Losing My Podcast Virginity

Me, Abby & Chantelle Shaw

So two fortuitous things happened recently:

Firstly, I was asked by the lovely peeps at the Professional Writing Academy if I would be interested in doing a podcast to help promo my new online writing course with them An Introduction to Writing Hot Romance - the course launches on October 4th so if you want to sign up and treat yourself to 7 weeks of intensive but I hope completely fabulous sessions on romance writing you still have time.

The other thing that happened was I went to an author lunch in Central London (an annual event which is always a top date in my writing calendar) with some of my favorite romance authors – which of course made me think, if I'm gonna lose my podcast virginity, I'm going to rope them in too!!

First thing to figure out was how to work my iPhone's Voice Memo app. Yup, this took a while, because it turns out my smart phone is a lot smarter than I am... But once Abby Green and I had done numerous tests, and then actually managed to find the recordings on the phone without accidentally deleting them (not as easy as it sounds), I was ready to roll.

Showing off my latest cover at the party

Next up was cornering some of my mates. First up was of course Abby, who had foolishly helped me with the app and was therefore a sitting duck for my first soundbite.

The question was a simple one, though, for someone who writes searingly sexy romances: Why do you love writing hot romance?

Then I turned to Fiona Harper - I asked her why she loved writing romance, as her books are less hot but still wonderfully fresh, funny, heartwarming romance novels for HQ.

My fellow Fairy Tales of New York author Lucy King, who had made the mistake of camping out with us after the lunch and who writes wonderfully sexy, sassy feel-good romances got hooked in next...

After the author lunch each year Mills and Boon invite all their current authors to a glamorous drinks party in the News Building - right next to the Shard with wonderful views over London – and there I managed to waylay the legendary Sharon Kendrick – author of a staggering 102 books for M&B all of them scorchingly hot and deeply emotional reads – for a quick chat.

The fabulous Ms Kendrick

The next day I made a trip to Sheffield to talk on a panel with Sue Stephens (darn it, I should have whipped out my phone out and interviewed her too!) and M&B editor Flo Nicholl about why Mills and Boon books are so cool hosted by academic Val Derbyshire during the University's Festival of the Mind event.

So it wasn't until Sunday that I had the delight of figuring out how to use Garageband to edit the sound recordings and add my own thoughts (and yes, there was sarcasm in that statement!). After a long day spent fumbling my way through the highly intuitive (but not that intuitive to me) application, I had my podcast. And I have to say, I am mighty pleased with the eventual result. The people at PWA prettied it up with some photos and stuck it on YouTube, so I need to say a big thanks to them, and to my mates, who each had insightful and interesting reasons as to why they love writing romance (hot or not).

I'd love to know what you think? So here it is...

Now I am no longer a podcast virgin, I may be doing more podcasts - I love to talk about romance, so why not share the joy, right? In fact, the PWA may have created a monster...

Conference, Cosmo and Yet More Giveaways!!

So after FINALLY finishing off my Cosmo Red Hot Read "10 Ways to Handle the Best Man" and pinging it off to my ed last Tuesday I had a few manic days of film reviewing (in my other job) before a mad packing frenzy ensued on Friday morning and I jumped on a train to Sheffield for the RNA conference.

Sharing a flat with Fiona Harper, India Grey, Abby Green and Scarlet Wilson turned out to be as much fun as anticipated and involved champagne, prosecco, chocolate, some talk about writing and way too much talk about how India met Henry Cavill once (Sheesh, does that woman know how to make a person pea-green with envy!)

Conference highlights also included Julie Cohen's excellent talk on Themes in Your Writing, the sunshine, the lavish student accommodation (blimey that's changed since I was at college), a fun Gala dinner, drinks with the M&B eds and meeting new authors Michelle Smart, Victoria Parker and Sophie Pembroke, among others. Also got lots of ideas about possible new directions for my writing, which you'll be the first to hear about when I decide which way I'm going!

On my return, I found a whole box of my new KISS novel Maid of Dishonor waiting for me. So I've already got a Goodreads Giveaway going (click on the icon in the sidebar to enter), but I'll also be doing a worldwide giveaway on our Wedding Season FB page in the near future. So watch that space.

And even more joy, the RT Book Review magazine have given the book a 4-star review. Check out the evidence below if you don't believe me.

Am going to be doing a sneak peek on my website very soon, in time for the book's release on August 20 in the US. It will be appearing in the fab new Modern Tempted series in the UK in October, as well as the other Wedding Season books.

