Tuesday 31 July 2007

This just in!!!!


Just discovered that SUITE SEVENTEEN has got a lovely, glowing four and a half star review from Romantic Times!!!

Not sure I'm supposed to post details of the review until the magazine is actually out... but to say I'm well chuffed is putting it mildly! :)

This is...

... my degree of tiredness and lack of co-ordination today!



--
Telly: Time
Choc/Yummy: turkish delight
Mood: knackered and sleepy
Writing: nothing
Reading: lover revealed
RSI/FMS: see mood


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Monday 30 July 2007

Here's proof...


... that people do actually read my books! This is my friend, poet and blogger Ally, reading during her holiday at beautiful, peaceful Harrison Lake near Harrison Hotsprings British Columbia Canada.

It looks like a gorgeous spot for quiet reading and contemplation... and I'm just hoping that Ally found the book worthy of the glorious surroundings. :)

--
Telly: The Race for Absolute Zero
Choc/Yummy: Lindt
Mood: okay
Writing: 1.2K Gothic Heat
Reading: Lover Revealed - JR Ward
RSI/FMS: sore wrists and stuff


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Friday 27 July 2007

I've got the Giggles

Hey up! I just got my first ever Mrs Giggles review - for Object of Desire - and I'm delighted and thrilled to say she really liked the story and gave me a mark of 86 for it!

Mrs Giggles reviews Object of Desire

We can safely say that this has got my weekend off to a great start! :)

Better...


Am pleased to say that I've been doing better at Sweat70 in the last few days! And thank heavens for that... I was feeling very displeased with myself, and Mr Blue was ready to come after me and pistol whip me into picking up speed again. As it is, he's still got his beady eye on my progress and is determined not to let me slack again...

I now have a mere 13.5K approx of Gothic Heat to do... which is a good thing, as there's already a blurb up at Amazon.co.uk. Too late to change the storyline now, as info has obviously gone out now. Have a naughty scene with Rafe and Paula to do, then another confrontation with the baddy, Isidora, and after that, good sorceress Michiko has to do some sexual horse trading in order to get resources the [sort of] team need to resolve Paula's big, big problem. Then it's into the closing stages and a bit of mad magic that I have to sort of make up in order to resolve things and get everybody to where they need to be at the end of a paranormal erotic romance, including the 'extra' people who seem to have put in an appearance during the course of the book! I've a feeling all this crap will run to over 13.5K, but if I run long I'll just have to compensate by tightening the thing up stringently in the editing.

--
Telly: Atom
Choc/Yummy: Strawberry Iced Finger
Mood: okay
Writing: 1K Gothic Heat
Reading: Lover Eternal - JR Ward
RSI/FMS: bit sore, not too bad


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Thursday 26 July 2007

Flake ad for the Bellas

have just eaten this!

A strawberry iced bun with a jam filling. Yummy!

Am feeling a bit dislocated from reality again today. From writing reality... Everything feels a bit weird and I feel detached from it. I think I'm stressing myself out over promo and suchlike again, and am experiencing panicky feelings that I'm not doing enough, and what I am doing is the wrong sort. I feel as if I'm about to sink into writing obscurity because I just can't handle the sort of promo some people seem to sail through... and manage to write at the same time. It's a tough balance... and yet, time and time again, in blog posts and on boards, it's hammered home that these days it's simply not enough to be a good writer to ensure success and sales... you have to do a lot of other stuff too. You have to promote yourself and brand yourself and establish a 'personality'. And heaven help you if you're an average writer - like me - and you're shit at promo... you'll just fade away completely. Some fairly mediocre writers [well, let's say, their writing doesn't work for me... it may for others] can soar to prominence because they're great self publicists and self promoters, but if you're the shy, retiring type like me [seriously, I am!] you don't stand a freaking chance!

Which makes it such a temptation just to switch off and think about sticky buns...

So, writer friends, do you worry about promo? Whether you're doing enough? Or too much, and it's interfering with the actual job of writing?

