Meeting the Editors!

Yesterday, on Friday 19th October, exactly one month to the day that I received The Call, I went to Rom HQ in Richmond. When I reached HQ, I admit to feeling a teensy bit of disappointment. In my head I'd imagined a bright pink building with glitter on the doormat! Instead it was just an ordinary meeting.

I was nearly half an hour early and caught them on the hop (oops) but they were wonderful about it. Honestly, I never noticed the boxes on the floor they had intended to put away before I arrived...

Inside, I met my editor (the lovely Charlotte Ledger) and the rest of the editorial team (pictured below is Carly Byrne, Joanne Grant, Charlotte, me, Lucy Gilmore and Sally Williamson). I couldn't believe how tall and beautiful they all were - I'm really glad I wore my heels!

This picture may show the six of us, but all the other editors and marketing staff welcomed me too, including  Linda Fildew and Tessa Shapcott, the latter of whom has just celebrated twenty five years at Mills & Boon. I was given the grand tour of the editorial office (it's open plan for those who like to know these things) and then they opened a couple of bottles of champagne.
After that, I was whisked off to a purple room with Ali from Marketing and Charlotte to do a podcast about being a new Modern/Presents author. If the podcast ever sees the light of day I shall apologise now - I'm a giggler and completely incapable of showing professionalism. I dread to think what the finished article will look like (poor Ali has some serious editing to do).
Charlotte then took me up to the Library. All I can say about the library was 'Wow'. Every category and single title book produced by Harlequin over the past five years or so were on those shelves (once the shelves are full the books are archived, freeing space for the next generation of books). Honestly, it was a romance junkie's idea of heaven.
By that point it was time for lunch, so Charlotte and I said our goodbyes and headed off to a restaurant called Rock & Rose. I swear the owners of this restaurant knew there was a building full of romance junkies around the corner when they opened it. I would go so far as to say it was exactly how I picture Rom HQ itself (I'm seriously considering taking a can of pink spray paint and a suitcase of glitter if I'm ever invited there again!).
The food was wonderful, the cocktails were divine and Charlotte was... I don't think there are enough superlatives to describe how lovely she is.
All in all, it was a fantastic day. The Mills & Boon staff are a fantastic bunch - all incredibly welcoming and lovely, and so enthusiastic about the books they produce. I can never thank them enough for making me feel so spoiled and wanted.

Take care all xxx

Getting to Know You.

In all the time I've been doing this blog I have rarely strayed from the topic of me. Me, me, me, me, me! Well not anymore. Today I would like to introduce you to a debut author who I am certain will soon be a tour de force in the romance industry. She also happens to be a good friend of mine, so, without any further ado, allow me to introduce you to Aimee Duffy, author of The Monster of Fame.

Now, for those of you expecting an in-depth interview on the writing process blah, blah, blah, I apologise. I'm only interested in the, well, interesting stuff!

Q) How many pairs of shoes do you own?
A) I have a cupboard for my shoes, a shelf at my front door and I have shoes in boxes. If I was to hazard a guess, I’d say somewhere around 30 pairs. Funny thing is, I don’t own trainers!

Q) If you were stuck on a desert island and could only choose one book, one film and one album, what would they be and why? Also, what fictional man would you want there with you (he must come from a book) and why?A) One book. Really? Okay, I’d probably choose something really erotic (since I’m gonna be there with a hot guy. We could try out the scenes). The film would be Lord of the Rings, the second one. Orlando Bloom is lush as a blond! I’d have to take U2’s Joshua Tree, cause I can’t go any length of time without Bono. I’m in love with that man’s voice! The guy would have to be Gideon Cross from Bared To You. I love a tortured hero and he’s way hotter than Christian Grey.

Q) If you could have any superpower for a day, what would it be and why?
A) Is x-ray vision a perverted answer? I’d like to have the ability to change the weather, like Storm from X-men. Then I could be warm all year round without moving ;)

Q) Does it always rain in Scotland?
A) For the most part. It also snows and you get big hailstones. This is why I want the ability to change the weather.