The Wedding Season gals are over at Harlequin Junkie at the moment BTW talking Heros and Heroines in 140 characters or less... Plus there's another fricking Giveaway over there.

A Glittering Night at the RoNas, Cover Joy & Some Spanish Giveaways!

Wow,  what an action packed couple of weeks I've just had.

First  off their was a glittering night last week at the RNA's RoNa awards. Unfortunately I didn't win the Rose award - that honour went to the lovely (and disgustingly talented!) Sarah Mallory. But I still had a fantastic time with fellow authors Sarah, Carol Townend, Fiona Harper, Scarlet Wilson and Abby Green and India Grey. It was a great night and now I've just got to make sure I get nominated next year so I can have that much fun again. (No pressure, then!!!)

Scarlet, Carol, Sarah, Fiona and Moi looking fabulous on the night!

Then this week I took a two-day trip to Dublin's Fair City to do a wonderful workshop with my good mate Abby Green on how to write a Mills and Boon. I think we made a pretty good double act myself and it was great chatting with the Eblana writer's group who hosted the event.

And then I got back this afternoon to discover not one but two great covers for my June release Too Close for Comfort in my inbox. This is Zane and Iona's story and is going out in the US as my first Harlequin KISS novel and in the UK in the Mills and Boon Modern series -  while Riva remains on hiatus.  Both covers are completely gorgeous but I'd say the KISS cover might just have the edge thanks to all those bright vibrant colours and my fabulous heroine - who looks exactly as I pictured her with all that gorgeous red hair. That said, Zane my drop-dead delicious Mexican-American PI is pretty cute too.  For more details about the book watch this space as I will be doing a sneak peek on my website very soon.

I may also have more exciting news for UK readers shortly about some reprints and also the release of our fabulous KISS continuity The Wedding Season in the UK.

Lastly, for any Spanish-speaking readers out there I am doing a couple of Goodreads Giveways of my Spanish translations:

Mas Que Una Noche (aka The Good the Bad and the Wild)

Los Asuntos Del Duque (Unfinished Business with the Duke)

Just click on the widgets in the sidebar to enter!

Happy New Year... Five Go Wild in Connemara!

Happy New Year everyone... Let's hope 2013 is a stunner.

I certainly started the year off right, am just back from a wonderful writer's retreat at Delphi Lodge in Connemara with fabulous fellow authors Chantelle Shaw, Caitlyn Crews, Abby Green and Fiona Harper. I have a whole album of photos on my Facebook page, but frankly you can't take a bad picture in that staggeringly beautiful landscape.

And the Lodge itself is the perfect place to relax, indulge and feed the body and the soul with some great craic beside a roaring fire or over a three-course meal. Each evening after a day of wandering, soaking up the mystery and magic of Ireland's dramatic Atlantic Coast, we would retire to the Lodge to solve plotting problems, discuss the genesis of the alpha hero and generally laugh ourselves silly over the trials and tribulations of being a romance writer. Ah, it's a tough life....


To celebrate the dawn of 2013 - which I hope will be a great year for my writing - I'm giving away a Quiet Man Calendar which I picked up in the gift shop in the grounds of the majestic Kylemore Abbey and a copy of my Brody Brothers Special Release, PS I'm Pregnant - featuring two gorgeous Irish heroes.

Just check out the Rafflecopter below to enter. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sneak Peek of One Night So Pregnant!

I finally have a sneak peek of my next Riva/Harlequin Presents Extra, One Night So Pregnant on my website... Have to say I love both the UK and US covers.

In case you don't know this is Tess and Nate's story. Tess appeared as Eva's meddling friend in The Good the Bad and the Wild and quite a lot of readers have asked me if I was going to write her story. Short answer: Hell Yes! And here it is.

It'll be out in December in the US and in November to Riva subscribers in the UK (and apparently on Amazon!). I will be giving away a few copies here and on Goodreads once I get my author copies.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the peek!

In other news I'm off to the AMBA lunch tomorrow and am looking forward to catching up with Abby Green, India Grey, Fiona Harper, Sharon Kendrick, Scarlet Wilson and a host of other great authors.... And I have Alabama friend Kimberly Lang staying with me at the moment. How cool is that? (plus I managed to extract a copy of Redemption of a Hollywood Starlet out of her - which is the last of her fab Marshall brothers trilogy and which I can't wait to read).

RWA Update + Tess and Nate's Story Gets a Cover!

So am just back from a fabulous week in Anaheim for the 2012 RWA Conference... Exhausted, excited and inspired!

