Year's end

2007 is beckoning just around the corner. 2006 has been so good to me writing-wise it's hard to believe that this New Year can be better. Yet I know it can. I have so many plans and hopes for the coming year. Mills and Boon have the full ms of Charlie Darling, Moonlit Romance has the full ms of Dangerous to Know.
Books are scheduled for release:
Be My Hero - Moonlit Romance on the 20th of Jan
Marrying Max (large print) - 1st of March
Making Waves - Moonlit Romance - May 07
Marrying Max - ebook - Samhain publishing June 07
I have other stories started and planned, a new medical partial to write, Places to Go to finish plus a little file full of ideas for new stories.
2007 will see my first review in the Romantic Times - scary! and like an idiot I entered Marrying Max for category romance of the year, so in Feb I should know if it made the shortlist or not.
I wish I could be as optimistic about my other job - things can't get any worse there than they are now. I have meetings planned in Jan to discuss how the caseloads can be managed but something needs to be done and fast.
I hope my parents and the rest of my family stay well in the coming year and my lovely cp has her own happy event to look forward to in the summer with the birth of her first baby.
Happy New year to all of you, may the next twelve months find you well, happy and fulfilled.

Good way to end the year

Yesterday I got a box from Lightning Source with my author copies of Things To Do. Wow! I have to admit I cried when I took the top one out of the box. It looks fantastic, so shiny and glossy and just downright gorgeous.
I also got two fabulous reviews -
Fall in Love was reviewed by Gray at Romance Reviewed and September Song (My surfer story aka Yo Dude) Got five roses! http://romancereviewed.blogspot.com to read the rest of the review and Jess's wonderful reviews on there too for Little shop of Dreams and Haunted Hearts.
From Darkness was reviewed by The Romance Studio and scored four hearts. My story, Cue Me In, was mentioned as the scariest! http://www.theromancestudio.com and go to reviews to read more.
I'm guestblogging today too at http://www.srnauthors.blogspot.com if anyone wants to drop by. This is a great resource site for sweet and sensual writers.

Eek!

I'm typing this on the new computer after 6 hours of transferring files, addresses and favorite stuff. I also appear to be on the new version of Blogger -sigh. I held out as long as possible but got forced into changing today.
Charlie Darling is off to Richmond and I've 3.5k to go now on Making Waves. I've also done a load of editing on Be My Hero ready for when Laura sends the tweaks through.
One more day at work and then I have the weekend off - whoohoo. I'm looking forward to pottering around the house tidying up and having a break.

Ready or not...

I finished checking Charlie Darling today. Did the last of my tweaks and printed it out. Now it's all parcelled up and ready for the post office, requested material written on the outside and my treasured compliment request slip nestled on the inside. Just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best now.
I've 4k left to write on Making Waves and I really want to finish that as soon as I can so I can prepare my next medical partial. My dh has finished preparing my new laptop so I can start to transfer all my favourites and adresses and 'stuff' from this one to the nice shiny new one for the new year.
Still waiting for Things To Do to go up on Amazon but I got a kick out of finding Marrying Max in large print for preorder at Waterstones. Next excitement will be the release in January of Be My Hero from http://www.moonlitromance.com

Aftermath

How was your Christmas?
I'm back at work tomorrow and my house looks like Santa stampeded through it. The belles loved the gifts the guy in the red suit left for them. My prezzies were pretty good too. My dh has bought me a new laptop. This one is worn out, there are no letters left on the keys, the battery won't hold any charge, the hinge on the lid doesn't latch properly and the screen fritzes out every now and again. He bought me this older one just under three years ago for my fortieth birthday saying he was investing in my writing career.
He says this new one is to help me sell to M&B and get on the NYT bestseller list - (with or without talking parrots).
Jessica gave me some yummy chocs and the M&B Christmas annual - which I'd been looking to buy but hadn't seen anywhere.
My friends gave me Bailey's, books and white wine. The belle's gave me socks and cute stuff. My parents and in-laws gave me money toward my RNA fee's and towards my website upkeep.
Fantastic!

Almost Christmas...

The presents are wrapped, the last few cards will be exchanges at the Christingle service tomorrow. The veg rack is groaning under the weight of the food and my kitchen counter is loaded with bread.
The really nice thing is not having to go anywhere now other than Chapel tomorrow. I've re read Charlie for the millionth time and I'm almost ready to do the print out ready to hit the post office after the big day. I still have just a couple of bits I want to tweak but they're tiny little things.
Making Waves will hopefully get finished before New Year - I've just four and a half k to go.
The nicest news is that my friend Julie Cohen has had her baby, a bouncing baby boy! How fabulous is that!
Merry Christmas to everyone, eat too much, drink too much and have a generally wonderful time.

Things To Do is out in print - you can order from Barnes and Noble or buy from http://www.samhainpublishing.com  

Why I never ask...

