Dumpster Office of Doom

[It's far, far worse than this now!]

People who know me know that my office is an uninhabitable, unimaginable pit full of clutter, crap and the detritus of a thirty plus year career of total irrational hoarding. It's bad. And it just seems to get worse... and not always down to me. Certain home improvements have impacted unfavourably on my office and created an even greater disaster zone of books and paper and 'stuff' recently.

And today, this is getting me down more than ever, because himself is sorting *his* office out and has lots of space, can move, and can find what he wants. Which makes me very envious, even though I know my predicament is mostly [well, completely] of my own making. Sigh...

Something needs to be done, but I think I can't really tackle it until I get the first draft of IN THE FLESH done, something I intend to complete by the end of April, with luck. But when that time comes, I'm going to take action. I'm going to have to be stern with myself over things like magazines, and set a date before which everything will be thrown away, with no exceptions. I've always found it hard to let go of such things as books, magazines and VHS tapes, my thinking being that one day, I might need something I've read or watched as research or background for my books. Not being a person who's travelled much or done much in the way of exciting jobs, I depend on research materials a lot, to supplement a vivid imagination and a sort of 'empathy' for other lives and times and situations... But I started all this hoarding long before I had access to the internet, and now, my first port of call for research/background is the web, where I can usually find much, much more information, and probably better, than I might have gleaned from an old magazine article or a book I read years ago....

So, come the merry month of May, I'll be starting the long, long project to restore my office to the state of... well... and office. And that, I suppose, is my greatest, belated, New Year's Resolution. Wish me luck...

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Eating: chocolate finger biscuits
Watching: snooker
Reading: Daily Life in a Victorian House - Laura Wilson [excellent children's book]
Writing: nothing yet
Feeling: completely fed up and frustrated by Dumpster Office of Doom

Why?

Do I suddenly have to keep signing in, again and again, to Blogger? Up until not long ago, I could sign in once in a session, then edit my sidebar thingies on the fly, from the page... not so now. Very annoying.

You'll be pleased to know that I've now begun moving forward again with IN THE FLESH. I spent yesterday pootling about with the 12K I'd completed and doing little tweaks and adjustments to reflect thoughts I've had and research I've uncovered since I first worked on it, many, many months ago. I was pleased to discover that I clicked with Bea, the heroine, again immediately. She's an interesting girl, brave and feisty, who looks on the positive side. She's made silly mistakes, but she's learning from them so she doesn't slip up in quite the same way again. I'm not sure that she's a totally strictly accurate Victorian young lady in her thinking, maybe... but she has to be what she'll be, that's the way I write. And I think I can avoid any super ridiculous anachronisms... ITF will be a bit wallpapery, but not too much, I hope.

Ritchie, I'm already liking very much again too. Especially his ruthless sexiness at this stage. I hope to bring out his more tormented and angsty side later, although it won't be black, bleak, miserable angst, just a guy trying to make the best of the hand life's dealt him.

I'm also, currently, opening the door to the mind of Charlie, Bea's brother, who's an unwise character although not a villain. I hope to make him grow stronger through the book, although at the moment he's teetering on the brink of an erotic tryst in a moonlit garden with another man... Very foolhardy indeed in an age where homosexuality was against the law, and he could go to prison and serve a term of hard labour. Eek, Charlie, be careful!



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Eating: chocolate finger biscuits
Watching: nothing yet
Reading: nothing yet today
Writing: IN THE FLESH aka Victorianoid
Feeling: quite positive

Semi Hibernation of the Blog

So, this blog is pretty much in a semi hibernation, hiatus type state at the moment. Bit like Kuffer, above, and me a lot of the time, especially in this foul snowy weather we're beset with at the moment. Naturally, at the beginning of the year, not much is happening generally in publishing, and not much is happening here at Casa Da Costa writing-wise either.

2010 will be a strange year for me. The first in many, many years when I've not had a new full length novel published, thanks to the decision by Random House to do away with Black Lace [boo hoo]. Times will be tough. I'm not without publications altogether this year though. I've got my two 'Gentlewoman' Victorian set Spice Briefs sometime in Spring, and a contemporary Spice Brief called Another Chance, later in the year. I'm also a contributor in a couple of Harlequin Spice anthologies during the year too: Naughty Bits 2 contains my story Chance of a Lifetime and Alison's Wonderland has a story of mine in it too, called Unveiling His Muse.

But as it stands now, there are no new novel length works out by old PDC until the beginning of 2012!!!!!! That's when my first full length Harlequin Spice novel comes out, the infamous Victorianoid aka IN THE FLESH. I'm beginning to work on that in earnest now, and really having fun [and buying far more research books than I can really afford] but it does seem a long, long time until it hits the shelves. I just hope that my readers don't forget me, and can wait that long to read the story of bold and impetuous Beatrice Weatherly and her Victorian style 'indecent proposal' arrangement with the gorgeous but scandalous Edmund Ellsworth Ritchie. He's a very naughty man, with issues, but also a sense of humour. :)

What else have I been up to lately?