Reader buddies... do you sometimes find yourself thinking... 'This is all hype, and writer X isn't really all that good... maybe she should concentrate on her writing a bit more'?

--
Telly: Top Gear lads at the North Pole
Choc/Yummy: see above
Mood: troubled and uneasy
Writing: GH, I suppose...
Reading: Lover Eternal... so fab!!!!
RSI/FMS: sore, tired, fed up


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Wednesday 25 July 2007

Mus Musculus.... again!!!


So here I am, minding my own business and just doing my normal morning rounds of my favourite blogs and boards... when out of the corner of my eye, I catch sight of movement. At first, subconsciously, I think 'cat' as something trots along the top of the chest of drawers just a yard or two from my bed... then I think, '****! It's ****ing mouse!'

And there it is, large as life, a fairly big house mouse strolling around on the furniture, in my bedroom! Not cowering in the corner, but ambling about, taking the air and admiring the scenery, and leaping from item of furniture to item of furniture... with just a jump of around two feet to the bed I'm lying on!!!! I'm stunned to immobility, but when I do move, he clocks me, scoots along the the chest of drawers and drops down onto the floor, only to take cover amongst a heap of himself's trainers! Shit... out of reach now... no way to catch him.

I investigate, and find him actually in the gap between two chests of drawers, and amazingly, he comes sashaying out into plain sight as if there wasn't a massive human looming over him at all [and a freaking cat FAST ASLEEP on the bed just feet away!] We play 'cat' and mouse for a bit, and he tootles off out of the bedroom and into the hall... I think I've lost him, and we're in big trouble, but luckily, I spot him again, and he's just close enough to the loo for me to herd him into the smallest room and corral us in there together...

He's still bold as brass, and doesn't hide all that much, as well as showing disturbing tendencies towards leaping into the air and trying to climb up inside my trouser leg... But fortunately, after several minutes of tacticals, I'm able to envelop him in the tee shirt I'd brought in with me, and race outside to set him free in the long grass... phew!

That's clearly the most exciting thing that's going to happen to me all day... but I just wonder which furry buffoon of a cat brought him in, then couldn't be bothered with him any more and let him go.

--------
Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Tuesday 24 July 2007

not feeling very bloggy

Don't know what's up with me... I just don't feel very bloggy at the moment. Am v. tired and putting all my writerliness into Gothic Heat... not much left over for pearls of wisdom [not] here.

--
Telly: Coast
Choc/Yummy: Lindt Lindor Dark
Mood: weary
Writing: Gothic Heat
Reading: Fantasy Lover/Sherrilyn Kenyon
RSI/FMS: rather sore


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Monday 23 July 2007

OBJECT OF DESIRE - out today!!!

When Sylvia sees her new upstairs neighbour doing Tai Chi in the communal garden of their apartment building, she immediately knows she wants to do far more than borrow a cup of sugar from him. Nathaniel Gowen is everything she wants in a man and more—handsome, sexy, mature and mysterious—and she’s trying desperately to think of a casual way to introduce herself to the man who haunts her erotic dreams and fantasies.

But then one day, he comes knocking at her door…

Read an excerpt

Buy from Total-E-Bound

Friday 20 July 2007

oh.mi.god

Gothic Heat - Amazon.co.uk

Gothic Heat - Amazon.com

and there's still around 25K of it to write! Wah!

finally....

I did some writing! 1K of Gothic Heat fight scene... mad stuff, but the thing's moving at last!

Oh, the shame of it....

My Sweat70 average is plummeting and I haven't added anything to my WIP in nearly a week!!!

I could trot out any number of excuses, like two sets of page proofs to check, work to do for my web clients, various emotional crud etc etc.... but if I was a real pro, I'd still have been writing. I'm completely ashamed of myself...

--
Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Thursday 19 July 2007

all vampires today...


Still reading the above and loving it... and am now proof correcting the below... and sort of loving that too, just as much, in its own way. Think it's probably the most romantic thing I've ever written... even more romantic in a lot of ways than the straight romantic novels I've written!



