Marrying Max - The new cover!!!!

I love this cover - Vanessa Hawthorne at Samhain has done a fabulous job. The release date is now set for June 19th - so for all my overseas readers who couldn't get Max when it came out in the UK, here it is in e book. Every lovely award nominated bit of it!

I know, I'm boasting - well if I can't, who can? lol

Time flies..

I'm still home feeling crappy. My voice is returning much to my daughters' dismay and I'm still dosed up on meds. While I was away I got the plot in my head for a new medical so I've had to jot down the scenes in my head. I'm also ready to get on with chapter three of my new single title. The devotional chapter is done and just needs polishing and Samhain and Moonlit are getting ready to send me edits. Samhain for Marrying Max and Moonlit for Making Waves for the A Taste of Summer duet.
The Savoy date is drawing closer and my nerves are getting worse. Luckily Phillipa and Allison are meeting me for coffee on Saturday at the tearooms so that will help enormously.

Holiday postcards continued...

We also visited Branscombe, the pretty picture postcard village that was on the UK news a few weeks ago due to the sinking of the Napoli. The Napoli can be viewed from the beach and still seems to have some containers on board. Branscombe beach has only recently re-opened to the public after the village was swamped by salvagers looting from the containers that had washed up on shore. In the news this week the Isle of Wight had also started getting goods from the Napoli washing up there now too. It must have been horrendous for the villagers as the roads down to the bay are tiny and not at all suitable for the volume of traffic the wreck generated. The beach is pretty well clear again now and we walked for about a mile on a cool and bracing day.

Spring fever

Or in my case, tree pollen. I'm dosed to the eyeballs with antihisitimines and have lost my voice. The girls think this is hilarious as it means I can't nag at them. Michelle emailed methis morning to say my blog post was up at eharlequin, look whose blogging RNA thread. It served to remind me that the Savoy is less than two weeks away now - eek!
I'd put a pound on when I went to weight watchers this week after the holiday but I swear it's all the crap in my nostrils from the trees.
I spent yesterday at work cleaning out cupboards. It was a bit like cleaning out the attic of an eccentric great aunt. Dusty, spidery and full of mysterious objects that no-one knew who they belonged to, how they'd got there or what they were for.
The officeswap is virtually complete, and to be honest, I really don't see that it was worth it for anyone. The other team are still cramped. We have to keep going to another room to get our equipment all the time, the nurses are disgruntled because we booted out their stuff to make room for ours and the cleaners seem to have cornered the market in yellow bags. The main hall is full now of rubbish that needs to be tipped and the gents loo is full of stuff to be sent to store or redistributed.
I have no nails as I broke them cleaning so combined with my red eyes, stuffy nose, croaky voice and general fluffiness I'm going to be the pictre of glamour at the Savoy.

Powderham Castle

We spent Easter Sunday here.

This is Powderham Castle, home of the Earl of Devon. We toured the house which was great fun. The last time I came here I was on honeymoon so it had been a few years!

The girls enjoyed decorating eggs and rolling eggs. We did two treasure hunts and toured the secret garden. The picture of the kitchen is especially for Michelle. It's a genuine victorian kitchen with a lead sink so when a plate was dropped whilst being washed hopefully the china wouldn't break.

Back!!!

Well, I'm back from my holiday. Lovely weather and beautiful scenary. The hottest day was good Friday, which we spent at the beach at Charmouth. La and Boo spent most of the day in the sea.
I had one of my premonition dreams while I was away. I 'saw' a letter from M&B asking for revisions on Charlie. 2 minor ones and 2 more major ones and a request to email the changes back asap. Nothing in the post yet though.
I did get an email from the cover art dept at Samhain though and I've seen a preview of the cover for Marrying Max (the e book) It looks gorgeous. While I was away we went to Dawlish yesterday afternoon. On the green there were a number of stalls selling things to raise money for charity. One of them had a copy of Marrying Max (the People's Friend version) Somehow I ended up signing the copy and leaving them with some of my bookmark cards. I hope they'll raise lots of extra money with it. We certainly drew more people to the stall.
I'll post more about the trip and try and get some photo's on here for the next few days.

I'm off on holiday tomorrow until April 10th. I'm not sure how much net access I'll have while I'm away. I may manage to post but it depends on where we are. We're heading to Devon, near Sidmouth, and I must admit I can't wait. I am so tired at the moment the break will be fantastic. C2 of Blue Remembered Heels is done and with Jess, I'm hoping to do some more while I'm away. I also want to do my devotional chapter while I'm gone for By Grace.

Best of all though, I have new books calling my name - Adopting Alyssia by Denise Patrick has been on my list for ages. I also have Her L.A. Knight by Lynne Marshall and Margaret McDonagh's A Doctor Worth Waiting For sitting on my pile.

