Dear Author review for Chance!

Wahey, I got a B- review at Dear Author! Am extremely chuffed! :)

Chance of a Lifetime - Dear Author review

Merry Christmas!

'Tis the season...

... to eat loads and loads of these muthas!

My thighs are begging for mercy, but the orgy of Mince Pies has begun!

Enjoy Christmas Eve folks! Hope the last minute shopping and prep aren't too gruelling, and that pretty soon the warm glow of peace and goodwill enfolds you. :)

I should never get off the Merry-Go-Round!

I've come to the conclusion that I should never completely get off the merry-go-round of writing, no matter how ill or tired or uninspired I feel.

If I ever stop writing for a day, it's twice as hard to start again the next day, and three times as hard if I leave it a couple of days... and so on, and so on. And so the feeling grows and perpetuates until writing becomes some horrible, hated monster I just can't face.

I've been falling off the merry-go-round quite a bit in this last month or two. Health problems, other worries, life crap and other disappointments have all put me again and again in a 'I'll take a break today' mood and those 'day' breaks have turned into longer and longer intervals between writing. And this just won't do!!!!

These gaps make me easily forget that I *can* actually write, and even if I'm not one of these golden, talented writers who everybody adores, I am quite good at some aspects of the craft, and quite a few people *do* love what I do! :)

I also forget how much I *enjoy* writing, if I don't do it. I somehow manage to block all memory of the pleasure I experience from writing, and only remember the hard aspects of it, like coming up with plots and ideas... I focus on my shortcomings instead of relishing and celebrating my strengths.

So, from today onwards, I will be engaged in attempt no. #23,742 to write a little bit of something every single day, even if I don't feel like it and haven't the foggiest idea what project to work on! Call this me getting an early start on my New Year's Resolutions!

Why, Charlie, why?

Boo hoo! Your curls! Why? Why? Why?

A new review for an older title...

I just found a delightful and very thoughtful review of SUITE SEVENTEEN at Just Erotic Romance Reviews!

Reviewer Roxy Blue describes it as "an engaging read with strong character development, splashes of humor, and arousing sex" and says "Trust me, Valentino will surprise you repeatedly as you read this engaging novel"...

Great stuff, eh? You can read the full review here!

What's going on...

Ack, another terrible gap in my blog, so better check in and report what's going on around here.

Not a great deal to be honest. At the moment, I seem to be bouncing around between quite a few writing projects and finding it hard to settle on just one. My head is a pot luck stew of ideas, all milling around together, rather than gelling into strong story concepts. My jottings notebook has bits and pieces from across about half a dozen different stories, novels and novellas. I find it a bit disquieting, to be honest, too, as I'm an author who usually likes to immerse herself in one big project and really get inside my characters and live their story.

I think I'll be more settled when I hear some news from publishing land. Apart from one remaining Spice Brief, I'm pretty much out of contract at the moment. I have some stuff 'out' and my agent is pursuing it, so hopefully, I might have something to focus on soon. But it's tough right now, for obvious reasons, and horror stories keep floating around. Authors dumped, lines contracting or disappearing, publishers cutting back all round. Very scary. As my agent said, though, all I can do is keep writing my fiction. Actually, she said 'the wonderful fiction that you write'... so I'm hoping that I can manage to be wonderful enough to snag a new contract of some kind soon. :)

On the home front, the recession or whatever you choose to call it is hitting hard too, just as it is for many thousands and thousands of families, small or larger, across the globe. Like everyone else, himself and I are looking to cut our bills a bit, and squish any tendencies towards extravagance. Looks like we'll be plumping for supermarket own brands and cheaper options more than ever from now on.

And it's certainly looking like yours truly will *not* be winging her way across the pond to RWA in 2009, much as I'd love to. I had such a ball this year, and met so many fabulous buddies, but a major, major expense like that is just out of the question in the short term future.... Wah!!!!!

Anyway, to cheer me up, and to cheer you gentle readers up, here's a goodie I found at Cute Overload that has me chortling every time I watch it... Enjoy!