Well, writing a couple of shorter works. One's a longish short story which, all being well, will be included in the Mammoth Book of Hot Romance. This contribution is a sort of hot/cold winter sex romance story, with the temperature elements inspired by the current round of ice and snow. Very much a fun type story, which I hope readers will find entertaining. I've also be working on a shortish novella about a beautiful young man who may or may not be an angel, and the slightly older woman who falls head over heels in love with him. I did originally plan to submit this to a publisher's call, quite a while ago, but me being as slow a writer as a sloth on Valium, it didn't get finished in time for the deadline. I'm currently waiting for the right moment to submit it to a publisher.

I've also got a sort of category length sweeter type romance out at the moment, which I'm waiting to hear about - and which was a lovely change of pace to work on - as well as a couple of proposals and a shorter work sent out by my agent. So, a few irons in the fire, even if nothing definite...

So that's me at the moment, really. Nothing too earthshaking to report... just hanging on in there and hoping for the best, I guess.

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Eating: everything... I'm turning into a whale
Watching: lots of Poirot, Sherlock Holmes, cop shows
Reading: research for Victorianoid & a Victorian set novel
Writing: Victorianoid, plus assorted bits of ideas
Feeling: not sure

Welcome 2010!

The Big Christmas Feed

Welcome to our Big Christmas Feed from RSPCA on Vimeo.

Donate to the Big Christmas Feed!

It's getting a bit late to sort out Christmas now, so instead of late gifts and cards, I've made a donation to the RSPCA's Big Christmas Feed. Winter is a tough time for abandoned animals, and in this recession the situation is infinitely harder.

My own beloved cats Kuffer, Alice and Mulder will be warm and well fed over Christmas, but the RSPCA is doing its best to take care of the animals who aren't quite so lucky.

Donate to the Big Christmas Feed!

Is it or isn't it?

Bit of a mystery... Is SHADOWPLAY available in the US as an ebook or isn't it?

It's definitely available in the UK, although as far as I can tell, only from the Random House site, in epub format.

SHADOWPLAY - UK EBOOK

Now, that link says it's only for download in the UK. However, the lovely folk are All Romance Ebooks have Shadowplay listed for sale in epub format, with a price in dollars, so I assume that US readers are able to purchase and download it there.

SHADOWPLAY - US EBOOK

I may be missing something here, but it almost seems as if somebody doesn't really want people to buy this book in a digital form, because it's not listed at the UK Waterstones or W H Smiths ebook stores, and nor is it listed at the major US ebook outlets either.

Me, I'd love my books to be available in ebook form, because more and more readers are preferring ebooks over print books. Although I'll probably read some print books myself for years to come yet, I'm also going digital, because I read some titles on my Palm T3 and have now got a second hand Sony PRS-505 e-reader that I hope to start building up a library on soon too.

SHADOWPLAY - oldie but goodie reviews

The new reprint of SHADOWPLAY is out today [allegedly].

Shadowplay was originally published back in 1999 and I had a lot of fun writing it back in the day. I'm not sure how it's weathered the test of time, as I've grown a helluva lot as a writer in the intervening years... but back then, when it was originally published, I did get a couple of very nice reviews for it.

So, with many thanks to Kathee and Hazel, here they are:

TWO 1999 REVIEWS OF SHADOWPLAY

You know my name!

Yes, I've finally received word that SHADOWPLAY has actually been reprinted and it does have my name on the cover! And the very helpful Kelly is hoping to be able to circulate the proper cover image to the various online booksellers.

A word of warning though... It says on the cover 'an erotic romance' and really, I don't think it is one. It'd be more accurate to say that it's erotica for women, with some romantic elements. It certainly isn't centred on a one man, one woman, mutually exclusive relationship. In fact, it's pretty shagathonic to be honest!

Anyway, it'll be out on the 8th December, so judge for yourself. :)

Read excerpt

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Naughty Bits 2 - coming in March 2010

This beauty is due out in March 2010! It contains my story CHANCE OF A LIFETIME and a bunch of other great Spice Brief stories including Caught in the Act by my buddy Saskia Walker!

Naughty Bits 2 - Amazon.co.uk

Naughty Bits 2 - Amazon.com

Happy Thanksgiving!

INESCAPABLE!

My fabulous writing friend SASKIA WALKER has a spiffing new book out today! For full details and a hot excerpt, visit her blog.

INESCAPABLE

THE RETREAT available at Fictionwise

Wahey, my short BDSM erotic romance novella THE RETREAT is now available at Fictionwise!

Here's the blurb:

Ben Chambers is the perfect boyfriend, the perfect lover, the perfect man. Sarah adores him, but she knows that despite the deliciousness of their lovemaking, their shared interests, and the fun they have together, there's a certain special something missing in their relationship. And then, arriving for a hedonistic weekend of luxury at an English country house hotel, something happens that changes everything between them. A momentary, inconsequential pat on the bottom opens the door to a breathtaking world of daring and transgressive sexual pleasure...and forges a bond that's both profoundly physical and a melding of their souls.

Available at Fictionwise in a variety of file formats.

ps. if you fancy Edward Norton in The Illusionist, you'll like Ben... ;)