Pearly whites

Took the girls to the dentist yesterday. Yes, this is the hunky dentist who looks like Vin Diesel -happy sigh. La was praised for her great teeth cleaning. He tugged out a longtime wobbly tooth for Boo. She never batted an eyelash and says it didn't hurt at all. Now she's waiting for the tooth fairy. Eldest dd was asked if she'd consider having braces fit. To do this they would need to refer her to have some teeth out and she'd need to wear it for about two years. Of course she promptly burst into tears. I'm sure the moment wasn't helped by Boo skipping around with a cotton wool plug in her mouth singing 'it didn't hurt a bit, you're just a baby.'
Sisterly love is a wonderful thing.
Tonight is Boo and La's report night so I get to go and see their teachers. It's always interesting, especially La's report,my budding criminal genius.
Almost finished c2 of Blue Remembered Heels, just 500 words or so to go. Not sure this version will stay when I've written more, it may need juggling but we'll see. It's great fun to write.

Author spotlight

There is a great interview over on my Myspace blog with M&B historical author Michelle Styles. Michelle is a good friend of mine and a very talented writer. Her book, Gladiators Honour is also shortlisted for The Romance Prize 2007
http://blog.myspace.com/nelldixon

Be still my beating heart

I had a card through the door on Wednesday saying the postman had tried to deliver a package but it was too big for the letter box so I needed to take a trip to collect it. I didn't think anything of it as I was expecting my eldest dd's cd that I'd ordered for her. My post is very vague sometimes so it wouldn't be the first time something as small as a cd had been left at the depot.
I planned to go this morning as they are only open for a few hours a day, then the post this morning delivered the cd. Mmm...
I ran through the other possibilities, a ms to critique for the NWS, some tee shirts I'd ordered for my holidays, Charlie Darling rejected from M&B.
You can guess which one my mind immediately fixated on - so then I couldn't rest till I got up there and collected it. All the way there I was trying to remember if I'd asked them to shred Charlie if they didn't like it.
I dashed in clutching my drivers license and the card, the postlady disappeared and I heard rustling. By this time I was convinced it was Charlie and I was ready to cry all over the poor woman.
But no, it turned out to be the tee shirts after all.
My legs were like jelly when I got back to the car, I don't think I've recovered yet. lol

welcome

to all the folks that dropped by. I hope some of you will stick around and drop back.
In other news, getting priorities straight, I lost another three pounds at weight watchers last night. This makes nine and a half in four weeks - I think I'll need to retry my Savoy outfit on again soon to see if the trousers need adjusting.
Today is my in-laws golden wedding anniversary. 50 years - we have a special present arranged for them and tonight they are taking us out for a meal to celebrate. Everything is a bit hectic this upcoming week, dental appts for the girls, the car servicing, packing for the holiday, sorting out work.
Work is still as bad as ever. The date is set for the office swaps - Friday 13th April. Yeah, I know, isn't that appropriate? We have no manager at the moment either, in the grand scheme of re appointing all the bosses to different jobs paying more money they appear to be ignoring our bit of the county.

Blue Remembered Heels - heroine

This is an actress called Yancy, I think she's pretty perfect as Abigail (Abbey) the heroine in Blue Remembered Heels. I'm almost halfway through c2. Jessica has looked at the synopsis and Lis has read chapter one so it all looks good for entering the contest.

Did you see what I did?

Well, did you spot it? Yes, I finally managed to put a photo on here! Yay, me. In my mission to improve my terrible skills I've been practising html stuff over the weekend. I'm still rubbish at it but I did manage to do a few more things.
I also did my one page synopsis for Blue Remembered Heels and sent it to Jessica. I did a chat at The Story Board and Lis has kindly agreed to read the first chapter of Blue Remembered Heels for me to give me some reader feedback.
I made some pages at the Author's Den and I worked on my Myspace.
Wow!
After all the playtime, I need to get writing again - time to refocus on my projects.

Mothering Sunday

It's mother's day here in the UK for the benefit of my US and Canadian visitors who might think I've gone a little crazy. Well, crazier than usual at any rate. My youngest daughter has presented me with a lovely brooch which I suspect she has fleeced from someone. I expect I'll hear the full story later. My middle daughter has made a lovely card. Boo and Shaggy, my eldest dd,have also given me a huge wicker sarcophagus full of plants. They love it and if you like plants I'm sure it's really beautiful.
This was a lovely thought but I hate houseplants. I'm not good with them, they seem to sense my animosity at having something else to care for and promptly shrivel up and die. This thing is huge- there must be at least twelve plants in it, one of which is a kind of dark purple leaved thing that reminds me of dead butterflies and gives me the creeps. I know I'm an ungrateful recipient but my punishment is that I have to care for this thing and look at it forever as it occupies my favourite table top and I worry about water stains on the mahoghany.
I appreciate the sentiment behind the gift but if any of you ever, at any point, and for whatever reason become possessed of a desire to buy me a houseplant - pease don't. The deaths of a hundred African violets are already on my concience.
I love cut flowers, especially daffodils which are my favourites. Fresh flowers are so cheerful and always lift the spirits. Guess I'll have to go buy my own.

