Have you ever had a cheese string? You know, that processed cheese stuff that’s individually packaged for kids’ lunch boxes? Fecklet has some and I just tried one. They’re really really good. Just saying. You should try one. Don’t steal it from a kid or anything, but if you happen to be in the neighbourhood, pop round and I’ll give you a cheese string.

All in all, I’m having a pretty good week, having sold a short story and a novella…and it’s only Thursday! I’m also pimping myself a bit around the web, and in real life:

There’s a 75-word paragraph from my story ‘The Black Sheep’ on Paragraph Planet (it’s archived now, alas, but it was there!), and also an interview with me there.

My recipe for cranberry nut bread, and a giveaway of Getting Away With It, are on Chick Lit Central.

On Saturday 10th December, I’ll be signing copies of my books at the Local Author Fair at Reading Central Library, Abbey Square, Reading. The fair runs from 10 til 4 but I will probably only be there till 1.30 or so. I’ll have copies of my new hardback, The Summer of Living Dangerously, and also pretty much my entire backlist for sale, including my Mills & Boon stuff. There are lots of authors there so it’s a great place to pick up Christmas gifts.

On Sunday 11th December, I’ll be signing my books again, this time at Windsor Waterstones, on Peascod Street in Windsor. They’ll have my latest hardback, The Summer of Living Dangerously, plus Getting Away With It, Girl from Mars, and some of my others. That’ll be from around 11ish till 4ish.

I’ve done some little drawings for Christmas cards to give away at the signings, with the web address of my free Christmas read, ‘The Black Sheep’. I think he’s sort of cute. Though not as surprisingly delicious as a cheese string.

Click on his cute little miserable face to read the story.

Do you like free stuff?

How about free stories?

How about free stories about Christmas? (Yes, I know it’s July. Go with me here.)

Have you not read Getting Away With It yet and would like a free taster of the story?

Or have you read Getting Away With It already and would like another bit about the Haven twins and Stoneguard?

I’ve put up a free read on Smashwords, a standalone extra chapter from Getting Away With It called ‘The Black Sheep.’ You can, if you like, download a copy for your ereader here. Or, if you like, you can read it on my website, here.

I had an absolute blast writing it. Let me know if you like it.

(Thank you very much to Freda Lightfoot, who made this very easy to do!)

Nicola Marsh is having a hot hero countdown to Valentine’s Day on her blog this month. Every day a different author posts a picture of a hot man who inspired a hero in one of her books. There are giveaways and lots of phoaaaaar.

Today I’m up, with a lovely pic of the lovely Maine man who inspired the hero of my book Honey Trap. And I’m giving away a copy, too.

Go visit, today and every day till Valentine’s Day, to check out the totty! And also to congratulate Nic on becoming a USA Today Bestseller!

What a nice day. It’s sunny, for one thing. It was sunny yesterday, too, and Fecklet and I visited the crocuses in the park (I said hello, but Fecklet had to touch every one). It feels like it hasn’t been sunny in ages, but maybe that’s because I’ve been holed up in here with my 56+ cups of tea, revising.

For another, I’m spending this afternoon at Datchet library, talking about writing sex scenes. I’ve done this workshop quite a bit, all over the UK and in the USA too, and once (frighteningly) on television. But I haven’t done it for about a year now, so last night I went through and rejigged everything to update it a bit, and include some more words to describe penises. It should be lots of fun. (I’m doing this particular sex scene seminar in memory of Dee’s sister, Daphnee.)

I’ve had lots of little snippets of good news. Like a box full of my German book, Der Glücksunfall (One Night Stand). It’s lovely and pink, a nice chunky mass-market paperback, and as always it’s fun to speculate about the translation, but I’ve got six of them and I can’t actually read them. If you read German and would like a copy, send me an email.

I won a copy of After the Fall at Cat Marsters/Kate Johnson’s blog for relating my humiliating Valentine’s Day story. Nice one.

Rachael Johns has given me a “When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade” Award. I guess this means I’m optimistic or something. Anyway, I never turn down lemonade and its sweet-tart goodness, and apparently I have to give it to ten other people too. Hence, some people who habitually make things sweeter:

Rach
Candace
Janet Gover
Kris Starr
Biddy Coady
Jan Jones
Anna Louise Lucia
Anna Adams
Mary Beth Lee
Donna Alward (Who, you know, I named a foul-mouthed male character after in Girl from Mars. Just so you know, Donna.)

You don’t have to pass it on if you don’t want to, but you can.

Now I’m off to talk about sex.

Hey, to celebrate the launch of Harlequin Presents Extra, today the good people at Harlequin are giving away 20 free copies of book number one in the series, which, er, happens to be mine!

All you have to do is visit I (Heart) Presents, at http://www.iheartpresents.com/, and send them an email saying why you should get an advance copy of the book. And if you are one of the first twenty people to respond, you’ll get a copy of Mistress in Private, which is out in the US next month.

How extremely cool is that? I didn’t even notice the little number 1 on the cover until I saw the contest.

I’m sorry, my European and antipodean friends, this contest is only open to residents of North America.

