Gratuitous Professor Hottie pic and end of year ennui

Isn't he gorgeous? I'm trying to focus on him, looking so hawt, as a way to connect better with IN TOO DEEP. I have to say, the Christmas break has really messed up my concentration, and I'm feeling slightly panicked about the months and the year ahead. There's so much to do, and some of it, I just don't want to do but I have to. Grrr... And 'cos it's there, it sort of distracts me from my focus in writing...

Everyone seems to be making lists and plans. Lists of achievements in 07 and plans for 08. I have achieved some stuff in 07, that I'm very pleased about, but I'm not one for looking back, because I always have the spectre of 'you're only as good as your *next* book' hanging over me like a looming black shadow. And that's very scary when, at the moment, I've no idea what that next book might be... and I get awfully depressed when I go to boards and blogs and folk are talking about the multi book deals they have for 08, and the fabulous book ideas that they're just dying to write.

At the moment, I feel as if I've lost some of the joy I once had in writing. And I don't think I'm going to write at my very best until I reacquire it again.

Any tips, writers out there? How do you maintain the magic and the joie de vivre in your writing when it's a job you do, of necessity, to earn your living?


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Telly: Numb3rs
Choc/Yummy: Celebration minis
Mood: despondent
Writing: nothing yet
Reading: The Ipcress File
RSI/FMS: achy


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

This is just a small part...

of the Christmas chocolate I have to 'eat up'. Sigh... it's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. ;)

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Telly: Numb3rs
Choc/Yummy: see above
Mood: oppressed by sheer weight of jobs to do
Writing: not yet
Reading: The Ipcress File - Len Deighton
RSI/FMS: sore


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

Post Christmas Limboland

Well, it's the day after the day after Boxing Day, and I'm in a sort of post Christmas limboland. Part of me wants to try and get back into some kind of routine, while the rest of me is clinging to the 'what film is on next, shall I have another mince pie, work, wot that?' mentality of the seasonal festivities. This, coupled with the sheer mountain of 'stuff' that Christmas generates eg. wrapping paper, ludicrous amounts of extra 'strange' food, gift items to be assimilated into the household, is making it very hard for me to get into any kind of productive state of mind.

I haven't been entirely idle over the last few days. I have been doing a bit of editing on In Too Deep since Boxing Day, but it's very slow progress and my motivation level isn't high. Am very easily distracted by something on the telly or the desire for more unsuitable Xmas food. On Boxing Day itself, the book seemed like horse pooh, but yesterday, I seemed to get a sort of handle on it. But really, some of the stuff I've written is truly, truly dire. Boring, clunky, uninspired, story-less, strange characters with stupid motivations that people just won't like. This book will need many more rounds of revision after this one if it's to come anywhere near the standard of my beloved Suite Seventeen, which seems to have turned out to be one of my best works, given it's prizewinning status!

What does cheer me up though is that Suite Seventeen seemed like a pile of festering crud for much of the time while I was working on it. It too had to go through a lot of changes and enhancements. It too seemed flat and stupid and pointless. So, if I can get from that, to being judged a year's best novel, with one book, I can do it with another... And I went through the same journey with Gothic Heat too. I don't yet have much in the way of feedback other than the approval of my critique partner and my agent, but I like GH myself now, and it was really one of the hardest, hardest books I've ever had to write!!!

So there's hope for In Too Deep... I think I will probably have to go through this process with every book from now on, as part of the constant raising of the bar. Both in terms of my own writing, and because of fabulous books I read by other writers. I've got to keep pushing, working, improving, not accepting anything less than my best. It's tough out in romance writing world and you can't let yourself slide, even in the tiniest way... You can't sit back and think, 'oh, I'm the dog's wotsits, everybody loves me, I don't have to try now...' because there are hundreds of writers out there, with great ideas, who readers are going to discover and abandon you for if you don't produce the goods to the best of your ability!

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Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: mince pie in a minute
Mood: uneasy
Writing: not yet
Reading: not yet
RSI/FMS: very, very sore and achy, mainly due to waking up with small but heavy cat sitting on my rib cage!


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

Wahey, I won an Award!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guess what?

SUITE SEVENTEEN has been judged the:

2007 "Romance: B(u)y the Book" Best Contemporary Erotic Romance

Isn't this awesome news? Especially as it's one of my faves of all my own books... :)

It's like Christmas just started all over again today here!


