Busy week ahead

I’m relieved to report that I finally got back to a normal schedule around midweek last week. Yay! A partial is done and out the door, and I’m now steaming ahead with a short story as well as planning scene by scene for RAMPANT. It’s going to be a busy few months ahead.

Writer pal Portia and I got together on Friday for an official writers meet. Ahem. Maybe that should be: got together to string out our conference experience for as long as possible..? LOL! It was a super day, and we did congratulate ourselves on having coped as well as we did.

The somewhat odd thing is that I find myself having to make a decision about next year’s conference, already. That’s because the Romantic Times convention booking will start soon. If I want to do that one instead of the RWA national conference, I have to decide imminently. If I’m able to do another one, and I hope I am, I’m not quite sure which one to do. I can't afford both, and the RWA national was such a positive experience for me that I’m drawn to doing that one again. I’d like to attend an RT convention, but perhaps it would be best to do that one when I have more books out. Anyway, I shall make that decision soon.

Meanwhile, I came away from my meet with Portia happily clutching a copy of her forthcoming Black Lace novel IN TOO DEEP. This one is due out in the UK in about three weeks, so I’m an advance copy holder! Lucky me!!! In fact I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to read all of Portia’s work in manuscript form for about three years now, but unfortunately I couldn’t read this one at that time, so it's going to be a real treat. We're going away for a couple of days later this week and I'll be taking it with me. I’ll post about it when I get back!

Thank you for posting birthday wishes! We had a lazy Sunday browsing in the bookshops and had lunch out. It even stayed dry, which (at the mo) is a miracle here in England. Our trip away is to Durham, one of our favourite cities in the North of England. We always enjoy our times there and, now that I've bonded with my digital camera, (long story,) I hope to share some photos when I get back. Lots to be done before then, though, so I better crack on or I won’t have earned my break.

Hope you have a great week.

12 things I will try to keep in mind about attending an RWA conference

1. Expect startling amounts of noise. Not bad noise, but lots of noise. Hundreds of excited women chattering creates a disorienting din, especially when bouncing off marble walls and floors.

2. It’s much more exhausting than you could ever imagine, there is too much going on, and not enough time to do as much as you would like. You are *not* Wonder woman and you will need a full days rest after travelling around the clock. Face it and be ready!

3. The most delicious meal in the world may not tempt you if your body thinks its 4.30 am.

4. Use the camera more!

5. Allow extra time to get from place to place, (especially if it involves elevators,) and keep in mind that there will be people you want to talk to (or at least say hello to) along the way.

6. Packing plenty of snacks to grab in between times or when a meal is missed is a very good thing!

7. Packing half the medicine cabinet is reassuring and often helpful, but chances are you won’t have that one vital thing you need when the time comes.

8. It’s pointless packing stuff like eyelash curlers. There isn’t enough time for such fripperies.

9. Brainwashing yourself that you will not be able to collect lots of books at the event because of airline weight restrictions is a very good thing.

10. Planning to sleep on an aircraft? Haha. Forget it.

11. If the maids start giggling and look entertained when you answer the door, you should probably be wearing more clothing.

12. It’s hard and it's exhausting, but it's the best mixture of business, social and networking opportunities a romance author could possibly wish to be part of!

If anyone would like to add to the list, please do so!

Update! One more I forgot to include (a baker's dozen!)

13. The RWA conference is not just six days away from the desk. It takes up much more time than that in preparation and getting back to normal. That has to be taken into account on the writing schedule.

Too funny! Too true!

"Kate Duffy says “Get off the Internet and write!!”"

I'm just about caught up, unpacked, and ready to blog. I'll be starting my own personal recap of the RWA experience tomorrow. (and getting off the Internet and writing. lol!)

Trying to get back to normal

Okay, so I'm slow starting my blogging. I'm getting back to normal, but I've been hit by a throat infection, argh! I'm muddling on. Meanwhile you can check out this NBC Today Show feature on the RWA event, Nora Roberts, and romance. If you don't blink, you might even see my book cover! :-)

(Go here if the embed feature doesn't show up.)
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25966976#25966976

Hi honeys, I'm home!

I'm home! I'm a wreck! But I'm happy! :) Much to report, but I'm really wiped out so I'm going to start blogging properly tomorrow. I plan to blog one RWA day each day. Should be fun! Meanwhile, here's a photo of my travelling companions and I.




Portia on the left, moi, Madelynne right, at the RWA conference in San Francisco.

RWA conference, here I come!

Okay folks, in just a few hours I will be on my way to San Francisco to commune with 2,000 other writers and industry professionals. Heh.

If you're attending the event or you’re going to be in the area, please come by and say hi. I’ll have my name in front of me at the public literacy book signing, and apparently I will also be wearing it most of the time. I'm also signing for registered conference attendees at the Berkley/NAL event, 3-4.30 on Friday. Come by to meet Nora Roberts and get a free copy of RECKLESS from me while you are there! :-)

For general info, I’m not going to be on line during the next week, no email. I'll be back on line late Monday or early Tuesday next week. If you’re trying to get in touch with me at the event, please ask the concierge/switchboard to put you through to my room or leave me a message. I’m not totally incommunicado, but it’s not going to be as easy as usual. I decided against handing out my mobile phone number because calls would go via England and it will cost everyone involved an arm and a leg to leave a message.

I'm leaving here at 4 am so this is my last post. I'm very nervous indeed, so spare a thought for me and wish me luck! I’ll tell you all about my mega-conference experience when I get back. :)

See you next week, have a good one!

