Chapter 2 of His Stand In Bride

Chapter 2 of His Stand In Bride is up.  I would be interested to hear what you think.

The first stage of my mentor contest is now closed. Any hook paragraphs now submitted will not read or commented on.

I will send out little critiques by the end of this week to everyone who entered as well as letting the five people who get their first 3 chapters critiqued know.  As I am also working on my revisions, I thank everyone for their patience.

Many thanks to all who took the time to enter. Every single one of you has talent and it is how you best showcase that talent which is the important factor.

Viking's Captive Princess UK cover and contest

I finally got to see the UK paperback cover of the Viking's Captive Princess. I love and adore the new look of M&B Historical. However, as my  senior editor warned me, someone in the art department called up the WRONG version of the picture. There is a huge anachronism on the cover. It is even worse on the hardback version. The US version has the correct picture. My senior editor has been hugely apologetic as she is a perfectionist. She did try to have it fixed and  the error is less obvious but the error remains.

If you can spot the mistake, email me  with VCP contest in the subject line and tell me what the error is to win a signed hardback copy of  The Viking's Captive Princess.  It is first name out of the hat.  Contest closes 31 August 2010. Void where prohibited.

Heartwarming read and an upcoming writing contest

Last evening I finished Neurosurgeon and Mum! Kate Hardy's latest. And in traditional Kate Hardy style, it grabbed me by the heart strings and refused to let go.
I loved how it wasn't a traditional medical but possibly closer to Kate's MH but the medical detail was also expertly woven in. She also created a lovely community and really brought her world to life. I love the fact that her heroine was the high flying consultant and the hero -- the locum g.p. who shows her why life is for living.


Reading it, I had loads of light bulb moments, including realising a few places in my current ms where I had skated over things and had totally forgotten the sexual tension etc.


Anyway, I stayed up a bit late to finish it.
And can recommend it to anyone who wants a feel good read.

Now when is Kate going to do a single title small town women's fiction as she would be so good at it?




In the back of the book, there was a shout out for M&B's biggest talent search ever. All will be revealled on http://www.romanceisnotdead.com/ in due course. But they are looking for a new star and readers are going to be asked to help. All exciting stuff!

Winners from my newsletter contest

I drew Teresa B's name and Cindi H's name out of the hat and sent them both emails. Thank you to everyone who entered.

It is my sister's significant birthday today. I still remember the day she was born. The people my brother and I stayed with had to go to a church dinner so we had a babysitter, several teenagers. It was all terribly upsetting. BUT it was wonderful a few days later when my sister came home. She *brought* me a stuffed hippo.
Anyway, I really wish I was there in person to say Happy Birthday but she lives an ocean away.

Sold & Seduced contest winners

The first names out of the hat were Amy and Elaine. I have contacted them by email.
Many thanks to all who entered.
The next newsletter will come out sometime around Easter and will feature a contest for Compromising Miss Milton.

Manuscript Makeover is really making me think. It has solved several problems and provided enlightenment. For example, Lyon makes the note that often in first drafts etc, the protagonist seems flat. It is because the subtext etc is needed. You really do have to bring out the emotion and bleed on the page. Subtext is all.
She also divides things up into ordinary scenes and Big Scenes and points out in Big Scenes everything needs to be more dramatic. You also have to foreshadow the scene. Anyway, the way to resolve some of my problems was right there staring me in the face. It will mean a few tweaks but the ending should be much more satisfying.

12 Days of Christmas and Unusual Historical

Because The Viking's Captive Princess has just been released, there are places to find me with giveaways.
First of all Donna Alward is doing her annual 12 Days of Christmas extravaganza. There is a huge lot of books to win. Today is my day. And I should say that if you want to get in the Christmas mood, Donna's latest novella -- Montana, Mistletoe and Marriage is a great way to do it. Donna even includes a recipe.

Then today sees another excerpt from The Viking's Captive Princess on Unusual Historical. It is a different one to the one on my site. Then on Sunday, I will be doing a visit to UH and there is a copy of VCP in the offing.

And advanced warning, 16 December sees the annual eharlequin Open House with its multitude of authors...including me.

Here I am working on my current mess in progress and getting back into it. I appear to have lost some of my notes but do know what is happening.

The puppies are doing well but I think the house will be chaos in about 2 weeks when 2 four legged babies arrive...

