50ks in 30 Days June Challenge

Yes it's official. I'm completely insane, as I put my hand up a while ago to join the 50ks in 30 Days challenge, along with many other equally insane ladies! haha, just kidding girls!!

Actually this is exactly what I need, since my writing has been sluggish (that's putting it kindly) just lately. I did intend to plough onwards with my paranormal, but in the middle of this week I had an epiphany (I blame it on the Romance Roadshow!!!) and went back to my Bloody Dead Body Book.

The good news there is I've broken the block and I think the body has resolved itself. Hooray. I hate letting a book beat me. I've also written about 5k new words on that one over the last couple of days so it looks like that's the book I'll be continuing with for the month of June.

Of course there's still two days to go before we press our noses to the grindstone, or the computer keyboard, so who knows which book I might be writing by then... probably a completely new one!

RWA Romance Roadshow 2008

The RWA Romance Roadshow hit Perth yesterday, and what a fabulous day it was. The full day's programme was hosted by Trish Morey, award winning, best selling author of Harlequin Presents, Marion Lennox, double RITA winner and author of both Harlequin Romance and Mills & Boon Medicals, and award winning, multi-published Prez of the RWAus, Anne Gracie.

We were split into two streams for some of the workshops - First Date for those starting out, and Serious Seduction for those who had been writing for a while and were looking to move to the next level. Or as the programme put it - time to meet mother. Ha ha!

Trish gave great workshops on how to create sexual tension and ending your novel with a bang no, not that sort of a bang!! although thinking about it, why not?! We also had Writing the Synopsis with Anne which I nearly chickened out of since I truly hate the things.

There were also goodie bags stuffed with exciting pressies, and lots of giveaways throughout the day.

It was great to meet up with other writers in WA, and put faces to names I knew through meeting on-line. I not only remembered to take my camera but I also took pictures! Five in fact. Hooray!

I was so knackered when I got home last night I was in bed by nine. Pathetic! Twelve hours later my gorgeous husband brought us coffee and croissants in bed. Yummm!

But when we plugged the camera chip into the computer, disaster struck. For a few brief glorious seconds I saw the photos - and they were fab (I can say that because of what comes next...) There was one of me being a total fan girl with Trish and Anne, and of Marion signing her book for me. Another good one showed me with Nikki Benyon (we got the train up together). Then... everything vanished. And I mean everything. All the pictures on the chip disappeared, not just the ones from the Roadshow but all the ones from when my aunt was over earlier this month.

Now that's terrible enough (and I had many wobbly moments) BUT what was even worse - in a way I suppose - was my husband's business accounts on the computer hard drive also vanished. Oh. My. God.

So that's why this post is photo-less and I am Deeply Distressed by that fact!!! and my husband is quite distressed too but for different reasons!!

A Snark by Any Other Name?

I just came across a link over at Shelley's titled ... Query Shark.

I'd never seen this one before so went to have a look. And my question is - IS it or ISN'T it her?!

***Edited to Add***

I totally pinched this link from Barrie. It's a tribute to the one and only Miss Snark by Patricia Wood. Miss Snark pops up in the comment trail - what fun!

Contest

Somehow, and I'm not entirely sure how, the witches have persuaded me to enter a writing competition. This momentous decision was made this morning, and I spent the rest of the day fiddling about with the entry.

I'm not exaggerating here, I'm being literal. Whenever I was at the computer, I was either tweaking my pages or shooting off rabid little missives along the lines of... how do I get my header on the right hand side of the page instead of the left (I had many far stupider questions, believe me, but I'm just not brave enough to display my ignorance here!!!) Despite feeling bad about interrupting Amanda because she's neck deep in the most amazing revisions, I still bugged her (because I'm nice like that!)

Truth is, I don't do contests because the formatting rules give me palpitations. I can get quite paranoid and at one point poor Sara actually printed out one of my pages, got a ruler and measured how many cms my margins were. *cough*

So, given all this drama, was this a competition for a full manuscript? Um, no.

It's for the first five pages. But in my defence, those first five pages are now sooo much stronger than they were yesterday!!!

Locked Out

We've had no phone or internet access since early Saturday morning and I have been going insane. A few hours is bad enough but more than three whole days? If that wasn't bad enough our mobile phones decided that although they were quite happy to connect to the UK, they couldn't send a simple text across the ditch to NZ.