Check out the rest of the Year's Best list here

-------------------------------------------------------------
Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: not yet
Mood: thrilled
Writing: not yet
Reading: not yet
RSI/FMS: who cares


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

Our Xmas DVD viewing...

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Telly: Tanks!
Choc/Yummy: everything
Mood: Christmassy
Writing: In Too Deep
Reading: Radio Times
RSI/FMS: so so


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

Season's Greetings from me!

Amazon.com now...

In Too Deep

-------------------------------------------------------------
Telly: Numb3rs
Choc/Yummy: mince pies, lindor
Mood: bit out of sorts
Writing: editing In Too Deep
Reading: ComputerActive/Cosmopolitan
RSI/FMS: so so


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

Today's Photos

I am eating too many of these... the demon puff pastry mince pies!


Alice looking grumpy in her new favourite sleeping spot, himself's sock drawer.

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Telly: Numb3rs S2
Choc/Yummy: see above
Mood: okay
Writing: In Too Deep
Reading: Lord of Scoundrels
RSI/FMS: so so


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

Oh God!

In Too Deep is listed at Amazon.co.uk!!!!!!!!!!!

How can it be listed when it's still only a half @ssed, barely half written piece of crap!

ps. just realised that it's going to be published in the UK on my wedding anniversary too.

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Telly: Hot Fuzz
Choc/Yummy: cake
Mood: not too bad
Writing: In Too Deep
Reading: Lord of Scoundrels
RSI/FMS: a bit sore


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

Back in the saddle...

... writing IN TOO DEEP again aka Professor Hottie McHotstuff's story.

I looked at my records and it's nearly a month since I worked on this book, and that's quite a gap. I wanted to keep moving forward, but I knew I had to go back and 'learn' the book again. A tough choice, but I compromised. I completed the sex fantasy scene I was working on when I left the book, then scooted back to the beginning and began reading/editing again. At first the text seemed a bit wooden, but after a little while, it started to come alive a bit more, and I was getting a better feel for it. And for Gwendolynne, my librarian heroine; Nemesis, my secretive and pervy anti-hero, and Professor Daniel Brewster, my hero. I think it could be all right, if I weed out some of the terribly clunky language, and just get real with it.

Am facing a challenge, as usual, but overall, I'm really, really glad to be back with this story...

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Telly: Numb3rs S1
Choc/Yummy: cherry Madeira cake
Mood: good
Writing: 1K In Too Deep
Reading: Lord of Scoundrels
RSI/FMS: extremely achey and tired


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

This just made me giggle....

moar funny pictures

I'm sure the doggie was okay afterwards... :)


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Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: not yet
Mood: okay
Writing: thinking about it
Reading: nothing yet today
RSI/FMS: sore and tired


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

Entertaining Mr Stone - German cover

Hot or what? The translation seems to be 'The Boss'...

I think this must be a piccie of Mr Stone as a younger man, because in the book, he's a fairly stocky middle aged guy, not a young stud with a six pack!

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Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: jam tart
Mood: panicky over stuff to do
Writing: notes for In Too Deep
Reading: Lord of Scoundrels
RSI/FMS: bit sore, not too bad


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

Ups and Downs...

Yesterday, I was astonishing!!! I wrote 4K words on The Retreat. Yes, a whole 4000 words in one day... isn't that amazing. I felt like a real, productive writer, the sort I read about in blogs who are prolific as nobody's business and are surging forward and securing faboo contracts all over the place!

Today, I'm less astonishing... in fact, I'm crap. Have done nothing so far, and have got hooked into watching a movie I know I shouldn't have, because I won't be able to stop now...

It's about this guy...

Jason Bourne - one man mayhem factory. Mmmmm..... me like.



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Telly: The Bourne Ultimatum
Choc/Yummy: thorntons alpini bar
Mood: disatisfied with self
Writing: **** all
Reading: Lord of Scoundrels
RSI/FMS: achy


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

What a relief!

After grappling with a variety of Christmas stuff, and a deluge of web design chores, I'm finally writing again... Thank God for that! I'd almost forgotten what it's like!

My current WIP is my romantic BDSM novella The Retreat, with a hero, Ben Chambers, inspired by Eisenheim the Illusionist aka Edward Norton.

Isn't he gorgeous?