Winners from the November Newsletter

The winners from the November Newsletter are as follows:

Lorraine C -- signed copy of the Viking's Captive Princess

Suzy Roy -- a copy from one of my backlist books


And
Tammy Swift gets the dubious honour of me being her mentor for the year.

All have been contacted via email.

Many thanks for entering.

October Newsletter and Mr Rochester

My October Newsletter went out this morning. The Reader contest (void where prohibited) is for a signed copy of Carla Capshaw's debut novel -- The Gladiator. It is the first Roman set historical that Love Inspired Historical has done and is an excellent read. I look forward to reading more books by Carla. If you did not get my newsletter and think you should, I would ask you to resign up and I will forward the newsletter. There is a click through email that you do have to use. The contest closes on 31 October.

I see that Mills & Boon has done a reader survey and Mr Rochester has come top in most romantic literary hero -- beating Sharpe and Mr Darcy. Personally I have been a fan of Mr Rochester since I first read Jane Eyre way back when I first visited my great aunt in South Carolina. Yes, he is a flawed hero but he redeems himself. He is selfish and decides to grab love with both hands when it comes. Would I have been as principled as Jane and left Mr Rochester for the icy moor? The ending scene is wonderful... I may have to re watch Jane Eyre with Toby Stephens...somehow Johnny Lee Miller as Mr Knightley does not give the same thrill.

Happy 3rd birthday Pink Heart Society and contests

The Pink Heart Society blogzine is three and there is a drawing for a whole host of books.
So you might want to go there and post a comment!

Speaking of contests, I am in the midst of writing an article on the Vikings for the Medieval Chronicle's Nov/Dec issue. The Medieval Chronicle will be running a contest where one of the prizes will be signed copies of my Viken trilogy.

And yes, I know I need to do my newsletter. Carla Capshaw who has written a wonderful historical inspirational -- The Gladiator has kindly offered to send a copy to one of my newsletter readers. She sent an advanced copy and it is a good escapist read. I look forward to many more exciting books from her. Anyway the newsletter should go out towards the end of October.

Contest winners and more articles

My daughter has been drawing contest winners.
From my newsletter contest -- It was Penny W and Pat (Shreky Shrek) Emails have been sent.

With Totebags -- It was Lori Patterson and again an email has been sent.

My sister sent me an article from National Public Radio about Harlequin and romance. I was pleased to see my friend Sarah Mallory's book -- The Wicked Baron getting a mention. US News and World Report lists bodice rippers as its number 3 recession beater. Top was home gardening and Hollywood. I know for some the term Bodice ripper grates like finger nails on a chalk board, but at least it conveys fun escapist reading. And I suspect they wanted to make sure that people did not think it was romance in general but the romance genre in publishing.
Hopefully though people in the media will start taking the genre seriously rather than simply dismissing it.

Personally I never mind bodice ripping as it conveys something that is fun and light. Far too many people treat historical fiction as heavy weighty tomes and are frightened to pick one up. Bodice ripping means that it is accessible. The fact that the history in my books is reasonably accurate and that I hope my books will make non historians interested in history is beside the point. First and foremost, I write good page turning stories. And if the only way to get that across is for some to call them Bodice rippers, then so be it. I suppose Escapist Women's Fiction doesn't have the same ring.

The big question they ask is why, and the answer is obvious. Page turning reads which fulfill the Harlequin promise to its readers. People read these books again and again because they feel emotionally satisfied at the end. There is nothing wrong with escaping for a few hours and at the end feeling like the world is a brighter place.

Still doing my revisions and trying to increase the intensity of characterisation, plus refereeing between stressed out children who are revising for exams...

newsletters, website and contest

My March/April newsletter has gone out. It has its usual reader contest where the prizes are copies of my books. If you have not signed up yet, the sign up is on the side bar. I only ever send out the newsletter when my books are out. There is always some writing tips, a recipe and some historical facts. This time the recipe is the rich poppy seed cake featured in both A Question of Impropriety and Impoverished Miss, Convenient Wife. After all it is no good writing about something if you haven't tasted it! The big thing is that it is an old fashioned cake and so there is no leavening. The egg whites provide the lightness so it takes a careful hand.

I have FINALLY updated my website. The big problem has been getting the stupid thing to load. And as I lost the site when my other computer went down, I decided to totally redo the thing. This morning I broke down and telephone the 1&1 help line and the woman on the other end of the phone was very helpful. Within a few minutes, it was done. It is as usual a work in progress, but at least things are up to date with a slightly different look. My books are better arranged now. The problem with these things is you start with one time period or one book and then things just grow...

