Spring fever

US & Canada cover

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Yesterday Minty showed up on the M&B and Harlequin sites as available to pre-order. You may think this isn't quite so momentous an occasion second time round but you would be totally wrong: The Book of a Thousand Rewrites, The Book with Many Sacrificed Secondary Characters, The Book with Six Different First Chapters and The Book in Which I Slaughtered My Darlings has made it! Minty - and lovely Luca of course - are all grown up and ready to face the world on their own just as Lawrie and Jonas have done *wipes away tears*.

Luckily I have been far too busy to spend my time obsessively checking Amazon rankings and Goodreads reviews (note, this may not be strictly true). Final edits and copy edits are in for book 3, now formally known as His Reluctant Cinderella and it will be out in October, I am working on book 4 which is linked to book 3 (heroine, Polly, is twin sister to His Reluctant Cinderella's hero, Raff. This is new for me and it's great fun to expand a setting through more than one book), and I am planning for a super sekrit project so it is all a teeny bit hectic.

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It's not all been chained-to-a-keyboard (or feeling guilty about not being chained) though. Last weekend I travelled down to the very pretty town of Chipping Norton to take part in their fabulous literary festival and gave a talk on writing Mills & Boon to a wonderful group who laughed in all the right places and asked loads of questions. The talk was followed by a literary quiz which we mistakenly thought we might win but sadly other teams were better - the Cheerleaders of Doom (myself, lovely editor Flo, fellow M&B writer India Grey and gorgeous twitter writer friends Amanda Jennings, Rachael Lucas and Claire Dyer) had to settle for respectable mid table mediocrity.

And finally I have been nominated for an award! On May 22nd the RNA will be holding their Summer Party and announcing the winner of the Joan Hessayon  award. This is a prize for new novelists and this year there are a stonking seventeen of us so I am busy practicing my Leonardo DiCaprio at the Oscars face. I haven't read all seventeen books but nominees include my amazing crit partner Jane O'Reilly and first RNA conference flatmate Alison May. I have read and loved both their nominated books so the standard is scarily high. Good luck to all my fellow contenders and see you there.

Out in the big wide world...

UK Cover

The Return of Mrs Jones is out there. Whether you buy directly from M&B or Harlequin, pick up paperbacks from the supermarket or WHSmiths (UK) or Barnes and Noble or Walmart (US) whether you download onto an iPad, Kindle, Google compatible device or Kobo it's available.That is quite frankly terrifying.

Oh, I know that this is my goal, that I've been working towards this for several years now but still. Terrifying. 

People I don't know could be reading it right this minute, or possibly

Australian cover

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worse, people I do know! It's like sending my first born on a voyage around the world, alone, with just one oar.

My mother is going to read it. My sister. My friends. My colleagues. My daughter took it into school to show her teachers...

And of course, despite all the best intentions I can't help checking rankings and reviews. I know, I know, it's better not to look but goodness me it's compulsive. Just another sneaky peek at Goodreads, a quick check on Amazon UK - and while I'm there why not check Amazon US or Aus?

US Cover

And then last week something really rather lovely happened, something that stopped the crazy compulsive checking behaviour in its tracks, for a while at least. I got an email. It came through my website. it wasn't from a friend, or a fellow writer, or a blogger. It was from a reader. Someone completely unknown to me had read it, loved it and wanted to let me know. I was completely and utterly touched that she had made the effort to contact me. There may even have been a tear.

And then I realised. The Return of Mrs Jones no longer belongs to me, it belongs to the people who read it. Some will love it, some will think its readable and some may dislike it. And that's okay. That's how it's supposed to be. My job isn't to sit here checking reviews and rankings and worrying about my little book, it'll be fine out there on its own. My job is to keep going.

So keep going I will; book 3, now formally known as His Reluctant Cinderella has been accepted and will be out in October and I need to knuckle down and write book 4 which excitingly, will be a sequel to His Reluctant Cinderella.

If you're UK based and want to find out more about writing for Mills and Boon then don't forget I am doing a workshop on April 26th at the Chiplitfest with my amazing editor, Flo. I'd love to see you there!  

A little perspective

There are times when I am really, really guilty of letting life overwhelm me. Yes, I am busy. I don't have the time or the means to socialise much or do cultural things or travel as much as I'd like to. I worry about my daughter, the state of my house (a mess), money, money, money. I never get round to having my hair cut and although I walk every where I need to try and fit in some more exercise in the non existent spare time I don't have.
And every day I wake up to Radio 4 and start the day depressed/angry/convinced we're headed for dystopian hell.
See? Overwhelmed.
Of course the reality is a little different. I have a lovely husband, an utterly brilliant, funny, sparky daughter, the nicest pup in the world, a host of fab, supportive friends, a great job (when the database works) that actually makes a real difference AND my first book comes out next week.
A little different? A lot different. I have a huge amount. I am absolutely blessed.

One of my fab, supportive friends has had a lot more to deal with over the last few years than a bit of tiredness and a few worries. Her original diagnosis of breast cancer came five years ago. The doctors were hopeful then; she was young, healthy, the tumor was small. Five years on, chemo, radiotherapy, a double mastectomy later the cancer is still holding on. The one piece of luck in all this is that even as the cancer tightens its grip the world of research makes more and more inroads. A form of chemo that she can take at home allowing her to work, drugs that keep the cancer from advancing. Not a cure, not yet, but they're hopeful. And if they can keep the cancer from spreading then she can wait for the cure.
It's not fun, she's tired and feels sick a lot. But she can live her life on these drugs.

