Lunching with the legend that is Portia Da Costa

Had a fab meet up with author pal Portia Da Costa today. I always marvel that I used to read Portia's books in the 90's, and if you'd told me back then that I'd be lunching with her, one day, I wouldn't have believed you. Funny thing is...we think it's around 6 or 7 years that we've been enjoying our erotic writer meets. Amazing.

My saviour cometh! :)

Portia Da Costa is coming to visit me tomorrow! Yay!!! I’m currently stuck in the house because I’m under doc’s orders to rest, and my leg is in a cast. Darned bone disease flared up after a busy summer.
:( My social life has dwindled to nowt as a matter of necessity. Sigh. I’ve been trying to be good -- and the fact I'm deeply involved in a big writing project helps immensely -- but I am so glad my pal Portia is making the trek here to break up this incarceration for me. I’ve been in danger of getting cabin fever! :) Normally we would meet half way. She’s an absolute saviour and I appreciate her kindness very much.

It’s going to be fun! Mark treated us to pink fizz, so that’s chilling in the fridge, and we have lots of special treats to eat. It’s going to be a much-appreciated writer’s meet here at the homestead! Can you tell I'm excited? LOL

Cover chat, and a day out with Portia Da Costa

I'm still squeeeeing over my author copies. I know! I promise I'll shut about it soon. :) I just wanted to post briefly about how different it looks to me in real life (a bit like I was saying about seeing art work "in the flesh" rather than reproductions, in my recent Klimt post.) There were a couple of things I hadn’t noticed on the jpg.

On the jpegs the cover had looked Mediterranean blue, but when I held a copy in my hand I was delighted to discover it also has a purple hue to it that's a bit gorgeous. (Says she, confessed purple addict.) Also, behind the title, I hadn't noticed quite what was going on where the guy is lifting the woman’s leg against his. Mark said he spotted this. I could say "men," tut, and roll my eyes, but in all honesty it’s me. I have limited vision in my right eye and my contrast is knacked. All of this means it was another delightful surprise for me when I opened the box and got a good look at the genuine article. Yes, I am like a kid in a sweet shop over stuff like this.

I'm giving another copy away later today, when I'll be guest blogging elsewhere. More on that when it goes live!

In other news, had a fab day out with Wendy/Portia yesterday. I had to stare at her boobies the whole time (simply had to) cos she was sporting Johnny Depp on her chest. We spent a good 3 hours discussing handbags, make up, knickers, and various other things that we feel quite at liberty to discuss in great detail at the mo, because we are now packing for the RWA conference. Yikes, three weeks on Tuesday we'll be on our way!!! And I've got... (glances at list).. SO much to do. Better get a shift on.

What have I been up to?

This past week has gone by in a whirl, mostly because I’ve had two wonderful writer meetings to attend. The first was with Wendy/Portia and Rosemary Laurey. Rosemary was over in England visiting family and broke her travels to meet. The day went by in a flash. Rosemary is so bright and funny and has such wide knowledge on the industry, we lapped up all the chuckles and chatter. Then on Saturday I met with Wendy and Madelynne, in order to discuss our forthcoming RWA conference trip – which is in less than 2 months now! Another fabulous day with lots of laughs, as well as serious chatter about the industry and the logistics of the trip itself.

Having two meetings so close together was probably good practise for my first writer’s conference. I was meant to go on to hear my dear old friend Matt play live, but, alas, (waaah!) I had to give it a miss. :( Things are just crazy busy right now.

In other news, subbed a new short story today (fingers crossed!) and I'm making slow but steady progress overall. Cynthia asked what I was working on at the moment. I've got two novels on the go. RAMPANT (an erotic paranormal, first draft blurb and excerpt via the link) and INESCAPABLE (an erotic contemporary romance.) I’ve been working mostly on INESCAPABLE this past couple of weeks, absolutely loving the dynamic between the three main characters (not a ménage, something slightly different -- I'll get a page and an excerpt up on my site soon for that one, too.) I’ve also got a couple of shorts on the go, as usual.

I’ve got a blog post half done about writing series stories. I wanted to say something about it since I've just done my first (short) series. I’ve got a recommended reading post to go up, too. The promised new website is also on the way, just some final decisions on button labelling to be made. ;)

Hope you’re having a great week!

Blogging, and I

I haven’t blogged in a while and I always feel guilty about that, even though I think all my visitors know by now that I’m not all that big on blogging. ;-) Coincidentally I was reading Cecilia Tan’s livejournal and she mentioned she was on a couple of panels at Wiscon. The subject of one of them was blogging. This made me chuckle:

Time To Put Down The Laptop?

Everyone and her sister/brother/dog seems to be blogging these days. Do you find blogging a waste of creative energy and a bane to more polished fiction? Does talking about your process keep you from engaging in it? Counting your words rather than crafting them? Or do you think this is a false economy of scarcity? Does blogging actually help you write more, better, faster, better-crafted? If so, how?