I think I have a slight thing for handsome guys with beards. The Divine Vincenzo looks fab with some facial hair, and Professor Hottie often seems to be sporting a manly growth of designer stubble. Mmmmm....



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Telly: Top Gear
Choc/Yummy: jam tart
Mood: okay
Writing: 1.2K The Retreat
Reading: Lord of Scoundrels
RSI/FMS: so so


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

Isn't this adorable?

moar funny pictures

Don't you just adore ICanHasCheezburger?


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Telly: LOCI
Choc/Yummy: choc brioche thing
Mood: stressed
Writing: not this morning
Reading: Lord of Scoundrels
RSI/FMS: very sore and tired


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

I'm High School Standard reading... is that good?

ps. if you do this test for your own blog, watch out for the sneaky link added into the html code. Just slice out the offender before adding to your blog post. :)

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

Review! :)

Extremely chuffed today to read a lovely Five Ribbon review of SUITE SEVENTEEN by Lacey at Romance Junkies!

Here are some of her comments "My first thought after finishing this novel was wow!" and "well developed and creative, giving something new to the erotic genre."

Not bad, eh? :)

You can read the full review here.



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Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: not yet
Mood: pleased by above
Writing: not yet
Reading: Lord of Scoundrels
RSI/FMS: so so


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

Phew, what a brilliant day!

Well, I had the best time yesterday over at the Let's Talk Romance blog! It was a blast! The question of the day was... "do you prefer glamorous exotic locales and situations or more everyday backgrounds as settings for your erotic romances" but the chat amongst the Michelle and the Bellas ranged across all manner of topics to do with my favourite genre!

The conclusion was... I think... that we all like a good mix of fantastical 'luxe' settings and sexy fun in the same sort of town, hamlet, village, city, workplace etc that we actually live in. Which just goes to prove that the old saw 'variety is the spice of life' is alive and well! :)

Another conclusion was that there's a great fondness in Bellaland for brawny lumberjacks, sexy window cleaners, horny guys who ride motorcycles and even a certain eccentric and exotic Italian stud who wears a frock every now and again! LOL

Romance B[u]y the Book aka Let's Talk Romance is just the most wonderful place, and I urge all lovers of romantic fiction, in whatever its many marvellously diverse sub genres, to visit and join in the friendly, funny, thoughtful and sometimes quite intense chat there.

You won't regret it!

And the fun and provocative chat is in full force today, as Erotic Romance Week continues with a guest blog from Elizabeth Scott aka Janice Maynard, who has a very special take on erotic romance that I really like the sound of. ;) And tomorrow, it's Pam Rosenthal!



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Telly: Top Gear
Choc/Yummy: Tesco Belgian Milk
Mood: very good
Writing: more of The Retreat
Reading: Lord of Scoundrels - Loretta Chase
RSI/FMS: so so


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

Two big events today... well, sort of...

Yes, as I mentioned yesterday, it's EROTIC ROMANCE WEEK at Bella Michelle's Romance: B[u]y the Book and today's guest blogger is little old me! Wittering on about this and that, as usual... Well, the title is 'Write About What You Know...' - which is very naughty of me because it *isn't* me answering that terrible chestnut of a question that all erotica authors get asked. No, it's more about writing sexy about everyday settings and people as opposed to exotic, made up stuff.

Anyway... click here to read the post and join in the comment chat. You'll need to register at Lifetime TV, but it's very easy. Just remember not to leave any gaps in your chosen username, and if you live outside the US, you can register as if you lived in Beverly Hills by using CA/90210 as state/zip code! Posh, eh?

Oh, and don't forget to read the fabulous Emma Holly's post from yesterday!

And as if that isn't enough excitement, it's also a big day over at Lust Bites too.




The blog is a hundred years old today... no, sorry, one year old today... and there are zillions of fantastic prizes in the Grand Scavenger Hunt, including excellent goodies from me, such as HOTBED, CONTINUUM and GOTHIC BLUE!

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Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: not yet
Mood: okay
Writing: 1.2K of THE RETREAT last night
Reading: Lord of Scoundrels
RSI/FMS: a bit sore


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

Sorry for the gaps...

... but I will try and do better now that my Gothic Heat proofs are turned in. Boy was that a task! As usual, I didn't trust the first check, so I forced myself to do another... which was good job, as I found lots and lots of snafus on the second pass. And many of them weren't ones that a proof corrector, looking for just spelling and stuff, would have picked up on. You wouldn't think that a novel from somebody who plots as little as I do could have many continuity errors, but believe me, even with the slightest of plots, it's possible!

