Gone but not forgotten...

It was a year ago yesterday [2nd Sept] that darling Boy passed away. I still think of him and remember his sweet, affectionate nature.

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

The Real Me...

The photos on my websites and whatever are all a sham... this is the real me!

Simpsonize yourself

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

death warmed up

That's what I feel like this morning... due to Kuffer waking me up in the small hours, 'announcing' that he'd come in after a nocturnal jaunt. He seems to like to know that we know he's back. Even if it is around 4am... And waking up acquainted me with the fact I had a sinus headache, so had to get up and get pills to sort that out. So now I'm feeling distinctly under par.

After a day of doing nothing at all, letting the latest edit of Gothic Heat 'set' I started back into work again yesterday and had a most productive day. Caught up on accounts, replied to some emails, did a bit of web work, sent out some parcels to prize draw winners and reviewers, and even did a K of story I'm thinking of sending to a magazine. Pretty rough stuff at the moment, but writing all the same. And different to Gothic Heat, so refreshing in a way. I flipped back to my contemporary first person present tense voice and really enjoyed the change. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to write that way, and I'm wondering whether to return to that voice for my next book. It certainly worked quite nicely in Entertaining Mr Stone and Suite Seventeen, and readers have said how they liked it too.

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

I've been editing....

Quite intensely. Which is why I've been quiet here for a day or two.

I got the bit between my teeth and pushed on to the end of the first round of editing Gothic Heat yesterday. I'd anticipated lots of things to change, and there still will be changes, both self initiated and stemming from whatever my wise critique partner says about it. But, it didn't seem quite as dire as it did when I was actually writing it. I thought I'd produced a real turkey, but it didn't feel quite that bad. Shades of Suite Seventeen there... I thought that was a mountainous pile of horse pooh at one time, but it ended up getting four and a half stars from Romantic Times! I can only hope for a similar phenomenon with Gothic Heat. Maybe not all those stars, but at least a fairly respectable showing.

Found myself grinning at GH's extremely sappy and traditionally romantic - sort of - ending. But I'm a traditional and old fashioned girl [girl? don't make me laugh...] I like the together forever, rose tinted HEA. It's what I want to read and it's what I want to write... I don't apologise for that. And I don't apologise for creating characters that are sort of nice, despite their quirks and the bad traits and acts they have to overcome to get to being 'good people'... It's fashionable in some quarters to pour scorn on niceness, but I don't. I like nice people, and if there were more of them about, this world wouldn't be in the shitty mess some parts of it are... My Rafe in Gothic Heat has done some very questionable things in his life, and he does some questionable things in the course of the book... but underneath, his heart is true and he becomes a hero. As well as falling for a girl and loving her forever...

Awwww......


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Telly: various crap
Choc/Yummy: guylian
Mood: strange
Writing: just finished editing
Reading: in between books
RSI/FMS: tired, sore, fuzzy


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

my Bank Holiday in Spain and France...

with the rough but delicious Major Richard Sharpe! UK TV History has a Sharpe marathon over the long Bank Holiday weekend, and despite my intentions to work at writing and catching up, I've got drawn into Sharpey's Napoleonic War adventures. Gosh, he's so fit, it's hard not to... Odd to think that but for a footballing injury, Sharpe might have had a different face. Instead of the splendid Sean Bean, it might have been another of my faves, Paul McGann, who I was spending the weekend with...

I must say there's something particularly hot about a handsome dashing soldier... My Nathaniel in OBJECT OF DESIRE is a super fit ex serviceman turned academic and in EYES OF DESIRE, Guy is an elite special forces operative on leave. Yum yum!!!

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Telly: Sharpey
Choc/Yummy: Thorntons Fruit and Nut
Mood: lazy
Writing: nothing yet
Reading: Flatliners
RSI/FMS: so so


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

Five kisses for OBJECT OF DESIRE

OBJECT OF DESIRE has just received a glowing five kisses review by Kerin at TWO LIPS REVIEWS! Here's a snippet...

"Object of Desire is a sexy hot little story packed full of eroticism and bits of humor that’ll keep you entertained from beginning to end. Portia Da Costa is a veteran author who knows what her readers want and doesn’t fail to deliver it. Object of Desire is both evocative and earthy and left me well satisfied by hot love scenes and the sweet and sexy ending."

You can read the full review here and buy the ebook from Total-E-Bound!

And don't forget the wet men and the chance to win naughty sex toys!

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Telly: Sharpe-a-thon on UK History
Choc/Yummy: Turkish Delight
Mood: good
Writing: not yet
Reading: Flatliners
RSI/FMS: so so


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

do you like wet men?

Well, I don't like them any more than dry ones, but the above specimen is pretty tasty... However, if you like saturated dudes, nip on over to Lustbites for a butchers at a selection of prime examples. While you're there, leave a comment and you can win one of the kind of naughty toys that might come in the package below... nudge nudge... you know what I mean...

fun interview

Here's a fun interview with me!

Portia Da Costa at Lovehoney!

Why not leave me a comment while you're there... and maybe treat yourself to something naughty from their splendid selection of merchandise.... ;)

it's all a bit sporadic, innit?

Sorry that posting has been a bit hit and miss recently. Have mainly been channelling all my writing energy into fiction and now, into editing Gothic Heat. And my life is pretty boring... except last Thursday when I met my dear writing buddy, Saskia Walker for lunch and we had a fabulous gabfest and bitching session! Now that was fun, and I bet a lot of people's ears were burning that day... we love to dish it! LOL

Am now about a third of the way into editing Gothic Heat, and it's still not too vile. I can see a bit of tweakage ahead, but so far, so good. I'm even beginning to think a little about what I'll do next. It'll probably be something contemporary, but no firm news on that yet. When there is something to tell, you'll be the first to know, faithful readers. [All three of you.]

One good bit of news is that the Magic and Desire Black Lace novella collection, containing my offering ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT, has just appeared on the Amazons, due out 8th May 08.

Can't wait to see the cover... but in the meantime, here's my version.



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Telly: UK TV History
Choc/Yummy: Hotel Chocolat
Mood: very tired
Writing: editing Gothic Heat
Reading: The Unsung Hero/Suzanne Brockmann & Flatliners/Leonore Fleischer
RSI/FMS: see above, tired and extremely achy


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

The New Rafe

Here's the 'new' Rafe from Gothic Heat... looks suspiciously like Mr Blue's slightly less psychotic twin brother, doesn't he? ;)

Have now begun my first round of edits, and even though it's early days yet, the bits I've done so far don't seem too horrible. Sadly, though, despite being 2K over budget wordswise, it hasn't reduced much in length yet. I haven't found anything thus far that's so crap that I can gaily rip it out...

Screencap of Vincent D'Onofrio as Mr Blue from The Taking of Pelham 123 TV movie courtesy of The Velocity of Vincent.

Here's the side by side....

I'm gonna have to cut Rafe's hair!!!!!

He was going to have long hair... but I can't square that with the cover... so I'm going to have to do a bit of hairdressing... But I think it might work better... I'm kind of seeing him as Mr Blue now...