So what did I do with all this unexpected free time on my hands (when I say free time, I mean of course the time I usually spend replying to emails and blog slutting around). Now, in my mind I knew I should have spent it on my wip. And I did. Sort of. A little bit. Okay, not very much and now I have a severe case of the guilts.

Still, I have been progressing with the wip as per the witches crits of last week and have to say I'm much happier with the way it's shaping up, so hopefully that will be winging its way back to them shortly! (Yes I'm nice like that, I do like to share!!)

Why I Need my Amazing CPs!!

I finally got back to my wip today, and it's a fantastic feeling to be writing again. Much as I enjoyed last week, I was becoming a bit frazzled around the edges at the prolonged absence from the computer!

The wonderful witches read through the first 70 odd pages of my current paranormal and sent back their crits last week. I was kind of stunned by the feedback. We've been cps for several years, and I can honestly say that in all that time I've never had such similar comments, noted in the identical paragraps, from the three of them. It was uncanny, and that's putting it mildly!

Thankfully it wasn't the plot they had problems with so much as the pacing. Strangely enough, I'd stalled on this one just before I sent it off to them but I couldn't put my finger on why I was finding it so hard to push forward. Their comments activated major light bulb moments and reassured me that, far from showing way too much of what was going on too soon, in fact I hadn't shown nearly enough. *Ahem* make that shown so little, they weren't at all sure what was going on at all!!!

Not only that, but it's also helped me to dig far deeper into my hero's psyche to discover what's making him tick, and hopefully this is going to help strengthen the core conflict with his heroine.

When I sent this off for critting, I went back to another (linked) para romance, but the suggested revisions on ms #2 have reignited my original excitement over this story - which is always a good thing - and I can't wait to tackle all the points raised.

I know not every writer wants or needs cps, but I definitely do need mine, and thank god they aren't shy about telling me straight when things aren't working for them!

Conferences

Well, I posted off my form for the RWA Roadshow which is coming to Perth next month, so am pretty excited about that. The other thing I'm pretty excited about is the strong possibility I'm going to the RWNZ conference in August! My husband truly is a saint.

So, only another four months until I get together again with Amanda and Sara and we can get happily plastered *ahem* I mean do plenty of brainstorming. It will also be great to see all the other ladies I briefly met last year. Hopefully this year I won't be so brain dead and will actually remember to take lots of photos of everyone!

Procrastination yet again... it's becoming a habit

The only problem with taking a hiatus from writing is... well, it can be kind of hard to get back into the swing of it again. Take today for example. I was all fired up to get out really early, take daughter #2 to catch the 7.30 train (ok so that's not really early, but close enough!!) go to the gym, get the shopping and be home before 9.30 to squeeze in a couple of hours writing before taking my son round to his friend's.

So what did I do?

Everything but the writing. Sigh.

Yesterday, just to refresh my mind, I read the last chapter and actually really enjoyed it. Unfortunately it didn't make me want to carry on writing it, just carry on reading it. But until I've put words on document that just isnt going to happen. Partly my reluctance to continue (apart from the fact I'm just a completely lazy moo, of course!) is wondering whether Nocturne will be even the slightest bit interested in my Bite. My wip is located in the same world, and the hero in this one was a minor character in that one.

I've decided that if Nocturne pass, I'm going to revamp the Bite into a full length novel and submit to agents, because despite evidence to the contrary (!!) I am very much in love with all these characters and the various strange plot ideas churning around my mind. All I have to do is work out in which order these events happen, and how on earth my hero and heroine are going to manage their HEA, considering the fate I have in mind for them at the moment...

Not that I'm Obsessed by Coffee... but...

We saw my auntie off to Brisbane this morning, where she's visiting other rellies for a few days before returning to WA, staying with my brother up in Perth before coming back to us for another week. I have to keep reminding myself she's eighty, because she sure doesn't act like it!!

In other news, my husband has finally given in to his baser urges and this afternoon turned up with... ta da... a coffee maker!! As I write he's out in the kitchen playing about with his new toy. I keep hearing it give loud splurting noises so I'm assuming all is well. The only problem is, it looks very high tech and shiny and I'm not at all convinced I'll be able to make the damn thing work. It took us almost five minutes just to find the ON button!