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The drug trials are funded by charities and so her brother wants to give a little back, as a thank you and to help them keep going, keep developing. So he is going to run three marathons in one month. I am in utter awe! Obviously you don't know my friend or her brother - but you will know someone who has or will one day have their own battle with this disease. So if you could support him - and make all those blisters, cramps and aches worthwhile - that would be amazing. http://www.justgiving.com/badja

Mrs Jones on tour...

I'm on tour!

This may conjure up images of 5* hotels, whisky and tour buses but nope, it's all from the comfort of my own home. I can travel the world in my pyjamas, just what the founding father of the Web dreamed of.

Thanks to the lovely Shaz from Fiction Addiction tours I am spending the next 11 days dropping in on different blogs - and giving a book away on each one.

Thanks so much to my lovely hosts - please do drop into say hi!

17th March	jgrwriter
18th March	Brook Cottage Books
19th March	Rose & Beps Blog
20th March	Crooks on Books
20th March	The Bookish Confections
21st March	Chicklit Club Connect
24th March	Rachel Brimble Romance
25th March	Cometbabesbooks
25th March	Everything Books and Authors
26th March	Books are my life
27th March	Bookalicious Travel Addict
28th March	Victoria’s Pages of Romance s

Book of the day!

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How very exciting - I am Deal of the Day!

No, this isn't like the time I sold rock on Scarborough seafront under a sign that said 'Cheapest on the Front', this is a lot less humiliating and much better for your teeth. My debut, The Return of Mrs Jones (for those of you not paying attention at the back) is available together with the very talented Kate Hardy's Behind the Film Star's Smile as Mills & Boon deal of the day - with 10% off.

So if you were thinking of reading it, today is a good day to do it! What's more a blog I wrote for the Socialise section of the Mills & Boon website goes live today, so you may want to check that out too...

Reality bites

It's been nearly seven months since I first got 'The Call'. Seven months filled with revisions and edits and building websites (aka getting hysterical while my husband builds me a website), wondering how people on Pinterest actually do all those really cool 3 minute hairstyles and do they really take 3 minutes? - I mean researching. Oh, and writing book 3.

It all felt pretty hectic and real *hollow laugh*. Little did I know that I was actually enjoying a few months of tranquility before everything got Very Serious Indeed.

The reality of writing category romance is that you absolutely have to be able to juggle multiple books at different stages of their production. There's no hiding yourself away in a garret while you create for a year, you have to be able to plan, write, revise and promote different titles all at the same time.

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Right now (EEK!) The Return of Mrs Jones is available to preorder, this means I am getting ready to promote it with a blog tour including guest blogs, Goodreads giveaways and social media whilst doing my best not to  monitor how many people have added it to their to-read shelves. But, at some point this month, the cover for Summer with the Millionaire will be revealed so I'll be getting very excited about that and need to start thinking about how best to market that book during April and May.

At the same time I am waiting for revisions on book 3. This is the first book that has gone directly to my editor without passing Go (Crit partners and the NWS scheme) and the first book written to deadline rather than at a tortuously slow pace, so I am expecting humongous revisions which say things like 'Where is the conflict' and 'Why does nothing happen in 50,000 words'. I'm very optimistic about this one...

Meanwhile I am planning books 4 and 5, with the hope of starting book 4 this very week. Add in the day job, the daughter's dance show rehearsals, violin exam and need to be fed, clothed and and discuss at great length potential World Book Day costumes and What Can She Do In This Year's Talent Show (I have suggested either a straightfaced dramatic recitation of Taylor Swift's Trouble or a Yorkshire version of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights, neither of which she is keen on. Kids today, no sense of adventure) and my head is about to explode in a very loud and messy way.

But it's all really, really exciting too and I know just how very lucky I am to be in this position. Bring it on, I'm ready for the craziness to commence!

In which I finally get to do a giveaway!!

It's funny this waiting-to-be-a-published-author time. A little like being pregnant only with coffee and wine and brie and slightly smaller ankles. It's really all about the waiting. `

Life carries on, you carry on writing partly buoyed by the knowledge that Someone Thinks You're Good Enough to Publish - and partly daunted that someone thinks you're good enough to publish and this next book better be worthy of that, only what if it isn't? Plus this time you have deadlines.

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And then things happen. Things that make you realise that the publication date is creeping closer and closer. You get a cover and back copy. You give in and get addicted to Pinterest and join Goodreads and are too busy to blog. You then organise a blog tour whilst not being entirely sure what that means and worry you should be directing people towards your book on Netgallery.

Which is when things hot up. Two amazing things happened this week. I got my first Romantic Times review.I have to admit I was very, very nervous about this one, my very first professional review but I was absolutely thrilled - four stars (Four!) and you can read the lovely things they said here: http://digitalmag.rtbookreviews.com?shareKey=jHLTFq.

And today I made sure one UPS guy will never ever deliver to my house again when I greeted his arrival with squeals and excitable yelps as I said 'It's my book, it's my book' over and over again. Did you get that UPS guy? It was MY book.
A whole box of my book!

It feels a little mean not to to give at least one copy away, much as I want to gaze upon their shiny perfection forever (my precious). The working title for this book was Summer Fling so all you have to do is either write in the comments below or like my Facebook page and comment there, tell me the most perfect place you can imagine to have a summer fling. I'll notify one lucky (that feels a little presumptuous doesn't it??) winner next week!