May 13, 2008
workshop at Windsor library
Creative Writing Workshop with Romance Author Julie Cohen
Date: Saturday 17th May
Time: 10:30 am - 12:00 noon
Location: Thames Room, Windsor Library
This event is open to all adults, no creative writing experience is necessary.
“My books are all character-driven, and my workshop will be about creating a character from the ground up. You’ll come into my workshop with a blank piece of paper, and you’ll leave with a brand-new, three-dimensional character, which you can use in your own story. Or, you can take away the characterisation techniques we’ll be using, to apply to your own creative writing project.” (Julie Cohen)
Places are limited, so sign up now at Windsor Library. Call 01753 743940 or email windsor.library@rbwm.gov.uk
For more information, contact Kathy Dolan at Maidenhead Library, 01628 796974, or Windsor Library, 01753 743940.
(Sorry I’m late posting this…hopefully it’s not too late if you’re interested.)
May 12, 2008
my new cover…
For Honey Trap, out this July:
Gorgeous, isn’t it?
Here’s the blurb:
Sophie Tennant is used to sticky situations…
Because Sophie used to be a private investigator, setting honey traps for husbands and giving wives ground for divorce. But these days she’s an aromatherapist–an aromatherapist who’s going on tour with a rock band, baby! Which is all good, until she recognises the band’s bassist, Dominick Steele: her first honey trap, and the man who taught her she has a lethal attraction to bad boys. But her attraction’s not half as lethal as the vengeful spouse who suddenly seems to be following her!
Will there be a sweet ending–or a sting in the tale?
May 9, 2008
my mom’s birthday
Today is my mom’s birthday. I haven’t been able to get in touch with her because she’s been busy with her sisters, being appropriately and deservedly pampered.
So I’m wishing her a happy birthday on the world wide web. If you’ve got a moment, wish her a happy birthday in the comments because she would be tickled!
May 6, 2008
back.
And I have spent the last 13 hours sleeping as I didn’t get a lot of sleep while I was there. How I wish I could say that was because I was partying all night, but it had more to do with jetlag, sharing a bed and with helping with the night shift looking after my grandmother.
For my mother and my aunt, and all those who care for the terminally or chronically ill: I salute you. It’s a hard job, every minute of every day.
I’m spending today reading over my draft of Girl from Mars and hopefully my brain will be de-fuzzed enough to be able to figure out what I need to do for revisions.
April 29, 2008
off to the mother land
I’ve sort of finished my first draft. And tomorrow morning I’m flying to the US to see a family member who is ill.
I’ll be back next week–see you then.
Meanwhile, here is a link to really excellent review of Mistress In Private (aka All Work and No Play…) in French. It’s out there next month as Une Passione Anglaise.
Thanks to Callixta and to Marnie!
April 28, 2008
an admission, brought about by listening to 80s radio on the internet
You know, when I was a teenager, I was quite embarrassingly besotted with the music of Air Supply.
April 25, 2008
enthusiasm
Tra la la, here I am, happy as a clam because my back is feeling so much better, hey, I think it’s a good idea to take my child to the park! Yay, what fun! Lift him up! Swing him round! Push the pushchair!
Oof, you know that sorta…hurts. Well, actually, it really hurts.
Actually it really really hurts.
Damn.
Oh well, more rest for me this weekend. And no more enthusiasm.
I’m off to set something on fire in my wip.
April 24, 2008
Bestsellerdom strikes again!
Oh and the thing I wanted to say while I was locked out of my website…?
Mistress in Private has been in the Waldenbooks top ten bestselling series romance novels for the past two weeks.
Yippee!!
a tricky bit
I’ve been locked out of my own website for a few days, so sorry for being behind! Fortunately my whiz of a webmistress knows all and has sorted it out for me.
My back is slowly getting better, with the help of rest, painkillers, and homeopathic remedies (I’ve got arnica, thanks for reminding me of it, Jan!). I’m not writing as much as I would like, but I’m managing some, usually in bed typing on my Dana with a heating pad on my shoulder.
I’m sort of at a tricky bit in the book, where several plot threads get wound up but the most important ones get more intense. And yeah, I’ve got the crows. It’s a little different this time because I actually like this book a lot. The heroine is totally one of my favourites, ever. But I worry that nobody else will like it. I also worry that a couple of the threads resolve too easily.
Plus I don’t know yet whether the hero goes back to America at the end, yet. “American Boy” has come on the radio every time I’ve been in the car, and I really like that song, so that makes me think, yeah. I’ll write a scene set in America. But then I look at mounting word count (I’m at 90,000, which was my original goal) and wonder if it would be simpler if they just stayed in London.
Playing God with my characters gets too darn complicated sometimes.
Anyway, back to the writing.
Currently reading: Yorkshire’s Murderous Women: Two Centuries of Killing by Stephen Wade (what a title!)
April 20, 2008
cake
It hurts to walk, and to move, and to play with Fecklet, and to do housework, and to drive the car, and to sit in a normal chair, and to type. (Which means I owe lots of people emails–sorry.)
The only thing it does not hurt to do is to lie in bed reading. And to eat cake.
Sigh.
Currently reading: An Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks
April 18, 2008
Pink Heart Society
Oh and on a more cheerful note than below, I’m guest-blogging over at category romance blogazine The Pink Heart Society today, about one of my favourite ever films, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Visit here.
ouch!
I’ve done in my back, which is both immensely painful and immensely annoying. As it’s my upper back, I suspect a lot of it is my own fault due to sloppy posture, which makes it even more annoying.
Anyway, it makes it difficult to take care of the Fecklet–particularly because my husband is off on tour so I’m mostly alone with him. Fortunately he’s walking now so I don’t have to carry him around the house so much, but there’s still the lifting in and out of cot, high chair, bath, and pushing the pushchair is very painful.
It also makes it difficult to write, though I’ve adjusted my chair and this is somewhat better. This is frustrating because I’m very near the home stretch, where things are coming to a climax and if I could, I’d be writing it 12 hours a day. Oh, and I’m on deadline, of course.
The one bright spot in all of this is that Deep Heat smells great! Like Wint-O-Green Life Savers. Though I’ve developed a theory that it doesn’t actually make you feel better; it’s like the TENS machine you use when in labour, which creates a very odd and quasi-painful sensation itself that distracts you from the real pain underneath.
Hopefully I’ll see a doctor today and he can do something to help.
Currently reading: Viking Warrior, Unwilling Wife by Michelle Styles (it’s not out till June, but it’s a birthday present, hurrah!)