In writerly news, I'm thinking of going to the RWAus Romance Roadshow, a one day mini conference which is coming to Perth next month. It sounds huge fun and will be good to meet other writers in the state!

And happy Birthday Amanda, aka Baby Witch!!!!

Still Kicking

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth (not quite anyway) but it feels like it as I haven't been able to get online nearly as much as I should for my health! My lovely auntie is visiting from the UK today, so of course I had to make the house presentable. The only trouble is once you start down that dangerous road, it's never ending!!

Anyway, finally got it up to scratch after enlisting the assitance of two of the offspring and one darling husband. It's been six years since she's been over, so we're all looking forward to seeing her - but it does mean I won't be able to hop on the computer much over the next few days to check out what everyone's been up to. Friday afternoon and I'll definitely be there!!

(did I mention the writing... um, no I didn't... well, the good news is I think I've finally cracked the sluggy block I had. The not so good news is I have to wait nearly a week before I can get back to it!!)

Coffee Lovers Alert

Was I a happy bunny when I read this report on the BBC News website. Apparently, research suggests that a cup of coffee a day protects the vital blood brain barrier against attack by cholesterol. High levels of cholesterol, in case you wanted to know, can make this barrier leaky. But I'm not going there... where I'm going is here. Coffee is good for you!!!

So now whenever I buy a takeaway latte I can forego my pangs of guilt and greed, and instead drink it with pride, in public, because it's not just making me wobbly around the middle it's protecting my brain!!!

Guest Blogging Today!

I'm guest blogging today over at the fabulous Shelley Munro's blog, on the subject of Adventures of an Aspiring Romance Writer! If you have a moment I would love for you to pop over and say hi! Shelley is generously giving away a download of her first Middlemarch Mates books, Scarlet Woman, to one lucky commenter. Hope to see you there!

Luna anyone?

I hope everyone had a happy Easter and didn't scoff too many eggs!! I'm feeling very out of sorts with this early Easter, as the kids were off for the long weekend, are now back at school, and then will be off again for a fortnight in a couple of weeks time.

Anyway.

So I'm still slogging away on my full length Nocturne. My head is fit to explode with all the different threads I have, but last night a terrible thought occurred to me. Am I writing a Luna instead of a Nocturne??? And if I am, what should I do about it???

All I can do is carry on and see where this all leads me. Much as I love this story I'm finding it very hard getting the words down on the page/screen. A lot of it is because I'm still waiting to hear on the Bite, but I can't put too much blame on the waiting since I've spent the vast majority of my writing life waiting on responses, and that's never stopped me before!

Go Suzy!!!

Fellow Witch, Sara Hantz, has just found out her debut YA novel, The Second Virginity of Suzy Green, has made the New York Public Library list. To quote the NYPL, "This list, now in its 79th year of publication, selects the best of the previous year’s publishing for teenagers, ages 12 to 18. All the titles chosen have been read and reviewed by young adult librarians and recommended for this special publication.”

Hooray! Huge congrats Sara!

Just Because...

I read this report on the BBC News website last night and it gave me the warm and fuzzies, so I thought I'd share.

A dolphin has come to the rescue of two whales which had become stranded on a beach in New Zealand.

Conservation officer Malcolm Smith told the BBC that he and a group of other people had tried in vain for an hour and a half to get the whales to sea.

The pygmy sperm whales had repeatedly beached, and both they and the humans were tired and set to give up, he said.

But then the dolphin appeared, communicated with the whales, and led them to safety.

I thought that was just lovely. The full report can be found here.

Link Lovers

For anyone targeting or interested in Harlequin's Nocturne line, the editors are hosting an online pitch on 23rd April. A thread has been created for discussion and questions here.

Also over on eharlequin, there's been a week long Q&A session with Spice Editor Susan Pezzack Swinwood on all things spicy. I have to say Susan sounds amazing! She also had some interesting things to say about the Spice Briefs line - mainly that once you send in your Brief that will be the last you see of it until it's either rejected or published. No revisions!! That's kind of scary. Take a peek here.

And currently the Nocturne Bites submissions have a turnaround time of just three weeks. Spice Briefs are running at between six and seven months although the editors hope to cut that wait to three months shortly.

