Archive for November, 2006

November 30, 2006

38 weeks, 5 days

Haven’t given birth yet.

Come on, admit it–have you come to my blog just to see if I’ve had the baby?

November 29, 2006

Driving Him Wild

Destination: desire

When smart-mouthed New York City cab driver Zoe Drake finds a tall, dark and brooding man on her doorstep, she doesn’t know what to think – does he want something, or has Christmas come early this year?

Nick Giroux is looking for his long-lost father – not a new-found woman! But there’s something about him that makes Zoe let down her ice-cool defences. She’ll use her profession to drive Nick to Maine…

…and maybe drive him wild on the way!

I’ve put up an extract from Driving Him Wild, here. It’s the bit with the pigeon in it.

It’s out in February 2007, but it’s orderable on Amazon now.

November 27, 2006

one-armed and cranky

Haven’t had the baby yet. I have, however, hurt my right shoulder so I’m effectively a one-armed cranky pregnant woman. A little bit frightening.

I wrote my Romancing the Blog column this morning, because it’s due the same day as my baby (9 Dec) and I want to make sure it’s done. Strangely enough I wrote about being pregnant, because that really is all I can think about. Aside from my damn shoulder. Oh, and Daniel Craig in those swimming trunks.

I’ve been trying to write my book, but it’s not really working, so I’m going to the library to stock up on books and DVDs.

Some good news, though: Sperling & Kupfer in Italy have bought the rights to publish Spirit Willing. So far that’s Holland, France and Italy. I’m really hoping for the USA.

November 25, 2006

little clothes, little brain

I’m having a lazy day today…a bit of housework, a bit of writing, a bit of reading. I have been given so many BRILLIANT baby clothes, by friends and family, that I’m spending quite a lot of time washing and drying them. My mother has gone crazy in Old Navy and the Gap (there is a particuarly cute set of clothes covered in little porcupines), and Kate has sent these wicked babygros with “ELVIS” emblazoned on the chest.

(Depending on who you talk with, my fetus is nicknamed variously The Fecklet, Elvis, Dr. X, Les, or Ooby-Dooby.)

All of this contributes to my obsession with folding and refolding baby things. I have been at it at all times of the day and night.

Yesterday I went through and picked out what our baby will wear in the minutes after he has been born. I have all sorts of colourful clothes, but for some reason, only white seems appropriate to me for a very very newborn. I had to go through everything to find the whitest and softest little things. White vest, white babygro, white hat. Of course this was all very emotional and seemed like quite a momentous decision.

(I am fully aware that within a week or two, the baby will be wearing whatever I can find that’s fallen on the floor and isn’t covered with wee or sick. This awareness does nothing to stop my present obsessive behaviour.)

Meanwhile, the husband has gone off to see Motorhead in London as a birthday treat. I think a Motorhead babygro would be one of the few things that would challenge my conviction that a newborn should wear white.

November 23, 2006

Driving Him Wild cover

Found the cover for DRIVING HIM WILD on Amazon. I like it. The hero’s a ruggedly chivalrous Maine park ranger, and the heroine’s a tough New York taxi driver/aerobics instructor, and I think this looks like they’re having a kiss in Central Park. Which they don’t–they have an argument in Central Park instead–but if they did, it would look like this.

It’s out in February 2007. Regular readers of this blog will remember it as the book with the pigeon in it. Anybody who’s read FEATURED ATTRACTION will recognise the hero as Kitty Giroux’s little brother Nick, and anybody who’s read BEING A BAD GIRL will remember that Nick owned the motorcycle that Oz ended up buying.

This is my Eric Bana hero…you can compare him with the Roman version on Michelle Styles’s cover for A Noble Captive, here.

November 22, 2006

37 and a half weeks

Remembered bus fare today. Things are looking up.

November 20, 2006

37 weeks and counting

I. Am. Tired.

I seem to have reached the point in my pregnancy where all my energy is gone and all I want to do is doze. My hands and feet are swollen and sore, my belly is huge and squirming, my mind is porridge. I walked into town this morning to run some errands (it’s about half a mile or so) and after I’d done them I had to sit on a bench and cry because I didn’t want to walk back, but I was 20p short of a bus fare, and because the buses don’t give change, even if I walked the extra couple blocks to get some money out, I still wouldn’t be able to take the bus without doing yet more walking to buy something so I would end up with change.

I usually think Reading people are nice, but at least a dozen of them walked straight by an obviously very pregnant woman crying on a bench, so I’m cynical today. In the end I walked back home, and felt better for the cry. And I suppose most people know that pregnant women cry at stupid things like not having change for the bus.