Lots of thrilling news to report, but easily the highlight of the week was Sarah Morgan's triumphant win at the RITAs for Best Contemporary Series Romance for Doukakis's Apprentice. She gave a wonderfully witty speech and looked fabulous in her gold-fringed RITA-matching frock (and she let me fondle it for a minute - the RITA that is, not the frock - see below!). Can't think of a better ambassador for Presents than Sarah, she done us all proud. Incredibly this was the first RITA for a Presents book, may there be many more now.

Also on my agenda was a Riva lunch with lovely fellow authors Kimberly Lang, Aimee Carson, Sue Stephens and Fiona Harper. Needless to say there was much talk about the upcoming launch of Kiss which according to my ed the NA office are 'very excited' about. They're not the only ones!!

Had a fabulous brainstorming session with Aimee and Kimberly for our Kiss continuity which is starting to look completely AWESOME (if I do say so myself). My hero is going to be a nice Southern boy turned cynical and super-sexy CEO who had a steamy one-night stand in college with my sultry sassy British heroine. They meet again ten years later and the fireworks are going to be seriously hot! It's set in NYC and Savannah and that's really all I can say for now... But I'm so excited about this story and the others in the quartet.

The Harlequin Party was a dance-your-feet-off affair as usual and we had Nora Roberts sitting on the table next to us! Not to mention free cosmopolitans all night. Having already stalked Nora at the Literacy Autographing earlier in the week (and got a signed copy of her new In Death book! Yay!) I had to refrain from doing it again. So me and Ms Abby Green stalked the fabulous Victoria Dahl instead. Managed to get an early read of her new book Close Enough to Touch and fell in love with it. Check out my Goodreads review if you want to know more.

I finished off the week spending a day schmoozing with Abby Green and Fiona Harper on Santa Monica Boulevard and hanging out at  Abby's suite in a fabulously funky hotel in West Hollywood - before fi and I caught the flight home to London...

All in all, had such a brilliant time I didn't even shout at my sons when I saw the Mount Everest of Laundry waiting for me on my return!

In other news I've just got ahold of the cover for my next (and last) Presents Extra release One Night, So Pregnant. Absolutely love the cover and the back blurb which should whet your appetite. The book's out in December in the US and will hopefully be out in the UK when Riva relaunches next year, but I will be putting up a sneak peek shortly on my website.

 

What to expect when you’re unexpectedly expecting

• Shock: Telling a gorgeous (almost) total stranger that he’s going to be a dad is never easy!

• Cravings: The instant chemistry that catapulted Tess Tremaine into the wildest night she’s ever had isn’t going to just go away— and no one says no to Nate Graystone when he’s determined to be involved….

• Hormones Gone Wild: Surely that’s the only reason she’s failing to keep Nate out of her bed, out of her mind…and why she keeps wanting more from the most unattainable man she’s ever met?

Party Time!

So I got my posh frock on last night and jumped on the bus to the West End en route to the RNA Winter Party.

Despite getting slightly lost (got off the bus on Piccadilly and somehow ended up at Buckingham Palace!) I finally located Birdcage Walk and the stately Library of the Imeche where all the fun was happening... Good thing I didn't put my hooker boots on til I got there as I had to yomp all the way round St James's Park in the dark. Am thinking I may have to turn this experience into a scene for a book, though, as the phenomenal Georgian architecture on display during my impromptu tour of the area was really quite sensational.

As usual I didn't do a lot of networking, mostly just had a good gossip with Fiona Harper, Natalie Rivers, Sharon Kendrick and the lovely M&B eds who were present. Also had a great fangirl moment when I was introduced to Kate Lace, whose books I highly recommend. Haven't got her latest yet, Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, so will be downloading it asap.

Then Katie Fforde did the big announcement of the night... The unveiling of the new RNA logo, which, as luck would have it, matched my dress beautifully so I got asked to pose for some photos.

Much wine and wittering later and I slipped my hooker boots back in the bag and headed home... On the tube this time, as I'd decided I'd admired more than enough phenomenally Georgian architecture for one night.

Schmoozing at AMBA

Had a fab time at the AMBA lunch on Thursday at a bijou location in London's Covent Garden. As usual I forgot to bring my camera (actually I don't even have a camera!!) so the wonderful Kate Hardy was sweet enough to take a few snaps for me. From left to right there's me with Fiona Harper, the Modern Heat posse of Kate and new author Lucy King and the inimitable Sharon Kendrick. What a laugh, a great time was had by all. The great women who write for Mills and Boon is one of the big benefits of writing for them IMHO.
Okay, enough schmoozing... Also yesterday, the article about my book club experience came out in The Telegraph and it was really good. Casilda Grigg, the journalist who wrote the piece had some excellent things to say about the event and made some interesting observations about how it's not actually possible to just knock off a Mills and Boon in your lunchbreak. Anyone who reads this blog of course will know what a flipping struggle it is to write these books (or anyone who's ever tried to write one) but it's nice to have that little myth popped in a major British newspaper.