And now I have to get back to writing, as well as a zillion other jobs that have stacked up while I've been doing proofs. My first task is a short novella, workingly titled The Retreat, which I have to finish by the end of December. It's going to be one of those naughty ones with spanking and power games, and in the course of some movie viewing, I've discovered the perfect hero for it.

Edward Norton, looking stern and delicious as Eisenheim, in The Illusionist. I love his power and his quiet composure, qualities that make him ideal as a model for my subtle but dominant Ben. My story isn't historical, but there's certainly a slight anachronistic and Edwardian bohemian quality to this guy.

In other news, don't forget to check out my interview at Lovehoney, mentioned below, and tomorrow, I'll be guestblogging at lovely Bella Michelle Buonfiglio's 'Let's Talk Romance' blog, as part of EROTIC ROMANCE WEEK. Why not visit there today, too, as the guest is the fabulous Emma Holly with some of her romance writing friends.


-------------------------------------------------------------
Telly: nothing yet
Choc/Yummy: nothing yet
Mood: bit stressed
Writing: soon
Reading: Lord of Scoundrels - Loretta Chase
RSI/FMS: very achy and tired


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

Exciting Suite Seventeen news!

SUITE SEVENTEEN is the featured title for December at the Lovehoney Erotic Book Club!

There's an interview with me here. An excerpt here. And more info on the book here.




-------------------------------------------------------------
Telly: The Illusionist
Choc/Yummy: not yet
Mood: okay
Writing: checking Gothic Heat proofs
Reading: Claiming the Courtesan
RSI/FMS: so so


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

Gothic Day

Well the plan with the Gothic Heat proofs was to read through a third of the book each day, then, after three days, start again on the second pass, with one day left to write up all the corrections...

But instead, yesterday, I read through the whole thing in one long sitting! Maybe it was because there weren't any particularly major proofing snafus to deal with, or maybe it was because the new trade format has bigger, clearer print, I don't know... I only know that once I got started, I felt compelled to push on through and relive the story all over again.

Now this is rare. I used to devour one, maybe one and a bit Harlequin Presents novels in a day, when I was reading those, and I have been known to read large, large chunks of something like a Thomas Harris in a day, but lately, I must admit that I've become one of the slowest readers on the planet, even with books that I'm thoroughly enjoying. But somehow, Gothic Heat, my own creation, gripped me. Even though I was reading it for proofing purposes and checking for typos and whatnot... I found myself liking Paula, my heroine, and falling for Rafe, the hero, all over again. And also enjoying secondary characters like Michiko the white sorceress and her lovers Hiro and Balthazar. I even, in a backwards about way, felt a smidgen of sympathy for the villainess, Isidora... although only a smidgen, I must admit.

Shall I read the whole thing through again today, for the second pass? [I always, always find more typos on the second pass, even if I think I've got them all on the first.] Probably not... I'm two days ahead on the job, so I think I need a mind clearing day before I tackle it again. Perhaps I'll spend a little time later on, checking some of the flagged up things against the manuscript... or perhaps I won't? We'll see...

But it does feel strange to have enjoyed my own story so much. Mainly because Gothic Heat was a difficult book to write, and during its writing I often felt I'd made a mistake agreeing to do it because a] it's ten years since Gothic Blue and b] I began from a standing start, with virtually no plot or outline or anything, just the simple commission to write 'a sequel'. And yet, it all turned out okay, or at least it seems to have worked out okay. I've ended up with a story I really like, with quite a touching love story at the heart of it.

I don't know what readers and reviewers of Gothic Heat will think of it, and I'm sure they'll find plenty of faults and shortcomings in it - but at least I've enjoyed reading it again! :)

Does this all sound big-headed? Do other authors feel this way about their work?

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Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: not yet
Mood: okay, but strange
Writing: checking Gothic Heat
Reading: Claiming the Courtesan
RSI/FMS: tired, achy, same old, same old


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

a lovely compliment

My writing buddy Dayle A. Dermatis took this picture in a Powells Book Store in Portland, Oregon. Isn't it wonderful? :)

In spite of having proofs to correct, and an ever mounting list of jobs to do, yesterday was a complete washout. I had a naggling migraine all day, and with it being a weekend, and a shorter day due to a lie in, nothing whatsoever from my list got done. Spent most of the time either drowsing, or watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3. The latter was good, but not as good as the first in the series. I liked the lightness and colourfulness of the first one better, this was a bit too plot heavy. Okay, but not great...