Busy bee

Wow, it’s been a busy time here in the run-up to leaving for the RWA conference. I mostly feel quite levelheaded about the whole event, until I look at my timetable.... Ha! I'm on top of preparations though, and I’m now concentrating on what to say when I meet with my agent and all my editors. Gulp. Wish me luck, I'm very nervous.

In other news, ALONG FOR THE RIDE is now available in print! Amazon.com is shipping and so is Amazon UK although the information has not yet updated there. This book has been available as an ebook for around three years and it’s lovely to see it in print. The print copies are gorgeous, too, a smart and compact format with a lovely feel to them. Here’s the blurb:

When Georgina Montgomery gets involved with the Austrian artist Calvin Rolf and his Fleet Street photographer sidekick, Jason Sutherland, she signs herself up for more escapades than she ever could have imagined. Georgie soon discovers that being involved with two gorgeous men is a heady intoxicant and she quickly casts all her inhibitions aside. She's in her element, but their idyll of sexual adventuring in London is interrupted when a paparazzi scandal threatens to be unleashed around them.

They hit the road and when Georgie comes along for the ride she finds herself going further than she ever has before. None of them thought they'd go as far as falling in love, but they do, and who are they each falling for? When the paparazzi hunt results in Georgie's kidnap, danger ups the emotional stakes for everybody involved and territorial claims of the heart are about to be made.

Amazon com
Amazon UK

Good comments continue to come in about RECKLESS. Check out what my anthology buddy Sasha White had to say about the book and my writing here. I was delighted with her kind words! RECKLESS was also featured in the German romance magazine Love Letters, with a lovely review. Love letters is a super magazine, the German version of the Romantic Times, if you will. I wish we had something like it in England.

Ooh, there will be another freebie copy of RECKLESS up for grabs over at Alison Kent’s blog on Saturday. I’ll try to remember to post about this again, but my brain is a bit overloaded right now. ;-)

Musing about conference preparation, and some thoughts about being professional

Okay, so we’re down to just under three weeks until conference time. It's a big deal for me, professionally, and personally. In one sense I feel my preparations are well in hand. Mostly it’s my head I need to organise. :) My timetable (which I’m seeing as my anchor,) is almost all done, but it’s busting at the seams. It's making me feel dizzy just looking at it! It's not quite a finished work, either. I’m waiting for the last couple of editor appointments to slot in and then I need to find time to squeeze in meetings with pals and with local friends who aren’t coming to the conference itself. I might need a crowbar for that.

At first I could keep it in my head, what I'd be doing during those 4/5 days of conference time. Then I had to start writing it down. After a while I realised I needed to put things onto a timetable. That helped me put it into perspective, even if I did feel a schoolgirl again. :) It was fine. And then…well, it seems to have exploded in all directions this past week. It now looks like some sort of speed dating schedule. And I have a big, (major, as in regrettable,) clash. Wah! I want to go to both parties. :o{

It also feels pretty alien. My usual schedule is writing, real life stuff, and occasional social engagements. I’m exchanging that for five days of continuous social engagements and business meetings. Will she survive, you ask yourself? Well, I used to do mad Goth and fetish weekends, lots of gigs and rock festivals, but not so much recently. Ah, well. I’ll give it my best shot, and I'll report back.

Meanwhile, I’m slowly getting used to the idea that I'm going to be a Spice author. Ha. I hadn’t really got used to being a Spice Briefs author! ;) It’s going to take the rest of this year for me to take it all in, tbh. I've spent so much time learning, striving, and keeping goals on the horizon, that when some of it actually happens for me I simply can’t take it in.

One thing I do when I have some big career news is to contact and thank the people who’ve been important to me along the way. Those friends who have encouraged me, the editors and publishers who have published my work and enabled me to take a step up and strive for longer projects and gain new contracts. When I share the good news, I’m so often touched by the things they say, the good wishes, and especially when they add that I am so easy to work, and that is serving me well.

Easy to work with? Yes, it is something I strive for, but that's because I believe it’s a fundamental tenet of being a professional, no matter what industry a person is working in. I’m always amazed when I hear tales of authors being unprofessional, or cases where ego gets the better of good judgment. It’s just as important to be polite and easy to work with in this industry as in any other.

Huh. Incredibly, while I was writing this post, yet another RWA event was flagged up that I really want to be at. This one isn’t quite so much of a clash, but it does demand a big reshuffle of plans and arrangements. My head hurts! :o)

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!

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

We're off to RWA, on a jet plane, don't know if we'll ever be sane again

Oh my, I haven’t posted here in ages. Naughty me. Last week was crazy, lots of “real life” chaos going on, car servicing, an ill man in the house, appointments all over, and a raft of emailing about projects for this year. That’s my excuse. But I’m back and things are moving along like wildfire.

Today I got my place booked on the RWA conference in San Francisco. Got to say, that was a crazy few hours there, dealing with “the system” (cough) and making sure it was all done and dusted and I wasn’t booked in for a walk on the moon instead of what I was aiming for. I think we’re safe. Of course double-checking seems fraught with tension. I’m guessing the database is crazy with people booking in at the mo.

Exciting! I’m just filled with glee at the thought of meeting my editors and my agent, so many people who I consider my dear friends and colleagues, women I’ve grown to know over the last few years but haven’t met in the flesh as yet. And my CP, who I haven’t seen for…gulp, 8 years. It's going to be fab!! I'll have totry to calm down for the next few months, or I'll never get anything done. :)

I’ll be travelling over with my wonderful local buddy, Wendy/Portia, and we’ll have a riot, I’m sure. We’re trying to bend a few arms to make our pair into a girl-gang. ;) Yeah, a gang of erotic romance authors. Be afraid, be very afraid…