Casilda also managed to mention that Pierce Brosnan is my muse (probably because I mentioned it about 100 times) so I'll be expecting a call from him shortly. And even better in the article's main photo of me I only have one chin! I'm so proud...

First chapter woes...The RNA Party... And other excuses to procrastinate

I'm taking a break from my current ms, which is going nowhere fast, and stopping to contemplate the writing of my fifth book, which is due out next month. Why was that one so easy to write and the last two so incredibly hard? I have no idea...

So far I've rewritten the first chapter of my latest four times!! This is not a good sign. I think it comes from nerves, after spending two months writing ten chapters of complete dross on my last ms and then having to start from the beginning again, I am determined not to ignore my inner critic this time and admit when I have a problem. Only problem is... Is one month spent writing the first chapter really an improvement? I don't think so. 

Frankly I need a kick up the butt writing wise. During my many re-draughts I have learned heaps of interesting things about my characters, their conflict and their past... This is my first proper reunion romance with the hero and heroine having grown up together in the same stately home, him as the son of the Duke and her as the daughter of the housekeeper. So what I've learned is all valuable stuff... But I seem to have dropped myself into a black hole with my opening scene which involves a corset, thigh-high leather boots, an exclusive gentlemen's club and a rowdy bunch of Hooray Henries who mistake my heroine for a stripper!

So let's get out of the writing trenches and talk about the RNA party last Wednesday which was an absolute blast. Met a wonderful aspiring author who had read all five of my books (and that's a fairly exclusive bunch of people, in fact I think my mum and me may be the only other members) and had dinner with Biddy Coady, Julie Cohen and Fiona Harper. Julie gave us some hilarious insights into her new book The Girl from Mars (which I will be first in line to buy come June), and the trials and tribulations of writing Klingon dialogue!! Sorry, no piccies as usual. I forgot my camera and while Fiona flashed hers about a bit I never saw her take any photos. We were all having too much fun nattering. 

So I'm illustrating this post with Julie's book cover which is delicious. Also, Julie's blog had some interesting things to say about the 'crows of doubt' recently and how she's had trouble starting her latest book, which made me realise that at least I'm not alone. Which is always good to know.

In other interesting news, I was reading Lorraine Wilson's blog (she's an author who I'm sure will be published soon if her blog's anything to go by) and she put me on to this article about M&B and how they're surviving the downturn. Which frankly is manna from Heaven to those of us currently trying to make a living at this gig.

Okay, I've now exhausted all possible blog topics so I guess I'm going to have to trudge back to the battle of the opening chapter... Arghhhh! 

Good news week!

Got an email a couple of days ago from Donna at CataRomance to say that The Mile High Club has won a Reviewers Choice Award. I was so chuffed, especially when I checked out the full list and found fellow Modern Heat authors Nicola Marsh, Trish Wylie, Ally Blake and Sue Stephens there as well. You can check out the full list by clicking here.

Then I heard via the grapevine not one but two of my Modern Heat colleagues - namely Julie Cohen and Kate Hardy - have been nominated for RNA's much coveted Romance Prize this year. And I've got to mention Romance author Fiona Harper (who very nicely came up to chat to me last year at the RNA lunch so I consider her a friend) and who has been nominated twice (isn't that a bit greedy Fiona?). I'll be rooting for all of them come Feb 4th (if I can get a late ticket for the Awards Lunch at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, which I, of course, forgot to book! Duh!). For the full list of nominees click here.

And then to really make my week I got an email from my editor Bryony to say that Bedded by a Playboy got into the Waldenbooks Top Ten Bestsellers in series romance for the week ending 12th January and here's the proof. Yippee. I'm a happy camper. So happy in fact that I will admit to falling off the wagon ever so slightly last night. Luckily I didn't hit the ground too hard.

As my reward tonight I'm off to see No Country for Old Men, the new Coen Brothers movie. Anyone seen O Brother Where Art Thou? George Clooney in a hairnet - now that's what I call a movie. I'm expecting to be thoroughly entertained. And I'm expecting to tell y'all about it at a future date - unless it turns out to be rubbish, in which case I won't.