Q) What was your dream job when you were five years old? (personally, I wanted to work on a till in a shop!).
A) I wanted to be a vet, then realised animal blood makes my stomach churn. Plus I don’t think I could cope with watching anything die, so doctor and nurse was ruled out quickly.

Q) What was your favourite childhood book and why?
A) I loved the Goosebumps books, especially Welcome to Dead House by R.L. Stine. It freaked me out, but I couldn’t get enough of it. I was obsessed with ghost stories, and as a result slept with the light on. Drove my mum nuts.

Q)) If you won the lottery (and we're talking squillions not a paltry million or two), what would be the first thing you would buy after a magnum of champagne?
A) The first ticket out of Scotland. Seriously. I want to travel the world and after handing out a big chunk to all my family and friends, I’d be off. Preferably Vegas first, but I’m not fussy ;).

Q) What's your favourite drink?
A) It’s a toss up between vodka with diet cola or Jagerbombs.

Q) What's your favourite joke (be as rude as you like)? *
A) How do you make a potato puff?
     Chase it round the garden.

Q) If you could go back in time and talk to your ten year old self, what advice would you give and why?

A) I wouldn’t know where to start. I was a terror. I used to climb trees and my friends and I spent our summers in the woods, breaking things (mostly bones from falling out of trees), getting hurt after pinching hammers and nails to build tree-houses (I have the scars to prove it!) and when it rained, we weren’t discouraged. I’d have probably said to listen to my mum and look after my clothes because I always came in covered in mud. Oh, and I’d have said to stay away from the River Forth. Falling in was the most unpleasant experience of my life. I’d have taken a broken leg over that any day!

* I would like to point out that Aimee was a nightmare to get a joke out of as she only knows rude jokes and refused to share one of those beauties in case of offending anyone. I'm very disappointed in her quality of joke and if anyone out there has a better one please leave it as a comment.

Thank you Aimee! And all the best of luck with your debut book, The Monster of Fame.

Can the voice of an angel heal a tortured soul?

As a general rule I do not write reviews. If I like a book I shout about it from the rooftops but reviews? Nope. Quite frankly I am pants at them, so I will try to keep this one short but sweet.

The Monster of Fame is a love story set around the ficitional reality show Do You have What It Takes? Think X-Factor meets The Voice featuring a sexy Simon Cowell without the Botox or moobs, and with an actual personality. And a heart (although this is kept well hidden from the world).This would be Miles, our gorgeous tortured hero.
Then we have our heroine, Anna, a sweet Scottish girl with the voice of an angel and the self-confidence of a dustpan.
I'm not going to tell you what happens or give any spoilers (you'll have to read it for yourselves to find out!), but suffice it to say, I adored this book. Aimee's writing is so fluid you get sucked right into the story and right into a showbiz world that rarely has substance behind the floss - The Monster of Fame has substance aplenty. There were moments when I laughed out loud and, I am not ashamed to say, moments of despair that made me cry.

All-in-all, this is a cracking debut and a book I will gladly shout about from the rooftops.

(The Monster of Fame can be purchased via Amazon.co.uk , Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble

Take care all xxx

So Much Talent (SYTYCW 2012)

(scroll down for update)

Approximately ten days ago I was doing my best to fight off flu. I was working on the book I wanted to enter So You Think You Can Write, Harlequin Mills & Boons competition where the winner gets a book contract with them. I am now ineligible! (I'm sorry, I'm still struggling to come to terms with being a bona-fide HMB author and keep squealing at random intervals). Having entered New Voices in 2010 and 2011, I know all about the craziness that can take you when entering a competition of this magnitude, and while I am relieved I can no longer enter, a part of me is jealous that I'm missing out on all the camaraderie that occurs between the contestants. At least it means I can read the entries without constantly comparing the writing and storyline with my own and trying to second guess the judges. I can read them simply for the pleasure of reading, and it really has been a pleasure. For me, the only disappointment with the competition is the lack of facility to leave comments on the entries - there are some fantastic entries out there and I would have loved to shout it out to the world what I loved about them. Instead, I am providing the links to the ones I particularly enjoyed.

