Weekend, Competition and Contest . . . .

I had a wonderful - if hectic weekend - The Magnet and I travelled to Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire where we took part in the first of Calderdale Libraries' four Writers' Roadshows.

We both had 'one to one ' sessions in the morning and then, after a delicious lunch eaten sitting outside in the glorious sunshine (the Babe Magnet enjoyed my slice of organic chocolate cake as well as his own - I was already more than full up on the fabulous sandwiches, salads, crudités, veg smosas and onion bhajis- it was time for the workshop sessions. I was working with a lovely group of people including an ex-policeman who has been creating something of a sensation by reading Mills & Boon books in his local pub, a lovely Greek lady whose name I would love to steal for one of my books and two sisters whose mother I met when I was in Haworth (she owns one of the bookshops there).

If anyone from my workshop is reading this - can I just say Hi and it was wonderful to meet you all. The workshop was a lot of fun for me and I hope it was for you all too. Thanks so much for coming and for being so welcoming and easy to work with. And Rosie - if you do plan on coming to Fishguard, let me know. I'll hope to see you there. And you can find all the details here

I used to live near Hebden Bridge so it was a bit of a nostalgic trip for me to travel back through places I had known, even driving past my old school at one point. I wanted to get out and explore but there wasn't time on this visit. So I've promised myself I'll be back.

I'll hope to have rather more time in October when the Roadshow is in Halifax so that I can explore and reacquaint myself with the place where I grew up.

Talking about writing reminds me that the details of the latest Mills & Boon/Harelquin Presents writing competition are now up on the I(heart) Presents blog and on the Mills & Boon website. So if you're aiming for publication - and I know many of you are - check out the details now. The first prize is to work with an editor for a year. And even if you don't win the main prize, the editors willbe looking out for manuscripts with that vital spark of some

thing that might lead them to ask to see more of your work.

So what are you waiting for?

Then yesterday the Magnet and I spent a long time talking with a fascinating man who has a totally intriguing 'job' - and who hopefully will be the subject of one of the Magnet's next book projects. Nothing is decided or definite as yet but I'm keeping my fingers crossed and will give more information just as soon as I have it.

This week will be spent planning and organising and writing lists - and more list - and eventually packing ready for the RWA conference in Washington next week. We fly a week today and each time I work through a 'to do' list there seems to be much more to add to the next one. At the moment I'm sitting here in my elegant Washington sandals, worn with a pair of socks! The idea is to soften them up and stretch them just a little so that I won't be in any discomfort when I wear them to the Harlequin party.

And for the rest of July I'll be largely leaving you in the hands of my wonderful friends and fellow authors for the Presents line as they guest blog about themselves and their boos, and give you the questions that will take you on the scavenger hunt round their personal web sites/blogs etc so that you can collect up all the answers you need to enter the contest for the Tote Bag of Books.

I'll be back later to launch that contest officially - until then, I'll leave you with a picture of the prize hoard, just to get your reading taste buds quivering.