Nekkid Nathan

Shelley mentioned Firefly in the comments of the last post, which reminded me of Nathan Fillion (as it does). Although I've not managed to catch any episodes of Firefly I've watched Serenity about six times (my husband is now a rabid fan and watches it twice as many times as I do!) So I thought I'd go in search of a little hero inspiration and came up with... some interesting shots...

It also reminded me that a certain Ms Amanda Ashby promised (well okay she sort of promised) to find some nekkid pickies of Mr Fillion. Now, it's not that I'm an impatient kind of girl or anything... oh well okay, so I am!! And guess what I found. A nekkid picky!

Mind you the face is a bit fuzzy so I'm not 100% sure this is the divine Mr Fillion in the flesh so to speak... so the big question here is - IS it or ISN'T it???

Dr Who is Hot....

I grew up watching Dr Who, a lot of the time from behind the safety of the sofa or over the top of a cushion, as the Daleks and Cybermen invaded our front room (although those mega sized maggots will take some beating on the fright scale!) Wobbly sets didn't bother me at all, because Saturday night was the time the whole family got together and I only have to hear the spine tingling electronic woo-woo-WOOOOOO of the theme tune and whoosh! I'm back in time!

So when They-With-the-Power resurrected the Doctor I was stoked, and faithfully watched the first series with Christopher Eccleston.

As series three progressed, something extraordinary began to happen. It was so shocking it took me another several weeks before I quite realised what was happening. I fancied Dr Who!!!

Once this hit me I realised that David Tennant is, in fact, excessively hot and couldn't believe how I hadn't noticed before. I think it's all to do with the Doctors from the past because while he's always had hot assistants, I can't think of any Doctor in the past that ever did it for me... humm!

Final episode tonight and then I'll be going into withdrawal... although there's always the boxed set of DVDs which, now I think about it, can be classified as perfect hero research material...

I So Do NOT Have A Dirty Mind!!!

Your Mind is PG-13 Rated

Your mind is definitely a little dirty. You're naughty, but not trashy.You don't shy away from a dirty joke, and you're clearly not a prude.

Do You Have a Dirty Mind?

I couldn't resist trying out this quiz, (thank you Tempest!!) and was so totally not surprised to discover my mind is almost as pure as the driven snow! **cough cough** And the most amazing thing is, I didn't even cheat!!

Grabbing the Reader

Following on from my previous post, Tempest Knight left a comment which reminded me that Liz Fielding, M&B Romance author, has a great article on her site about grabbing the reader on the first page. Highly recommended and here's the link!

First Page Neurosis

I have trouble with my first pages. Not that I realise I do at the time, as I try to start as late as possible into the action and leap forward from there. It's only afterwards, when the book is finished, I read it through and think... meh, too soon!!!

The book now out with agents is a prime example. From first to second draft, I cut the first thirty pages. THIRTY. And yet when I originally wrote it, every one of those thirty pages was absolutely crucial to showing the heroine's relationship with various members of her family and friends. Do I hear the words SET UP??

From second to third draft I cut another dozen pages, so the first page showed the arrival of the hero into the heroine's world. And just recently, before submitting, I ruthlessly chopped the vast majority of the first two pages. And the scary thing is all those pages I deleted - just Are Not Missed!!

So I was intrigued to discover Julie Cohen, ModX and Little Black Dress author, is doing a Q&A on eHarlequin this week, entitled Tightening the First Page. It's illuminating and well worth checking out, even if you're not targeting series romance.

More Conference Photos

For some more pics of the recent RWNZ conference, head over to Nalini's blog where she's just posted a whole bunch. There's one of Amanda and me wearing our halos... only this time they are all aglow with angelic light!!

Debuts & Comp

Fellow Aussie author Christine Wells debut novel SCANDAL'S DAUGHTER is also released this week - and to help celebrate, Christine invited her agent Jessica Faust and editor Leis Pederson to guest blog and answer questions. A fascinating insight into an agent's and editor's mind! Read their posts here

Also in celebratory mood, the lovely Annie West is holding a fantabulous competition over on her website, in honour of three Aussie debut novels hitting the shelves this month from Christine Wells, Robyn Grady and Paula Roe! And as if that's not enough, Annie is also offering her own September release as a prize!

And Sara's party is still in full swing with lots of prizes still up for grabs!

Guest Blogging Today!

Today I'm guest blogging over at the lovely Sara Hantz's blog as part of her celebrations for the release of her debut novel. I'll love you forever if you pop over and leave a comment!! The post should be up late afternoon/early evening Oz/NZ time (I think I got that right. All these time lines are very confuzzling).

I recently finished reading Karina Bliss's SuperRomance, MR IRRESISTIBLE. And all I can say is.... wow, the hero sure is irresistible... ha ha sorry about that! Couldn't resist (oops... I get worse). I first thought Karina's book would be up my alley when I read the excerpt on her website and the hero, Jordan, was overheard on the phone saying... well I'm not going to tell you what the heroine, Kate, overheard him saying! Check out Karina's website to see what I mean!

Writing, Dentists & Doctors

I just realised I haven't mentioned my writing for a while, so in case anyone thinks I'm slacking in that department (as if... ha ha) I'm up to Chapter Five on the wip. I'm loving it, but loving it mostly when I can just sit here and read it back to myself. This polishy draft is proving quite challening.

Today I took my son to have his first filling. He hadn't been looking forward to it, and was convinced he'd end up drooling so badly he'd need the day off school. I explained it was just a filling, not an extraction and he would be FINE!

Um, yeah. In the chair, after two injections, his adrenalin spiked and he went into shock. Let's not mention the shock his mother went into at this point. But we got through it and thankfully his threatened vomiting didn't occur - god I had nightmare visions of his projectiling it all over his uniform and all over me. SHUDDER.

So I took him into school...and of course three hours later they called me to take him home. I expect they were thinking along the lines of 'evil mother, fancy making him go to school when he can't even feel his tongue...'

In the meantime I took in a letter of referral from my GP to the hospital. I have no idea what the doctor was on when she did my letter. Of the six points she noted of my medical history, I had to cross four out and rewrite them, and apparently last year I suffered from first degree burns. Without being aware of them. Who knew? I'm just thankful I opened the bloody thing and read it first before taking it into the consultant!

Happy Release Day, Sara Hantz!

Hooray! It's finally here. the release day for Sara Hantz's debut YA novel, The Second Virginity of Suzy Green, from Flux.

Sara and I first met just over three years ago, en route to the RNA conference in Leicester, UK. Within a few weeks of returning home we became online buddies, and then cps - aka The Witches - along with Amanda Ashby and Pat Posner.

So it's a huge thrill to see Sara's book now out in the world - and she is hosting the most fabulous blog party here to celebrate! Do hop over and say hello!

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