--
Telly: not much at all
Choc/Yummy: cupcakes
Mood: improving all the time
Writing: proofs of Buddies Don't Bite
Reading: Dark Lover
RSI/FMS: not too bad


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Wednesday 18 July 2007

look at this! look at this!


Isn't it bonny? :)

me and the book wot I am reading


Taken with the help of the gadget below... and help, I'm nearly as shiny as the glossy book cover!

So who's read/reading The Black Dagger Brotherhood? What do you think? I'm really enjoying Dark Lover!




--
Telly: Columbo
Choc/Yummy: seashell chocolate
Mood: better
Writing: not yet
Reading: see above
RSI/FMS: bit sore


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Tuesday 17 July 2007

frivolity v. stress


Wahey, my Kevin and Perry CD arrived this morning! So I'm currently enjoying some bangin' Ibiza classics and dialogue snippets from the film. Yeah, I know it's a silly movie in a lot of ways, but I like it... sometimes, it's just nice to escape into total daftness and not to have to worry about any kind of intellectual significance and all that stuff. K&P is sort of like good old British Carry On but with a much better soundtrack... and beneath all the crudity and rudeness, I do think there's a surprisingly warm heart.

Anyway, it's serving its purpose in taking my mind off something I've been mulling over for a day or two, and which prompted my chainsaw post, further down. I've wrestled with this issue before, and it doesn't seem to go away... one of these days it'll come to a head, and I'll have to act, but for the moment, I'm wimping out and procrastinating... The sad thing is though, with my head screwed by this shit, it's hard to write and yet another day is speeding past without anything done towards Sweat70, which pains me because I started so well, and felt it was really, really benefitting me. But I will get back to it... I promise, Mr Blue and Sven, I will get back on track... Nil bastardi carborundum and all that...

On the plus side, while I'm not actually creating new fiction in the form of GOTHIC HEAT, I'm free to concentrate on checking the proofs of an older work which is about to see a new lease of life... ie. the second of my forthcoming Total-E-Bound ebook releases, WILD IN THE COUNTRY.


Oh my, this book is mad! But in a good way... I'd say it's sort of an erotic romance, because there's a central relationship, and a love story that develops and suggests HEA, but alongside that, it's really one of the craziest, most pervy and bonkathonical shagoramas I've ever written. Sort of like a giant loving menage story involving half the inhabitants of an English country village. LOL

Issa hoot!!!

--
Telly: listening to K&P instead
Choc/Yummy: seashell choc bar
Mood: stressed
Writing: proof checking WITC
Reading: WITC & Dark Lover/JR Ward
RSI/FMS: sore and weary


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Monday 16 July 2007

A thoroughly deserved award!!!

I am thrilled to announce that Double Dare by my super talented writing buddy Saskia Walker has just won the 2006 Passionate Plume Award for the Best Contemporary Erotic Romance!

I had the priviledge of reading this sumptuous novel some time ago, and it is indeed a perfect example of a warm, sexy and beautifully written erotic romance, worthy of this and even greater accolades. It has a smart, pacy story, great characterisation, hot urban settings and a drop dead gorgeous Alpha but complex hero! :)

Visit Saskia's Website to learn more about Double Dare and all her other fabulous fiction!

my state of mind today


Normal service will be resumed when I feel less homicidal...

Saturday 14 July 2007

Hot New Cover!


So here's the official cover for OBJECT OF DESIRE! Molto steamy, eh? Really captures the mood of heroine Sylvia... er... 'getting excited' whilst fantasising about Nathaniel doing his Tai Chi! ;)

Don't forget to check out the excerpt at the Lustbites blog, and do leave a comment there if you enjoy it!

--
Telly: Small Soldiers
Choc/Yummy: Dutch yummy brioche thing
Mood: bit overwhelmed by stuff
Writing: not a sausage
Reading: Dark Lover/JR Ward
RSI/FMS: generally achy


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

naughty excerpt


For a naughty excerpt from OBJECT OF DESIRE, my soon to be published mini ebook from Total-E-Bound, go HERE!

ps. Sven and Mr Blue are going to be after my hide as I didn't do anything towards Sweat70 yesterday! :(

Friday 13 July 2007

It's Q&A day!