So, without any further ado, here are my recommended reads:

Joanne Cleary (Catherine Coles): The Midwife's Reluctant Family

Aimee Duffy: Flirting With Trouble

Amalie Berlin: Mountain Man MD

Joanne Ryves (Jo Fereday): The Sweetest Gig of All

Fiona Marsden: After the Funeral

Jennifer Drogell: The Divorce Party

Incy Black: Sins of the Fathers

Jennifer Stroka (Jennifer Faye): Her Cowboy Hero


Update 2nd October 2012:

Unfortunately I have not had the time to read many more entries but here are a couple more of my recommended reads:

Jennifer Satterfield (Edie Danford): Maid by Day

Jane O'Reilly: Once a Bad Girl

I really wish I had more time to read some more - unfortunately stupid life keeps getting in the way of my reading pleasure! There's a few I want to read tomorrow but I can't guarantee I'll be able to put any more recs up. If anyone wants to post the link to their entry in the comments below then please feel free and hopefully your chapters should find some new readers.

To those of you who don't make it into the top 28, please, try not to be too dejected (it's hard, I know). I entered New Voices 2010 and 2011 and got nowhere. Nada. The slush pile worked for me and it can work for you too.

I wish you all the very best of luck.
xxx

The Call!!!

As I'm sure the whole world and its cat knows by now, yesterday I received The Call. Yes, Harlequin Mills & Boon want to give me a two book contract for the Presents/Modern line. Naturally, I turned it down... Not!

I am over the moon! I have wanted to write for them since I was fifteen years old, and have spent the past five years actively trying to get published with them. This really is a dream come true.

The actual call came out of the blue. I knew my editor there was moving on to a different position and would no longer be my editor. When she emailed me last Friday to confirm this, she said she would be in touch early this week with her thoughts on my ms and promised I wouldn't be left stranded. I was gutted at the news but delighted for her. I sent her a card to congratulate her and to say thank you for everything she had done for me. Then, yesterday just after 5pm (I so wish I'd looked at my watch) she called me. First of all she said thank you for the card. Just as was thinking how sweet she was to call me about  a card, she followed it with "and I want to offer you a contract." At least I think that's what she said. It's all a bit of a blur!

Suffice it to say, I've been offered a two book contract and appointed a new editor to work with, who everyone tells me is lovely. If you want to read more details of The Call, you can find it on the eHarlequin site - go into forums, then writers circle. There you will find the party thread.

This really means the world to me and to my family (my kids are already asking for iPads the cheeky sods). Thank you all for your support and I promise (again!!!) to keep this blog updated more frequently. I'll certainly try my best to share my journey through to publication with you all.

Take care, xxx

School Holidays and Tropes.

It dawned on me a couple of hours ago that if I waited another day it would be a whole month since my last post. In many respects this is understandable: the kids are off school for the summer holidays so every scrap of spare time (when they're sleeping) has been spent writing. But now I no longer have that excuse. My mum has taken them away for the week so I'm not limited to writing in the evening. In fact, my time is my own and I celebrated it this morning by staying in bed until 10am (I would be grateful if nobody mentions that to my husband who left the house for work at 7.30am).

On the whole, the past month has been productive. I sent my Kickass Cinderella book to my Entangled editor and I finished my M&B book for my editor there too. Now it's a matter of the waiting game. I know my M&B ed will have *lots* of revisions for me to get stuck into. Being weird, I'm looking forward to them. All I can hope is that she doesn't get to the end then blow a big fat raspberry at me and tell me to try again. Or worse, shuttle me back onto the slush pile.