Interesting to see a discussion panel with those questions, isn’t it? I'd love to know which way the majority of writer-bloggers think they veer.

I have to say I don’t believe blogging has ever made me write faster or better -- sometimes reading other people’s blogs has, though, when I learn something new from their experience. Neither have I become addicted to blogging, or feel it takes precedence over my fiction. That’s mainly because I'm not a great blogger. :o) I can see how it could be all those things to someone, and I enjoy reading blogs where the writers are on a real roll with it. For me, it’s not that kind of pastime. At the root of it is the simple fact that I’d rather be writing fiction. However, I do enjoy having it as an extra news channel, a place to chat about things on my mind if the need comes up, and have a bit of fun, post my news or share a smile.

.So, what have I been up to? House stuff, garden stuff (the sun did shine for a few days there,) html, preparing for RWA, reading, going out, sorting promo for RECKLESS, and most importantly I’ve been writing across three stories! Yay! :) Going good there. I have a couple of days away from the desk coming up (writer meetings, fun and exciting stuff!) so I’ve been “making time” as dear old Withnail would say.

Oh, I do want to post here soon about two fabulous books I’ve read, as well as what I've been working on myself. Right now I have to get a shift on. I’m meeting with Wendy/Portia and Rosemary Laurey tomorrow and I’m very excited that I’ll be in such great author company! I may make a fool of myself and dribble my coffee while grinning at them both in awe, but let's hope not.

More from me asap. Hope you’re all having a great week!

Some exciting news

ALONG FOR THE RIDE is going to print! I'm so excited!

British publishers Total-E-Bound are putting several of their ebooks into print, and ALONG FOR THE RIDE will be one of them. Yay!! This means my print readers who don't venture into ebooks will have the option to try this early publication. The story is a longish novella/short novel, a very naughty ménage romp with a romantic ending. You can read a sample and reviews HERE. More news on dates etc, when I have them.

Meanwhile, I'm gradually catching up on myself after a very busy few weeks. I even managed to clear my desk of urgent jobs and have a day off with the legendary Portia Da Costa yesterday! Wendy/Portia is currently celebrating 14 years of publications with the cutting edge publisher, Black Lace, and we had a wee dram to mark the ocassion. :) Then, after a long natter over lunch, we went on a bookshop trawl and hunted down all the PDC titles we could find. It was a lot of fun!

Back to work today. Hope you're all having a good weekend!

New sale, and lots of other good stuff going on here!

It’s been a bit of a crazy week, (in a good way,) with lots of great things happening here at home on shady lane! Work on Lillie’s story is coming along nicely, with two chapters complete. I have to shelve it now to work on something else, but I’m at a good point in the story to do so.

Preparations for the RWA adventure have been moving along, with Madelynne joining Wendy and I for the expedition – yay!!! We'll make a terrific (if giddy) trio of travellers. As of today we also have our flights booked, so it’s more or less all done and dusted and we can try to put it out of mind for a few months and get some work done... (notice I said “try” ;-)

Exciting news came in midweek. First up, my lovely agent heard from an Italian publisher who is interested in buying translation rights for DOUBLE DARE. I was absolutely delighted about the news. It might not come to anything, but it would be fabulous if it did! I have my fingers crossed.

Closely following on from that, my agent secured a new sale! Woohoo!! Harlequin Spice has commissioned a trio of linked stories for their ebriefs line. I’m thrilled to bits! The stories are about 3 workaholic brothers who each come into contact with a wild-woman-out-of-control, over the space of 3 seasons. Not sure what they’ll be called yet, but the proposal was offered under the overall title LOVING ON THE EDGE. I hope to have more news on that soon.

And we know what new sales means around here. Yup. Paaaarrrteeeeeeee! :-D

Too cute

Today I'm off to meet Wendy/Portia and delve into her durty thawts. Hehehe. Well, that, and plan for the big adventure in July. :)

Have a great day!

Author meetz

What a lovely way to open the new writing year. I spent a good portion of today with the legendary Queen of S&M, Portia Da Costa! I don't know what I'd do without these uplifting sessions wth my good pal. My only complaint is that time speeds up whenever we get together, it must do... Usually we manage 3 rounds of coffee and refreshments, today I was just about to get the third round in and I realised my three hour parking time was up! Yikes, I’m sure time plays tricks on us. It goes by in a flash. I'm sure we could talk forever about the writing business.

It was a good day to do this, because we always take stock of what we’ve got out there and what’s happened in between. We're both waiting to hear back on stuff (that's pretty much as per usual) but with the dawn of a new year and things opening up again at the publishing companies we got a tad excited and hopeful. Let's hope that feeling lasts and speeds our work!

During the course of the conversation it transpired that our blog hits had both shot up after we got our Scarlet Magazine awards. Portia got “best lesbian sex scene” and I got “best anal sex scene” After we announced these awards our visitor count shot up. Hmm. I wonder why. Ha! I guess we should make a public service announcement. For those of you who arrived here after googling “anal sex” or “lesbian sex” -- you’ll find those things in our books! :)