Tomorrow, I shall be at Unusual Historical and a copy of Impoverished Miss, Convenient Wife is up for grabs to one lucky poster.

The Six Degrees Game

I am blogging today at Tote Bags about the Six Degrees of Charlotte Bronte. I blame Nicola Cornick for the procrastination. Anyway, there is a chance to win a copy of Impoverished Miss, Convenient Wife.

I discovered yesterday that bees do not see red. Their primary colours are ultraviolet, blue and yellow. They see red as black. Green tends to be more grey, but the ultraviolet really stands out. Of course, humans cannot see the ultraviolet. So the world must really look different.
Research has into bee sight has been done as scientists want to know why bees go for certain types of flowers.
Also some flowers such as tomato flowers, and honeysuckle are buzz flowers -- in other words they do not easily give up their pollen to the honey bee. Bumblebees with the way they collect nectar are the type of bee that these flowers need. It is one of the reasons why it is important to encourage all types of bees and hover flies in one's garden.

In the absence of checking my hives, I have been reading the British Beekeeping Association newsletter.

And there may be a reason why the mole has been winning. I think I put the mole traps in upside down...From seeing a clip on the news about the Devon molecatcher, it would appear the trap needs to go as the roof of the tunnel rather than as the base. However, I was comforted by the fact that he said moles were tricky and he did use the same sort of trap. When ground defrosts, I shall try...My husband and children found this most amusing...

The Mole and I

I am now in the midst of trying to catch the mole, a beginning mole catcher facing a cunning foe as it were. The mole is fairly intelligent or perhaps I am not a good catcher. It has managed to back fill the holes where the traps are and go around. The back lawn bears a certain resemblance to trench warfare. You need cunning to catch a mole and you also have to move away from the mole hill and pick a run between two hills. Moles are good diggers and the holes they make are well constructed. Traps need to be checked daily and kept free from clogging dirt. The mole (or something) has sprung one or two traps, but have I caught it? I live in hope. Some day. Its days in the back lawn are numbered...

Kim S who does the Harlequin Historical My Space is doing a contest until 31 Jan where one of the possible prize is a copy of Viking Warrior Unwilling Wife. She also writes about her own inspiring life and her struggles after a car crash. You can read about it here.

I am working on my single title historical romance. It is fun to write but this paranormal keeps calling. It is a matter of taking notes. I am over page 100 with the single title and I hate not completing stories when I get to that point. And yes, I know both my critique partners' whips are out.

Newsletter contest winners

I pulled names out the hat this morning.

Avi J won the first prize of a hardback copy if Impoverished Miss, Convenient Wife plus a paperback of A Question of Impropriety.

Vic W won a signed copy of one of backlist.

Judith Dennis won the writer's prize of me critiquing a partial and generally being a sounding board.

All winners have been contacted.


My cold is much better and I am starting to feel human again. However, waking at 3:30 am with my head buzzing about a story is not quite what I had in mind. Still, I did get quite a lot of plotting done. Sometimes, plots just happen and the knowing why is good.

At Risky Regencies today

Nearly forgot to say but Risky Regencies is having an Unusual Historical weekend. I am posting over there as is Ammanda McCabe and Michelle Willingham. There are three books -- a copy of each of ours latest up for grabs. So please stop by and say hello.

Streaming colds and contest

I am currently suffering from a bad head cold. I blame my dh as he caught the cold first. It has been a long time since I have had one this bad. I have been inhaling Vicks and generally trying to keep my liquids up.

One very good thing was that the long delayed parcel from Donna Alward arrived yesterday and I was able to spend the afternoon in Larch Valley, Canada instead of thinking about how truly dreadful I felt. Her hero Brody was very melt worthy and she has a real sense of place with this book. The end of the book was truly magical and I can't wait for her next Larch Valley.

Thankfully being a critique partner has a few priviledges and so I can bug Donna and ask her to make that certain characters get a mention... I do think that Donna keeps getting better and better.

My Q&A should be up on Unusual Historical today. It is a leave comment and be put in for the draw type contest. The prize is VWUW but I am always happy to send one of my back list.

VIking Warrior Unwilling Wife published (officially)

Browse this book

Add to your site

Buy this book

This is the official date of publication for Viking Warrior, Unwilling Wife in North America -- although I understand that it has been spotted in several places over the weekend. I gather that Harlequin Historical are in a better place than usual. This may be another sign that the historical genre is doing well.

