Cryptic...

I have finally settled on a name for my ST project.

Drumroll please.....it's:

The Lighthouse.

Anyone want to guess what it's about, lol?!

(and no, it's not a flasher.)

Howdie peeps...

Man, I 'm bad at blogging!

It's been some time since my last post, for various reasons that are too long to bore people with. Suffice to say that up until recently I'd been lucky enough not to have experienced anxiety problems, but they landed on my shoulders in a great heap a few months back and i've had a bit of a battle getting shot of them to be honest.
Anyway - am not going to grumble about it anymore as it is what it is, as they say, so back to business. :o)

On the writing front I'm nineteen weeks into waiting to hear back from M&B on a first chapter I sent in as a result of the NV competition, so no news to report there.

I'm currently focusing my efforts on my first bash at writing a ST, which I am happy to say i'm still very much enjoying. I'm about a third of the way in, and half of the time I think it's going fabulously and the other half of the time I contemplate hurling it in the bin. :o) All just about normal I reckon?

It's certainly different to sit and just go for it, letting random secondary characters get in on the act sometimes, and trying to get my head around how to vividly paint more than just the two main characters within the story, weaving in subplots around the main one...my head is spinning with it.
I clearly have no clue what i'm doing, but happily that doesn't seem to diminish my pleasure a jot.
I've ordered Donald Maass's 'writing the breakout novel' to hopefully help me along a little, i've heard so many good things about it that it's a pre-birthday prezzie to myself.

Lastly, can I big up my fellow minx? I'm proud as punch of Sally Clements for her fabulous new release Bound to Love - check out that beautiful cover! Snap up your copy here.

Right - i'm back to half term hell, sorry, fun with the kids.

See you soon, promise!

Seduced by Single Title...

It's just coming on for six weeks since I sent in my first chapter of the burlesque book to be looked at by the lovely editor at M&B, and no news yet. Early days yet though so am trying no to obsess about it.
Tried Nano and have ducked out early,but it was not my fault. (I can actually hear the laughter from here.)

But seriously, it wasn't, because, Oolala, I've been seduced! I have, I have!

Well, kind of.

It all started with the fabulous 'So You Think You Can Write' event over on eharlequin.

I really wanted to enter a chapter into their '1st chapter & synopsis' with guaranteed feedback, what a golden opportunity.
BUT - you had to have a completed manuscript to sub from, or else be working madly on something to finish it in time, and sadly I fell into neither of those camps.

Not to be deterred, I thought i'd start something brand spanking new, and sat down to brainstorm - I actually had a pencil and paper and everything, lol! My plan was to try to use Nano to write something that would hopefully be up to scratch to sub.
Am glad I did too, as it resulted in a new idea I thought I could work on.

And then came the big old but...

BUT. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that it prob wouldn't work for Harlequin / M&B afterall as it needed to involve some secondary characters quite heavily. I prodded and poked it, but it was no good. It refused to fit.

But I love this story!!! I wailed into my vino & and to the lovely minxy girls, and after gnashing my teeth and moaning for a bit I made the decision to have my first ever bash at writing something different. It's still a romance of course - I love it way too much to leave it. :o)

Have to say it's all quite scary so far. Am enjoying it hugely, but on the flip side am pretty sure it's probably a big pile of crap, and at times I feel a bit rudderless without the parameters of series romance to work within.

So that's me for now.

It's just me and my single title big idea, flapping around together to see if we like each other. Or kill each other. Will report back...

A minxy scoop!

Head on over to the minxes today for a treat - the lovely Ally Blake has dropped by to talk about romance, writing inspirations and muffins.

Come chat!

Sent!

Am a happy / terrified girl today as have just pressed send on a first chapter and synopsis sub to M&B.

It's a heavily revised version of my NV entry, which only makes me double nervous and means I will just have to drink more wine to cope with the jitters, lol!

Am really enjoying working on this story, so am just going to crack on with it and cross my fingers hard that i've hit somewhere near the mark.

The Chilean miners

Hopefully, by the time I get up and flick on the news in the morning the chilean miners rescue will be well under way - I can't wait to see the images of those men coming out. Crossing everything for a safe recovery.

As a romance writer, hasn't it been creative juices gold? It's the stuff that movies are made of - and they don't even need to embroider the truth. It's been a truly miraculous story of human strength and endurance, with some truly epic moments of high drama along the way. The moment that they read aloud that note from the miners confirming that they were all alive and safe... wow. Just wow.

All of those wives and girlfriends camping on the surface to be close to their men.
Their novel ways to keep the channels of romantic communication open, even under such dire circumstances.
The amazing  bonds of solidarity that have formed between those families waiting around camp fires for their loved ones, and the sometimes explosive and unexpected stories that have dribbled out over the weeks.

I read that at least four of the miners plan to propose when they make it above ground.

A tiny baby girl born with her daddy trapped below.

I also heard about a violent row that erupted on the surface between one of the miners wives and his mistress. Straight away I find myself wondering if they knew of each others existence before the accident happened. How will his time below ground impact on these two women over the next couple of days?

And tonight I saw one of the wife on the news say that hopefully it will have made her husband a more humble man. I hadn't given any thought to the idea of any of the relationships being less than perfect before hearing her speak, but of course they weren't. These are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

How on earth will their relationships fare under the burden of normality?

 Completely fascinating, and a deep, deep well of romantic inspiration.

KOKO cocktail anyone?

So, the news is out over on New Voices, and I didn't make bootcamp.

Am disappointed of course that my entry didn't make the cut, but the numbers were huge and the standard was high.
Huge good luck to everyone going onto round two, and a special fingers crossed for my blog buddy Leah Ashton. Fingers crossed for you! x

Am also sad that alot of other entries I loved didn't make it through either. There were so many outstanding chapters on there, I don't envy the job of the M&B ed's at all.

My personal plan is to revise my chapter before sending it in, but I will confess that i'm feeling Shaky Mcflaky about it.  On the plus side, I was lucky enough to get some terrific advice from Heidi Rice  - thank you Heidi, you rock and it's been a big help. :o)

Anyhoo, the point to this post is to invite you to join me in a highly alcoholic KOKO cocktail (pink, obviously - what other colour for romance writers?) , and then head over to the minxes site to join the after show party...

 

                                Keep On Keepin' On my friends, 

                                         Keep On Keepin' On.