Deadline Day

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I've always worked better with a deadline. Without one I tend to find other, more important, things to do.
Like filing. Or baking. Or reordering my bookshelves.
It's not that I don't try. I sit down, type some words. Delete them. Type some more. Read them. Panic that they're flat, lifeless. Delete them. Type some more. Read them. Panic that they're flat, lifeless. Leave them cause I need something concrete to show for my time.
A deadline takes away that luxury. I have to get those words down. Flat and lifeless? So what? They can be rewritten later. Filing? Let it pile up. Baking? Buy it. Bookshelves? Well, a girl has to have some standards.
This last deadline was tight even by my standards. I had three months. That was the smallest amount of time I'd had to turn in a book so far.
So of course I frittered away a month. My bookshelves looked lovely.
And then I wrote five chapters. In a month. Half the book done. Great.
Only they were flat. Lifeless.
So I started again. From scratch. With a month to go.
50,000 words. One month. 12,500 words a week. That was 1700 a day. Written and edited. Easy!
A weekend away with the daughter, some busy days at the day job. The actual day job. RSI (officially tennis elbow. Who would have thought watching tennis could be so dangerous?). All ate into my schedule. The daily word count went up and up.
Until it was 6 days, 16,000 words and a line edit to go.And Wimbledon was on.
Somehow. With late nights, constant words, editing during my lunch time at the day job. No Wimbledon.
Somehow I got it done.
I have no perspective. No idea if it's good, bad or just plain ugly.
It's with my editor. There will of courser be edits. They may well be substantial. But I made my deadline and that feels pretty damn good.
And in time for the second week of Wimbledon... (ignores new tighter deadline.)

Meet Minty

Oops! Just over a week ago I was tagged by the lovely Janice Preston in a 'Meet your Main Character' bloghop - promised faithfully I would do it that Friday and promptly forgot all about it. I blame my current WIP which I decided to totally rewrite a month before it was due - cue many late nights and total hermiting.

I first met Janice at the 2012 RNA Conference where we shared a kitchen - and I was completely delighted when she sold her historical romance to Mills & Boon; as a failed regency romance novelist I know just how hard it is to do and can't wait to read her first book. Her debut, Mary and the Marquis, comes out in August, perfect timing for my holiday reading list.

This month Summer with the Millionaire was released and to my utter joy (and spawning a dangerous new obsession; rankings-checking) it made it all the way to the dizzying heights of number one on the Amazon.com Harlequin Romance list and all the way to 59 in the Series chart - so it I thought I'd celebrate by telling you a little about Minty, my beloved heroine.

So, without further ado here's Minty:

What is the name of the main character? Is she real or fictitious? 
Formally she is Lady Araminta Davenport - but although the press love to use her title she usually goes by Minty and she is completely fictitious. I can't even remember what or who inspired her - I think it was an image I had of a girl weaving her way along a cobbled street at midnight, shoes in hand. That scene was (reluctantly) cut in one of my many, many rewrites but it absolutely set the tone for Minty's entire character and background.

Where is the story set?
In an idyllic Italian summer, mainly in the fictitious area of Oschia, a blend of Tuscany and Umbria. During the book Minty and Luca, the hero, visit some of my favourite places in the world; Florence and the Sorrento coast. It was lovely to write such gorgeous settings.

What should we know about her?
Minty is the archetypal poor little rich girl, beautiful, titled and with a Trust Fund her life seems charmed. But underneath she is desperately searching for acceptance, to prove that she is worthy of being loved. Her mother left when she was little and her father is absorbed in his new, much younger family leaving his fragile oldest daughter to navigate her way through life alone.

What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
After Minty's third engagement is publicly called off her father finally decided he needs to help her sort out her life - and does so by cutting off her Trust Fund. Emotionally battered and. for the first time in her life, broke, Minty returns to Italy, to the house where she spent many of her childhood summers. Her beloved aunt died several years ago, leaving Minty shares in her husband's company. Minty gambles everything on getting a job - and a home - from her childhood adversary, Luca Di Tore. But Luca isn't at all happy to see the former wild child...