Today's the day that Madelynne Ellis and I are doing a Q&A on Romance Divas, about writing erotic romance, I think... It should be huge fun, so click the links and visit the Romance Diva's Message Board to take part. You'll need to register, but it only takes a mo, and once you've signed up, I'm sure you'll become a regular visitor because this is such a wonderful, friendly and supportive place for romance authors. Madelynne will be imparting much wisdom on the topic of erotic writing in her answers, and I will be supplying the comic relief, probably, in that - as anyone who visits here regularly will know - I basically don't have a freaking clue about how I do what I do, and I just blunder through every writing day in a state of blind hope and raw panic!

I also think that Mr Blue [see sidebar] will be after me today with his Uzi or whatever it is, as I suspect that today will be a day when I fail miserably at Sweat70. Himself is back from his jaunt to the Lowlands and the WW2 and Napoleonic battlefields, and naturally I want to spend time just hanging out with him and getting all the buzz on his trip. Plus, we need to hit the supermarket to stock up again and do mucho domestic sorting out and tidying. My plans to make the place shipshape and Bristol fashion for his return did not materialise, and the poor lad has come back to a residence that's cross between a giant dumpster and a sty for one big, fat and particularly slovenly she-pig!

I don't forsee Gothic Heat advancing a single syllable [sp] today... sigh...

------------
Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Thursday 12 July 2007

struggling... and sleepy

Sometimes I wish I was a cat, like Kuffer, and I didn't always have a weight of 'stuff to do' bearing down on me all the time... How wonderful it must be to only ever have your next Whiskas Ever So Fishy pouch on your mind, if that.

I feel as if I'm struggling today. Not with my Sweat70... I've done 1.3K towards that, in the form of a K of Gothic Heat, and a mini outline for the final stages of it. No, it's just everything, really. I've got a set of proofs to check, quite a big one, plus some web work coming in and a Q&A to do tomorrow at Romance Divas. Goodness knows what sort of showing I'll put up there. I really am the last person to be telling romance writers how to do stuff. Mainly because 99% of the time, I haven't the faintest idea what I'm doing myself...

A case in point. A couple of the other Sweat70 combatants have been posting about 'pacing' in the last couple of days... and I've realised that apart from idea finding and plotting, pacing a novel or story is the thing I'm most crap at! Gothic Heat is a pacing nightmare... crawls like a slug on valium for around 50K... and now, I've only got 25K left, and I've about a dozen major plot events/scenes to squidge into that measly 25 thousand! Bloody hell, talk about unbalanced! I've a feeling this sukka is going to run over budget if I'm to get everything in, which will mean a humongous and complicated edit to get the monstrosity down to a manageable size... sigh...

--
Telly: Fred Dibnah
Choc/Yummy: choc biccie
Mood: weighed down
Writing: 1.3K Gothic Heat bits
Reading: Dark Lover/JR Ward
RSI/FMS: sore and tired


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Wednesday 11 July 2007

This starts today... so get stuck in!

Not going to Nationals? Don't worry...Romance Divas is doing the next best thing!

Romance Divas announces the first annual "Not Going to Nationals Cyber Conference" from July 11-15, righton the forum. Best of all, it's FREE!

Just register for Romance Divas--membership is free, you just need to sign up! www.romancedivas.com if you have trouble with registration email night.diva.maria (at) gmail (dot) com

There will be workshops, Q&As, and giveaways each day. All you have to do is participate!!!!

Schedule:

July 11:
Workshop: Character Development with Sophia Shaw NEW WORKSHOP!
Q&A: TBA (either with an agent from the Larsen-Pomada Agency or a panel on multi-cultural romance) NEW DATE!

July 12:
Workshop: Book Signing 101: Tips to Help Make your Signing a Success by Jackie Kessler
Q&A: Legal Issues for Writers by Amanda Brice

July 13:
Workshop: What to Expect After You Sign the Contract by Marley Gibson
Q&A: Erotic romance with Portia da Costa and Madelynne Ellis NEW DATE!

