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.



--
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...

Two Wild New Reviews!

I've just received news of the first two reviews for WILD IN THE COUNTRY!

The first is from the splendid Mrs Giggles... who awards it 78/100 and describes it as "a pretty amusing - if silly - sex romp"... which sums it up just about perfectly. It's a fairly daft book designed purely for light hearted entertainment, and I think it succeeds in its purpose pretty well.

Go here to read the rest of the Mrs Giggles review

At Night Owl Romance Book Reviews, 'Wild' gets a solid 5/5... which is brilliant! Dee describes it as "sexy, lusty, juicy, and splendid with color" and you can't ask for a nicer plaudit than that!

Go here to read the rest of the Night Owl Romance review


And here's the info about the book...

WILD IN THE COUNTRY - Portia Da Costa

Published by TOTAL-E-BOUND - a contemporary super length novel

Available from now!

Blurb

There's something in the air...

Flora Swain is a newcomer to the village of Marwick Magna, renowned for the inspiration it provides to painters and poets. Impetuous and strong-minded, Flora is no artist – yet. But there are creative urges within her, she is convinced, and she has come to the country to give them life.

The strange thing is that Flora’s urges turn out to be almost entirely sensual. Is it the undoubted physical allure of her new neighbour, Declan McKenna, that’s driving her wild? Or the explicitly sexual messages which appear daily in her post? Or could it be that country life has revealed to her an insatiable, highly erotic new self?

Read an Excerpt

Available now from TOTAL-E-BOUND

out of sorts...

Have been feeling a bit out of sorts these last couple of days... Maybe it's a sort of 'dislocation' from finishing the first draft of Gothic Heat? Maybe it's health/fibromyalgia issues? Maybe it's health/fibro issues due to 'dislocation'? Who knows? But basically, I just feel as cranky as Predator chappie here...

I should be pleased as punch with myself, but I feel grumpy and curmudgeonly and disillusioned with so many things. And I feel a great difficulty in communicating, which is a bit of a drawback for somebody who, basically, communicates for a living. I feel as if I should be stretching myself as a writer, moving up a gear, moving up a level... or summink. Not just festering along, never really making a big name for myself. I've been writing a long, long time and I've seen lots of writers come along since I started and become pretty big names, while I just moulder away in the backwoods. I've always thought that it's because I can't plot well and can't generate ideas easily. But then I read stuff by bigger names, and sometimes, I think... well, I could have thought of this, but if I had done, I would probably have dismissed it as too silly and too superficial for an editor to take it seriously... And then, of course, I read other stuff and my heart just sinks because it's so good, and the author is clearly a quantum leap beyond me in terms of her imagination and her ability to interpret what's in that imagination as a book that people will want to read and having read it, end up adoring it...

Sorry to seem gloomy, but my hips are aching and I feel like crap today...

On a film note, watched Predator 2 last night, and while I think I prefer the first one, it's still a deliciously crass and bloodthirsty escapist flick. It's sweaty and violent and silly, but I did enjoy it. I just wish some bright spark hadn't put the Alien skull in the Pred's space ship, and generated the whole Aliens v. Predator phenomenon that led to a film that basically crapped on two iconic sci-fi movie franchises. They've ruined both now with AVP... stupid sods!

--
Telly: Time/Michio Kaku
Choc/Yummy: Cadbury's Turkish Delight Bar
Mood: horrible
Writing: nowt
Reading: Fantasy Lover
RSI/FMS: awful at the moment


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

Finally...

I finished the first draft of Gothic Heat today... the book I sometimes wondered if I could ever finish. And it's weird... part of me feels that it's still never really got started. I'll be honest, it's not been my favourite book to work on, because it wasn't one I actively sought to write. It was a book I was encouraged to write by my editor... based on a wild statement by me ie. 'maybe I could write a sequel to Gothic Blue?' when I'd never really *seriously* entertained the idea.

The first draft is rough, and will need a lot of work. But that's the function of first drafts... to be edited and refined and reworked... and improved! And I'm sure I'll see what can be done when I return to the story after a short break to 'refresh' my mind.

I think Gothic Heat can be a good book. Maybe not a great piece of literature, but certainly an entertaining read. One thing it won't be though is *like* Gothic Blue in a lot of ways. I'm a different writer now, and I've moved on, and learnt a lot, and improved, I hope. My characters are more realistic now, I think, and more complex and more ambiguous. Deeper, hopefully...

So, watch this space.

--
Telly: Uncle Buck
Choc/Yummy: Turkish Delight
Mood: strange
Writing: Gothic Heat
Reading: Fantasy Lover - Sherrilyn Kenyon
RSI/FMS: bit sore and achy


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

I got it!!!!

I'm a guest blogger today!

Hey, I'm guest blogging today... over at Milady Insanity's place!

Find out just how mad I really am, and why I have so many dumb pseudonyms... and comment for the chance to win a prize!

Watching the Detective... today!

WATCHING THE DETECTIVE is out today in the UK!!!

Okay, you'll have to buy an anthology with stories from a bunch of other writers in it to get The Detective... but they're all good authors and I'm sure they're all excellent yarns... even if there are no gorgeously big and strapping NYPD detectives in them. :)

Here's an excerpt and the buying links and whatnot....

--
Telly: World at War
Choc/Yummy: Carrot Cake
Mood: slightly better
Writing: bit of Gothic Heat
Reading: just finished Lover Awakened - JR Ward
RSI/FMS: fairly sore


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

how I feel...

This is a bit how I feel at the moment... I'm so zonked out thinking about writing, web design and promo, and so completely incapable of doing any of them, due to the aforesaid zonkedoutness... that I was reduced to scrubbing out the shower and mopping the kitchen floor this morning because my brain just couldn't cope with any higher functions.

And now, of course, I feel physically knackered too. It doesn't take much housework to **** me up... All I really want to do is to sit around reading LOVER REVEALED by J R Ward all day, but I have this freaking demon inside me that howls all the time saying I must be doing this, or I must be doing that... and it torments me so much it makes me crazy and I can't do anything at all!

I am so messed up at the moment...