So now I am turning my thoughts on to my next book. As I write contemporary books that rely heavily on tropes, I am busy thinking of what the next main trope should be. I should clarify at this point that until a few months ago I had no idea what a trope was. It transpires that tropes are what I have been unknowingly writing for ages. When I started writing my latest M&B sub, which is about a marriage of convenience, I didn't know that a MoC was a trope. Tempted by Trouble, my book being published by Entangled has an Enemies to Lovers trope.

Are there any tropes any of you, my lovely readers, particularly adore? I'd love to hear them. My particular favourite has to be Secret Baby! Which has got me thinking... *scuttles off to brainstorm secret baby trope*.

Take care all xxx

Belief in the Story

A posting on the excellent A Pleasant Book blog got me thinking about how important belief is in a story, both for the reader and the author.
In many books the reader is invited to suspend disbelief. For example, Stephen King book Lisey's Story (a fantastic book for anyone who hasn't read it - if you are planning to read it skip the text directly after the close of this bracket as it contains a spoiler) asks the reader to believe in an alternate universe. In fact, every Stephen King book asks the reader to immerse his/herself in disbelief. Mills & Boon Modern / Harlequin Presents books regularly invite the reader to believe that gorgeous billionaires with a social conscious exist and will fall in love with an ordinary woman as opposed to falling in love with Giselle Bundchen.
Ah, you may be thinking - on what planet could Stephen King ever be compared to a Mills & Boon? I'm sure Stephen King could create such a planet! My admiration for his story telling skills is infinite*. The man is a genius. It doesn't matter how other-worldly a particular story may be, at the root of them - especially those published in the past ten years - his books contain an enormous dose of love and heart. Most importantly, when I am reading his books, I believe. He draws me into the worlds he creates. And so do the vast majority of Mills & Boon authors.
I am not going to lie, there have been some stinkers published under the Harlequin brand. There have been books where I have ground my teeth all the way through because the characters were, for me, awful. There have been heroines so pure and good I want to puke. The hero can treat them exactly as he likes and they put up with it and fall in love with him anyway! Naturally, these heroines are virgins. The good news is these kind of Harlequins are becoming relics of the past. I don't mean the virgin heroine. There are still a few of those dotted about in the monthly releases and, luckily for my grinding teeth, even the virgins have the balls to stand-up for themselves. But where I used to adore the virgins, now I need a damn good reason to believe that a fully grown twenty-something woman would, in the twenty first century, be a virgin. Which is where the author's skill comes in. It is the author's job to make me believe. And the only way the author can do that is by believing in her (or his) characters, to bring them to life and make them breathe.
So far I have not written a virgin heroine. One day I would love to write one but before I can do that I need to come up with a reason that I can believe. Then, and only then, will I attempt to write one. Because let's face it, if I the author do not believe, what chance does the poor reader have?

*Except for the Dark Half, Christine, Pet Sematary and the Dark Tower series, all of which I loathed. Sorry!

Writing as a Hobby

This post has come about over something my sister said when she described my writing as a hobby in which I am, hopefully, going to be able to earn some money from. In many respects she was right. When you look at it from an outsiders perspective, it's easy to see it like that. My husband for example, loves playing golf and would give up his job in a heartbeat if it meant he could play professionally. I love to paint. I'm not too bad at it, for an amateur. But I am not good enough to be a professional and nor would I want to be - it does not fulfil me in the same way that writing does. Painting is my hobby.
For me, writing has never been a hobby. To me, it is a necessity. It is my life. One way or another I have always written (regular readers of this blog will know I used to be a business journalist). And I have always read. The two go hand in hand. But it was only four or five years ago I decided to give writing romance a proper go. By the time I had finished my first book - which, incidentally, was crap - I knew there was nothing I would rather do. I was bitten. I could not stop. Even on holidays where my husband bans me from taking the laptop, I will take a big notebook and write by hand whenever I get the chance. My characters are always with me, whether I'm driving the car or cooking dinner or simply trying to fall asleep. And I think this is true for most other writers. For me it's not a case of 'having to take my writing seriously'. That would be like saying 'take the air we breathe seriously'. It just is.