July 14:
Workshop: Writing Novellas and Short Stories by Sasha White
Q&A: How To Write Both YA and Adult Romance by Berta Platas

July 15:
Workshop: Trim That Fatty Writing! by Rhonda Stapleton
Q&A: TBA (either with an agent from the Larsen-Pomada Agency or a panel on multi-cultural romance)

Plus, Deirdre Savoy will also be doing a workshops for us (topic and date TBA)! So there will be two days with not one, but TWO fabulous workshops, plus a Q&A!!!!!

We also have loads of great giveaways, including books, critiques, coaching, and more!

Oh dear...


Am feeling uneasy and out of sorts this morning... hope that doesn't mean I have contracted the above described sweat related condition!


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Tuesday 10 July 2007

Being realistic...

I've done pretty good these last couple of days, the first two of Sweat70... I've felt motivated and I've achieved good wordcounts. But I'd be a stupid and delusional fool if I blithely claimed it could always be like this! I'm doing good because it's a novelty... and when that novelty wears off, that's when the test comes. If I can continue to keep up the pace... Obviously, it won't be the same pace, because other stuff comes along that must be done... and often not frivolity, and time wasting either. Stuff like commitments I've made in terms of interviews and stuff, and of course my web design work.

So, I won't always be batting along at my current searing pace... but I'm gonna push myself to keep up to my minimum pace, at least, choose whatever other stuff comes my way!

Lets face it, it's no biggie... not really... I have to write this book anyway...

And in terms of where I'm at in Gothic Heat? Currently trying to choreograph a four way argument/slanging match! Which is tough for me, as I'm usually claustrophobia-writer, intensely focused on either my hero/heroine couple, or the internal ruminations of just my main character... Managing four story people who are all shouting at each other at once is quite a reach for me!


--

Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Monday 9 July 2007

Sweat70

Well, I know it's early days, but Sweat7o seems to be working for me so far! I don't know whether it's the thought of scores of other 'sweaters' [as opposed to woolly jumpers] pounding away at their keyboads as part of a giant team, or the idea of being shown up as a fraud if I don't keep up the pace... but something has put the pep and focus back into my writing these last couple of days. I'm still writing sh*t of course, but the difference is, I feel better about it! :)

I'll keep this brief, as, filled with enthusiasm, I might just go back to Sedgewick and write a bit more of my opus... There's a pow-wow in the tower room now, as Isidora has done something very naughty!


Photo by Penny Roots

--
Telly: World at War
Choc/Yummy: Lindt Hazelnut
Mood: good
Writing: 1029 words Gothic Heat
Reading: ComputerActive
RSI/FMS: bit sore, not too bad


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Sunday 8 July 2007

Seventy Days of Sweat


I've rather rashly decided to sign up for something called Seventy Days of Sweat!

This is a brilliant initiative by Alison Kent that's designed as a friendly, mutually supportive kick in the butt to get a group of writers actually writing! I think it's mainly for authors who need/want to complete an entire novel in 70 days, culminating in mid Sept, but I think it will work just as well as an incentive for me, who needs to complete 32K of Gothic Heat before a nominal date of 31st August, and edit the book by 1st October. I would *have* to do this anyway, so it's no extra pressure to make it part of this fun, group project. Not to mention there are prizes...

My own goal only requires a target of around 600 words per day, but some people have set themselves far more gruelling tasks. One author has to complete three whole books in the time allotted! Now that is going some... I would say it's impossible, but then, most writers have more grit and determination than I have!!!

So, the challenge starts today, but I think latecomers are still very welcome, so if you're an author and you really want to crack on with a WIP, why not sign up?

Seventy Days of Sweat


---------------------------

Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Saturday 7 July 2007

Road Trip

Over at Romance by the Blog today, Bella Michelle's topic is hot, romantic fantasy holidays... where would you go, who would you travel with, and in what car?