I have sent out my latest newsletter which has details of the TWO contests -- one for readers and one for aspiring writers.

I will be at Unusual Historicals on Sunday, Tote Bags on 5 Dec and just confirmed Risky Regencies on the 14th as well as the E harlequin Open House on 11 Dec. There will be a chance to win a signed copy of one of my books at each of the places.

Also on 10th December my excerpt from A Christmas Wedding Wager will be up on the Writer's Vineyard. It is out this month in Australia as part of A Yuletide Invitation with Blythe Gifford's The Harlot's Daughter. There is a chance to win some of my books there as well. I like the cover but it is not very Christmasy. I think I preferred the UK Christmas by Candlelight cover or the US A Christmas Wedding Wager cover.

November Reader contest winners and December contest preview

I drew the names out of the hat today. Jane Armstead won the first prize of her choice of a hardback copy of either A Question of Impropriety or Viking Warrior, Unwilling Wife. And Gina won her choice from one of my paperbacks. Both have been notified by email.

I will be running a contest in my December newsletter where the first prize will be a hardback copy of Impoverished Miss, Convenient Wife as I should be getting my hardback copies then. I will also be offering a critique of a partial for aspiring writers.


This week, I was really pleased to learn that the partial I critiqued for the winner of last year's December contest has gone to revisions on the full. Apparently the editor said much as I had and she is excited at the opportunity. Hooray for Kathleen G. Kathleen has also promised me a copy of her first published novel and I am holding her to it. She has a lovely voice.

My contests are open to anyone who subscribes to my newsletter...

contest winners and indoor rowing

I have drawn the names for the September Newsletter contest. The names out of the hat were
1. Amber Packard who wins a hard back copy of A Question of Impropriety
2. Melissa Keith who wins a paperback copy from one of my backlist.
Both winners have been contacted via email. Many thanks to all who entered. The next newsletter goes out in November.

I have been rowing for about four weeks now. I enjoy it. My times are coming down and so I suspect that I am getting fitter. My waist measurement etc are slowly coming down and my clothes are getting looser. My weight is slowly decreasing, but given that I am revising and this is when I tend to put on weight -- this is good.
The most important (and unexpected) benefit has been in the increased energy. My mind feels sharper and less sluggish. So it is good thus far, but it takes six weeks to make a habit of exercise.

And my book is becoming so much better. Or at least I am far happier with it. I really did take a horrible wrong turning before. In some ways, it could have worked but I decided that I wanted to do other things and so the revisions are extensive. But fingers crossed the book is much stronger and will ultimately be a better read. The most important thing is to give the reader the best read possible.

Contests and Indoor rowing update

First of all, my thoughts are with all those threatened by Gustav and my prayer is that if it does hit New Orleans the levees hold.

There are a couple of contests on for An Impulsive Debutante -- at Liz Fielding's blog and also at Unusual Historicals. Leave a comment and you will be in the running for a copy.
My newsletter should be going out later today. And its big contest will be for a hardback of A Question of Impropriety. The paperback will be on sale in November. Set in 1813, it is a proper Regency but as it is set in the North East and has to do a little bit with the development of the locomotive, it is also different. You can read an excerpt here.
The newsletter will also have my recipe for plum chutney. The Victoria plum tree is once again overloaded. The tree is the best in the neighborhood for producing Victoria plums and we regularly get over a 100 lbs worth. Yesterday's culinary discovery was that plums make a good substitute for apricots in Moroccan dishes. It is the sweet tartness.

After the second week of indoor rowing, my weight continues to go down and my energy levels increase. Mentally I feel sharper and more focused. A recent study in the US showed that people are more mentally alert after 30 minutes of exercise. Another study (this time from the University of Pittsburgh)showed at overweight women needed to do 275 minutes exercise per week to achieve sustained weight loss. This is about twice the current recommendation. I have been reading my dh's Runner's World.
For a number of reasons, I have now ordered the deluxe seat. The current seat gets uncomfortable when you are rowing for longer than 15 minutes. I have resorted to sitting on a small pillow...
I have also discovered that intervals are killers but are useful. As my times are going down and my ability to row for lower periods is going up, I feel that I am achieving something. But the thing is that it must be kept up. It takes 6 weeks for something to become a habit.
My weight and poor fitness did not come on overnight and it will not disappear overnight, but through steady work Patience and perseverance.

My current wip is almost finished. I can just about taste the end. I think when all is said and done, it will be a good story.