Today is a shorter day too, and I'll probably not get a great amount done, esp. when himself gets back from his clay pigeon shooting and we get involved in chatting and maybe watching TV. We'll also be going out later [cos we didn't yesterday] so there'll be no evening work.

But tomorrow, I will be good and get on with those proofs and my other jobs! If I'm not around much, don't worry, I'm just a bit busy. :)

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Telly: Natural History of Britain
Choc/Yummy: Tesco Belgian Milk
Mood: okay
Writing: nothing yet
Reading: nothing yet
RSI/FMS: not too bad


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

fear and loathing of page proofs

Agh, those GOTHIC HEAT proofs have arrived! And I'm skeert to death of them!

I hate checking proofs. There's a pleasure in seeing the book as it's going to look when it's on sale, and it makes it all very real... but I'm always terrified, that, no matter how much checking I've done before I lobbed the thing off to the editor, I've committed some almighty continuity boo boo that has also slipped by in the copy editing process. Some stupid plot loophole that renders the whole thing ridiculous... I'm looking at the envelope with the proofs in now, and I feel slightly sick to my stomach. I've put them back in there because they make me shudder just to have them out in the open. But I've got to see to them, because, as usual, there's not really a great deal of time in which to scrutinise them.

All of the above means that my Sweat70 progress will grind to a shuddering halt for a while, unless I can somehow manage to just do a bit in between rounds of checking...


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Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: iced bun... for breakfast!
Mood: terrified
Writing: proofs... shudder...
Reading: Claiming the Courtesan - Anna Campbell
RSI/FMS: usual


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

A Serious Dilemma...

Should I start watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3? Or save it until this evening or over the w/e? It arrived in the post this morning, and it's taunting and tempting me... but I need to:

1. write some of IN TOO DEEP
2. think about another possible novella idea and maybe write a bit of that
3. polish a guest blog bit I'm doing
4. do some other blog related thingoids
5. finish adding all my widgets to this blog
6. do my accounts, sorely out of date
7. brace myself for incoming proofs of GOTHIC HEAT [oh God!]

And those are only the most critical jobs that need doing, there are a zillion more... and yet I keep feeling myself being ensorcelled by Captain Jack's siren call...



-------------------------------------------------------------
Telly: LOCI
Choc/Yummy: iced bun
Mood: oppressed
Writing: nowt yet
Reading: Claiming the Courtesan - Anna Campbell
RSI/FMS: tired, achey


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

Writers' Craft Advisory

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

He's getting impatient with me...

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

New Look!

I'm feeling so not like writing at the moment, so inspired by my buddy Madelynne Ellis, I've given this ol' blog a slightly new look! Still got quite a few of my sidebar bits to reintegrate, but I had too much crap there anyway, so maybe that's a good thing! :)

-------------------------------------------------------------
Telly: Top Gear etc
Choc/Yummy: Tesco Belgian Milk
Mood: fed up
Writing: not
Reading: not
RSI/FMS: sore and tired


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

my alter ego?

I've found my 'separated at birth' twin at ICanHasCheezburger.


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

Ack, it's one of those Mondays!

--
Telly: classic Mission Impossible
Choc/Yummy: Tesco Belgian Milk
Mood: low, exasperated, powerless
Writing: nowt
Reading: nowt
RSI/FMS: weary, unable to focus mentally


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

50%

--
Telly: Band of Brothers
Choc/Yummy: custard creams
Mood: goodish
Writing: 1.3K In Too Deep
Reading: not much
RSI/FMS: bit weary


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

a very strange pattern...

This has happened a few times in the last week... I spend the entire day fuzzed and befuddled by 'stuff' and I don't have the energy or the inspiration to write. Then, come evening time, panic, and the combined disapproval of Kuffer, Professor Hottie, Mr Blue and Sven, all bears down on me and I feel compelled to at least try and write a bit. I usually just scrape to the 1K mark with some very inferior prose, but that's about it.

I'm getting the words down therefore, but I still worry that what I've got is a pile of irredeemable horse plop that's gone entirely in the wrong direction...