Currently Reading...

I'm so glad I found my glasses! I hadn't realised (or maybe had just forgotten - that happens. Frequently. Sigh!) just how much my poor eyes were missing them. Now I can actually read in the evenings after having been on the computer for hours, whereas before my eyes were too sore and achy. Quite scary really to think how I might have been damaging them.

Anyway, my tbr pile beckoned and over the weekend I dived in. I'm now half way through Shelley Munro's Summer in the City of Sails. I love Shelley's sense of humour, I keep giggling out loud at some of her heroine's sayings! And did I mention the hot hero? Not to mention the steamy sex too! (still can't figure out what the villian's up to... hmmm!)

The other book I'm currently reading is Anna Campbell's second novel, Untouched. I remember when Anna was writing this and dropping tantalising hints about her poor tortured hero (Anna writes incredibly tortured heroes!). Phew! Tortured is an understatement. And the love scenes blew me away. I can't wait to find out how this couple manage to find their HEA!

And to celebrate the upcoming release of Shelley's Fancy Free, here's a peek into the minds of her hero and heroine!

He Says, She Says on Inheriting a Condom Company

ALICE BEASLEY says:

The reading of my god-mother’s will shocked me speechless. I assumed I’d inherit money or jewelry. A condom company came way down the bottom of my list of expectations! Who’d have thought? My god-mother offered me a share in a condom company or a small monetary inheritance. My boyfriend, Steven wanted me to take the money and run. Me—I saw possibilities, the answers to making my dreams come true. We fought about it. Embarrassing? Oh, yeah. We were the center of attention and there were quite a few sniggers from the other occupants of the hall.

I think I stepped into an Alice in Wonderland type rabbit hole on arrival for the reading of the will, not a plain old town hall. I caught sight of this man. Tall, dark and sexy. I dubbed him Mr. Dashing, and spellbound, my attention kept wandering to him. Imagine my blush when I discovered I’d have to work with him at the condom company. Things went downhill from there. Steven left Sloan in a huff because I wouldn’t follow his orders and two weird women accosted me shouting anti-condom slogans. Luckily, they didn’t seem violent but they gave me two business cards, one bearing a clown and the other a dog. Goodness knows what they mean. Life in Sloan looks as if it might be interesting, but I’m a bit wary about condoms. After all, it’s not as if I have experience in that arena…

JAMES BATES says:

I can’t believe Alicia expects me to train this girl. And Alicia’s death couldn’t have come at a worse time. Someone is out to sabotage Fancy Free. It’s been one thing after another. Financially, we can’t take much more. I hope the new design goes well because the company sure needs the boost of funds.

Will Alice and James make a good team? Will she make up with Steven? How do they test the condoms? And who is out to destroy Fancy Free?

Read Alice and James story in FANCY FREE by Shelley Munro to discover all the answers. Available from Ellora’s Cave on 7 March 2008.

And for my Next Trick

On occasion, I despair of myself.

Four months ago, I lost my glasses. Searched high and low, and eventually resigned myself to the fact I'd accidentally thrown them out while Eldest Daughter moved back home (there were boxes and rubbish everywhere. I kid you not). So I've been using my older pair which are perfectly fine... except I did notice my eyes got very sore and tired quite easily.

Earlier today, I cleared out the desk drawers while searching for my private medical log in details (and that's another saga in itself. Why didn't I squirrel it away somewhere sensible, say in the medical file?? Oh yes that's right. Because that would be TOO EASY).

And of course, what did I find but my lovely purple glasses. I put them on and OMG! The world popped into focus. It's like after you've been watching normal telly and then suddenly switch over to watch a programme in the HD format!

In writerly stuff, I've sent off my Nocturne Bites. And because I think the whole premise of Shelley's upcoming book is so delicious, here's something from Fancy Free that totally cracked me up...

Alicia started her company, Fancy Free on a whim—a business to occupy her time and keep her old school friends busy. Many of Sloan’s residents considered Fancy Free a strange business, and some were plain shocked, but Alicia didn’t believe in following conventions. Condoms were something she knew about. She’d researched them enough, heck, she’d even used a few in her time. Condoms were her passion, and so condoms were what her company produced. On her death, she left her precious company to her god-daughter Alice Beasley.