Me, well, I think it would be a road trip across France and Italy, taking in Paris, Monaco, Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome. My companion, naturally, would be the Divine Vincenzo, and our car would be a 1962 Ford 250GTO, in cherry red. [They only cost $10 million!] See how happy he looks behind the wheel!


Real life? Well, I think a day trip to Scarborough, in a VW Passat with himself, would be nice!

So, where would your total fantasy hot romantic trip be to? And with whom, in what? Answers here... or at Romance by the Blog... or both, if you feel so inclined? :)

--
Telly: Shipwreck Detectives
Choc/Yummy: Lindt Hazelnut
Mood: goodish
Writing: slight tweak Gothic Heat
Reading: Radio Times
RSI/FMS: very, very achy and sore everywhere at the moment


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Friday 6 July 2007

Magic and Desire

Super busy today, but just swinging by to say that I just heard that Ill Met By Moonlight is going to be in the Black Lace 'Magic & Desire' paranormal erotica novella collection. No release date yet, but I'd guess it'll be some time in mid 2008.

Here's an unedited excerpt


--
Telly: UK History
Choc/Yummy: Green & Blacks Espresso
Mood: under stress
Writing: proofing Object of Desire
Reading: nowt
RSI/FMS: bit sore


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Thursday 5 July 2007

One of my favourite films...


Himself is away at the moment, tramping around the Market Garden battleground sites of the Low Countries... and I'm left on my own, minding the cats and missing him. However, last night, one of my all time favourite films was on the telly, and I have to say, it cheered me up mightily!

I love THE 'BURBS!!! I've seen this film umpteen times, but it still makes me smile, giggle, and laugh out loud in places. I love Tom Hanks in anything, and I think this is one of his best comedy roles, although he is ably supported by a bunch of other talented actors. I love the combo of fun dialogue and out and out slapstick in this movie, and even the music is brilliantly appropriate and witty. There are dozens of standout moments, but for me, the scene that always makes me laugh out loud for some reason is the one where poor old Ray/Tom has to eat a sardine off a pretzel, whilst visiting with his creepy neighbours, the Klopeks.



I really don't know why this is so amusing to me, but every time I see it I howl with laughter, and last night was no exception. The cats thought I was bonkers, chuckling and chortling away at this scene, but they are being indulgent with me, because I think they know I'm missing the company of their 'dad'...

In other news, I'm still slugging away at Gothic Heat. Today has been pretty standard with it. One minute, I'm quite contented, enjoying what I've written, and gaining satisfaction from tweaks and improvements... the next, I'm in a tearful panic of horror with it, and wishing, wishing, wishing I'd never agreed to write it and that I was free to work on something else, less hideously disorganised, flung together and inconsistent. At the moment, I'm somewhere in the middle of those two states... sort of enjoying a new scene I'm inserting, which reintroduces Michiko, the Japanese white sorceress from Gothic Blue. This is fine, because I like her, but against my wishes, she's suddenly acquired a new Japanese boyfriend called Hiro... completely out of the blue, and yet another character in what could turn out to be a cast of bloody thousands!

--
Telly: UK History
Choc/Yummy: Turkish Delight
Mood: up and down
Writing: Gothic Heat
Reading: nothing much today
RSI/FMS: generally achy, bad pains in hips


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Wednesday 4 July 2007

Hey, look at this!!!!


Isn't this great? I've been given an award by Val, on behalf of Vincent's Vixens for my fiction inspired by the Divine Vincenzo! Isn't this a lovely thing of her to do? I'm thrilled and touched by this... If I'm managing to convey something of the man himself through my fiction for these discerning ladies, I must be doing something right, mustn't I? :)

Hopefully, I'll be more or less back to what resembles normal for me today - after my marathon stay-up and my chatting exploits in the middle of the night... It was fun, but it was bloody hard going staying awake that long, and yesterday, I felt like half doped hell all day. Needless to say, not a word on Gothic Heat got done, and I endured a lot of angst, thinking it was shit and a pointless exercise - probably because I was so tired - but by the end of the day, I'd come back around to it. I also even managed to do a tiny bit of web design work that I have outstanding, so despite my sleep deprived state, yesterday wasn't an entirely lost day...