--
Telly: nothing yet
Choc/Yummy: mini battenburg
Mood: low
Writing: nothing yet
Reading: Along for the Ride, Michelle Pillow
RSI/FMS: sore, esp. wrists


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

Mr Blue gets hardcore...

--
Telly: Top Gear
Choc/Yummy: Tesco Belgian Milk
Mood: stupid
Writing: none
Reading: none
RSI/FMS: tired


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

retooled GH cover

Here's the new, slightly reworked trade paperback sized cover of GOTHIC HEAT. Much the same as before, although I must say I preferred it when you could actually see the kiss. But, I can't complain at the size of my name... it's gigantic. The print, that is, not my name as in my rep as a writer! LOL

In other news it's a v. slow start today. For one reason or another I was up until 1am this morning, surfing the web and watching stupid television, and now I'm knackered. Not conducive to clear thinking and story telling, no way... And something has dawned on me about IN TOO DEEP in the last day or so. I'm approaching the half way mark and there hasn't been an actual shag yet!!! Loads of looking, teasing, fiddling about, erotic challenging, fantasising and exchanging of rude letters and sexy IMs... and even a blow job. But no full on how's yer father.

Some kind of weird erotic romance novel, eh?

--
Telly: nothing yet today
Choc/Yummy: soon
Mood: okay
Writing: thinking about ITD
Reading: WebUser
RSI/FMS: tired, achy, so what's new?


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

bribes v. threats

The Prof is trying a different tactic with me, as opposed to the threats I endure from Mr Blue and Kuffer! Will it work? We'll see...

Yesterday was tough going. As usual, I got sidetracked by something, as I mostly do and didn't do any writing during the actual day time... I spent most of my time trying to find out about standard book sizes, as it now looks like my Black Lace novels will be published in a trade paperback size from next April onwards. Gothic Heat will be the first one in this new format, so watch this space for the slightly revised cover. Quite similar to the first version, only my name is freaking enormous!

Any road up, tortured by guilt I was driven to start writing in the evening, and actually managed a fairly presentable 1.1K. As usual the value of said words remains debatable, but at least it's something to edit. I do often wonder if I should try and get more action into my writing [no, not that kind of action...]. A lot of writers have their characters racing around fighting villains or supernatural beings or going to places and generally being energetic, whereas most of my writing seems to feature just two people sitting in a smallish room playing games of psychological and erotic oneupmanship with each other... and as often as not, it's not even actual shagging! I suppose this is because I'm sadly depleted in the plotting gene...

So, what's your preference... Loads of fights and actions scenes and derring do? Or enigmatic smiles and staring each other out while the inner arousal level climbs to critical mass?

--
Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: not yet
Mood: okay
Writing: not yet
Reading: Along for the Ride - Michelle Pillow
RSI/FMS: bit sore, tired


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

Kuffer has something to say...

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

flippin hawt....

Got a fabulous mention over the weekend at Bella Michelle's wonderful Romance B[u]y the Blog. I just swung by as I usually do, to see what was cooking... and found this wonderful post featuring me along with a couple of other erotic romance authors and a fascinating discussion of the sub genre.

It was a lovely surprise to find this... as I'd no idea it was going to appear! :)

Flippin' Hawt

--
Telly: various
Choc/Yummy: mini choc brioche
Mood: mixed
Writing: nothing yet
Reading: ComputerActive
RSI/FMS: bit achey and all that


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

It lives!

After three days of downtime due to stress and crap IN TOO DEEP is finally moving slowly forward again! Have just done a thousand words... thank God for that!


--
Telly: Numb3rs extras
Choc/Yummy: various
Mood: better
Writing: 1K In Too Deep
Reading: nothing much
RSI/FMS: sore and tired


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

so tired...

Not one of mine but very cute... and the graphic says it all.

--
Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: not yet
Mood: dull
Writing: none
Reading: none
RSI/FMS: see above


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

Lost in Space

Drifting aimlessly, lost my tether, knocked off trajectory by crap and stess... letting down my 'boys'...

--
Telly: Numb3rs
Choc/Yummy: various
Mood: dispirited
Writing: not a bloody thing
Reading: not a bloody thing
RSI/FMS: tired, run down, aching


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

BUDDIES at LUSTBITES

I'm posting at the Lustbites blog today with a fun Q&A [questions posed by my chum Janine Ashbless!] a hot excerpt and a prize draw for people who comment on the post there.