A snippet from Alicia’s collection of condom notes:

During Roman times, a magic condom became popular. This condom supposedly protected the users from pregnancy and from evil spirits. To make a magic condom the woman collected a large handful of fur from a she-mule’s mane. During the foreplay stage, the man and woman wove a condom from the fur, which was then used during lovemaking.

Alicia’s note – sounds uncomfortable and itchy but the foreplay might be interesting. Did it leak? Source: Humble Little Condom by Aine Collier

Get your copy of FANCY FREE, an erotic romance about condoms by Shelley Munro, from Ellora’s Cave on March 7, 2008.
To read an excerpt visit http://www.shelleymunro.com/coming-soon

A FURRY CONDOM!!! OMG I am giggling about it as I type this!!!

Fancy Free

My lovely friend, Shelley Munro, has a new release from Ellora's Cave hitting the cyber shelves on 7th March 2008. And just take a look at this cover! Is it smoking or what?

And here's the intriguing press release for Fancy Free:

Responsible Romantic Heroes Use Condoms

Some readers prefer heroes to use condoms while others say the dose of reality kills all the spontaneity and romance. It’s a debate that repeats all over romance land—to use condoms or not to use condoms—since, after all, it is only fiction…

New Zealand erotic romance author, Shelley Munro took this a step further in her upcoming release Fancy Free, the story of an accountant who inherits a condom company. When Ms. Munro caught an Air New Zealand flight from San Francisco, she came across an advertising article about a new condom on the market. The ideas flowed and by the time she landed in Auckland, she’d outlined her plot for Fancy Free.

It’s not every day a girl inherits a condom company, and to say accountant, Alice Beasley is astonished and out of her depth is putting it mildly. For an almost virgin, she needs a quick education in all things condom because her inheritance is in danger. Someone is intent on sabotage and playing nasty, trying to destroy her new company.

Alice is suddenly getting down and dirty with charismatic James, the factory manager, all in the name of business, testing new condom designs. The sex is hot. Mind-blowing. It’s a dark thrill and an erotic journey. Yeah, it’s a hard job but a girl’s got to do what a girl’s gotta do.

The testing turns personal. Alice wants James. She craves his talented touch and sultry kisses, she desires passion and physical pleasure on a permanent basis but first she must convince bad boy James to give up his fancy free ways.

Note: condoms were tested and a few harmed during the writing of this story.

Fancy Free releases on 7 March 2008 from Ellora’s Cave http://www.ellorascave.com/ and is Ms. Munro’s eighteenth release from the pioneer erotic romance publisher.

From the time Shelley Munro was a little girl living in New Zealand, she wanted to be a detective. She read all the Famous Five mysteries by Enid Blyton before graduating to Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Her favorite television viewing was Scooby Doo where she, in her invisible guise, helped Scooby solve the crime.

As happens with children, Shelley grew up and boys distracted her from childhood dreams. She found one she really liked and married him, traveling the world at his side until returning to settle in New Zealand to write hot and spicy tales for Ellora’s Cave, some of which contain the odd body or two.

Publishing Notes:
Title: Fancy Free
Author: Shelley Munro
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
ISBN: 9781419913341
Release Date: 7 March 2008
Genre: Contemporary erotic romance
Setting: Present day New Zealand

Adventure into Romance with Shelley Munro
http://www.shelleymunro.com/
shelleymunro@gmail.com

Bat Out of Hell

I don't think my mild obsession with Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell is much of a secret, but just lately it's sort of reached epidemic proportions. It's not my fault. I blame my muse. She/he/whatever it is insisted on playing the CD virtually non stop while I wrote both my Spice Brief and now my Nocturne Bites.

Last week, the title track began to jump. I was beside myself. Never mind that this is the very first CD I ever bought (which is a Very Long Time Ago) or that I play it at least five times as often as any other CD (and that's not counting this last month when it's been on the player constantly!)

My husband suggested it might be time to invest in a new one, and lo and behold when I was out shopping on Sunday I saw a solitary copy in K Mart. Not just a regular one either, but a special edition with additional DVD of selected titles.

Yay! I'm in bat heaven at the moment and my muse is somewhat delirious, especially since I can turn the bass right up on the DVD, unlike my little CD player in the kitchen!!