So, I must get back into gear today... Himself is away for ten days, visiting the WW2 battlefields of Holland and Belgium, and I wanted to spend this time alone, really cracking on with work. Two days of the ten have already elapsed, and I've not achieved much, so I have to kick it up a notch today... or else!

Before I leave, may I ask a question? Authors... what do you think of online chats? Do you enjoy them and find them valuable? Readers... do you enjoy real time chatting with authors? A chance to ask them questions about their books?

--
Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: not yet
Mood: sort of determined
Writing: thinking about Gothic Heat
Reading: not yet
RSI/FMS: everything knacked by sleep deprivation


Don't forget Portia's Promos - new stuff being added all the time!

Tuesday 3 July 2007

This is what....


Staying up for over twenty four hours and attending two web chats in the middle of the freaking night does to you!!!

ps. decided to reduce the size of this image in order to stop frightening visitors as much!

Monday 2 July 2007

Stuff going on!

Lots going on TODAY! Madelynne Ellis and I are holding a Mocha Monday Chat tonight at the Romance Galleria with some fun and frisky chat and spot prizes for participating visitors! The chat starts at 9pm EST, and lasts for a couple of hours, but as the Galleria is actually an exciting 'virtual world' it's a bit different to a normal chatroom. You get to walk and 'talk' in the Galleria, using cute personal avatars... It's fun!!! To take part you'll need to download the Galleria software, and it'll take a little while... but it's a piece of cake to install and is perfectly safe and secure. I'm always cautious about downloading new software, but I've certainly had no problems whatsoever with this! :)

However, the Galleria isn't the only place I'll be chatting today...



Today is also the grand opening day of TOTAL-E-BOUND - the exciting new British epublisher that I'm delighted to say has accepted a couple of titles from me already! TEB has a lot of tempting books in the pipeline [apart from mine... LOL] including two fabulous novellas from my great writing buddy, Saskia Walker...

To celebrate launch day TEB are chatting on tonight too and I hope to be in attendance there too, for part of the time! Here are the details...

THE GRAND TOTAL-E-BOUND OPENING PARTY
at Coffee Time Romance
6 to 11pm EST
Join the fun, read the excerpts, and chat with your favourite authors.
www.coffeetimeromance.com/Chat.html

Sunday 1 July 2007

eyeliner skills and other stuff

Courtesy of the marvellous Eliza, here's a slightly more understated makeup treatment for the Divine Vincenzo! There's a poll over at Lustbites about men and eyeliner, and as dear Vin is on the list, I would imagine there are folks thinking 'Well, I've never seen him wearing full slap in Law and Order Criminat Intent!'... The piccie above is of him playing Cholo, the terpsichorially gifted knife assassin in the movie Naked Tango. The film is pretty rubbish, but Vin is glorious... Can I mention fedoras, sideburns, spats... and of course those smudged and sultry 'smoky eyes'?

All this mucking about with pix of Vin in makeup is, sadly, about the most creative thing I've done today. I woke up in the early hours brooding and fretting over Gothic Heat. Again! The way it works is that I usually feel okay about it when I'm writing it, but when I'm not writing it, I realise how much, at this stage, is totally wrong with it. There are plot elements that I should be expressing, but am completely forgetting to define... It's sort of slow, and a bit muddled, and probably doesn't seem very much like a paranormal erotic romance... it's more like a rather angsty three way relationship tangle type book... I need to think timescale, paranormal plot elements, key characters that need to appear sooner rather than later, central relationship, hero motivations... I've got bits of stuff about all those in, but they really need to be more concrete and far more consistent.

I'll get there, eventually, and hopefully on deadline... but really, this must be the toughest book I've ever written!
--
Telly: British Superbikes
Choc/Yummy: various choc
Mood: troubled
Writing: about 100 words Gothic Heat
Reading: nothing much
RSI/FMS: bit sore


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