...my dh to help with plotting.
I was staring vacantly at my computer testerday thinking about conflicts for my new medical and he asked what I was doing. So I told him - big mistake. Ususally his first question is 'is there a dog in it?' and he then outlines the plot for Lassie come home. Yesterday the conversation took a different tack.
'Is there a parrot in it?' dh
'It's a medical romance.' me
'you could have a talking parrot in it.' dh
'why?' me
'well, they could go to a house and somebody dies and one of them could inherit a talking parrot.' dh
'what happens then?' me
'I dunno, you're the writer.'


p.s for the record I don't think my new med will feature talking parrots

Tag - I'm it!

Four things
Michelle Styles tagged me with the four things meme
Four jobs I've had:
1.Shoe sale girl
2. Hand model
3. Checkout girl
4 writer (Plus loads of other jobs but I figured you all knew about the medical ones)
Four places I've lived:
1. The Black Country
2 Um, haven't lived anywhere else
3
4
Four favorite foods:
1 Steak
2 cheese
3. moussaka
4. fish (Is coffee classed as food? Cos you know it would be in there!)
Four movies I could watch over and over:
1. Seven Brides for Seven brothers
2. Houseboat
3. Cat on a hot tin roof
4 The St Trinian films
Four TV shows I enjoy:
1. X Factor
2. Big Brother
3. I'm a Celebrity get me out of here
4.My Family - (Hey, I never claimed to be deep!)
Four places I've traveled:
1. Paris
2. Jersey
3 Corfu
4. Spain
Four places I'd like to visit:
1. Boston
2. New York
3. New Zealand
4 Pompeii
Four websites I go to daily:
1. e-harlequin
2 The Pink Heart Society
3. Miss Snark
4. various friends' blogs
Four people tagged:
1. Jessica Raymond
2. Liz Fenwick
3. Fiona Harper
4. Phillipa Ashley

Sale at Samhain!

Things to Do is on sale at Samhain. $4.68 for the e book! Bargain - so if you've been holding off give yourself an early Christmas present ahead of the print release on the 19th December!
http://www.mybookstoreandmore.com/product_info.php?products_id=198

My early present.

I got a request for the full manuscript of Charlie Darling today, my medical partial. Maddie Rowe, who I would love to work with, has asked to see it. I am so excited. I met Maddie at the RNA conference in the summer and she is so lovely. She's also the editor of some of my friends and I've never heard anything but good things about her.
I'm going to be reading, re-reading and polishing yet again ready to send. I love this story so I just hope Maddie will love it too!

Launch!!

http://www.srnauthors.blogspot.com

is launched today. Go visit, read and post, great prizes to be won and some fabulous authors taking part. Plus - it's a home for sweet and sensual writing so you can send a link to your gran, your mum, the church, your daughter, grandaughter without worrying that they might stumble on something that might give offense.
Tell everyone, add it to your bookmarks and come and enjoy some sweeter moments.

I'm almost done

with the wrapping and writing. I need to pack up another couple of parcels and stick stamps on my envelopes then that will hopefully be my last trip to the post office before Christmas, unless of course I get a request for Charlie - but I'm not holding my breath.
Things To Do still hasn't listed yet on Amazon but hey, it gives me something new to obsess over. I'm still trying to work out a good and cheap way of marketing Things To Do since most promo tips include 'call in your local bookstore and introduce yourself as a local author, offer to sign their stock'
Um, that one might prove tricky. Oh well, guess I'll have to rely on what my middle daughter calls word of earmouth. But if any of you knows a good promo tip, feel free to share.

Busy, busy...

This week is so hectic. Tomorrow morning is our Christmas brunch at work. It sounds posh but basically it means we meet for a bacon sarnie. Then tomorrow night is our local writers group Christmas meal, so you can see me waddling by Thursday morning.
Thursday night is Boo and La's school nativity play. Then Saturday we've a party to go to. Phew! Normally I never get to go anywhere much.
This all means I probably won't get much writing done this week, but I'm on schedule for what I need to get done by Christmas. No news from M&B or Moonlit yet on my submissions. Things to Do is due to make it's print debut in 2 weeks time - eek! Still not listed on Amazon although my Samhain friend, Kim Rees, another UK based writer has found hers there. My other writing buddy, Donna Alward, who also has a release at the same time isn't listed either yet.
I've had so many people contact me to tell me I'm listed at Tesco.com it's really great. First Tesco and then the world!!!!! Bwahahahaha

Ready to post?

I'm halfway done. Tomorrow I'll go to the post with my overseas cards and parcels. I've nearly written the rest of my cards and they'll go at the end of the week. I love Christmas cards. I love choosing them and writing them out trying to match them to the person, some people get a little newsletter from us if they haven't seen us all year. I love recieving them too, especially if there's a snippet of news or a picture inside them.
The cards get more valuable to me as I get older. I love keeping in touch with my friends and extended family. It seems to be fashionable now to sponsor things instead of sending cards and that's very worthy but it doesn't touch the heart the way a card does and how do you know someones sponsored a goat on your behalf?
I buy a lot of charity cards because that for me meets both the requirements and I sponsor a star at the local hospice every year as our family donation.
What do you think?

