Getting back to normal?

Yes, I think I'm gradually beginning to return to the everyday world of my normal writing and non writing life... at last. It's been a strange and wonderful interlude, this RWA experience, and though I must admit it's been a tad physically challenging, in terms of jet lag and fatigue and whatnot, the positive aspects have far and away outweighed any slight negative bobbles.

I find it hard to look back and form a truly coherent picture. It's more little vignettes that float in my mind, bobbing in a delicious and fondly reminiscent soup. Dazzling flashes that illuminate an overall landscape of warmth, friendship and welcome. I can't begin to describe the awesomeness of how kind people were. Both my existing friends, and new friends. Also, what it felt like when people knew me, recognised me, rushed up to me and hugged me... and said heartwarming things about my writing and my books. For someone who's always waiting for the other shoe to fall, and for someone to say 'it's all a mistake, we take it back... return to square one', this kind of affirmation is like a pure gold dream. It just blows me away!

Attending RWA was an A1 experience for me, completely invaluable for any number of reasons. And I want to thank my dear buddy Saskia for encouraging me, and making me brave enough to make the trip, and for guiding me through the entire process and helping me and making me laugh and enjoy myself every step of the way. Never mind Alcatraz, she was my rock. Also, I want to thank my other wonderful travelling companion Madelynne for the same reasons. Her calmness and unflappability were a real steadying force for me, and her sense of humour really pepped me up when I was flagging sometimes.

But now, it's back to work. KISS IT BETTER is my priority, with a deadline of 1st of December. Sounds a long way away, but if the first part of this year is anything to go by, it'll be on me in a flash. KIB will be a challenge, too. It's very, very much a romance book. It has a romance type structure, and will definitely have a full on happily ever after... but... it still has to be full of the hot, hot sex that people expect in a Portia Da Costa novel. Melding the two things can sometimes be a tall order, but I'm prepared to strive my best to do it, and do it as well as I can.

Read these accounts!

Here's a cute photo of me with [L-R] my buddies Saskia, Shelli and Karen at the Harlequin Party at RWA.

I'm being very lazy, and not really writing proper accounts of my recent trip, but Saskia is doing some fabulous recaps of RWA. We didn't go to *all* the same things, obviously, but her lovely summaries do contain quite a bit about yours truly, so check them out for a wonderful flavour of the event, the people and the ambience.

The Naughty Lady from Shady Lane

The Hat... yes, I wore it!

As my brain is still totally fried and I have the creative capabilities of a mollusc at the moment, here's a piccie instead.

It's me in 'The Hat' in San Francisco! Yes, I wore it quite a lot when I was out in the sun and it was just the ticket for keeping rays off my lily white face. So, am really pleased with the way it turned out.

You'll also notice one of the famous San Francisco cable cars in the background, and shortly after Saskia took this shot, we boarded one and rode back from Fisherman's Wharf to Union Square. It was a blast! We felt like we were in the movies... LOL

Note also the nifty Adam Ant tee shirt! Tee shirt lover that I am, I brought three back for myself from the City by the Bay, plus one for himself.

My first Literacy Signing

Here's me hiding my nerves behind a grin! Was terrified nobody would stop by, but in fact lots of people turned up to say hello. :)

Photo by Saskia

Yes, I am back...

.... I didn't get lost or detained in San Francisco!

This is a piccie of me, taken in the Fisherman's Wharf area, during a sight-seeing trip with Saskia, with the infamous island of Alcatraz there in the background.

And here's me again with the gorgeous and lovely Michelle Buonfiglio at the Bellas' Breakfast, one of the highlights of my RWA experience. I think Madelynne took this piccie...

I don't think I'm capable of writing a proper account of my trip, as it's all pretty overwhelming and my poor jet lagged and sleep deprived brain just doesn't seem to be able to process it properly. Suffice it to say, though, that our RWA really was the adventure of a lifetime, and totally crazy, exciting and fun from start to finish. Met some lovely, lovely people and returned happy and inspired!

Yikes, I'm really going to San Francisco!

Yes, the time has finally arrived! I'm just chilling at the moment before doing my final packing, and then this evening, it's off on the first stage of my long journey to San Francisco. Spending a night at a hotel at Leeds/Bradford airport, so we're on the spot for our 5am check-in... eek!

Not sure if I'll be able to keep in touch while I'm away [I'm a rubbish blogger when I'm home!] but there may be Tweets to the right, if my phone will work properly in the US, and there may even be mini blogs from my phone, although not many, because it'll be expensive.