The details are all on the Modern Heat authors website, www.sensationalromance.blogspot.com, but in essence here’s the deal:

Every two days during the month of February, a different Modern Heat author will be posting a question about one of her books on her website/blog. All you have to do is follow the treasure map icon, discover the answers to the questions, and after you’ve collected all the answers for the month you just send them in and you’re in with a chance to win not one, not four, but TWELVE sexy, romantic, bestselling books.

For the first question, go to Natalie Anderson’s blog, where she’s got an excerpt and question for her book, MISTRESS UNDER CONTRACT.

The entire schedule is up on www.sensationalromance.blogspot.com, but I’ll be posting reminders, too.

Actually yesterday I was being unnecessarily whiney. It was a good day. Fecklet was at his child minder’s so I had the entire afternoon to fail to write, and I managed to scrub the bathroom, do two loads of laundry, descale the shower as previously mentioned, catch up on promo, package up some books to send, and go for a long walk along the river Kennet (a path I write about in One Night Stand, and which I last walked when I was nine months pregnant).

And eventually I also wrote 1500 words.

As tomorrow is the beginning of February, the month of Valentine’s Day and all things love, there is lots of exciting stuff going on in romance world. I’ve got two massive parties to go to next week–the RNA Awards lunch on Monday and Mills & Boon’s 100th Anniversary on Thursday. Plus, there are media promos everywhere and some fantastic book giveaways at the moment, too.

I’ll be blogging about a really big one tomorrow (a Modern Heat treasure hunt! Avast! she says in fake pirate-style). But one that starts even sooner than tomorrow, due to the Australian time difference, is Nicola Marsh‘s Be My Valentine competition.

She has fourteen romance authors guest blogging on her site every day, each one with a book to give away. (I’ll be up on the 9th, and the other authors are like a who’s who of romance–Liz Fielding, Jill Shalvis, Lucy Monroe, Anna Campbell, Kate Walker, Nalini Singh, Bronwyn Jameson, Jaci Burton, Fiona Lowe, Christine Wells, Yvonne Lindsay, Barbara Hannay and Kate Hardy–whoa!)

And then, on the 14th, she will be giving away a big Valentine treat of 14 books.

Go over to her blog to see the rules, and I hope to see you there.

It’s there! In the Sun! On page 30! Next to a photo of a dog in a bullet-proof vest!

Life is a little surreal sometimes.

(photo to follow)

Okay, so my lovely editor has returned from her holidays and I’ve found out what happened with The Sun. Apparently there was some warehousing mix-up.

ANYWAY it’s going ahead this weekend, which I think means this Saturday 2 June there will be a free copy of Spirit Willing, Flesh Weak for every reader of The Sun!

Thank you everyone who bought The Sun, especially if you normally don’t. I hope you enjoyed it so much that you’ll rush right out and buy another one this weekend!

Sun tomorrow, Sun tomorrow, Sun tomorrow!!!!!

Whoo-hooooo!!!!!

(P.S. Love the six-word novels. It’s going to be hard to choose a winner. Please keep them coming!)

Our local writing group, Reading Writers, is having a Writers’ Day today so Fecklet and I are going along. Workshops, speakers, and competitions, food and drink and conversation.

One of the competitions is to write an entire novel in six words. We’re putting them up and judging them anonymously. I’m assuming nobody from the group is going to check my blog before they go, so this is my entry:

No arms, no legs–five wives.

I think I’ll do a similar contest next week for a copy of All Work and No Play… so hone your short writing skills!

It will be the first time Fecklet’s eaten solid food in public. I’ve made him some apple puree for the occasion and I hope we don’t ruin the church hall.

It should be a good day.

Psst–Only ONE MORE WEEK until the Sun is giving away my book!!!

Finished the Capote while the Fecklet napped…very good indeed. Next on the list is either Mr Knightley’s Diary, by Amanda Grange, or She’ll Take It, a Little Black Dress by Mary Carter.

Fecklet squirms when he nurses these days, so I’m not doing as much reading as I’d like to, and when I do, it’s preferably a book I can hold in one hand. I read a big, hardback copy of Lisey’s Story by Stephen King last week and I nearly gave it up, because it was slow to start and the book was so darn big I had to do some engineering work with pillows in order to read it. I stuck with it, just because it was Stephen King and I would read the phone book if Stephen King wrote it, but it was a struggle.

It was a mixed bag, as most of Stephen King’s recent books have been for me: I was completely gripped, I loved the thoroughness of his worldbuilding, and I liked very much the insight into how he sees a writer’s life (the heroine is the widow of a famous writer). But the character motivations were a little bit weak at a key point; the heroine’s sister, who was meant to provide a lot of motivation, was sloppily drawn; and the ending was slightly damp.

I wholeheartedly love some King books: Carrie, The Shining, The Talisman and Black House, and Misery which I love, love, love. And the rest of his books linger in my mind for a long time. So I’ll always read a book of his, even if it’s not portable.

On another topic, there are only eight more days until The Sun and Asda are giving away Spirit Willing, Flesh Weak, FREE!