So go here: BUDDIES DON'T BITE

And don't forget to leave a comment so you get a chance of the prize... it's a copy of the Lustbites vamp anthology and a copy of Gothic Blue!!!

--
Telly: Numb3rs S.3
Choc/Yummy: Lindor Dark
Mood: foul/chainsaw
Writing: nothing yet
Reading: nothing yet
RSI/FMS: tired, achy


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

scraping by...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, Professor H, I should be trying to do a tad more than my basic 1K... but it's been a struggle these last few days, to be honest. It's 11.13pm now, and I've just scraped by my goal wordcount. And I'm not sure that the actual words themselves are any good... the text feels a bit dead at the moment.

Thing is, I'm allowing myself to get stressed about things that I really shouldn't get stressed about. Stuff that's just not worth it... meaningless in the grander scale of things. But anyone who visits here regularly will know how I am... I fret over things that I ought to laugh off because they're stupid.

Any road up, crap words or no crap words, I've now officially done a third of In Too Deep! So even if it is total horse plop, there'll be time when the first draft's done to fix it.

And that's a comfort...

--
Telly: Moto GP, Top Gear
Choc/Yummy: Lindor
Mood: fed up with various stuff
Writing: 1K In Too Deep
Reading: nothing much today
RSI/FMS: very sore generally, plus wrists


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

thanks to Saskia!!!

And the delicious skinniccinos and toasties at BB's... I'm in a much, much better mood today!

Writing is a bloody lonely business and while online friendships and associations can be enriching and rewarding, there is nothing, but nothing to beat a face to face with a like-minded chum who's really on the same wavelength. I think the lunches I share every month or two with the wonderful Saskia Walker really help to keep me sane in a world that's sometimes utterly crazy and perplexing.

As usual we were in 'frightening the natives mode', and pretty soon an exclusion zone established itself around us as punters with delicate sensibilities swiftly moved away to tables out of earshot of our frank and occasionally even so slightly raucous [me] talk about writing, erotic romance, publicity, blogging, other authors, promo, editing... and the general bonkersness of the romance author's life. Safely away from the internet and being eavesdropped on by any actual authors/bloggers/online personalities, we can dish the dirt with a delicious lack of inhibition. I would imagine by the time we're finished there are quite a lot of furiously burning ears dotted all around the globe. Saskia, of course, is wiser, kinder and far more generous-spirited than I am, but she tolerantly smiles and listens to my repeated and extended tirades of venting!


--
Telly: nothing much
Choc/Yummy: cheese and ham toastie
Mood: good
Writing: not yet
Reading: ARC
RSI/FMS: tired and achy, but not too bad


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

my mood today

There are so many people annoying me today that I don't even want to begin to list them. I'm in one of my moods of general poisonous resentfulness and ill humour... but fortunately I have one or two nice things that will lift me out of it presently...

• out to lunch tomorrow with fabulous buddy Saskia Walker!
• hair looking splendidly blonde now, due to the ministrations of Anne, my hairdresser supreme
  
• I still have 20 Eppesodes of Season Three of Numb3rs to watch... mmm Charlie goodness!
  
• mmm too for mini choc chip brioches

Not sure if I'll achieve my writing goal today, or tomorrow, but I'm nicely in hand and hey, writing isn't everything in life.

--
Telly: see above
Choc/Yummy: see above
Mood: see above
Writing: not yet
Reading: not in the mood
RSI/FMS: sore and tired


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

HOTBED - out now in the US!

This was not what Natalie had expected. The angry thing she held in her hand didn't seem to belong to the mild, shy man she'd believed she was sitting next to. He felt powerful. Primal. Dominant in a way that bypassed all words. She wanted to get down on her knees and...

Pride comes before a fall... but what if the descent becomes the wildest ride of your life? Two sisters - Natalie and Patti - become rivals when they challenge each other's daring on a dark, downward spiral where nobody is quite who or what they seem, and where transgressing sexual boundaries is the norm.

"Hotbed is a perfect showcase for Portia Da Costa’s inestimable talent." ~ Ashley Lister, Erotica Readers and Writers Association

Read Excerpt

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

--
Telly: Numb3rs Season 3
Choc/Yummy: Lindor Dark
Mood: harassed
Writing: IN TOO DEEP 350 words so far
Reading: in between books
RSI/FMS: very tired and achy


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