Shouting from the rooftops: NEWS!

For the first time ever I get my own name on a book!

The Minxes of Romance have released an anthology of eight scorching hot stories featuring the fire fighters of Coombethwaite.

This book was a fun collaboration that started as one of those silly ideas that happen late at night, but which turned into something with a life all its own.

Please, please buy a copy, read and review it. I guarantee that there is something for everyone in this book, from sweet to sensual to scorching, light and flirty to downright intense.

 Blaze is available from Amazon and Amazon UK.

Also on the good news front, I'd like to congratulate Jennifer Drogell for her So You Think You Can Write win. Well done, Jen, and I can't wait to buy my own copy of The Divorce Party.

Kernel ideas and dreams

Two of the blogs I follow have both had posts recently that dove-tailed together really well to remind me of just what inspired me to write my last two stories.

Bob Mayer did a post on the kernel idea of every story, and Sue Moorcroft has also been running a series of guest posts about dreams to celebrate the release of her latest novel, Dream a Little Dream.


The characters of my Nano novel, Waking up in Vegas, first came to me in a dream back in 2009 in which a Prince made a stirring coronation speech, and watching in the crowd was the great love of his life, a very ordinary young woman. Yes, very Prince & Me.


Once Upon a Time, my previous book, also began as a dream, in which a young woman with a super rich Daddy works for a charity that occupies space in her father's building and who is very 'off' men as she is constantly being hit on by men who only want her for her Daddy's money and favour. The story changed a good deal from there, but the characters remained the same.

What is the kernel idea of your work-in-progress? What image, idea or dream kick-started the story?

#Nanowrimo Progress Update

I'm guesting over at the RNA blog today. Please stop by and say "hello".

We're half way through Nanowrimo and I've reached the halfway point in Waking up in Vegas. I'd love to be further along, but really, what with a day job and kids, I should apreciate how far I've come in such a short time!

The best thing for me about #Nanowrimo 2012 is the help I got up front from the Entangled Press editors. Having a clear idea of the story, the characters, and their conflicts and motivations before I even started has not only prevented me from going wildly off track as I have in previous years, but it's also kept my interest and motivation up. Because I know where I'm going, I'm not staring at a blank page and freaking out.

I'd like to thank my team-mates on the Entangled Smackdown. You ladies motivate me, and I won't let you down.

Also, to all the ROSA Bootcampers - your friendly support of each other is so inspiring, and some of those word counts are truly awesome.

Keep it up!

The Next Big Thing

Freda Lightfoot, bestselling author of family sagas and historical romances, invited me to take part in a blog event entitled THE NEXT BIG THING - a series of questions and answers about what’s happening next in my writing life.

The Next Big Thing 

What is the title of your book?

An Innocent Abroad, which went on sale yesterday!

How did you come by the idea? 

This novella started life as a single scene: a young woman standing at a window, looking out through a curtain of rain at an Italian landscape. The scene is still in there, though the landscape became a seascape.

What genre does your book fall under?

Historical Romance

Which actors would you choose to play your characters if it were a movie?

Ooh, this is a hard one, and I don't really know. 

Isobel is blonde and blue-eyed, and very young, sweet and innocent. Stefano is a little older, rugged, typically Italian and swoon-worthy.

Perhaps my blog readers could offer up suggestions?

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A young English woman travels to Italy to stay with relatives, and instead of falling in love with the eligible aristocrat her parents have chosen, she falls for an enigmatic Italian.

Will your book be self-published or traditional?

The book is traditionally published as an ebook by The Wild Rose Press.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

To be honest, I started this story so long ago that I no longer remember!

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

This is so hard, since romances set in the 1920s are few and far between. Recently I read a book entitled Vixen by Jillian Larkin, the first in her Flappers series, which also features young people, cocktails, jazz music and forbidden love in the 20s.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I wanted to write something hotter and more risque than anything I'd written before, so I pushed myself to go beyond my usual comfort zone with this one. I'm not sure if that counts as inspiration or motivation, though?

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

The book is set in Italy in 1922, just months before Mussolini's March on Rome. It was a turbulent time, but the ex-pats enjoying the Italian sunshine mostly remained far removed from the hardships faced by their host nation.

So who's next in the chain? I nominate Louise Rose-Innes, Kathy Bosman, Rae Rivers, April Vine, Kiru Taye and Jennifer Shirk.

PS: If you're history obsessed, do check out Freda's blog. She's a mine of fascinating information.

To prologue or not to prologue

In the build up to Nanowrimo, we had a discussion on the South African romance writers' Yahoo loop about opening scenes and the use of prologues.

At least one member admitted to skipping prologues completely. I tend to read them, but then I read everything, even the fine print on cereal boxes. Which is probably why I wear glasses.

The discussion reminded me of the one prologue that was not only well worth reading, but a must read. Two friends independently recommended the book to me, and both also commented on the prologue, so of course, I had to read it.

The book is Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase.

It's the only time a prologue moved me to tears. It gives the back story in a way that hooks you in so completely you cannot put the book down.
Don't believe me? Download the sample chapter from Amazon and see for yourself.

While I do like a good prologue, don't get me started on epilogues. If the book ends with hero and heroine a year later cooing down at their newborn baby, I feel an urge to throw up.

Fortunately, no two readers are alike, so I'd love to know - do you read prologues and epilogues? What do you think of them? And have you read Lord of Scoundrels?