella Substitute. I go on holiday the day after that anyway, so that would be a good point to take a little break!

Also to do with the book, I've decided to submit it to the Special Edition line when I finally get around to querying Silhouette. Originally it was going to be the Intimate Moments line (known as Sensation here in the UK), but I've noticed in recent months that SIM is shifting towards more action-oriented stories. Also, a few SIM authors who wrote the "calmer" style of stories have now moved across to SSE, so I'm guessing that these types of stories (which mine fits into) are now being bought, marketed, and sold as Special Editions. This new plan won't affect me too much as the word counts are still pretty much the same.

And that's the news. Also, I've been watching Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days" series on Channel 4 (he's the guy who made Super Size Me -- watch it and see how long you go without buying a McD). It really stimulates the thoughts and the emotions -- especially the episode where he and his girlfriend live on minimum wage for a month. Watch it if you can.

The Waiting Game

I finished editing Little Shop of Dreams, my novella entry for the Moonlit Romance contest, at just after midnight last night. It was sent straight to Laura at Moonlit, so now it's a waiting game to see how I do. Results are expected at the end of April. No news yet on The Sun's writing competition, either.

Now it's back to editing HH for sending to the New Writer's Scheme. I'm hoping it won't take too much longer, though Nell has said I'll probably have learned a lot about tightening the story through writing the novella, so I hope I don't go back to HH and decide I want to change it all!

In other news, my *real print copy* of Nell's book arrived in the post today. It's so exciting to see it in my hands as a proper tangible thing. The next time I see her she'll be signing her autograph!

Completed!

A slow start to this week's Writing Wednesday, but it still went well because I got to finish my last chapter for the Moonlit contest. I did well with my word count too, because although my tally bar states a target length of 20,000 words, the contest will actually accept a novella of between 15--20,000 words. So, as you can see, I've landed pretty much in the middle!

Now I just need to read through it again to make a few changes and check spellings etc., then it'll be on its way to Moonlit. I'm hoping to get all that done this weekend.

And so, to bath...

Home Stretch

Catching up nicely with my entry for the Moonlit Romance contest. I've just completed chapter three (out of four) and am now on the home stretch. I'm doing OK for word count too, which is good, as I really thought I was going to go over the limit. I suppose I still could, but... I doubt it.

Me and Bloke are going out in a couple of hours and I have Nell's last chapter of *her* entry to critique, but I'm hoping I might have time to make a start on my fourth chapter. I'd really like to get my entry finished and sent, so I can get back to revising HH for the New Writers Scheme.

Publication Day!

Big CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS to my lovely friend and critique partner Nell, whose book The Cinderella Substitute is released today by Moonlit Romance! yAy NeLL!

To download The Cinderella Substitute or order your print paperback, head to www.moonlitromance.com

Go, go! What are you waiting for!

Thursday Threw Me

Today was one of those days that you just cannot plan for. It was going to be just like any old day at work, followed by an evening at home when I would weigh up whether I could be bothered to do the ironing or not. (Answer: not.) But at about eleven this morning one of my colleagues fell down the stairs.

Brenda is one of the bubbliest and chirpiest people you will ever meet. Seeing anybody you know crumpled at the bottom of the stairs, moaning in agony and unable to get up, is traumatic, but it seemed so much worse because Brenda is one of those people who just seems infallible. She's old enough to have a bus pass (and makes sure she gets full use of it) but she's always out and about, getting things done, going on holidays, buying new clothes, and going to football-club dances with her husband.

So anyway... With the help of the man who runs the Thames Valley Air Ambulance Trust -- to whom we donate a room of our office -- we got her into a taxi and I went with her to the local A&E. After triage and painkillers, her husband arrived and I left to go back the office. He phoned later after they'd finally got to see a doctor and told us that Brenda had dislocated her shoulder. We had all suspected she may have, because when we'd got her back upstairs and sat her down, it looked as if one of her shoulders had disappeared completely, and her upper arm looked concaved. Poor Brenda had to have the shoulder joint manipulated back into place (although apparently she had an anaesthetic, thank God). She'll have a sling for quite a while and be off work for the foreseeable future, which I know she'll hate as she can't bear sitting around and not being able to get on with things. Get well soon, Brenda!

Then, once back at the office, I spent the rest of the afternoon doing interviews with my boss for a vacancy we have going, since the lady who was meant to be doing the interviews had called in sick. I've never interviewed anyone in my life! Still, it wasn't too bad, and I felt quite knowledgeable and responsible.

I've had a long hot bath and taken some Nurofen, and I plan on doing bugger-all tonight because I feel exhausted. It might seem trite but today was another of those shocks that makes you grateful for your health and your happiness. Brenda's fall was bad, but it could have been so much worse. She fell down the last 8-10 steps, but there are actually roughly 40 steps up to our office. I dread to think of the result if she'd fallen from further up... But thankfully she didn't, and the first thing on my agenda for tomorrow morning is to order a big bouquet of spring flowers to be delivered post-haste to her front door.

Another Day, Another Chapter

Today's been a good day :)

Bloke and I (he was off today too) got up early and went to the gym. I saved up enough points on my Nectar card to get a month-long free pass for two to our local one--which is pretty posh--and so we stepped and cycled and rowed together before having a swim in the pool. I always feel very virtuous after having done some exercise. Anyone else?

When we got home I finalized my entry for the Sun competition, so I'll be sending that off tomorrow. Then I finished writing chapter 2 for my Moonlit contest entry. As you can see from the word count bar, I'm now about halfway with that. I'm a bit clearer on how the rest of the story's going to go now and am feeling a bit more positive about my chances!

Off to cook dinner...

One Down

Had a good day and got my entry done for the competition that The Sun is running for World Book Day. I had to prioritize that one because the deadline is the 20th of this month, plus the length limit was 1,000 words.

I quite like this story. It's a little nostalgic, and I hope they like it.

The prize is "£1,000 of the world's best books", and I'm not sure who judges what these books are. Still, I bet there'll be loads that I haven't read -- the kind that I'm always meaning to and just haven't got round to. Example: Pride and Prejudice... I know! Shocking!

Next up, carrying on with my Moonlit contest entry, which is giving me a bit of trouble, but that I'm really going to try my best to get done.


Just finished reading: Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman -- Beautiful.

Sigh...

A bad taste in the mouth this morning -- and not from the Chinese I had for dinner last night, but from the news that Wayne Rooney, teenage wunderkind of English soccer, has been given a five-million-pound deal with HarperCollins to write his autobiographies.

Yes -- five million smackers.

Yes -- autobiographIES: plural, not singular.

There was some mention of five books written over the next twelve years. Then? Who knows... Will he actually write them? Will he put in the blood, sweat and tears over the keyboard, agonizing over sentence structure, chapter lengths, and the exact wording of the finishing paragraph?

Sigh...

Weep...

In other, more cheery news, Nell's book is released next Friday, March 17th! Go to www.moonlitromance.com for more details, including the online launch party on Monday, March 20th.

Have added a couple more things to my writing "To Do" list. As well as finishing my entry for the Moonlit competition (deadline now moved to mid-April) and my first round of edits on my book, I now also want to enter The Sun newspaper's World Book Day writing competition. Deadline for that is March 20th, and the story only has to be up to 1,000 words, so I'm hoping to get that done this weekend. Then, publishers A&C Black are running a short story competition as well, deadline end of April, length up to 2,000 words.

I need a bigger calendar.


Just finished reading: Most Wanted Woman by Maggie Price