So, hope to have some nice piccies when I get back, and lots of stories to tell about the conference and all the fun I'll have with my mates, old and new.

Au revoir and all that... :)

Test

Just fiddling

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Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone

A strange and wonderful day!

First of all, here are my newly dyed eyelashes, ready for RWA. They might not look anything special, but believe me, they look twice as long as they did before, due to the pale tips now being a beautiful shade of blue-black. :) Note also the tidy brows as opposed to the previous Neanderthal Babe look...

Today's big news broke, however, just as I was setting off for the La Femme Beauty Rooms. Got a phone call from my agent, with various bits of news... and the big kicker of me having sold four short stories/mini novellas to Spice Briefs!!!

I can barely believe this. In fact I keep waiting to wake up. I was very, very cautiously hopeful about these stories, but the reality of selling them still seems amazing. I've actually only written two of them. One is A Gentlewoman's Predicament, my naughty Victorian thingie, and the other is Twice the Pleasure, a menage a trois story, which is the first in a trio of shorts entitled Risque Reunions, all based around a ten year school reunion. I just have outlines for stories #2 and #3, but they're pretty clear in my mind, and shortish, of course, so I can't wait to get my teeth into them and polish them off too.

The timing of this news is fantastic too, and will help no end with my confidence levels at RWA! At the moment I feel as if I could almost float across to San Francisco, no jet required!

More news as and when it breaks...

My RWA spending money!

Have been to the Post Office and got myself some dollars for my trip to America... although not quite as many as shown above! LOL! I don't think the bills for drinks and snacks and coffees and souvenirs will quite come to $26 millon...

Have also had my bushy eyebrows groomed into an nice neat feminine shape as opposed to my usual Denis Healey style... Tomorrow, my pale and whispy eyelashes go dark... :)

Wahey, this is *so* the result I wanted!!!! :)

Your STAR WARS Identity created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Darth Vader YOU ARE DARTH VADER! You are the sore loser of the group. No one can have a say unless yours still wins. You need to loosen up more and let someone else win from time to time! Darth Vader 100% Princess Leia 90% Boba Fett 90% Jabba the Hutt 80% Chewbacca 70% R2-D2 70% Han Solo 60% C-3PO 60% Yoda 50% Luke Skywalker 50%

This is me to a tee! LOL

I found this quizz at Kristie [J]'s blog....

He's back!!!!!

RECKLESS by Saskia Walker

I've just finished devouring this delicious book by my dear friend and crit partner, Saskia Walker!

I really loved this book, and it's not because Saskia and I are mates. No, this is a terrific, highly readable erotic romance, and it would have delighted me if I hadn't the slightest idea who Saskia was... :)

The heroine is Katrina, an art valuer, who goes to the Catalonia region of Spain to assess and catalogue the great collection of a prominent Catalan family. When she gets there, she becomes entangled in an intriguing mystery. All is not as it seems, and as the story unfolds family secrets are revealed and masks ripped away to uncover the true nature of the various central characters.

Katrina is a lovely heroine. She seems very real and three dimensional, not some idealised kick ass super-vixen or anything. She's very much at a cross roads in her life, and she's reaching out for new experiences and to expand her horizons after a disappointment. As the title suggests, sometimes she's a bit reckless, and behaves very daringly, but that only makes her all the more endearing and likeable, and easy to identify with.

And the men? Well, I can't say too much about them for fear of giving away too much about the exciting romantic suspense plot. In the beginning, there are *two* hot hunks who could quite easily be the hero, but as the story unfolds, the right man emerges as Katrina's love interest, and he's hypnotically ultra masculine, mysterious and complex. Totally yum!

The region of Catalonia - esp. Barcelona - and art itself are also kind of characters in the book too. Saskia's descriptions are lush and evocative, really bringing out the vibrant character of that part of Spain. I went there myself, many years ago, and reading Reckless took me right back to that trip and stirred up great memories. And Saskia also really knows and loves her art, which comes across clearly in the book in the form of Katrina's appreciation of and response to the beautiful works she has to catalogue.

Reckless is a page turning romantic suspense story, but also sublimely erotic, with toe curlingly sensual love scenes that sizzle on the page and make you wish you were right there in the Catalan moonlight with a mysterious, darkly passionate stranger making desperate love to you! Phoooarrggh!

Read more about this cracking book here... along with a gorgeous excerpt!