What is the character's goal?
Minty is desperate to prove that she is more than a scandalous headline and a Trust Fund - but is terrified that she might discover that that is all she is. After three disastrous engagements she is determined that she has to make this journey alone, but it's hard when she's sharing a home with the one man who ever really got under her skin.

That's Minty! Summer with the Millionaire is available from all the usual places! I am going to tag two other M&B authors who make their debuts this year: Christy McKellan and Nina Milne. Over to you, ladies. x

A much needed break...

 We just spent the last week in an incredibly beautiful part of the world. Kippford is a small village on the Solway Firth surrounded by coastal paths and woodland and equipped with all the essentials (two pubs). We were lucky enough to stay in Bell's View which is a fantastic house with spectacular views.

The view from the terrace

Look at all these beauties

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The house belongs to the family of Pamela Hartshorne who wrote the amazing Time's Echo and Memory of Midnight (if you haven't read them do so instantly!). Pam also write Mills & Boon as Jessica Hart   and the
bookshelves are full of her books. If romance isn't your thing (in which case why are you on this blog?) then there are another four or five
shelves of classic holiday reading from Sayers and Christie to Le Carre and Mary Stewart. A huge fireplace, stacks of games and puzzles and plenty of sofas ensured we were ready for the rain and cold we confidently expected - we weren't quite so prepared for the blazing sunshine we actually got!

back on the level after some
 strenuous climbs

Five days of walks, wildlife and relaxation was exactly what we needed; with all my daughter's activities, my day job and deadlines and the husband's commute it sometimes feels that we are only just hanging on. A 12 mile walk through breathtaking cliff tops (and breath taking away climbs), the sighting of red deer, red squirrels and red kites (spot the theme), shell hunting on the beach and sitting in front of the pub watching the boats bobbing on the estuary as we supped a pint of the local pale ale was exactly what we needed. One grey day we went second hand book shopping, picking up several Judy Blumes for the daughter, another blazing afternoon we just took a picnic blanket into the garden and enjoyed the novelty of sun beating down on us. And I finally worked out why book 4 isn't working and began a rewrite...

So it's back home and back to the old routine but refreshed, revitalised and with achy legs. We can't wait to return to Kippford - and as Bell's View is available to rent I highly recommend you do too. Books, walks, and good beer. It's a winning combination!

Step back in time

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Last week I went to the RNA Summer Party for the presentation of the Joan Hessayon award. This is awarded every year to a writer whose debut novel went through the New Writers' Scheme - and there were a record breaking seventeen contenders this year!

I didn't win - the lovely Jo Thomas did with her novel The Oystercatchers - but it was still fun to catch up with writerly friends, drink some prosecco and get a certificate.
It was also an opportunity to fulfil a lifetime's wish and stay in a London Club. Not a gentleman's club a la Bertie Wooster for hopefully obvious reasons, nor the kind of posh, media club frequented by artists and journalists and full of scandal and debauchery (possibly), not when I had to pick my daughter up from school the day after, anyway. No, I always wanted to stay in the kind of club Agatha Christie heroines and other nineteen thirties literary ladies stayed in when they went 'up to town'.
The RNA had associate membership of the New Cavendish. It's central (near Mayfair), reasonably priced (for London), has excellent pedigree (born out of the First World War as a club for VADS), does a hearty breakfast and is situated in a beautiful building right in the heart of Georgette Heyer territory. Perfect. Sadly, as London gets richer and richer, places like the New Cavendish are squeezed out and it shuts its doors for the final time this week.
So next time I go to an RNA event I can stay in one of the many anonymous budget chains. It will be comfortable and hopefully reasonable. But there will be no sense of history, no link with the past. No personal touch. I'm just glad I got to stay there once before the end.

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