In surprising places

Sometimes things crop up in the most unlikely places. My latest game seems to be finding Marrying Max in places I never expected. Tonight I discovered him at Tesco.com in large print as coming soon. Once I'd picked myself up from the floor I got quite excited.
I loved writing Marrying Max and I'm thrilled so many people will have the opportunity to read it. For readers in the US that opportunity will arise in the summer when Samhain release the 'e' book version.
I'm halfway through writing Making Waves and loving this story. It's bringing back so many happy memories of sunshine and summer.
My tbr pile is on the verge of teetering over at the moment though as I haven't had chance to read much the last few weeks. I'll have a lovely time working my way through them over Christmas. I've lots of goodies in there and I'm itching to get stuck in.
My village had it's annual light switch on tonight. Now most places have celebrities to turn on their Christmas lights. The bigger the place the betterknown the celebrity.
The celebrity for my village is a shire horse. Yes, a horse performs our big switch on and then gives rides to the kids. It's kind of sweet.

Good things happen...

...to nice people. My friend Lis, has won a crit by Dierdre Knight! How cool is that? Romance Diva's held a little draw and Lis's name came out top for a three chapter crit.
No news on either of my submissions but Making Waves is going well. I'm really having fun with it and I think Cassidy and Josh will be a really good couple once she stops being uptight and he stops being too laid-back.
My edits are due anytime for Be My Hero, my January release from Moonlit Romance. It'll feel wierd working on it again as I finished it in March and haven't touched it since. Nathalie's story was so emotional for me, I'm hoping the time it's spent resting will let me see it with fresh eyes and Laura is wonderful at picking out where I need to tweak.
I can't wait to see my cover. If you haven't checked out the Moonlit site then go look at the covers there. They are so beautiful. Patti and Joann have a wonderful one again for their December release, Goody-two-shoes and the Grinch. Go and see, Sheila does such a great job with them. http://www.moonlitromance.com
Today was unusual as my student was with colleagues and I was on my own for the first time in a while. I had to go to Kinver this morning and it was so lovely driving through the woods this morning in the sunshine. Pools of gold lit up foliage with that glorious bronzy-pink colour that only happens in Autumn. The Silver Birch shimmered against the fir trees like ghosts and squirrels played on the grass verges. The sky was blue but with a misty quality that made the folds of the hills seem crisper in a landscape fresh from the hands of God.

Sweet Sunday

A little while ago I joined a group called Sweeter romantic notions. It's a wonderful group for readers and writers who love non-erotic fiction. We welcome erotic writers as members but it is for those of us who love sweet and sensual romance. There have been a lot of interesting points raised there lately about making the voices of sweeter writers stand out more. Hopefully there are some interesting developments in the pipeline that I'll fill you all in on as things get off the ground.
I polished and sent Dangerous to Know to Laura, my Moonlit editor so when I get any news I'll let you know. I also just sent chapter 2 of Making Waves to Jessica. I guess those couple of days break did me good.
I spent my days of completing tasks from my Christmas list. I have a few more things to arrange then I think I'm sorted. Just the wrapping and writing etc to complete, although I've done about half of my cards already. I signed up for the Romantic Times bookmark exchange though so now that's an extra bundle to write and post.

Spending time

I booked this Friday and Monday off from work. I really need the break and it's chance to clean the house ready for Christmas and do my big preparation shop. I'm working down my lists of what needs to be done and so far I'm on track and hopefully on budget.
I've had a couple of days break from writing just to let my brain percolate and so I can do some research for a couple of things I'm planning.
I've also been doing some thinking about where my writing is headed and what I'd like to achieve next year. It's quite scary but exciting at the same time.

Reasons to be thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my U.S friends and readers, have a wonderful day.
I have many reasons to be thankful this year:
My mother's cancer is in remission.
I have my children and my husband, a loving extended family and wonderful friends.
I have my writing - this year has been the most incredible adventure of my life and I am so grateful everyday to all my publishers for taking my books, my readers who have sent lovely e mails and notes and my writer friends without whom I wouldn't be published.
My brilliant cp, Jessica and Lis who gives me so much support. Allison who is so close to being published, Pip, who always makes me smile. Kate Walker and Liz Fielding who have given me so much support and good advice. The witches, who I love to bits and wished they were a bit nearer!! Michelle Styles, Olivia Gates and Julie Cohen, Anna Lucia and Biddy. The ladies from subcare, the med romance girls and my friends at The Pink heart society, The romance diva's and the wonderful bats at the batcave.
I'm grateful to be well after years of not being well.