Time challenged

It’s snowing. Outside my window as I write this there is a layer of white covering the garden and the street. My crocuses and snowdrops are covered in it, the polyanthus flowers (polyanthuses? Polyanthi??) and just showing their bright and brave colours in spite of it. This is why I love these little flowers so much. The bitter wind is howling, the snow is whirling, the ice is forming – and they just glow brilliantly and take it. So much for March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb – it’s the middle of the month and the ice lion is very much in evidence.

Though in this there’s a bit of a comfort for me in that it also reminds me that the year isn’t slipping away quite as quickly as I’d thought. We’re still quite early in 2007. And that’s a relief. You see, in this particular sort of writing fiction, when you’re balancing dates and dreadlines and publication schedules - in the UK and the USA and maybe Australia as well then sometimes the actual date and month you’re living in can get away from you. I was thinking about this yesterday when I was looking at the big year planner we have on the wall in our kitchen. We were talking about another trip to Ireland – just a mini one as the BM has people to meet, things to discuss. But – the question was when. Hmmm. We’re deep in plans for June, I’ve just been asked to run another weekend course teaching Writing Romance in Leicester. Can I do July? Er – no - RNA Conference, Caerleon Writers' Holidays . . .August/Sept? Yes – but only early Sept . . .and somewhere in here I have to fit in more dreadlines, more books.Along with dates and places we have to be there are also book publication dates on the calendar – and when you consider that the BM has 3 new books coming out in the next 6 months – and 3 reprints – and I have 3 new novels, reprints of one how to write book (The Straightforward Guide) , possibly another (12 Point Guide) and a book on writing we’ve worked on together, then the calendar gets a bit busier – add in projected books coming in America, those dreadlines and . . .the brain cell overloads.

When I first started writing romances, the books, once bought, could take 18 months or more to appear on the shelves in the UK – some, I remember took 2 years. I’d almost forgotten about them by the time they appeared as printed editions. Now, I feel almost like someone working on a magazine, planning articles for 6 months ahead – ignoring the seasons outside and writing about summer clothes in winter, the new winter coats in the heat of summer.

It makes me feel very promiscuous – moving from hero to hero in the space of a few short weeks. This year is only 3 months – not quite 3 months old and already I’ve had to think about – and hand my blog over to - Domenico from The Italian’s Forced Bride when it came out in America. This month, it’s Guido in Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride in the UK – next month will be Guido’s too when his book appears in America. And the it’s Vito’s turn – and Vito will get a lot of attention with The Sicilian’s Red-Hot Revenge being such a special book for me. And I’ve only just (or so it feels) left behind Andreas when I handed in his page proofs – his book will be here in November. And of course right now I’m heavily involved with Raul . . . His book is planned for - eek - sometime like March 08!

But at least at the same time as the books seem to come thick and fast and the timetables speed up even more there are other ways in which the availability of the books is no longer quite the ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ one month on the shelves and then gone. On line bookshops like Amazon and B&N and the eHarlequin site itself now have the titles available for months. Last year’s At The Sheikh’s Command is still available and the USA edition of Domenico’s story seems to be selling well on Amazon UK –so readers are getting a chance to pick up books they might have missed first time around.

But sometimes it all gets a bit frantic and I have to draw breath and think – which book, which hero, which country . . . And that’s when I’m glad of a reminder that it’s still only March - not yet 3 months since I delivered the last book, and yes, I am on track – just.

So today it’s Raul – and I’ve promised him a love scene – so I think he’ll be glad to concentrate on that. And so will I - I don’t think I’ve anything else I should be thinking about!