Weekend whirl

I lost another half a pound at weightwatchers on Thursday. Not bad considering I'd been ill. Yesterday was comic relief aka rednose day here in the UK. I personally hate this event. I know lots of people love it but I find it unfunny, patronising and pointless. There are much better more effective ways of giving to people who need money than comic relief.
Today apparantly is St Patrick's day. Another day that for some reason is starting to become very irritating. If you're Irish then fabulous, have a great time but if you're not then why pretend to be just so you can go and have too much to drink. I'm not irish, not even a bit irish I have no desire to be irish even though I know some lovely irish folks so I don't want to fake being irish - aaagggghhhhhh. (Sorry)
Tomorrow is Mothering Sunday - so I'm about to whizz off to collect flowers for my Mom and MIL and find a card and present for my friends birthday on Monday - Happy Birthday Susanne if you're reading this. It's also supposed to snow tomorrow - really snow - so that'll be interesting.
Writing wise I haven't done much for two days. Well, that's not strictly true. I've been thinking a lot and juggling stuff in my head about plots and storylines, so hopefully I'll be back on form in the next few days again.

Techno - know how

Most of you have figured out by now that me and computers aren't exactly a match made in heaven. But I'm starting to find that my lack of computer saviness is hindering me in ways I hadn't anticipated. One of my goals this year was to figure out my promotions and marketing so I've been trying to learn the ropes from some experts in the field.
One of whom is the wonderful Dorothy Thompson from http://pumpupyouronlinebookpromotion.blogspot.com

I asked her some questions about Technorati and how it worked and she has a great step-by-step instruction post on there, so I'm going to give this a try.
I've also been trying to get my Myspace more user friendly - now that's a challenge on it's own.


Technorati Profile

Quarterly News

My quarterly newsletter was mailed out yesterday to all my subscribers. To register just go to my website and follow the instructions. http://www.nelldixon.com There is always an exclusive contest just for members so if you join now, let me know and I'll make sure you get this quarters news. (Contest runs till April 2nd)
I'm feeling a bit better today, the bruised feeling seems to have gone from my lower back so I'm hoping this is the end of it. I'm not good at being ill, I'm the worlds worst patient so I'll be so glad to feel normal again.
I must do some tidying up on here too. If you visit me reguarly and you aren't listed in my sidebar leave me your link so I can add you. I also have a Myspace page so if any of you want to drop by there or friend me go to http://www.myspace.com/nelldixon
Jessica has sent me the crit for Blue Remembered Heels so the first chapter is all tidied up now and I'm working on a short synopsis. Once that's out of the way I can enter it in the contest and get back to Places To Go while I wait for the verdict on Charlie Darling.

What a surprise!

I hauled myself off the sofa and pulled on my tracksuit last night to go to weightwatchers. Guess how much I lost? Four pounds, four whole pounds. That's six pounds in a fortnight. Yay!!! Still feeling crappy today but I think the antibiotics are kicking in now.
Blue Remembered Heels is going like a train at the moment. I've almost finished the first chapter thanks to the writing challenges at Romance Diva's. The plot is almost there in my head so I can tackle the synopsis soon. I don't know what kind of reaction this is going to get though. If I try to explain it as it stands at the moment it'll sound a bit off the wall - which it is, but hopefuly in a good way. This story really excites me so I'm hoping for good things with it. I've done a bit more on Places To Go but I think I'll get Blue Remembered Heels ready and entered in the Waterstones Chick lit contest then focus on Places To Go - barring anything exciting happening from M&B of course.
La, my eight year old informed me this morning that she could see I'd lost weight. "Because before your tummy was all round and out there and now it isn't." She said as she helpfully patted my tee shirt down. I think it was a compliment.

Holding out for a hero.

I had my crit of chapter three of my medical back from Jess so that's all polished up now just in case M&B are interested. Still no news on Charlie, this is the point where I get really antsy so I'm in full distraction mode.

Part of my distraction is my plotting for Blue Remembered Heels. I've been giving some thought to my hero for this and by chance I spotted a face on TV that fit the bill. I know - that's really unusual for me as I haven't a clue usually about actors or films. However they helpfully printed his name on screen so I could look him up. So here's Alec Baldwin.

Yay

Be My Hero is now available in print. http://www.moonlitromance.com

I also recieved a signed copy of Jessica Hart's Barefoot Bride. Guess what I'll be reading as a reward once I finally finish this medical partial? I just have a couple of hundred words to add and it'll be on it's way to Jessica for her opinion.

Tonight is weigh in night at weightwatchers - place your bets as to how much I've lost.