Another wonderful review!

I've got flu or some kind of virus crap thing at the moment, but a new review of IN TOO DEEP has really listed my spirits! It's by Julie Bonello at EcataSensual, and this is what she has to say about ITD...

In Too Deep is another fabulous classic from one of the pioneers of erotic romance: Portia Da Costa. Steamy, sexy, tender, sensual and poignant, In Too Deep is a sizzling story about two flawed souls coming together from the pen of one of the genre’s most talented, most innovative and most original voices.

If you want to read the very best in erotic romance, forget about the rest and read the very best: Portia Da Costa!

Not bad, eh? Really makes me feel better about my writing at a time when my confidence and motivation are bit low. :)

IN TOO DEEP - review at EcataRomance Sensual

And on the third day...

IN TOO DEEP is my buddy Lucy's choice as a recommended Christmas gift!

Lucy's Fantasy Nuggets - the 3rd Day of Christmas

Lucy Felthouse web site

New Interview

There's a new interview with me up at ERWA at the moment. My friend Ashley Lister - author, journalist, reviewer and all round renaissance man - asked me a few 'Between the Lines' questions about how I create and then re-use characters, especially in my Stoneworld novels.

Between the Lines - Portia Da Costa

For those of you not aware of Stoneworld, it's the fictional northern municipal borough I created around this delicious man... Borough Director of Finance Robert Stone as 'played' by the awesome Vincent D'Onofrio. :)

Auction for Jo Leigh

Author Jo Leigh, a buddy from the Seventy Days of Sweat challenge, lost her husband earlier this year to cancer. As if losing the love of her life wasn't terrible and heartbreaking enough, Jo has also been left saddled with enormous medical bills too, so people in the romance community are getting together in a grand auction to raise some money to help Jo out.

Items on offer include bundles of books, critiques by authors, agents and editors, author mentoring, and all sorts of other highly desirable goodies. I'm offering a collection of four signed books from my backlist, and the winner can choose which ones they want, as long as I have copies available. :)

Click the button below to visit a page with full details of all the auction items...



Happy bidding!

Bits and bats...

First of all...

READ A HOT EXCERPT OF 'CHANCE OF A LIFETIME' AT LUSTBITES!

Well, I've finished writing KISS IT BETTER and the manuscript file has gone off to the editor now. After quite a wrangle with this mutha throughout the months I've been writing it, I did end up liking the story and the characters very much. It's very sexy, in a playful sort of way, and has a rather touching [hopefully] romantic storyline at the heart of it. It's also a Stoneworld story, although characters from previous books only appear in a peripheral sort of way, and then only one or two of them. I didn't want to shoehorn everyone into it, and it seem too contrived in consequence. ;)

I've also just sent off a story for the Black Lace 'Misbehaviour' anthology. This isn't a commissioned piece, so fingers crossed everyone that the editor likes it and wants to include it. 'The Distraction' is a rather naughty BDSM type story, and another of my older woman/younger man tales... although not cougarish, as it's definitely the guy who's the hunter in this case!

With those two projects off my desk, I now have to decide what to do next. I've been working on the second of my Risque Reunions novelettes for Spice Briefs, and have a first draft of SECOND TIME AROUND. That's currently sitting and 'fermenting', ready for me to go back to it and edit and polish it with a fresh eye in a little while. I have the third of the Risque Reunions to write, but I need to give that some serious thought, as it's going to be the most emotional of the three and will need careful handling.

Aside from that, I'd like to sub to two more Black Lace anthos, The Affair and Sexy Little Numbers, although I must admit I don't have the foggiest clue what to write for either of those as yet.

What else? Who knows... I don't seem to be the most efficient of career planners, as there's nothing commissioned in the hopper after Risque Reunions. :(

I've got some ideas, but there's nothing 'big' enough somehow... no high concepts, no storylines that grab me by the throat and demand that I write them. It's hard... I feel I should be stretching myself and pushing myself, but I'm not quite sure in what direction.

Anybody out there got any suggestions? What would you like to see ol' PDC write?