But now I have stuff to do that requires thought, like starting chapter four of my wip, and collating my tax receipts, and I can’t seem to force myself to do it. I’m much more interested in curling up under a duvet and staring at mindless television.

November 17, 2006

sometimes the world is just telling you to go back to bed

Within five minutes of getting up this morning I had knocked over and smashed a candle in a glass container all over the bathroom floor. And then knocked over a potted aloe on the kitchen windowsill, spilling dirt all over the clean dishes done last night.

Sigh.

party precis

The party was great fun.

The first part of the evening was characterised by being subtly mocked by indulgent males. Anna, Biddy and I got ready at Biddy’s sister’s flat, and her friend Matt turned up to make us encouraging cups of tea and laugh at the various preparations and neuroses that women go through in glamming up for a party. Although the venue wasn’t very far, we had to take a cab because of my extra 30 lbs of baby, and that cab driver found that very amusing. (Yeah, wait till HE’S eight months pregnant.) Then as soon as we walked through the doors of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (where the party was held), the male porter immediately piped up with, “Are you romantic novelists?” He was deriving great enjoyment from asking this question of every woman who walked in the door.

The party was in the library, a lovely space where I quickly found a leather couch next to an electric fan. Conveniently it was directly in front of the door from whence the wait staff were emerging with canapes.

I talked to huge amounts of people and there were plenty of people I would have liked to talk with more. The Mills & Boon editors as always are so much fun; I cornered my Headline editor and told her all about how much in love with my new hero I am (see post below); my agent grabbed me and introduced me to lots of people, notably an editor who is interested in having a look at the erotic science fiction romantic comedy, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, I wrote with Kathy Love.

The baby loves the sound of conversation and he spent the evening kicking merrily, which was a little disconcerting for me because it was clearly visible underneath my dress.

The best part of the evening was how lovely everyone was, my old friends, the professionals I work with, the new people I met. Oh and the mushroom canapes in filo dough. Yum.

November 15, 2006

partying

Well I’m off to London today to the RNA Winter Party. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to make it, because of tiredness or actually going into early labour, but I seem to have energy and the baby seems content where he is (touch wood) so I’m going.

Of course the only clothes that fit me at the moment are very stretchy things or totally tent-like things. I have a dress which is basically a long t-shirt, and which makes me look something like a black toffee apple (hmmmmm, appealing), but I have bought lots of cheap plastic jewellery in hopes that that will distract people. God, I’m so classy sometimes I scare myself.

My Headline editor and, I think, my agent will be there, so I’m relieved to report that I’ve finished the first three chapters of my next Little Black Dress (with the AWESOME hero, Hugh, pitter patter pitter goes my heart) and will be able to prove that I’ve been working hard.

And many friends will be there too, particularly Anna, who has just signed her contract with Medallion Press, and Biddy, who looks set to take over the world of country music broadcasting.

Speaking of schmoozing, my husband called me yesterday from London to say he had met George Martin, who had put his arm around him as they walked along a corridor together talking. My husband was utterly thrilled, as I would have been, too.

Will return tomorrow.

November 14, 2006

I’m in love

Oh my God.

My new hero is SO GREAT. He is just, just, incredible. He is so lovely and wonderful and all-around AWESOME.

I have been rocking back in my chair every six minutes laughing out loud and telling the ceiling how brilliant he is.

How on earth am I going to stop my heroine from being totally in love with him already???

I want to post another photo, but there are too many to choose from on this site. I particularly like the rather naughty-looking one with the sonic screwdriver, sixth down from the top.

Mr Tennant at the always-enjoyable provocateuse.com

November 13, 2006

pottering and Nora

I’ve been a bad little blogger recently–too lazy, and too much in love with that photo of Mr Tennant, below. I am enjoying pottering around the house, running little errands, taking naps, cooking good things, and every now and then thinking about my book. I’m trying to write 1000 words a day, which should give me a good strong start by the time the baby comes. Really if I were very efficient I would try to write a lot more than that, because who knows when I’ll be able to write again after the baby arrives, but I’m figuring it’s important for me to relax and potter, too.

I confessed to a fellow novelist the other day that I had never read any Nora Roberts, ever. She was shocked and promptly leant me some books. I started Birthright yesterday and haven’t been able to put it down at all. I think I’ll read just one chapter, and then I find I’ve read three. So the day goes. I find it difficult to get to sleep at night–because that’s when the baby starts headbutting my pelvis and stretching out my rib cage–and Nora isn’t helping much, either. I need to read something more boring.